Conditions

Why coaching is not a substitute for psychotherapy

Conditions
June 19, 2025

Professional coaching can contribute to personal growth and development by providing encouragement and support using a handful of simple techniques designed for deepening exploration in a co-created working relationship. Focuses can be wide ranging and include development and clarification of goals, refining communication, boundary setting, and conflict management skills. A coaching stance typically seeks improved performance, for example increased efficiencies at work or navigating executive function more effectively. It can …

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Why doctors stay silent about preventable harm

Conditions
June 19, 2025

The first rule of being a doctor is not “do no harm.” It’s “mind your own business.”

You won’t find it in the ethics textbooks. It’s not part of any formal curriculum. But ask around—quietly, privately—and most seasoned clinicians will tell you the same thing: the people who ask too many questions don’t last long.

You learn this not from lectures, but from observation. A colleague flags a safety concern. A note …

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Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis

Conditions
June 18, 2025

The next major health epidemic in the U.S. will not come from a pathogen. This plague has a potential patient population in the tens of millions, limited effective treatments, and is not widely studied in the medical community.

I’m referring to sports gambling, an activity that deeply alarms me as a physician who specializes in addiction. Problem gambling can increase the incidence of depression and anxiety and can lead to bankruptcy, …

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How robotics are reshaping the future of vascular procedures

Conditions
June 18, 2025

Medicine has always evolved through a blend of scientific rigor and bold innovation. Over the last century, surgical practice has progressed from risky open procedures to highly controlled, minimally invasive interventions. Laparoscopic surgery marked one such revolution, dramatically enhancing patient outcomes by enabling precision through small incisions. By the 1990s, it had become an essential part of modern surgery.

A similar, albeit slower, evolution has taken place in endovascular care. …

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How the shingles vaccine could help prevent dementia

Conditions
June 18, 2025

Did you have chickenpox as a kid?

If the answer is yes (which it is for most of us), you’re at risk of getting shingles. Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. After one recovers from chickenpox, the virus remains dormant in one’s nerve cells. Later in life, if the virus reactivates (which depends on factors like age, stress, or a weakened immune system), it …

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Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

Conditions
June 17, 2025

As an endodontist who specializes in saving natural teeth, I have a front-row seat when it comes to observing the nuances of oral health. I can tell who is a flosser, a fan of tooth whiteners, and the sweet tooths among us. Occasionally, and particularly in younger adults, I see signs of severe tooth decay. That usually means one thing—they have lived in a town that lacks fluoride in their …

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What the research really says about infrared saunas

Conditions
June 17, 2025

As someone who believes in a healthy amount of social media consumerism — just enough to stay inspired without drowning in every new trend — I recently found myself intrigued by a wellness practice that kept resurfacing on my feed: infrared sauna. Beyond the polished posts and glowing endorsements, my curiosity was also fueled by my background. As a cancer doctor, and someone who genuinely believes in the impact of …

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How the cycle of rage is affecting physicians—and how to break free

Conditions
June 17, 2025

Disclosure: This should not be considered as evidence-based mental health literature. These are the observations of a surgeon with extensive experience being angry.

Introduction

Many physicians are finding themselves strained from ongoing sociopolitical crises. Dealing with the frequent or continuous consequences of unsustainable practices in health care systems, global systems issues like racism or sexism, or other large problems that are difficult to impossible …

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Dedicated hypermobility clinics can transform patient care

Conditions
June 16, 2025

Every week, I speak with patients who have spent years—sometimes decades—searching for answers. They’ve seen rheumatologists, neurologists, cardiologists, physical therapists, and more, trying to piece together a puzzle that no one provider seems to fully understand. Their symptoms are dismissed as anxiety, growing pains, or “just part of being flexible.” But the truth is often something far more complex: A connective tissue disorder like hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) or Hypermobility …

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Earwax could hold secrets to cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease

Conditions
June 14, 2025

Most of us think of earwax as a nuisance–something to be cleaned out and discarded. But, did you know that this sticky substance is a natural part of your body that can reveal information about your health?

If you regularly clean your ears at home, it’s worth a second thought. Although a part of general hygiene, overdoing it–or using hairpins, toothpicks, and other pointy tools–can do Read more…

Why male fertility needs to be part of every health conversation

Conditions
June 14, 2025

June is Men’s Health Month, an opportunity to spotlight the unique health challenges men face—and to change the way we talk about them. One of the most overlooked and under-discussed topics in men’s health? Fertility. It’s time to bring it to the forefront.

