Already ten minutes late for her first appointment, Claire phoned from her car that she’d be in the office in five minutes. Fifteen minutes later, arriving flustered and embarrassed, she blurted “Oh my gosh, I left all the forms on my kitchen table, but I did fill them out” and “My insurance card? I’m sure […]
Category: Healthy Lifestyle
Health Screening Offers: Should You Bother?
Like most people, you’ve received one of those brochures in the mail with a headline screaming something like “Health Screening Can Save Your Life!” They’re filled with photos of happy, healthy people on golf courses or with their grandchildren and are liberally sprinkled with quotes like, “Dan’s alive today because an ultrasound revealed his aneurysm.”
Your Smartphone Is Stealing Your Brain
Spoiler alert: I don’t own a smartphone. Also, I’ve been reluctant to write a Health Tip on smartphones lest two of my least desirable characteristics–smugness and self-righteousness– surface. But now a very well-conducted research study on how smartphones lead to cognitive decline compels me to warn you that if you value your brain, use your […]
My Doctor Is A Chiropractic Physician
I’m not setting out to intentionally antagonize my fellow MDs and DOs who read these Health Tips. No acrimonious outrage, please, before I explain. Then feel free to splutter. I’m not writing this for the medical profession. This is for the rest of you, living in a country that spends 17% of its GNP on […]
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Subtly Underactive Thyroid
I went to medical school in London for awhile and quite honestly didn’t learn much. But it was the 1960s and if you were going to be anywhere on the planet, central London was the place to be. The fact that the hospital to which I was assigned had a pub in its basement (where […]
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses +1: Rx Drug Side Effects
I’d planned a series of six commonly missed diagnoses, but today I have one more, a life-threatening addition you’ll want to add to your mental list. If you’ve been following this series you know we’ve covered low levels of vitamin B-12 and vitamin D, subtly underactive thyroid, gluten sensitivity, intestinal parasites, and candida (yeast) overgrowth. […]
Pain And How We Perceive It
Many people suffering chronic pain and fatigue hear far too often the dismissive “it’s all in your head.” Dr. Edelberg has written frequently on the destructive nature of this statement, which places all the blame on the patient and none on the physician to dig deeper into the causes. As Dr. E wrote in a […]
Doctors Die Differently
With everything being written about our changing healthcare climate, you’re probably also seeing articles about end-of-life care. During a person’s final weeks or months, costs escalate from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and all too often for little more than a minor extension of misery. It puts a new spin on Dylan Thomas:Do […]
This is Your Brain On Dow Chemical
If you’re of a certain age, hearing the words “Dow Chemical” will send a chill right down your spine. Dow’s two most notorious (and lucrative) products, napalm and Agent Orange, were heavily used during the Vietnam war. Napalm was a flammable liquid, a mixture of a gelling agent and gasoline that, when sprayed, stuck to […]
Disappointments With Testosterone
For 80 (!) years physicians have prescribed testosterone to men without being certain if it actually had any effect other than raising testosterone levels. The only FDA-approved indication for testosterone is pathological hypogonadism, in which there’s an actual disorder of the male reproductive system that results in the body not producing enough testosterone. Examples are […]
Worrisome Dementia Report For Women and Steps To Take
We’ve always known there was a higher rate of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in women than in men, initially attributed to the fact that women live longer and that the decline in mental function occurred with age. This turned out to be wrong. At 65, a woman has a greater than one-in-six chance of […]
Nutritional Supplement Shotgun Therapy
I once had a new patient arrive with her forms completed, a stack of medical records under her arm, and a large bulging gym bag in tow, saying “I brought all the supplements I’m taking. I’m hoping you can suggest a few I might not need.” One by one, she placed bottles and jars of […]
Navigating Your Health Care Without Going Broke
Last week I talked about the problem many of you are facing with skyrocketing insurance premiums and deductibles so astronomical you wonder if you have any health insurance at all. We got into this fine pickle because: US healthcare prices are the highest in the world. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare), […]
Your Doctor’s Tunnel Vision Is Harmful To Your Health
I can’t find the source of this quote. Maybe philosopher Bertrand Russell, but I’m not sure. Once, when asked how he’d respond if given evidence that went totally against something he’d believed for years, he answered, “I would change my mind, of course. What, sir, would you do?” It’s too bad the same can’t be […]
The Life-Changing Magic of Getting Rid of Your Late Aunt’s Stuff
I’d been reading with real fascination about the Japanese writer Marie Kondo and her worldwide bestseller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, when I received word that my 93-year-old aunt was at Death’s Door. I flew to Florida and must say she had as peaceful an end as anyone could hope for, in a hospice […]
Physicians And Empathy
I recently read an essay by a woman who described her experiences being employed as a medical actor. She’d been hired, along with some retirees, local theater majors, and a few people who were just curious, to play the role of patient in a training program for a local medical school. To start, she was […]
Will You Live Another Five Years?
Of course you might not want to know the answer to that. Or, having worked diligently on healthful eating and regular exercise, you may want to know if it will all pay off. Now, in a joint project between Swedish statisticians and a half million (!) volunteers in the UK, there’s a simple questionnaire that […]
The WholeHealth Chicago Wellness Exam
The WholeHealth Chicago Wellness Exam Patients new to WholeHealth Chicago, along with patients I’ve not seen for a while because they’ve felt good and sensibly wanted to avoid the health care system, often ask for a wellness check-up when they schedule an appointment. You’ve probably had variations of these exams throughout your life: kicking and […]
What Having A Medical Team Actually Means
It’s quite common for a new WholeHealth Chicago patient filling out our forms to answer the “How can we help?” inquiry with “I’m seeing too many doctors and they don’t communicate with each other” or “I want all my health care in one place with one doctor who knows me.” Having worked as part of […]
Two Pleasant Steps To Increase Longevity
I’m sure there’s been a moment in your life when, on the receiving end of yet another jeremiad from the medical profession advising against one more of life’s little pleasures you shouted “Enough already!” You think back on all your sacrifices: those delectable doughnuts, the Marlboros that partnered perfectly with your favorite cocktail, Big Macs, […]