Balancing care during COVID

Conditions
February 22, 2022

I started this commentary when the initial COVID spike involving the mass hospitalization of unvaccinated individuals occurred, and non-COVID patients requiring hospitalization were turned away because no beds, especially in intensive care, were available.

Some patients traveled hours to find vacant beds, and a few even died! I put the draft aside as COVID declined and hospital beds became available.

Then, Omicron joined Delta, and cases climbed once again. Hospital beds refilled …

Read more…

Balancing care during COVID

Kissing disease’s link to multiple sclerosis

Conditions
February 21, 2022

In recent decades, mounting evidence has suggested the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a ubiquitous member of the herpes family that causes infectious mononucleosis (a.k.a. the “kissing disease”), can cause multiple sclerosis (MS). Last month, a study published in the journal Science went even further, citing EBV infection as likely the leading cause of MS. It is a compelling connection that begs many questions. For example, if someone has …

Read more…

Kissing disease’s link to multiple sclerosis

Viral nomenclature or a sign of our times?

Conditions
February 21, 2022

As Pandora’s box of coronavirus opened in 2020, it engulfed our planet into an abysmal nightmare. As darkness fell, those of us in medicine sought refuge under a lamp called “knowledge” that sparked its flame from scientific evidence. But what if medicine and life itself were being written in real-time on a clean slate?

From the get-go, the medical world switched up its protective parental gear.

Moral responsibility got perceived as heroism. …

Read more…

Viral nomenclature or a sign of our times?

A message to new health care professionals

Conditions
February 17, 2022

The health care environment you are about to enter is very different from the one that existed when you entered school. The COVID pandemic has changed us all, but we, the health care providers, have taken one of the biggest hits.

We are exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally, and professionally. Even before the pandemic, we were often short-staffed and now those of us that are left are thankful for any staff, and …

Read more…

A message to new health care professionals

Misinformation in transgender health care is harming patient care

Conditions
February 16, 2022

Living in the U.S., chances are you get some regular mail that you never signed up for — a magazine, a journal, a sales flier. As medical professionals, we also get these free journals related to our field. We don’t always have the time to fact-check a publication. And with names that appear to be legitimate, we might take information at face value. This is especially true if we are …

Read more…

Misinformation in transgender health care is harming patient care

Recognizing high functioning depression

Conditions
February 15, 2022

High functioning depression (or HFD) is the mental health diagnosis given to an individual who exhibits symptoms of high-level depression but manages to maintain overall functionality in life. An HFD person will often engage in activities that would be considered “normal” and healthy for a typical person, maintaining a job and even social relationships (though they may not appear as close and involved as typically expected). However, they might find …

Read more…

Recognizing high functioning depression

A random act of kindness on a plane

Conditions
February 14, 2022

My wife and I were on a short flight from Rome to Brindisi in the region called Puglia in the southern part of Italy last year.

As we were starting to taxi down the runway, I heard a child crying a few rows behind us, but it was very different from a baby’s or a normal child’s crying. It reminded me of when I have experienced autistic children screaming, usually from …

Read more…

A random act of kindness on a plane

Eating disorders are mental health illnesses that don’t have a certain “look”

Conditions
February 13, 2022

A few days ago, I talked to a mentor and brought up my anorexia recovery journey. Using my voice after years of suffering in silence has been instrumental in releasing myself from the inner torment while trying to create purpose from the pain. When I mentioned my struggle with anorexia, the mentor responded, “How are you doing, now?” followed by one of my most dreaded comments: “I mean … You …

Read more…

Eating disorders are mental health illnesses that don’t have a certain “look”

Why is the world’s first universal coronavirus vaccine not in the FDA’s toolbox?

Conditions
February 11, 2022

Success in any project is based on using the right tool for the job. No tool would be more effective in the campaign against COVID than Covaxin, which has shown its value in India and other markets during recent months. 

While mRNA vaccines were a promising option in the early stages of the pandemic, a study released by the CDC on January 19, 2022 showed that in two of the most …

Read more…

Why is the world’s first universal coronavirus vaccine not in the FDA’s toolbox?

