Dr. MikeMD

Dr. MikeMD

@pediatricpulse.bsky.social

Pediatric ICU doc. Associate professor of pediatrics. Quality improvement and patient safety officer. ECMO-ologist. Warrior against health misinformation.

466 followers420 following570 posts

1/ when families run low on money, they often try to make their baby formula last longer by diluting it with water. This practice can seriously and permanently harm infants. Formula is precisely made in terms of calories and electrolytes, and it’s essential to mix it properly.

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4/ on the other side of things, some families supplement their formula with things like powdered milk, but this practice is also harmful. Powdered milk products are very high in salt. Those patients experience similar symptoms, but are also at risk for clotting and stroke.

5/ As SNAP benefits and other assistance is eliminated, I expect to see more children admitted with these issues. Again, these are long term complications that can compromise a child’s life. The decisions we make today impact our society for decades.

1/ when families run low on money, they often try to make their baby formula last longer by diluting it with water. This practice can seriously and permanently harm infants. Formula is precisely made in terms of calories and electrolytes, and it’s essential to mix it properly.

2/ specifically, sodium (Na, from salt) gets diluted. Sodium is important for many functions. Na ions allow nerves to conduct and heart rhythm to cycle. It also serves an osmotic function, meaning the concentration of Na keeps water in certain places and away from others.

Dr. MikeMD reposted

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

Somehow one of the most jarring and upsetting things happening around me is other medical professionals insisting that what's happening isn't so bad, nothing unusual, nothing other administrations haven't done. It's all fine and I'm overreacting.

Dr. MikeMD reposted

Dr. Susan Monarez: “I could have stayed silent, agreed to the demands, and no one would have known. What the public would have seen were scientists dismissed without cause and vaccine protections quietly eroded…I would have lost the one thing that cannot be replaced: My integrity.”

Dr. MikeMD reposted

RFK Jr cut half a billion dollars in research funding for mRNA vaccines. He & Marty Makary claim mRNA vaccines are “risky” so they’ll shift to “traditional, older” vaccine tech that’s “safer.” Guess what? We used to immunize people by blowing powdered smallpox scabs up their noses. 1/

Dr. MikeMD reposted

1/ The FDA just changed the Covid vaccine access to 65+ and immunocompromised. I'm getting a lot of questions, so I’m going to do my best to answer them with the information that is currently available. Here are a few of your top questions answered 👇

I need reading recommendations. What are you reading? I’m up to date on the Cosmere, and just finished several fromJoe Abercrombie. Priory of the Orange Tree remains my absolute favorite thing I’ve read in a long while. #fantasy #scifi #reading

Dr. MikeMD reposted

1/ Quick update on #fallvaccines: Flu and RSV vaccines remain business as usual this fall: if you’re eligible, you should be able to get them without issue. Vaccinations should start in September. Covid-19 vaccines are another story. There will be three key developments this week 👇

Dr. MikeMD reposted

Stephen Colbert is going SCORCHED EARTH right now. To RFK Jr: “Fuck you, you roid-addled nepo carnie! Fuck you, you roadkill-munching Luddite human slim jim!”

The media has predicted the breaking of MAGA for years and has as much credibility as end of the world predictions by evangelicals. It won’t change votes. It was never about protecting children, saving babies nor was it ever about all lives. It’s about cruelty to and power over others.

Whelp. I called my residency program because I needed some info for ongoing credentialing. The coordinator is still there and still wonderful, but told me I had been gone so long my file was 'in storage.' So. Old.

Dr. MikeMD reposted

Republicans paint a picture of an able-bodied nonworking Medicaid recipient as someone who chooses not to work in favor of leisure time. But few recipients in research studies cite a lack of desire to work.

buff.lyWhat data says about able-bodied Medicaid recipientsRepublicans paint a picture of an able-bodied nonworking Medicaid recipient as someone who chooses not to work in favor of leisure time. But few recipients in research studies cite a lack of desire…

Dr. MikeMD reposted

1/ Today's bill passing marks the biggest health care cuts in U.S. history—nearly $1 trillion slashed over the next 10 years. Instead of moving toward a healthier, more prosperous future—where we prevent disease, expand care, feed children, & increase life expectancy—America chose the opposite.

Dr. MikeMD reposted

La communauté LGBTQIA+ hongroise et de toute l'Europe vient d'infliger une humiliation historique à l'homophobe Viktor Orbán. Quelle immense fierté de voir notre mouvement représenté à Budapest par nos élues @melanievogel.bsky.social et @melissacamara.bsky.social 💚 🏳️‍🌈 YOU CAN'T SILENCE A RAINBOW 🏳️‍⚧️

🇭🇺 Près de 200.000 personnes ont défilé à Budapest, selon les organisateurs, une affluence sans précédent pour la marche des fiertés en Hongrie, face aux mesures d'interdiction du Premier ministre nationaliste Viktor Orban.

