It is with great pleasure that we can now offer our principal lab tech, Jean Narod, 3 times a week. What does this mean for you?

• You can make fast "blood only" visits.

• It means that we can do your blood tests more quickly

 – doing many the same day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

• We can help you with many tests other doctors want

 you to do, since we maintain a central data base.

• Established patients can have their tests done ahead of

 physicals or other visits which require fasting.

And Speaking of Our Lab, Jean and our other techs Cathy DeMaio and Terri Bissonette scored 100% (again) on our latest outside review from the Committee on Lab Accreditation (COLA).

Our Latest Winner: Margaret Hughes wins 2 Hollywood Video rentals for getting her colon cancer (guaiac) screening cards in promptly. Everyone who does this test is a winner in the fight to reduce this preventable cancer!

DrGrimshaw.com is now up to 54 pages. Visitors to our site have shown interest in the newsletters and in the "Guides" section, which has all of my summaries on conditions such as Diabetes, Heart Failure, Vertigo and Alzheimer’s, as well as the Progressive Diet (for simple diarrhea) and the recipe for Nasal Saline (for treating or preventing sinusitis). Savvy visitors have also found our "Links" section to be a fast way to get to non-profit health web sites.

were raised by an article in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. D. Mukherjee and colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic performed a "meta-analysis" of 4 previously reported trials. They expressed concerns about possible "pro-thrombotic" (clot enhancing) effects of these drugs. They concluded that the 2 drugs should be studied to see if they increase the risk of heart attack and other heart events.

Are these risks you should worry about? I’m not sure – none of the studies they analyzed were designed to look at this, and they tried looking back at "historical control" studies, which is notoriously risky. Even the authors say that short-term use (which is the most frequent way people use the drugs) has never been analyzed. Perhaps we’re seeing a positive effect of naproxen (Naprosyn, others) and similar arthritis meds on heart attack prevention, rather than a negative effect from these 2 drugs.

Diet & Exercise Prevent Diabetes is the conclusion of the Diabetes Prevention Program (we had patients in the trial). Losing 10-15 lbs and ½ hr of brisk walking 5 days a week sharply lowered the risk of type 2 (non-insulin requiring) diabetes. The "lifestyle change" group reduced their risk by 58% compared to the "no action" group. In another arm of the study, metformin (Glucophage) reduced the risk 31%.

Who is at risk for type 2 diabetes? Those with Impaired Fasting Glucose -- which we test for with a formal 2 hr "glucose tolerance test" -- most of whom have a strong family history of diabetes. In 3 years, 29% of control patients became diabetic.

We can help! Our dietician, Kathy Berkowitz RD MS is here for you; please call for an appointment!

Baycol Recall: The cholesterol lowering drug Baycol (cerivastatin) was recalled by the manufacturer after reports of 31 deaths due to severe muscle destruction (rhabdomyolyisis). The problem was seen more often in seniors and in those who were also on gemfibrozil (Lopid, others). We hope that we’ve found most of our patients who were on Baycol; but if we missed you, please call!

I’m again teaching Physical Diagnosis to 2^nd year students; and this fall I’ve been asked to be a small group leader also.

So, we have to shift some of our office hoursTuesdays 10/30, 11/13, 11/27 & 12/11 will be 7:30am-2:30pm. Thursdays 11/1, 11/15, 11/29 & 12/13 will be 1-6pm.