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capsule moments

ARGYRIA:

Colloidal silver is a suspension of silver particles in a colloidal base.  Historically, a number of colloidal silver salts have been marketed and some of these products were recognized as official in the United States Pharmacopeia and the U.S. National Formulary.  However, they haven’t appeared in these publications since 1975 since none was found to be safe and effective.  Silver nitrate (remember the sticks?) was used as an astringent and as a smoking deterrent.  As a smoking deterrent, silver nitrate was found to be totally ineffective or safe.  But products are still being flogged online and found in health food stores.  I had to laugh at the list of maladies that silver products were supposed to cure.  Today, all recognized texts like Goodman and Gilman, Remington and The Dispensatory of the U.S. state there is no justification for the use of silver products.

EXERCISE LOWERING BLOOD PRESSURE:

A meta-study of 194 trials looked at the impact of drugs lowering blood pressure and 197 trials testing the impact of structured exercise.  These trials involved 40,000 persons  but none of them directly compared exercise against medication.  The team found that blood pressure was lower in those treated with drugs than in those following structured exercise programs but when the analysis was restricted to just those with high blood pressure exercise seemed to be just as effective as medication.

VALSALVA MANEUVER:

I remember this pain quite vividly when my family was on a flight to Toronto.  My daughter had a cold and experienced this ear pain when the plane took off and landed.  Fortunately, an astute flight attendant knew of the Valsalava maneuver and was able to relieve my daughter’s pain in a minute or two.  I was curious how this procedure got its name.  Evidently, it is named after Antonio Maria Valsalva, a 17th century physician and anatomist from Bologna, Italy.  His main area of interest was the ear and described the estachian tube and how this maneuver could reduce the pain in the inner ear.  Some of the risk factors that might exacerbate this ear pain besides the common cold include sinus infection, hay fever, middle ear infection and sleeping on an airplane during ascent and descent.

CANE USE:

I was prompted to add this comment to this week’s column by a fellow Rotarian who has been waiting for a hip replacement for a few months.  He told me he just found out he has been using the cane on the wrong side all this time.  I guess nobody told him when he bought the cane.  It is counterintuitive to use the cane on the good side but it’s better all around.