Yup

Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social

So am I reading this court decision correctly? We now have 50 micronations with their own laws interpreting the U.S. Constitution wholly separate from one another? But there's one guy with private law enforcement who is immune from all punishment who can do whatever he wants in those 50 states?

Foreign aid is important and makes the world a better place. We should be proud of that.

Atul Gawande@agawande.bsky.social

“Foreign aid has changed nothing.” “These are not our problems.” “The system is dysfunctional.” “The countries we aid are corrupt.” “Other countries aren’t doing enough.” I have heard all these arguments too. @nickkristof.bsky.social succinctly answers. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/o...

Dr. MikeMD reposted

This is a travesty & a nightmare. The US was a founder of @gavi.org. It lowers global vaccine costs, has vaccinated 1B children, & averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year - and RFK Jr will be personally responsible. www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

politico.comRFK Jr. says US won’t donate to global vaccine effortKennedy ripped into Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in a video address at its pledging summit.

This will kill children. He's doing what he did in Samoa, and it's only the start.

NPR@npr.org

The secretary of health and human services said that funding will be curtailed until Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, takes into account the science of vaccine safety in its campaigns.

Seems like no one is talking about the fact that Trump is putting our troops in harms way while allowing DOGE to slash and gut the VA. If you can’t afford to take care of soldiers you can’t afford to go to war.

This is perfect

Bryce Tetraeder@brycetetraeder.bsky.social

I have sent a copy of ‘The Onion’ to every member of Congress. To spread its message to less powerful people, I have also taken out an ad in a lesser newspaper. Read my full letter here: theonion.com/why-im-sendi...

1/ A word about brain death from someone who has done a LOT of brain death testing in children. Brain death, like all death, is irreversible. All 50 states legally recognize brain death as equivalent to cardiovascular death.

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5/ Drugs and machines can keep other organs functioning for a little while despite neurological death. But without a central coordinating brain, these other bodily functions go haywire. If medications, machines, or interventions are interrupted even slightly, those organs quickly fail.

6/ There is a grotesque push to pretend that brain death doesn't exist. People who have died deserve dignity, not medical assault, and medical teams should not be forced to make a mockery of life animating a corpse through mechanical puppeting.

1/ A word about brain death from someone who has done a LOT of brain death testing in children. Brain death, like all death, is irreversible. All 50 states legally recognize brain death as equivalent to cardiovascular death.

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3/ Someone who is brain dead has no brain activity or response outside of some spinal reflexes. Brain dead patients have no blood flow to the brain and no metabolic activity. There are no chemical reactions, no thoughts, feelings or awareness.

4/ Brain death is a distinct and different state than coma or a persistent vegetative state, both of which have some basic neurologic activity or response. It is not an injury to one part of the brain. The entirety of the brain has died and no longer functions in any way.

1/ A word about brain death from someone who has done a LOT of brain death testing in children. Brain death, like all death, is irreversible. All 50 states legally recognize brain death as equivalent to cardiovascular death.

2/ You don’t HAVE a brain, you ARE a brain. Every thought, every emotion, every decision you’ve ever made and every feeling you’ve ever felt are the result of thousands of tiny chemical reactions in your brain. Your brain is you. When the entire brain dies, that person is gone. They have died.

Dr. MikeMD reposted

I still can't get past the idea that people in America are now supposed to accept that this is a valid form of law enforcement and just assume it's fine when random dudes in groups with face-coverings, no ID, no warrant, & no uniform grab people off the street and force them into unmarked vehicles

Not an original point but worth saying again - there is not a single element in this picture that identifies any of these folks as law enforcement agents. No badges, no uniforms, no vests. Out of context it just looks like a bunch of random guys are kidnapping a mayoral candidate.

Dr. MikeMD reposted

“Medicine doesn’t treat the root cause, it just treats the symptoms.” —wellness grifters Type 1 diabetes is survivable because of medicine. The root cause? Death of pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin. Without them? No regulation of glucose, protein, & fat metabolism. Oh, and death. 1/

Direct effect of anti science efforts. This vaccine would have been more convenient and would have protected Americans from disease.

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com

This is absolutely terrible news. With the shifting regulatory climate (i.e., antivax ratfuckery), Moderna has withdrawn their application for their eagerly anticipated COVID-flu combo vaccine. This vaccine offered better protection than getting each shot separately. h/t @merz.bsky.social