"This blog was developed to provide medical updates that are important and have my perspective as additional insight."
With the recent announcement of the death of Seamus Heaney (Nobel-winning poet), I discovered his works and started checking for more poetry on the internet, rediscovering the pleasure of this writing form, once again. I think we can all remember a time in the past when a poem meant something to us, and can recall …
Read More “POETRY…..CAN HELP US THROUGH, CAN EXPAND OUR MINDS”
Dr. Doug; I feel that I have low thyroid, as my symptoms match the lists I read on the Internet. I have: fatigue, feeling cold much of the time, breaking nails, thinning hair, weakness, poor sleep, short of breath at times But….you said my thyroid test is perfectly normal. Your wrote me…..”Your thyroid is …
Read More “A PATIENT ASKS ABOUT UNDERACTIVE THYROID ISSUES…AND I RESPOND”
Keeping a proper perspective on things is important; whether it’s health related or some other topic, we all can see things from a different point of view. This type of thinking is critical, and as Don Coffey, PhD….my great professor at Hopkins used to tell all of his students when asked how he remained a …
I was sent this link to Esquire Magazine’s archive of ‘What I’ve Learned” interviews. There are a lot of gems in here. Pick your favorite person and see what you discover. Esquire Magazines “What I’ve Learned” ALSO…..GREAT QUOTES FROM THE MOVIES>>>>IF YOU HAVE THE TIME
Prostate cancer prevention has been thought to be in our reach with the development of Proscar, a hormone blocking medication, over a decade ago. Preliminary results were encouraging that the medication worked as expected, but subsequent data was more confusing. The medication was shown to prevent unaggressive forms of of prostate cancer, but promoted a …
Here is a quick site to look at as a gauge of how much the Internet is affecting our lives. http://onesecond.designly.com/
A recent study in JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) has raised questions about the safety of one of our most commonly prescribed blood pressured medications, the CALCIUM CHANNEL BLOCKERS. In a case-control study, the researchers demonstrated at 2.5x greater risk of breast cancer in those women on the medication for 10 years or more. …
Diovan is a commonly prescribed medication for high blood pressure that also can benefit the kidneys and the heart. This medication, a member of the ARB (angiotensin receptor blocker) category has been available for over a decade, and is very popular due to its mild side-effect profile and effectiveness. Recently, questions are being raised in …
Read More “CONCERNS ABOUT QUESTIONABLE DIOVAN RESEARCH SHOULD NOT WORRY PATIENTS”
The news reported that former President George Bush had a cardiac stent placed to prevent a heart attack and to help improve his heart blood flow. Why did he have this? NYTIMES ARTICLE Well, George Bush is 67 years old, a common age for men in the US (and across the world) to develop heart …
Over the past two years, the blood test labs across the nation have started using stricter criteria for what is ‘normal’ kidney function, and I have had a lot of discussion with patients about this. Many healthy, normal adults are seen to be ‘out of range’ and express concern that their kidney function is at …
Read More “OVERDIAGNOSIS OF KIDNEY DISEASE ….SO LET’S RELAX A BIT”
As you know, I love Einstein. There are many reasons….but among my favorite things Einstein showed us is the usefulness of the Gedankenexperiment, or thought experiment. Using just his mind, Einstein would conceive of situations in the world and ask himself “If this were the case, how would the world work.” For instance, he …
A recent outbreak of severe diarrheal illness in the midwest, affecing over 400 people, appears to be related to bagged salad distributed there. Cyclospora is a parasite that is an unusual cause of diarrhea, but is the definite agent in this outbreak. This outbreak shows that bagged salad may not be safe, as a general …