Every Work Day Just about every day I’m in the office patients come to me clutching a new pill bottle. Inside will be tablets or capsules purportedly containing anywhere from one to 50 or more ingredients. What Do People Want To Know? Will these pills work to cure their sleep problems/Crohn’s disease/heart disease/cancer/irritable bowel syndrome/memory […]
Why We Don’t Resist Fad Diets (8/21/12)
Resistance is Futile? People often ask me why folks – particularly women – are so prone to fad diets. I tell them there are lots of reasons. One big one – lying is in. If national leaders lie about wars, extramarital affairs and criminal acts, why can’t hucksters ply new heights of health hype? And […]
Can Even Minor Stress Kill You? (Plus What You Can Do About It – 8/13/12)
Does Psychological Distress Harm You? Studies and Results A recent study from University College, London concluded very minor forms of stress that doctors and many patients hardly notice increases overall mortality. The more psychological stress reported, the higher the death rates – and they really went up. How Was the Study Done? The National Health […]
Smoking Is My Retirement Plan (8/8/12)
Better Living Through Denial? Smokers, one fifth of American adults, often tell me they’re not worried about the future. Why? Because, as my webmaster and other smokers tell me, they don’t foresee a long term future. Retirement? Long term care insurance? Pointless. As many explain, “Smoking is my retirement plan.” Sorry, guys. It doesn’t work […]
The Unnecessarily Painful Treatment of Chronic Pain (8/6/12)
What’s Happening To Chronic Pain Patients? Very difficult times. Federal and state governments have belatedly recognized there’s an epidemic of prescription medications – which includes pain pills like opiates. Influenced by that epidemic, some academic opinion on how to treat pain has also reversed. Many researchers who believed pain patients should be treated for maximum […]
