A Physician faces his own diagnostic failure when it counts the most. A minor surgery is always something that happens to someone else.
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27 New International Version
Years ago, when I was a freshman at Stanford, I acted in a few college plays. One of my favorite roles was E.K. Hornbeck, the cynical wise-cracking reporter in Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s drama Inherit the Wind[1] , about the Scopes “Monkey” trial of 1925. …
Medical review by William H. Bestermann, Jr., MD
There is no data to support that the vaccine will negatively affect your ability to get pregnant, now or in the future.
Although many folks are looking forward to receiving the highly-anticipated COVID vaccine, there are others who are meeting this opportunity with trepidation rather than anticipation — specifically women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant. And why is this? Primarily it’s because up until this point, there has been limited published data about the COVID vaccine and pregnancy. Pregnant women were intentionally left out…
Digital and telehealth are potential solutions for many, helping bridge the divide for those who have few options because of socioeconomic factors.
Pain
Conceptually, over our lifetime we all gain some understanding and insights into pain. But for a person living with pain, it can seem as if the world doesn’t understand.
And the truth is, sometimes the world doesn’t understand.
Even for medical professionals, whose primary role is to provide care, chronic pain can be difficult to appreciate. Because chronic pain is measured subjectively and not well understood, physicians historically viewed chronic pain as a…
By: William H. Bestermann, Jr., M.D.
There is no better example of the disconnect between what we know and what we do than in the case of women with heart artery disease.
The specific research around the ways heart artery disease is different in women has been done. It is landmark research that has life or death implications. There are dozens of scientific articles1 that address this topic.
Differing Symptom Patterns
In all American medicine, there is no better example of the disconnect between what we know and what we do than in the case of women with heart artery disease. While the…
By: Daniel Hernandez, M.D.
Regardless of your chronic condition, keeping it as well-controlled as possible — meaning low disease activity or remission — is the goal.
As part of the COVID-19 patient support program, the Global Healthy Living Foundation1and their digital, international arthritis organization, CreakyJoints2, have been speaking to experts, reviewing peer-reviewed literature, and reading government guidance to understand what people living with chronic disease need to know about getting vaccinated. In this article, we use that knowledge to answer questions you may have about chronic illness and COVID-19 vaccination.
Living with chronic illness during the COVID-19 pandemic
We’ve been living with the COVID-19 pandemic so long that…
A mid-life diagnosis of muscular dystrophy causes a doctor to reflect on what he has lost and what he has gained.
I am a sixty-year-old anesthesiologist fast approaching the home stretch of my time practicing medicine. I am hoping for five, maybe six more years at the most. When I have turned the desflurane vaporizer1off after anesthetizing my last patient, I plan on being ready for whatever comes next. I am also a storyteller and write about the amazing and inspiring people I have had the privilege to care for. They are tales filled with great…
Tics are cornerstone of the diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome. They are sudden, brief, intermittent, repetitive movements (motor tics) or noises (vocal tics).
Medical review by Patricia Salber, MD, MBA
Key Takeaway Points about Tourette Syndrome (TS)
- Involuntary or semi-voluntary movements are the cornerstone of diagnosis
- TS is associated with a variety of psychiatric and behavioral co-morbidities, including ADHD and OCD
- There are a variety of treatments available, although some are not well tolerated
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 0.3% of children age 6–17 years in the United States have received a diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (about 148,000 children)[1], but some reviews…
When a patient looked anxious before emergency surgery, it turned out he was worried about the hospital bill, not the surgery. He was uninsured.
- Medically reviewed by Patricia Salber, MD, MBA
- April 18, 2021
Some years ago, a few months after I had made the decision to leave academic medicine for the greener pastures of private practice anesthesia, I was called in one night to evaluate a young man in his early thirties with a presumptive diagnosis of appendicitis.
He had classic symptoms(1), was febrile, and had an elevated white blood cell count. A quick ultrasound…
Medically reviewed by Dov Michaeli, MD, PhD
Updated on April 19, 2021
Bringing on a personal trainer can be a key to finally getting fit. Here are 10 questions you should ask before hiring one.
Have you decided (once again) that this is the year you are going to get fit? And, this time, you are really going to stick with it way past the third week in January. Then hiring a personal trainer might be the ticket to your sustained success. Not only will a personal trainer help you optimize your exercise routine but…
Small bursts of exercise throughout the day can be just as beneficial as one longer session. Set your phone alarm to remind you to do it throughout the day.
By Ilchi Lee
- Medically reviewed by Dov Michaeli, MD, PhD
April 13, 2021
When people comment about not getting enough exercise, they usually say they can’t develop a good exercise routine (1) because they don’t have enough time. I can sympathize with this to some degree since people today are indeed busy, rushing here and there with a long list of appointments and tasks to accomplish.
The Doctor Weighs In
Dr. Patricia Salber and friends weigh in on leading news in health and healthcare
