Conditions and Diseases

Physicians writing on KevinMD about the diseases they treat and the people who have them: cancer and its screening arguments, pain and the drugs that treat it, diabetes and the obesity argument, mental illness and who gets treated for it, and the decisions at the end of a life. Five maintained records draw on this archive: Cancer: what physicians say, in their own words, Opioids: what physicians and pain patients say, in their own words, End of life: what physicians say, in their own words, Diabetes and obesity: what physicians say, in their own words, and Mental health: what psychiatrists and physicians say, in their own words.

How to take care of your health during difficult economic times

Jan Gurley, MD

June 11, 2011

Studies show that many people faced with home loss and housing uncertainty can take a tremendous hit to their health. If you’re going through difficult times, and worried you too may lose your home, what can you do to try to buffer or reclaim your health?

Here are some tips for ways to counteract some of the toll that constant stress (and the insomnia, distraction and desperation that go with …

MKSAP: 50-year-old woman with advanced multiple myeloma

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

June 11, 2011

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 50-year-old woman with advanced multiple myeloma diagnosed 6 months ago undergoes a follow-up visit. Treatment includes daily oral thalidomide and pulse dexamethasone. The patient now feels well.

Laboratory studies indicate a serum monoclonal protein concentration of 3.0 g/dL (30 g/L). Hemoglobin concentration, serum calcium level, and …

Medicare’s high cost end stage renal disease patients

Merrill Goozner

Conditions and Diseases

June 11, 2011

Anyone who thinks America has the best health care system in the world ought to take a look at its miserable record on caring for end stage renal disease patients on dialysis.

About one of every five people who go on dialysis dies in the first year here, compared to less than one in seven in Europe and one in sixteen in Japan. Even after adjusting for age, gender, race …

Adult ADHD and academic performance in college

Emily Gibson, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 8, 2011

‘Twas the week before finals and all through the dorm, few students were sleeping, since Adderall is the norm …

What is the state of academic performance and achievement in the age of adult ADHD?

Recent media publications feature “neuro-enhancement” sought by college students and stressed professionals through the use of prescribed and non-prescribed medications, particularly stimulants, to guarantee focus, concentration …

5 important cancer prevention updates

Therese B. Bevers, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 7, 2011

Most people agree — the best way to beat cancer is to prevent it. What can we do as a nation to help people live healthier lives today so they can avoid cancer tomorrow?

Major research findings and policy changes are steps in the right direction. Here are some important cancer prevention milestones we’ve reached in the past year.

1. Lung cancer screening is now a reality for selected patients

Smoking causes …

Read more…

5 important cancer prevention updates

Organizing DSM-5: The new framework of mental disorders

David Kupfer, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 7, 2011

It will not be an ordinary table of contents. But then, the DSM-5 will not be an ordinary book.

When the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders comes out in 2013, it will reflect the advances over the past two decades that have helped illuminate connections between the brain and behavior.

Functional MRI studies, for example, have provided insight into obsessive-compulsive disorder. Studies supporting a “schizophrenia spectrum” have shown …

Themes explaining why people are obese

Arya M. Sharma, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 4, 2011

In my interactions with patients, I always ask them to tell me when their weight problems began and what they believe contributed to their weight gain.

Broadly speaking, there are two categories: people, who were big (or were considered big by others) as long as they can remember and those, who can often clearly pinpoint when their weight …

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Themes explaining why people are obese

The science and treatment of jet lag

Kevin

Conditions and Diseases

June 3, 2011

by Mike Cadogan, MB ChB

Crossing multiple time zones can produce a constellation of symptoms known as jet lag.

Jet lag is most noticeable in the first 24-48 hours following travel and can last for up to 5 days before individuals return to normal functioning. Symptoms are closely affected by both the length and direction of travel. Symptoms include: reduced alertness, night-time insomnia, loss of appetite, depressed mood, poor …

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The science and treatment of jet lag

Stem cells will bring us closer to personalized medicine

Stephen C. Schimpff, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 3, 2011

Stem cell therapies promise to be one of those scientific breakthroughs that will have an enormous impact on health care in the future.

