Venous leak syndrome (VLS) affects all men. In time, every man gets it. Yet no one talks about it. Fortunately, for most men, there is an easy, non-pill solution. Men with this condition get it up, but can’t keep it up as easily and as long as th…
Category: Conditions
Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check
Since the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), when civil service exams evaluated intellectual abilities, people have used cognitive assessments to identify special talents or, more commonly, to detect problems. We’ve come a long way in 2,000 years! Tod…
Reimagining diabetes care with nutrition, not prescriptions
In 2025, more than 38 million, or 1 in 10 Americans, live with Type 2 diabetes. In the rapidly evolving landscape of the modern health care system, traditional care strategies for Type 2 diabetes often vastly overlook long-term individual and societal …
A speech pathologist’s key to better, safer patient care
“Some doctors type notes with their backs turned while I say things. I have aphasia. I need to be able to see people’s mouths and their eyes to help me understand.” As a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP), I have spent most o…
How collaboration saved my life from a rare disease doctors couldn’t diagnose
So what exactly does collaborative health care mean? When we break this down into categories, there are three main approaches, each with a different benefit but ideally sharing the same end goal: to better improve patient outcomes. First, doctor to alt…
Why your emotions are your greatest compass in therapy and life
In his book Ways of Attending, McGilchrist (2016) discusses a difference in attention—one that seeks organization and one that any attempt at organizing subverts. A bit like Schrödinger’s cat, just by looking, it is disturbed. In differing transl…
Patients are not waiting: What MCDA twin parents teach us about shared decision-making
Monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twin pregnancies come with more scans, more risk, and more decisions to make in very little time. Parents are expected to absorb complex medical information, navigate unfamiliar terminology, and act quickly, often under …
Health workers deserve care too: How to protect their mental health
Kim Downey: A friend shared with me how she told someone their mutual physician was on medical leave. She heard it was serious. That person’s immediate response was concern over how it would affect their upcoming appointment. My friend said she t…
Why the words doctors use matter more than they think
I recently attended a medical conference for the Huntington’s disease (HD) community. Hundreds of people were gathered to collaborate, share knowledge, and learn how to better address the needs of their patients. During the first session, I found…
How AI helped me reclaim my creative mind with ADHD
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand and tame my own mind. I meditate—have for years. I journal. I go to therapy. I’ve devoted years of my life to endurance sports to “get out of my head,” I even lived at a yoga ashram….
