Conditions

The hidden truth about ghost networks: one mom’s fight for mental health care justice

Conditions

December 5, 2024

Jane Doe – her real name being hidden to protect her young child – thought she knew how to help her eight-year-old son “”Baby Doe.” She was well-educated, employed in a professional role by a federal agency, and comfortable navigating bureaucracies and unresponsive gatekeepers. More importantly, she was a fierce advocate for her child, who had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and needed occupational and speech therapies, which …

A neurosurgeon’s 23 simple things you can do (in five minutes or less) to improve your brain health

Marc Arginteanu, MD

Conditions

December 5, 2024

Here are 23 simple things you can do (in five minutes or less) to improve your brain health. Do one of them each day. Keep it up for a few short weeks and your brain will sing your praises.

Attitude of gratitude

The act of being grateful improves mental health in a number of ways, such as making the grateful person less prone to depression and fostering stronger relationships. Becoming more grateful …

8 important things everyone should know about tongue-ties and lip-ties by a pediatric dentist

Allie Lonneman, DMD

Conditions

December 4, 2024

As a pediatric dentist and owner of a tongue tie center, I pride myself on having a conservative and collaborative approach when it comes to treating oral restrictions. Too many providers rush to release, and too many parents are misinformed thinking the release is going to be a “magic fix.”

I’ve compiled a list of important things that I feel everyone (both providers and parents) should know about tongue-ties and lip-ties.

1. …

The untold truths behind overdiagnosis and why it matters to your health

Martha Rosenberg

Conditions

December 4, 2024

An interview with Jerome Hoffman, MD, professor emeritus at UCLA.

Martha Rosenberg: As professor emeritus at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), you engaged in what is laughingly called in academics the “triple threat” of research, teaching, and clinical work for 30 years. Can you please summarize a little of what you did?

Jerome Hoffman: You’re right – I spent my career as an old-style academic, doing those three types of work. …

The impact of sleep on fertility: Why rest matters for reproductive health

Oluyemisi Famuyiwa, MD

Conditions

December 3, 2024

Introduction

Sleep is not just a luxury; it is essential for maintaining health, and its role in fertility is particularly profound. From regulating reproductive hormones to protecting egg and sperm quality, sleep impacts every stage of the reproductive process. Yet, sleep disturbances—such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and irregular schedules—are often overlooked in fertility discussions. Recent research highlights how poor sleep affects fertility in men and women, influencing natural conception …

How one ER’s choice changed my son’s life forever

Dale J. Bingham, PA-C, MPH

Conditions

December 3, 2024

The emergency room is my domain. As a paramedic and a PA, I have spent much of my life in and out of emergency rooms—maybe more time in ERs than at home over 40 years in this business. Yet, let me say I am not a fan of ERs for many reasons, mainly due to the providers who seem to staff them. Beyond the nurses’ and the providers’ jabs of …

Nurses, stop eating your young: a call for change

Amanda Dean, RN

Conditions

December 3, 2024

I sat on a cylindrical stool, eyes bleary from the early hour. Navy scrubs freshly pressed, my nursing school patch tacked to my left shoulder. Would anyone notice I used hot glue and whipstitches?

I remember the sound my clipboard made as I attached a fresh piece of paper. The whoosh was faint and mimicked the flip-flap of wings attached to butterflies whirring around in my belly. I waited eagerly for …

The debate over Alzheimer’s diagnosis: biological markers vs. symptoms

Laura García-Pupo, PhD

Conditions

December 1, 2024

The field of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is seeing a heated debate about the best way to diagnose this devastating condition. On one side, the Alzheimer Association (AA) proposed new criteria that rely solely on biological markers—such as proteins seen in brain scans or found in the liquid bathing the brain and spine, called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)—even in individuals who show no symptoms. These biomarkers, which include amyloid and tau proteins, …

What Chadwick Boseman’s death reveals about cancer prevention and risk factors

Arnold R. Eiser, MD

Conditions

November 30, 2024

We lost a very talented actor and director, Chadwick Boseman, way too early to colorectal cancer in 2023. When I recently became aware of his enormous talent, I resolved to examine his premature death as best I could with the hope of sparing others such a life snuffed out in the midst of a highly successful career.

