Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement, resulting most notably in tremor, slow movement, stiffness and balance issues. While Parkinson’s patients benefit from medicine that can alleviate some of these symptoms, there are no available treatments to slow, halt or reverse the progressive destruction of dopamine-producing brain cells and abnormal clumping of alpha synuclein, an otherwise normal brain protein. The disease affects roughly 10 million people ...
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Some children present to me with complex problems or multiple problems that fail to resolve after the typical interventions.
I recall a child with severe abdominal pain. He had tried numerous medicines and had had scopes and studies galore. It had reached the point where he was being scheduled for exploratory surgery to try and see the cause of his pain. I lost track of his case when I rotated elsewhere ...
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Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 79-year-old man is evaluated for a 2-month history of progressively worsening headaches, nausea, visual disturbance, and difficulty speaking. He also has hypertension and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Medications are lisinopril and omeprazole.
On physical examination, vital signs are normal. Right oculomotor nerve (cranial nerve III) and bilateral abducens nerve (cranial ...
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Parents often ask me about snacks for their children once they are eating table food. Should they even give them snacks? If so, what kinds are good for them, and how often? In general, after age one I recommend three kid-size meals and 1 to 2 snacks to help them get their daily nutritional requirements. Try not to stress or obsess at each feeding about them eating all that you ...
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As a sports medicine orthopaedic surgeon, I often see patients with complaints at their elbow. One of the more common diagnoses is tennis elbow, otherwise known as lateral epicondylitis. Surprisingly, most of my patients with this condition don’t even play tennis! Many types of repetitive arm movement can lead to tennis elbow. It all has to do with the tendons in our arms.
Tendons are the structures that hold muscle to ...
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World Kidney Day reminds us of the 850 million people globally affected by kidney diseases. It draws attention to the 1 in 7 American adults managing Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and the 660,000 Americans with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). It also reminds us that kidney disease is the 9th leading cause of death in the United States.
But perhaps one of the most important statistics on World Kidney ...
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As medical professionals, one of the most challenging things to do is to motivate a patient to make changes in their lives. We passionately want the best for our patients, and it is sometimes so difficult for us to be able to connect with and inspire them to take the next step on a path to disease prevention and longevity. The solution? Enter Lebron James and Tom Brady.
It is no ...
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I didn’t become a primary care doctor to treat opioid addiction.
I wasn’t trained for it. To be honest, it scared me.
But when you work, like I do, at a clinic that serves a lot of people who have little money or who struggle with mental health and substance use issues, there comes a point when you have to step up.
When I started seeing patients in 2009, I knew that opioid ...
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Most patients have an idea of how surgery and chemotherapy work. It’s not difficult to picture a surgeon cutting out a cancer or a medical oncologist prescribing chemotherapy. But how does radiation therapy work? For the vast majority of patients, and a good number of physicians, radiation therapy is a completely foreign concept.
In my practice, I find that a good portion of every new patient consultation is spent explaining what ...
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More than two-thirds of Americans use social media, and 90 percent of adults in the U.S. have a cell phone. With these tools surrounding us, we must be more connected with one another than ever before. Right?
It doesn’t feel like we are. At least, the people who engage with the health care system don’t feel connected to the rest of us. They feel lonely. It feels like we send them ...
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