Preventive Medicine
    10 hours ago

    THESE CHANGES CAN ADD A YEAR TO YOUR LIFE

    Medical researchers continually harp on the benefits of lifestyle change. Living habits form the basis for nearly every preventive medicine…
    Human Interest
    1 day ago

    NO TAX ON TIPS: SOME STIPULATIONS

    Last year, as a part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress made permanent the tax cuts passed in…
    Preventive Medicine
    2 days ago

    PSA TESTING: THE ENIGMA THAT WON’T GO AWAY

    For decades, the Prostate Specific Antigen, or PSA test, has been the “red-headed step child” of preventive medicine. Any opportunity…
    Physician Office Issues
    3 days ago

    PHYSICIAN OVERCOMPENSATION

    The last thing the medical profession needs at the present time is for the public to read the article I…
    Human Interest
    6 days ago

    2026 INDY 500 MILE RACE

    I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to write about the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile…
    Gastrointestinal Diseases
    1 week ago

    COLONOSCOPY AFTER AGE 75

    Healthcare economists have a fixation on various ratios that determine when, and if, a diagnostic procedure should be done. Two…
    Bone & Joint Problems
    1 week ago

    AFP CLINICAL ANSWERS APRIL, 2026

    This is the second article based on information presented the American Family Physician  journal’s section titled “Clinical Answers.” The April…
    Cancer
    1 week ago

    IVERMECTIN: FOR CANCER?

    Over the past 5 to 10 years, no drug has been more controversial than Ivermectin. All the uproar during the…
    Cancer
    2 weeks ago

    GLP-1’S AND BREAST CANCER SURVIVAL

    Who isn’t taking a GLP-1 these days? There are so many reasons for doctors to prescribe them that almost everyone…
    Drugs & Medications
    2 weeks ago

    ADVERSE EFFECTS OF GLP-1’S

    Literally every day I read something about Glucagon Like Peptide-1Receptor Agonists, GLP-RA’s. That’s the million dollar name for the class…
    Drugs & Medications
    2 weeks ago

    QUICK MEDICAL ADVICE FROM THE AAFP

     American Family Physician is the scientific journal of the American Academy of Family Physicians (the AAFP). The AAFP is the…
    Healthcare Policy
    2 weeks ago

    SPENDING TO TRAIN FAMILY DOCS DIVERTED

    Increasing the number of practicing primary care physicians has been a serious consideration for the past fifty years. It seemed…
    Bone & Joint Problems
    2 weeks ago

    WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PATIENT? No. 4

    WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PATIENT? No. 4 Case number 4 is a 46 year old homeless male who was brought…
    Dermatology
    2 weeks ago

    TATTOOS: ARE THEY SAFE?

    In all my 82 years, the thought of getting a tattoo has never crossed my mind! It’s not that I’m…
    A Day in the Life Scenarios
    3 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…
    Drugs & Medications
    3 weeks ago

    FDA APPROVES ORAL GLP-1

    Eli Lilly and Co. of Indianapolis nearly has a corner on the GLP-1 market. Their GLP-1,  tirzepatide, has been a…
    Heart Disease
    3 weeks ago

    WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PATIENT? No: 3

    Case three is a 66 year old male smoker who presents to the ER with 24 hours of chest pain.…
    Procedures
    3 weeks ago

    NOT ALL ABNORMAL LAB RESULTS MEAN DISEASE

    A recent article I posted about abnormal lab test results showed how they can sometimes lead to a diagnosis, but…
    Heart Disease
    3 weeks ago

    CHOLESTEROL GUIDELINES CHANGE AGAIN

    We’re all keenly aware of the role cholesterol plays in the development of arteriosclerosis. It forms the core, or the…
    Infectious Diseases
    4 weeks ago

    WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PATIENT? No. 2

    This is the second in a series of articles titled “What’s wrong with this patient?” In it, I will present…
    Drugs & Medications
    4 weeks ago

    LOW-DOSE ORAL MINOXIDIL FOR MALE PATTERN BALDNESS

    Androgenetic alopecia is the scientific name given to male-pattern baldness. Alopecia is the medical term for hair loss of any…
    Neurology
    4 weeks ago

    WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PATIENT?

