"This blog was developed to provide medical updates that are important and have my perspective as additional insight."
You might think that if you were the President you’d get the best healthcare in the world….but I suspect you would be wrong. The VIP treatment tends to provide inferior care to what you get right here in Scottsdale, at our best hospitals and with our best doctors. Read the story of President Garfield …
A pediatric research group in England has developed a balloon that you blow up with your nose…to help reduce ear infections in children. By having children blow up the ballow with their nose, the child clears & opens the Eustachian tube, thus reducing pressure in the middle ear and allowing improved clearance of infection. When …
The Jitterbug is a great dance from the 50’s and everyone I know always wanted to be able to do it, but it was from a previous era so we didn’t learn. But now, the Jitterbug is a new phone service that is meant for seniors and goes beyond the ‘big button’ phone of yesteryear …
I just heard about the death of one of my Hopkins classmates it made me reflect on life and its vagaries. Despite being in the healing arts, we physicians are prone to all the maladies our patients experience, and it is in that shared humanity, that we bring to bare our scientific knowledge to help heal …
Dr. John Sotos was a former classmate at Hopkins, and is known as Dr. Zebra for his knowledge of arcane medical conditions and diagnosis. Sound familiar…like someone on TV ? That’s because he is the ‘real life’ Dr. House, and was the medical adviser for the TV show. What is the diagnosis of this patient …
SCAD stands for Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection, a form of heart disease that is rare but is the cause of heart attacks in younger women, pregnant women, and women you are not a typical risk for heart disease. After Robert’s wife died from the condition, he became a supporter of research into this little known …
Read More “OUR PATIENT ROBERT ALICO PROMOTES RESEARCH ON SCAD”
A PATIENT WRITES…. Dear Doctor Doug: I just noticed a swelling on my left elbow, about the size of golf ball. It is not hot or red. No pain. Feels like it’s full of water. Should it be punctured?? Right elbow is fine. Look forward to hearing from you. Nick AND I RESPOND: This …
Read More “A PATIENT’S ELBOW SWELLS SPONTANEOUSLY AND HE NEEDS ADVICE”
What is the advantage to fooling your doctor? Nothing…I’d say. It’s best to be honest about what your concerns and symptoms are, or I cannot determine the true nature of your concerns or the diagnosis of the illness that is occurring. On the other hand, there is an entertainment value in deception. As …
Stories can be a great teaching tool…they can also entertain. THE MOTH is a radio program that is on the web, and it celebrates wonderful stories and the storytellers. I enjoyed this wonderful reminiscence by this Infectious Diseases doctor….take a listen and see what you think Listen >>>>HERE<<<<
Here is a link to some of the most wonderful pictures I’ve seen on the internet. It’s 37 famous locations…filmed by low-flying drones. Take a look and enjoy…… >>>HERE<<<<
Although the idea of a biopsy is never pleasant, the idea of a liquid (blood sample) biopsy has a little excitement to it, as it sounds simpler and less painful. In fact, it is….and this approach to diagnostics will grow larger in the coming years, supplanting the need for invasive testing that is currently being …
IT IS A MYTH! Although there are people in Arizona who have Lyme’s Disease, there are ZERO DOCUMENTED CASES of Lyme Disease contracted in Arizona. Lyme Disease is a tick-borne infection caused by a spirochete germ (similar to the same germ that causes Syphyllis….a cousin. The germ (spirochete bacterium) is called Borrelia Bergdorferi. It is …
Read More “MYTH OR FACT….A PATIENT CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN INFECTED WITH LYME DISEASE IN ARIZONA”
NSAID medications are commonly prescribed and used as over-the-counter pain relief treatments. Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs are non-aspirin pain relievers that include over-the-counter Advil (Ibuprofen), Aleve (Naprosyn), and a host of prescriptions medications like Celebrex, Voltaren (Diclofenac), and long list of additional medications in this class. Aspirin, although technically in this grouping, is excluded, …
My nephew John Smyth is 23 years old, lives in Indiana with his parents, and has had major communication issues his entire life due to Autism. More recently, he has been communicating through ‘facilitation’, a method that allows caregivers to assist in improving communication methods with those who find it challenging to communicate on their …
ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. ProPublica has just come out with a simple to read scorecard for surgeons….to share Medicare information on surgical outcomes that the government is collecting. This information is useful, to the extent that it provides a ‘ballpark’ estimate of a surgeon’s …