Carolina Acute Care & Wellness Center, P.A.

08/12/2026

Turning up the heat and dialing back the rain chances this week!

Fall officially begins in 44 days, but who’s counting?!
🥵🍁

08/12/2026

In a new NEJM Voices blog post, Dr. Michelle Kittleson writes that in the right context, humor humanizes the frightening experience of illness and builds patient rapport.

08/12/2026

RETATRUTIDE UPDATE: PROMISING — BUT NOT YET APPROVED

We are receiving more questions from patients about retatrutide, particularly as products bearing its name have begun appearing for sale online.

At Carolina Acute Care & Wellness Center, we have been following the research on retatrutide closely. The results to date are very promising, and this investigational medication may represent another significant advance in the treatment of obesity and metabolic disease.

But promising is not the same as approved.

Retatrutide remains an investigational medication in Phase 3 clinical development. It has not been approved by the FDA or any other regulatory agency for human use.

That creates an important concern: products currently being marketed online as “retatrutide” are not an FDA-approved retatrutide product from Eli Lilly. Outside of legitimate clinical research, there is currently no approved commercial supply of the medication.

That concern became even more significant today. Eli Lilly announced six lawsuits against companies it alleges are illegally selling unapproved retatrutide products, while calling for greater action against what the company describes as a growing black market for the investigational drug.

Our position is straightforward:

We are excited about the science and will continue following the evidence. But until clinical development is completed, regulatory review occurs, and there is a legitimate, reliable pharmaceutical supply, we do not recommend that our patients purchase or use products being sold online as retatrutide.

There is a difference between being early to follow promising science and being too early to safely prescribe it.

When the evidence, approval and legitimate availability are there, we will evaluate retatrutide just as we do every new therapy — based on the science and the best interests of our patients.

Hope that helps clarify the current status of this promising drug and today's developments by Lily. We will keep monitoring the progress.

Carolina Acute Care & Wellness Center, P.A.
Academic Excellence • Compassionate Care • Community Service

Ahead of an approval filing, the drugmaker is amping up a fight against sellers who claim to offer versions of its highly anticipated “triple-G” weight loss medicine.

08/10/2026

We are supporters of the Cochrane Collaboration -

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men, but attitudes towards screening have been mixed, as the risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment remains a key issue.

A newly updated Cochrane review, analyzing data from nearly 800,000 men, finds that PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood tests likely reduce the risk of dying from prostate cancer.

For every 1,000 men screened, approximately two deaths are prevented. That said, the findings are not a straightforward case for universal screening. Around 36 additional cancers are detected per thousand men screened. These are usually low-grade cancers that may never have caused symptoms or harm during a man's lifetime, meaning identifying them can cause anxiety and unnecessarily aggressive treatment.

This is a significant shift from the 2013 version of this review, which found insufficient evidence of a mortality benefit.

“With new data now available, we can now say with moderate certainty that PSA screening reduces prostate cancer deaths in men with a sufficient life expectancy,” says Dr Philipp Dahm, senior author from University of Minnesota. “This suggests that for the right patient – someone who is well-informed, has a good life expectancy, and understands the full implications of screening – there is now a reasonable evidence base to support a conversation about PSA screening.”

The decision to screen should always be made between a patient and their doctor, weighing up the benefits and risks.

Read more about the review’s findings here: https://www.cochrane.org/about-us/news/screening-modestly-reduces-prostate-cancer-deaths

08/10/2026

08/10/2026

Feeling angry? Venting may actually make it worse — calming your body works better.

For years, people have been told that anger is like pressure building inside a cooker: if you don’t “let it out,” it will eventually explode.

That idea has influenced everything from shouting into pillows to punching bags and visiting “rage rooms.” But research suggests the catharsis theory doesn’t hold up.

A major meta-analysis reviewed 154 studies involving more than 10,000 participants and found that activities that increase physiological arousal generally did not reduce anger. In some cases, they could keep people feeling fired up rather than helping them calm down.

This means that when you’re already furious, high-energy activities designed specifically to “burn off” anger may not be the best immediate strategy.

What worked more consistently were activities that lower physiological arousal, including:

• Slow, deep breathing
• Mindfulness and meditation
• Progressive muscle relaxation
• Gentle yoga
• Other calming techniques that reduce heart rate and bodily tension

The researchers found that these approaches were effective across different populations and settings.

The takeaway is surprisingly simple: anger may be easier to manage by turning down the body’s stress response rather than feeding it more energy.

So the next time anger hits, the most useful response might not be to blow off steam — but to slow your breathing and give your nervous system a chance to settle.

Source: Kjærvik, S. L., & Bushman, B. J. (2024). A meta-analytic review of anger management activities that increase or decrease arousal: What works and what doesn't. Clinical Psychology Review.

08/10/2026

08/10/2026

Combining statins with antihypertensives that increase angiotensin II formation was associated with reduced dementia and mortality risk compared with combinations that suppress angiotensin II, study finds.

08/10/2026

08/09/2026

Early transcatheter aortic valve implantation is projected to reduce healthcare costs and improve outcomes compared with watchful waiting in patients with asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis.