FDA crackdowns and a shortage of staff in the pharmaceutical industry are making it harder to get controlled substance prescriptions filled. On October 12, 2022, the FDA announced a shortage of instant-release Adderall. Like many companies, Teva pharmaceuticals, the leading manufacturer of generic Adderall, has had trouble hiring people resulting in shortages of medications in pharmacies. The Adderall shortage has led to …
Orthostatic Vital Signs to Evaluate Medication Effects
Many of the medications that psychiatrists prescribe can affect the body’s ability to respond to changes in blood pressure that occur naturally when you stand up, after being in a sitting or lying position for some time – orthostatic vital signs are taken as part of an evaluation of that risk. Heart rate and blood pressure should be obtained when …
Blue Spectrum Light
Blue spectrum light, as emitted by electronic screens of all kinds disrupts sleep patterns and circadian rhythms when they are used in the evening and at night. These disruptions are especially problematic for people with mood disorders, who often experience difficulty sleeping and maintaining regular daily schedules of activities. We recommend blue light blocking glasses that block at least 90% …
Dr. Peter Forster To Receive Excellence in Teaching Award for 2022
Dr. Peter Forster has been selected by UCSF’s The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators as one of the recipients of their annual peer-nominated Excellence in Teaching Award for 2022 (Academic Year 2021-2022). “The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educator’s (Academy or AME) core value is supporting the people who advance the education mission of UCSF by fostering …
Suicide Prevention
10 USEFUL* things you can do for suicide prevention *Spoiler: none of these things are about “fixing” a suicidal person. I’d like to apologize for missing the actual National Suicide Prevention Day, which was September 10, but, really, any day is a good day to talk about suicide prevention. Suicide prevention is not a matter of telling your distressed friend …
Antidepressant Effectiveness – A Meta-Analysis Says They Work Well for a Minority
How can we assess antidepressant effectiveness? A series of articles have come to seemingly incompatible conclusions about how well they work. An article in the British Medical Journal published in 2022 suggests that the answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no. This article is another attempt to examine existing data from the thousands of people who have …
Microdosing Psilocybin and Psilocybin Assisted Psychotherapy – Safe and Effective?
Recently there has been a lot of interest in using psilocybin as a treatment for depression, anxiety and alcohol use disorder. We certainly need more safe and effective treatments. It may be worth considering where we are in the evaluation of these agents. Right now there is a growing literature supporting the potential value of these agents, but there is …
Ketogenic Diet
Diets and Moods Evidence for the importance of diet for mental health is slowly gathering. People are looking into the importance of specific diets like the Mediterranean diet, which we have highlighted here before. And the next big area of research into diet and mental health looks like being the ketogenic diet. Many people have heard of the Atkins diet, …
More on Finding a Psychiatrist – From a Colleague
We attach this information, which was provided to us by a trusted colleague, for those who are trying to find a particular kind of help and have not had luck so far. If you are interviewing psychiatrists (or therapists) who will work hard to help you achieve the results you are looking for, on your terms, consider the following approach. …
Get Labs Drawn at Your Home or Office
Mobile Phlebotomy ServiceSprinter Healthhttps://www.sprinterhealth.com/ Where They Draw Serving the entire Bay Area, and growing throughout California and parts of the US.During the booking process, you can see if they serve your location. Timing They will come to your home or office as early as 7 AM, with one-hour windowsThey have scheduling as convenient as next-day What They Draw LabCorp and …