Category: Conditions

How do you know if you have hypertension and need medication?

High blood pressure is the silent killer. It puts people at risk for heart attacks, strokes, vascular disease, kidney failure. It is basically really bad to have longstanding, undertreated high blood pressure. But it is also harmful to be told you have…

How doctors can get fit while they sit

If you work a desk job, you’re familiar with the aching back pain, stiff shoulders, and all-around discomfort that hits after you’ve been sitting for an extended period of time. Not only is it painful, but research shows that sitting for hours at a tim…

MKSAP: 45-year-old man with anorexia, dizziness, and weakness

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 45-year-old man is evaluated for anorexia, dizziness, and weakness. He was discharged from the hospital 5 days ago after transsphenoidal pi…

Beyond red flags: Beware of black butterfly warnings

I’ve just discharged a kid with a cough, and there are no patients waiting to be seen. “I’ll be back,” I tell the nurse, as I slip away to the hospital kitchen and unlock the door. I steal two frozen grilled cheese sandwiches from the freezer and throw…

Preceding traumas lead to current ones

Anita is 37 with blonde, wild, disheveled hair. She is overweight, has bad teeth, wears too much make-up, and is severely depressed — sometimes psychotic. She tells me she often hears voices. And she constantly complains that the medicine she gets from…

An orthopedic surgeon analyzes presidents’ skeletal maladies

I, along with some others, take Presidents Day as an opportunity to celebrate the lives and contributions of all U.S. presidents. Amid the praise, however, perhaps I alone feel compelled to describe their skeletal maladies. I have gleaned the following…

How to manage the side effects of prostate cancer treatment

Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer diagnosed in men in the U.S. According to statistics gathered by the American Cancer Society, approximately 191,930 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in this country in 2020, with on…

The one word that carries so much weight in the cancer experience

The patient was well over 6 feet tall and looked like he had recently lost weight. When he took off his winter coat and hung it over the back of the chair, I could see his scapulae like wings under his sweater. He folded himself into the chair and care…

Can a unique boarding home save my patient?

James is a tall, lanky Caucasian man, well into his 40s. He has brown curly hair and is not a bad looking fellow except for the vacant look in his large brown eyes. He is a pacer, which is a manifestation of his illness, and a consumer of excessive amo…

MKSAP: 23-year-old woman with 2 weeks of painful lumps on her legs

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 23-year-old woman is evaluated for 2 weeks of painful lumps on her legs. The lumps persist for several days and make it difficult for her t…