I wanted to share with you this link to StrokeandAF, a resource website for Atrial Fibrillation.

Please let me know if the website has helped you. And if you’re a patient not familiar with AF, read Understanding atrial fibrillation.

Regards,

Dr. Rick Tytus

Download Hypertension Update 2011 11Nov2011

It is flu season, and we are having a flu shot clinics: November 09, from 8am. to 3pm. If you cannot make it, you can drop in during office hours, but there may be a wait to get your shot between the patients with regular appointments.

This year we have FluMist a nasal spray flu vaccine which is available in the Pharmacy this flu spray is not covered by the government and is available at $29.71 per dose if you are interested please call the 700 Main Pharmacy 905-544-0040.

We also have available Zostavax vaccine also known as the shingles vaccine. This vaccine is now for patients over 50 it cost $200 and is available at the office.

Gardasil is a vaccine which is indicated in girls and women 9 through 45 years of age for the prevention of infection caused by the human papilloma virus HPV. HPV is associated with cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers, anal cancers, genital warts and cervical adenocarcinoma.

Gardasil is also indicated in boys and man 9 through 26 years of age for the prevention of infection caused by HPV for anal cancer and genital warts.

Gardasil is given as 3 shots at 0,2 and 6 months and is currently given free for girls in grade 8 through public health and for all others the cost is approximately $175 per injection and it may be covered by third-party insurance.

We recommend all our patients to have a tetanus vaccination at once every 10 years.

If you desire Gardasil or Zostavax this has to be ordered so please leave your order at info@drtytus.com. or call.

We look forward to caring for you and your families in the years to come. We wish you all a happy & healthy 2012!

Dr. Rick Tytus & Dr. Ian Metcalfe

Authors: Richard H. Tytus, Linda Assouline and Anita Vanjaka

The aim of the study was to assess the effects on blood pressure (BP) levels and control rates in hypertensive subjects receiving trandolapril as monotherapy or as part of an antihypertensive regimen in everyday Canadian clinical practice.

Read more about our blood pressure control rate study.

Monday May 9, 2011 7pm
Ryerson United Church
842 Main Street
Hamilton

Everyone is welcome, I hope to see you there!

HAM Annual Clinical Day Registration

In Ontario alone, smokers account for a half million days of acute hospital care annually. Thirty-five Ontarians die each day from tobacco-related illness, tallying 13,000 premature and avoidable deaths each year. Fully one-half of all smokers will die from smoking-related diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and lung disease.

Yet despite the high level of awareness, about one in five Ontarians – 2.1 million people – still smoke. In Hamilton, the percentage is even greater, reflecting the health disparities in our community and the fact that tobacco use is higher among populations with lower income and fewer social support networks.

These stark disparities were highlighted in the Code Red series published The Hamilton Spectator last summer.

The ongoing debate on how society should respond to this devastating health problem is fraught with emotion: frustration among smokers, their families and their doctors, and even anger and blame by many who see smoking as a life-style choice and who resent the high cost to the province’s healthcare system — estimated at $6.1 billion annually — and the burden this imposes on every taxpayer.

[This article is a repost from Dr. Tytus' opinion piece in the Hamilton Spectator]

But smoking is not a lifestyle choice. It is one of the most powerful of addictions. In my medical practice, I see patients who struggle with their tobacco habit every day. Most began smoking before the age of 18 and, despite their desperate efforts to quit, will relapse several times throughout their lives. This is precisely why the medical community now considers smoking as an addiction and chronic disease with a pediatric onset, not a lifestyle choice or habit.

So how do we tackle an addiction that stubbornly defies the efforts of government policymakers, healthcare professionals, parents, teachers, concerned family members and smokers themselves to conquer it?

A key step is to place far more emphasis on smoking cessation strategies than has been done in the past. About one million Ontarians tried unsuccessfully to quit in the past year alone. Despite the fact that today’s cessation medications — such as nicotine patches and prescription drugs — can more than double the chance of success for someone trying to quit, many low-income Ontarians, and many who live Hamilton, can’t afford the cost of medication.

This inequity adds insult to injury. If you live below the poverty line, you are more likely to smoke and less likely to afford the very treatment that could cure you of your addiction.

Based on the numbers, providing cessation medication free of charge by adding it to the provincial drug plan is a smart and socially enlightened policy option. If those one million Ontario smokers who tried to quit last year had actually succeeded, there would be half as many smokers in the province today. Acute care hospital stays among smokers would be cut in half, along with the death rate, the financial impact on our health system, the huge loss in productivity from sick days, and so on.

Adding smoking-cessation medications to the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan would cost the provincial treasury between $7 million and $12 million annually. The savings in terms of saved lives and reduced healthcare costs would be about $21million to $36 million. This conservative estimate is based on the Ontario Medical Association’s calculation that, for every dollar spent on smoking cessation, there is almost a three-dollar return.

This represents a substantial net benefit for the Ontario taxpayer and a boon for the provincial economy.

Cessation medication is not a panacea. However, it is an essential element of a comprehensive anti-smoking strategy that includes prevention programs, counselling and support, and tough tobacco control measures.

National Non-Smoking Week is the perfect time to get in touch with your local MPP and tell them that you support free smoking cessation medication.

Let’s make this week Ontario’s — and Hamilton’s — time to quit.