Conditions

Autoimmune disease flares: stress, grief, and management tips

Conditions
April 4, 2024

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells and tissues in the body. More than 80 recognized autoimmune diseases exist, including alopecia areata, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, scleroderma, and Raynaud’s. These conditions can cause a wide range of symptoms, making management crucial for maintaining a good quality of life.

Why the immune system attacks healthy cells is a bit of a mystery in most …

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Fighting for choice in dementia deaths

Conditions
April 4, 2024

Last month, the daughters of Wendy Miller, a 68-year-old author of three bestselling books about her experience with dementia, posted online her final words: “In the end, I died simply by deciding not to eat or drink anymore.”

Her stark statement reminded me of my interviews with Dan Winter, 62, which had begun nine months before he, too, took his own life. Alzheimer’s disease was slowly disassembling Dan’s rich and …

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Breaking through the cobwebs of dementia

Conditions
April 3, 2024

“Some memories are unforgettable, remaining ever vivid and heartwarming!”
– Joseph B. Wirthlin

I love my role as a hospice volunteer mostly because I enjoy meeting the patients and hearing their life stories. I heard a tale from the Vietnam vet who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, which he humbly said was for “just driving a jeep.” (He later admitted that he saved a general by “just driving a jeep” through …

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Why minorities need more representation in breast cancer research

Conditions
April 3, 2024

I’ve always been interested in democratizing health care and have tried to incorporate this in my image-guided therapeutics research.

As a health care CEO, I’ve been afforded the opportunity to broaden my research scope and examine a personal area of interest: disparities in health care and how we can address these through innovation and scientific inquiry.

Racial disparities in health care outcomes are a pervasive issue, and breast cancer is not immune …

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Nurse burnout: causes, symptoms, and solutions by gender and generation

Conditions
April 2, 2024

Burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. Burnout occurs gradually over time and has three fundamental symptoms:

Exhaustion is feeling physically and emotionally exhausted and can be related to spending an excessive amount of time and effort on a particular task. Depersonalization is having an indifferent attitude and can manifest as negative, sarcastic, or cynical people towards people you are meant to serve. …

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Evolution of targeted cancer therapies: a radiation oncologist’s perspective

Conditions
April 2, 2024

On July 1, 1987, I started treating cancer patients as a full-time radiation oncologist – a cancer specialist who uses radiation therapy to help cancer patients beat their disease. Now, nearly 37 years later, I have the privilege of caring for cancer patients at a cancer center. Nearly every type of cancer is treated differently; for example, breast cancer is treated differently than colon cancer, which is treated differently than …

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Hospital retaliation and my fight for patient rights

Conditions
April 1, 2024

I found myself compelled into the complex world of health care advocacy under extraordinary circumstances last year when I went to my university administration to request a table to do a free speech petition because of a personal and troubling experience. My mother, a respected pediatric intensive care doctor, had been abruptly terminated from her workplace after she raised concerns about patient safety.

Throughout my studies as an undergraduate, I frequently …

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The battle of the bulge: The struggle is real

Conditions
March 30, 2024

The economic impact of obesity looms large, casting a shadow over both individual well-being and national prosperity. Beyond the personal struggles and societal pressures surrounding weight management, the financial ramifications of obesity ripple through health care systems, labor markets, and various sectors of the economy. In the United States alone, the annual health care costs attributed to obesity-related conditions soar into the hundreds of billions of dollars, placing a significant …

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Addressing mental health in the medical field

Conditions
March 29, 2024

In the heart of a bustling hospital, where the relentless pace of saving lives never wanes, lies an unseen battle that rages quietly within the souls of those who care for us. Health care professionals, heralded as heroes, especially in the wake of a global pandemic, face an array of mental health challenges, often overlooked and underaddressed. This article delves into the psychological toll of working in high-stress medical environments …

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Real pain deserves real treatment

Conditions
March 29, 2024

When a patient comes to us and describes confusing symptoms that don’t seem to fit into any immediate category, we can see it in two different ways: as a challenge, we can rise to, a riddle to solve … or we can see it as an opportunity to denigrate the patient, to imply that they are malingering or that it’s “all in their head.” This tendency is amplified when we …

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How my sister’s rights were taken away, like thousands of others with developmental disabilities

Conditions
March 29, 2024

Teresa has Down syndrome and was 49 when the capacity assessment took place in Ontario.

