Posted on 11/14/2018 7:19:09 AM PST by rktman
A conversation about how much you drink might be part of your next doctor’s visit.
The United States Preventative Services Task Force is advising that all adults, not just pregnant women, be screened for unhealthy alcohol use by their primary care providers, CNN reports.
Doctors should provide brief counseling to patients they find are drinking above the recommended limits, according to a new statement published in the medical journal JAMA on Tuesday (Nov. 13).
In an editorial accompanying the statement, Angela Bazzi and Dr. Richard Saitz of the Boston University School of Public Health wrote that implementation of screening and brief intervention remains quite low among doctors – only 1 in 6 patients in the United States report having discussed alcohol with their physician.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
I lost all my fire water in a boating accident.
Works for many questions, with a little modification.
The trouble is it all goes into a database now that is accessed by people you wouldn’t tell your secrets to.
There is no more confidentiality. A few weeks ago I went to a new GP (first time in 10 years) and aside from all of the intrusive ?’s:
Do you smoke? Nope.
Do you drink? Nope
Do you have guns? Nope
Do you wear your seatbelt all the time? Yup.
Are you ever depressed? Nope.
etc.... Some of those answers are lies.
They wanted to take a picture with the laptop to add to my medical record. So Facebook and Google and Alexa and cameras at toll booths can report any smoking, drinking or if I eat 3 cupcakes?
Maybe not, but we’re headed there, I think.
So, although I liked this office and could use some confidential medical attention I’m not going back.
PS - I didn’t allow my picture to be taken. If I go back they say I MUST.
This, in addition to checking my guns and who knows what else: Do they have time to practice REAL medicine?
On the other hand asking an addict how much he uses is not likely to produce reliable information.
What would help would be an easy to print computer generated chart which would show how many drinks would put the patient over .08 BAC, thus making him legally drunk.
Other alcohol facts could be included. A friend whose wife was the classic buzz drunk ... a frequently encountered female pattern, told me that she tucked away a bottle of wine a day. He went on to say, “Nothing wrong with that. They all do that in France.”
Well, yeah, no. “They all” in France average a half-bottle of wine a day. Maybe 3 glasses ... a day, one at lunch, two at dinner?
It was classic! A conservative professor and scholar who usually checked his facts hauled out a cultural myth to minimize his wife's problem. Moral: Addiction makes people stupid.
Info sheets on addiction, including alcoholism, could be part of the routine handouts.
“One ‘flu shot? Yes! Four tequila shots? Maybe not.”
Who can afford to go to a doctor anymore?
You want “free” health care? The Nanny State comes with it.
Utterly predictable.
One; meaning one after another, or
Two; meaning I only count the first one and last one, the ones in between dont count.
Last questionnaire they asked about guns(Jan 2018). It was over twenty pages long not counting insurance, a will, legal forms on medication abuse, mandatory pee and blood tests( just in case but mandatory all the same). A ton of psych questions that was smaller than an MMPI but not by much. Everything but a Rorschach test. All staff had iPads that kept freezing and one room had a nurse practitioner ( and others) with google glasses. Found another doctor after that but it’s the same forms sans the google goggles. It was danged creepy.
“Doctors should provide brief counseling to patients they find are drinking above the recommended limits..”
Shove your recommended limits....I’ll decide. Just about everytime you go into a doctors office you get asked these questions.
Not until they screen all politicians for recreational drugs!
Last time my doctor asked me about my drinking and smoking I asked him, “who wants to know?”
Medications for alcohol use disorder can work well for people who want to stop drinking or drink a lot less.
Disulfiram (Antabuse) (since 1951)
Naltrexone (reduces cravings and feelings of pleasure)
Acamprosate (Campral) eases withdrawal symptoms — such as insomnia, anxiety, restlessness, and feeling blue
Two other drugs, gabapentin and topiramate, also interact with GABA and glutamate systems. The FDA approved them to treat seizures, but health care professionals sometimes prescribe them “off-label” for alcohol use disorder. Studies show that they may help people avoid drinking, drink less, and have fewer cravings.
Well, if they can discriminate against smokers by charging higher premiums, then they should likewise do it for any risky behaviour that could be a detriment to health like drinking or buttsecks.
When they ask me how much I drink I say “a lot”. If they try and pin me down I say “I don’t keep track”.
Agreed about the answers. My point still remains, they can discriminate against certain classes of individuals already with impunity. What makes this any different (drinking vs. smoking vs. any other legal but potentially detrimental choices one could make regarding their health).
Answer: certain classes are either protected or haven’t been publicly ostracized enough to make it acceptable to discriminate against them also - even in the face of incontrovertible facts.
Perhaps someone should investigate these physicians and Big Pharma and question the millions of generic poison prescriptions being handed out from foreign manufacturers that are laced with fillers they have no idea what they are, e.g., cancer-causing agents, ground glass, monkey intestines, etc.
Chinese-Made Losartan Recall | More Cancer Concern
First came a valsartan recall because of suspected carcinogen contamination. Then irbesartan was recalled. Now there is a losartan recall. What’s going on?
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