Category: Conditions

Inside the cancer waiting room where hope hangs in the balance

I sat there, frozen in time, full of fear, full of anxiety. Waiting for my time to “face the music,” but this wasn’t a dance party. My fellow patients, complete strangers, were seated about me, and each of us kept a safe distance apar…

From overdose to ICU: a doctor’s battle for a young woman’s life

An excerpt from Adventures of an American Medical Student. I can still remember Ms. Osborne’s long, messy, brown hair and pale, attractive face like it was yesterday. She was young, and she presented to the Brighton Medical Center Emergency Depar…

The humorous essay that predicted today’s medical anxiety epidemic

In elementary school, we read an essay named ‘The Man Who Was a Hospital’ by Jerome K. Jerome. This is a humorous essay in which the writer describes his misadventure in a humorous way. He says that once, he was reading a liver pill circula…

America’s nurses have PTSD: Will anyone listen to them?

My first clinical rotation as a nursing student was on the same floor where my mother died of cancer. And my very first patient was a young Hispanic man with four children. I was asked to tell him that he had pancreatic cancer and very little time left…

Critical care physician battles long COVID with hope and grit

I recognize your anguish. Long COVID is new, and I will do my best to support you through this new and confusing illness. This is all I wanted to hear in my countless doctor’s visits. Some came close. The rest were baffled, given how healthy I wa…

Navigating spring allergies in the era of climate change

As winter chill thaws and the spring flowers begin to bloom, many of us find ourselves grappling with the unwelcome return of sneezing, itching, and congestion that signals spring allergy season. This year, like nearly every in the last decade, seems t…

Inside the mind of Alzheimer’s: a caregiver’s haunting nightmare

An excerpt from Releasing the Butterfly: A Love Affair in Four Acts. Imagine there must be thousands, if not millions, of family members and caregivers who wonder what it must be like to be the one who has Alzheimer’s. Genie and I have always sha…

Ultrasound shows promise as new pain treatment, targeting a specific brain region

A recent study published in PhysicsWorld documented a possible new treatment for pain. Something most physicians would be surprised to hear. Ultrasound. That’s right, low-frequency ultrasound waves, when directed to a specific area of the brain c…

Why you (and your patients) should have a mindfulness practice

Nobody can question the fact that the world has a mental health problem. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the medical health profession. American Medical Association statistics show that in 2021, physician burnout rates were 63 percent, which wa…

Did you know that colder weather can complicate blood pressure control rates and treatment?

Next time you hear “cuffing season,” think of blood pressure cuffs. As winter has properly set in with shorter, darker, colder days, you might see the impact on blood pressure control rates. A new study examined the health records of more t…