Conditions

Ranking prestige of medical diseases

Conditions

July 4, 2010

Among medical specialties, some are more prestigious than others. You can generally tell which ones are more prestigious by how well they pay. Surgery and cardiology, for example, rank at the top of the prestige scale. Psychiatry and dermatology are near the bottom.

One can also ask if some diseases are considered more prestigious than others, in the opinion of doctors.

A Norwegian doctor, Dag Album, has been investigating the prestige …

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Ranking prestige of medical diseases

8 insomnia tips to help you fall asleep without drugs

Jill of All Trades, MD

Conditions

June 19, 2010

Difficulty with sleep is one of the most common patient complaints presenting to the primary care office.

Chances are, you will suffer from difficulty with insomnia at some point in your lifetime. It can be distressing, and cause difficulty with functioning during your wake hours. The first thing you may want to do is to run to the doctor for a prescription for a medication to help you sleep.

However, you don’t …

Wii Sports and Wii Fit Plus exercise equivalents

William R. Yates, MD

Conditions

June 11, 2010

Regular exercise has been shown to be helpful in the prevention and management of a variety of clinical neuroscience conditions including: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, major depression and anxiety disorders. However, motivating people to get involved in a regular exercise program is a significant challenge. Wii Sports and Wii Fit Plus may provide the motivation edge for some patients to start and maintain an exercise program.

The Wii video game system …

Treating a child with fever and leukemia

StorytellERdoc, MD

Conditions

June 10, 2010

I walked into Room 35 to find a three year-old lying on the hospital cot. Her father sat alongside her bed, whispering softly to her. The patient appeared quite tired, wiped-out even, and if it weren’t for her complacent eyes tracking my every move, I would have thought she might be sleeping.

She was visiting our ER because, after a few days of cough and congestion, she had developed a fever. …

Demerol used to treat shivering in patients

Christian Sinclair, MD

Conditions

June 9, 2010

If you have spent anytime with a palliative care team in a hospital you will know of their efforts to essentially blacklist Demerol (meperidine) from use in the hospital.

Some hospitals have removed it or restricted it from the formulary all together. In medical culture, Demerol has been a go to opioid peri-OR and mostly favored by surgeons. The drug has been purported to be less likely to cause billiary spasm, …

Causes of stroke in young adults

Kevin

Conditions

June 9, 2010

by Todd Neale

The recent stroke suffered by Delaware’s attorney general Beau Biden, who is 41, has highlighted the fact that people of all ages are vulnerable, despite seemingly good health.

A statement from Timothy Gardner, MD, medical director of the Center for Heart and Vascular Surgery at Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Del., where Biden was initially treated, said he had suffered a “mild stroke,” although it remains unknown whether …

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Causes of stroke in young adults

Clinical judgment and when neurologists should order an MRI

Vernon Rowe, MD

Conditions

June 8, 2010

With healthcare reform dominating the news recently, MRI and other imaging tests have become the (misguided) targets of many critics.

Although MRI makes up only one-half of one percent of total healthcare expenditures, it is easy to demonize since the average healthcare consumer can understand imaging much easier than the diagnosis related groups (DRGs), hospital facility fees or insurance contracts that have a much greater impact on the cost of health …

MRI abuse can be dangerous and expensive for patients

Chris Rangel, MD

Conditions

June 7, 2010

What is “MRI Abuse”? This is when the health care provider orders MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) in excess or for the wrong reasons. There are many causes of MRI abusive behavior but most evolve out of a significant misunderstanding of how to properly utilize this diagnostic tool. MRI imaging has a high sensitivity to detect anatomic abnormalities, does not expose the patient to high doses of radiation like a CAT …

6 reasons why people commit suicide

Alex Lickerman, MD

Conditions

June 3, 2010

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Though I’ve never lost a friend or family member to suicide, I have lost a patient.

I have known a number of people left behind by the suicide of people close to them, however. Given how much losing my patient affected me, I’ve only been able to guess at the devastation these people have experienced. Pain mixed with guilt, anger, and regret …

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6 reasons why people commit suicide

Patients who attempt suicide and withdrawal of medical care

Ralph Gordon, MD

Conditions

June 2, 2010

If a person tries to commit suicide, could that be considered as a statement that this person wishes to die and does not want aggressive treatment to save his or her life?

Not from a legal standpoint, and not if you are living in the United States.

