INSPIRATION IS REQUIRED…BY US ALL…
My brother just shared this great and inspirational letter by Kurt Vonnegut to some youngsters in a 5th Grade class in New York. We should all try what he suggests>>>>>>LINK HERE!!!
Author: Douglas Lakin, M.D.
Born in Michigan, but raised in the Scottsdale/Paradise Valley area, Dr. Lakin earned his undergraduate degree at Arizona State University in 1983. Graduating first in his class of 6,000 as a Philosophy major in the Honor’s Program, he was the recipient of the Mouer Award for outstanding scholarship. He was the first person in the history of ASU to earn a coveted spot at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, entering in the fall of 1983.
Originally intending to become a medical research scientist, Dr. Lakin developed a greater interest in patient care. Inspired by his father, Dr. Mervyn Lakin and Sir William Osler, the founder of modern internal medicine and first Chief of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, he focused on clinical medicineAfter completing his medical school training from Hopkins in 1987, Dr. Lakin performed his Internship and Residency in Internal medicine at the University of Iowa’s Hospitals and Clinics, among the premier Internal Medicine programs in the country. Dr. Lakin excelled to the highest levels of clinical scholarship, achieving among the highest scores in the country on his Internal Medicine Board Examinations.
With his training complete, Dr. Lakin joined his father in practice in 1990. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Lakin senior retired. Dr. Douglas Lakin continues his practice in the tradition of his excellent training, and provides the quality of patient care established by his father before him.
WNL….NOT SNL
I was born in the era of SNL (Saturday Night Live)…the late-night sketch comedy show….so this acronym is well known to me, but a lesser know acronym more generally is WNL. It’s just as famous….but only in the world of medicine. What is WNL? It stands for ‘Within Normal Limits’, and it is a commonly …
CAN EXERCISE PREVENT INFECTIONS….A PATIENT MAKES HIS CASE
Below is a email from a patient touted his good health since beginning a stronger exercise regimen. He not only made the point that he felt better, but that he feels it prevents him from getting run-of-the mill infections, a particularly nice effect this time of year when the ‘cold season’ is heavy. He bolstered …
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GET OFF YOUR DUFF
Physical activity is the #1 Key to health….just check out THE KEYS, and you’ll find it right there at the top. You can take inactivity to a new high (or should I say low), and be so inactive that you actually get SITTING DISEASE. We are sitting too much and this is making us …
“Interesting if true, if not… interesting anyway” –Mark Twain
Could it be that we have it all wrong about our ‘slower’ brains as we age. These German researchers suggest so, explaining that older brains take longer to process information because they have so much information stored from past experience, that it takes more time to sift through this data. Take heart…as we age….we all …
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DAVE BERRY’S LATEST SMILE
Dave Berry is among the best comedy writers in the new these days and he is my hero for his piece on his colonoscopy. Here is his latest WSJ comment on his upbringing being a ‘man’. Read it HERE<<<<<
FAT MILK….SKINNY KIDS
As most of you know, I am a fan of fat and protein in the diet at the expense of starches. Atkins Diet and Paleo seem more in-tune with our evolution than the modern grain-focused fare. This NPR piece on regular milk helping maintain proper weight, as opposed to skim milk, is another piece in …
A PATIENT ASKS ABOUT CARBS IN HER DIET…
Doctor Doug; Do you have a recommended daily target level for carbs that I can use as a guideline while trying to reduce them? M.A. M.A. I asked my friend, Debbie Landau-West, for your comments. Here is the reply from Debbie Landau-West, a nutritionist and dietitian I’ve known for 30 years, and who is the …
IN NEED OF PSYCHIATRIC HELP FOR A GERIATRIC PATIENT?
Among the most difficult medical issues to handle for an elderly patient or family member are serious psychiatric issues. In our 70’s and 80’s (and beyond), severe psychiatric problems such as depression, anxiety can be combined with other underlying conditions such as memory loss to make their treatment and recovery more difficult. For outpatient treatment, …
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ULCER MEDICATIONS SAFE & PROTECT AGAINST CANCER
Prilosec and similar medications are potent acid suppressors, and in so doing they are superb at preventing ulcers and esophagus irritation. Due to their potency questions have been raised about their long-term safety, despite a superb 30 year track record. I am confident in their safety and am a proponent of their long-term use for …
BARGAIN INSULIN….GREAT NEWS
I’m not a big shopper….but I do love a bargain. Probably comes from traipsing around with my mom when I was a kid, or now with my kids when they are shopping. If it’s a sale item it looks so much better! I’ve told you all before about shopping for best prices at Costco through …
A SURGEON’S HUMANITY CAN BE PROFOUND
Caring for others as a physician is a profound honor. It also gives us an opportunity to reflect on the ultimate fears we all have about illness and death. This NY Times editorial by thoracic surgeon Jeffrey Piehler, MD, is filled with a humanity that comes from his own experiences….as a surgeon and a patient, …
CAUTION ADVISABLE WHEN TREATING INCIDENTAL SCAN FINDINGS
With the progressive improvement in imaging studies, MRI and CAT scans, we are finding more and more ‘incidental’ abnormalities, and there is now a question of ‘what to do’ with such findings. Some might think that such incidental findings are good fortune to find by accident, so that we can treat the findings and prevent …
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WHEN TO INTERVENE?
Coronary artery disease remains very common, with management during an acute episode of chest pain clearly favoring intervention with balloon treatment, stenting, or other aggressive therapies. But for patients with stable disease, there is more controversy If a person has stable coronary artery disease (no chest pain) but testing demonstrates are area of reduced blood …
WE ARE GETTING HEALTHIER…BELIEVE IT!
This weeks Sunday New York Times had a great article titled “Why Everyone Seems to Have Cancer” and the summary is….as we live longer and reduce the greatest killer of people, HEART DISEASE, Cancer comes to dominate as the major cause of death. The statistics clearly show reductions in premature death from heart disease and …