The Oregon Clinic
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the specialty physicians at The Oregon Clinic are now offering virtual health visits to many patients. With Oregon and Southwest Washington residents asked to stay home and restricted from visiting physicians for non-urgent appointments, many patients have been unable to access necessary specialist health care.
With the beginning of the year, comes the usual rush of consults to my office for abnormal liver tests. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but my suspicion is that these visits are related to the many holiday parties and their associated excessive drink and dietary indiscretions—which brings me to the topic of alcohol.
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs; e.g. Prilosec/omeprazole, Prevacid/lansoprazole, and others) are among the most commonly used medications, with prevalence estimates ranging between about five percent and fifteen percent of the adult population. Recently, there have been increasing concerns about the safety of long-term PPI use, leading many patients to abandon their PPIs in favor of H2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs; e.g. Pepcid/famotidine, Zantac/ranitidine, Tagamet/cimetidine) or to stop acid suppression therapy altogether. While the tenet of “first, do no harm” remains paramount in the practice of medicine, it is important to use caution when interpreting reports of risks associated with PPI use.
When Aisha turned 40, the last thing she expected was a baby. Already a mom of three — ages 16, 15, and 13 — Aisha thought she was finished having children. After visiting the doctor thinking her appendix had burst, she discovered that she was not only pregnant but also would have a high-risk pregnancy. Having recently moved to Oregon from Alaska, Aisha was new to Portland and didn’t know where to begin to find an OBGYN. All she knew was that she needed to find someone she trusted.
Dr. Kimberlynn Heller believes that Aisha’s story is important to tell because of how Black women’s health concerns are often ignored or overlooked before, during, and after pregnancy.