Neurology
    6 hours ago

    A STROKE OR NOT A STROKE?

    Practicing medicine, every day is filled with solving “puzzles” one after another. These “puzzles” appear in your office in the…
    Heart Disease
    3 days ago

    WOMEN AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

    Last year, the American Heart Association updated their hypertension guidelines for women. They established four groups of hypertensive patients based…
    Bone & Joint Problems
    4 days ago

    HYALURONIC ACID

    Hyaluronic acid is the main ingredient in all those products that rheumatologists and orthopedic surgeons inject into the knees of…
    Drugs & Medications
    5 days ago

    DIRECT ORAL ANTICOAGULANTS (DOAC’S)

    Direct Oral Anticoagulants are a fairly new class of drugs used for the prevention of blood clots and subsequent strokes…
    Drugs & Medications
    6 days ago

    GLP-1’S AND POLYPHARMACY

    Five years ago I was on 13 different medications—13! That’s a lot of foreign substances to put into my body…
    Drugs & Medications
    1 week ago

    GLP-1’S AFFECTING WEIGHT LOSS BUSINESSES

    Here’s a point I hadn’t thought of (until now): the success of GLP-1 receptor agonists has profoundly affected the weight…
    Gastrointestinal Diseases
    1 week ago

    CONSTIPATION

    Constipation is a very common problem. Everyone has it at some time in their life, and in the majority of…
    Healthcare Policy
    2 weeks ago

    PROBLEMS WITH RESIDENCY MATCH PROGRAM

    I touched on it briefly in the “Residency ‘Match Day’” article, but a lot of shots are being taken at…
    Human Interest
    2 weeks ago

    RESIDENCY “MATCH DAY”

    “Match Day” occurs annually in March. This year’s edition has already occurred and has left us  with some questions and…
    Office Practice Info
    2 weeks ago

    ABNORMAL LAB RESULTS

    Every day, family physicians have patients with abnormal lab test results. Most of the time, the abnormal results can be…
    Healthcare Policy
    2 weeks ago

    MEDICARE FRAUD

    Fraudulent billing of Medicare is a problem of mammoth proportion. Mammoth not only because of the number of individuals, companies,…
    Human Interest
    2 weeks ago

    THE BEST TIME OF YEAR FOR SPORTS

    I’m a big sports fan and think we’re currently in the middle of the best time of the year for…
    Drugs & Medications
    3 weeks ago

    TEN DRUGS THAT HARM THE KIDNEYS

    When we reach the age designation known as a “senior citizen,” a lot of things in our bodies have already…
    Physician Office Issues
    3 weeks ago

    PRIVATE PRACTICE VS. EMPLOYMENT

    In a post I wrote a few months ago for DrGOpines.com, I stated three major reasons why physicians were leaving…
    Healthcare Policy
    3 weeks ago

    ANOTHER MEDICARE RUSE!

    Medicare is once again being disingenuous in its attempts to better compensate primary care physicians. Their usual method is to…
    Aging
    3 weeks ago

    POSTMENOPAUSAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY

    In 2002, The Women’s Health Initiative, WHI, a study of the health habits of American women, completely shut down hormone…
    Sports Medicine Info
    3 weeks ago

    EXERCISE MIMETICS AND MYOKINES

    EXERCISE MIMETICS AND MYOKINES Within the past few weeks, I published an article about the benefits of exercise for treating…
    Bone & Joint Problems
    4 weeks ago

    CALCIUM SUPPLEMENTS QUESTIONED

    Today, every long-standing, accepted, and recommended medical policy or protocol is subject to scrutiny, investigation, doubt, or revision. These tenets,…
    Office Practice Info
    4 weeks ago

    SOME PATIENTS ARE “DIFFICULT”

    It’s simply human nature, but some patients don’t like their doctor and doctors certainly don’t like all of their patients.…
    Drugs & Medications
    4 weeks ago

    IMMUNOSENESCENCE

    Vaccination, immunization, inoculation; call it what you like, it’s the process of activating the human immune system by the injection…
    Drugs & Medications
    4 weeks ago

    VITAMIN D NO HELP TO HEALTHY ADULTS

    In September 2024, DrGOpines.com presented an update on the use of Vitamin D by healthy adults and children. In it,…
    A Day in the Life Scenarios
    March 27, 2026

