The Texas Department of State Health Services reported the first case of H5N1 avian influenza in a human who contracted the virus not from a bird but from an infected dairy cow. The next pandemic could be around the corner, and the food we choose to purchase (or not to purchase) is playing a role in its development.
As we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, viruses can undergo mutations rapidly, …
Eating our way to the next pandemic
A bunch of symptoms, which may persist many months or even years after an acute COVID infection has cleared, have been described in the medical literature with increasing frequency since the onset of the pandemic. This constellation of findings has been dubbed “long COVID.” Long COVID’s effects on the brain, in particular, have certainly been in the news, and it’s also been popping up in the medical literature. So, what’s …
Long COVID and your brain: the effect of virus and vaccines
“You sure know a lot about your condition.”
Many patients with long-term illnesses have heard this. When it comes from a medical professional, it’s never a compliment. It’s a statement that is usually, at best, laced with disapproval.
The thing is, patients like me, who have long-term complex conditions, are encouraged to know a lot. As someone with CVID and other issues, I’ve attended seminars and patient Q&As with immunologists. There’s a …
The dichotomy of patient health literacy
An excerpt from Sugar Free.
“What do you want to do?” Ginny said.
“Chinese jump rope.”
“Tilly, you always want to play Chinese jump rope,” Renée said.
“So?” Tilly said.
Renée didn’t have an answer to that.
They let Tilly go first. Renée and Ginny faced each other, put the large elastic loop that was the jump rope around their ankles, and backed up until it was taut.
“What happened to you?” Tilly said to Ginny. …
Health care in the United States is in a state of turmoil. Many Americans are struggling to pay for health care. Even if they have health insurance, many have to pay high out-of-pocket copayments and, in the end, feel that what they do pay for is not worth the cost.
As a result of the COVID pandemic, many health care workers faced mounting mental health crises from burnout, physical and mental …
Health care in turmoil: costs, shortages, and pandemic strains
Treatment plans are crucial to a behavioral health practice as they can help improve client outcomes. Setting mental health treatment plan goals and objectives is a crucial aspect of the process, and providers and their clients need to work together in identifying long-term therapy goals. They should also communicate openly about the objectives used to achieve these goals.
The concept of SMART goals can be valuable here. SMART stands for Specific, …
Mental health treatment plan goals: Setting providers and patients up for success
Modern medicine often fails to effectively manage complex chronic conditions. Physicians are often constrained by tightly packed clinic schedules, leaving only brief windows of time for each patient encounter. While this setup may allow for basic diagnosis and treatment planning, there is scarcely enough time for comprehensive patient education, let alone providing the necessary support, guidance, and empowerment that complex patients need.
Fortunately, the post-pandemic surge in telemedicine has brought fresh …
Virtual rehabilitation of central sensitization syndromes
Patients, as the primary stakeholders in their own well-being, are increasingly showing a profound interest in holistic approaches to cancer care that extend beyond traditional medical treatments. Growing evidence supports this interest, showing that some whole-person and integrative approaches can improve quality of life and survival outcomes. Oncologists’ attitudes are shifting in the same direction, though with less urgency than our patients’.
We recently conducted parallel surveys of oncologists …
Science supports it and patients want it: Bringing whole-person care to cancer treatment
I’m sure you can picture it. You’re sitting in an exam room wearing a paper gown, waiting for your health care provider to walk in the room. There are a few colorful posters on the wall about flu season, health screenings, and a discount prescription program available to patients. But all you can think about is the conversation you’re about to have. Will they bring it up? Will you ask? …
Empowering patients to discuss sexual health
As physicians, we are trained to dissect symptoms and to hunt for a diagnosis. But my own journey with Sjogren’s, like my patients’, wasn’t a textbook case. It was a puzzle with pieces scattered over decades, ignored or dismissed at each turn, including by myself.
