Conditions

Should transgender athletes compete in women’s sports?

Conditions
September 5, 2024

Watching the 2024 Paris Olympics reminded me of my intense love for sports. It is the nobility, beauty, strength, agility, and fairness that attract me and the audience. Performances by Simone Biles, with her majesty and strength, to Katie Ledecky’s’ power and domination, surrounded by Olympic and world record performances, often bring me to tears. These attributes have abounded in Paris, but unfortunately, something foul is also afoot.

Sexual and gender …

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From anaphylaxis to food allergy freedom: a family’s journey down under

Conditions
September 4, 2024

My daughter Amelia’s first bottle of formula was a turning point. The innocent act triggered a terrifying anaphylaxis that catapulted us into a world of food allergies. As a young mother, the diagnosis was a gut-wrenching blow. Every food label became a riddle to decipher, and every social event a logistical nightmare, as we didn’t want our daughter to grow up facing the social exclusion, bullying, and isolation that all …

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Is saliva the key to early disease detection and better oral health outcomes for patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities?

Conditions
September 3, 2024

Dental appointments for patients with special health care needs – especially those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) – are no easy feat. Fraught with challenges, uncertainties, and fears, a dental appointment can be, at best, a trying situation and, at worst, traumatizing for patients with IDD. The sensation of plaque being scraped from teeth, the loud sounds of drills and suction, and the bright lights while lying in a …

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Hope from an older doctor to those patients ready to give up their car keys

Conditions
September 1, 2024

When you are older, you are considered a threat to other drivers. Reflexes are dampened, muscle responses are sluggish, cataracts obscure vision, and inflexible eye lenses slow focus.

Cars are made to drive fast, and many whippersnappers navigate the streets as if they are at the Indianapolis 500. How many times have you been tailgated and honked at from behind when traveling at the posted speed limit?

And should there be an …

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The tragic migraine classification and diagnosis fiasco

Conditions
August 31, 2024

The first classification of primary headaches was developed in 1962 by the Ad Hoc Committee, a group of neurologists with a special interest in migraine. They correctly classified primary headaches, as per the published data, into:

  1. Vascular headache of the migraine type
  2. Muscle contraction headache
  3. Mixed muscular/vascular headache

The different types of primary headaches were classified according to the anatomical structure from which the pain originates. Therefore, one had to examine …

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Health care communication in a post-COVID world: What’s changed and what’s not since the pandemic

Conditions
August 31, 2024

An excerpt from The Mumbo Jumbo Fix: A Survival Guide for Effective Doctor-Patient-Nurse Communication.

If you’re like me, you mark life’s timeline by three milestones—before COVID, during COVID, and after COVID. While most of us no longer wear masks or maintain social distance, the world has undeniably changed in ways that impact health care communication among its three essential participants: doctors, patients, and nurses.

Telemedicine, the …

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The hidden pain behind a smile

Conditions
August 30, 2024

(Trigger warning: suicide attempt)

It was dinner time at this hospital’s psychiatric unit. They shuffled into the dining area—slippers, pajamas, disheveled, sad, lonely, depressed … and forgotten.

Head count. All were present except for one: Rita. Faithful Rita. Always at every therapy session, including poetry therapy, art therapy, and bingo night. Always smiling and laughing, cheering up the other patients. Rita was 54 years old and a mother of three. Her husband …

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Why doctors are afraid to take on insurance giants—and how it hurts patients

Conditions
August 30, 2024

Half of my family and many of my friends are doctors. I admire them enormously: they are smarter, work harder, and are more compassionate than any group I know. Yet sadly, they are all wimps. Despite non-stop carping about the dangers and cost of health insurers’ prior authorization machinations, not a single one is willing to step up and take on an insurance company.

Of course, I understand why: doctors’ incomes …

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The unspoken emotional toll of trauma surgery: a medical student’s journey

Conditions
August 30, 2024

It’s one thing to choose a career dedicated to saving lives; it’s another altogether to confront the harsh reality of death. As a third-year medical student, my trauma surgery rotation highlighted that distinction. For all the patients we saved, there were also those who, despite the team’s best efforts, succumbed to their injuries amidst trauma activations. The protocol for a patient’s death in the trauma bay was always followed to …

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When corporate hospitals cause real harm

Conditions
August 29, 2024

When patients go to the hospital seeking help, they are vulnerable and fully trusting of the modern hospital system to do only what is needed and nothing more. And with good reason—patients are well aware of the incredible sacrifices doctors have made, including the oath to do no harm, and their passion to save lives. What is less known by patients is the fee-for-service model of health care that awaits …

