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Looking Out for Your Own Wellbeing

By Michael Jorrin, "Doc Gumshoe", April 20, 2018

[ed. note: Michael Jorrin, who I call Doc Gumshoe, is a longtime medical writer (not a doctor) who writes for us about medicine and health a couple times a month. He has agreed to our trading and disclosure restrictions, but does not generally write directly about investment ideas. His ideas, thoughts and words are his own, and you can see all his past pieces here.]

Yesterday, the check-engine light in my Jeep came on.   This, annoyingly, happens from time to time even when the vehicle is running just fine.   As we all know, when the check-engine light starts blinking on and off when you’re driving, it’s a sign that something is really wrong and we shouldn’t obliviously keep going until disaster strikes, but even if it’s not blinking, we should get it checked out at “our earliest convenience,” which, for me, was this afternoon.

I drove to the establishment of the auto mechanics who have been taking care of our vehicles for about twenty years, and the owner plugged the little computer in, switched off the check-engine light, and told me that he would attend to it if came back on. This has happened quite a few times before, and the cause can be as trivial as the gas cap not being screwed on tightly.   Or as non-trivial as a leak in the fuel line.

As I drove home, it struck me that having a reliable long-time auto mechanic who knows you and knows your car is something like having a long-time primary care physician who knows you and knows your state of health.   And perhaps most important, “and cares about you.”

Here’s an example.

I had the same excellent primary care physician for 22 years, and, in addition to relying on his care for such ailments as afflicted me from time to time, I always had my annual complete physical with him.   The routine was well established.   I would pop into his office about a week before the physical and permit his nurse to draw blood for the complete blood count (CBC).   Then I would return for the physical, and he would poke and press and peer according to the usual ritual.   After the physical part of the physical, I would put my clothes back on and go into his office where he would review the results.

About 17 years ago, here’s what happened.   First, he went over the results of the examination and the blood work – all excellent, he was glad to report.   Except!   One little detail in my CBC was disturbing, that being my PSA results.   (PSA is prostate-specific antigen, in case you forgot – an early indicator of the possibility that a cancerous tumor is growing in the prostate gland.)

The PSA assay had been part of my regular CBC for nearly ten years at that point, and it had reliably been down in the “no worries” range.   But then it had started to go up, quite slowly.   And this particular year it had moved from the “no worries” range into the “worries” range, although perhaps only mild worries.   It had gone from about 2.2 to 2.8 to 3.5 to 4.2 in a time span of just over three years.

My excellent doctor looked me in the eye and said, “Michael, I know you know everything.   But I want you to go to a urologist and have this checked out.   I’m not letting you out of my office unless you promise me you’ll do it.”

We discussed that a bit. I said that I had thought that a PSA of 10 or higher was the marker that predicted prostate cancer.   He nodded in semi-agreement.   “That’s right.   But you don’t want to wait until you definitely have prostate cancer.   The uptick in your PSA has been accelerating.   If that had been your first PSA test in life, and it had been 4.2, I would have said, ‘let’s give it a year and see where it goes.’   PSA levels can fluctuate.   But yours have been going up – not fluctuating.”

We talked some more.   He told me that the needle biopsy that the urologist would perform was quick and essentially painless – a shot of local anaesthetic would deal with it.   I might have a bit of bleeding, but that was about it.   He recommended a urologist he knew very well – in fact, he was the urologist’s primary care physician.

So I agreed to go.

Indeed, the needle biopsy was nothing much.   But a few days later I received the dreaded telephone call.   A cancerous tumor was growing in my prostate gland, and I had to come in to the urologist’s office to discuss options.

Before the office visit, I did a bit of sleuthing on the subject (as is my wont!) and got some data on the outcomes of the available options, which included open prostatectomy, robotic prostatectomy, radioactive seed implantation, and external radiation beam treatment.   I did not much like what I learned.   The least invasive was the external beam procedure, but if that did not totally eliminate the cancerous mass, surgical follow-up was problematic because the area around the prostate gland would be so messed up that it would be difficult to tell healthy tissue from tissue invaded by cancer cells.   According to a Mayo Clinic paper (which by that time was about seven years old) the best long-term outcomes were in patients who had had open prostatectomy.

(I should add here that when the prostate cancer is confined to the prostate gland itself, treatment is generally highly successful.   But if cancer cells have escaped the prostate gland – metastasized – the outcomes are much more doubtful and treatment is much, much more difficult.   And, incidentally, since PSA testing has declined, based on the dubious recommendations of the US Preventive Services Task Force, the incidence of metastatic prostate cancer has increased, almost certainly because in many untested men, the cancer is not detected until it has progressed to metastasis.)

Open prostatectomy, in fact, is exactly what the urologist recommended.   (That urologist, whom I have now been seeing annually for 16 years, is now chief of urology at a major New York City hospital).   The surgery took place in April 2002.   I spent three nights in the hospital, came home feeling pretty spry, and have had a PSA in the undetectable range ever since.   So I pronounce the whole experience a success.

