You can’t remember the name of the Netflix movie you saw last night, scant hours ago. That actor–what was his name? He was in, you know, that other movie, with that woman with the hair. “Oh, where is my mind?”. Then you get a notice from Verizon that they’re turning off your phone for nonpayment. […]
Author: WholeHealth Chicago
FIRST IT WAS LYME DISEASE, NOW IT’S BABESIA
Oh, these tick borne illnesses! Since we saw three new cases this week of one you may not have heard of, Babesia, I thought I’d share some information. You know, forewarned is forearmed and so forth. It’s estimated that half the ticks in that summer suburb of Chicago the locals call, “Wisconsin” are currently carrying […]
YOUR OUT-OF-WHACK HORMONES AND THE “DUTCH” TEST
Let me start by saying that in real life, endocrinologists are probably nice people and not the arrogant, dismissive and too frequently rude specialists that have been reported to me by patients over the years. One of them, over at the mega-medical center a few blocks away is notorious for tossing into her wastebasket any […]
What is “FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE”? and Can it Help Me?
More and more new patients to the WholeHealth Chicago Network are asking for a “functional approach” to their longstanding undiagnosed symptoms. Many times these are digestive in origin (bloating, GERD, food intolerances), but other symptoms are vague: “fatigue”, “brain fog”, or just “feeling old”. They’ve been reading about “Functional Medicine”, but when asked their primary […]
POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME (PCOS): NEW HOPE ON THE HORIZON!
A recent report revealed that there are so many cases of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in the US that costs for diagnosis and lifetime treatments are estimated to be $8 billion a year. If you have PCOS, obviously you’re not alone. It’s estimated that PCOS affects one woman in seven (estimates go as high as […]
THE REAL REASON YOU KEEP GAINING WEIGHT
There was an astonishing experiment described in “UltraProcessed People”, by Chris van Tulleken. It had been conducted in Brazil where they’re light years ahead of us in terms of food safety. They took a number of volunteers, and divided them into two equal groups, A and B. For two months, each group was allowed anything […]
THE SAGA OF DR. KEITH LASKO
I need to complete the chronicle of Keith Alan Lasko, MD, begun last week in my Health Tip, “Pigs At A Trough“, with the story of the physician who wrote, The Great Billion Dollar Medical Swindle some 45 years ago and then seemed to vanish. But completely disappear? Hardly. Based on what I’ve been reading online, it’s a safe […]
WOMEN LIVE LONGER THAN MEN, BUT AT A PRICE
The blurb about women’s health was tucked into a corner of The Guardian and required some tracking on my part to locate the source. It was a report (funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) in Lancet Public Health, that I fear will largely be ignored, that is a general call-to-action jumpstart for worldwide […]
YOU REALLY SHOULD LEARN ABOUT MEDICINAL HERBS
It was in the papers and online just last week: women, who have always outlived men longevity wise, just widened the gap a bit more. All sorts of usual suspects kill off men: guns, drugs, self-neglect, poor diets, more smoking. But one factor wasn’t mentioned, probably not worth considering by statisticians, and that this: All […]
ANIMAL GLANDS USED AS MEDICINE
A surprising number of so-called alternative therapies actually have their roots in very conservative conventional medicine. While reflexology (once called Zone Therapy) is arguably thousands of years old, its modern use was made popular by an ear-nose-throat specialist who used the pressure from rubber bands applied to the fingers and toes for surgical anesthesia. The […]
ARE YOU A HYPOCHONDRIAC?
Actually, after many years, the term has been changed to a more politically correct one: Illness Anxiety Disorder. Naturally, some degree of anxiety is totally appropriate when you are confronted with anything that might bring you protracted physical discomfort or shorten your precious lifespan (“Could this be it? The top line item on my Death […]
WELLNESS PATH TO CANCER PREVENTION 2024
Okay, so this Health Tip seems pretty important. After a certain age, every person fears getting cancer (and believe me, doctors are just as fearful as everyone else!). Being told by a health care professional, “I’m sorry but the biopsy confirmed it. You have cancer,” or “We need to find you a good oncologist.”, that […]
OZEMPIC, TRULICITY, MOUNJARO, ZEPBOUND: THE SEMAGLUTIDES. YES! THEY WORK!
You’re tired of being overweight, and you’ve been a victim of the tyranny of the last ten, fifteen, or twenty pounds as long as you can remember. You’ve tried everything. You’ve been dieting as long as you can remember and nothing happens. You exercise to exhaustion, lose some pounds and gain them back. No matter […]
Natural Treatments for Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis
It’s important that you keep these two forms of painful arthritis separate in your mind. Osteoarthritis (OA) is considered ‘non-inflammatory’ and basically a ‘wear-and-tear’ phenomenon that occurs with passage of time. There are inflammatory components as ‘anti-inflammatory medications’, like aspirin, or the NSAIDs (Motrin, Aleve, etc.) will relieve pain, but so will Tylenol, which is […]
Menopause Hot Flashes: They’re Getting Worse but Some Good News, Too!
A large study from Sweden was reported in The Washington Post that menopause symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats are coming earlier, lasting longer and more severe. 24% of women born between 1918 and 1930 had symptoms compared with 35% born between 1954 and 1960. Lots of data were collected and questions asked. Were […]
GUM STORIES
Head tilted back, mouth stretched to the max to accommodate fingers, cotton, and something metallic and vaguely medieval, my plaque was sandblasted to smithereens. My dentist wrinkled his nose and peered inside, cocked an eye, and remarked, “You have very youthful gums.” I cannot deny my unalloyed pleasure hearing this. I’d been thinking about aging […]
I’m Taking So Many Meds! What Can I Stop? Part One: Antidepressants
Although many new patients arrive at WholeHealth Chicago with chronic symptoms and a history of no help elsewhere (“You’re my 12th doctor.”). Others pour out a bagful of medications with a mournful, “I’ve got to get off of some of these!”. Going off a bevy of psych meds is a popular request, especially when the […]
Turning the Winter Blues Around: A 10-Step Action Plan
The winter blues, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), usually begin when the days get shorter and the sky clouds over into perpetual gray. Many people with SAD dread late autumn because the clocks move back an hour and, in a single day, autumn twilight becomes dark night. Symptoms of SAD include depression, brain […]
PREDIABETES, DIABETES, AND YOU
When I was in medical school, I was repeatedly told, “If you learn ‘diabetes’, you’ll learn all you’ll need to be a good doctor.” I soon learned the basis of this cryptic sentence was that diabetes, whether Type 1 (childhood) or Type 2 (the far more common adult onset), if left unchecked, could go on […]
What is Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) and Can It Help Me?
Fifteen years ago or so was the first time I wrote about the endlessly fascinating multi-purpose inexpensive Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). Among the majority of conventional physicians, the “needle” has moved slightly from “never heard of it” to “I’ve heard of it but don’t prescribe it.” I guess you could call it a ‘guarded improvement.’ […]