I enjoy talking with my older patients as they often have interesting stories of home remedies that their mothers or grandmothers used on them. Yesterday I had a patient who grew up in the Great Smokies who shared how his mother would use milk to take away the pain of sun burns. He said she …
It is not uncommon for me to prescribe a certain supplement or remedy for a patient’s ailment and have they return with remarkable stories of how it helped with a slew of other symptoms. One such case is that of a middle age woman I saw who was having some digestive problems. I suspected that …
The other day I was reading in a medical journal of a novel approach for treating phobias. In this particular article researchers from Switzerland and Germany postulated that because fearful situations can trigger the release of cortisol in the brain and as cortisol is also known to impair memory retrieval, then giving cortisol before exposure …
Most people recognize that uncooked or under cooked meat can harbor disease- causing microbes, such as E.coli. But theydon’t realize that raw fruits and vegetables pose an equal if not greater threat than meat. For example, one study found that 39 samples of fresh bean sprouts harbored E. coli. Just rinsing your produce in water …
Jordan is a typical 3 year old with the exception of a disfiguring eruption one his face and head. His parents had taken him to several dermatologist who diagnosed him as having psoriasis a chronic often progressive skin disorder that is difficult to treat with conventional medications. Jordan was prescribed the usual topical steroids but …
There has been a paucity of studies published that shows any benefits of growing old. That was at least until an article appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience this last June. In the study, scientist found that people over 50 handled life’s rotten realities and found life’s bright side more effectively than the younger generation. …
Antipsychotic-drug treatment of children and teenagers seen by office-based physicians increased dramatically between 1993 and 2002. In the United States, the number of office prescriptions of antipsychotic medications for young people increased from about 201,000 in 1993 to 1,224,000 in 2002. Nearly all prescriptions were for the newest such medications- clozapine, risperidone, olanzapine, and quetiapine- …
Sex sells, especially to teenagers. A study published in Pediatrics shows that teenagers exposed to media having high sexual content are more than twice as likely to have sex by age 16 than those exposed to less. Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 black and white students 12 to 14 years of age. They calculated each …
Over the years I have treated many cases of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis ( an autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid gland). I have found that if treated in the initial stage of the disease the patient can avoid use of medication to control symptoms of hyperthyroidism and also avoid the end stage of the disease which …
If you by chance know an alcoholic that refuses to give up his beers or whisky there is hope he can avoid cirrhosis of the liver. A 2 decade long study found that with each cup of coffee drank daily the risk of cirrhosis dropped about 22 percent. Those who drank more than 4 cups …