Regarding the importance of having a primary care physician, consider this: prior to having settled on that particular doctor (and having stuck with him until he retired), I used to have annual complete physicals at a large New York City medical center that specialized in preventive care.   No doubt, the examination was quite thorough, but never did anyone at the clinic communicate with me in person – no real feedback, no advice.   I would get a very complete written report on the results of all the tests.   Presumably, I was supposed to share that with my primary care physician.   But I didn’t really have a primary care physician, so those results fell into a vacuum.

What prompted me launch into this topic was a piece in the New Yorker (01/21/07) by Atul Gawande, entitled “Tell Me Where It Hurts.”   Atul Gawande is a surgeon, practicing at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.   He is on the faculty in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a professor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School.   He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and has written several books, including The Checklist Manifesto, which argues for checklists in hospitals, particularly relating to the essentials in a surgical procedure, and the very large impact checklists have on reducing errors in those procedures.

The piece by Gawande is mostly about incremental medicine, which essentially means persistently searching for and trying a succession of interventions to address stubborn medical problems.   He described the case of a 57-year-old man who had been suffering from unimaginably severe migraine headaches for 40 years and had gone from one to another to yet another form of treatment without success, until he landed at a headache center in Massachusetts where a physician patiently worked with him, trying a range of different options, until, after four years, one particular regimen started to work.   When Gawande met this man, he had not had a severe migraine for a year.

Gawande contrasted the spectacular, and highly-paid work by brilliant surgeons and interventional cardiologists with the more routine, and much less well-paid work done by primary care physicians (PCPs).   He was discussing this with an associate when he “made the mistake of saying that (he, Gawande) had more opportunities to make a clear difference in people’s lives.”   His associate, an internist, was having none of that and pointed him to studies showing that people living in states that have higher ratios of primary-care physicians have lower rates of general mortality, infant mortality, and mortality from specific conditions such as cardiac disease and strokes; also that individuals whose chief health-care providers are PCPs have lower five-year mortality rates than the general population overall.

A bit of sleuthing for the substantiation of the assertions by that associate of Gawande’s led me to a hefty paper by Barbara Starfield, Leiyou Shi, and James Macinko entitled “Contribution of Primary Care to Health Systems and Health,” published in Milbank Quarterly (2005;83:457-502; PMID 16202000).

The Starfield magnum opus

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Barbara Starfield (1932 – 2011), a physician and health services researcher, was University Distinguished Professor and professor of health policy and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University. She turns out to have been among the most fervent and persuasive advocates for the essential nature of primary care in health care.   She was the author of six books and 56 journal papers on the subject.   Based on that, one could conclude that her views on the subject are perhaps somewhat biased, but we should look at the data she presented.

The paper starts out by attempting a definition of primary care, following the lead of both the World Health Organization and WONCA, the World Organization of Family Doctors.   (The acronym WONCA is derived from the first five initials of the World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians.   I can see why they needed an acronym.)

The four main features of primary care, according to WHO and WONCA, are:

  • The primary care provider is the patient’s first contact access for each medical need.
  • The care provided is focused on the person, and not primarily the disease; e.g., the provider is treating Irene who is experiencing shortness of breath, rather than the provider is treating a case of asthma (or it might be congestive heart failure).
  • The primary care physician can provide comprehensive care for a wide range of health needs.
  • If the patient’s health needs require that care be provided by a physician other than the primary care physician, the primary care physician is involved in the coordination of care.

The Starfield paper reviews a colossal amount of evidence about the effects of primary care on health.   The more than six hundred references provide three types of evidence on those interrelations.

  • Studies that demonstrate that health is better in areas with more PCPs.
  • Studies that demonstrate that individuals who receive health care from PCPs are in better health.
  • Studies that demonstrate that the specific characteristics of primary care, as defined above, are associated with better health.

Health outcomes in areas with more versus fewer PCPs

Doc Gumshoe’s eyebrows emitted signals of mild skepticism when he looked at those types of evidence.   After all, aren’t “areas with more PCPs” likely to be considerably more affluent than those with fewer PCPs?   And aren’t “individuals who receive health care from PCPs” also considerably more affluent than those whose first response to an illness is to look for some kind of over-the-counter medications at the corner grocery store?   But let’s not be in a hurry to consign the whole matter to the dust-bin on the grounds that better health is chiefly associated with a healthier bank account.   Starfield does state that the studies were carefully controlled for various population characteristic, such as income, education, and racial characteristics.

The outcomes analyzed in these studies included total and cause-specific mortality, low birth weight, and self-reported health.   (Low birth weight is a very common indicator of poor health in the mother.)