    PHYSICIANS ARE NOT “PROVIDERS”

    Finally, someone besides me has taken offense at physicians being called providers. Since today’s world contains all levels of folks…
    Heart Disease
    March 26, 2026

    MANAGEMENT OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

    The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, the two largest organizations dedicated to the prevention and treatment…
    Drugs & Medications
    March 25, 2026

    GLP-1 RISKS FOR ELDERLY PATIENTS

    With the use of a new drug, over time, information about adverse effects becomes clearer. Late effects of a medication…
    Drugs & Medications
    March 24, 2026

    ORAL GLP-1 IS EFFECTIVE

    Not too long ago I wrote a post for DrGOpines.com introducing readers to a new oral formulation of a GLP-1…

      COVID-19
      October 27, 2025

      MEDICAL “MISINFORMATION”

      I fear I may be “wading into shark-infested waters” when I approach the subject in the title of this article.…
      COVID-19
      September 23, 2025

      LONG COVID STILL AFFECTING DOCTORS, NURSES

      The serious, deadly phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has ended along with the frequency of acute cases. It’s been over…
      COVID-19
      September 3, 2025

      VACCINES PROTECT CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

      COVID-19 and the vaccines developed to combat it did more to erode trust in old, well-established, standard vaccines than any…
      Cancer
      July 27, 2025

      COVID-19, VITAMIN D, CANCER, GLP-1’S, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

      MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS #29 COVID-19 has a greater effect on kidneys than pneumonia: Natural aging causes a gradual decline in…
      COVID-19
      September 16, 2023

      CDC RECOMMENDS ALL AMERICANS 6 MONTHS AND OLDER RECEIVE AT LEAST ONE DOSE OF UPDATED COVID-19 VACCINE

      The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved “reformulated” COVID vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. That prompted a CDC Advisory…
      COVID-19
      March 18, 2023

      MOST COVID-19 DEATHS WORLDWIDE WERE AMONG OLDER PEOPLE.

      The high mortality rate from COVID-19 among the elderly was a fact everyone knew, but a lot of people ignored.…
      Preventive Medicine
      January 18, 2023

      STROKE AND PFIZER VACCINE

      Have you heard the latest about the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster? There’s always something, you know! This time, there are serious…
      Healthcare Policy
      December 26, 2022

      LIFE EXPECTANCY LOWERED—AGAIN!

      The CDC just announced the life expectancy of Americans recently dropped to a 25-year low. People born in 2021 have…
      COVID-19
      May 27, 2022

      mRNA VACCINE EFFICACY

      Who really knows how effective mRNA vaccines are for COVID-19. All degrees of outrageous claims about them are made back…
      COVID-19
      February 4, 2022

      MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES: What are they? What do they do?

      This is a difficult subject to write about. Difficult because to understand it, you must possess basic knowledge of the…
      COVID-19
      January 23, 2022

      “COVID-19 VACCINE BOOSTERS SAVE LIVES”

      Yes, they really do! And The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is proud to report that fact. Two…
      COVID-19
      January 5, 2022

      COVID-19 VACCINE-MYOCARDITIS LINK INSIGNIFICANT

      Last summer, there was a lot of fuss about a link between mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 and the occurrence of…
      COVID-19
      October 11, 2021

      NATURAL IMMUNITY TO COVID-19: IS IT A REALITY?

      Why can’t today’s viruses play fair? Why can’t viruses like SARS-CoV-2 behave like the viruses of old—the varicella-zoster virus or…
      COVID-19
      September 28, 2021

      PFIZER COVID-19 VACCINE AND MYOCARDITIS

      In July, I wrote a blog about the incidence of myocarditis in young males after vaccination with Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.…
      COVID-19
      September 17, 2021

      COVID-19 VACCINATION AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

      I’m having a bit of trouble with the current attitude of a lot of people. I’m referring to the 80…
      COVID-19
      August 15, 2021

      VACCINE HESITANCY: WHY PEOPLE REFUSE COVID-19 VACCINE

      I’m old enough to remember what life was like before vaccines. As a child I had measles, mumps, and chicken…
      COVID-19
      July 12, 2021

      MYOCARDITIS AFTER COVID-19 VACCINE

      Much ado has been made on cable news programs about the adverse effects attributed to COVID-19 vaccines. In particular, there…
      COVID-19
      March 6, 2021

