Tag: Larry Frieders

Scott was 85 years old when he died. He was recently diagnosed with cancer and began treatment. His health rapidly declined and he was removed from life support and allowed to die, about 60 days after diagnosis. Many factors surrounded Scott’s death, but one has my attention: The fact that...

Aspirin is a common, non-prescription, drug. It was discovered in 1834 by a Swiss pharmacist. It gained popularity in the late 1890s in the form of acetylsalicylic acid. A chemist, Felix Hoffmann, at Bayer in Germany, used it to alleviate his father’s rheumatism. Beginning in 1899, Bayer distributed it to...

You have the symptoms commonly associated with Multiple Sclerosis and your doctor has made the diagnosis. Maybe you’ve been told you have Relapsing-Remitting, Secondary-Progressive, Progressive-Relapsing, Fulminate, or even Benign MS. Regardless of the names, or initials added to your medical record, you now have an official medical diagnosis of Multiple...

I worked in a retail pharmacy that offered regular health screenings; vision, hearing, skin cancer, and so on. During one of the events, a dermatologist was busy examining a long line of individuals who want her to look at their spots. I overheard many of the conversations and most of...

Topical steroid creams long have been a standard treatment for skin rashes caused by infections, insect bites, and a wide array of contact irritants. They are considered relatively safe as prescription items, and some milder versions, hydrocortisone, for example, are available over-the-counter (OTC), without a prescription. Ironically, instead of relieving...