Most states in the U.S. have legalized marijuana in some form, and that’s having an impact on pups as well as people, veterinarians say.
"Dogs will get into anything and everything," warns Dr. Dorrie Black, a San Francisco vet.
“Everything” includes remainders of a joint or edible marijuana on the street or in parks, and even pot-tainted human feces – now a feature of many urban streets.
"Dogs love that [poop] scent," Black tells NPR. "To them it's perfume." But any product or human byproduct that contains THC – the key psychoactive element of marijuana -- can make pets sick.
Signs of canine intoxication can include nervousness, wobbly movements, dribbling urine or a glazed look in the eyes.
Read more on what to do if you think your dog might be high
|
Robert Lang Photography/Getty Images |
A pediatrician typically treats kids and teenagers, but a geriatrician’s patients can range across five decades -- from around age 60 to 100 years old, or more.
“I need to be a different sort of doctor for people at different ages and phases of old age,” says Dr. Louise Aronson, a geriatrician and author of Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life.
New symptoms in younger adults often signal a single, unifying diagnosis, Aronson says. But, by the time we’re in our 70s or 80s, we may have several underlying conditions or drug interactions that contribute to our symptoms.
Careful doctors who recognize that interplay can better help their patients heal and thrive.
Sometimes a new or old medicine is the problem, Aronson notes. Her rule of thumb: “Any medication can do anything” in an older person, in terms of side effects.
Why? Because tests of new drugs typically don’t include older adults, she tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. That means the medicine’s label may not include side effects that are likelier to arise in someone whose metabolism or liver function is slowing with age, or who is on multiple meds.
“Even if the medication stays the same, the person may be changing,” Aronson says.
Read and listen to more tips on how to thrive at every age
|
Your surgeon’s gifts with a scalpel may be legendary, but if the doctor doesn’t also play well with others, watch out.
Research that looked at interactions between surgeons and their teams found that patients of surgeons who behaved unprofessionally around their colleagues tended to have a higher rate of complications after surgery.
What’s the connection?
In one example the study authors cite, a surgeon responded to a nurse who asked for a safety-related break by telling the nurse to "get going, without all this timeout nonsense.”
Another surgeon reportedly yelled at a fellow doctor for five minutes after the physician started the patient on medicine to raise blood pressure that had sunk too low.
Such abrasive behavior could discourage a colleague from speaking up about patients' needs in the future, the study’s authors say.
Read more about why compassion makes for better surgery
|
More of this week's health stories from NPR |
We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us on Twitter at @NPRHealth.
Your Shots editor,
Deborah Franklin |
| | What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: shots@npr.org |
|
|
|
| | Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment