Category: drugs

NICE: Hydrogen peroxide for impetigo

kaitiscotland2 Comments

 Adapted from :NICE issues antimicrobial prescribing guidance for impetigo

curated by Pavankumar Kamat UK Medical News 28 Feb 2020

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently published antimicrobial prescribing guidance which describes the antimicrobial strategy for adults, young people and children aged ≥72 hours with impetigo.

According to the new NICE guidance, GPs should prescribe topical hydrogen peroxide 1% instead of topical antibiotics for patients with localised non-bullous impetigo.
The guidance states that hydrogen peroxide 1% cream is as effective as topical antibiotics in patients with localised, non-bullous impetigo, provided they are not systemically unwell or at risk for complications.

If hydrogen peroxide 1% cream is not suitable or if symptoms have worsened or not improved, a short course of a topical antibiotic may be considered.
A topical or oral antibiotic is recommended for patients with widespread non-bullous impetigo, provided they are not systemically unwell or at risk for complications. Oral antibiotic treatment is recommended for patients who have bullous impetigo or if they are systemically unwell or at high risk for complications.
NICE does not recommend a combination of topical and oral antibiotic. There is no evidence that the combination works more effectively than a topical treatment alone.
The primary choice of topical antibiotic is fusidic acid 2%, and the secondary option is mupirocin 2%. The drug of choice for first-line oral antibiotic therapy is flucloxacillin, with clarithromycin and erythromycin (for pregnant women) as secondary choices.

References
Impetigo: antimicrobial prescribing: NICE guideline [NG153]. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. 2020 February.

My comment: Impetigo is a common skin infection caused by staphloccus which tends to colonise up people’s noses. It spreads rapidly in the nursery and primary school environments. Previously it was treated with oral penicillin. Children are advised to stay off school to reduce spread. Any effective topical, non antibiotic treatment, is welcome as this will help reduce antibiotic resistance.

NICE: Blood Pressure Update

kaitiscotland2 Comments

From Diagnosis and management of hypertension in adults. NICE guideline update 2019

BJGP Feb 2020 by Nicholas R Jones et al.

The last update by NICE was in 2011. The key changes are explained in this article.

High blood pressure is blood pressure over 140/90 if measured in the clinic.

Home measurements can be more reliable due to a natural rise in blood pressure in the clinic setting. Ambulatory monitoring can be done, but it is not always available or tolerated. My comment: The machine can be very uncomfortable and disrupts sleep. 

To take your blood pressure at home, take two readings, one minute apart, twice a day for 4 to 7 days.  Don’t count the first days readings. Then take the average of the others.

Hypertension is diagnosed if the average of home or ambulatory monitoring is over 135/85.

The BP should be taken standing for those people over 80, who have type two diabetes and if you have postural hypotension. You need to stand for at least a minute before taking the blood pressure and it is best to avoid talking. 

A blood pressure difference between the arms of over 15 mmHg is a marker for vascular disease. Thereafter the arm with the highest measurements should be chosen for monitoring.

Urgent admission is needed if the bp is over 180/110.

Target organ damage is assessed with looking at the retina, urine testing, U and E and eGFR, ECG and a cardiovascular risk score such as QRISK. Check up should be annually.

Lifestyle advice should be emphasised as this can result in taking fewer drugs.

People with blood pressures over 140/90 at the clinic or 135/85 who are aged 60 to 80 are currently advised to have treatment for their blood pressure. People over the age of 80 are fine with blood pressure targets lower than 150 systolic.

The treatment target for people with diabetes is now 140 systolic which is now the same as the general population.

The drugs to treat hypertension are:

ACE or ARB if type 2 diabetes, age under 55 or African or Caribbean origin.

The next step is to add a calcium channel blocker or thiazide like diuretic.

The next step is a combination of ACE or ARB, CCB and Thiazide.

If the potassium is less than 4.5, Spironolactone can be added as a next step.

If the potassium is over 4.5 then an alpha or beta blocker.

For all other patients the first step is a CCB or Thiazide. 

The next step is an ACE, ARB or Thiazide.

Then any combination of these.

If the potassium is under 4.5 then spironolactone can be added.

If the potassium is over 4.5 then an alpha or beta blocker can be added.

 

Take your blood pressure pills at night

kaitiscotland2 Comments

Adapted from BMJ Take anti-hypertensives at night says study. Susan Major 2 Nov 19

Taking your blood pressure medication at night gives you better blood pressure control and nearly halves cardiovascular events and deaths compared to taking them in the morning.

This study was done on nearly 20 thousand patients with an average age of 60 for six years. The reductions in events included cardiovascular death, heart attacks, coronary artery revascularisation, heart failure and stroke.

Professor of cardiovascular medicine at Sheffield, Tim Chico said, ” As taking medications at bedtime poses little risk there is enough evidence to recommend that patients consider taking their medication at bedtime.”

Dr Chris Palmer: Ketogenic diet now being used in mental health

kaitiscotland2 Comments

Dr Chris Palmer from Harvard has been using the low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets in practice for over 15 years now mostly for weight loss. Recently, he has found an anti-psychotic and mood stabilizing effect from specific types of the ketogenic diet. Now he is pursuing clinical research in this area to better understand the topic. As a result, he has also been speaking at national and international conferences.

Here area few of his podcasts/interviews:

http://lowcarbmd.com/episode-49-dr-chris-palmer-treating-schizophrenia-with-lifestyle

https://www.chrispalmermd.com/ketogenic-diet-psychology…/ and keto putting schizophrenia into remission.

https://www.chrispalmermd.com/ketogenic-diet-remission…/

https://www.chrispalmermd.com/keto-naturopath-by-karl-goldcamp-interview-christopher-palmer/

My comment: It is a very good idea for those people with schizophrenia to be on a low carb diet, mainly due to the side effects of the anti-psychotics which give people metabolic syndrome and diabetes. It is even better to hear that there conditions are improved so they are less reliant on these drugs.

HRT risks need to balanced with benefits

kaitiscotland2 Comments

Adapted from Editorial BMJ 19 October 19 by Janice Rymer et al.

In the UK most women go through the menopause aged between 45 and 55. About half of them will get symptoms such as flushes, sweats, low mood, anxiety, joint and muscle pain, vaginal dryness, reduced sex drive, and hip fractures in later life. Hormone replacement therapy can turn these symptoms around.

Women’s health specialists are concerned that a meta-analysis published in the Lancet does not evenly show the benefits of HRT compared to the risks and think that the NICE guidance in 2015 looked more comprehensively at all the available evidence. They don’t want either women or doctors to stop HRT unnecessarily.

The Lancet showed that in the UK one in 16 women who have never taken HRT will develop breast cancer between the ages of 50 and 69.  If a woman of normal body mass index (under 25) starts HRT in her 40s or 50s the additional risk of getting breast cancer is one in 200 for oestrogen only HRT, one in 70 for daily oestrogen and progestogen for part of the month, and one in 50 for preparations with a mix of oestrogen and progesterone daily.  But body weight and alcohol have a greater effect on getting breast cancer than HRT. For instance, being overweight or obese will increase the rate of breast cancer six times compared to combined HRT.

The Lancet study looked at how many cases of breast cancer started but did not look at the mortality rate. A recent systematic review did. This showed that if a woman started HRT close to the menopause there was an apparent reduction in all cause mortality and cardiac death with no evidence of an increase in deaths from breast cancer.

The womens’ health specialists are concerned that the bone benefits and cardiac benefits, especially for women going through an early menopause, will be ignored if undue weight is put on the small increase in breast cancer diagnosis, over the symptomatic benefits and improvement in total mortality.

BMJ 2019;367:15928

 

Self caring during illness

kaitiscotland2 Comments

Adapted from online presentation by Beverly Bostock ANP 7 May 2020

If you have diabetes you are more at risk of serious complications from Covid-19 and should seek medical advice early in the illness.

Any febrile illness can raise your blood sugars, including the prodromal phase when you don’t otherwise have symptoms. Once you are aware that you are coming down with something there are some useful ways of remembering how to monitor yourself.

Particularly for insulin users:

S – SUGAR – check your blood sugar more frequently than usual. For instance, if you would normally check your blood sugar every 5 hours during the day, double this to every 2.5 hours.

