It wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t know much about naturopathy. There aren’t many naturopaths in the US and the 5,000 or so we do have are mostly located along the east and west coasts, seriously outnumbered by 800,000 MDs and 100,000 DOs (osteopaths). Just to remind you: these are difficult days for health care […]
Six Super-Devious Big Pharma Tricks
Just about everyone is experiencing the shock of astonishing increases in their health insurance costs, including, interestingly, members of Congress who buy health insurance through Obamacare plans. We tend to forget that all insurance premiums (health, auto, property, life) are pegged to the benefits paid. People are living longer, so life insurance is actually cheaper […]
Ten Drugs Doctors Should Consider De-Prescribing
Physicians use the word polypharmacy when a patient is taking five or more prescription drugs daily. A recent survey showed that half of women Medicare recipients were taking five or more drugs daily, and 12% of them were taking ten (!) or more. New patients frequently arrive at WholeHealth Chicago carrying bags stuffed like piñatas […]
Moving and Eating To Protect Your Heart
One of the great pleasures of Chicago is summer. We’re outdoors and moving around, whether jogging, swimming, biking, walking the dog, slamming a volleyball, or tossing a Frisbee. And because we’re all wearing fewer clothes, we can tell in a single furtive glance if we’re happy with our weight. “Oh, well,” you think, “I might […]
Making It Easier To Say No To Statins
Patients and doctors alike are understandably nervous about taking/prescribing any of the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins. You as a patient especially don’t want to hear “You’ll be on this pill for the rest of your life.” And if you’ve followed some of the recent articles on statins, you’ve likely felt annoyance at the mixed […]
Women and ADHD, Part 2: Can I Treat This Without Meds?
“I lose my keys endlessly. I pay big bucks in unnecessary late fees on bills that I put down somewhere and just forget about. After I finished college, I never read another book–it was just too much work. I can cope with a magazine article, but hardly ever remember what I’ve read. I even have […]
Women and ADHD, Part 1
Already ten minutes late for her first appointment, Claire phoned from her car that she’d be in the office in five minutes. Fifteen minutes later, arriving flustered and embarrassed, she blurted “Oh my gosh, I left all the forms on my kitchen table, but I did fill them out” and “My insurance card? I’m sure […]
The Dangerous Myth of Opioid Addiction
Trying to reduce the pain of my patients plays a major role in my day-to-day life as a doctor. When I was in training, there was a big debate going on: Should a doctor prescribe an opioid for non-cancer pain? The answer was Never! In other words, no matter where a patient’s pain was coming […]
Health Screening Offers: Should You Bother?
Like most people, you’ve received one of those brochures in the mail with a headline screaming something like “Health Screening Can Save Your Life!” They’re filled with photos of happy, healthy people on golf courses or with their grandchildren and are liberally sprinkled with quotes like, “Dan’s alive today because an ultrasound revealed his aneurysm.”
Lyme Disease Fundraiser, Just When We Need It Most
Here are some well known people who have chronic Lyme disease: singer-songwriter-fashion designer Kelly Osbourne, TV star Ally Hilfiger (Tommy’s daughter), singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, punk singer Kathleen Hanna, Marisol Thomas (wife of Rob Thomas), Real Housewife Yolanda Hadid and supermodel Bella Hadid, as well as Alec Baldwin, Amy Tan, and Avril Lavigne. Each of the […]
Your Smartphone Is Stealing Your Brain
Spoiler alert: I don’t own a smartphone. Also, I’ve been reluctant to write a Health Tip on smartphones lest two of my least desirable characteristics–smugness and self-righteousness– surface. But now a very well-conducted research study on how smartphones lead to cognitive decline compels me to warn you that if you value your brain, use your […]
Invasion of the Body Snatchers!
I’d been reading Ally Hilfiger’s new autobiography Bite Me: How Lyme Disease Stole My Childhood, Made Me Crazy, and Almost Killed Me, preferring the Lyme parts to those devoted to fashion and her MTV “Rich Girl” series. Her symptoms were typical of chronic Lyme and simply dreadful. Hilfiger’s very supportive family watched helplessly through hospitalizations and […]
Overlooked Diagnosis: The Most Common Cause
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 […]
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. […]