An update on COVID’s long tail

Conditions
February 11, 2022

What’s the problem?

Anthony Fauci, MD, has said: “Virtually everybody is going to wind up getting exposed and likely get infected.” There’s one reason to avoid this scenario: long COVID.

If Omicron is sooner or later going to infect even just “more than 50 percent,” how many will get long COVID? We can’t know yet, the variant having appeared just three months ago. Hopefully, this …

Read more…

An update on COVID’s long tail

Don’t be in a hurry to fast

Conditions
February 11, 2022

There is a lot of confusion and outright falsehoods about fasting. You can search the internet for clarity and end up more confused than when you started.

The fact is, fasting can be a very effective tool to improve your metabolic health, increase insulin sensitivity and help you lose weight. But, who should and shouldn’t use fasting for weight loss and how long to fast for effective weight loss are questions …

Read more…

Don’t be in a hurry to fast

Art as a tool to manage pain

Conditions
February 9, 2022

My niece and I look across the expanse of the second floor of Marshall’s Dranko Library as we take in the library’s Spring art exhibit: Creation in Confinement. We spot my moon drawings on black paper hanging on the opposite wall. As a new artist, accompanied by my niece artist, I excitedly read:­­­­ Heavenly Moon and Worldy Skies, and how they are both done with pastels, colored pencils, and gel …

Read more…

Art as a tool to manage pain

COVID is not always mild in kids

Conditions
February 8, 2022

Can we agree to abandon the notion that COVID in children is “mild?” At least, as a medical community? We are taught to look at the data and guide our patients based on evidence. And the fact is, in a single week in January 2022, nearly 1 million pediatric cases were reported according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Since the detection of the omicron variant, COVID-19 …

Read more…

COVID is not always mild in kids

Support desperate health care workers now, before your life counts on them

Conditions
February 8, 2022

I come calling from the frontlines of COVID.

My colleagues and I are exhausted. Defeated. And on the brink of collapse.

I have been a health care worker for 15 years. I have never seen things so bad in so many ways.

At the height of COVID, I was working 12-hour overnight shifts and weekend day shifts, in addition to my full-time job of helping manage a life support system called extracorporeal membrane …

Read more…

Support desperate health care workers now, before your life counts on them

What really happens when the unvaccinated get sick with COVID

Conditions
February 6, 2022

“My body, my rights.”

“My body is a temple.”

“I don’t want poison going into my body.”

” I’ve done my research.”

And they refuse to wear masks; they refuse to social distance. They refuse COVID vaccinations and the booster. Essentially, they spit in the face of the population that trusts in science and medical research.

The disrespect and disregard for scientists, medical doctors, RNs and respiratory therapists are astonishing.

Their support groups tout ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine …

Read more…

What really happens when the unvaccinated get sick with COVID

Inside the race to conquer the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions
February 5, 2022

An excerpt from The Vaccine: Inside the Race to Conquer the COVID-19 Pandemic. Copyright © 2022 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.

For the first time in weeks, Uğur Şahin’s calendar was clear. It was a Friday morning and the two-bedroom apartment he shared with his wife, Özlem Türeci, and their teenage daughter was unusually …

Read more…

Inside the race to conquer the COVID-19 pandemic

Patients need palliative care to manage the pain of sickle cell disease

Conditions
February 4, 2022

Sickle cell disease (SCD) affects about 100,000 Americans as an inherited genetic disorder with intermittent exacerbations requiring hospitalization. SCD is also a painful and complicated disease with no single physician specialist that can provide pain relief. While SCD pain is similar in severity to cancer pain, patients struggle to find adequate pain relief because they are often labeled as “doesn’t appear in pain” as the …

Read more…

Patients need palliative care to manage the pain of sickle cell disease

Why telehealth will change the course of autism

Conditions
February 4, 2022

As a medical student working in East Harlem, I see inequities in access to care on a daily basis. These inequities are exemplified amongst children suffering from neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism. In 2000, about 1 in 150 children were identified as having autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That rate has skyrocketed to 1 in 44 today. For parents and their children, it is well appreciated that an …

Read more…

Why telehealth will change the course of autism

134
pages