Groups advocating the use of cannabis to treat various illnesses have criticized the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) for “conflating” its medical and recreational uses and exaggerating its supposed harmful effects in blocking a proposed law that will allow Filipinos to legally acquire the drug. A measure at the House of Representatives, consolidated from 10 bills,...
Category: Health
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Proponents urge ‘a little compassion’ in legalizing medical cannabis
When her daughter Joy’s doctor told Gay matter-of-factly that she could lose her anytime to epilepsy, she was stunned and realized she had to look for other medicines to stop the seizures which started when her child was a baby. After years of trying up to 11 different medicines to quell Joy’s seizures, Gay was...
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TIP alumni produce a therapy glove to benefit stroke survivors
Stroke, also known as “brain attack,” is among the leading causes of long-term disability and mortality worldwide. Anyone can be at risk of a stroke, although it mostly affects older adults. In the Philippines, stroke survivors may struggle to regain their vitality due to damage in their central nervous system, which generally leads to poor...
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Make the fight against breast cancer stronger
CALAPAN CITY, Mindoro Oriental—Dr. Patty Caballero-Cabral had been undergoing mammography and ultrasound examinations yearly since 2013, and all results turned out normal. In 2020, however, when the Covid-19 pandemic upended life all over the world, her checkup routine was disrupted and she found herself spending most of her time attending to patients in the public...
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What’s a guy in his 70s doing trying to ride a bike?
Sometime last April, I had nerve pain in my right leg. In previous bouts with such pain in my leg or bum, I simply waited a few days and the pain went away. This time a week went by but the pain stayed. I checked medical websites for a clue. I found that in the...
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‘Passionate’ tweeter Ted Herbosa is now health chief
The reputation of newly appointed Health Secretary Dr. Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa has preceded him, and certain sectors do not find it encouraging. In December 2017, while speaking at a leadership forum in New Delhi, former US president Barack Obama was asked about the perils of using Twitter where he had more than 97 million followers...
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For a healthier lifestyle, wake up earlier
When the 3 a.m. alarm went off it should have started a familiar routine that involved hitting the snooze button a number of times, closing my eyes again, and thinking of excuses for welshing on a commitment. To say that mornings are rough is to make an understatement. But this was no ordinary morning engagement,...
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Why we should continue to wear face masks
Planet Earth has been learning about Covid-19 ever since this highly contagious respiratory disease that killed so many was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The knowledge led to mobility restrictions in many countries including severe lockdowns in the Philippines, not to mention a global race on who could...
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Life with cell tower: Safe technology pushed amid industry rush
(Last of two parts) Life with cell tower: Folks wary of metallic neighbor CITY OF CALAPAN, Oriental Mindoro—When Rosendo Rojas came home from a month-long vacation in Tarlac to vote in last year’s May elections, he was startled by an unlikely neighbor beyond his fence: A rising telecommunications tower. Rojas and the other residents of...
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Life with cell tower: Folks wary of metallic neighbor
(First of two parts) Life with cell tower: Safe technology pushed amid industry rush CITY OF CALAPAN, Oriental Mindoro—As far back as Genita Romero could recall, it was in the 1990s when her family’s health troubles began: Her 84-year-old mother Rosita had been plagued with tuberculosis, while her children had abscesses in the groin that...