Providers were considered to be PCPs if they were family and general practitioners, general internists, and general pediatricians.   (I would add that being a specialist does not rule out also being a primary care provider.   The crucial difference is that the PCP knows the patient and is thoroughly aware of all aspects of the patient’s health, focusing on the patient’s total well-being rather than on a single specific medical condition.   For some women, for example, a gynecologist may be their “medical home.”)

Here are some findings:

Starting in the 1990s, studies of health outcomes in states in the US with higher ratios of PCPs to population found that people in those states had lower rates of all causes of mortality, including heart disease, cancer or stroke, and infant mortality as well as low birth weight, even after controlling for sociodemographic measures such as percentages of elderly, urban, and minority populations; education; income, unemployment, pollution, and lifestyle factors such as seatbelt use, obesity, and smoking.

For example, a study examining stroke mortality in 549 individuals over a period of 11 years found that the availability of primary care essentially wiped out the impact of income inequality on stroke mortality, even after controlling for education levels, unemployment, racial and ethnic composition, and urban/rural ratio (P < 0.0001).

Analyses examining the positive influence of an adequate supply of PCPs by comparing the ratio of physicians to patients in US counties also showed that all-cause mortality was 2% lower, cancer mortality was 3% lower, and heart-disease mortality was 4% lower as well as cancer and heart disease mortality were lower in counties where the supply of PCPs was greater.

In Florida counties, each 1 per 10,000 population increase in family physician was associated with a decrease in mortality from cervical cancer of 0.65 persons per 100,000 population.   The math works out to suggest that a one-third increase in family physicians was associated with a 20% decrease in cervical cancer deaths.

A study in England found that each additional general practitioner per 10,000 population was associated with a 6% decrease in the standardized ratio for mortality.

Summarizing the many studies analyzing those links suggest that in the US, increasing the availability of PCPs by 1 per 10,000 population, a 12.6% increase, would result in an improvement in a number of health outcomes and prevent as many as 127,617 deaths per year.

So far we have been looking at the relationship between the supply of PCPs and health status on a population-wide basis.   But what about evidence about health outcomes in individuals who mostly initially consult PCPs versus those who consult specialists?

Starfield refers to a survey in the US which showed that respondents who reported having a PCP as their usual source of care had lower subsequent five-year mortality rates.   This held true after being controlled for initial differences in health status, demographic characteristics, health insurance, health perceptions, reported diagnoses, and smoking status.   A likely reason for this is that individuals who initially consult PCPs are likely to do so at a much earlier stage in whatever medical condition is afflicting them, while those who rely on specialists are likely to wait longer, when the condition or disease has progressed and is thus more difficult to treat.

She also calls attention to the results achieved in Cuba from the national emphasis on providing community health workers, which was instituted by the Castro regime in the second part of the last century.   Regardless of the many seriously negative results of that regime, the national health care system has been a remarkable success, such that both infant mortality and life expectancy in Cuba are now superior to those health indices in most of the rest of Latin America, and nearly on a par with those in the US.

A very recent specific example

This one came in over the transom from Canada.   A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (Nakhla M. et al, CMAJ 2018:190;E416-E421; PMID 29320236) reported that 26.9% of young people between the ages of 1 and 17 with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) presented with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).   DKA is a condition that develops as blood sugar mounts; it is sometimes fatal, but easily preventable.   But among those who had been under treatment of a family physician or a pediatrician, these young patients were much less likely to have developed DKA – 31% less likely if their caregiver was a family physician and 38% lower if the caregiver was a pediatrician.

One of the most alarming findings from the analysis was that over 40% of the total cohort reportedly made zero visits to a usual care provider during the 2 years leading up to the diabetes diagnosis.

The study authors suggested the following reasons for this effect:

  • The benefits of “continuous primary care,” where the healthcare provider is aware of the child’s baseline health and would therefore be more attuned to recognizing new symptoms;
  • Prevention was achieved by parents knowing whom to call in case of illness and learning about general health through regular physician visits;
  • A strong underlying relationship between the physician and patient having a beneficial effect on the family’s overall health-seeking behaviors, such as when to seek non-emergency care.

A scenario that is perhaps relevant

 A NY Times Magazine piece by Siddhartha Mukherjee (whom you may know as the author of that massive tome about cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies) was focused on what he called “the epidemic of cost.”   His concerns with the costs of health care are certainly legitimate, but the example he cites leaves a lot of room for skepticism.

His hypothetical case study is a 60-yar old man who has survived a heart attack.   He is a non-smoker, but overweight and diabetic.   He has undergone angioplasty and the placement of a stent to keep his coronary arteries open.   The physician now must decide between two drugs to reduce the chances of a second MI.   One is Plavix (clopidogrel), a very well-established blood thinner to prevent clot formation.   The other is Brilinta (ticagrelor), a much newer blood thinner from AstraZeneca.

