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…
Filed under depression, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Education, life, medicine, Mental Illness, News, Psychiatrists, Psychology by on Jun 11th, 2020. Comment. 
I do not know this person, Nina Teicholz.
I do know that she is a very-well informed journalist and does her scientific research. She has done something very wonderful. She is spreading the correct information about the ketogenic diet.
So have I, actually. I promote it in my private practice and I practice what I preach.
I have been on some variant of the low carbohydrate/ketogenic diet for several years.
I was not terribly obsessive about collecting my own clinical data while on the diet. I have lost about 200 lbs. and basically reversed my own Type II Diabetes since I have been on this diet.
I say “basically” and not “totally” because I have not “cured” it.
Just gotten myself down to normal blood sugar range. If I ate a bread-and-pasta type meal, it might result in anything from a mildly raised glucometer reading to diabetic coma.
I absolutely do not want to find out.
I think I picked up some of the common complications of diabetes during the dozen or so years since my hospitalization (and initial diagnosis) of type II diabetes (with blood sugars around 600) which caused the docs to tell my husband I could snuff it during my intensive care hospital stay (at age 46).
I am still here.
I walk with a cane mostly, because of nerve damage in my feet. With meganutrition and exercise it has improved somewhat.
This despite the women in my family who did not have diabetes and yet managed to walk poorly (with canes) with weak and tingly feet. It may be a familial peripheral neuropathy.
At least it does not keep me from (my own brand of) dancing.
My visual acuity is down a bit because of retinal damage. All I can do now is watch my diet and monitor my blood sugar.
I did not decide how to manage my life and infirmity by anything other than … reading science. I have been doing that for a very long time. For all of my ups and downs, I have used applying science to resolve all the seemingly impossible problems of my life.
Loneliness. (See my book on “How to locate and marry your lifetime love.”)
Obesity/Type II Diabetes. (See “This is Not a Diet Book.”)
The real problem, is the finding of scientific truth.
Although academics, professors at universities and such, are pressured individuals in a painful distillate of scientific achievement, I trust the process of academic achievement more than the processes of government or insurance.
The processes of the latter seem to be more profit-motivated than anything else.
Filed under Doctors, eating disorders, Family, life, medicine, News, Nutrition, weight by on Jan 13th, 2020. Comment.
It happened several years ago, when one of the immigrants of Mexican origin I frequently saw as a patient in the poorer counties of California came to see me and pulled a pen and a steno pad out of her purse. My Spanish was a bit more rudimentary than it is now. She was matronly, with mostly grayed hair in the classic bun. She asked me if I could spend a few extra minutes with her. I told her I would take all the time I could, and try to serve her needs. It wasn’t her, she said. It was her youngest daughter, aged 13. Read more on Delayed Gratification And Life…
Filed under News, Psychiatrists, Psychology, Research, weight by on Feb 5th, 2016. Comment.
I have a lot of trouble feeling sorry for celebrities. I mean, I do applaud Tom Hanks for being open about his type II diabetes (adult onset, often associated with factors such as aging and being overweight). I have seen and heard too much about stereotypes of people as being overweight and lazy and old when they are type II diabetic.
I have always been concerned about people who have lives of such unrelenting boredom and mundanity that they choose to live through being fans of celebrities. Many beloved patients and one beloved husband think I should be a celebrity, for having done things. This, of course, would fly in the face of numerous celebrities who have done little or nothing identifiable, such as the Kardashians, but I am assured it is still possible. Read more on Did Yo-yo dieting Give Tom Hanks Diabetes?…
Filed under Celebrities, weight by on Nov 11th, 2013. Comment.
Back in France, when I wished there were more hours in the day to study, two female Mormon missionaries showed up at my door. They tried to get inside, wanting to assimilate me to that religion. I had not yet developed the method of chasing Mormon missionaries that I used years later, when we lived in Palm Springs. I took the bus and the Mormon missionaries would nail me at the bus stop. I did not want to run away and miss the bus, so I yelled “Devil get thee behind me” in English and numerous Psalms in Hebrew. This method worked quickly and efficiently for getting rid of many southern California Mormon missionaries. This method has been replicated by me in numerous situations.
Back in France, I was less experienced. I hit them with Genesis Chapter 3 verse 16; in French “Tu enfanteras avec douleur.” I suppose I could have used the English standard version. I basically convinced them not only that I knew my Old Testament pretty well, but that I had enough problems being female and a French medical student without being a Mormon. The older of the two women, a preceptor guiding a young student, said the equivalent of “she knows Scripture; we better leave her alone,” and I hid my joy. Read more on Women’s Pains…
Filed under Disease, News, Religion by on Feb 12th, 2013. Comment.
You can deep fry just about anything and it will taste good. Ask just about anyone who lives in the south. Twinkies, cheesecake, pickles, or whole turkeys. Maybe even an old tennis shoe. Nothing is exempt!
This woman has grown a Southern comfort food empire by cooking deep fried cheesecake and other things I am unlikely to eat. She did not go public with her Type II Diabetes until three years after she learned of it. Now someone from some group for science in the public interest says she should have come forward earlier.
Her empire can’t be doing that well, for I bought a little bottle of her mint jelly at some deep discount store about a week ago. I liked it, but it wasn’t any better than anyone else’s mint jelly. Admittedly, I’ve never watched her on television. I don’t watch cooking shows because I don’t care about food the same way I used to. I remember when all I could think of after one meal was what I would get for the next. And I was never even the primary food preparer at home. My honored husband has always taken that in hand for me. Read more on The Cooking Guru’s Health Problems…
Filed under Celebrities, News, Nutrition, weight by on Jun 27th, 2012. Comment.
When I was little, my Grandfather-of-Blessed-Memory (maternal) came to visit us at 6 am every Sunday morning, arising very early to drive about two hours from Springfield to our Boston suburb of Chelsea.
Springfield would be considered “way out west” as compared to civilized and urbanized Boston, so it is like the country mouse coming to the big city.
He said the road was not busy and drive was relaxing and pleasant for him. But his visits were anything but relaxing and pleasant for us, who would much rather have tried to sleep in on Sunday.
The exception was my paternal Grandmother-of-Blessed-Memory – who was also an early riser. Older folks often seem to get up early.
(That’s how I know I’m not old yet – I still love to sleep late). These two senior members of our family seemed to get along well. Grandfather called her “Mother Goldstein,” and even brought her a nice bottle of (coincidentally named) “Mother Goldstein” brand kosher wine. There was one incident that I recall that upset a peaceful Sunday morning when I was about five. I came downstairs in my best baby blue lace dress to hear Grandfather yelling at Grandmother never to serve him that “horrible drink” again. Read more on Chicory, Belgian Endives And Me…
Filed under medicine, News, weight by on Feb 8th, 2012. Comment.