    As Jim Nantz, the long-time CBS sports announcer, always begins, “Hello, friends!” DrGOpines.com is approaching the end of its 7th…
    Procedures
    May 5, 2026

    I’LL PASS ON THIS PROCEDURE

    No thanks! I’m not interested. I’ll figure out another solution for this problem! These are my feelings about a new…
    Heart Disease
    May 4, 2026

    CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE AND STENTS

    I just read an article on medscape.com that referred to changes that may be coming in the long-term prevention and…
    Drugs & Medications
    May 1, 2026

    ADDITIVES IN ILLICIT DRUGS

    If you didn’t already know, makers of illicit drugs include “additives and contaminants” in the opioid drugs they produce to…

      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

        Preventive Medicine
        June 22, 2022

        CAROTID STENOSIS AND STROKE

        Carotid stenosis is a narrowing of the artery in the neck that sends blood to the brain. When blood flow…
        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…
        Drugs & Medications
        August 2, 2025

        BLOOD PRESSURE TARGET LEVELS EASED

        If you have high blood pressure and you’re worried about the effect it is having on your kidneys, you may…
        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”…
        Drugs & Medications
        July 24, 2025

        LIPITOR: THIRTY YEARS OF BENEFIT

        Lipitor (atorvastatin) has been in use in the U.S. since 1997 (28.5 years). It has been one of the most…
        Preventive Medicine
        September 9, 2022

        DO STATINS CAUSE MUSCLE PAIN AND WEAKNESS?

        It’s statins again!  This time it has to do with muscle pain and weakness patients attribute to statin therapy. A…
        Heart Disease
        July 5, 2023

        AN AD WORTH WATCHING!

        I never thought I would say this, but there’s an ad on TV I think everyone over age 50 should…
        Heart Disease
        August 11, 2022

        SWOLLEN LEGS: NO SIMPLE ANSWER!

        It’s fairly common for a person over age 65 to, at some time, experience swelling of one or both legs.…
        Drugs & Medications
        June 5, 2024

        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…
        Heart Disease
        August 8, 2018

        CHOLESTEROL: What is it and how does it cause harm?

        Everyone has heard of cholesterol. Everyone has cholesterol. Everyone should worry about cholesterol. But what is it, why do we…
        Heart Disease
        October 19, 2020

        PREVENTION OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: Decades of Learning and Progress!

        For decades, Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), and heart disease, in particular, has been the number one killer of American adults. Heart…
        Heart Disease
        October 14, 2024

        WHAT DO I DO ABOUT PALPITATIONS?

        As unsettling as they may be, palpitations aren’t necessarily a bad thing! Palpitation is the common term applied to that…
        Drugs & Medications
        August 7, 2025

        ARE YOU AT RISK FOR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION?

        At my age, most of my friends and acquaintances have, or have had, Atrial Fibrillation! It is the most common…
        Preventive Medicine
        April 24, 2021

        EXERCISING TO PREVENT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

        Ever since I can remember, moderate intensity Aerobic exercise has been recommended by the American Heart Association and the American…
        Blood Diseases
        September 19, 2025

        BLOOD PRESSURE DRUGS PROTECT THE KIDNEYS

        Diabetes mellitus ie. “sugar diabetes,” has numerous devastating manifestations. The worst of these is any of the serious problems that…
        Heart Disease
        June 25, 2020

        SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART DISEASE

        We’ve known for decades that high blood pressure and heart disease go hand in hand. The higher a patient’s blood…
        Heart Disease
        March 20, 2020

        BLOOD THINNERS AND ATRIAL FIBRILLATION: Who Should Take What?

        Since 2014, the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Rhythm Society have recommended a set…
        Diabetes
        July 30, 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…
        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…
        Drugs & Medications
        January 2, 2025

        MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS #26

        Losing weight does not improve health. Really? Yes. Losing weight via GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs will improve your BMI (Body…
        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…
        Heart Disease
        May 4, 2026

        CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE AND STENTS

        I just read an article on medscape.com that referred to changes that may be coming in the long-term prevention and…
        Preventive Medicine
        May 27, 2021

        COMMON SENSE TREATMENT OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

        Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a very common problem. I treated patients with high blood pressure every day, and many…
        Heart Disease
        March 18, 2024

        WHAT IS AN ANEURYSM?

        Surely you’ve heard someone talk about having an aneurysm or you knew someone who did. When you heard that word,…
        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…

        DAY-IN-THE-LIFE SCENARIOS

          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          3 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…
          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…

          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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