Healthcare Policy
    16 hours ago

    FEDERAL DIETARY CHANGES CHALLENGED

    Recently, I wrote a post about ultra-processed foods and how they have become commonplace in the “normal” American diet, and…
    Drugs & Medications
    2 days ago

    GLP-1’S AND SLEEP APNEA

    Sleep Apnea is a huge problem. Between the ages of 30 and 69, 936 million people meet the criteria for…
    Human Interest
    3 days ago

    SYNOPSIS OF NEW FEDERAL DIETARY GUIDELINES

    In 2025, the USDA and Dept. of HHS released “updated dietary guidelines,” which in essence was a totally new take…
    Aging
    4 days ago

    SENIOR HEALTH HABITS

    Since we ditched cable and went to You Tube TV, a whole new horizon of information has become available that…
    Human Interest
    5 days ago

    INDIANA vs. WESTERN KENTUCKY

    The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers from Bowling Green, Kentucky made a visit to Bloomington Saturday afternoon to take on the number…
    Drugs & Medications
    1 week ago

    MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY DRUGS REDUCE CVD

    It’s no secret a lot of patients do not tolerate statin drugs. They have side effects that just can’t be…
    Cancer
    1 week ago

    AMERICANS LAG IN COLON CANCER SCREENING

    Colorectal Cancer (CRC) affects literally millions of Americans. Everybody knows about it, and  everybody knows how important it is to…
    Drugs & Medications
    1 week ago

    TRUTH IN OTC DRUG ADVERTISING

    Television is littered with pharmaceutical advertisements. And I do mean littered because there are so many of them. And littered,…
    Human Interest
    2 weeks ago

    MY NEW FAVORITE ATHLETE

    Avid sports fans, like me, always have an athlete they describe as their favorite. Of course, over time this “favorite…
    Human Interest
    2 weeks ago

    INDIANA ROUTS HOWARD!

    The second game of the 2026 college football season for Indiana University was played yesterday. IU  had a home game…
    Bone & Joint Problems
    2 weeks ago

    YOU DON’T WANT TO BREAK THIS BONE!

    The anatomy of the bones of the wrist leaves one of the bones vulnerable to injury. Or saying it another…
    Human Interest
    2 weeks ago

    ANOTHER BIG SEASON FOR INDIANA FOOTBALL

    The third season of Indiana University football under the coaching genius of Curt Cignetti got underway this past Saturday, and…
    Physician Office Issues
    3 weeks ago

    HEALTH INSURANCE EXPLANATION OF BENEFITS

    Have you ever taken a close look at the receipts you receive from Medicare or your Medicare supplement insurance company?…
    Surgery
    3 weeks ago

    HIGH TECH SKIN SUTURE: THE WOUND TALKS

    Here’s a novel idea: Surgical suture material that is coated with either an antimicrobial drug (an antibacterial) or an anti-inflammatory…
    Dermatology
    3 weeks ago

    HERPES ZOSTER: SHINGLES

    Surprisingly, I have not written a post about Herpes Zoster, AKA shingles. I’ve written about the two shingles vaccines available,…
    Human Interest
    3 weeks ago

    THE MAGIC OF COMPOUND INTEREST

    Compound interest is one of miracles of economics that has the proven ability to create wealth without sacrifice. Albert Einstein…
    Physician Office Issues
    4 weeks ago

    AI-ENHANCED STETHOSCOPE IS A DIAGNOSTIC BOON

    I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a physician and never use a stethoscope. The stethoscope, after all, has…
    Infectious Diseases
    4 weeks ago

    CHILDHOOD VACCINE SCHEDULE UPDATE

    On January 5, 2026 the US Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the acting director of the CDC…
    Foot & Ankle Problems
    4 weeks ago

    DOCTORS NEED A SIDE JOB: REALLY?

    Here’s a statistic I find hard to believe. According to an article in medscape.com, 39% of physicians work a side…
    Preventive Medicine
    4 weeks ago

    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…
    Human Interest
    August 26, 2026

    NET WORTH: A FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT

    Net Worth is a concept of which most readers of DrGOpines.com have a reasonable understanding. It’s a simple concept that…
    Human Interest
    August 25, 2026

    FAMOUS QUARTETS IN MY LIFETIME

    They say “Music makes you smile!””Music makes the world go around!” and “Music is the soundtrack of your life” When…
    Cancer
    August 24, 2026

    PSA TESTING AFTER AGE 70, 80

    The “enigma that just won’t go away” has come up again. In late May, 2026, I published an article with…
    A Day in the Life Scenarios
    August 21, 2026

    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…
    Physician Office Issues
    August 20, 2026

    DOES DIRECT PRIMARY CARE REDUCE BURNOUT?

    I’ve read numerous articles on physician burnout, the causes, the warning signs, and the solutions. Rarely do those articles address…

      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

        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…
        Cancer
        November 12, 2024

        MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS #23

        Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: To operate or not to operate? That’s the question: Carpal tunnel syndrome is compression of the median…
        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,…
        Preventive Medicine
        September 6, 2022

        LET’S PUT STATINS IN THE WATER!

        I have written 7 blogs about statins, and I suspect you’re beginning to tire of my persistence. I love statins!…
        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
        August 6, 2025

        POST MI BETA BLOCKERS QUESTIONED

        For many years, doctors have been told that patients who suffered an acute myocardial infarction, a heart attack, were all…
        Diabetes
        October 21, 2024

        MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS #22

        There are three (3) categories of Blood Pressure: New European guidelines for high blood pressure (HBP), hypertension define three categories.…
        Drugs & Medications
        December 8, 2024

        NEW APPROACH TO TREATING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

        For decades, the “step-wise care” approach to treating high blood pressure (HBP) was in vogue. This approach recommended starting with…
        Heart Disease
        May 5, 2024

        CARDIAC EJECTION FRACTION

        Do you understand what is meant by heart failure? As the name implies, people with heart failure have a heart…
        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
        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…
        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…
        Heart Disease
        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…
        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
        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…
        Preventive Medicine
        August 5, 2022

        BREAKFAST HELPS US LIVE LONGER!

        It used to be said, breakfast is the “most important meal of the day.” “They” said eating a good breakfast…
        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
        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…
        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…
        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
        October 16, 2022

        STATINS ARE “MIRACLE DRUGS!”

        I’m going to beat the statins drum once again! Very few drugs have had the impact on cardiovascular disease than…
        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…
        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…
        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…
        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…

        DAY-IN-THE-LIFE SCENARIOS

          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          August 21, 2026

          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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