Pine Nut Bitter Taste

After practicing medicine for 25 years, I didn't think there was much I hadn't seen or diagnosed.  Was I surprised to learn about a condition called Pine Mouth from a friend who experienced it!  Of course that sent me to the internet where I learned that there truly is a weird food syndrome known as Pine Mouth.  And from the google search, it seems everyone but me knows about it!  In case you

Doctors Don't Discuss Weight Loss With Patients

Patients are more likely to lose weight when physicians tell them they are overweight and advise weight loss.  Despite this, fewer than half of overweight patients and fewer than 2/3 of obese patients say they have been told by their physicians that they are overweight.  The current obesity epidemic has made higher weights and larger sizes seem more normal.  Patients who don't perceive their

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Lifesaving Antibiotics Losing Power Due to Resistant Germs

 The single most important medicine ever discovered is the antibiotic.  Prior to 1930, humans died at early ages of simple infections and even childbirth was a major killer of women because of infection.   The mortality rate from simple staph aureus was as high as 80%,  but between 1944 and 1972 the human life expectancy jumped by 8 years because of antibiotics.   By 1950 the golden age of

Japanese Hospital Provides Disaster Care

Senen General Hospital was hit hard by the Tsunami in Japan, but it continues to provide care for patients even though there is no electricity or running water.  The hospital is located between a river and the coast and it was flooded on the first floor when the giant tsunami hit the neighborhood. The basement held the boiler, electrical room and other machinery.  The kitchen was ruined and there

Exercise Helps Knee Osteoarthritis

When we think of osteoarthritis (OA), we think of chronic "wear and tear" on a joint that has just plain worn out.  Many patients with arthritis become less and less active and that is actually the worst thing for an arthritic joint.  A new study published in Arthritis Rheum. looked at the functional performance in 2589 adults with knee OA and found that there was a consistent relationship

Radiation From Japan

The week after the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami have had Americans watching the events unfold in horror.  The explosion at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima and the threatened melt down of the reactors created a near panic in some Americans thousands of miles away.  I am not downplaying this event and the potential damage to the reactor core with release of large quantities of radiation is

Blogging Vacation

I'll be away for a few days...taking some of my own advice to heart and exercising and relaxing.  Here is what I'll be doing.  But not quite this well....


Here is who I hope I will see:







For great blog reading, please look to the links on the right.  Lots of interesting blogs and information for you.  See you next week back at EverythingHealth.

Eat More Fiber

Fiber is great for us because it helps with weight control and high fiber diets reduce colorectal cancer.  The American Cancer Association recommends 25 grams of fiber a day for women and 38 grams a day for men.  That is about 3 1/2 to 5 cups of vegetables and fruit a day.  So if you are eating your recommended 5 cups a day you are in good shape.  Keep it up.

If you struggle with getting enough

Blogosphere Grand Rounds

Head on over to Dr. Pullen's blog for the best of Grand Rounds on the Blogosphere.  There are so many good medical writers.  My current favorite is the wonderful Grady Doc.  Read her every day and be uplifted with wonderful writing and stories.  We should all be so talented!

Higher Risk of Death For Women With Heart Attack

Several studies have shown that women have a higher mortality rate than men if they have a heart attack.  A study published in the American Heart Journal  helps to explain why.  The researchers looked at data from 2,542 women who had a heart attack.  Compared to men, the women were older, less likely to be white and less likely to smoke.  They also had more serious health conditions than the men.

Charlie Sheen is Sick

Charlie Sheen is sick and not in a good way.  After a media blitz over the past few weeks, I finally saw one of his many interviews on ABC  and it was immediately obvious that he is in the throws of a major psychiatric condition.  He talks at length about his drug use and super-human ability to control drugs, which is a common denial we see in drug addicted people.  But beyond that, he is showing

Guys React to Vasectomy

Essure has an effective way to market their new permanent birth control device.  Make a humorous video that shows how some men view vasectomy and leave it to the women. 

Previously there were only two methods for voluntary permanent sterilization...a male vasectomy or female tubal ligation.  Of the two, vasectomy is the cheapest and safest.
(Fatalities per 100,000 tubal ligation - 3.51  cost

Serena Williams Has Serious Lung Blood Clot

Serena Williams is one of my tennis heroes and is also one of the strongest women athletes in the world.  At age 29 she has won 13 Grand Slam tennis titles.  It was a surprise to the tennis world to learn that she was hospitalized in Los Angeles with a pulmonary embolism (PE); a serious blood clot in the lungs.  These blood clots do not form in the lung. They start in veins elsewhere in the body,

Potassium Increase Cuts Stroke by 20%

There are few medical conditions that people fear more than a stroke.  We know that blood pressure control and lowering cholesterol levels reduces stroke risk.  Now, thanks to a huge analysis from Italy, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, we know that higher dietary consumption of potassium is associated with lower rates of stroke and could also reduce the risk of