Improve Life PLLC

This is good context to know before using AI for any mental health advice - 🧐Charlotte

Please check your bottle if you take Cymbalta.
-Dr. Waggel

Nearly 375,000 bottles of popular antidepressant recalled over high levels of carcinogen Nearly 375,000 bottles of a generic antidepressant are part of a recall after a potentially cancer-linked chemical was found above FDA limits. (Adobe Stock)

"Things doctors don't want you to know" usually sounds suspicious. In reality, these are things doctors wish more people understood because they can prevent unnecessary suffering and lead to better health outcomes. Take a look at our newest video. 🥰- Charlotte

10 Things Doctors Don't Want You to Know! Despite what social media sometimes claims, these are not "secrets"...

Thank you for the kind patient review! People love our booking system and we haven’t changed it in nearly a decade! Improve Life PLLC provides medication management & therapy to children 12+, pregnant mothers, young adults, & women. To book an appointment, go to www.improvelifepllc.com

*Virginia residents or patients willing to drive to Virginia at the time of appointment only

Learn about the newborn! Focus on newborn reflexes, fontanelles, newborn vision, hunger cues, safe sleep, Vitamin K, and newborn screening tests, because those tie directly into pediatrics, family medicine, emergency medicine, and OB/GYN. To sign up go to www.ImproveMedicalCulture.org

Your most personal feelings shouldn’t be a commodity. AI is not bound by HIPAA privacy protections. Talk to a human.

A very helpful medication.
-Dr. Waggel

📝 Narrative Review: , a long-standing mood stabilizer, demonstrates convergent neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects relevant to and .

Evidence across cellular, preclinical, human , and studies indicates that lithium upregulates anti-apoptotic proteins, boosts neurotrophic factors, inhibits tau-relevant kinase pathways, and stabilizes function.

Low-dose lithium, which is below standard dosing, preserves neuronal viability and gray matter, and cumulative exposure is associated with reduced dementia risk.

Early clinical trials in mild cognitive impairment suggest favorable biomarker and cognitive outcomes, supporting prospective studies of low-dose lithium as a disease-modifying treatment.

https://ja.ma/4xmAid0

I suspected those energy shots were filled with chemicals 🤔- Charlotte

That energy shot on the gas station counter can contain a compound that acts on the same receptors as an opioid. It is sold as a harmless focus aid. Nobody is checking what is in it.

Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD, a psychiatrist, internist, and addiction medicine specialist, treats people who got hooked on what they thought was an energy drink.

The products look harmless. Sleek bottles, gummies, shots, powders, pills, lined up next to the register and marketed for energy, focus, and sleep. A lot of them contain kratom or 7-OH (7-hydroxymitragynine), botanical compounds that act on the opioid receptors and can build genuine physical dependence. Some of the people he treats now need months of medication just to get off a daily habit they picked up at a convenience store.

Here is the part that should stop you. Only 19 percent of Americans even recognize the word kratom, and these products are marketed straight to teenagers. So a parent can have no idea their kid is buying something opioid-like at the v**e shop down the street, labeled as a focus aid, with zero clinical trials behind it.

And we will distrust our own doctor's prescription while trusting the stranger behind the counter with a shiny bottle. Rifai sees it constantly: patients who refuse a prescribed medicine but take the unregulated thing the clerk recommended. The FDA has chosen not to regulate these products, so when you ask what is actually inside one, the honest answer is that no one knows.

He was asked the obvious question. Is there any over the counter supplement he feels comfortable recommending for energy or concentration?

His answer was one line:

"There is no unicorn supplement."

Other than a cup of coffee, nothing on that shelf does what the label promises. If you take something, bring the bottle to your doctor and have the conversation.

Listen to the full conversation on The Podcast by KevinMD. Link in the comments.

Convenience over actual medical expertise? 🤔- Charlotte

Among adolescent and young adult users, 91.7% rated chatbot responses for mental advice as at least somewhat helpful, with 42.8% of users seeking advice at least monthly.

https://ja.ma/4dWVbUv

This deserves further research consideration - Charlotte