Meds

PRP therapy protocols lack expert consensus

Meds

May 6, 2026

As a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) physician, I have guided patients through musculoskeletal care. Recently, my focus has shifted toward regenerative medicine, particularly platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. What began as curiosity is now a strong commitment to understanding these therapies for patients who have exhausted conventional treatments.

This new focus led me to attend an intensive weekend course with experts from orthopedics, sports medicine, PM&R, rheumatology, and pain medicine. …

GLP-1 agonists and the hidden power of outdoor exercise

John La Puma, MD

Meds

May 4, 2026

A recent report documented something remarkable: Americans on glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists are falling in love with exercise for the first time. A man who struggled to walk to his mailbox now hikes seven miles a day. A woman who needed a cane ran her first five-kilometer (5K) race. A rock climber went from three workouts a week to five.

These drugs proved what physicians should have said more clearly long …

51 cases that reframe methylene blue serotonin syndrome

Steven E. Warren, MD, DPA

Meds

April 22, 2026

A patient walks into my office. She is 52, exhausted, brain-fogged, gaining weight, and six years into sertraline 100 mg. I mention methylene blue as a mitochondrial support at 10 mg orally.

She looks at me like I just suggested arsenic.

“My pharmacist said I can never take methylene blue because I am on an antidepressant. He said it causes serotonin syndrome.”

I hear this every week. And every week I have to …

Ketamine therapy and the primacy of mind in modern medicine

Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD

Meds

April 22, 2026

In the modern clinic, we often operate under an unstated a priori assumption that if a phenomenon is real, its primary explanation must be molecular. As a psychiatrist, I find this reductionist bias increasingly apparent in how we conceptualize “breakthrough” treatments like ketamine therapy for depression or chronic pain. When we discuss how ketamine works, the conversation almost instantly gravitates toward the neurotransmitter system, synaptic plasticity, glutamate surges, and the …

The $500,000 drug and the cost of modern medicine

Francisco M. Torres, MD

Meds

April 21, 2026

I met him as a patient with a back condition, not a cardiac patient. A 70-year-old man who looked like he had outrun aging through sheer willpower and a well-worn bicycle. He rode more than a hundred miles a week, had the resting heart rate of a seasoned athlete, and carried himself with the kind of confidence that comes from a lifetime of good health. His only complaint was lower-back …

Why GLP-1 medications require expert nutrition guidance

Deanne Brandstetter, MBA, RDN

Meds

April 18, 2026

GLP-1 medications are an effective tool for many people’s weight loss journey, and they have changed the conversation around obesity, diabetes, and chronic disease. For many Americans, these treatment options may offer something that once felt out of reach: real, measurable weight loss and improved metabolic health. But as prescriptions surge and headlines celebrate dramatic transformations, an uncomfortable truth is often overlooked. Medication alone is not enough, and in some …

How the opioid superagonist DFNZ challenges pain medicine

Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD

Meds

April 5, 2026

A publication in Nature in April 2026 reports that N-desethyl-fluornitrazene (DFNZ), a modified nitazene and µ-opioid receptor (MOR) superagonist, produced potent analgesia in rodents with less respiratory depression, weaker dopamine-linked reward signaling, lower withdrawal burden, and no clear tolerance or MOR downregulation. The study challenges the usual assumption that very high MOR efficacy must inevitably produce the full adverse-effect profile seen with conventional opioids. Opioid pharmacology has long been …

The clinical evidence and reality of peptide therapy

Shiv K. Goel, MD

Meds

April 5, 2026

There is a sentence I have been practicing for two years. I believe peptide therapy works. It sounds simple. It is not simple. In the culture of evidence-based medicine, a culture I was trained in, believe in, and have practiced inside for over two decades, saying you believe something that the evidence has not yet fully validated carries consequences. Raised eyebrows at conferences. The careful distance of colleagues. The quiet …

The risks of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising and Big Pharma

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD

Meds

March 29, 2026

In 2002, prescribing risperidone meant fighting through layers of resistance. I had to argue with formulary doctors, armed with a special copy of the New England Journal of Medicine article where my own name was highlighted, just to gain permission. That was the level of scrutiny these drugs once demanded. The article itself was not obscure, it was a landmark trial demonstrating risperidone’s efficacy in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Yet …

Statin safety and efficacy: What recent studies reveal

Cliff Dominy, PhD

Meds

March 28, 2026

Are you concerned about statins? In the past two weeks, cold hard statistics have cut through the fog of misinformation surrounding these best-selling drugs, focusing instead on the safety and efficacy of lowering your blood cholesterol level. No emotions or bias, just numbers. Welcome information for anyone who has enjoyed numerous trips around the sun and is looking forward to many more.