I saw her as happy, healthy, and active. She enjoyed living nearby with my 91-year-old father, who often said, “We’re a team. We help each other.”

But that’s not how the social worker saw her.

Teresa didn’t understand what the assessment was for, and according to the records, she did not agree to be …

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Can you predict Alzheimer’s? New research on early detection.

Conditions
March 27, 2024

You can’t treat something until you know it’s there. Currently, there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) but earlier diagnosis may lead to better understanding of how the disease inexorably progresses, which in turn may lead to prevention of AD and ultimately eradication of this horrific scourge. The latest breakthroughs in earlier diagnosis and even perhaps pre-diagnosis have involved lumbar punctures, brain MRIs, eye exams, and blood tests.

A 2024 study, …

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Wendy Williams’s battle with health and the fragility of success

Conditions
March 26, 2024

Lifetime recently premiered the documentary Where is Wendy Williams? This four-part special delves into the captivating life and career of Wendy Williams, the once dynamic 59-year-old American broadcaster, media personality, and writer. Renowned for hosting the nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, from 2008 to 2021, Williams has left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry.

The documentary follows Williams’s journey to revive her career after health concerns …

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A potential discovery of highly fatal SARS coronavirus?

Conditions
March 23, 2024

Has a highly fatal SARS coronavirus already been discovered? Maybe yes, but just its report is highly concerning. On January 4, 2024, a letter to the editor was uploaded to a preprint server which gave too few details but described a 100 percent fatal virus in genetically modified mice. The modifications made these mice similar to humans by adding a human ACE2 receptor to their cells, including in …

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Understanding seasonal affective disorder: more than just winter blues

Conditions
March 21, 2024

As the summer sun bids its farewell, a distinct group of people seem to “fall back” as a mysterious change begins to take hold. Several individuals get caught in the embrace of the transitions of fall and winter, revealing a shift between their mood and energy levels. Ever felt a subtle dip in energy, a touch of melancholy, or an unexpected irritability as the days grow shorter? I’m here to …

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Shedding some weight on the health care crisis

Conditions
March 21, 2024

In today’s world, the term “obesity” is more than just a medical diagnosis—it’s a complex issue intertwined with personal experiences, societal norms, and systemic challenges. As a seasoned family doctor, I’ve witnessed firsthand the multifaceted nature of obesity and its profound impact on individuals’ lives. But beyond the clinical observations, I carry a personal history marked by struggles with weight and body image.

I’m a family doctor, and I have been …

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Women of color face biases in endometriosis diagnosis and surgical treatment

Conditions
March 21, 2024

March is endometriosis awareness month. Endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus, affects 1 in 10 women, or 190 million individuals worldwide. Although endometriosis leads to chronic pain and fertility issues and can impact bowel, urinary, and sexual function, it may take up to 7 to 10 years after symptoms appear to be diagnosed …

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Beyond the workout: the hidden struggle of diabetic gastroparesis

Conditions
March 21, 2024

The final three minutes of my hour-long elliptical workout were not easy. Pain spread across my stomach, causing me to row in a half-sitting motion, and my chest vacillated between violent coughs and the sorts of deep breaths people take when they think they’ve seen a ghost. Perspiration fell from my shirtless torso to the garage floor. The amount of sweat was not the kind my body produces from exercise. …

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Sepsis protocols coupled with rapid host response technologies are the key to improving patient outcomes

Conditions
March 20, 2024

Patients come into the emergency department (ED) with symptoms, not diagnoses. That’s when time is of the essence. Clinicians must quickly triage patients and establish an appropriate care pathway to obtain the best possible outcome. Most patients entering the ED are time-sensitive, requiring clear protocols for care. However, even some of the deadliest conditions still lack the necessary data, tools, and standards to quickly diagnose and effectively treat patients.

Over the …

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A doctor’s journey: from student to healer, facing a mentor’s illness

Conditions
March 20, 2024

I had a teacher in my third year of med school. His name was Dr. T. He taught us pediatrics. At that time, he was the head of the department of pediatrics in the busiest teaching hospital in our city, where I was working. Every day, hundreds of children from far-flung areas are referred to our hospital with complications due to suboptimal treatment received in their local areas, as we …

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