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    DOCTORS NEED A SIDE JOB: REALLY?

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    ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS AND CHRONIC DISEASE

    For the past 16 years, nutrition experts and public health officials have been increasingly concerned about the ingredients of, and…
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    PSA TESTING AFTER AGE 70, 80

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    RETIRING CAN BE A TOUGH TRANSITION

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    DOES DIRECT PRIMARY CARE REDUCE BURNOUT?

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    CYCLOSPORIASIS: REVISITED

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    FAMILY PHYSICIANS DEVELOP LONG TERM BOND

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    CROSBY, STILLS, NASH (AND YOUNG)

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    4 weeks ago

    THE BEATLES CHANGED AMERICAN SOCIETY

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    SACROILIAC JOINT PAIN

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    August 11, 2026

    MEDSCAPE SPECIALTY SURVEY

    Medscape is an online source of medical news and information used by DrGOpines.com nearly every day. Officially, Medscape is a…
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    August 10, 2026

    FALLS IN THE ELDERLY: A BIG CONCERN

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    Healthcare Policy
    August 7, 2026

    CROWDED HOSPITAL, BULGING EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

    Three and a half years ago I experienced first hand the situation about which this blogpost is written. The situation…
    Drugs & Medications
    August 6, 2026

    ADDITIONAL NEW STATIN GUIDELINES

    The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology always seem to be connected at the hip when it…

      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

        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…
        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…
        Blood Diseases
        June 6, 2019

        BLOOD CLOTS: Some are Good, Some are Bad!

        The human body is an amazing organism. The amazing brain allows us to think, reason, and remember; the amazing heart…
        Heart Disease
        June 24, 2026

        CORONARY ARTERY ANATOMY, EKG CHANGES FROM CORONARY DISEASE

        The Coronary Arteries are the arterial vessels that supply oxygen-rich blood to the myocardium, the heart muscle. Oxygen must be…
        Drugs & Medications
        March 28, 2022

        TYLENOL AND BLOOD PRESSURE: THERE’S MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

        Most people think of Tylenol (acetaminophen) as a safe drug. They substitute if for aspirin because they are continually reminded…
        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…
        Preventive Medicine
        September 5, 2022

        DIABETES, MUSCLE PAIN, ANTIBIOTICS, HEART & INTESTINAL DISEASE

        AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS RESEARCH ARTICLES 2021 Many practicing physicians and family medicine residents in training are interested in…
        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”…
        Heart Disease
        June 16, 2026

        POST MI BETA BLOCKERS? NO ONE CAN DECIDE

        The proverbial pendulum must be getting confused about which way to swing! At least that seems to be true in…
        Heart Disease
        June 29, 2026

        TREATING LEFT MAIN CORONARY DISEASE

        As I recently discussed in the coronary anatomy article, the left coronary artery begins as a large single vessel, the…
        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…
        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…
        Drugs & Medications
        May 3, 2020

        MORE ON ASPIRIN AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

        On March 22nd, I published a blog on aspirin for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The message…
        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…
        Preventive Medicine
        April 30, 2022

        QUICK NOTES FROM DR G OPINES DrGOpines.com

        DrGOpines.com ONYCHOMYCOSIS: Do your grandkids tease you about your ugly toenails? Do you avoid going barefoot because you’re embarrassed by…
        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…
        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,…
        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
        April 29, 2026

        THE CORNEAL REFLEX

        There is an important, but simple, diagnostic procedure doctors do frequently but don’t talk about very much. This procedure, called…
        Heart Disease
        September 17, 2020

        ATRIAL FIBRILLATION: Benefit of Early Rhythm Control

        In the past, the emphasis for treatment of Atrial Fibrillation focused on control of the heart rate. A rapid heart…
        Drugs & Medications
        November 3, 2025

        LYRICA INCREASES RISK OF HEART FAILURE

        This article pertains only to patients who take Lyrica (pregabalin) and are over age 65. If you don’t fall in…
        Heart Disease
        February 24, 2021

        HEART ATTACKS IN WOMEN: Are They Really Different?

        For many years, the mantra has been that heart attacks in women are different; they are harder to diagnose, the…
        Heart Disease
        February 6, 2026

        hsCRP: BETTER THAN CHOLESTEROL

        C-Reactive Protein, or CRP, is a substance produced by the liver in response to the presence of a serious infection…
        Heart Disease
        March 10, 2026

        CHEST PAIN? HOW BEST TO EVALUATE

        I don’t think I would call it “a raging debate,” but there certainly is disagreement about how best to evaluate…
        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…

        DAY-IN-THE-LIFE SCENARIOS

          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          3 weeks ago

          RETIRING CAN BE A TOUGH TRANSITION

          During the many years a physician is in practice, he/she enjoys a solidly established identity that places the him/her in…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          August 11, 2026

          MEDSCAPE SPECIALTY SURVEY

          Medscape is an online source of medical news and information used by DrGOpines.com nearly every day. Officially, Medscape is a…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          July 9, 2026

          PHYSICIAN BURNOUT

          Today, the medical media, meaning medical journals and physician newsletters, have an incredible degree of concern about physician burnout. Under…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          June 11, 2026

          PATIENTS LOSING TRUST IN DOCTORS

          The medical profession, and in particular family physicians, remain among the most respected professionals in the U.S. According to a…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          May 15, 2026

          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…

          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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