End of life Issues
    2 days ago

    AUTOPSY ANSWERS THE QUESTION

    “What question is that?” you ask. The question on the minds of doctors, nurses, friends, and family is what was…
    Preventive Medicine
    3 days ago

    EXERCISE SEEMS TO HELP EVERYTHING!

    For just about every physical affliction or metabolic disorder people experience, the first thing experts recommend is “lifestyle changes.” Foremost…
    Drugs & Medications
    4 days ago

    NEW IDEAS ABOUT STATIN TREATMENT

    When it comes to prescribing statin drugs, doctors now have two different options. The purpose of each is to lower…
    Drugs & Medications
    5 days ago

    ANTIHISTAMINES DISCOURAGED IN CHILDREN

    Nearly everyone has taken an antihistamine at some time in their life. Antihistamines  have dozens of uses and as such…
    Human Interest
    6 days ago

    A PATTERN FOR OUR LIVES

    By the time you read this article, we will have already passed the first day of March. The first two…
    Preventive Medicine
    1 week ago

    PILLARS OF LIFESTYLE

    Regardless of the problem being discussed, medical professionals almost always start their list of recommendations with lifestyle changes. When it’s…
    Human Interest
    2 weeks ago

    WHAT’S HAPPENED TO PHYSICIAN PRESTIGE?

    Impersonal care and poor rapport, that’s what! These are two very important aspects of medical care, today, that affect how…
    Office Practice Info
    2 weeks ago

    HOSPITAL CREDENTIALING NOT AUTOMATIC

    HOSPITAL CREDENTIALING NOT AUTOMATIC To become a member of a hospital medical staff, a physician must undergo a thorough investigative…
    Cancer
    2 weeks ago

    MIDLIFE PSA PREDICTS RISK FOR PROSTATE CANCER

    Finally, someone has presented a common sense approach for using the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test. Long criticized for…
    Heart Disease
    2 weeks ago

    FINDING HEART DISEASE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!

    Many years ago, I was troubled by a situation involving a man in his 30’s who had every indication he…
    Drugs & Medications
    2 weeks ago

    NEW DROPS FOR OLD EYES

    As we age, many things about our bodies change. If we don’t become bald, what hair we have eventually turns…
    Drugs & Medications
    3 weeks ago

    STATINS HAVE FEW SIDE EFFECTS

    The Lancet is the leading medical journal in Great Britain. Actually, it’s one of the most respected medical journals in…
    Human Interest
    3 weeks ago

    MEDICAL SCHOOL SYNDROME: TEMPORARY HYPOCHONDRIA

    During the first two years of medical school, on several occasions I was certain I was suffering from some dread…
    Physician Office Issues
    3 weeks ago

    SOME BLOOD TESTS ARE OBSOLETE

    It amazes me how often and how rapidly things in medicine change. Inquiring minds are everywhere in the vast realm…
    Cancer
    3 weeks ago

    CANCER SCREENING IN THE ELDERLY

    Dermatologists have not established an end point, or an expiration date, when they no longer screen for skin cancer. Skin…
    Gastrointestinal Diseases
    3 weeks ago

    RECENT CLINICAL PEARLS

    Several articles ago, I mentioned “clinical pearls” as a tool used in medical education. Many such pearls are in the…
    A Day in the Life Scenarios
    4 weeks ago

    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…
    Human Interest
    4 weeks ago

    DON’T SLEEP WITH THE LIGHT ON

    Human beings were made to be awake and active during the daytime, and to sleep and rest at night. That…
    Aging
    4 weeks ago

    IS TIGHT BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL GOOD FOR SENIORS?

    Diabetes comes in two forms, Type I and Type II. They are both horrible diseases and in so many ways…
    Heart Disease
    4 weeks ago

    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…
    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…
    Mental Health
    February 3, 2026

    PHYSICIAN MENTAL HEALTH

    Just like the rest of the American public, a percentage of physicians have mental health issues. In the same vein,…
    Drugs & Medications
    February 2, 2026

    UPDATED IMMUNIZATION SCHEDULE FROM AAFP

    For the first time in decades, the American Academy of Family Physicians has published an immunization schedule of its own…
    Bone & Joint Problems
    January 30, 2026

    SPINAL MANIPULATION FOR LOW BACK PAIN

    Low back pain is one of the more common banes of the blue collar workers’ existence. Workers whose jobs require…

      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

        Aging
        January 20, 2020

        THE USE OF STATINS IN THE ELDERLY

        For some people, the use of statins continues to be a concern. Concern, not because they don’t do what they’re…
        Heart Disease
        October 7, 2025

        TROPONIN LEVELS AND HEART ATTACKS

        If you have had the misfortune of having a heart attack, no doubt you have heard of the troponin test.…
        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…
        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…
        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…
        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…
        Heart Disease
        May 25, 2023

        CARDIOVASCULAR MORTALITY STAGNANT, RISK FACTOR PREVALENCE WORSE!

        Most of us are aware of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. We hear about them in public service announcements,…
        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…
        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
        June 3, 2019

        AN EPIDEMIC OF A DIFFERENT COLOR: Atrial Fibrillation

        I have at least 8 or 10 personal friends who have had episodes of Atrial Fibrillation. My wife and I…
        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…
        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…
        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…
        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
        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
        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.…
        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
        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
        July 28, 2023

        POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN BEWARE!

        After menopause, women have a lot of health problems to worry about. Besides hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, and…
        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
        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…
        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…
        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 2, 2021

        HYPERTENSION AFFECTS COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

        An article I read today had some disturbing information about hypertension and the effect it has on memory, verbal expression,…
        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…

        DAY-IN-THE-LIFE SCENARIOS

          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          4 weeks ago

          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…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          December 5, 2025

          EMPATHY: THE PATH TO BETTER OUTCOMES

          Sympathy is a word we can all define and use correctly in a sentence. It’s an expression of the feelings…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          December 3, 2025

          RURAL HEALTHCARE SUFFERING PHYSICIAN DRAIN

          We’ve all heard stories or read articles about small towns and rural communities who have such serious need for medical…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          April 7, 2025

          WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT PHYSICIAN INCOME?

          In addition to physician happiness, the Medscape survey quoted previously also questioned participants about lifestyle. Within this category were inquiries…

          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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