If you’ve been reading this series, you already have an inkling that your health, your most precious possession, is being compromised by tacit collusion among the pharmaceutical industry, government, medical profession, and health insurance industry. Most prescription medications are prescribed unnecessarily, and you have the power to stop, or avoid altogether, some of the most […]
Why You Don’t Need Lipitor
Posted 10/28/2008 You could see smoke pouring from the ears of some doctors, myself included, at information released earlier this year. A combination of junk science, the drug industry, FDA, and American Heart Association (AHA) had convinced us that lowering cholesterol actually prevented heart disease. It turns out we’d all been conned. And it’s interesting […]
Why Doctors Avoid Prescription Drugs
The massive Physicians’ Desk Reference is distributed at no charge once a year to every practicing physician in the US. Weighing in at about five pounds, its 4,000-plus tissue thin pages are printed in painfully small type across three columns. With publishing costs underwritten by the pharmaceutical industry, the PDR is essentially one immense drug […]
Help! I’m Getting the Flu
Click here for the Health Tip link. We’ve talked about the flu in my last couple health tips, but let’s review before we discuss Tamiflu, the antiviral drug. First, learn to differentiate a common cold from the flu. With a cold, most of the symptoms you feel are evidence that your body is trying to […]
Preventing Flu
Click here for the Health Tip link. The advice in this health tip works for preventing virtually all virus infections, including the flu. Of the 150,000 genetic variations of mushrooms on our planet, it’s guesstimated that about 5% have useful medicinal properties. Of these, we know something about just a scant handful. Like every other […]
Flu Shot: Do I Need One?
Posted 09/23/2008 The quick answer is, probably yes. Influenza (Italian: influence, a reference to the fact that the disease has always occurred in recognizable epidemics) makes its appearance virtually every winter and may last as long as spring. The biggest believers in flu immunization are those who’ve been through one bad flu episode. No one […]
Before Filling Your Next Prescription, Think Twice
Click here for the Health Tip link. Ponder these two ideas: we take more prescription drugs per person than any other nation on the planet and in the process, rank about 40th in the overall health of our citizenry. Yes, this is partly because 47 million of us don’t have health insurance, but also every […]
Death By Medicine
Click here for the Health Tip link. This letter appeared in the Chicago Sun Times July 31, 2008. I hope readers appreciate the irony behind the news that Viagra may help women suffering low libido because they’re taking antidepressants. Here’s a drug with significant side effects itself to treat side effects for a drug they […]
I’m Losing My Hair!
Click here for the Health Tip link. Q&A: I’m Losing My Hair! Q: I’m a stressed-out 31-year-old woman and I think it shows in my hair. I try to eat right and usually drink about 8 glasses of water a day. But it seems like I see more hair on my pillow, in my hairbrush, […]
T’ai Chi: Getting Started
Click here for the Health Tip link. To get started on this health-enhancing, stress-busting, strength-developing project, you’ll need to find a class. Although an endless array of tapes and DVDs are available, I believe you need an instructor to help you see what you might be doing right and wrong. I’ve tried the tapes myself, […]
Stress Less: T’ai Chi
Click here for the Health Tip link. Probably like a lot of Americans, the first time I actually saw someone doing t’ai chi was during the Bill Moyers special on alternative medicine that ran on public television in the early 1990s. He was filming in China, in a city park where hundreds of Chinese start […]
Natural Remedy for Gum Disease (Gingivitis)
Click here for the Health Tip link. There are few words in health care that make my toes curl more than “gum scaling.” They’re like a fingernail drawn slowly across the blackboard of life. When patients come in for a check-up with me, they get their gums checked, a quick effort to save them from […]
Resistance, Sigmund Freud, and Getting Well
Click here for the Health Tip link. Physicians worldwide agree that Sigmund Freud was one of the two or three most influential figures in medical history. It’s hard for us to imagine a medical landscape with virtually no mental health counseling whatsoever, except for a few primitive asylums. A landscape where patients for years simply […]
Case History Part 2: Resistance to Getting Well
Last time I started the story of a patient I call Catherine and her chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a case history intended to illustrate the concept of resistance. Now in my office for the first time, a sad Catherine asked if she could relate her story while lying down. I reviewed dozens of pages of […]
Case History: Resistance to Getting Well
Click here for the Health Tip link. In my last health tip I promised you a story that would illustrate the concept of resistance. Here’s a case history (patient’s name changed) from my files. Catherine, a pale thin woman in her thirties, was into her third year with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). She’d been “everywhere,” […]
Are You Reluctant to Get Well?
It’s very possible that your immediate response to this question is anger, resentment, or hurt feelings. You might think to yourself, “I don’t need to hear this. I thought he was empathetic.” You may even be tempted to move your cursor to “unsubscribe” and click hard.
A Quick and Easy Reflexology Self Treatment
Last time we explored reflexology. Today I’ll share a simple self treatment.
Obviously, take off your shoes and socks. Sit with your right foot resting comfortably on your left leg. Hold your foot with your left hand and do the thumb-walking with your right. When using your thumb, bend it slightly and work into the point with the fat pad of your thumb so you don’t inadvertently dig in with your nails.
Stress Less: Reflexology
I personally postponed trying reflexology because of extreme ticklishness. Just the thought of something other than a floor or a pair of socks touching the soles of my feet sent shivers up my spine. It never dawned on me that connecting the soles of the feet to the meridians of Chinese medicine is the entire basis of reflexology.
Your Brain: Is Low Thyroid a Factor?
We continue this month with our series on why your brain might not be functioning the way you feel it should.
Hypothyroidism, or an underfunctioning thyroid gland (commonly called low thyroid), is often overlooked by doctors as a cause of poor memory. It’s neglected because many physicians rely solely on a not-very-good blood test to confirm or reject a diagnosis of low thyroid.
Your Brain: Could an Undiagnosed Medical Problem Be to Blame?
We’ve been talking about the causes of brain fog, forgetfulness, and lack of focus these past weeks. My final suggestion isn’t likely, but it’s worth including.
An undiagnosed medical problem, such as high blood pressure or kidney or liver disease, could compromise your ability to think clearly.