Category: Drugs
Act fast if you feel you have COVID symptoms, Medicare urges
Feeling sick? If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, act fast!COVID-19 antiviral treatments can help reduce your symptoms and keep you out of the hospital, but you must take them as soon as possible.
Turning 50? Here are 4 things you can do to improve your health and well-being
There are four things in particular that take on greater importance when you turn 50 – that go beyond general health advice that’s beneficial at any age, like staying active, eating well and getting enough sleep.
Use of psychedelics to treat PTSD, OCD, depression and chronic pain – a researcher discusses recent trials, possible risks
So it’s important to keep that in mind when we look at the results from some of these recent trials that these are not drugs that are being administered in isolation. You are not taking home a bottle of pills and taking those twice a day as you would, say, an antidepressant. These are administered in a very particular way.
States, Cities Scramble to Combat Animal ‘Tranq’ in Street Drugs
Also known as tranq, xylazine can give users horrific skin lesions that can result in amputations. It also can cause hourslong blackouts, putting users at risk of theft, rape and exposure to extreme weather.
Medication abortion could get harder to obtain – or easier: There’s a new wave of post-Dobbs lawsuits on abortion pills
Medication abortion now accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States, but there are a raft of new legal battles that may expand or limit access.
King County and the City of Seattle will no longer require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition of employment.
With King County’s high level of vaccination booster uptake and lower levels of community spread, hospitalizations due to COVID infection remained at a safe level, making the overall risk forecast low enough to lift the mandate for employees, volunteers, and contractors.
NEW CASE OF MEASLES IN KING COUNTY
The individual was at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Providence Swedish First Hill while infectious. Anyone who was at these locations within the time span that this person passed through may have been exposed to measles.
Child Vaccination Rates, Already Down Because of COVID, Fall Again
Child vaccination rates dipped into dangerous territory during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were shuttered, and most doctors were only seeing emergency patients. But instead of recovering after schools reopened in 2021, those historically low rates worsened. Experts fear that the skepticism of science and distrust of government that flared up during the pandemic are contributing to the decrease.
More States Are Doing What They Can to Cap Insulin Costs
In response to the steep rise in out-of-pocket costs for insulin over the past two decades — enough to compel many diabetic patients to ration their use of the medicine — nearly two dozen states have passed measures in the past few years capping the out-of-pocket costs for some patients.
China’s COVID situation is dire – but it shouldn’t pose a big risk to other countries
In contrast to China at the outset of this wave, most countries by now have high immunity and protection against severe disease and death from COVID. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has noted that China’s surge “is not expected to impact the COVID-19 epidemiological situation” in Europe.
COVID in 2023 and beyond – why virus trends are more difficult to predict three years on
So how will the pandemic be felt in 2023? This question is in some ways impossible to answer, given a number of unknowns. In early 2020 the scientific community was focused on determining key parameters that could be used to make projections as to the severity and extent of the spread of the virus. Now, the complex interplay of COVID variants, vaccination and natural immunity makes that process far more difficult and less predictable.
Get help paying for prescriptions
Many Washington residents need help paying for prescription drugs. The Washington Prescription Drug Program (WPDP) offers a state-sponsored program to provide savings to Washingtonians through the ArrayRx discount card.
As viral infections skyrocket, masks are still a tried-and-true way to help keep yourself and others safe
Wearing a surgical mask in an indoor public setting reduces the odds of testing positive for COVID-19 by 66%, and wearing an N95/KN95 type of mask lowers the odds of testing positive by 83%.
Local health officials and health system leaders in Washington state urge public to wear masks while in indoor spaces, keep up-to-date on vaccines
In addition to RSV and influenza, new COVID-19 variants are taking hold and immunity from past vaccination is waning for many people who have not yet received an updated booster shot.
As Overdose Deaths Rise, Few Emergency Rooms Offer Addiction Help
Medical professionals and addiction treatment advocates have long argued that buprenorphine, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, should be available in every emergency room in the country — just like drugs for heart attacks, strokes and diabetic emergencies. And they argue that emergency physicians should have basic training in addiction medicine and be licensed to write a take-home prescription for buprenorphine.