Prescribing the Correct Medications to Our #1stresponders

By Safe Call Now Board Member Dr. Michael Genovese, MD, JD

As first responders do we know anything about medication when it is prescribed to us from our doctors?  The side effects, if it will actually work or not?  This is great information you need to know for your health and wellness.  Stay safe out there!!!

Dr. Michael V. Genovese, M.D., J.D.
 

With the advancement of medicine and the multitude of available options, psychiatrists face numerous challenges in tailoring the appropriate course of individualized treatment for patients. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how a person’s individual DNA affects his or her response to medications and a scientific method of evaluating which medications a patient is likely to tolerate. The primary role of pharmacogenomics is to develop rational means to optimize drug therapy, with respect to the patient’s genotype, to ensure maximum efficacy with minimal adverse effects.

There are many factors involved in the decision making process of administering medication such as efficacy, side effect profile, compliance, cost, family history, and the patient’s previous medication trials. Approximately 50% of patients do not respond to their initial medication treatment and up to 30% discontinue due to intolerable side effects. Additionally, nearly 70% of patients are non-adherent to their prescribed medication schedule, with adverse reactions representing the most common cause. The statistics reveal the demand for an individualized approach to patient care and a treatment plan specific to the patient’s needs.

Pharmacogenomics provides an evidence-based approach to improving customized treatment outcomes. This personalized approach to medicine is safe and easy to accomplish. It minimizes patient frustration associated with a trial and error approach to pharmacology. Testing a patient is as simple as collecting cells from the inside of the cheek with a cotton swab. The cells are sent to a lab and results are generally available within a week. A detailed report provides patient specific information regarding the genes that code for enzymes that are responsible for metabolizing medication and regulating its activity at the neuron.

The Accidental Addict... It Happens to #1stresponders

By Dr. Maryann Rosenthal Ph.D.

Today, millions of Americans suffer with all kinds of physical concerns that cause them serious pain. They are in need of pain management to help them function and are often prescribed appropriate medications to help them cope and manage their condition. However, because these drugs are so powerful and their need so great, bodies can build up a tolerance for the medications.  They then need more of the drug to obtain the same effect. Eventually they can become overly dependent on these drugs, which can have a very negative effect on their quality of their life.

Prescription drug abuse is the Nation’s fastest-growing drug problem and the “Accidental Addict” can happen to all ages and in all lifestyles especially first responders.  According to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2009, more than 5 million Americans misused prescription painkillers in a one-month period. “Daily, 50 people in our nation die from unintentional prescription opioid overdoses and daily, 20 times that number are admitted to hospital emergency departments for opioid overdoses,” said John Eadie, director of the Prescription Monitoring Program Center of Excellence at Brandeis University. As outrageous as that sounds, a huge majority – more than 70% of those prescriptions were from friends and relatives.

There are many reasons for the rapid and growing abuse of prescription drugs. One is how easily accessible the drugs are from doctors, family and friends.  The other is the diminished perception of risk while taking these legal drugs.  After all, many times these drugs are prescribed for real pain and unfortunately, patients are not always good consumers and do not question their doctors when addictive medications are prescribed.  Doctors tell patients to “get ahead of the pain – if you wait, it will take longer to manage your pain.”  So your brain sends a signal that the pain is coming and you need to be prepared.  Better take another pill. And the cycle of abuse begins. These factors all add to the epidemic and deadly problem of prescription drug abuse in our Nation today. 

Pharamacogenetics & the #1stresponder

Safe Call Now Partner Dr. Michael Genovese

As first responders do we know anything about medication when it is prescribed to us from our doctors?  The side effects, if it will actually work or not?  This is great information you need to know for your health and wellness.  Stay safe out there!!!

Michael V. Genovese, M.D., J.D.
Chief Medical Officer – Sierra Tucson 

With the advancement of medicine and the multitude of available options, psychiatrists face numerous challenges in tailoring the appropriate course of individualized treatment for patients. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how a person’s individual DNA affects his or her response to medications and a scientific method of evaluating which medications a patient is likely to tolerate. The primary role of pharmacogenomics is to develop rational means to optimize drug therapy, with respect to the patient’s genotype, to ensure maximum efficacy with minimal adverse effects.

There are many factors involved in the decision making process of administering medication such as efficacy, side effect profile, compliance, cost, family history, and the patient’s previous medication trials. Approximately 50% of patients do not respond to their initial medication treatment and up to 30% discontinue due to intolerable side effects. Additionally, nearly 70% of patients are non-adherent to their prescribed medication schedule, with adverse reactions representing the most common cause. The statistics reveal the demand for an individualized approach to patient care and a treatment plan specific to the patient’s needs.

