Welcome to this episode of The Tonic, terrestrially broadcast on August 19 and 20, 2023 on AM740 and FM 96.7 in Toronto. Topics covered on the show track the lifestyle articles and themes published in The Tonic Magazine. This week we’ll discuss the stigma of using medical cannabis and interactions with your prescriptions with clinical pharmacist Andy Donald, a new model to identify and predict chronic pain with dentist and professor Dr. Etienne Vachon-Presseau, garden to table trends with master organic gardener Melissa Cameron and the ramifications of giving birth at the age of sixty with psychologist (and the oldest mother of twins in the USA) Dr. Frieda Birnbaum

We specifically discuss:

Medical Cannabis Stigma and Prescription Drug Interactions

  • Stigma and Interactions: a little story
  • Cannabis impacts your liver and therefore your meds
  • Recreational cannabis
  • Finding credible information on cannabis interactions
  • Your liver enzymes process the medications in your body
  • 57 medications where dosages need to be adjusted
  • pain management, antidepressants, anti-anxiety, heart, blood pressure, cholesterol, seizure and antibiotics may require a change of dosing
  • There are drugs which require your liver to activate…which is impacted by cannabis
  • Nutraceuticals and over the counter drugs are impacted too
  • Cannabis for lower grade pain vs. opioids etc.

 

Identifying and Predicting Chronic Pain

  • A chronic pain study which leverages biobanks (500,000 participants)
  • Chronic overlapping pain conditions are not random
  • Creating a predictive model using machine learning model (AI)
  • Why does pain spread throughout the body?
  • What risk factors predict the spreading of pain?
  • The study can be used to screen patients and prioritize interventions
  • The challenges of considering so many interconnecting factors
  • Can a clinical tool be created?
  • Next steps

 

Garden To Table Trends

  • Can you create a garden to table experience with a small garden?
  • Herbs for cocktails and mocktails
  • Cooking with cherry tomatoes
  • Grilling eggplant and zucchini
  • Edible flowers
  • Backyard pizza ovens
  • NYT Soft herb salad
  • Make ahead condiments and sauces
  • Desserts
  • Decorating with flowers

 

Giving Birth at Sixty

  • Why have kids later in life?
  • The impact on kids of having older parents
  • Longevity and health
  • The impact of technology
  • The pros and cons of having children when you’re older
  • What is a healthy parent?
  • How does social media impact older parents?
  • Learnings from being an older parent

 

To learn more about show sponsor, Pharma-Z powered by the Health Depot go here

To learn more about Andy Donald go here

To learn more about Dr. Etienne Vachon-Presseau go here

To learn more about Melissa Cameron go here

To learn more about Frieda Birnbaum go here.