A middle-aged man with a long standing history of depression decides to end his life. He puts a large caliber gun straight to his forehead …

Allergy drug recommendations for patients on a budget

Leslie Ramirez, MD

Conditions

May 21, 2010

Ahhh spring.

The lovely blooms unfurling. The trees budding.

It’s enough to make a girl get tears in her eyes.

And sneezes in her nose.

And itching on her face.

Yes, it’s allergy season again — but what can you do to make yourself more comfortable without emptying your wallet?

1. Avoidance. Close the windows. Make someone else cut the grass. Stay inside. (Yes, I hate this one too- let’s move on.)

2. Neti pot or other nasal saline rinsing. LOVE …

Declining autopsy rate, and how that impacts doctors

Ralph Gordon, MD

Conditions

May 12, 2010

The role of autopsy in the medical profession is difficult to overestimate. Western medicine takes its roots from comparative studies between patient’s symptoms and the findings on autopsy.

Participation in an autopsy was one of the most valuable lessons from medical school and residency. If you participated in the patient’s care, there is no greater educational tool than witnessing the postmortem exam. It is especially true if the cause of death …

Hiatal hernia in women can present with heartburn

Kevin

Conditions

May 8, 2010

by David Edelman, MD

Heartburn and acid reflux disease are common problems affecting women of all ages. The problem develops when acid in the stomach backs up into the esophagus. There is a muscle known as the diaphragm that separates the chest from the abdominal cavity. When you eat or drink, the food goes from the mouth down the esophagus, through the diaphragm and into the stomach. …

Aneurysm as a cause of the Bret Michaels brain hemorrhage

Kevin

Conditions

April 26, 2010

Bret Michaels continues to be monitored in the intensive care unit after suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage.

According to his road manager, “further testing this week will help locate the source of the bleeding.”

What exactly does that entail?

As I mentioned previously, aneurysms are responsible for the majority of brain bleeds. Finding that source is critical. Angiography, or …

High blood pressure treatment that patients need to know

Erin Marcus, MD

Conditions

April 21, 2010

When her gynecologist told her she had high blood pressure, Marie had a simple solution: switch doctors. After all, she had gone to him for a different problem, and this was the first time he had ever checked her blood pressure.

“He said, ‘Oh my God, you’re like a bomb waiting to explode.’ I said, ‘I didn’t come here for that, I came here for something else,’” she explained.

Two years later, …

President Obama should have had colonoscopy without sedation

Kevin

Conditions

April 19, 2010

by Michael Kirsch, MD

Does anyone out there know why President Obama underwent a virtual ‘colonscopy’ (VC) instead of a conventional colonoscopy earlier this year?

In my gastroenterology practice, we do not offer colon cancer screening to 48-year-old individuals, unless special risk factors are present. Of course, maintaining the president’s health is in the national interest, so I understand why professional screening guidelines might not apply to him. For …

Radiology tests, and how to find their price

Leslie Ramirez, MD

Conditions

March 30, 2010

I am often asked how we get the prices for the radiology imaging tests, such as MRI’s and mammograms, or ultrasounds. Most people assume that my day job as a doc gives me some sort of special access to this info. But that’s just not the case. Anyone can find out testing prices.

However, over the last year, those of us working at LesliesList.org have gotten more experienced and better at …

What doctors do when they don’t know the answer

Alex Lickerman, MD

Conditions

February 22, 2010

Part two of a series. See also part one.

Previously I’d discussed how most of the time diagnoses are relatively straightforward. But what do doctors do when a diagnosis isn’t immediately clear to them?

Likely one or more of the following:

1. Revert to “novice” thinking. Which, in fact, is completely appropriate. We’re taught in medical school that approximately 90% of all diagnoses are made from the history, so if we can’t …

When doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with a patient

Alex Lickerman, MD

Conditions

February 10, 2010

Part one of a series.

The first patient I ever saw as a first year resident came in with a litany of complaints, not one of which I remember today except for one—he had headaches. The reason I remember he had headaches isn’t because I spent so much time discussing them but rather the opposite: at the time I knew next to nothing about headaches and somehow managed to end the …

The specialty of underwater medicine, and an interview with a dive physician

Kevin

Conditions

February 5, 2010

Originally published in MedPage Today

by Kristina Fiore

Physicians tend to prefer intellectual hobbies — chess, reading, writing. Dr. Alfred Bove is no exception. His hobby often requires application of his expertise in physiology. You know him as the president of the American College of Cardiology. But you may not know that his heart belongs to the sea.

Bove’s interest in scuba diving …

Conditions

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