Jeanette, sitting across from me, was genuinely frightened about her future. Yes, she did have several elderly relatives with what she was calling “Alzheimer’s”, but I quickly pointed out that not all causes of dementia are due to Alzheimer’s Disease and much of dementia is both preventable and reversible. I asked what steps she had […]
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS for short) is one of those annoying conditions in which a patient, after having read an article like this one and suffering similar symptoms, asks her doctor and gets one of two disappointing answers: “Never heard of it” (translation: MCAS is fairly new and often overlooked) or “Consulting Dr. Google […]
Imagine this: one night, you awaken from sleep feeling itchy all over. You scratch and scratch, eventually getting back to sleep. The next day, you feel like your skin is crawling. Your hair just doesn’t feel like your hair. A few days later, you see skin lesions on different parts of your body. You go […]
Jeanette, sitting across from me, was genuinely frightened about her future. Yes, she did have several elderly relatives with what she was calling “Alzheimer’s”, but I quickly pointed out that not all causes of dementia are due to Alzheimer’s Disease and much of dementia is both preventable and reversible. I asked what steps she had […]
OK, OK, so it took 20 years, but it will be worth the wait. WholeHealth Chicago’s new location is in the Beverly neighborhood, at 3237 W, 111th Street. The location is actually in Mount Greenwood, but no one except those who live there knows where Mount Greenwood is. (There is also to my knowledge no […]
Here’s a statistic that might surprise you: there are more than 100 different autoimmune conditions and they collectively cause more chronic illness and disability in women than heart disease and cancer combined. Men can get autoimmune diseases too, but the predominance in women (2:1) is striking and also puzzling, though current thinking attributes this susceptibility […]
Perhaps you’ve heard about the Chicago Blackhawks captain, his long illness, and the good news that he’s back on the ice. After saying in December that feeling drained and lethargic had kept him from playing, the three-time Stanley Cup Champion said last week that he had CIRS, chronic inflammatory response syndrome. Never heard of it? […]
As we get older, many of us do worry about the health and well-being of our brains. No kid taking the SAT who forgets a vocabulary word she’d studied the night before is concerned that this is the first sign of dementia. But as the years pass, you ask yourself if forgetting someone’s name, wondering […]
Although I’ve taken care of well over 2,000 fibromyalgia patients since first opening WholeHealth Chicago in 1995 (and also written a successful book on the subject), I was always troubled by two questions. First, exactly what is fibromyalgia? How can there be a condition that’s severe enough to be disabling, manifesting as widespread muscle pain, […]
Most people who get Covid-19 suffer a very unpleasant few days, but recover completely. However as you’ve undoubtedly heard, some, now called long haulers, are taking much longer to recover. These patients are left with residual symptoms (some of which are new in that they didn’t appear during the original infection) that may be less […]
Last week we began a series on brain fog, a term used by patients to describe a situation in which they’re experiencing poor focus and concentration, memory problems, and/or an overall lack of mental clarity. There are medical conditions, covered below, associated with brain fog that your doctor can screen for using a few simple […]
All things considered, we’ve rather enjoyed our telemedicine interactions with patients. Doctoring this way also recently provided me with an Aha! moment. What I realized was that much of what we do as Functional Medicine specialists, both diagnosis and treatment, can be done online with you never leaving your home. Such a consultation would include […]
If you find yourself in the waiting room of a rheumatologist, you’re likely there because your joints hurt and have been hurting, often for years. You’ve been getting by on aspirin or Advil for the pain, but with things worsening your primary care doctor suggests you should see a joint specialist, a rheumatologist. And because […]
Most people at some point in their lives have had an intravenous (IV) line. An adept nurse warned you about the tiny pinch of the needle as it was smoothly inserted and taped in place. Then the fluid dangling above your head slowly started making its way through a tube and into your body. IVs […]
And among other symptoms, indeed she was. Julia, a bright 40-something, had written “fatigue,” “pain,” “bad digestion,” and “brain fog” on her WholeHealth Chicago intake paperwork. She’d been ill for years and brought with her two binders full of medical info on herself. The thicker of these contained accumulated medical records, lab tests, imaging studies, […]
I’m warning you in advance. You’re entering a minefield here, with explosive views among seemingly conservative health care professionals. At least wear a helmet. Protective eyewear wouldn’t hurt either. You wouldn’t think a slew of conditions you’ve heard about (including chronic Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic Epstein-Barr, toxic mold syndrome, food sensitivities, intestinal […]
Consider this list.• Fibromyalgia• Chronic fatigue• Candida overgrowth• Leaky gut• Non-celiac gluten sensitivity• Chronic Lyme disease• Intestinal parasites• Black mold illness (including sick building syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome)• Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)• Chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) Back in medical school, the only one of these I’d actually ever heard of was […]
For Part 2 in this series, click here. Fifty years ago, health insurance worked like this: you went to your doctor, whose office was above a small drugstore or in a Michigan Avenue building. You paid cash for your visit. For larger medical expenses, like surgery or having a baby, Blue Shield paid your doctor […]
It’s here, folks. You’ve likely had the flu in the past and if you’re currently coming down with symptoms you’re not looking forward to the next few days. Your throat hurts, your nose is first watery, then clogged with something approximating cement. Your muscles ache and you’re pretty sure you have a fever, but you’re […]
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 […]