Does Medication Impact the #1stresponder???

By Safe Call Now® President & Founder - Sean Riley

Here’s something I see too often with #1stresponders that call the Safe Call Now® crisis line.  Officers being over prescribed medication or prescribed medication that may not be necessary for what they’re currently dealing with.  

Let me give you an example; I generally see when a #1stresponder experiences a traumatic event or multiple events they may afterwards feel depressed, anxious and unable to sleep.  They’re searching for answers to these problems and visit their family doctor.  Too often they report that they are prescribed anti-depressants, sleep aids and benzodiazepines (something like Xanax) to deal with these issues.  I always say when you get this combination of three drugs going, at some point we at Safe Call Now® will be dealing with you.

Are we medicating normal feelings to an abnormal situation?  In most cases I believe so.  What gives me the ability or expertise to qualify this statement?  Through 23 years of addiction I was often prescribed these medications and just about everything else known to mankind and experienced their side effects and became dependent on some.  What do I see as the potential problem?  The health care industry is a complicated business and as I view it driven by the almighty dollar.  When I went to the doctor it seemed that I spent less time with them as their volume of seeing patients must increase to sometimes just break even when dealing with insurance companies.  Not their fault it’s just the way the system is set up.

#1stresponders... Are You Taking Medication???

By Safe Call Now® President & Founder - Sean Riley

Here’s something I see too often with #1stresponders that call the Safe Call Now® crisis line.  Officers being over prescribed medication or prescribed medication that may not be necessary for what they’re currently dealing with.  Let me give you an example; I generally see when a #1stresponder experiences a traumatic event or multiple events they may afterwards feel depressed, anxious and unable to sleep.  They’re searching for answers to these problems and visit their family doctor.  Too often they report that they are prescribed anti-depressants, sleep aids and benzodiazepines (something like Xanax) to deal with these issues.  I always say when you get this combination of three drugs going, at some point we at Safe Call Now® will be dealing with you.

Are we medicating normal feelings to an abnormal situation?  In most cases I believe so.  What gives me the ability or expertise to qualify this statement?  Through 23 years of addiction I was often prescribed these medications and just about everything else known to mankind and experienced their side effects and became dependent on some.  What do I see as the potential problem?  The health care industry is a complicated business and as I view it driven by the almighty dollar.  When I went to the doctor it seemed that I spent less time with them as their volume of seeing patients must increase to sometimes just break even when dealing with insurance companies.  Not their fault it’s just the way the system is set up.

Safe Call Now®’s Dr. Alex Cahana advised me of a study where the more time a doctor spent with a patient the better they got.  Those doctors that spent less time with a patient, their symptoms got worse.  Here’s the catch, the doctors that spent less time with their patients made more money for their entity.  Simple economics.  This is not to bash doctors as they are put into a tough situation.  In regards to #1stresponders, who is a doctor going to trust the most with medication and taking them responsibly?  You!!!  Therefor you’ll probably get prescribed whatever you want.

When dealing with the brain, it’s a crapshoot and I don’t care what anybody says.  What works for one person may not work for another.  When you combine medications, constantly change the milligrams, titrate up and down for weeks on end how do you know when you’re feeling the way you’re supposed to or getting yourself back to normal?  I remember going to the doctor and he/she asking me how I felt.  My response was always, “I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel, that’s why I’m seeing you?” 

#1stresponders, Medication and its Impacts...

By Sierra Tucson

As first responders do we know anything about medication when it is prescribed to us from our doctors?  The side effects, if it will actually work or not?  This is great information you need to know for your health and wellness.  Stay safe out there!!!

Michael V. Genovese, M.D., J.D.
Chief Medical Officer

With the advancement of medicine and the multitude of available options, psychiatrists face numerous challenges in tailoring the appropriate course of individualized treatment for patients. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how a person’s individual DNA affects his or her response to medications and a scientific method of evaluating which medications a patient is likely to tolerate. The primary role of pharmacogenomics is to develop rational means to optimize drug therapy, with respect to the patient’s genotype, to ensure maximum efficacy with minimal adverse effects.

There are many factors involved in the decision making process of administering medication such as efficacy, side effect profile, compliance, cost, family history, and the patient’s previous medication trials. Approximately 50% of patients do not respond to their initial medication treatment and up to 30% discontinue due to intolerable side effects. Additionally, nearly 70% of patients are non-adherent to their prescribed medication schedule, with adverse reactions representing the most common cause. The statistics reveal the demand for an individualized approach to patient care and a treatment plan specific to the patient’s needs.