The Pandemic of Fear So here we are 10 months into a worldwide pandemic. How are we doing? How was public policy formulated? How is it being implemented today? We can be ruled by fear or we can be ruled by reason and example. Fear is the coinage and watchword today. Fear destroys our capacity for critical and rational thinking and decision-making. You know the old expression, “I was so nervous I couldn’t think straight.” That is where we are…
The Set-up CoronaVirus aka SARS-CoV-2 aka Covid-19. It has become everything. It has consumed our daily lives. The constant daily, nay hourly, haranguing of “breaking news.” The media talks about nothing else. As if life had stopped. I want to give you a different view and projection. A medical / epidemiologic / economic view. A more global and comprehensive take. The view from 10,000 feet as it were. This is going to be a longer blog. This Virus is Striking…
How should you respond to the spread of the Coronavirus? Renamed COVID-19. What is the most rational and sane response? Should we close off all the borders? Should we cancel all conferences and outdoor events? Should we cancel the Olympics? What is the real prevalence and mortality rate? The answer: this is a time for vigilance, preparation, with calmness. This is your grand sweep of time overview. This series will be updated as this is a fast moving story. CoronaVirus…
Telomeres, telomerase and senolytics is ushering in a new era of longevity medicine and vital health. These are exciting times. In 1994 the first ever world conference on Anti-Aging Medicine was held in small “off the strip” hotel in Las Vegas. An exciting prospect under the auspices of American Academy on Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). The goal of that time was to aggregate the best of medical science and information into a cohesive body of high-tech preventive medicine. With the aim…
Does estrogen benefit or exacerbate migraine headaches? Common knowledge in the medical literature is that estrogen may increase the frequency and severity of migraine headaches. This has not been our experience. Estrogen is a vasodilator. And, therefore, should prevent the constricted phase of migraine headaches. So let me tell you a clinical story. A 52-year-old postmenopausal female patient went to see her gynecologist. On pelvic ultrasound her endometrial (uterine lining) thickness was 4 mm. At her age a “normal” endometrial…
I have written often and spoken repeatedly to so many of my patients about relative versus absolute risk. This is so widespread in the medical literature, scientific literature and even in all advertising. I am always waiting for that “aha moment” when you understand how relative risk management is chicanery. It is used to sell you product. To amplify, inflate or conflate results. I am prompted to write this blog by a recent meta-analysis published in JAMA Neurology May 13,…
We live in a digital age. Do you think of your body as digital or analog? Answer this simple question. Do you wear a modern digital watch or a traditional analog watch? Why do I ask these questions? Because it shows how you can look at the time and space in different ways. An analog watch does not need to be exact or precise. A quick glance and you know exactly where you are in a diurnal 24 hour cycle. …
Probably as long as you can remember, cholesterol is “known” to be the cause of cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease. Does dietary cholesterol cause heart disease? What about familial super high cholesterol? Does that cause heart disease? The short answer is – probably not. Let’s expand. I have written extensively on the subject in the past. Cholesterol has been studied since the early 1900s. Initially in fits and starts. John Goffman studied cholesterol in the 1950s at Donner labs…
This is my seasonal flu post. One that I update each year. Here are current recommendations and controversies regarding influenza vaccinations, prevention and treatment. I am going to give you a slightly expanded version this year related to last year’s flu vaccine post. In short, I have never been a proponent of flu vaccinations. I am middle of road on vaccinations. You really want polio, measles and mumps and tetanus every 10 years. For high risk exposures you want Hepatitis…
Vitamin D is back in the news again. You may have seen recent news claiming vitamin D supplementation fails to prevent osteoporosis, fractures or falls. Published in the Lancet — a Systematic Review and Meta Analysis paper dated October 04, 2018 from the Department of Medicine, University of Auckland, New Zealand and the Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. They conclude and state at the end of a complex meta-analysis “we believe there is no justification for…