Brilinta has been demonstrated to be more effective than Plavix – but not a great deal more effective.   The clinical trial cited in the Brilinta prescribing information (PI), which compared 9,333 post-MI subjects on Brilinta with 9,291 similar subjects on Plavix (or generic clopidogrel) reported a difference, favoring Brilinta, of 1.9% in all-cause death between the two cohorts.   The Brilinta cohort experienced fewer cardiovascular deaths (2.9% vs. 4.0%) and non-fatal MIs (5.8% vs. 6.9%) than the Plavix cohort.   However, Plavix/clopidogrel came out ahead with regard to strokes – 1.4% of subjects taking Brilinta experienced strokes, versus 1.1% of those taking Plavix/clopidogrel.

That nearly 2% difference in the all-cause death rate is significant, without question.   But what lands Mukherjee in a quandary is the difference in cost.   Plavix/clopidogrel, formerly a prized property of Bristol-Myers Squibb, having gone off patent in 2012, is now generic and pretty cheap – 25 cents per pill.   Brilinta might cost up to about $6.50 per pill – 26 times more, says Mukherjee.

Mukherjee says the following:   “Should the doctor prescribe the best possible medicine, assuming that the man has private health insurance that will pay the bulk of the costs?   Or should she…” (Mukherjee is being politically correct here, I assume) “…try to conserve health care costs by prescribing the cheaper medicine that is nearly as good?   And consider this: If the cost to you was the same – you have maxed out your copay and will end up with the same out-of-pocket expenditure – would you agree to take the slightly inferior drug to benefit the system as a whole?   You’ve just had a heart attack, for God’s sake.   You pay thousands of dollars for health insurance.   Is it fair to ask you to bear the slightly increased risk to enable some broader social goal?”

I am not particularly dumfounded by Dr Mukherjee’s rant.   From my own perspective, I would absolutely want the somewhat more effective drug.   I am in good health and would like to shoot for a few more decades of entertaining the Gumshoe tribe with my musings, even if I had to shell out $6.50 per pill out of my own pocket.   But that’s not the point.

The point, in the context of my rant (and not Mukherjee’s!) is that the decision –whether to opt for the more expensive pill or stick with the cheaper one – is best made through conversation between the patient and the patient’s primary care physician (whether he or she – mine at present is a she).

Mukherjee suggests that perhaps “deep biological markers” might be discovered that would identify the “few men and women who will benefit substantially from Brilinta over Plavix.”   He compares that with defining the subset of individuals who would not benefit from knee replacement, perhaps by means of some algorithm that the harried orthopedic surgeon would access via his/her iPhone.

To this I say, “Spare us from algorithms.”   Please, let important decisions regarding our health and, indeed, our survival, be made by human beings who know us and have concern and empathy for our health and well-being.

To be fair to Mukherjee, his piece in the NY Times mag discussed the costs of health care in the US, and what might be able to be done about it, in a much broader context.   I don’t disagree with a lot of what he had to say, only with the particular suggestion to shun the more expensive newer drugs.

Here are a few more specific points:

  • The study referred to by Mukherjee (not specifically cited in his article) evaluated those outcomes at the 12 month marker.   (Wallentin L. “Ticagrelor vs. clopidogrel in patients with acute coronary syndromes.”   N Engl J Med 2009;361:1045-1057.   PMID 19717846)   If the Brilinta cohort had 1.9% lower mortality at 12 months, what would that difference have amounted to after 10 or 20 years? Quite a lot higher, I should think – maybe 20% or more.
  • Regarding costs, Plavix/clopidogrel was very expensive when it first came on the market back in the 1990s.   It was only when it went generic that the price dropped so markedly.   There are now eight generic clopidogrels on the market.
  • The $6.50 per pill price quoted by Mukherjee is what a non-insured person would pay if he or she just went to the drugstore with a prescription.   Health insurers make deals, and deals for individual patients are available through AstraZeneca.   And the price of Brilinta will come down over time.

The PCP as our defense against “one-size-fits-all health care”

By which I mean strict adherence to guidelines.   For example, whereas the chief associations of cardiologists have promoted guidelines whereby the target for high blood pressure treatment is a systolic (the higher number) BP of 130 mmHg or less, the American Academy of Family Physicians have stuck with the principle of individual care, and kept the target for hypertension treatment in persons 60 years of age or older at systolic BP of 150 mmHg.   In diverging from the pronouncements of the AAC and the AHA, the AAFP reasserted the commitment of family physicians to treating the patient and not the medical condition.   No doubt some patients – depending on a number of health conditions – would clearly benefit from having their BP brought to the lower target.   But others would not, especially taking into account the inconvenient fact that to achieve those lower target levels in most patients, three separate drugs are required, each with its own profile of physiologic effects, including side effects.

Guidelines and algorithms are certainly of value to the harried physician.   But they are poor substitutes for contact with and concern for the patient.   Regarding the Brilinta vs. Plavix decision, which to Mukherjee is representative of the underlying problem with health-care costs in the US, there are some patients who would do fine on Plavix and others who would benefit from Brilinta, but an off-the-shelf algorithm is not the best way to determine which is which.

