Healthcare, etc. has a fascinating and important post about how we in medicine decide which drugs and treatments “work”. It turns out to be much more complicated than you’d think. While the example in this post is heart disease, I’ve posted before about how rehab centers can spin the numbers to claim treatments “work” when most of us would say they don’t.
Over at Psychology Today, Part II of a discussion on opiate painkillers and addiction explains the somewhat obvious fact that, when someone has been addicted to painkillers that have damaged their opiate-responding brain structures, painkillers are no longer effective at decreasing their pain.
Last week, we had a study indicating that susceptibility to nicotine is inherited; this week, we get a similar study for opiates. One interesting thing is that the presence of nausea as a side effect of opiates also seems to be inherited, which can be another factor in determining which patients will actually be helped by opiate therapy.
Also at ScienceDaily, three universities fail to find a link between legalizing medical marijuana and teen drug use. Despite the constant assurances I’ve heard that legalizing medical marijuana will lead to the downfall of society, I am not surprised.
A possible nicotine vaccine seems to be in the works; I’m a little dubious about how it might be implemented, but I think it could ultimately be valuable as preventative care for the patients with the “high-risk” genes we discussed last week.
Here’s wishing you all a happy and healthy weekend getting ready for the holiday next week! Be on the lookout for a special post here on the 4th. And, of course, stay tuned to our blog and Twitter feed as we move into a new era of healthcare in the U.S.!