Best Allergy Care

Allergy shots prove cost effective in yet another study.  They result in substantial savings of medical expenses for both children and adults.  “Allergen-specific immunotherapy is cost-effective for hay fever sufferers,” according to findings presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology meeting. Researchers reviewed Florida Medicaid claims of “1,265 adults and 2,886 children who got allergen-specific immunotherapy after diagnosis” from July 1997 through June 2008. The adults “incurred $7,286 less in overall healthcare costs over 18 months — a 41% savings — if they received immunotherapy specific to their environmental allergies,” and the children saw healthcare cost savings of “52% as well — $5,921 on average — from such immunotherapy injections.” The savings were for pharmacy costs, outpatient costs including immunotherapy, and inpatient costs

The latest research on human obesity is using monkeys as the research subject. This is because monkeys are closest to humans when it comes to research implications from other animals.  It was not the sedentary enforced on the monkeys or even the availability of excess calories to ingest that caused the weight gain.  It was the introduction of high fructose corn syrup into their diets that caused the monkeys to finally gain weight.  It has long been suspected that high fructose corn syrup is the food type that most contributes to human obesity.  It should be avoided as much as possible.

President Obama is creating a research division for pharmaceutical medications.  While $1 billion does not sound like a huge investment compared to the $45 billion the pharmaceutical industry invests each year for research, it is actually significant.  Much of the research the pharmaceutical industry invests is for “ me- too” drugs, medications that compete in the market place with medications that already do the same thing.  For example, there must be 7 or 8 prescription cortisone nose sprays that basically do the same thing medically.

More significantly, the government can target critical research that might not be commercially viable in the near future.  The National Institute of Health did pharmaceutical research for years.  It was the NIH that developed the first antiretroviral, AZT, to become the first AIDS drug and the prototype for all the AIDS medications to follow.

Most of you remember five years ago when a scandal broke out over the side effects of the new prescription medications, Vioxx and Celebrex. They are in the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory class of medications. Vioxx was actually removed from the market. Now a British study of the older medications in this class shows that the very commonly used, over the counter, medication, Advil (ibuprofen), as well as the rest of the class increase the heart attack rates and stroke rates three times. We will see how long it takes the FDA to remove Advil from over the counter. My guess is ten years. The safest drug of this class appears to be Naprosen, available in high dose as a presription and over the counter, known as Aleve.

So I advise you to reduce and eliminate these medications from your medicine cabinets. And do not substitute with Tylenol. It has very high liver toxicity. Maybe old fashioned aspirin is our best alternative. And of course treating the cause of pain is preferred. Aquatherapy (swimming) is going to become the treatment of choice for orthopedic pain.