Let me start by saying that the majority of board-certified endocrinologists give me a pain. They’re internists, like me and our newest WholeHealth Chicago physician Neeti Sharma, MD, but they have additional training via endocrinology fellowships. Somewhere along the way, many of them become almost too academic, no longer actually listening to patients but rather […]
Category: Healthy Lifestyle
Making Sense of “Controversial” Diagnoses
I’m warning you in advance. You’re entering a minefield here, with explosive views among seemingly conservative health care professionals. At least wear a helmet. Protective eyewear wouldn’t hurt either. You wouldn’t think a slew of conditions you’ve heard about (including chronic Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic Epstein-Barr, toxic mold syndrome, food sensitivities, intestinal […]
Getting Tough With Your Immune System
No reasonable physician (I modestly include myself here) can refrain from crowing delightedly when a clinical study confirms the value of a treatment he or she had been using for years, even if that treatment had contradicted prevailing standards. Ever since I learned something about natural medicine, I’ve been reluctant to prescribe antibiotics for respiratory tract infections, […]
For A Longer Life…Stand Up Now!
By far the most common answer to my question, “Exercising these days?” is “Not enough.” This is usually accompanied by the briefest flicker of melancholy regret, as if by such a confession my patient has permanently abandoned the hopes and dreams of both a svelte body and enviable longevity. “Don’t worry,” I say, “It’s just […]
Getting Off Blood Pressure Meds Forever, Contaminated Or Not
If you’re currently taking a blood pressure medication, the chances are pretty good that you’re on one of the ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers). You can recognize these because they end in -sartan, as in losartan and valsartan. You also may have heard that two of the most popular ARBs (valsartan and irbesartan) were abruptly withdrawn […]
How To Get Off Statins
Getting off statins is easy. Stop swallowing the pill. If you’re not in a potentially high-risk group (as described below) and your doc prescribed a statin to get your cholesterol down a bit, you won’t have a heart attack or a stroke that day or week or probably that decade.
Pushing Your Wellness Exam Into The 21st Century
Patients ask me, “What about those wellness exams my health insurance company says I’m entitled to every year at no cost?” Bad news. Let’s review one of life’s basic rules: you get what you pay for. What you receive during your short wellness visit (what many consider a sacrosanct ritual that boosts longevity) is little […]
Pre-Diabetes: What It Is And What To Do
Most physicians, myself included, jot a personal comment on a patient’s lab tests. My favorite is “Everything’s excellent!” which can be typed quickly and concentrates good news into two words that I hope trigger a smile. According to this New York Times article, doctors are writing the sentence “Your tests show you’re now in the […]
Fruitcake, Genes, and Exercise: A Spooky Holiday Story
Starting around Thanksgiving and generally ending on January 2, we’re surrounded by too much food. Many of us who spent the year really (really!) trying to lose weight and eat healthfully dread the havoc these dark days can wreak on our bodies. It’s agonizingly easy to add some pounds. Then, come January, we despair at […]
The Aching Man And The Sweaty Woman
New patient Phil told me he’d been suffering muscle pain every single day for more than eight years. He’d seen neurologists and rheumatologists, had had an MRI of his spine, was told he had spinal stenosis (narrowing), had cortisone shots, and recently had been scheduled for neurosurgery. Then a friend told him to stop taking […]
Overcoming Worry
Ask a group of doctors about the conditions they treat most frequently and they’ll likely place stress among the top ten. The factors triggering all this stress seem endless: pressures having to do with work, home, money, relationships, and even how we respond to a daily commute. It’s important to acknowledge that some life circumstances […]
Exiting The Rut
We’ve all been stuck in personal ruts. Trapped on our treadmills. You wake up one morning realizing you’ve somehow gotten yourself stuck. Certain aspects of your life aren’t moving forward anymore. Maybe you’re trapped in the same job, browning over the hot coals instead of actually burning out, but reluctant to make that crucial move […]
Medical Flip-Flopping
I don’t know how you all keep from going slightly bonkers over the endless reversal of opinion from the “experts” in the world of medicine. Over the last few years, medical journals/websites (and the newspapers nobody subscribes to anymore) have reported policy changes on issues that I personally was just beginning to wrap my head […]
Porochista Khakpour’s Ongoing Battle With Lyme
In novelist Porochista Khakpour’s memoir Sick she describes her struggle with chronic Lyme disease and her uphill battle with the US healthcare system. Likely she had been bitten as a child by a long-forgotten tick, which is quite the usual case, the average age of acquiring Lyme disease being about 11. As a result of […]
Osteopenia and Osteoporosis, Part 2
Last week in Part 1 we wrote an overview of osteoporosis and osteopenia. I couldn’t help but note that most US physicians can date their knowledge of both diagnosis and treatment to the saturation marketing of Big Pharma’s variety of osteoporosis medications, most notably the bisphosphonates (Fosamax, Boniva, Reclast). As we all get older, our […]
Osteopenia and Osteoporosis, Part 1
As is the case with many of our contemporary ailments, it was a combination of Baby Boomer longevity, the ready availability of devices to measure bone density, and Big Pharma creativity that taught both patients and physicians about osteopenia (low bone mineral density) and its more serious consequence, osteoporosis, in which bones become brittle and […]
Controversial Diagnosis #6: Chronic Lyme Disease
Since no one argues about the existence of Lyme disease, right up front you should know that the controversy here centers on the word “chronic.” In my view, the arguments among physicians about whether or not such an entity exists are becoming a bit ridiculous. First, let’s briefly cover acute Lyme disease. Although certain states […]
Controversial Diagnosis #5: Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity
You’d be surprised at the degree of controversy surrounding this seemingly innocuous topic, not only among doctors but also patients (and best not to bring it up with anyone in the baking industry). This diagnosis has generated entire aisles of gluten-free products in grocery stores and GF selections on restaurant menus. And just perhaps you’re […]
Controversial Diagnosis #2: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
In the mid-1980s, two outbreaks of what appeared to be infectious mononucleosis appeared in the US. Unlike typical mono, which caused exhaustion for a few weeks, people with this type were left in a permanent state of fatigue, with low-grade fevers, swollen lymph glands, muscle aches, and poor focus/concentration. In some cases, the fever and […]
Reversing Mental Decline and Preventing Alzheimer’s
Reversing Mental Decline and Preventing Alzheimer’s, Part 1 You saw a movie last week and in discussing it with friends simply can’t remember the important parts. Plus you just missed another appointment. Planning to drive to a north suburb, you instead got on the southbound expressway and after 15 minutes of Loop traffic realized your […]