WholeHealth Chicago

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.

December 7, 2010 by WholeHealth Chicago

Posted in Blog, Case Studies, Integrative Medicine, Knowledge Base, M, R

The Case of the Mysterious Rash

Although dermatologists are very good at what they do–glance at a rash, make a diagnosis, and write a prescription–it has always (very mildly) irked me that they do this so quickly.

Posted in Blog, C, Case Studies, Integrative Medicine, Knowledge Base, R

Flu Shots, Mercury, and Ideologic Medicine

I must say I was surprised by the degree of hostility I received when I recommended flu shots.

Posted in Blog, F, Integrative Medicine, Knowledge BaseTagged flu shots, ideologic medicine, mercury

Creativity and Health

After you’ve been a doctor as long as I have, you feel entitled to make sweeping generalizations, broad observations, and the like about the patients you’ve been attempting to keep out of harm’s way as efficiently as possible.

Posted in Blog, C, H, Healthy Lifestyle, Knowledge BaseTagged creativity

Hormones and Breast Cancer

By noon on the day the story hit the news, I’d received a dozen emails from (sensibly) concerned patients asking what the study meant for them. First appearing in JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) and then picked up by the wire services and spread around the world, the article addressed phase two of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Study that was originally published in 2002.

Franz Kafka and Health Insurance

I visited the ancient city of Prague in the Czech Republic a couple of weeks ago, where the novelist Franz Kafka, now considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, has grown into a local cultural hero.

Posted in Blog, H, Health Insurance Issues, I, Knowledge BaseTagged concierge practice, health insurance

Worst-Fear Insurance

Nursing homes, or what we now euphemistically call “long-term care facilities,” are a relatively recent phenomenon. Until about 30 years ago, great grandmothers usually existed as a shadowy presence in a family, often confused and crotchety until they became ill, took to bed, and died. Nobody thought of putting them “in a home.”

Posted in Blog, Health Insurance Issues, I, Knowledge BaseTagged insurance, long term care insurance

Should I Get the Flu Shot?

When it comes to flu shots, I admit I take a far more conventional approach than many patients at WholeHealth Chicago and regular readers of these Health Tips might expect of a doctor who calls himself “alternative” or “integrative.” I’ve recently been reading some of the alternative medicine newsletters online warning people away from flu shots. The conclusion often seems to be “…and I’ve got this product you can buy instead.”

Posted in Blog, F, Integrative Medicine, Knowledge BaseTagged flu, vaccine

Insurance Insurance

This is my own term for a new insurance policy that some entrepreneur should create for the US public. Stung by an insurance company and unable to collect your rightful benefits? Denied reimbursement for anything from a dental implant to a dented fender? Don’t fret: you have insurance insurance! Let the Big Boys duke it out among themselves.

Posted in Blog, Health Insurance Issues, I, Knowledge BaseTagged insurance

How Would You Rate Your Handshake?

Is yours pathetic? You know the type I’m referring to–that near-death handshake you’d expect from the dying Mimi at the end of La Boheme. Or is it the reverse? Have you reached out with your firm grip only to receive a pathetic little dead fish of a handshake in return?

Posted in Blog, H, Healthy Lifestyle, Knowledge BaseTagged good health, longevity

Treating Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

Last week we talked about PCOS and today we’re looking at treatments.

When I first read the phrase “ovarian drilling using lasers,” for PCOS, I thought: Only a guy could come up with this concept (and I bet he wouldn’t want some woman doc drilling away on his outdoor plumbing). Then an image crossed my mind of some surgeon in a OR with a hardhat setting up his rig, rolling up his sleeves, lighting a Marlboro, and getting to work.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

PCOS is by far the most common cause of infertility in women, and the number of women with diagnosed and undiagnosed PCOS is best described as “vast.” Experts estimate that as many as 10% of women of childbearing age may have the disorder.

Our Deaf Ears

For me it was a summer night in the 1960s, at the Aragon Ballroom on Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, the club during those years temporarily renamed The Cheetah. Seemed like a cool name to me, with my shoulder-length hair, bellbottoms, and paisley everything else. The band for the evening was Blue Cheer, billing itself as the loudest band in rock and roll. I was in the first row.

Posted in Blog, D, Ear, Nose, & Throat, Knowledge BaseTagged deaf, hearing aids, tinnitis

Stop the Thyroid Madness

I went to medical school for awhile in London and, it being the late 1960s (and London), I really don’t remember much about it. The school, that is.

However, two lessons from a certain professor have always remained with me:
1. If you listen to your patient carefully enough, and use your diagnostic skills, she’ll tell you her diagnosis. You won’t need anything else. Just listen! (By the way, this idea is widely attributed to the early 20th century physician Sir William Osler, but I was an impressionable med student in the classroom of a speaker who sounded and looked like Winston Churchill…in a white coat.)

Posted in Blog, Knowledge Base, T, Thyroid, Adrenal, & Sex Hormone IssuesTagged hypothyroidism, T3, T4, thyroid, thyroxine, TSH

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.

Will Alzheimer’s Skyrocket?

In 2006, the very dark comedy Idiocracy played local theatres for what seemed like a few hours before disappearing into DVD bins and obscure cable channels. Its Rip van Winkle story involves a not particularly bright Army librarian, recruited into a Pentagon hibernation program, awakening centuries into the future and finding himself the most intelligent person in America.

De-Cluttering Your Life

My staff people were chatting up the TV show Hoarders, about people who obsessively hoard stuff. I think you can’t really use the word “enjoy” or even “be entertained by” reality TV. At best the German word schadenfreude might apply, which loosely translates as “secret pleasure in watching the misery of others.”

Posted in Blog, D, Healthy Lifestyle, Knowledge BaseTagged fight clutter, organization

You! Off Your Duff and On Your Bike!

Yes, I mean you. You were the one complaining about your weight, right? Yeah, I thought it was you.

Posted in B, Blog, D, Fitness & Exercise, Internal Medicine, Knowledge BaseTagged exercise, weight loss

“You Are Corn”

Since you’ll never find the film King Corn in theatres, I strongly urge you to rent this important independent documentary (netflix has it here). It certainly was an eye opener for me.

I’d always known that high fructose corn syrup is bad for us, but King Corn reassured me the problem was actually much worse.

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