I – INSULIN – Adjust your insulin according to your blood sugars to keep within your target blood sugar level.

C – CARBOHYDRATE – If your blood sugar is low eat or drink more glucose or sugar/starch food items. If your blood sugar is high, drink plain water or more diet drinks.

K – KETONES – Use blood ketone stix or urine ketone stix to monitor your ketones if you are a type one diabetic every 4 hours or so. This is particularly important if you feel very ill, are nauseated, vomiting or have abdominal pain. If your ketones are high consider extra insulin, keep well hydrated and alert medical staff sooner rather than later.

Particularly for type twos:

It is important to keep well hydrated when you experience any illness but particularly an illness where you are febrile, or have  vomiting, limited oral intake, or severe diarrhea.

Some drugs can worsen your response to dehydrating illness and you may need to seek advice from a doctor, nurse or pharmacist about stopping certain drugs and when it is appropriate to restart them.

You can remember what they are with the mnemonic: SADMAN

SGLT2 inhibitors, ACE inhibitors, Diuretics, Metformin, ARBs, and Non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

 

 

 

Metformin reduces oesophageal cancer

kaitiscotland1 Comment

Adapted from Wang QL et al. American Journal of Gastroenterology 1st January 2020

Metformin users were at a lower risk of developing oesophageal squamous carcinoma than non metformin users.

A growing number of observational studies have shown that metformin reduces overall cancer risk and a few specific cancer types such as colon, rectal, breast and stomach.

A population based cohort study included over 400,000 metformin and an equal number of non metformin users who were matched by age and sex.

There were 3.5 cases of oesophageal cancer in the metformin group per 100,000 person/years and 5.3 in the non metformin group. This finding was true for men, women and those in their sixties.  The odds ratio was 0.68 for metformin use.

Dr Aseem Malhotra: What is wrong with how we try to prevent cardiovascular disease

kaitiscotland2 Comments

In part two of this series on cardiovascular disease Dr Aseem Malhotra, consultant cardiologist explains why putting faith in statins to resolve the cardiovascular disease epidemic is misguided. He explains that they only extend life by a matter of a few days yet need to be prescribed for years at considerable cost to the health service. Furthermore, he thinks that their side effects are not being explained to patients.

This is a medium length article which contains information on statins not readily seen in a single document.

https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/do-statins-really-work-who-benefits-who-has-the-power-to-cover-up-the-side-effects/

Dapagliflozin now approved for type ones in Scotland

kaitiscotland1 Comment

From Scottish Medicines Consortium 9 September 2019

Dapagliflozin has been accepted for the treatment of inadequately controlled type one diabetes mellitus as an adjunct to insulin if their body mass index is at or above 27.

The combination significantly improves glycaemic control.

My comment: In my experience the combination is also good for weight control. These findings have been known for several years from USA research so it is good that Scottish doctors are being encouraged in its use.

 

Heartburn can be treated with Imipramine

kaitiscotland2 Comments

From Cheong K et al. Low dose imipramine for refractory functional dyspepsia: a randomised double blind placebo controlled trial. Lancet Gastroenterology Hepatol. Oct 22 2018.

Heartburn is a miserable and very common symptom. It can be treated with antacids such as Peptac and Gaviscon and drugs such as Ranitidine and Omeprazole or Lansoprazole.  Domperidone, which increases gut motility can be used short term. But sometimes these don’t work.

Imipramine is an old anti depressant drug which was used in this recent drug trial for heartburn that had not responded to Esomeprazole and Domperidone.

107 patients entered the trial. The treatment arms were placebo or imipramine 25mg at night for two weeks, then 50mg a night for a total of 12 weeks.

In the Imipramine arm 63% of patients got a good reduction in symptom score compared to placebo’s 36.5%.

There was a higher rate of stopping the Imipramine, 18% versus 8% for the placebo. The side effects were dry mouth, constipation, drowsiness, insomnia, palpitations and blurred vision.

My comment: The re use of this old drug will be very helpful for patients who have run out of options for their heartburn. Many patients get an excellent effect when they go on a low carb diet too. The side effects of this are: slim down, lose belly fat, feel more energetic, clearer skin and for diabetics a great improvement in blood sugar control.