Emdoc Health, Suite 6 Beacon Consultant Clinic Sandyford Dublin 18, Dublin (2025)

04/09/2025

We've come a long way in Ireland (yes, we've farther to go) but is one day where we should really notice it, if we think back even a few years.

Sexual health IS healthcare.

Everyone deserves access to CORRECT information about everything from STI testing, contraception, consent, and prevention -- and access to care.

2 resources everyone over 17 (and parents!) should know about: .ie and Wellbeing

.fides

04/09/2025

Call for Abstracts is still open for the Irish Society of Lifestyle Medicine Conference 2025 at Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). *Note that this event is for registered healthcare professionals!*

Just weeks to go and tickets selling fast!

We are looking forward to welcoming our Keynote Speaker, Dr. Alan Desmond as well as packed programme with great expert speakers Dr. Lisa Mellon Dr. Noel McCaffrey, Helen Deery from HSE Health and Wellbeing, Prof. Bobby Smyth, Dr. Grace O'Malley, Activ8 Camp - Shaun Conaghan, Dr Sarah Murphy, Prof. Annie Curtis, Dr. Joanna McHugh Power, Dr. Padraic Dunne as well as hosting practical workshops available to in-person attendees.

For full programme, registration, or to submit abstracts: https://www.islm.ie/conference2025

03/09/2025

I had WAY too much fun this morning playing trad wife in this morning's video -- but there is a serious message:

Much of this world online is not real. And while you may - at some level - know this isn't real, it doesn't keep you from feeling bad.

And also remember -- your child/teen does NOT have the same insight that you have (hopefully you have) that what you see online may not be real.

While I do cook dinners... my family would be surprised to know that I even own that apron.

It's not real:

The perfect homes, stories of precocious children, and trad wife dinners.

Amazing "hacks" that defy laws of physics.

detoxes and overnight weight losses

The stories of cures doctors are keeping secret (again, doctors are NOT looking for business - we have waiting lists - if a supplement would cure you we would be the first to put a pop-up vitamin shop in every HSE/GP waiting room!!!!)

02/09/2025

Do you live with arthritis and are interested in learning how to stay active?

RCSI is looking for people to try out a new physical activity coaching intervention developed to help those with arthritis maintain physical activity long-term. The sessions will be held at Claremont Stadium, Navan, Co. Meath, beginning late September.

For more information please contact Dr Aoife Stephenson at aoifestephenson@rcsi.ie

02/09/2025

"Are you comfortable hopping on the scale for me today?"

No? Saying nothing but looking rather stressed? So, what can we do next?

1. Is a weight really needed today? It may be - especially for safe prescribing. (This goes double for children!) If it's not needed urgently, maybe we can come back it next time.

2. If we really need it for your care, let's try "blind weight" technique: this is where we check the patient's weight without the patient knowing the number. There are fancy ways to do this but I keep it simple in clinic. I ask the patient to step backwards onto the scale. I write down the number that they can't see. And I say nothing about it.

Weight is no more - and no less - a metric for health, like blood pressure or blood sugar. We often DO need to know these numbers to provide safe healthcare. However, it's only a number. But, like blood pressure - if it's impacting health, I may have a duty of care to at least ask your permission to talk about it.

If you are uncomfortable on the scale, it is also worth reminding you that it may be good to stay off of the scale if there is no good reason to get on one. Why do that to yourself?? This includes public weigh- ins for slimming clubs or getting weighed by staff at a gym.

You can make healthy changes or start exercising -- without measuring your success on the scales.

31/08/2025

FREE 6 Week Inperson Stop Smoking Course. Open to all who would like to stop smoking/vaping. Registration details are on the attached poster or via smokingservice@svuh.ie

31/08/2025

9% of the Irish population live in food poverty.

This means that they do not have access to enough food or food that is good enough to provide the nutrition they need. This includes children.

The lack of good nutrition is costing not only those affected, but us as a society. It is a significant factor in adults with chronic disease. Children who are not getting good nutrition cannot play or learn or develop. They are at increased risk of developing lifelong chronic disease from an early age.

Think you can spot it in your community? Think again. This is Hidden Hunger.

Did you know? Food poverty and malnutrition in modern Ireland doesn't usually look like stereotypes of thin or underfed. Malnutrition in obesity is very common, and more common in obesity with food poverty. It's complicated but research has found food poverty may cause overeating when food is available or having to choose unhealthy foods when available may be two reasons.

It is no secret that people who are wealthier statistically have a better chance of being healthier. There are multiple, multiple reasons for this from housing conditions, working conditions, stress, health literacy. But food is an important one.

It is just pure luxury (and I would argue, nearly tone-deaf in this current economic climates) - as influencers due selfie vidoes through a grocery shop waffling on about how they think organic onions are healthier -- when rising food prices means ALMOST ONE IN TEN cannot afford to put enough food in the trolley to feed themselves. I'm sure they'd take their chances with the carbon foodprint of that imported onion. (seriously, it's fine).

Want to help in your community? Taking action: net Safefood is hosting a free event "Beyond food banks - novel approaches."

Stretching the family budget? Get Free, sensible, expert advice from the Safefood website. Seriously. It is brilliant - and not a single influencer judging your onion choices.

30/08/2025

Worst. Clinic. Ever. I usually love the odd Saturday morning clinic, but this one was solely for talking to patients who can't afford Mounjaro now due to price increase.

Look, as an American doc, this is not a new conversation. I just hoped this was something I wouldn't have to do here. Because when patients can't afford drugs, they may be forced into bad (unsafe!) decisions.

