Who among us doesn’t have an occasional night when we can’t sleep?  A new drug called eplivanserin (Eclipse?) improves sleep duration and limits night-time wake-ups without the grogginess and rebound insomnia you find from other drugs.  Already in use in Europe, it will probably be introduced here this year.

“The Allergists were in favor of scratching it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves. The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the
Administration had a lot of nerve. Meanwhile, Obstetricians felt certain (more…)

Last letter we talked about stretching and botox for the heel pain of plantar fasciitis.  Turns out shoe inserts like the Bauerfeind Visco-Heel and the Tuli Heel Cup, available on www.Amazon.com , are another inexpensive but effective answer for this painful condition. You may need sneakers, boots, or tie-shoes about a half size bigger to wear the inserts.  Is there anything LESS sexy than bunions?  Amazon also has a flexible $60 splint to be worn in shoes and a rigid one to be worn at night; both can delay or end the need for bunion surgery.

A promising drug for low libido in women, bremelanotide, has been abandoned due to a small percentage of higher blood pressure in clinical trials.  Always interesting, since Viagra has that effect on many men and it was still released with great fanfare.  Hmmm.  The new hopeful “Viagra for women” is flibanserin, a drug investigated for depression that turned out to increase the whoopee quotient in women.  Clinical trials involving 5,000 women are proceeding nicely toward a 2011 approval.  Libigel, a testosterone replacement gel for women, is also in stage three trials.  You can get 1 or 2% micronized testosterone cream today from (more…)

Pets trumped shopping in a recent survey of what made women happy!  Retail sales continue to plummet and even the venerable Nordstrom July sale was down almost 7% over last year.  Part of the problem may be that intimidated retailers aren’t putting anything new and sexy out there because they’re playing it safe.  Another aspect may be the aging shoppers – don’t you have that déjà vu feeling when you pick up many “new” fashions and food products?  Prime shopping years are listed as age 35 to age 54.  Many of those who are tired of penny pinching still want the same things – new clothes, a vacation (more…)