Stem cells will bring us closer to the goal of personalized medicine, just as genomics is doing. The course of a disease will change once we have the technology to develop and then insert stem …

MKSAP: Healthy 68-year-old man with a cigarette smoking history

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

May 28, 2011

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 68-year-old man is evaluated during a routine examination. He has a 5 pack-year cigarette smoking history but stopped 12 years ago. He has no history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, stroke, or transient ischemic attack. He has no claudication. He is being treated for hyperlipidemia. There …

Biting in children is a sign of normal social experimentation

dr_som, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 27, 2011

I love to pick up my two year old from daycare. Her language is becoming increasingly complex with small sentences, lots of gesturing and expression. When I ask how school was, she says, “Miss you. I crying.” Or, “I running fast with friends.” Or sometimes a confident, “good,” with a head nod.

Yesterday, she said, “friend, bite me.”

Her very kind teacher confirmed the event, and asked my daughter to show me …

Why you shouldn’t ignore a swollen knee

Dr. Irwin Lim

Conditions and Diseases

May 24, 2011

If you develop a swollen knee, please don’t consider it a normal occurrence.

If there was a clear cause, such as a fall to the knee, or some twisting injury to the knee, it’s likely that the cause is due to some mechanical damage. An easily recognized example would be a football or rugby player sustaining such an injury on the playing field. In that case, its typically serious and when …

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Why you shouldn’t ignore a swollen knee

Breast implants and the risk of cancer

Anthony Youn, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 23, 2011

The FDA has issued a statement alerting physicians and patients to a possible link between breast implants and a rare type of cancer. Although anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is extremely rare, the FDA believes that women with breast implants may have a very small but increased risk of developing the condition.

ALCL in the presence of breast implants has been noted in sporadic case reports over the past 25 years. To date, …

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Breast implants and the risk of cancer

Vascular diseases that present as obstructive atherosclerotic arterial disease

Kevin

Conditions and Diseases

May 23, 2011

by Joe F. Lau, MD and Jeffrey W. Olin, MD

Physicians who perform percutaneous endovascular procedures encounter a multitude of vascular diseases that may masquerade as obstructive atherosclerotic arterial disease. While atherosclerosis is clearly the most common condition seen, complex inflammatory, genetic or structural processes may either not be amenable to an endovascular approach or actually be harmful and thus lead to outcomes that are not …

MKSAP: 32-year-old man with crampy abdominal pain

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

May 21, 2011

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 32-year-old man is evaluated in the emergency department for a 5-day history of worsening crampy abdominal pain and eight to ten loose bowel movements a day. The patient has a 5-year history of ulcerative colitis treated with azathioprine and topical mesalamine; before this episode, he …

Pay attention to the color and smell of your urine

Neil Baum, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 20, 2011

Most of us are uncomfortable talking about our waste products, urine and feces. However, changes in the color and odor may signify disease that can be treated or prevented. This article will review causes of discoloration of urine and when there is a change in the odor of urine.

For hundreds of years doctors have looked at urine as a barometer of what is happening in the body. The urine can …

Prevent foot fractures while wearing heels

Orly Avitzur, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 17, 2011

As 30-year-old New Yorker Carrie Donnelly began her bachelorette party in her new black open-toe five-inch heels, she fell, her foot going one way and her ankle the other.

“When I woke up the next day, my ankle was throbbing and had become extremely swollen,” she said. It was a month before her wedding—the last thing she wanted to do was to walk down the aisle in a cast.

Super-high heels like …

Osteoporosis Awareness Month, and how to prevent early bone loss

James Haddad

Conditions and Diseases

May 16, 2011

May is National Osteoporosis Awareness Month.

Osteoporosis is a poorly understood concept amongst the general public, and perhaps the best way to explain it is the presence of an insufficient quantity of bone – the bone that is present, however, is normal (or properly mineralized). This can be contrasted with osteomalacia (or rickets, in children), …

MKSAP: 26-year-old woman is evaluated for amenorrhea

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

May 14, 2011

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 26-year-old woman is evaluated for a 4-month history of amenorrhea. Menses began at age 13 years. At age 18 years, the patient was placed on an oral contraceptive pill to control heavy bleeding. She discontinued the oral contraceptive pill 4 months ago because she and …

What patients need to know about finding and treating osteoporosis

Juliet K. Mavromatis, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 13, 2011

Osteoporosis is a condition that is sure to become increasingly diagnosed as our population ages.

Osteoporosis is significant because it is associated with an increased risk of bone fracture, including fracture of the hip and vertebra, which are the cause of significant morbidity, mortality, loss of independence and medical expense in the elderly. In current clinical practice, osteoporosis is diagnosed on the basis …

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