A few more general conclusions

Starfield, as well as a number of other investigators in this area, emphasize the distinction between specialists and generalists.   The specialists, whether cardiologists or oncologists or orthopedists or infectious disease physicians, are more concerned with specific disease-related measures and adherence to guidelines for those diseases.   The primary care or family physicians, on the other hand, are more targeted to multiple aspects of health, which could be termed “generic” health.   Primary care provides superior care by focusing on the condition in the context of the patient’s other health problems or concerns.

PCPs also focus considerably more attention to prevention.   For example, in states with higher ratios of PCPs to general population, smoking rates are lower, obesity rates are lower, and seatbelt use is higher.   A study in 60 communities in the US found that good primary care is associated with higher percentages of smoking cessation and influenza immunization.   And primary care is also associated with earlier detection of breast cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, and melanoma.   Most mammograms are ordered by PCPs, and a study also found that each 0.1% increase in the availability of PCPs was associated with a 4% increase in the likelihood that cancers would be detected in an early (rather than late) stage.

So, in addition to improving the general health of patients through better comprehensive treatment, primary care improves preventive measures and leads to earlier detection of cancers – as it did in my case!

* * * * * * * *

Something else I was going to get to in this installment is the question of choosing the best health-care practitioner, especially those specialists (such as surgeons) with whom we don’t have much of a chance to interact prior to those high-stakes moments when we’re about to go under the knife.   An excellent book (given to me by a young man well known to Travis), entitled Unaccountable, by Marty Makary MD, a surgeon on the faculty at Johns Hopkins, provides much perspective on this nervous-making question.   I will review his thoughts in an upcoming epistle.   Best to all, Michael Jorrin (aka Doc Gumshoe)

 

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Bill
Bill
April 20, 2018 9:48 pm

Useful information that all should heed and a siren call to increase and disperse the PCP population to lower health care costs. But how….?
My last PSA was 7, had biopsy and no cancer. So far so good.
My PCP guided me and advised me through the process.

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ELISSA JUNG
Member
ELISSA JUNG
April 20, 2018 9:52 pm

Lets stop talking bell curves and money and get into the nitty-gritty. A comparison of adverse reactions and those that would do less harm or discomfort to ME. Keep in mind that the new drug has yet to really show how many died from it. New drugs really need about 7 years to show up problems. That was told to me by a very knowledgeable family doctor. What is never mentioned is the list of inert ingredients, you know the small print listings at the bottom of the page. If per chance you happen to be allergic to one or two of these ‘nothing ingredients’ you could wind up in the hospital as I did. It is extremely difficult to even get the full listing. If new ‘nothings’ are added it is only noted as ‘a label change’, leaving you and your doctor in the dark. Read carefully before you pop that pill or try on that procedure.

sonny
Guest
sonny
April 20, 2018 10:31 pm

as a prevention – Saw Palmetto and Organic Pumpkin Seeds and regular sex is always good for what ever ails you

bigorangedave
bigorangedave
April 20, 2018 10:54 pm

My wife and I moved into our current community in 87 and picked a GP/PCP out of the phone book. 31 years later, he is still part of our lives. He caught my wife’s cervical cancer via a PAP so early it was resolved easily. He harassed me year after year as I added weight until the day he told me I was “officially ” pre-diabetic and if I didn’t get serious about my weight, the next blood work results would make me unhappy. That discussion was scary enough to get me started on a diet/exercise program that took off 70 pounds over next 1.5 years and even ended years of HBP. when either of us is feeling poorly or experiencing a new issue, it’s easy to get in for a consult as his staff knows us well. As I read this article I thought how it reflected our experiences. Thanks for including it in your weekly update.

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B.Jackson
Member
B.Jackson
April 20, 2018 11:08 pm

My brother in law submitted to multiple needle biops for elevated PSA. Ihen he found an Asian doctor in Detroit with a color doppler machine which gave an image of the prostate which showed no cancer. I’ve had the same imaging here in New Haven CT, but black and white image. Much better than breaking the prostate capsule with multiple needles, IMO.

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archives2001
archives2001
April 21, 2018 1:42 am
Reply to  B.Jackson

Thnx B J, makes good sense. Holistic tx should be on the front burner and not the last!

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sunshine on the water
sunshine on the water
April 21, 2018 10:24 pm
Reply to  archives2001

Excellent article Doc Gumshoe!
We really appreciate all of your efforts to educate us and keep us
informed and abreast of biopharm and healthcare developments.

Thank you for everything you share with our community!

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bstew
bstew
April 21, 2018 10:25 pm
Reply to  B.Jackson

Right, unless the needle is somehow guided to the exact spot of a very small tumor it will show nothing. Either you use high tech imaging or dumb luck to find a small tumor.

