I was 20 and I had just settled into the apartment above her cafe “Les Arcades” at 19, rue Leon Blum, right next to the marketplace of Amiens, France.
It was not exactly a tourist region. It produced neither wine nor cheese. But its medical school was one of two which Napoleon had said was okay to provide surgeons for his army. More important, with 650 students in the first year class and 110 in the second, it had the BEST such ratio in all of France for an aspiring doctor. Read more on My French Mama — Mme. Mareschal…
I am eating a low-carbohydrate, “ketogenic” diet. I have lost a considerable amount of weight, increased my energy, and have done a pretty good (almost-perfect) job of reversing diabetes along with the gazillion supplements I take.
There are an awfully lot of folks publishing research on an awful lot of things, with the overwhelming amount of those publishing in “traditional” medical journals (like Lancet) being professional “academics,” or university professors. Read more on You Gotta Handle It When The Truth Changes…
Filed under eating disorders, Education, News, Research, weight by on Sep 27th, 2018. Comment. 
It was a particularly beloved patient who asked me if I had any advice about improving creativity. She believed, as many people do, that it is a side effect of treating (even a relatively minor form) of bipolar illness. A lot of research back in the days of lithium, one of the first really robust treatments for bipolar illness, strongly suggested it just wasn’t so. Read more on Will Bipolar Treatment Kill Creativity?…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Brain, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Family, medicine, Mental Illness, News by on Sep 21st, 2018. Comment.
I’ve been keeping this under wraps, but now the cat is out of the bag. Or at least the film is out of the can. Read more on Mini Documentary About — ME!…
Filed under Doctors, life, News by on Sep 1st, 2018. 1 Comment.
You really can buy almost anything at WalMart.
I run quickly by the food section. Love the crumbled Feta cheese. I mean, at least it’s honest.
The imported Israeli Mexican specialties are more amusing. Read more on Walmart…
Filed under Mental Illness, News, Society by on Aug 31st, 2018. Comment.
Although it theoretically is marginally ethical, I frequently find myself performing a rudimentary psychoanalysis of people I have never met.
I usually find it helps to explain a life or an origin of suffering, or some kind of human empathy, and can bring peace or closure to the folks who come into my office — or the folks who are my friends.
It was a really good friend who told me on the phone today, “I thought of you this past week. My Uncle Ed died.” Read more on Uncle Ed — The War Hero…
Filed under Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Education, Mental Illness, military, News, war by on Aug 30th, 2018. Comment.
I am the last person who should be difficult to convince that research is important.
I have spent a big hunk or life doing clinical trials of psychiatric drugs for FDA approval.
But I am also a great fan of real life. Of listening to patients, something that my patients often complain other psychiatrists don’t have time to do. Read more on Military Suicide…
Filed under depression, Family, Government, medicine, News by on Aug 2nd, 2018. Comment.
She was 28, a bit overweight but tired and nervous at the same time.
“I’d like 15mg. of Celexa. My other psychiatrist wouldn’t give it to me, so I left him. He said it was either 10mg. or 20 mg. and that’s it.”
Not the usual “chief complaint” for why someone comes to a psychiatrist — but what the heck? Read more on How To Get 15 mg. of Celexa…
Filed under Diagnosis, Doctors, medicine, News, Psychiatrists by on Jul 31st, 2018. Comment.
Here are both the original article and the review in “Mad in America,” a fairly radical review of opposing viewpoints in psychiatry which, I am often downright embarrassed to have to agree with.
The two German psychologists are right. Their initial assertions are unquestionable, Mental illness is going up indescribably quickly. Psychotropic medication is going up indescribably quickly. Read more on Biological Psychiatry…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, depression, Diagnosis, Disease, Education, medicine, News by on Jul 30th, 2018. Comment.
There was a saying in Northern France which roughly translates:
“Everything old is new again.
Holy basil oil, from the plant “Occinum basilicum” is good for killing little beasties. The sort you don’t particularly want around. Bacteria and fungi and such. Read more on Basil Oil…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Doctors, Education, medicine, News by on Jul 23rd, 2018. Comment.