The high point in my medical education was a medical school semester at a hospital in Soho, the very heart of London’s swinging ‘60s. From an academic point of view, I don’t remember much except for one compelling lecture from a very British professor on making an accurate diagnosis. He began by saying doctors had […]
Category: Knowledge Base
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Parasites
If internet scare tactics from companies selling herbal supplements for parasites weren’t enough, the cable TV show “Monsters Inside Me” with its toe-curling film clips has cinched it. We’re in a new “Alien versus Predator” mode, though you might ask which one is us and which them. Those really large parasites you’ll see wriggling across […]
Treating Mold-Related Illness
Last week I wrote about mold-related illness, yet another commonly overlooked diagnosis. It’s surprising how regularly mold issues fly under the radar of conventional physicians. When you consider how often homes and workplaces have a leaky roof, unless something smells moldy or we discover creeping black stains somewhere we often don’t think of mold. Moreover, […]
Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Mold-Related Illness
If you believe you’re suffering some of the chronic symptoms caused by mold exposure, you’ve probably also heard the discouraging mantra, “We can’t find anything wrong with you—all your tests are normal.” You’ve told your doc that you’ve read about toxic mold. You point out that you’ve had some water damage, that some rooms smell […]
My Doctor Is A Chiropractic Physician
I’m not setting out to intentionally antagonize my fellow MDs and DOs who read these Health Tips. No acrimonious outrage, please, before I explain. Then feel free to splutter. I’m not writing this for the medical profession. This is for the rest of you, living in a country that spends 17% of its GNP on […]
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Subtly Underactive Thyroid
I went to medical school in London for awhile and quite honestly didn’t learn much. But it was the 1960s and if you were going to be anywhere on the planet, central London was the place to be. The fact that the hospital to which I was assigned had a pub in its basement (where […]
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Vitamin D Deficiency
Much of medical care is hampered by the black-and-white thinking of doctors. You either have a condition (symptoms confirmed by positive tests) or you don’t (symptoms, but no useful test results, and therefore “nothing’s wrong with you”). Doctors are uncomfortable with grey zones, like when test results seem normal but on closer inspection are normal […]
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses +1: Rx Drug Side Effects
I’d planned a series of six commonly missed diagnoses, but today I have one more, a life-threatening addition you’ll want to add to your mental list. If you’ve been following this series you know we’ve covered low levels of vitamin B-12 and vitamin D, subtly underactive thyroid, gluten sensitivity, intestinal parasites, and candida (yeast) overgrowth. […]
Healing Touch Addresses Chronic Pain Without Medication
Imagine picking up a one-pound rock and holding it in your hand with your arm extended. Easy, right? Keep holding it…keep holding it…and it won’t take long before your arm begins to hurt. The longer you hold the rock, the more it hurts. Of course, you could put the rock down but let’s say you […]
How To Outsmart Big Pharma
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the fact that many of us are encountering serious sticker shock at our local pharmacies. This is most apparent when a low-cost generic you’ve taken for years suddenly skyrockets in price, not uncommonly on the order of several hundred percent. I’ve written about the machinations behind this […]
Pain And How We Perceive It
Many people suffering chronic pain and fatigue hear far too often the dismissive “it’s all in your head.” Dr. Edelberg has written frequently on the destructive nature of this statement, which places all the blame on the patient and none on the physician to dig deeper into the causes. As Dr. E wrote in a […]
Stevia and Lyme Disease
Patients often ask me if stevia can treat Lyme disease. The answer is both yes and no. The question stems from a study published in 2015 in the European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology on stevia and the different forms of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. The study showed that in a […]
Sticker Shock At Your Pharmacy
It makes little difference if you’re a Democrat or Republican. Every year Big Pharma buys off Washington to the tune of $310 million plus change. Moreover, virtually each Big Pharma company separately makes its own smaller but still significant PAC (political action committee) contribution. Your sticker shock at Walgreen’s or CVS starts with these political […]
Doctors Die Differently
With everything being written about our changing healthcare climate, you’re probably also seeing articles about end-of-life care. During a person’s final weeks or months, costs escalate from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and all too often for little more than a minor extension of misery. It puts a new spin on Dylan Thomas:Do […]
This is Your Brain On Dow Chemical
If you’re of a certain age, hearing the words “Dow Chemical” will send a chill right down your spine. Dow’s two most notorious (and lucrative) products, napalm and Agent Orange, were heavily used during the Vietnam war. Napalm was a flammable liquid, a mixture of a gelling agent and gasoline that, when sprayed, stuck to […]
Trump’s New American: Sick, Dirty, Dumb, and Homeless
You’ve got to admit the past few days have been Washington nail biters. There was Obamacare (also called the Affordable Care Act, or ACA), slowly mounting the stairs to the guillotine. Up on the platform, blade-release rope in hand, was Donald Trump, quite GQ in his black Brioni and matching hood. The foul and hazy […]
Disappointments With Testosterone
For 80 (!) years physicians have prescribed testosterone to men without being certain if it actually had any effect other than raising testosterone levels. The only FDA-approved indication for testosterone is pathological hypogonadism, in which there’s an actual disorder of the male reproductive system that results in the body not producing enough testosterone. Examples are […]
Nutritional Supplement Shotgun Therapy
I once had a new patient arrive with her forms completed, a stack of medical records under her arm, and a large bulging gym bag in tow, saying “I brought all the supplements I’m taking. I’m hoping you can suggest a few I might not need.” One by one, she placed bottles and jars of […]
A Lifetime Of Experience With Abortion
Let me start by saying the opinions on the topic of abortion are mine alone and not necessarily those of any staff at WholeHealth Chicago. For Health Tip readers who have commented that I should not voice political opinions and stick to my work as a doctor, I suggest you glance at any of the […]
Infertility and Traditional Chinese Medicine
I don’t care much for the infertility industry, though I know some of you are deeply grateful to it for helping you create your precious child. I love kids too. I simply don’t care for the business that infertility has become. In this two-part Health Tip, we’ll explore Western medicine’s approach to infertility treatment and, […]