So here I am, comfortably into my 40s. In many ways, this is a grand time of life: satisfying career, happy home, a greater sense of well-being and contentment. But over the last couple of years, spectacles sit on the bridge of my nose more often than not, for any close-up activity. It started in my 30s: +1 “readers” when I was using the computer a lot. Not a big deal.
A patient named Barbara bounded into my office. She threw herself into a chair, and looked at me with eyes of terror, guilt and shame. I knew from her countenance that it was confession time. She launched into her story, retelling an all-too-familiar tale: She hadn’t stuck with her anti-inflammatory diet. Her food cravings, she explained, were out-of-control, and she was miserable….
Sometimes I rather humorously, and embarrassingly, ask my patients if they remember what was happening while they were in utero. Generally, they don’t recall. The reason I ask, after rephrasing the question (“Has your mom shared with you any difficulties she had when she was carrying you?”)…
Nails. They’re a handy surface to decorate; they help us pick up objects, scratch an itch and protect our fingers and toes. But did you also know that nails can tell us a lot about your health and your well-being? For most of us, fingernails are completely renewed in about six months. That means that our nails are a six-month medical record incomparable to any physical exam component.
I admit it. I’ve harvested a scientific nugget or two from the Daily Mail. Not long ago, sandwiched between a story on toast and the five-second rule, and a selfie of Zac Efron eating a worm, was this…
Dr. Richard S. Lord, nutritional biochemist extraordinaire and Chief Science Officer at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory (now Genova) recently retired after 25 years. Richard was the director of the Medical Education team when I was in Atlanta at the lab. Richard was and continues to be, my teacher.
I was reading an article the other day lamenting that men in the US are being all feminized due to the politically correct environment in which we apparently exist. But is this the issue? Can we blame politics for hypogonadism? I think not. However, I do agree wholeheartedly that there is a change occurring.
Gastrointestinal biofilms are an important topic, and those comprised of pathogenic microbes are getting much well-deserved attention in the integrative medical community.
In a moment, I’m going to throw out a few rather depressing statistics about metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the state of health in the U.S. These stats need articulating.
I work with a family with two young sons, both diagnosed with autism. They live in a large, West Coast city.