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Embracing data-driven solutions to prevent falls

Conditions
August 28, 2024

Released in 2000, the landmark report “To Err is Human” aimed to transform patient safety by highlighting the prevalence of medical errors and their devastating impact. The report underscored various issues, including medication errors, falls, and surgical complications, garnering widespread attention and spurring significant improvements in certain areas of patient safety. As a result of this increased focus, tools like the World Health Organization’s Surgical Safety …

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The dark psychology of medical con-men

Conditions
August 28, 2024

Paolo Macchiarini, MD, is a thoracic surgeon and regenerative medicine researcher who gained international fame for pioneering surgeries that involved implanting synthetic tracheas seeded with the patient’s own stem cells. However, Macchiarini’s career came to a halt when allegations of scientific misconduct, ethical breaches, and fraudulent practices surfaced. Several of his patients experienced severe complications, and some died as a result of his experimental surgeries. Investigations revealed that Macchiarini …

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Are e-cigarettes harming your reproductive health?

Conditions
August 27, 2024

In recent years, e-cigarettes have emerged as a popular alternative to traditional cigarettes, often marketed as a safer choice. However, accumulating evidence reveals that e-cigarettes pose significant risks, particularly to reproductive health. This concern is especially urgent given the ongoing decline in fertility rates across the United States, which have reached historic lows in recent years. As a reproductive specialist, I find it crucial to address these risks and emphasize …

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Why we need to stop blaming people for their diabetes

Conditions
August 27, 2024

“You brought this on yourself with poor eating habits and bad lifestyle choices.”

If you or someone you know has diabetes, you have likely heard this harmful misconception or even thought it yourself.

While the federal government’s proposed pharmacare legislation has spotlighted diabetes—with diabetes medications to be among the first prescriptions included in a new national pharmacare plan—erroneous assumptions and negative judgments about the condition persist.

It is time that we erased the …

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Closing the colorectal cancer screening gap: the need for clear guidance on the use of new screening options

Conditions
August 26, 2024

As a practicing gastroenterologist, I never want to say to a patient: “You have advanced colon cancer.” Just last week, I discovered an early colon cancer in an asymptomatic patient who was referred to me after a positive result on a non-invasive multi-target stool DNA test. The patient was grateful we caught it and recognized that if it was not for that positive test, she was hesitant to have a …

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Is skin really the largest organ? The truth might surprise you.

Conditions
August 26, 2024

While driving to work one morning, I heard a radio commercial for a men’s fragrance product. In that commercial, the male actor boldly stated that “the skin is the largest organ.” Additionally, I had heard or read this same statement several times earlier that same week.

Dictionaries define dictum (synonyms: saying, proverb, maxim, aphorism) as a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source or a short, pithy expression identified with a particular …

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Latest advancements in inflatable penile implants: a men’s health urologist’s perspective

Conditions
August 26, 2024

As a man, the idea of worsening erectile function as we age is quite daunting. Although Viagra and Cialis provide relief for many, there are many more who do not respond well to these medications. In these situations, the inflatable penile implant is a valuable option for addressing erectile dysfunction.

As a urologist dedicated to improving the quality of life for men dealing with erectile dysfunction (ED), I have witnessed remarkable …

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Many kids benefit from GLP-1s. What happens when they have to stop taking them?

Conditions
August 24, 2024

At the November 2022 Obesity Week in San Diego, it was clear something big was happening. A late-breaking session released results of the STEP TEENS phase IIIa trial, showing 16 percent weight loss in adolescents with obesity treated with once-weekly semaglutide (Wegovy) for 68 weeks. The side effects were manageable and similar to those experienced in adults: nausea, vomiting, and constipation.

A month later, semaglutide received FDA approval for weight management …

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From plant milk to human milk: the untapped climate solution

Conditions
August 23, 2024

Did you know? August 22nd marks World Plant Milk Day. Get ready for a creamy, non-dairy cheers! Once just reserved for soy, the list of alternate milk options now includes everything from macadamia to hemp to flax to rice milk.

But has anyone stopped to wonder why our milk craze, first ignited with the glass bottle deliveries of 1878 and now perpetuated with the bougiest …

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The hidden impact of pharmacy benefit companies on fertility treatments

Conditions
August 22, 2024

Fertility treatments are a challenging journey filled with emotional highs and lows. For many, these treatments represent the hope of starting or growing a family. However, one of the less obvious but critical aspects of this journey involves pharmacy benefit companies (PBCs). These companies play a significant role in determining access to fertility medications, and their influence can create unexpected barriers for patients and health care providers alike.

Pharmacy benefit companies …

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CME Spotlights