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From my earliest memories, I wanted to become a doctor — because I wanted to fix my family. You see, although nobody knew the names and the terms at the time, both my father and my brother had Asperger’s Syndrome.

Graphic of Autistic Spectrum Disorders in a ring

I studied the brain from inside and out. I became a neurosurgeon and I worked in psychiatric drug development. For the past 40 years I practiced medicine in every type of situation imaginable — from the US Army to prisons to community mental health centers to exclusive private psychiatric hospitals and clinics.

Now I’m devoting my life to helping those whose lives are affected by Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

I don’t believe mainstream medicine is doing a good job. The cost-containment model of healthcare in America doesn’t allow very much help to actually reach the patients.

I’m here for the patients AND the families. I have seen major improvements in patients and I have been researching ways to help that are not strictly drug oriented.

I want families and — yes, even patients — to contribute to the conversation, to compare notes, and to look for ways to improve life for everyone involved.

I will share my knowledge and I will answer questions. I’ll do whatever I can.

Feel free to ask me questions and I’ll answer them in this blog.

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If you follow me on Facebook you may have read that I’m moving away from direct patient care and devoting myself to helping other people become doctors.

I’ve spent my career healing individuals, and now I’m shifting into a new mode.

Helping young people discover the magic of medicine and instilling the love of learning to help them find a successful career.

Cultivating the thirst for knowledge in the healers of tomorrow. Making doctors out of medical students.

More information will be coming soon, including a new web page and more social media.

But if you want to go to medical school and aren’t able to make it through the testing and the interviews, or …

If you have a child who wants to go to medical school and is needing some extra help…

I’ll be ready!

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In 1987 I started my psychiatry residency. Since then, they have changed the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual three times and it still does not seem to be keeping up with how fast the world is changing around me.

I one saw lots of “lethargic” depressions. Slow and sleepy “ain’t got no energy” depressions. “I feel like a human blob” kind of depressions.

Now most of them turn out to be Type II (“adult onset”) sugar diabetes or the thyroid just stopped working for some creative reason. Read more on Then and Now…

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I tend to obsess about my patients.

Especially the ones who have chosen prescription psychiatric drugs over natural alternative substances. I always give a choice when it is possible — and it often is.

Of course, I must often rely on research that has been done in other countries. I have gotten used to doing this. I can’t say it bothers me terribly much.

I believe in science. Read more on Patients Should Not Die — Especially Psych Patients…

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There is paranoia about the coronavirus. Patients come into my office for other reasons and we have often ended up talking about it.

There are a variety of classifications of paranoid thoughts in the latest (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of psychiatry. Even though I have to hang a moniker from it on my work in order to get paid by any insurance for my services, there have been plenty of research articles published by responsible people tho show that it is pretty much useless. Read more on The State Of The Coronavirus…

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All over the internet, many people have come up with diagrams know as “histomaps.” These are long longitudinal diagrams that show the relative strength and power of different countries of the globe.

I am not linking to any of them because the print is too small and everyone wants to sell hard copies.

But I do have a vivid memory of the one on the wall of my sixth grade classroom. Read more on Coronavirus Testing Urgently Needed…

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Governments and public health authorities respond to situations such as the Coronavirus pandemic. Our government and public health authorities seem to have fumbled a window of opportunity and Coronavirus cases are multiplying so that the United States leads the world.

Axios seems to be a pretty good and fairly impartial reporter of news and has slowly, over time, won my endorsement. Read more on Sunday — Personal Mobility…

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To really know yourself, you have to know where you came from. Medically and psychiatrically, you can find answers to some of those things that have been puzzling you. Drinking, relationships, a whole lot of things. Be sure to sign on to Facebook and read what I’ve written about how your family history shapes your life. https://www.facebook.com/estelle.goldstein

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There was once a self-satisfied young male patient who told me that he took vitamin D and that was because he had a low serum level. He told me that D was the only vitamin ever proven to make you sick if you don’t get enough, therefore the only one worth taking.

I asked him where he had obtained this marvelous information. Read more on Everybody Is A Vitamin Expert!…

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I tend to obsess about my patients.

Especially the ones who have chosen prescription psychiatric drugs over natural alternative substances. I always give a choice when it is possible. it often is.

Of course, I must often rely on research that has been done in other countries. I have gotten used to doing this. I can’t say it bothers me terribly much. Read more on Death By Psych Meds…