Show 1174: What to Do About Skeeter Syndrome
The People's Pharmacy
Joe and Terry Graedon
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2019
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have your summer evenings outside been spoiled by the whine of a mosquito coming in for a bite? How do you deal with the resulting itch? Mosquito bites usually itch for a while and then go away, but some people suffer excessively. Do you have skeeter syndrome? Although it sounds fanciful, we actually found this term in a medical paper. Find out about the remedies people have used and share your own favorites.
How Do Anticholinergic Drugs Affect Your Brain?
Could the medicines you are taking contribute to cognitive decline? A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine has strengthened the link between certain drugs, termed anticholinergic medicines, and an increased risk of dementia. The study covered a quarter million Britons in primary care practices. Almost 59,000 of them had been diagnosed with some type of dementia. Comparing them to others of similar age without dementia revealed that those taking anticholinergic drugs were 50 percent more likely to develop difficulties with memory, concentration and judgment. Are you taking any medications that might hasten cognitive decline? (You can find a list of anticholinergic drugs here.)
Neuropathy Caused by Statins:
Statin medications lower cholesterol, so doctors prescribe them to a wide range of people at risk for heart disease. The questions of who should be taking statins and whether these medicines also carry some significant risks have been quite polarizing. Many physicians, especially cardiologists, think that the benefits of statins for most patients clearly outweigh the risks. Yet researchers continue to present evidence of potentially serious side effects such as long-lasting neuropathy (pain or lack of feeling due to nerve damage). The latest is German research published in JAMA Network Open this spring (May 31, 2019).
How do you make sense of the great statin debate? Have you taken statins and found them helpful? Or have you experienced side effects that loomed larger than the benefits?
Join the Conversation:
Our lines are open for your questions and comments this week. Call 888-472-3366 between 7 and 8 am EDT on Saturday, August 3, 2019. You can also reach us by email: radio@peoplespharmacy.com.
Listen to the Podcast:
The podcast of this program will be available the Monday after the broadcast date. The show can be streamed online from this site and podcasts can be downloaded for free.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Joe Gradyton and I'm Terry Grady. Welcome to this podcast of the People's Pharmacy. |
| 0:06.1 | You can find previous podcasts and more information on a range of health topics at |
| 0:11.5 | People's Pharm pharmacy.com. |
| 0:16.0 | Have you ever been bitten by a mosquito? |
| 0:18.0 | Who hasn't? |
| 0:20.0 | What would you do if the itching and swelling lasted for weeks? |
| 0:24.0 | This is the People's Pharmacy with Joe and Terry Grayden. Skeeter syndrome is a real medical condition. Some people are super sensitive to |
| 0:40.8 | mosquito bites. What do you do for your mosquito bites? |
| 0:45.0 | Is there a simple trick to stop the itching for hours? |
| 0:48.0 | Some medicines can increase the risk for dementia. |
| 0:51.0 | Which ones are they? |
| 0:52.0 | And how concern should you be about |
| 0:54.6 | anti-colonergic drugs? Do cholesterol lowering medicines affect nerves? Research |
| 1:00.9 | shows that lowering cholesterol levels in patients with type 2 diabetes |
| 1:05.2 | increases their chance of developing diabetic poly neuropathy. In the People's Pharmacy Health Headlines, could Blueberries improve blood pressure and |
| 1:21.6 | cognitive function in older people. |
| 1:24.0 | Several different studies published in the Journal of Gerontology |
| 1:28.0 | offer promising results. |
| 1:30.0 | When it comes to cognitive performance, |
| 1:32.0 | it seems that those who already notice some impairment might benefit the most from consuming a daily cup of wild blueberries. |
| 1:40.0 | In one study, in rats, the animals that perform poorly on a water maze test significantly |
| 1:46.7 | improved their performance after six months of blueberry supplementation in their chow. |
... |
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