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jjamms6
jjamms6
April 23, 2018 8:03 am
Reply to  B.Jackson

Colour Doppler should be standard and available on every US machine in use now, including cheaper units. It is in ours (15 machines including a small clinic, interventional room, and ERs, In small city Canada).

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panda317
Member
panda317
April 21, 2018 12:06 am

My PSA was over 8, and it got there quickly. Prostate extremely enlarged. Biopsy showed no malignancies. 2 weeks later and I just started substantially bleeding before urination. My appointment with my urologist is Monday afternoon. I see my PCP in June.

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Art Papale
Member
Art Papale
April 22, 2018 8:56 pm
Reply to  panda317

Be prepared to be admitted to the hospital for a complete irrigation/ cleansing.
This is serious. Very surprised that you are not there now. Not too painful just
uncomfortable.
BTW, I immediately went to see my PCP. They asked me for a urine sample.
The PA took one look at the sample and said:
“Go to the ER now!” Three days later, I went home.
Every situation is different. You seen to be “OK”. But, you are taking chances.
I was not for I could not urinate after my prostate burst.
My follow up with my urologist was a quick trip back to the hospital for a
TURP.

My suggestion – don’t wait.

The best to you and your family.

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Ibberman
Ibberman
April 21, 2018 2:49 am

You mention prodding and poking during the physical.
I have not had a Doctor do that since the 70’s, and now on Medicare with a $600 a month supplemental, Medicare does not cover Physicals, and good luck trying to find a Doctor that will even take a Medicare patient.

wikiwiki
Member
wikiwiki
April 21, 2018 10:38 pm
Reply to  Ibberman

In Tucson, it’s not a problem to find a top notch MD who takes medicare patients. My wife’s cardiologist just retired, and the new one has a great resume. The same with her ophthalmologist. They are very good. I use the VA, and other than primary care, their MD’s are good….but not BOARD CERTIFIED good. I’m a Navy Medical Corps veteran and I can tell the difference between good and great (I think I can!)

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John
Member
April 21, 2018 3:47 am

Why not check the fantastic success of Jim Humble. Videos – Jim Humble | MMS | Master Mineral Solution …
jimhumble.is/videos
Jim Humble’s Homepage. LEAKED: Proof The Red Cross Cured 154 Malaria Cases With MMS Second Leaked Red Cross Video, Published Jul 1, 2013

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bstew
bstew
April 21, 2018 10:30 pm
Reply to  John

Be careful with MMS. It is strong stuff. Can kill beneficial bacteria as well.

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Robert
Member
Robert
April 21, 2018 8:37 am

Good article and story: Minor edit: PSA is a blood test but not part of the CBC. CBC is the complete blood count, which means hemoglobin, hematocrit, red cell count, platelet count, WBC count with differential, but not PSA.

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lee Baas, PhD
Irregular
lee Baas, PhD
April 21, 2018 9:03 am

Fantastic article. Great advise.

yukonjack
Member
yukonjack
April 21, 2018 10:38 am

I have come across studies of PSA testing that say it is about 50% accurate, the same with Angioplasty where your survival rate is about the same not having it done. The misuse of drugs by doctors and hospitals (wrong doses, wrong drugs, etc) account for about 60,000 deaths each year. I will never trust drugs since there have been few studies that explore the long term affects of taking them. And nobody in the medical community hardly ever suggests natural cures such as supplements and diet changes that can actually cure some cancers. There is no money in that.

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C Colson
Member
C Colson
April 21, 2018 11:26 am

I am a firm believer in the value of the Primary Care Physician to the overall health care “system” (ironic laugh here). Several of my friends are PCPs, and I am continually impressed by their extraordinary knowledge and by their dedication to their patients. I am also aware of their relatively small compensation and the perverse incentives which cause so many med. students to forsake primary care for more rewarding (financially) specialties.
However, the good Doc G., in discussing the value of PCPs, cites statistics regarding the overall health in states with higher ratios of PCPs to population. He writes:
“For example, in states with higher ratios of PCPs to general population, smoking rates are lower, obesity rates are lower, and seatbelt use is higher. A study in 60 communities in the US found that good primary care is associated with higher percentages of smoking cessation and influenza immunization. And primary care is also associated with earlier detection of breast cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, and melanoma.”
I have no trouble believing this. However, my guess is that if you looked at these states with high ratios of PCPs, you would also find they their residents have: Higher median incomes, higher educational levels, more professional and technical occupations — in other words, all those characteristics of better educated, more prosperous individuals who take better care of themselves and who have the means to avail themselves of the best health care when needed. I would bet that residents of these states also have higher utilization of dental care. They probably even floss their teeth more. (And, No, none of my three PCPs of the past 30 years have ever discussed flossing with me.)
So, do PCPs “cause” better health statistics in a state? Or do wealthier, better educated states “cause” higher ratios of PCPs by offering better incentives, better rewards, and better communities in which to practice and for their families to live? As in most cases, it’s probably a combination of the two — good environments attract more PCPs, and more PCPs create healthy communities.

