Written by: Dora Chan, PharmD, MS (Nutrition) One of my first nutrition clients was a friend looking for help with a sugar “detox”. I hadn’t coached anyone through this process before, but I came up with a detailed 1-month plan to help her cut back on sugar. Much to my delight,...
Did you know that only 30% of people get adequate symptom relief from the first antidepressant they try? The majority end up switching drugs or adding medications to manage their condition. Until recently, depression treatment often involved much "trial and error" to find the right treatment for each individual. However,...
Marc Andreessen famously said, “software is eating the world.” Many nowadays say that AI eats the software. What about clinical science and precision medicine? We're all so familiar with our phones, and there's so much technology in there working together seamlessly. The underlying science of precision medicine is well-developed. Why...
If you are the parent of a child or adolescent (teen) who has been diagnosed with clinical depression, you may be worried about your child and the implications of treatment. Children and adolescents with moderate to severe depression generally require psychotherapy and one or more medications. Yet, prescribing antidepressants in...
Pharmacogenetics (PGx) assesses how each person metabolizes medications based on their DNA. For example, different people given the same dosage of an antidepressant may have quite different levels of the drug in their blood - some may not respond until the drug is given at high doses, while others experience...
Many people don’t like taking statins because of side effects, yet they can be vital to reducing your risk of heart-related problems and death. Another benefit is a lower risk of cancer. A recent analysis of large-scale health data identified a significantly lower incidence of cancers in people taking cholesterol-lowering...
Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) study finds that Pillcheck helped identify medications that were not effective or posed a high risk of side effects for long-term care residents. The revised medication plans significantly improved the management of depression and chronic pain and reduced the risk of complications...
Precision medicine, using pharmacogenomic testing, can streamline the process of finding the right treatment for each patient’s depression and result in better outcomes. Pharmacogenomics, also called pharmacogenetics or PGx, facilitates a personalized prescribing approach that utilizes a person’s genetic information to inform medication selection and dosing decisions. While some physicians...
Updated March 20, 2023 Bupropion (Wellbutrin) is a “second generation” antidepressant that differs from SSRIs. Bupropion acts as a norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitor and has a much lower involvement of the serotonin pathway. Therefore, bupropion is frequently used for people who did not respond to or could not tolerate SSRIs. In addition...
If you’ve seen the movie Wall Street, you’ll remember the part when Charlie Sheen confronts the gregarious Wall Street money machine Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). Douglas glares at Sheen and says, “OK, pal, tell me something I don’t already know!” Timeless. Let’s talk about pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing, a form of...
