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Ketones may be the key to unlocking a healthier brain

Conditions

January 29, 2024

You’ve undoubtedly heard the buzzwords: ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting. I don’t have much of an opinion about what that all does for your waistline, but I venture to say that ketones may benefit your brain.

Some doctors have recommended, with rock-solid evidence, diets that increase brain ketone levels as part of the regimen to treat drug-resistant epilepsy in children. Others claim that high ketone levels are like a magic bullet and …

Holistic success and happiness in medicine [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 28, 2024

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Join Ketan Kulkarni, a physician entrepreneur. We’ll delve into the pressing issues of burnout and discontent among health care professionals, particularly physicians, and explore strategies for achieving holistic success and happiness in both personal and professional life.

What’s trying to start the next pandemic? AI drug discovery and the quest for a pan-antiviral drug

Davey Smith, MD

Conditions

January 28, 2024

As the world continues to navigate the challenges posed by respiratory viruses, recent developments have highlighted the urgency of advancing our therapeutic arsenal, particularly in the realm of broad-spectrum antivirals.

1. Winter is here. It is winter again in the northern hemisphere, and with it come the known respiratory viruses like flu, RSV, and COVID-19. Recent reports have also identified a wave of childhood pneumonia in China, not entirely attributable to …

Beyond the myths: ADHD explained in powerful comics

Emily Watters, MD

Conditions

January 28, 2024

An illustrated overview of ADHD, addressing common misconceptions and illustrating the real challenges faced by those with the condition. Through comic strips, the narrative explains the impact of ADHD on executive function and daily life, debunking the myth that symptoms are a choice or the result of not trying hard enough. It also touches on the less visible inattentive symptoms, aiming to …

Escaping the time warp: my journey after leaving clinical medicine

Keith Pochick, MD

Physician

January 28, 2024

It’s been almost two years since I left clinical medicine. In the midst of our country’s health care attrition crisis, stories of early retirement, burnout, and career transitions aren’t hard to find. While each of those accounts brings a deeper understanding of the problem, as well as potential strategies to remedy it, this is not a story about why I left medicine. Instead, it is an observation of how medicine …

Intralymphatic immunotherapy: a breakthrough approach for allergies

Amber Patterson, MD & Kara Wada, MD & Tiffany Owens, MD

Meds

January 28, 2024

Are you or a loved one constantly battling the frustrating symptoms of seasonal or year-round allergies? You are not alone; millions around the globe are affected by sneezing, itchy, watery red eyes, stuffy, runny noses, and headaches. Avoidance of triggers and medications may provide temporary relief, but for those seeking a longer-lasting or more natural solution, immunotherapy (IT) can be life-changing. IT provides sustained benefits of decreased symptoms and medication …

Empathy: the unexpected gift from abuse

Chloe N. L. Lee, MD, MPH

Physician

January 28, 2024

Months after I left him, I could still feel the pain he inflicted. He not only weaponized my insecurities but also demeaned the things about myself that I loved, insidiously dismantling my sense of self until nothing remained.

I even doubted my ability as a psychiatrist, and I hated him for that.

“Talking to you is like trying to read a Step 2 question!” he had sneered. “I don’t know anyone who …

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Empathy: the unexpected gift from abuse

A physician’s journey in Cuba reveals surprising faith and resilience [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 27, 2024

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Join William Lynes, a urologist, as he shares his remarkable journey of a recent missionary trip to Cuba. Discover the challenges and triumphs faced by both the Cuban people and the mission team. Explore the profound faith and resilience …

How to lose your compassion: the brutal reality of medical internship

Qais Iqbal, MD

Education

January 27, 2024

Not all at once, just slowly enough that you don’t notice.

“I’m having a rough go at it,” Mr. Robinson confesses. He was listening to me use choppy, challenging vocabulary to piece together what’s landed him in the hospital.

But I know what he’s talking about. The mass in his chest that’s been compressing on his airway, making him so sick, so quickly. He is talking about his pneumonia: the fevers, chills, …

The Federal SAVE Act: a beacon of hope for health care worker safety

Scott Ellner, DO, MPH

Policy

January 27, 2024

It’s a narrative that has become disturbingly familiar: different health care providers, yet the same traumatic story.

