Author: Emma Yasinski

Emma Yasinski

I am a freelance science and medical journalist, fascinated by how the scientific process leads to incredible discoveries, but also can lead to publication bias leaning toward positive findings and minimizing negatives. With a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Lafayette College and a Master’s in Science and Medical Journalism from Boston University, I’ve written about clinical trial transparency, organ donation, and basic molecular biology for publications like The Scientist, The Atlantic, Undark.org, Kaiser Health News, and more. At MedShadow, I research and write about the sometimes unexpected ways that medicines can affect us, and what we can do if and when it does.

HIV

“I don’t have a problem saying I have AIDs,” says Hydeia Broadbent in a video made as a part of a campaign with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but she acknowledges that many others still live in fear of sharing their status due to ongoing stigma. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), is no longer the death sentence it was in the 1980s, provided that you receive timely, consistent treatment. Still, it’s a serious illness with complications that can be fatal. Here’s what you need to know about HIV, and the benefits…

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Regular “MedShadow” readers are likely familiar with the idea of deprescribing—the process of reducing the number or dose of drugs a person is taking. “MedShadow” has written about the phenomenon before. But, while the idea of taking fewer medications is simple, the real world process of deprescribing, while balancing risks versus benefits, is complicated. Some medications have withdrawal symptoms, and tapering may take time. The Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is hosting a series of webinars with healthcare professionals sharing real-life stories about their own patients whose medications they were able to reduce, and what happened…

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Angela Tong, BscPharm, ACPR, met her patient, a woman in her 20s, when she’d just overdosed on acetaminophen. The overdose was not her first. Tong is a clinical pharmacist at Fraser Health Authority, a hospital system in Canada. She treated the woman as she stayed at the hospital for several months.  The woman had just started a new job as a medical assistant, but the stress quickly became overwhelming. She listed her symptoms to Tong.  “She felt really anxious. She feels sleepy during the day, but she had trouble sleeping at night. There are lots of voices in her head,…

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Regular MedShadow readers are likely familiar with the idea of deprescribing—the process of cutting down on medicine and reducing the number or dose of drugs a person is taking. MedShadow has written about the phenomenon before. But, while the idea of taking fewer medications is simple, the real world process of deprescribing while balancing risks versus benefits is complicated. Some medications have withdrawal symptoms, and tapering may take time. The Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is hosting a series of webinars with healthcare professionals sharing real-life stories about their own patients whose medications they were able…

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Regular MedShadow readers are likely familiar with the idea of deprescribing—the process of reducing the number or dose of drugs a person is taking. MedShadow has written about the phenomenon before. But, while the idea of taking fewer medications is simple, the process of deprescribing while balancing risks versus benefits is complicated. Some medications have withdrawal symptoms, and tapering may take time. The Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia is hosting a series of webinars with healthcare professionals sharing real-life stories of their own patients whose medications they were able to reduce, and what happened when they did.…

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Updated Jan 5, 2023 with new details on Paxlovid side effects. Two recently authorized antiviral drugs designed to protect against the most severe outcomes of COVID-19 may be game-changers during the ongoing pandemic. Those benefits may come at a cost, however. It’s crucial that you and your healthcare providers understand New COVID Antivirals’ potential side effects, so you use them as safely as possible. “Obviously, if you’ve got a serious case of COVID, you need to be treated,” despite the risk of side effects says Katherine Seley-Radtke, PhD, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.…

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MedShadow recently posted an article in which a journalist investigates his own sleep apnea diagnosis and ends up forgoing expensive machinery and learning that sleeping on his side was all it took in his case to keep his oxygen levels stable through the night. In the Kaiser Health News article, author Jay Hancock describes an “expensive testing prescription cascade” including an at-home test and two separate nights in a sleep lab testing for different characteristics of the condition.  Testing is not the only cascade in medicine. In recent years, researchers have started to identify “prescription cascades”—situations in which a patient…

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Pharmacists are working in many locations, not just behind the counter at the drugstore. Clinical pharmacists are in hospitals, assisted-living facilities and more, and they can play an important role in helping you and your loved ones manage your medications, reduce side effects and be healthier. MedShadow spoke to Chad Worz, Pharm.D, CEO of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), which partners with TaperMD. TaperMD is a tool that evaluates medical risk and the role of different types of pharmacists and how they may help reduce side effects and ensure that your medicines are both safe and effective. MedShadow:…

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A now world-wide outbreak of hepatitis ‘that began in fall 2021 among young children, sickening hundreds, continues nearly eight months later, as of May 2022. The medical community is searching for its cause.  Some researchers believe it may have been triggered by COVID-19 infections or by colds or other viruses. The challenge is that the term hepatitis denotes an inflammation of the liver, but in order to treat it, a doctor needs to know what caused that inflammation. That’s problematic, because a doctor must know the cause to treat it effectively. Here’s what you need to know about the many…

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​Early in Dee Mangin’s career as a primary-care physician, she noticed that many people, especially older adults, were prescribed large numbers and doses of drugs, which, in some cases, might actually be detracting from their health rather than improving it. Then, she realized that even when polypharmacy (being prescribed five or more medications simultaneously) was recognized as a problem, there wasn’t any systematic way to help patients and healthcare providers assess which medicines might be most effective in a lower dose or discontinued altogether.  Mangin is an MBChB (the New Zealand equivalent of an MD) and DPH (doctor of public…

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