Although I usually work in the sphere of neurodegenerative disorders, a curious phenomenon links …

Why ADHD in adults is more common than you think

Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD

Conditions

November 29, 2024

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs focus, attention, and behavioral control. ADHD hinders and compromises major life activities. Initially considered exclusively a disorder afflicting children and adolescents, it is now widely accepted that ADHD continues into adulthood, impacting the lives of those plagued by this impairment and disability. Furthermore, ADHD symptoms may fluctuate over the lifespan of an individual who struggles with a myriad of …

Why Americans are failing to keep up with essential knowledge

Richard A. Lawhern, PhD

Conditions

November 27, 2024

At age 80, I am an old man. I am also an experienced writer and voracious reader. I’ve been active in internet bulletin boards and social media interest groups since the 1980s—in what we used to call “users net” (USENET)—before the emergence of the World Wide Web.

In the 1980s, I briefly moderated a community on the internet called “Internet Village Elders.” The forum was intended to share information between librarians …

Why a football legend’s prostate cancer advice sparked controversy

Catherine Diamond, MD

Conditions

November 27, 2024

I didn’t know who Emmitt Smith was. I didn’t know September was Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. I didn’t know what was going on in the weekend football game my husband was watching next to me on the couch. I was typing a clinic note because, in general, that is what I am doing if I am sitting down, regardless of the day or time. I am an academic physician with …

A missing tracheostomy tube fragment in an asymptomatic 26-year-old

Dr. Mahmoud Hanafy Ali

Conditions

November 25, 2024

When a 26-year-old male with a history of tracheostomy arrived in our emergency department, the case appeared routine—until we uncovered an unusual detail. The patient’s sister had recently changed his tracheostomy tube at home but noticed something concerning afterward: the terminal piece, or the distal end of the tube, was missing. Despite searching, the piece couldn’t be found. This immediately raised concerns that it might be lodged within his trachea, …

More than just the flu: Helping families and doctors prepare for pan-respiratory viruses

Hilary Hatch, PhD

Conditions

November 24, 2024

In previous flu seasons, only about half of all Americans got the flu shot. Now we face pan-respiratory season, when we must worry about RSV, COVID, and the flu. The good news is these vaccines are lifesaving. The bad news is that if people don’t get them, they aren’t very effective and we might see fewer people get them at all.

As a clinical psychologist, I’ve spent my career thinking about …

Lessons from Forward Health: How direct primary care is the future of health care

Christopher Habig, MBA

Conditions

November 24, 2024

In the rapidly evolving landscape of health care, startups promising disruption often make headlines. But not all disruption leads to success. Forward Health, once hailed as a pioneer with its ultramodern clinics and AI-driven “doctor-in-a-box” CarePods, recently announced its abrupt closure. Despite raising over $650 million in funding, Forward’s inability to deliver on its ambitious promises is a case study in the pitfalls of prioritizing technology over patients.

The story of …

From ER overload to genetic breakthrough: How allergies transformed my life and career

Lynne Moronski, PhD, MPA, RN

Conditions

November 24, 2024

I went to the emergency room 16 times for allergies and asthma as a college freshman. Each time I was given a prescription for an EpiPen, an auto-injector pen that administers a dose of epinephrine, used for the emergency care of an acute allergic reaction.

I was told to figure out what I was allergic to. I tried very hard but couldn’t. All my life, I have had hives, eczema, asthma, …

The urgent need for better early intervention programs

Stephanie Dominic Berchmans, LMSW

Conditions

November 20, 2024

As someone working in the health care field, I have become all too familiar with the need for early intervention and how important it can be for a child’s overall progress.

There are parents who travel to larger states in search of better medical care and services, of which early intervention is a significant one. One particular case comes to mind, where Spanish-speaking parents sought early intervention for their daughter, but …

Top-down hierarchies in health care harm patients and health care workers alike

Rachel Litchman

Conditions

November 20, 2024

As I lay abandoned on a stretcher in the hallway of my university hospital’s emergency room, I felt powerless in my ability to improve the quality of my care. Nurses bustled back and forth between patient rooms, too busy to give me the attention I deserved. My bladder was getting painfully full, but I was too weak to get up to use the restroom and unable to find anyone I …

Why your doctor wants you to talk about poop — and it could save your life

Carmen Fong, MD

Conditions

November 19, 2024

A patient came to see me recently (all my stories start like this: “A patient walked into the room…,” akin to “A guy walked into a bar…”), and she was so embarrassed to be there. That’s not uncommon for me. What was unusual was that she refused to talk about her bowel habits. She couldn’t say what her symptoms were or what her poop looked like. To her, it was …

How we can safeguard patients without restricting telehealth access

Mikkel Hansen, MD

Conditions

November 19, 2024

The state of mental health care in the U.S. is dire, and with the telehealth prescription waivers projected to expire at the end of the year, it’s only going to get worse. If a temporary extension is granted, we can leverage technology and present data for clearer decisions moving forward, if it is not, we are leaving patients and clinicians without a clear understanding of how to care for their …

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