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When Your Thyroid Medication Isn’t Working

Two thyroid facts worth knowing: You’ve shown up for your usual ten minute, quick glance billed to your insurer as an in-depth primary care office visit. You’re allowed to talk about one problem only, and so you present the symptoms of hypothyroidism every doctor and nurse practitioner should be able to recite in their sleep. […]

Brain Fog and What To Do About It, Part 1

You can’t remember the name of the Netflix movie you saw just last night, literally hours ago. And that actor–what was his name? He was in, you know, that other movie. You think it was a thriller, but maybe a war movie. Then you get a notice from Verizon that they’re turning off your phone […]

Functional Telemedicine, Wherever You Are

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 […]

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 […]

Out Of Whack Hormones

“My hormones are out of whack!” That’s the single most common sentence I hear from my patients. It can come from a 25-year-old with irregular periods and industrial-strength PMS whose energy has gone down the tubes. Or from a 45-year-old (on the threshold of pre-menopause) who continues to gain weight even though she’s eating less […]

Tired All The Time? Useful Info and Two Supplements

As you might expect, fatigue is a fairly common reason people visit doctors. Feeling tired is vague symptom and can be linked to dozens of possible diagnoses, plus there’s a need to differentiate between physical fatigue and mental fatigue (brain fog) or consider both. When your doctor or nurse practitioner starts to ask questions, she’s […]

The Mystery Of Sudden Weight Gain

You know who you are. You’ve been eating stable portions of pretty much the same healthy food for years and you consider yourself weight conscious. Long ago you decided that by combining smart food choices and a health club membership, you were not–definitely not–going to be one of those people who added a point or […]

My Memory’s Just Not The Same…Is This Worrisome?

Immediate answer: The newest research shows that your own impression of your memory–not anyone else’s, and not any particular test–could be the very first sign of mental decline as you age. Longer answer: We all have episodes of forgetfulness no matter how old we are. Ask any high school senior confronted with the SAT vocabulary […]

Fresh Approaches To Fatigue and Fibromyalgia, Hormone Update, and A New Book on Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

For the millions who suffer with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, I’m pleased to report some worthy breakthroughs in the past few weeks. First, from the American College of Rheumatologists meeting in San Diego: Speaker and Tel Aviv physician Jacob Ablin, MD, described what I believe is a long-overdue paradigm shift in the diagnosis and treatment […]

Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Subtly Underactive Thyroid

Posted 05/28/2012 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 […]

Thyroid Disease

Here’s a section you can read to gather some information on your thyroid, a vital gland located in your neck that controls how fast or slow everything (but everything!) operates in your body. Compare it to the gas pedal of your car, with the gearshift in neutral. Too slow, and the motor dwindles and grinds to a halt. Too fast, and you’ll burn your engine out. Although most thyroid disorders are treated either by replacement hormones or prescription drugs, an inappropriately operating thyroid places all sorts of burdens on the smooth functioning of your body. Many of these can be helped with dietary changes and selected nutritional supplements.