As a fellowship-trained urologist specializing in sexual medicine and male fertility, I’ve witnessed firsthand how male reproductive health is too often sidelined in conversations around family-building. For far …

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Why health care must adapt to meet the needs of older adults with disabilities

Conditions
June 14, 2025

We all know the population is aging, but did you know that close to half of all adults over age 65 in the U.S. have some kind of disability? The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) includes as a disability any “physical or mental impairment that limits one or more life activities” or a history or record of such impairment.

Thus, disabilities include: physical limitations such as mobility issues, pain, and fatigue; …

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4 traits every new attending physician needs to thrive

Conditions
June 13, 2025

When I conduct therapy for doctors after residency, I am supporting new attending physicians as they navigate one of the most intense and disorienting transitions of their careers. These early attendings often arrive feeling untethered. They’re rediscovering who they are, working through long-ignored anxiety, stepping into their authority, and trying to build lives that don’t begin and end with medicine.

When I talk about what makes a new attending “successful,” I’m …

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When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

Conditions
June 12, 2025

I’ve spent my career as a neurologist diagnosing and managing neurodegenerative diseases. I’ve counseled families through heartbreaking prognoses, navigated complex care plans, and educated patients about conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. I thought I understood what it meant to live with a memory disorder, until my mother became my most challenging, most personal patient.

Her diagnosis came gradually, as these things often do. First, it was the missed appointments and forgotten dates. …

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Why local cardiac CT scans could save your life

Conditions
June 12, 2025

In cities like Los Angeles, accessing advanced cardiac imaging is not always a matter of medical need. It is often a question of logistics. Even in major metro areas, where advanced technology is available, practical barriers—like scheduling delays, traffic, and long waitlists—can prevent patients from getting scans when they need them.

Many wait weeks for appointments or travel across the city to reach a facility equipped for high-quality cardiac CT. In …

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How proposed NIH budget cuts could derail Alzheimer’s research

Conditions
June 11, 2025

Recent budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have dominated the headlines since February of this year, when the NIH announced a 15 percent cap on indirect costs — a move that jeopardizes essential research infrastructure by slashing funding for facilities and administrative support vital to the advancement of scientific innovation.

Now, leaked documents threaten to compound this issue: The Trump administration plans to cut the NIH’s …

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A spoonful of vinegar: Why simple glucose hacks deserve more medical attention

Conditions
June 10, 2025

In the age of glucose monitors, blood sugar charts, and wearable tech, one of the most effective strategies for stabilizing post-meal glucose levels might already be sitting in your kitchen cabinet: vinegar.

As someone with a strong interest in endocrinology and women’s’ metabolic health, I’ve found myself increasingly drawn to the work of educators like Jessie Inchauspé (popularly known as Glucose Goddess), who break down blood sugar science in ways that …

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Living through injury: one family’s journey to the other side

Conditions
June 10, 2025

For a while, I enjoyed telling Dave’s story. In the beginning, I found it therapeutic. It was just as unbelievable to me as it was to the person I was telling it to. Somewhere along the line, telling the story of Dave’s accident and the health care nightmare that followed became more matter of fact. Then, it became heavy.

What I didn’t tell most is that Dave’s injury took more than …

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Why congenital CMV should be on every parent and doctor’s radar

Conditions
June 9, 2025

My son was born with a congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection.

Unless you specialize in prenatal care, infectious disease, or pediatric audiology, you’ve probably never heard of it.

That’s the first part of the problem.

And, even if you have heard of it, unless you’re a public health advocate or a parent (or both, like me), you probably don’t know enough about it—at least, not in the ways that matter most to patients.

That’s the …

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What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

Conditions
June 9, 2025

At 9:32 a.m., shortly after Hind and her family left their home in Tel al-Hawa, an Israeli military spokesperson issued an evacuation notice on social media, instructing residents of western Gaza City to head south. At approximately 2:30 p.m., Layan Hamada, Hind’s cousin, made the initial call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) dispatch after their car was struck by gunfire. At that moment, Layan and Hind were …

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