{"id":8889,"date":"2006-03-29T09:41:45","date_gmt":"2006-03-29T16:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/03\/29\/paging-dr-mccoy.html"},"modified":"2006-03-29T09:41:45","modified_gmt":"2006-03-29T16:41:45","slug":"paging_dr_mccoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/29\/paging_dr_mccoy.html","title":{"rendered":"Paging Dr. McCoy …"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of recent and ongoing developments in finding ways other than needles to administer medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In January, drug giant Pfizer won approval to market inhalable insulin, a product that in three years is expected to produce $1 billion annually as diabetics abandon injections.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough is one of the most high-profile advances yet among a small cadre of physicians committed to eliminating — or at least dramatically reducing — needle use in medical treatments. Despite entrenched needle use among doctors, researchers are moving ahead with a number of injection alternatives, from micro-needles too tiny to inflict pain, to new forms of pills capable of delivering drug payloads orally.<\/p>\n

“This is a big bone of contention with me,” said John Patton, chief scientific officer of Nektar Therapeutics and co-inventor of the first FDA-approved inhalable insulin. “The medical profession does not think needles are a problem for people after they get used to them, and that it’s just something that they can deal with. They just don’t realize that people don’t like needles at all.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I suppose it’s a lot easier when you’re on the administering end than on the receiving end.<\/p>\n

The advantage of needles, of course, is direct delivery to the bloodstream. But not only are needles dangerous (385,000 needle-stick injuries to health-care workers in hospitals a year), but they may actually inhibit people seeking out treatment.<\/p>\n

All of us instinctively shrink from needles, although most can overcome the flight reflex in order to undergo necessary medical treatments. But a surprisingly large minority of people suffer a form of needle phobia so extreme that they would rather let severe injuries and illnesses go untreated than get stuck with a pointy piece of metal.<\/p>\n

Family physician Dr. James Hamilton is the author of the only large, peer-reviewed study on the phenomenon, “Needle Phobia: A Neglected Diagnosis,” published in the August 1995 issue of The Journal of Family Practice. Hamilton, who himself suffers from needle phobia, found that the malady is often overlooked or not taken seriously by doctors, although it may affect up to 10 percent of the population.<\/p>\n

Keith Lamb, another needle-phobia sufferer who is co-writing a book on the condition with Hamilton, said he’s interviewed 1,500 people with severe needle phobias, and almost all of them have encountered doctors who don’t take their issues with needles seriously.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hate needles with a passion such that I can’t watch even a simulated injection on TV or in a movie. It doesn’t stop me from getting needed injections (or giving blood, for that matter), but I can understand how it might for some people.<\/p>\n

Anything that can make medication application safer, less painful, and less stressful, sounds like a fine idea to me, whether doctors think it’s “necessary” or not.<\/p>\n

(via GeekPress<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of recent and ongoing developments in finding ways other than needles to administer medicine. In January, drug giant Pfizer won approval to market inhalable insulin, a product that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11365,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/09\/12\/needles.html","url_meta":{"origin":8889,"position":0},"title":"Needles!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 12-Sep-07 9:00am","format":false,"excerpt":"HP is looking to leverage its inkjet technology for a medicine delivery system that could obsolete the dreaded hypodermic needle. The company is licensing a medical patch it has...","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/health"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/hypo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":39002,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/03\/needles-to-the-heart.html","url_meta":{"origin":8889,"position":1},"title":"Needles! To the heart!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-Oct-13 1:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I really dislike needles, though frankly my squeamishness to seeing them is not all that different between when they are gently inserted into an arm and jammed into a heart.But the latter will likely kill you, Pulp Fiction notwithstanding.Reshared post from +Les JenkinsI laugh every time I see a movie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5498,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/03\/03\/responding_to_c.html","url_meta":{"origin":8889,"position":2},"title":"Responding to customer demand","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Mar-04 10:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"That's just great. A UN drug agency notes that apparently too many people, particularly middle-class Americans, find the idea of injecting heroin to be too icky. The result? Drug traffickers...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19068,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/01\/unblogged-bits-mon-1-nov-10-1131.html","url_meta":{"origin":8889,"position":3},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Mon. 1-Nov-10 1131)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 1-Nov-10 11:31am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... \u2018Kill Some Crackers\u2019: GOP Group Pays Fox Affiliates To Influence Election With Anti-Obama Propaganda - Stay classy, \"National Republican Trust\"! Pompeo Supporter Urges Voters To \u2018Vote American\u2019 Against Indian-American Opponent Raj Goyle - Aw,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129444,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/10\/oh-good-anti-vaxxers-are-becoming-anti-vitaminers.html","url_meta":{"origin":8889,"position":4},"title":"Oh, good: anti-vaxxers are becoming anti-vitaminers","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 10-Jan-16 9:05pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because it's obvious that you can't trust Big Medicine and Big Science because Reasons! So if your doctor says your infant should get a shot of Vitamin K to prevent brain bleeding, obviously she's lying to you and you should not get Little Billy such a shot! And if you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5239,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/04\/21\/ive_been_dreami.html","url_meta":{"origin":8889,"position":5},"title":"I’ve been dreaming about this since Dr. McCoy …","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 21-Apr-04 1:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Injections without needles? Far out. James Weaver of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues developed the novel procedure, which is known as microscission. It uses minuscule inert crystals...","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}