When it comes to the flu shot, I take a far more conventional approach than many WholeHealth Chicago patients expect of a doctor who considers himself alternative/integrative. It’s also worth noting that after reviewing some of the online advice warning people away from the flu shot, it’s my sense that this is frequently followed by […]
Category: T
Taking Care of Yourself while Staying Home
Seeing Your Chiropractic Physician via Telemedicine? Absolutely! I know what you’re thinking. ‘How can you possibly give me an adjustment during a video conference?’ The short answer is I can’t, but when coming to our office for an in-person appointment is difficult or impossible, I can continue to help. As a chiropractic physician, I’ve been […]
The Flu: How To Recognize It and What to Do
It’s here, folks, and this year could be a doozy. How do we know? We keep a watchful eye on Australia, whose winter and flu season occur six months before our own. The New York Times reported that “In 2017, a terrible flu season in Australia presaged an American outbreak in which 79,000 died. Experts […]
Ten Drugs Doctors Should Consider De-Prescribing
Physicians use the word polypharmacy when a patient is taking five or more prescription drugs daily. A recent survey showed that half of women Medicare recipients were taking five or more drugs daily, and 12% of them were taking ten (!) or more. New patients frequently arrive at WholeHealth Chicago carrying bags stuffed like piñatas […]
Toxic Metals, Heart Disease, and Chelation Therapy
In last week’s Health Tip I reviewed the well-researched health dangers of environmental toxic metals (also called heavy metals). They’ve always been a serious health risk, but with the Trump Administration’s recent rollbacks of clean air and water regulations we can expect even more trouble ahead. Statisticians predict an astonishing 160,000 unnecessary deaths over the […]
The Cleveland Clinic and WholeHealth Chicago
I know, I know. It’s presumptuous of me to mention Cleveland Clinic in the same line, much less on the same page, as WholeHealth Chicago, though we do have significant attributes in common, as you’ll see today. This research article, which appeared last week on the JAMA website, links the two of us in ways […]
To A Long and Healthy Life!
You may have read earlier this summer about the public health statisticians who announced that Chicagoans could get a reasonable estimate about how long they’ll live based on their neighborhood, sort of a Death by Zip Code. If you live in Streeterville, you’ve got a good chance to reach 90. If you’re struggling in Englewood, […]
Taking Steps Toward Cancer Prevention, Part 2
Last week we began a short series on preventing cancer. Obviously there are no guarantees when it comes to your health. You can do everything exactly right and still get cancer while the next guy lives a life on the edge and dies at 104 with a whisky in one hand and a cigar in […]
Taking Steps Toward Cancer Prevention
According to the latest epidemiologic data, half of you reading this Health Tip will, at some point, hear a variation of the phrase “You have cancer.” If you die (cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US), the type of cancer will appear on the cause-of-death line of your death certificate. It […]
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 […]
The Neurochemistry of the Blasey Ford-Kavanaugh Hearings
Over the years here at WholeHealth Chicago, we’ve treated thousands of patients, mainly women, for chronic physical and emotional symptoms that produce no positive test results. Our patients have been told by multiple doctors that nothing can be found wrong with them, but as we explore their biographies we find that many problems have roots […]
TV and Me
More than 30 years ago, I read a book that managed to influence my entire life. Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (go ahead and click on it—it’s still available at amazon and a surprising number of reviews are from recent years) was a best-seller in its day and despite the reductionism of its […]
Ten Controversial Medical Conditions: An Introduction
Consider this list.• Fibromyalgia• Chronic fatigue• Candida overgrowth• Leaky gut• Non-celiac gluten sensitivity• Chronic Lyme disease• Intestinal parasites• Black mold illness (including sick building syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome)• Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)• Chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) Back in medical school, the only one of these I’d actually ever heard of was […]
The Best Piece of Financial Advice You’ll Ever Receive: Stay Healthy
The title of this piece should be in quotation marks because that advice is not my own. Based on my ineptness, I never give financial advice to anyone. Stock tips? I’m a Cumaean Sibyl in reverse. If ever money or finance come up in conversation, people who know me head for nearest exit in order […]
The Saga of Dr. Lasko
I need to complete the chronicle of Keith Alan Lasko, MD, begun last week in my Health Tip Pigs At A Trough with the story of the physician who wrote The Great Billion Dollar Medical Swindle some 35 years ago and then seemed to vanish. But completely disappear? Hardly. Based on what I’ve been reading online, it’s a safe […]
The Terrible Health Risks Of Guns
My personal contact with guns is limited, pretty much confined to a furtive glance at the firearm peeking reassuringly or menacingly (depending on your point of view) from a cop’s holster. Except for a brief childhood encounter with a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun, I’ve never held or fired a handgun or a rifle. In […]
Ten Drugs Doctors Should Consider De-Prescribing
Physicians use the word polypharmacy when a patient is taking five or more prescription drugs daily. A recent survey showed that half of women Medicare recipients were taking five or more drugs daily, and 12% of them were taking ten (!) or more. New patients frequently arrive at WholeHealth Chicago carrying bags stuffed like piñatas […]
Treacherous Times In Healthcare
Two related ideas come together in this Health Tip and I want to convey why this is all happening. First, a large part of our day at WholeHealth Chicago is spent dealing with insurance companies denying you benefits. Second, many patients have been telling me about the wave of anxiety they feel every time a […]
Testosterone Replacement For Men: Probably A Good Idea
It’s an interesting phenomenon that more women ask about testosterone therapy for the men in their lives than men ask for themselves. And when a man does ask, the question is usually couched with hesitations, “Uh, my…wife wanted me to…uh…ask about…you know…testosterone.” There are good reasons for hesitation. For men, the symptoms of age-related testosterone […]