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PATIENT2PATIENT NEWSLETTER
February 2004
Please visit our Web site: www.Patient2Patient.net
"Because Information is the Best Medicine!"
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In This Issue:
* From the Director
* Quotation of the Month
* Alzheimer's and Parkinson's WebGuides Updates
* Subscription Discounts
* Patient2Patient In the News
* Sponsorships
* Feature Article - "Checking Your Medications"
* Humor
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~ From the Director ~
I recently visited a friend in Florida. Most of the year she lives in
the northeast, but during the winter she spends a great deal of time in
Florida. As she's battling cancer, she finds that the warm air and ocean
views provide her a great deal of physical and emotional relief. While
there, she also likes to take advantage of the fresh fruit and
vegetables.
As we were talking about her situation, including her treatments and
medications, she was drinking a big glass of Florida grapefruit juice.
Suddenly, a light went off in my head. "Did you know that a lot of
medications react with grapefruit juice?" I asked her. She wasn't aware
of this. So I offered to check her medications for interactions with
grapefruit juice, using one of the drug interaction databases that we
recommend in our Patient2Patient WebGuides.
Sure enough, two of the major medications that she is taking can be
adversely affected by grapefruit juice!
Now, this is not the place for a lengthy explanation (and I am not the
expert), but basically, grapefruit juice can disrupt the work of enzymes
in the small intestines that break down medications before they go into
the blood stream. This means that drugs can enter the bloodstream in a
dangerously high concentration.
That's why it is so important to check the drugs you are taking using a
drug interaction and contraindication database. What you may discover
about the drugs you are taking is critical to your well-being. These
databases can alert you to potentially serious side effects caused by
mixing together certain medications. And you may discover that your
medications have the potential to adversely interact with other
supplements, herbs or even foods.
Drug interaction and contraindication databases are one of the many
important Internet resources contained in our Patient2Patient WebGuides.
So based on my friend's experience, for this month's Featured Article,
we are providing you with one of our recommended databases for checking
drug interactions.
As we do in our WebGuides, we're also including detailed navigation
instructions on how to find and use this database. That's because we
know how vast and overwhelming the Internet can feel. Our WebGuides
point you directly to vital medical tools and information often buried
deep within it.
Now if you're anything like me, you probably already spend enormous
amounts of time sorting, selecting and taking medications. You may feel
"Enough Already!" But given all the time and energy (and money) that you
invest in your drug regimen --and considering how important it is to
your health -- please take an hour to double-check the drugs you are
taking.
Andrew Robinson, J.D.
Executive Director
Patient2Patient
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~ Quotation of the Month ~
"It is much more important to know what sort of patient has a disease
than what sort of a disease a person has."
--Sir William Osler--
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~ Alzheimer's and Parkinson's WebGuide Updates ~
A reminder to our Subscribers that the Updated Alzheimer's and
Parkinson's disease WebGuides are now available. To access your
WebGuide, go to the Homepage: www.Patient2Patient.net, click on the
Subsciber's button and enter your login information.
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~ Subscription Discounts ~
If you are a member of a disease-related organization or group, take
advantage of the group discounts offered by Patient2Patient when
purchasing any of our Medical WebGuides.
Patient2Patient WebGuides provide quick access to the best and most
current information on the Internet for your condition. Our Alzheimer's
and Parkinson's disease WebGuides contain more than 200 interactive
pages, organized into more than twenty topic areas, including Web sites
offering the latest medical, treatment, support and news as well as
valuable caregiver resources.
The way our group discounts work is: The individual members of eligible
organizations can receive a discount on a one-year WebGuide
subscription. In addition, your organization or group will receive a
percentage from the sale to benefit its ongoing work.
For information, contact Andrew Robinson, Executive Director at
ajrob@Patient2Patient.net
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~ Patient2Patient In the News! ~
As mentioned last month, Patient2Patient recently signed a licensing
agreement for use of its ongoing series of Medical WebGuides with the
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). NRECA has
nearly 1000 member cooperatives that serve 36 million people in 47
states. We are very gratified to help the members and families of NRECA
by providing them with our Webguides. For further information about
NRECA go to: www.NRECA.org.
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~ Sponsorships ~
Ideally, we'd like to create a WebGuide for every existing disease. So
if you know of an individual, organization or group that may be
interested in sponsoring a Patient2Patient WebGuide, please contact us
at Sponsorship@patient2patient.net. You'll be helping thousands of
patients in need of critical and credible health information.
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~ Feature Article: Checking Your Medications ~
Drug interaction databases are extremely important and useful tools. In
fact, they can save your life.
Briefly, these databases allow you to input the names of your different
medications to alert you to any potential side effects when taking these
drugs individually or in combination. The best databases also inform you
when your medications could adversely interact with supplements,
over-the-counter drugs, or certain foods.
We particularly recommend the drug database provided by Health Scout, a
private commercial company founded by physicians, which is found at
www.healthscout.com. This database allows you to check for drug-on-drug
interactions, interactions with certain foods or supplements, and it
provides a unique ranking system for determining the level of risk for
drug interactions.
Note: Before you can use the site's database, you must read (or at least
agree to) a liability waiver, which states that the information provided
is not absolute.
To use the Health Scout database:
1. Go to the home page at: www.healthscout.com
2. Scroll down and click on "Drug Interactions" located on the left
side panel under "Drug Information"
3. You must agree to the site disclaimer to continue
4. Enter a drug name into the search box titled "Build Your List of
Medicines," and click "Search now"
5. Highlight your chosen medication. Then click on the "Add
Medicine" button
6. To add more, type the next medication into search box titled
"Enter Drug Name," and click "search now." Then highlight your chosen
medication and click on the "Add Medicine" button
7. When your Medications List is complete, click on "Check Interactions
Now"
In our experience, the Health Scout system can be a little "finicky."
Sometimes you have to re-enter drug names. But overall, it is a very
good database.
Of course, you can't rely on any single database for all of the most
current information concerning drugs, medications or even treatment.
That is why our WebGuides provide you with a selection of the best and
most useful databases available on the Internet.
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~ Humor ~
Two friends (not too bright) are sitting at a bar drinking and
celebrating. After watching them for a while, the bartender asks what
the occasion is.
"We just finished doing a 500 word picture puzzle in six months!"
Boasted one of the friends.
"Six months?" said the bartender, "That seems like a long time."
"Are you kidding," replied the other friend, "Why on the box it said 6 -
8 years!"
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Feel Good!
The Staff of Patient2Patient
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We welcome your comments about this newsletter and our WebGuides -
Feedback@patient2patient.net.
(c) Copyright 2004 Patient2Patient, LLC.
296 Eleventh Street, NYC 11215.
You are welcome to forward this issue to someone you know, in its
entirety (without cutting).
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