      SIX COVID-19 VACCINES IN PHASE III TRIALS

      We’ve heard repeatedly about the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for COVID-19. Those are the two vaccines in use locally; if…
      COVID-19
      March 5, 2021

      ALLERGIC REACTIONS TO PFIZER-BIONTECH VACCINE

      Today’s media seems to have difficulty reporting the good news that comes from developments in the COVID-19 pandemic. Such is…
      COVID-19
      January 12, 2021

      COVID-19 VACCINE: MY EXPERIENCE

      The Maricopa County (Arizona) Health Department began administering COVID-19 vaccine in late December. Maricopa County has the bulk of the…
      COVID-19
      December 5, 2020

      AT-HOME COVID-19 TESTING

      These days news travels fast so you may already know the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the…
      COVID-19
      November 21, 2020

      PFIZER COVID-19 VACCINE 90% (95%) EFFECTIVE!

      By now you’ve surely heard the good news about the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company in collaboration…
      COVID-19
      July 5, 2020

      HERD IMMUNITY? What’s That?

      Lately, there have been many references to the term HERD IMMUNITY. Public health officials use it in their communications about…

      CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

        Heart Disease
        August 11, 2025

        STABLE CHEST PAIN? CCTA IS YOUR ANSWER

        The information that follows may be as important as any previously reported here! I’m referring to a 2021 recommendation from…
        Heart Disease
        June 28, 2018

        Passing Out is Scary!

        Passing Out: By “passing out” I don’t mean leaving the theater, but instead I mean losing consciousness. The fancy name…
        Preventive Medicine
        March 19, 2023

        FRUITS AND VEGGIES IN YOUR DIET

        If you’ve ever watched “My 600-lb Life” on The Learning Channel (TLC) you are familiar with the comments I’m about…
        Preventive Medicine
        July 27, 2021

        GUIDELINES FOR DIAGNOSING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

        Americans are constantly being encouraged to control their blood pressure. Hypertension is a serious health hazard that leads to many…
        Heart Disease
        October 10, 2025

        HEART ATTACKS: WHAT’S NEW?

        In the simpler, unenlightened world of the past, a heart attack was just a heart attack. It was a serious…
        Cancer
        October 14, 2025

        LOW-DOSE ASPIRIN AND CANCER PREVENTION

        Is there no end to the creative imagination of medical researchers? Some amazing revelation of a new, life-altering use for…
        Heart Disease
        April 15, 2020

        CHOLESTEROL

        What is it and how does it cause harm? Everyone has heard of cholesterol. Everyone has cholesterol. Everyone should worry…
        Heart Disease
        September 21, 2023

        WOMEN WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION MORE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT THAN MEN

        As I’ve reported before, it seems like atrial fibrillation exists in epidemic proportion. If you don’t know someone who has…
        Drugs & Medications
        January 21, 2026

        COMBINATION DRUGS FOR HIGH BP

        I have written this many times before, but policies and protocols in medicine are always changing. After several years of…
        Heart Disease
        August 8, 2021

        DRUG OPTIONS FOR TREATING CHOLESTEROL AND REDUCING CARDIOVASCULAR RISK

        A subject I’ve blogged about several times is cholesterol. The biochemistry of cholesterol, it’s clinical significance, and guidelines for treatment…
        Preventive Medicine
        May 16, 2022

        ASPIRIN NOW OK FOR PRIMARY PREVENTION!

        Two years ago, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), the agency of record for preventive health care recommendations,…
        Drugs & Medications
        November 6, 2025

        POST-MI BETA BLOCKER USE SHOULD CEASE

        On August 6, 2025, DrGOpines.com posted an article titled “Post-MI Beta Blockers Questioned.” In it, the routine prescribing of Beta…
        Healthcare Policy
        November 19, 2025

        NEW BLOOD PRESSURE GUIDELINES

        In the healthcare realm, policies and guidelines for just about everything are constantly being re-evaluated. One such re-evaluation occurred recently…
        Bone & Joint Problems
        December 1, 2024

        MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS #24

        Does a cortisone shot help a frozen shoulder? Adhesive capsulitis is the fancy term for a frozen shoulder. The bones…
        Drugs & Medications
        April 3, 2025

        ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR CHOLESTEROL MANAGEMENT

        If you are unfortunate enough to be on the maximum dose of a statin drug and still not have your…
        Heart Disease
        January 28, 2025

        SALT SUBSTITUTE REDUCES CHANCES FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

        Substituting regular table salt (100% sodium chloride) with salt substitute (62% sodium chloride, 25% potassium chloride, 12.5% flavorings) reduced the…
        Blood Diseases
        July 28, 2020

        BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS ARE MORE THAN JUST BLOOD!

