These mysterious rashes that patients want help with are a real diagnostic challenge. Usually the visit begins with “I’ve been to dermatologists about this and all I get are steroids. Once I’m done taking them the rash comes right back.” In previous health tips, we reported on a young man who developed a very real […]
Category: M
For Better Brain + Memory, Remember This
When our patients make a wish list of what they’d like most for their health, maintaining an active, creative, and well-functioning brain always scores near the top. By the time we hit our 30s, we accept that we may not be the smartest people on the planet. There will always be someone else who grasps […]
Medical Sexism and Fibromyalgia
My new book, Healing Fibromyalgia, was published last week and I’ll venture that sales are soaring into the high single digits. The e-book is available here and a pre-publication discount is available on the paperback. The total number of fibromyalgia patients worldwide is jaw-dropping and the situation is much worsened by the medical profession’s failure […]
“Medical” Marijuana
As I recall, coming of age in the 1960s meant, among other things, social roles being more clearly defined then than now. For example, if you wanted weed, you met someone at an L stop named Bobby. For the reasonable price of $5 you felt a grass-filled baggie slide into your pocket and by the […]
Medicine’s Latest Step Backwards
Posted 10/17/2011 “Vitamins linked to higher odds of early death in older women,” the headlines screamed last week. I finished an anxious call from my 88-year-old Aunt Hildy. Once peacefully ensconced in her Florida condo, now, after seeing a TV news report that vitamins were dangerous when used by women over 62, Hildy was eyeing […]
I Think My Mind Is Going
It’s fairly common, actually. You walk into a room suddenly befuddled, wracking your brain, desperate to remember just why you came to this room in the first place. Or you’re telling someone about a movie you just saw the night before, really enjoyed, and now you’re clawing at your cerebral cortex trying to extricate the title, the actor, the name of the theatre.
My One Hundred Million Dollar Pen
I’ve got to introduce you to this pen of mine, just a run-of-the-mill pen, but oh the story it has to tell. Understanding the power of my pen is a useful lesson in health care, and by the end of this two-part piece what you learn might make you healthier. No kidding.
But first, let’s make you a little sick.
Another Mystery Rash
In last week’s Case of the Mysterious Rash, a young man’s near-daily eruption of hives turned out to be triggered by a latex sensitivity he’d developed while walking the sandy beaches of Hawaii wearing rubber flip-flops.
This brings to mind another patient. Liz, too, had seen a bevy of dermatologists, none of whom could identify the culprit behind her hives. Liz knew from her internet research that the trigger is discovered in only about 60% of cases. Still, she persevered. There had to be something behind her rash, which had been coming and going for years.
Male Menopause–Is It Real?
Short answer: Yes, but don’t hope for any quick fixes—that’s so-o-o pharmaceutical industry think.
Another way to view male menopause: Sure, a ball will bounce, only less and less.
I get asked about male menopause all the time, almost always by women (admittedly they represent the majority of my patients), but only rarely by my male patients who, for the most part, don’t seem to sense much of a problem. Could men be viewing male menopause the way they view weight gain? While women buy diet books and serially starve themselves/gain everything back, men buy larger pants with elastic belts.
Meet Elaine
So twice a year I head to Florida to visit my 88-year-old aunt. Except for the fact she’s a Fox News Republican, we enjoy each other’s company by agreeing to avoid political arguments. I might add she’s a former nightclub singer and makes a mean martini.
MSM
Although you may never have heard of it, the organic sulfur compound known as MSM (short for methylsulfonylmethane) is contained in minute amounts in everyone’s blood and most foods. It’s unclear what role MSM plays in the complex chemistry of the human body, but some experts believe that, like other sulfur compounds, it’s a necessary building block for proteins, especially those found in the hair, muscles, and connective tissue of the joints and skin. Sulfur also is found in insulin and bile acid.
Maca
Maca is a Peruvian vegetable exported in concentrated form as an energy tonic, aphrodisiac, and fertility-enhancer. Used for thousands of years by the native peoples of Peru, maca is cultivated for the nutritional and medicinal value of its fleshy root. It’s grown in the harsh, barren high plateaus of the central Andes; few other plants–including corn–can prosper at such an elevation, nearly a mile up into the atmosphere.
Mammogram Controversy
As if we didn’t have enough health concerns to worry about, with H1N1 flu in our midst, health insurance reform bills in the Senate, and the specter of no insurance as a consequence of the recession.
Now mammograms.
Trace Minerals
As the name implies, only trace amounts of certain minerals are needed for the body to function properly. Nearly all function as coenzymes–substances that work in tandem with enzymes (complex proteins) to speed up chemical reactions in the body. Trace minerals are part of DNA, our genetic material. There are a number of trace minerals, including boron, fluoride, manganese, molybdenum, silicon, and vanadium. Several particularly important trace minerals–zinc, selenium, magnesium–are discussed separately
Myrtle
Myrtle (Myrtus communis), a plant native to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, has traditionally been used to treat coughs and various types of respiratory infections, such as bronchitis. It also has a reputation for promoting good digestion, treating urinary tract disorders, and preventing infections in wounds.
Mushrooms
Along with the bold yet delicate taste that shiitake, maitake, and reishi mushrooms add to soups and other dishes, these gourmet delicacies are prized as herbal medicines. Traditional Asian healers have used them for centuries to strengthen the immune system and promote longevity. Recently, an extract from a different mushroom altogether–PSK (Coriolus versicolor)–was identified as a possible ally in the fight against cancer. While mushrooms other than these may well have specific health-promoting actions, they haven’t been as thoroughly researched for medicinal purposes.
Mullein
A roadside weed native to Asia and Europe and now common in North America, mullein flower (Verbascum thapsus and other Verbascum varieties) has long been used by folk healers to soothe irritated skin and treat respiratory problems. In fact, Native Americans, once introduced to the herb by settlers, quickly adopted the practice of smoking the plant’s dried roots and flowers to relieve asthma and bronchitis. At one point, mullein flower was even considered a remedy for tuberculosis.
Muira Puama
Popularly referred to as potency wood, muira puama is an old Brazilian folk aphrodisiac and cure for sexual impotence. Salves, tinctures, and other formulations are made from the trunk or roots of two key shrubs (Ptychopetalum olacoides and Ptychopetalum unicatum).
Mistletoe
Long before holiday revelers started a custom of kissing under the mistletoe, traditional folk healers used this evergreen shrub to treat various ailments. While they recognized early on that the sticky white berries of the mistletoe plant were poisonous, they brewed the leathery leaves into a therapeutic tea, a remedy that has long endured for ailments ranging from nervous tension to skin sores.
Milk Thistle
Healers have used the prickly milk thistle plant to treat liver ailments for more than 2,000 years. Somehow these early practitioners figured out that preparations of this purple-flowered member of the sunflower family could stimulate the flow of bile from the liver, improving digestion and various liver-related ills.