It’s 2022. COVID-19 is still here, and there is little evidence that it’s going away. Coronaviruses have been here longer than us and will be here after us. For centuries, we have co-existed with viruses, and our God-given immune systems ha…
Category: Conditions
Balancing care during COVID
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 availa…
Kissing disease’s link to multiple sclerosis
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 …
Viral nomenclature or a sign of our times?
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….
We are actually made of mucus
An excerpt from The Unseen Body: A Doctor’s Journey Through the Hidden Wonders of Human Anatomy. Everybody learns in grade school that the human body is composed mostly of water—roughly 60 percent in adults goes the statistic. I learned this fact…
A message to new health care professionals
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 physi…
Misinformation in transgender health care is harming patient care
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-c…
Recognizing high functioning depression
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…
A random act of kindness on a plane
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 b…
Eating disorders are mental health illnesses that don’t have a certain “look”
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 m…
