"This blog was developed to provide medical updates that are important and have my perspective as additional insight."
With the development of more and more complex systems and computers, there are questions about the role for future physicians, who are at the pinnacle of the medical heirarchy, and whether they will be needed many years in the future. Are doctor’s jobs destined to be replaced? Many physicians think it’s impossible, but there are …
A patient of mine who lives in California, but has two parents in their late 80’s who needs some assistance, directed me to a very useful website www.carelinx.com It is a simple way to find a variety of caregivers to choose from, and is rather easy to use. Her experience has been good, but …
Although most of us would envy such a concern, gaining weight can be an important issue when you are recovering from illness. Having a variety of options of high calories foods and supplements is helpful. Along with Debra Landau-West, M.S., Registered Dietitian, we have developed a nice list of weight gainers to try. You can …
In his new book Hair: A Human History, Kurt Stenn explains a myriad of facets about hair growth and it’s distribution and development in humans, but of great interest to me was his explanation as to why hair has four phases of growth, like the four seasons. It is because our descendents, mammals had to grow …
A patient of ours, Brad Gerson, is doing good work in The Valley, bringing hearing aids to those who cannot afford such devices and who are in need. They do this by refurbishing old hearing aids that patients are no longer using, and they are looking both for donations of such hearing aids, and for …
Great institutions of medicine are resources for patients worldwide. When I studied at Johns Hopkins Hospital and University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics I developed a great deal of respect for the power and potential of these entities. On the west coast, we have other great institutions are are the equal to those back east, …
Blink Health ( https://www.blinkhealth.com ) is a new online service that is helping locate the cheapest generic medication in your area. This is sorely needed and has been lacking since Drugstore.com and Costco.com removed online information on their prices. Why is it that we can find out the financial information and secrets of others, but …
With all of the news about PPI medications and issues of kidney concerns and dementia concerns, I think it is wise to catch our breath and maintain some perspective. The jury is out on this topic. PPI’s are great medications and the topic of quitting PPI’s is always worth exploring, but I have written extensively …
Yes…it’s an old joke and we all know it. The answer to our question is ….”Practice, practice, practice.” This old joke fits in with my follow-up post about ZE & PPI medications because the story of why we hear so many criticisms about PPI medication is based on how assistant professors become professors. How?….Not practice, …
There are always changes going on with insurance and medication insurance coverage, and one of the most curious phenomenon is ‘uncovered’ medications. Medicines that insurance used to pay for, but they no longer do. This includes a variety of medications: sleeping pills, muscle relaxers, anxiety medications, and hormones….to list just a few. The reason they …
What is a beta blocker and why should you care? Well, because they are among the great pharmaceutical discoveries of the 20th century, and they are useful in so many ways. Perhaps you could benefit from a beta blocker. What is a beta blocker? It is a chemical that blocks the action of adrenaline …
The other day a patient asked me about my hobbies. Aside from doing some exercise, reading, and involving myself in my kids lives (to the extent that want such)….my hobbies are medicine and my website (which is to say….also medicine). It is this passion for what I do that keeps me motivated and engaged and …
I often have patients that see me with strange symptoms. I listen…I examine…but the symptoms don’t fit into any of the pigeonholes of medical science, in fact, they often don’t make much sense at all. They are real…in the sense that the patient is experiencing the symptoms, but there is no evidence that anything …
What the heck? What am I talking about? Actually…I’m having a little fun with acronyms that are so common in medicine by spelling out the letters as opposed to just using the acronyms ZE & PPI. Z.E……are the initials for Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome, and rare condition of persisting and recurring excess stomach ulcerations due to massive …
The passing of Justice Scalia is a call to arms for older men. What do I mean? Well….reading all of the news accounts, it appears that Justice Scalia died from sudden cardiac death, which is classically the first manifestation of heart disease in 1/3 of people with heart disease. He is the classic person to …