Survey reveals more professional women getting high

A small but growing number of working-age women are smoking pot, according to a recent governmental survey. Changing social mores, postponement of pregnancy even by a few years — which otherwise leads women to restrict drug use — and psychological stress all might play a role, speculates Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

According to the center, 5.3 percent of women 26 and older reported marijuana use for 2008, compared with 4.3 percent in 2007 — a 19 percent increase.

Clark shrugs off notions of pot as harmless, noting memory problems: “When you get past 50, it’s hard to remember where you keys are. You smoke a joint, you may not even remember where your car is.”

A thin Thanksgiving

Turkey day doesn't have to mean adding belt notches — or going hungry. Darlene Kvist, nutritionist and owner of highly rated Nutritional Weight and Wellness Center based in St. Paul, Minn., shares these tips:

• Change up hors d'oeuvres and go healthy: celery with avocado dip instead of Aunt Maggie's meatballs.
• Ditch sugary drinks for mineral water with a lime twist, tea or coffee.
• Eat lots of turkey, or other protein sources, and vegetables.
• Eat one piece of pie and don't worry about it, otherwise, you'll crave it later and eat twice as much.
• Don't turn one day into a whole season of indulgence. Eat a healthy breakfast and exercise the next day.

Liquid Tamiflu shortage

With children unable to swallow pills and being one of the most susceptible groups for contracting H1N1, pharmaceutical giant Roche says they're now combating a short supply of the liquid form of Tamiflu.To make up for the shortage, pharmacists are compounding Tamiflu capsules into the liquid form, a time-consuming process, says Kristen Dinan, pharmacist manager and part-owner of the highly-rated Morrocroft Medical Pharmacy in Charlotte, N.C.

"We have plenty of [rival flu drug] Relenza and Tamiflu capsules, but none of the liquid," she says. More liquid is expected to be available this month or next.

Dr. Lee Bowman of highly-rated America's Urgent Care, in the Columbus, Ohio, and Orlando, Fla., areas, says doctors are prescribing the drug to high risk children, including those with asthma, who have H1N1. Others might just get by drinking water and taking over-the-counter drugs. "You don't have to treat everybody with Tamiflu," Bowman says.