Introducing you to Dr. Shikha Jain today on my podcast. Dr. Jain uses social media to help patients understand the latest scientific studies. She uses the platform to demystify and break down the important advances in oncology into understandable language.
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to chat with a few friends and one of them brought up this study: https://nyti.ms/2LV9TvX which talks about certain groups of patients with breast cancer who may not need chemotherapy. It is exciting that social media can be used to get this information out to patients and can be found as early as studies are presented at conferences. We are moving into a time when scientific studies can be found online and the research brought into your doctor and discussed regarding the latest advances. Feel free to follow Dr. Jain on twitter at @ShikhaJainMD or follow me at @DrCarol . Twitter is a place where physicians are speaking out about the latest scientific based advances in medicine.
On a more personal level, last week I had a new medicine (for me) for nausea – olanzpine. This really helped with nausea but made it difficult for me to do much else. I felt jittery with this medication and my sleep has been off since I took this medicine. One day I slept 20 hours – other nights I could barely stay asleep for a few hours before needing to get up and move around. It is so hard to know if side effects are worth the lower nausea level. I keep a journal as a result to record how I feel during this chemotherapy process and would recommend others do that as well. It can help you and your physician sort out what is the next best step in relieving symptoms – or just living with them. I am now 1/3 of the way through treatment – and on my week off of chemotherapy it does not seem so long. During the week of receiving chemotherapy – it seems like an eternity! Thanks for all the continued support, emails, notes, facebook messages. I so appreciate it and I hope the introduction to Dr. Jain today helps anyone searching for medical information for themselves or a loved one! Episode #12 is linked on the side bar here. Subscribe to my podcast (three platforms are also linked on the side bar). Rate it, share it for others to benefit!