Ramon, an idealistic new nurse, was drawn to nursing to make a meaningful impact in the lives of the most vulnerable. But in an instant, his love for nursing changed. After just six months as a nurse, a patient’s son viciously attacked Ramon, enraged over his mother’s COVID-19-related hospitalization. In a blind fury, …

The top regret of the dying: Are you living your true life?

Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD

Physician

January 27, 2024

During her time working with people who were dying, nurse Bronnie Ware found that one of the top 5 regrets is, “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” (Source: The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware)

How do you know if you are living a life true to you? What steps may you take …

Health care’s hidden struggles: a paradigm shift [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 26, 2024

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Join Vickie Leff, a palliative social worker. We’ll dive into a thought-provoking conversation about shifting the health care paradigm, where we explore the emotional toll on health care professionals, the need for sustainability, and how institutions can …

My spinal cord injury story from physician to patient, and how I rebuilt my nervous system

Dr. Olivia Ong

Physician

January 26, 2024

It took a traumatic spinal cord injury in 2008 to transform my life.

The experience was a radical awakening. I was told that I would never walk again.

On one fine spring day in 2008, my life changed forever. I was walking to work when I was hit by a car at high speed. My body was flung into the sky, and as I hovered, like a slow-motion movie, a few thoughts …

The superhero spectrum in health care

Harvey Castro, MD, MBA

Physician

January 26, 2024

Strategic thinking: The Doctor Strange of health care. Health care professionals, much like Doctor Strange, often engage in complex decision-making, foreseeing multiple outcomes to choose the best path for patient care. Your ability to strategize and anticipate is crucial in saving lives and ensuring quality care.

Innovation: Channeling Iron Man. Innovation is key in health care. Just as Iron Man tinkers and invents, you too innovate daily – whether through cutting-edge surgical techniques, …

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The superhero spectrum in health care

Should you fire back after a stealth firing?

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

January 26, 2024

Stealth firing is a term used to describe the cold, unexpected firing of employees by their managers and/or individuals from human resources (HR) departments – sometimes without the manager’s awareness and even after years of loyalty for some. The Bureau of Labor Statistics cannot adequately track this statistic because its definition lacks precision, but it is not uncommon in certain practice areas, such as law, tech, and financial firms. The …

Tragic turn in the OR: A rookie doctor’s race against time

William Lynes, MD

Physician

January 26, 2024

An excerpt from A Surgeon’s Knot.

The phone jarred Jackson Cooper, MD’s weary, anxious brain into consciousness from the edge of sleep. He jumped up, dropping the receiver on the cold floor of the call room. “Hello,” he said, tension entering the new intern’s mind.

“Dr. Cooper,” the nurse’s voice said nervously. She almost stuttered as she spoke. “It . . . it’s . . . Mr. Simpson, he’s bleeding. I …

How one family’s hero ended a pandemic [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 25, 2024

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Join Shan Liu, an emergency physician and co-author of Masked Hero: How Wu-Lien Teh Invented the Mask and Ended an Epidemic. Discover the journey of Wu Lien-teh, Shan’s great-grandfather, who played a pivotal role in ending a …

Pandemic aftermath: Navigating a new normal in health, education, and social dynamics

Susan Levenstein, MD

Policy

January 25, 2024

Psychological distress. In 2021, 40% of high school students felt sad and hopeless, 20% seriously considered suicide, and 10% attempted it, with suicides among young people hitting their highest rates ever, though they fell in 2022. Since the greatest increase was before 2017, we can’t really blame the pandemic. And some “innovative” approaches for combatting …

Euphoria-free pain relief: A gabapentin alternative you’ve been waiting for?

L. Joseph Parker, MD

Meds

January 25, 2024

A groundbreaking discovery in pain management could revolutionize how we treat chronic pain. In a report from a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at New York University, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, have announced the discovery of a novel medication that could treat centralized pain that targets Cav2.2 calcium channels (also called N-type calcium channels).

First, what is centralized …

Uncovering the real story behind opioid prescriptions and deaths

Richard A. Lawhern, PhD

Conditions

January 25, 2024

As a non-clinician patient advocate and health care writer, I am frequently reminded of a quotation attributed to Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain): “Figures don’t lie. But liars figure.” I am also aware of a second quotation from economist Ronald H Coase: “If you torture the data for long enough, it will confess to anything.”

I find that both quotations apply directly to the U.S. Centers for …