Middle age, that point in life when your invincibility …

Huntington’s disease gene therapy: FDA reversal delays AMT-130

Meghan Johnston, MPH

Meds

March 17, 2026

At the end of September 2025, a gene therapy company released results from a clinical trial showing that a breakthrough procedure reduced the progression of Huntington’s symptoms by 75 percent over three years. Researchers collected data from 12 participants who received the therapy and compared the data with two types of control groups.

The company’s drug, AMT-130, shows unprecedented outcomes, so why is the FDA slowing …

The truth about psychiatric supplements and mental health

Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD

Meds

March 15, 2026

Patients ask me about supplements every week. They bring bottles from Amazon, health food stores, podcasts, and social media. They want something natural. They want something gentler. They want something they can buy without asking permission. I understand the instinct. Psychiatric medications have side effects, cost, stigma, and disappointment. But the supplement aisle is not a sanctuary. It is a marketplace that could turn dangerous.

That matters because supplements in the …

Ketamine therapy for chronic pain and substance misuse

Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD

Meds

March 13, 2026

Health care works best when it solves real problems in real lives. That is why recent research on ketamine therapy for chronic pain deserves attention. The peer-reviewed study looked at 20 adults living with chronic pain who also struggled with substance misuse. The results suggest that carefully designed pain treatment may help more than pain alone. It may also improve mood and support recovery from substance misuse. In a …

Kratom vs. 7-OH: Understanding the potency gap and risks

Emma Fenske and Bradley M. Buchheit

Meds

March 13, 2026

The clink of ice in the glass had been an evening “wind down” routine ever since the pandemic. It had served as a way to drown remnants of stress that bubbled up throughout the course of the day. This “routine” developed over weeks, but eventually evolved into dependence, addiction even, he worried. I need to do something about this before I lose it all, he thought one morning upon waking …

Why the FDA regulations on peptide therapy matter

Vikas Patel, MD

Meds

March 10, 2026

Everyone wants peptides, do you not? That includes Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last week, he announced on the Joe Rogan Experience that the FDA would reverse its restrictions on roughly 14 peptides that were banned from compounding pharmacies in 2023. “My hope is that they’re going to get moved to a place where people have access from ethical suppliers,” he told Rogan, while acknowledging, in …

GLP-1 weight regain: Why stopping medication leads to weight return

Jessica Duncan, MD

Meds

March 4, 2026

Stopping a GLP-1 abruptly and expecting maintenance of weight loss is not realistic. Even replacing it with a standard “eat less, move more” plan is not sufficient as it ignores what we know about hunger regulation and metabolic adaptation. A reduced-calorie diet and 30 minutes of daily walking, while helpful, are rarely sufficient to overcome the physiological forces defending prior weight.

Weight maintenance after significant loss requires managing cravings, psychological hunger …

Marijuana rescheduling: Why the medical community’s silence is dangerous

Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD

Meds

February 22, 2026

By presidential order, marijuana has been rescheduled from Schedule I to Schedule III. This is not a subtle bureaucratic shift. It is a historic decision with major medical, regulatory, and cultural implications. Yet, astonishingly, much of the medical community has responded with near silence. There has been little serious discussion, no broad professional debate, and minimal effort to educate clinicians or the public about what this change does, and does …

Peptides for chronic pain: Navigating safety and regulations

Stephanie Phillips, DO

Meds

February 21, 2026

I have so many patients struggling with horrible arthritis pain! All the treatments we have either really don’t work well or have side effects, and many times cause more harm than good. I found myself having a risk-benefit discussion with every single patient with chronic pain, and at times, feeling like I was doing more harm than good when trying to help treat the pain.

Patients are taking NSAIDs, and I …

Mifepristone safety: Comparing the data to Viagra and penicillin

Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber, MD and Sophia Yen, MD, MPH

Meds

February 21, 2026

As physicians, we pride ourselves on following the evidence. We weigh risks and benefits, assess data, and trust science to guide decisions about patient care. Yet, when it comes to reproductive health, lawmakers and courts too often override scientific consensus. Nowhere is that clearer than in the debate over mifepristone.

Patients deserve care rooted in evidence and science, not ideology. To provide safe and best-practice medical care, physicians need the ability …

Deprescribing in health care: Why less medication can be more

American Medical Association & John Whyte, MD, MPH

Meds

February 17, 2026

Every day, millions of Americans take medications to manage chronic conditions or prevent disease. Prescription drugs are vital tools in modern medicine, but in some circumstances, they can also lead to serious adverse drug interactions, diminished quality of life, and even life-threatening complications.

This is a complex issue with high stakes for patients. Older adults, in particular, are often prescribed multiple drugs by different doctors for different reasons. The Centers for …

Meds

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