Botox and marijuana, together again!

A handy summary of alternative treatments for TS addresses marijuana, Botox, deep brain stimulation, and more.

The herbal remedy

The Washington Post looks at medical marijuana laws in California.

Not just for wrinkles anymore

An article in today's New York Times discusses the ever-expanding number of off-label uses for Botox. The quote that ought to capture someone's attention: "Botox is so widely adopted in medicine — and ingrained in popular culture — that some doctors don’t think that novel uses are experiments."

In you were wondering why I posted this here: Botox also is being tried as a treatment for Tourette Syndrome.

Know your meds, part one

Risperdal

FDA warning letter about Risperdal

Last November's story in the New York Times about ties between a research center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Johnson & Johnson. -- And the original post about this story on my blog.

Drugs.com Risperdal page and Medicinenet page. Note that extrapyramidal side-effects are most common. Extrapyramidal effects include tardive dyskinesia and parkinsonism. In other words, the most common side-effects from a drug that often is used to treat Tourette Syndrome are spasms, tremors and jerky movements.

Michael J. Fox on "The Daily Show"

Watch the interview here.

New research on bipolar disorder

Doctors study bipolar disorder in infants. (Thanks to Aimee for the heads-up!) A fascinating discussion of this research can be found here.

"The Hawthorne Effect"

The author of Slate's "medical examiner" column discusses alternative therapies for autism, why he believes none of them work, and why he believes parents continue to swear by them. The article is interesting -- and less caustic than one might expect. I believe the author does miss one key point, though. I think it is entirely possible that parents continue to cling to treatments that are dismissed by the scientific community because they need to know that they are doing something that is helping their children. Nobody wants to give up hope.