Men. They really are different. They are psycho-socially different; this has provided for generations of standup comedy material about their inability to ask for directions when they are driving and lost, as well as their inability to move toward a restroom in groups. They got issues.
I learned a lot about this when studying and teaching psychotherapy. It seems you can’t get men into psychotherapy unless they are adolescents, post-andropause, or gay. Read more on Men Aren’t What They Used To Be…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Contraception, News, relationships, Research by on Mar 6th, 2013. Comment.
This thing might work for some. Proof of its working is thin, but that tends to be a chronic problem with this kind of device. The patients studied with Cefaly had migraines not over a few times a month. My patients — who use marijuana, generally of the sativa type — have the most intense migraine headaches I have ever seen or heard of and have them on a daily basis. This is pretty amazing, since I worked for one year in a major Midwestern university headache clinic. The major questions are what causes migraine headaches, and whether this device indeed nips them in the bud. Read more on Cefaly, the Anti-Migraine Device…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Brain, Research by on Mar 4th, 2013. Comment.
The first time I heard of the fruit mangosteen, I thought it was just a Jewish mango. Turns out it’s Southeast Asian and in no way Jewish. Makes sense; I mean, how do you circumcise a fruit? Let alone teach it to read the holy books.
The second time I heard of it, I was trying to help a manic-depressive who went manic on it. A degree professional had suddenly thrown angry tantrums, put his hand and other weapons through nearby walls, and tried to burn down the apartment building where his woman-friend lived. He succeeded in burning down part of it. It all happened within a few hours of him ingesting mangosteen. I told him to stop the damned mangosteen. I remember seeing him through bars, and I doubted he could get any mangosteen in there, anyway. But he would not hear ill of his dear mangosteen. It was a multi-level-marketing product and he seemed to believe in it for that reason, despite some factors I was trying to introduce. Things like biochemical truth, behavioral pharmacology, and my decades of medical practice experience — as opposed to his multi-level marketing experience. His family stopped paying me as an expert. I think they all sold mangosteen. Read more on Utah, Mangosteen, and Bad Stuff…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, medicine, News, politics, Research by on Feb 14th, 2013. 3 Comments.
When a marijuana patient visits me for permission to use that drug, I have to ask them, gently, how long they have used it. Most, if they are old enough, do not give me an answer that I can quantify. Instead, they start with something like, “It seems like yesterday I used it for fun. Now, I need it just to (fill in the blank).” Survive, live, walk, or keep from throwing up. They wonder about how and when it changed from a form of recreation to a form of drug treatment.
They never seem to believe it has already been a drug, for thousands of years, in other cultures. If I give them enough time, they count their own age and their own problems by how they use it. With a few thousand papers published every year, mostly in other countries, it would be crazy at this point to try to believe it wasn’t a drug. For an amazing number of folks, it seems to be the way they reckon the passage of their lives. Read more on The Passage of Time…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Family, News, weight by on Feb 6th, 2013. Comment.
The Catholics have a history of making heroes out of those who suffer the most. I really don’t know what kind of reaction this young man should expect from his “very Catholic” grandmother when she finds out he is using medical marijuana.
My patient is 27, on dialysis, and looking for a kidney transplant to stay alive. He takes medical marijuana to increase his appetite and well being, as well as minimize the pain and anxiety of his situation. I have promised that I will not stop trying to help him. We will go as far as we need to, raising funds if necessary. My help will likely include taking him “public,” using the media. Read more on How Can We Explain Medical Marijuana to a Catholic Grandmother?…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, medicine, Religion, Research by on Jan 16th, 2013. Comment.
I recently got hold of a copy of Dr. Atkins’ Vita-Nutrient Solution; a book by the same Robert C. Atkins, M.D. who invented the “Atkins Diet” –mainly known as the low-carb diet. I was impressed by his general erudition and review of the literature. He had even visited with various luminaries of alternative medicine. Here was a guy who was capable of writing a pretty complete vitamin and mineral prescription for almost any chronic illness that was part of an internal medicine practice.
In a section titled “My Own Transformation,” he tells how, when he was devoted to mainstream medicine, he found a diet that worked for him and for most folks. He had found it in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which is perhaps the most mainstream medical journal that exists. He wrote his first book about that diet. He was shocked when a consensus panel from the American Medical Association was critical. After all, he had been relying on medical literature which had been reviewed by peers and validated in every way that academics respect and deserve when they have done work. He started questioning these professional “edicts” and found himself squarely in the world of nutrition-based therapeutics. I have believed for a long time that most psychiatric disorders, maybe all, are the result of a genetically transmitted limitation of the ability to metabolize nutrients. There is plenty of evidence for this. Read more on Yes, Virginia — Cannabis IS Medicine…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Doctors, medicine, News by on Nov 29th, 2012. 1 Comment.
I read a joke once about a husband’s preemptive strike in the bedroom. He walks in holding two aspirin and a glass of water. When his wife asks what it’s for he says it’s for her headache. She replies “But I don’t have a headache.” “Gotcha!”
Headaches are no fun, so we might as well get a little chuckle at their expense. And if you suffer from sinus headaches, there might be quick and inexpensive relief your doctor hasn’t shared with you.
Listen, I have had allergies since I was small but sinus headaches have been rare. That is, until I got my complete dental implants. They have wildly improved my quality of life, but I have had more intense and regular sinus headaches as a result. My surgeon had removed teeth prior to the implants and freely admitted he had been up in my sinus area. He said I could see an ear nose and throat specialist if the sinus headaches became too much of a problem. He tried to ignore my laughter as I told him I could fix this myself. Read more on What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Sinus Headaches…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Diagnosis, medicine by on Sep 3rd, 2012. 1 Comment.