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« Previous Entriesall about… [embarassing topic deleted]
Monday, July 26th, 2010here is a subject nobody wants to think about, until it’s personal:
constipation.
even hearing the word might make you flinch, or snicker, and for good reason. it’s from the latin com- “together” + -stipare “to cram”.
some say that the leading cause of constipation is “lofty expectations.” people do expect to “go” quickly and easily and on [...]
3 mistakes pain patients make
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010it’s summertime! and the living is easy… right?
here in oregon, it has been cool and breezy until this week. we have missed the life-threatening heatwaves seen around the rest of the nation. for example, at the lilith fair (women’s music festival) in portland, according to rolling stone magazine, fans huddled under blankets, and performers turned [...]
news about some herbs, and a peggy lee break
Thursday, June 17th, 2010the Oregon Pharmacy Board reclassified marijuana as a “schedule II” drug under the state (not federal) Controlled Substances Act.
this puts it in the same category as morphine, oxycodone, amphetamine (Adderall), and methylphenidate (Ritalin), which would make it seem that we can now start writing prescriptions for it.
why do we write prescriptions, anyway? it’s to tell [...]
how should doctors be paid? part 2
Sunday, May 16th, 2010i wonder how a person’s relationship to “health care” would change if insurance – and dependence on a faceless corporation that mainly acts to constrain one’s access to a mystifying set of hurdles – were out of the picture.
many of us, who don’t have insurance and/or don’t like or trust doctors, have a relationship to [...]
how should doctors be paid? part 1
Sunday, May 16th, 2010i said about one of my patients, “i don’t know why she’s even paying me, actually,” and my daughter wisecracked, “don’t tell THAT to any of your patients!”
i often state that i never actually wanted to become a doctor. it’s true. i was not one of those kids who dreamed of someday wearing a white [...]
“they don’t care how much you know…”
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010i know someone who could have died in childbirth.
of course i know lots of ladies who had births that were medically “abnormal” (my daughter’s 48-hour labor last week, or my own three postpartum hemorrhages, for example), yet who bounced away whole and hearty, who’ll testify they had a righteous, flamboyantly amazing, “wild-good” experience. but [...]
recognizing childhood diseases, part 3
Saturday, May 1st, 2010i’ve been reading a very interesting book called The Big Necessity by rose george (2008), about the politics and realities of “sanitation.” did you know that 4 in 10 people worldwide do not have a bathroom – or even a bucket? just the street or the bushes. and that’s as a mattter of everyday life, [...]
recognizing childhood diseases, part 2
Thursday, April 29th, 2010although it seems morbid (or at least comorbid, ha ha – doctor joke), i feel a little jealous of the many doctors who tell stories of all the childhood diseases they saw during their training in the last century. although it was frightening and terrible to become a doctor during the polio epidemics, or to [...]
recognizing childhood diseases, part 1
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010did you know that doctors often have dreams about patients? maybe not specific patients. but it’s natural to dream about your work – even to have bad dreams.
i dreamed that i had a patient, a little toddler, who suddenly became terribly terribly ill, with an all-over red rash, a high sweaty fever, delirium (with staring, [...]
dr. leigh’s fish oil science class
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010i tell people to take fish oil, as a supplement, pretty routinely. but a lot of my patients take other oil supplements instead, and i haven’t really been sure why. also, i was unclear on why fish oil would be recommended for arthritis pain AND for preventing heart attacks. exactly what do these conditions have [...]
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