I didn’t mean to shock you there but as an eternal optimist, I look for the good in everything (almost).
Cocaine is not good for anything besides robbing folks of their minds and money but people who snort the poison sure have mastered the correct technique of using a nasal spray. [Read more…]
nd/2.0 via Flickr
With the high prevalence of constipation in America it is unfortunately common to see the overuse of the over the counter laxatives. Some women get into a gradual but pervasive overuse syndrome where eventually they can’t have a bowel movement without the laxatives. [Read more…]
Prensa 420 via Flickr
Over the decades I am sadly humbled when teens and tweens come in for vague physical complaints and I find them to be either pregnant, under the influence of some illicit substance or both.
I practice in a busy suburban area so this is not the stereotypical area where one thinks of as high risk for these behaviors- but the fact is MOST drug use occurs in suburbia, NOT the inner cities. [Read more…]
babka_babka via Flickr
Most medical students and residents have played this game of asking each other and themselves the question of – “If I have to have a cancer diagnosis, which one would I want?”
As morbid as it sounds, there are “good cancers” in other words, cancers that are easier to cure and survive, relatively speaking (especially when detected early on). [Read more…]
Modern Britain via Flickr
Believe it or not, my kids have never been “branded or marketed to” via TV commercials. Why?
I wish I could say this was all planned out by my husband and I in our wisdom, but in truth, this occurred by serendipity and out of sheer exhaustion.
While our twins were still infants, we happened to move to a more remote area in the foothills where there was no good TV signal.
The only channel that came on was the local commercial free PBS station.
© Sherry Tetens Long | Dreamstime Stock Photos
I don’t know how we got wrapped up with the term “birth control” but a more accurate job description of the pill would be “pregnancy control”.
Pregnancy control however is just one of the many things taking the pill can do for you.
I would actually say up to a quarter of women taking the pill use primarily for it’s other benefits while the pregnancy control aspect is simply the icing on the cake.
We all get freaked out by vaginal discharge. Chief of the worry is having contracted some sexually transmitted infection.
You might have towed the line and stayed faithful but what if the other party “steps out of line” or even worse; goes around town spreading some lovin’? [Read more…]
© Ragne Kabanova | Dreamstime Stock Photos
I know this sounds heartless, but once in a while I do have to prepare patients that in this day and age, with our cummulative lifetime risk factors and increasing longevity for those in the baby boomer generation that most will likely be diagnosed with one type of cancer or another. [Read more…]
MISCHELLE via Flickr
Almost from the start of my medical career, I noticed that a fairly regular number of patients complained of ear pressure, pain, or decreased hearing.
Predictably, most of these symptoms were due to a build-up of wax in the ear canal, which over time was pushed into a brick like wall by Q-tips, fingers, and other foreign objects.
The thing I didn’t expect was that most of these patients were non-Asians. [Read more…]
Beverly & Pack via Flickr
Recently, we hosted a young foreign exchange student for the last week of her 2 month stay in the states at our home.
Since it was near the end of her US experience I asked her what she thought was the biggest difference in her education back in her homeland compared to here.
Anticipating predictable answers like “ the curriculum is easier here”, or “the school day is shorter”, I was stunned to hear her insightful and sincere answer instead. [Read more…]