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fatboy2281
April 21, 2018 12:52 pm

since I had a DVT in the lower leg 13 years ago and another, one year later, my Doc suggested coumadin for life.
Recently I switched to Eliquis (cost, about $14 per pill).
I had never heard of Plavix or Brilinta for blood thinning. My other options were Xarelto and Pradaxa.
Eliquis seemed to demonstrate less Brain bleeding than Xarelto and Pradaxa so that was my choice.
To Ibberman: Medicare allows 1 physical per year. But yea I agree it’s hard to find a Doctor.

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fatboy2281
April 21, 2018 1:42 pm
Reply to  fatboy2281

I stated the cost of Eliquis incorrectly……. Since I take 2 per day, 1 pill is about $7 or $14 per day. Also: less Brain bleeding as warferin. Less stomach bleeding than Xarelto and Pradaxa.

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Pcamper
Member
Pcamper
April 24, 2018 11:11 am
Reply to  fatboy2281

My eliquis $1.70 per pill??

fatboy2281
April 24, 2018 12:47 pm
Reply to  Pcamper

Pcamper
maybe that’s what you pay, but Medicare picks up the rest.

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fatboy2281
April 24, 2018 12:50 pm
Reply to  Pcamper

Thanks

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Arturas
Irregular
Arturas
April 22, 2018 3:25 pm
Reply to  fatboy2281

Dear fat boy 2281,

Plavix and Brilinta are antiagregants, which helps to prevent clot formation in arteries. They have less impact in clot prevention in veins, that’s why you are prescribed Eliquis (which is anticoagulant) for your DVT.

fatboy2281
April 24, 2018 12:51 pm
Reply to  Arturas

Thanks

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rnpowell
Member
April 21, 2018 2:54 pm

Dear Michael, Regarding the question of whether you should get primary care from a primary care MD or a specialist who some think must be smarter of course since they are specialists.
Consider the case of US Senator John East from Greenville NC. The senator(a contemporary of Sen Jesse Helms) noticed some fatigue, lack of energy and lack of mental sharpness. He was previously highly intelligent. He went to see a thoracic surgeon to be evaluated since one has to be very smart to be a thoracic surgeon. He was given a checkup of some kind and was told he was OK. Some time passed and he got much worse eventually becoming seriously mentally slowed. Later he had surgery for a prostate condition(unrelated) and did not wake up from anesthesia for days. One cause of prolonged recovery from anesthesia is severe hypothyroidism which he was discovered to have. He was treated for this but never completely recovered. Distraught by his loss of mental acuity he later committed suicide. He would have been better off by first being evaluated by a primary care physician who likely would have discovered the hypothyroidism much earlier by a simple test and instituted the proper treatment earlier when it would have done more good. A broader perspective has great value for initial evaluation.
Rob Powell, MD–general internist.

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RampageKy
Member
April 21, 2018 7:02 pm

During my last dental appointment, it occurred to me that I am guilty of paying lip service to the advice just like many (or most) people pay lip service to good financial advice. As someone aiming to be a financial planner someday, how would I expect my future clients to follow my simple advice if I don’t follow the simplest advice from my dentist or PCP?

So I started flossing every day and brushing for two minutes, like they tell me I should. And I need to find a PCP! I confess to skipping most of this article due to time constraints, but I read enough to get motivated on that part.

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glomerulus
April 22, 2018 7:58 am

I’m an optometrist, sort of the PCP of eye care. In my practice, I take care of everything my patients need except surgery (due to statute, not knowledge). Some states, like Massachusetts, are so over-lobbied by specialist MDs that the optometrists there can’t treat half as many conditions, or prescribe the same kinds of medicines, that I can in North Carolina. (That’s why I don’t live there anymore). I know my patients, and I have a good sense of what they got going on, and can prevent a lot of the inconvenient and more costly referrals for things that are well within my ability. Urgent care clinics call us with questions!

In the investment and stock market world, most people are seriously conservative, or libertarian, or or outright right wing. Who needs Fox News when you can subscribe to some stock market newsletters? Sure, you can make money off of pharma stocks or insurers like United HealthCare ( whom lately I refer to as United Mother$%#^!!). But for quality of life, economic health and general well-being of the population as a whole, this country can learn a helluva lot from those “gummint” administrators running the health care systems in Finland, Denmark, or Germany. i hope I can keep subscribing to Stock Gumshoe when I am living over there in the next few years.

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Bob H.
Guest
Bob H.
April 22, 2018 5:35 pm

My wife age 65 has had headaches since age 12. Some last 5-days. Is headache free maybe only 7-days a month. Been to the great Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago for 8-days and they accomplished NOTHING. The great Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN looked over her medical records and said “Don’t come here!” Been to over 20 doctors and all they care about is MONEY, try this drug, try that drug, never a solution!! Stupid BOTOX made her headaches worse!! Even with insurance, we are retired and almost bankrupt. Any recommendations out there in GUMMY-Land?? Don’t recommend SUICIDE we have heard that already. (2river@prtel.com)

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Don
Irregular
Don
April 28, 2018 10:00 am
Reply to  Bob H.