        Donating blood is a good-hearted thing to do. In medical school, I did it 2 or 3 times a year,…
        Drugs & Medications
        December 25, 2023

        ANTI-ARRHYTHMIC DRUGS AFTER ABLATION: DO THEY HELP?

        If you’re one of the ever-increasing number of folks who have undergone ablation for atrial fibrillation, you may be wondering,…
        Heart Disease
        February 19, 2024

        SCREENING FOR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

        Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and is a major risk factor for ischemic stroke. An ischemic stroke…
        COVID-19
        January 5, 2022

        COVID-19 VACCINE-MYOCARDITIS LINK INSIGNIFICANT

        Last summer, there was a lot of fuss about a link between mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 and the occurrence of…
        Heart Disease
        August 15, 2023

        SHORTNESS OF BREATH

        Doctors call shortness of breath a single, much shorter name—Dyspnea. The Greek and Latin derivatives of dyspnea are “dys” which…
        Diabetes
        October 8, 2024

        MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS #20

        Rates of Sudden Death After Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction): After an acute heart attack (myocardial infarction), sudden death rates have…
        Heart Disease
        December 19, 2018

        SUDDEN DEATH: A Very Disturbing Event

        Sudden death is always a tragic and terribly disturbing event. When someone who “appears to be the picture of health”…
        Preventive Medicine
        September 21, 2022

        TOO MUCH HDL-CHOLESTEROL?

        For decades we’ve been told about the cardio-protective benefits of the “good cholesterol,” High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C). We were…
        Preventive Medicine
        January 11, 2022

        ALCOHOL AND ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

        We hear conflicting messages about alcohol all the time. Some people praise it’s medicinal virtues while others continually point out…

        DAY-IN-THE-LIFE SCENARIOS

          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          March 27, 2026

          PHYSICIANS ARE NOT “PROVIDERS”

          Finally, someone besides me has taken offense at physicians being called providers. Since today’s world contains all levels of folks…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          March 23, 2026

          REST

          REST is not a state physicians find themselves in very often. In fact, the medical profession has a thing for…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          March 19, 2026

          OLDER PHYSICIANS: IMPAIRED?

          Many healthcare institutions and medical practices are seeing the age of practicing physicians increase as more continue to practice beyond…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          February 11, 2026

          THE QUIRKS OF MEDICAL EDUCATION

          Medical education is phenomenon unto itself. It is filled with nuances that make it distinctive in  character and personality, as…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          February 5, 2026

          KNOW YOUR LIMITS

          When I was in medical school, it seemed like my friends and family immediately thought I knew everything every other…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          February 4, 2026

          SOME DOCTORS JUST NEVER RETIRE

          What in the world is it with some doctors? I’m referring to the legion of doctors who practice well beyond…

          YOUR WELLNESS MATTERS

            August 8, 2025

            FASTING FOR BLOODWORK IS OUTDATED

            Here’s something that might brighten your day. “It really doesn’t matter if you’re stomach is empty” [when you have blood…
            July 5, 2024

            PRIORITIES IN GERIATRIC CARE

            In spite of statistics that show the average life expectancy of Americans has been declining over the past 5-10 years,…
            January 9, 2024

            WHITE TEETH

            Many people today have a significant focus on personal appearance. You might not think so from the way segments of…
            September 1, 2023

            MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS NO. 5

            Cancer Among Younger Americans is Increasing    A study published on JAMA Network Open using data from the National Cancer…
            August 25, 2023

            WATER FLUORIDATION, CREST TOOTHPASTE

            There’s little or no disagreement with the statement that fluoridation of community drinking water supplies has been one of public…
            August 5, 2023

            MORE ABOUT SUGAR IN OUR DIET

            Recently, I reported information that certain amounts of sugar in our diet were tied directly to increased risk of a…
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