Health pearls

For decades, in the United States, there has been very little talk about measles - for good reason. Thanks to the effectiveness of the measles vaccine that was initially available in 1963, and improved upon in 1968, rates of measles steadily fell until an outbreak in 1989. After that, the recommendation was updated to require two doses of the vaccine instead of one, and rates ...

Computer Vision Syndrome, or CVS, is not an actual medical diagnosis, but a term used to describe negative symptoms associated with viewing digital screens such as computers, tablets and smart phones.  CVS can present as tired eyes, dry eyes, tearing, blurred vision, eye pain, headaches and neck pain. Tired eyes can result from staring at a computer screen for long periods ...

Psychiatry, like retail, has busy seasons. Unlike retail, psychiatry’s hectic periods occur secondary to fluctuations in seasonal light exposure, rather than during major holidays. For years, I treated patients for worsening, or new onset depression, around Halloween, October 31.  Some of this was Seasonal Affective Disorder, some simply the effects of diminishing light ...

Over the past several weeks, we’ve posted a series of articles about osteoporosis, including lifestyle measures for prevention and a 3-part series on exercises to improve bone density and decrease falls and bone fractures. As a neurosurgeon, I am asked to consult on vertebral (spinal) fractures.  Osteoporosis is an important risk factor for acute compression fractures. ...

March was colon cancer awareness month. I am a little late in my blog this year but want to give a shout out to getting screened – you can prevent or detect this cancer early with a colonoscopy. Colon cancer is the 2nd most common cause of cancer death in the US, with approximately 50,000 people expected to die from colon cancer this year. Colon cancer deaths have dropped ...

*Osteoporosis, a Brief Overview.* Let’s talk about a process that we should think about when we’re young so we can try to prevent unfortunate events as we age.  First, here are a few important definitions. Osteoporosis is a decrease in bone mass leading to fragility of the bones and increased fracture risk. Osteopenia is its less severe sidekick and sarcopenia is loss ...

Are you alone at this time of the year, or do you plan to spend time with your family and friends? Do you know of the loners in your neighborhood or your work places?  If you have, like me, many holiday gatherings to go to, count yourself very lucky.  You might complain how you do not have enough time to “relax,” with all the running around getting gifts for family members ...

We got a frenzy of portal messages from our patients in the last few weeks wondering why the evening news on television announced a recall of high blood pressure meds they take. They thought changing Valsartan (a commonly used blood pressure medication that is part of the ARB family) to other blood pressure medications should have done the trick. They were already familiar ...

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going to a Smithsonian sponsored talk by Dr. Hall, who is a Senior Investigator at NIH and chief of one of the research programs at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases that reaches across different branches of the institute. It was the first talk in a series called “Pulse on Modern Medicine”. The ...

You may have heard recently that lack of exercise is a greater risk factor for death than high blood pressure, high cholesterol or smoking. I was curious to see whether this was a sensational headline or if there was good data to back up the claim. The article referred to in the popular press was posted on the open network of the Journal of the American Medical Association ...