There’s the college student, fearing the agony a simple meal might bring, never dreaming of asking why. The med student, convinced of an impending heart attack, …
From doctor to patient: my Sjogren’s journey and a challenge to colleagues
An excerpt from Winter’s End: Dementia and Dying Well.
Are there really fates worse than death? Like most people, Dan Winter was uncertain. That is until he visited his father at a memory care unit in Lawrence, Kansas.
Dan’s father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 70. Winton “Wint” Allen Winter Sr. survived for 13 years, spending his final days in …
Alzheimer’s agony: a son’s vow to never endure
Springtime. Blooming trees. Green grass. Cool winds. Sunny skies. COVID.
That is where my mind wanders every year since 2020, when the season turns. I flash back to the drive between the hospital and my home. Every evening after fighting a losing battle at an academic institution hell-bent on ignoring and downplaying the horror that was about to breach our borders. I was a fighter then — maybe more in that …
Navigating COVID: a journey from academic intensity to healing
Although it’s hard for me to comprehend and even harder to admit, I’m “of age” to be on Medicare. Recently, I visited my primary care physician (PCP) for a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit, a one-hour appointment that requires the inclusion of a cognitive screening—whether or not the patient or clinician suspects a decline in memory, judgment, or other brain functions.
The myriad brief screening tools, consisting of various questions and tasks, …
I had a (incorrect) memory screening. Have you even had one?
One doctor I’ve worked with had gotten caught up in the idea of being a doctor. She realized, during her training with us, that she had stopped looking her patients in the eye. In fact, she had stopped making eye contact with her patients when she was in residency. She had to tell these two parents that their baby had died in the womb, and she did not know how …
Embracing vulnerability: a doctor’s journey of healing and connection
I understand it well. You persuade yourself that everything is fine. And then you persuade others that your marriage is perfect.
You’re facing a terminal illness, but you’re the exception because it surely can’t happen to you.
You’re in poor health with unexplained aches and pains, but you avoid visiting your doctors, instead praying to Jesus to alleviate your pain. To heal you of whatever it might be.
Denial. I was a workhorse. …
Breaking free from denial: Embracing the truth
There’s a condition that is crippling Black and brown communities at a disproportionate rate and causing 400 amputations each day in the U.S. That may sound scary, but the most frightening part? A new consumer survey found that 70 percent of Americans have never heard of the most common vascular disease, peripheral artery disease (PAD) – PAD kills more people than three of the top cancers (breast cancer, …
Preventing amputations and saving lives starts with bringing PAD into the 21st century
I’ve been inspired by a recent New York Times article that came out about IUDs, better known as intrauterine devices, and how painful and horrible some of the experiences for women have been over the years. Since writing some of these thoughts, I saw that a Cosmopolitan article recently chimed in on the topic. I figured it was time for me, as a medical professional, to share my thoughts on …
Optimizing IUD placement: prescribed medications and timing tips
The red climbs up.
She just delivered, and the arm of my gown. It seeps under the glove, soaking the cuff.
She’s still bleeding.
No worries – I call for the postpartum hemorrhage meds in the order I’ve memorized and used successfully hundreds of times before.
It’s always stopped before.
I trust my training.
She peers over the side rail toward her baby, trying to look past her partner and the nurse and the baby nurse …
Post-delivery complications: a glimpse into obstetric care
There is a diary entry of mine (Sparks) from when I learned that the pandemic would last longer than we initially thought. 17 years old at the time, I described my feelings of fear at the thought that I may die. “I don’t know if there’s even a point to planning for the future anymore.” I go on to write that whenever I don’t get a response from a loved …
Youth are changing perceptions of death: Here’s what they want you to know
Psychiatry has a duty to be trauma-informed, given that 50 to 60 percent of the general population, and around 90 percent of people with severe mental illness, have a lifetime history of at least one traumatic event. Yet the mental health system often falls short.
Consider involuntary hospitalization in a psychiatric unit. Losing one’s freedom can be traumatic for anyone and triggering for those with past trauma of nonconsensual experiences. …
How psychiatry fails trauma survivors
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