I was wrong

When I blogged about 'Blogging About Others' on Saturday, I was wrong. I misinterpreted Frances' post. I didn't mean to. Maybe because it is such a touchy topic for me that I misinterpreted it. I got negative feedback from both Frances and another reader. I did go back and clarify my blog post and posted an update as well. This is something I never do. I usually let a post stand as it is without editing.

I do not claim to be perfect. I know I can be critical of others - particularly those who piss me off - but this was not the case. In this case, I was just wrong and I apologize.

Don't believe everything you read or hear

The majority of that 'research' online and in the news is wrong. Or biased or incomplete. In other words, not credible.

This is what happens. Journals which are peer reviewed, meaning a medical journal where all articles are reviewed and approved by a board of doctors before being published, are full of credible information. That is good information.

But then there are many other magazines and journals where researchers send their results to get published. If you get published as a researcher it adds to your credibility and CV so you can build pages of publications so it gets to be nice a long which is a positive think the research world.

Journals are always trying to find ways to fill pages. Some journals are ad free which are published by associations who pay for their publication through member dues and other funding. Magazines which have ads are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They want the ads to pay for their publication but are required by law to have a maximum percentage of pages of ads vs. pages of articles. So the more articles they have the more ads they can have and therefore increase their revenue.

They will publish anything that looks credible.

Then articles get picked up by the media and blown out of proportion and we all get scared and hyped up to avoid BPA or food additives or Vitamin C or red wine (next week white wine).

I am sure I have blogged about this in the past. The advantage of chemo brain, fibro fog, tamoxifen fog, and whatever else I have is that I can't remember squat. But this time I have an article which explains how the whole BPA thing was based on poor data and sampling but hen got picked up by  the media and all the manufacturers got right by getting us to buy new water bottles without BPA.

So don't believe what you read no matter how much it is splashed all over the media. Wait for additional verification. And use your common sense.

Wrong pills at the pharmacy

CVS has been on the  news recently for dispensing the wrong medication at a a pharmacy in New Jersey. And not just to one person but to fifteen people instead of fluoride pills. That's a big oops! I mean a really big oops. Imagine if it was something potentially toxic to children. A medication taken at the wrong dose could be fatal.

I once received the wrong prescription. I was given the wrong dose of synthroid. I noticed it when I got home and took it back to the pharmacy, also a CVS. They were very apologetic but I did lose my confidence with them. I then switched pharmacies. But I also took up the  habit of checking my pills as soon as I got home from the pharmacy. Did they look like the picture on the side of the bottle? Did they look like my last prescription?

I have noticed pharmacies have more checks now. I often see a row of bottles lined up with their paperwork to be double checked on the pharmacy back counter. I know pharmacies are better about informing customers about changes in manufacturers and potential differences in medications from the last prescription pick up.

So how did this pharmacy manage to fill fifteen prescriptions wrong? Was someone asleep on the job? Maybe the store should just close that pharmacy as I am sure they have lost their customers' confidence. Me? I'll just keep double checking my pills.