Although this thread is mostly about the PSA, etc, HEADACHES ARE A PROBLEM AS WELL. Our daughter age 42 has migraines. She taught school until a couple of years ago. Now she has headaches about three out of five days. She has tried medications, acupuncture, ear piercing and now using over counter meds as suggested by recent neurologist. Seems BOTOX is next on the list to try. People respond differently to each of the above efforts. We have prayed and continue to ask for prayers on our daughter’s behalf. There must be something somewhere that can give patients with debilitating headaches some significant relief. Any information is most appreciated.

burt
Member
burt
April 28, 2018 10:23 pm
Reply to  Don

Responding to DON (re: his daughter’s chronic headaches). You might consider diet issues. S. Gundry M.D. “The Plant Paradox” may offer a solution. A fairly heavy read, but he has had success with migraines. I assume you have had a scan and blood work to eliminate other possibilities.

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SoGiAm
May 1, 2018 12:19 am
Reply to  Bob H.

#Migraine > https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/lilly-buys-migraine-biotech-colucid-for-960m-and-drug-it-out-licensed

“This drug, lasmiditan, is an oral 5-HT1F agonist and has already finished the first of two pivotal phase 3 trials.

A data readout for the second test, known as SPARTAN, is expected in the second half of 2017. “If this trial is positive, submission of lasmiditan for U.S. regulatory approval could occur in 2018,” the pair say.

Lasmiditan was originally discovered at Lilly and was outlicensed to CoLucid 12 years ago. “At the time lasmiditan was out-licensed, pain management was not a strategic area of focus for Lilly,” the company said, but added that it has “since reorganized its research and development efforts to focus on migraine as part of its emerging therapeutic area of pain.”

The Big Pharma figures that as many as 36 million people suffer from migraine in the U.S. and sees lasmiditan, if approved, as being a first-in-class therapy to treat migraine through a new mechanism of action, and without vasoconstriction.

“This could be desirable in migraine patients who have, or are at risk for, cardiovascular disease, as well as those who are dissatisfied with their current therapies,” it notes.

This bulks out Lilly’s pain pipeline, which includes galcanezumab, currently in phase 3 to help stop migraines and cluster headaches.

And there’s tanezumab, which is being studied in partnership with Pfizer, for the treatment of multiple pain indications, including osteoarthritis, lower back and cancer pain.

“We are excited that lasmiditan will be back at Lilly, where it was originally discovered, for the conclusion of phase 3 development and potential commercialization,” said Thomas Mathers, CoLucid’s CEO. “We are proud of the work that CoLucid has done to develop lasmiditan, and we believe Lilly’s expertise in pain and commitment to innovation are a natural fit to potentially bring this medicine to patients.””… #Best2YOU!

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Gary Walgenbach
Gary Walgenbach
April 23, 2018 12:07 am

I am right there with you, Doc! I, too, had an accelerating PSA at a young age (from 2.2 to 4.1 in 2 years), and my PCP advised I see a urologist who found my prostrate pretty much riddled throughout with cancer. At the age of 47, by current standards I shouldn’t have even been checking my PSA, but family history indicated prudence. With a Gleason score of 7, but with indications that the cancer was still contained within the prostate, I too elected for open radical prostatectomy, so that lymph nodes and adjacent tissues could be properly sampled and examined, and this was 16 years ago, and laproscopic prostate surgery was still a bit new. With a 4 year old daughter, I needed to be SURE this cancer was gone. Like you, I have had annual non-detectable PSA’s ever since. Agree with your broader message on the use and purpose of PCP’s.

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D. McCullam
D. McCullam
April 23, 2018 5:10 pm

My PSA tracked your experience however it was always accompanied by a rectal exam. 8 years ago my Internist let out a OOPS and my eventual decisions were similar to yours, and clean at >.02 to date Proton treatment was suggested but delays and qualifying became concerning. Adult diabetes was contracted by a family member 55 years ago and though the mechanics have improved the treatment/cure remains elusive. Dementia seems almost assured. Bless those surviving Internists.

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El G
April 25, 2018 9:38 am

Good read, except that a PSA is not part of a CBC. (Guess you can’t expect a journalist to get everything right – even one that specializes in medical things.) A CBC only looks at blood counts – red cells, white cells, platelets including populations and sizes of each. Be sure to have your PCP add a PSA as a separate test. It’s rarely a part of routine blood work unless specifically ordered. Nevertheless, a great article on the role of the primary care manager.

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frankw17
April 29, 2018 3:25 pm

Great article “Doc” as usual! One might consider Kaiser for free yearly physicals under Medicare. Furthermore, you get to choose your PCP.
Regards,
Frank

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