Swipe through images above for the best general guidance I can give from a patient-safety point of view.

If you have been getting the drug dispensed from an online service without whole-person obesity care, this is a good time to talk to your GP or find a private, qualified bricks-and-mortar clinic. Why? The improvements you have had in your health (joint pain, breathing, blood pressure) may get worse again as the weight cycles back on.

Patients with obesity need ongoing care. Think if it like getting a stent in your heart: no matter how good the treatment, you are always going to need to look after yourself an extra little bit and get regular expert checks.

Obesity is a complex, chronic, progressive, recurring disease. An online service wouldn't send you blood pressure tablets without seeing you. A slimming club wouldn't manage your asthma. So why are patients accepting substandard and unsafe care for their obesity?

Only bright side? The sudden rise in medication cost may finally mean the end of some of these predatory online pill mills.

If you know someone why might be affected and may be considering unsafe options - share this post.

30/08/2025

⚠️ HSE drug alert ⚠️

High Strength M**A pills at Electric Picnic pose extreme risk.

Containing up to 300mg - 3 times the adult dose.

It’s safer not to use drugs at all. You can never be sure of the contents or purity.

Don’t be afraid to get medical help.
Chat to the HSE at EP.

29/08/2025

This is not a book review*. Nor is it an ad for a book.

I happen to have met Dr. Crowe a couple of times. She is a remarkable person, and has fascinating (if at times heart-breaking) stories to tell. This memoir she wrote helps people understand what actually goes in the part of the hospital that cares for the most seriously ill babies and children.

As political discussions for children's health focus on beds and buildings, funding and finger-pointing - it's well worth really understanding the humanity that is at stake.

If you do pick up a copy of this book, excellent. If you are a de-cluttering sort of person who will then be taking it to you local book share shelf - consider whether your TD should get a copy.

* For an excellent review of the book, you can check out the .ie review 22/8/2025.

27/08/2025

Maritza was last seen in Dublin Castle after her last lunch of noodles and a ride on a garda motorcycle. She had, in short, an epic last day -- which was of no comfort for hours this afternoon to my littlest. She came into our lives as a free promotion during a petrol stop this summer. Despite humble origins, she was instantly loved and been a constant companion for several weeks. Until - she is gone.

There are few parents here who haven't felt that sudden dread when they realise that that a beloved teddy is gone, retracing steps to find it. It is one of the kindest things you can do for your small child or infant. Really.

Not all toys will earn that love that makes them real. Not judging, it's not their fault -
like all love, it's a chemistry that remains a mystery. Love doesn't really understand cost or size or origins. Love does understand loss.

It's worth remember there is a science behind the play. Playing is hard work for children. Toys can play a powerful role in comfort and almost all aspects of children development. They help children learn and explore their world, and have a real role in social and emotional development. Children may play with toys well through age 9 and sometimes beyond.

And the story has a happy ending. Maritza has not been found (but my littlest doesn't know it.) She was miraculously "found" when an unwanted duplicate was urgently sourced. Yes, I lied. I'm okay with the deception - and I think you are, too.

26/08/2025

Thanks to for inviting me to respond to the article in today's .ie on "jabs". The terms "jabs" (or worse yet "skinny jabs" as termed in the travesty of a programme rebroadcast by RTÉ last night) - is not necessarily the best term to describe a medication that patients need for a serious disease.

What does Ozempic for Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) cost the Irish State? Well, some better questions might include: what does the disease of Type 2 Diabetes cost the Irish State?

It currently costs 12-14% of the total healthcare expenditure, and most of that is spent on complications of diabetes, including repeated hospilisations, specialist care, loss of lower limbs, vision, or kidney complications. And if we arent' paying for Ozempic, patients will still need other medications and healthcare services.

We have to remember that this class of drugs (GLP-1a) was originally developed for the treatment of the disease of T2DM going way back in 2010 (liraglutide).

From a healthcare expenditure point of view, we now know these drugs have a role in decreasing the costs of complications from both diabetes and obesity: arthritis, sleep apnoea, heart disease, cancer, asthma, reflux, certain types of cancer, and liver disease (MASLD), just to name a few for which we have more data almost daily. Which leads to more and more hype.

However, even if we do this calculation, we are REALLY missing the point in all this hype:

We are losing - both in economics and population quality of life - if we continue to mire ourselves in a debate about the merits of these drugs or who should be entitled to get them or who should pay for it. Or continue to watch predatory companies - from slimming clubs to online pill-mills to supplement companies - fall over each other trying to cash in on this hype.

The more we judge patients seeking care or restrict access to these medications, the more we force patients into seeking unsafe alternative care: bariatric surgery abroad (don't do it, please), blackmarket drugs or drugs dispensed via online pill-mills. (and yes, for those bean-counters in the back of the romm, the problems from that will cost the Irish State as well, one way or another)

The discussion we need to have: What are we doing to PREVENT Type 2 Diabetes. What are we doing to PREVENT Obesity? Are we addressing food deserts, poor health literacy, urban environments, poverty, ultra-processed food, obesogenic environments? There is a link between inadequate mental health services and obesity (trauma, eating disorders, and medication-associated weight gain). What are we doing to ensure access to safe, whole-person, evidence-based PREVENTATIVE care for patients? Do patients have access to the intensive and comprehensive care that is needed to support an option to put their diabetes into remission rather than just "controlled"?

Emdoc Health

04/09/2025

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