I always ask patients about alcohol.
They always minimize their use.
Mostly all of the patients who have psychopathology and make it in my door name “stress” as the causal factor in their illness. Read more on Alcohol? Who Are They Kidding?…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, News by on Nov 8th, 2019. Comment. 
I remember my final day as a neurosurgeon. “Washing” a human brain with two humongous syringes of sterile physiologic saline, the same way my mother of blessed memory used to baste a chicken.
I thought maybe as a psychiatrist I had a chance, at least a fighting chance, of preventing a disaster like the one I was standing there trying to treat. Read more on The Decisions You Make…
Filed under Brain, Doctors, Family, life, News, Substance Abuse by on Jul 18th, 2018. Comment.
Trump’s Just Say No Campaign
Patients often try to discuss politics with me and I always avoid it the best I can.
I don’t care what folks believe, for here in the U-S-of-A I will not stop believing that every one of us has the right to choose. I try to tell them I am about as apolitical a human as they are going to find.
Should they want to push me into a corner and find out if I am “left” or “right,” I try to convince them that I grew up in Boston and so am “fairly liberal,” or remind them I am a veteran of the United States Army Medical Corps, which is usually enough to make me pass for “conservative.” Read more on Reviving The Failed “Just Say No” Drug Campaign…
Filed under Government, News, politics by on Nov 3rd, 2017. Comment.
How low can you go? Stealing drugs from veterans? I am a proud U.S. veteran, prouder still to consider myself a veterans advocate. I’ve seen too many veterans in pain. I don’t think people who haven’t been there realize how much war is hell. They were stolen by a doctor. A credentialed anesthesiologist.
I remember when I was first hitting dating bars and such, it was not uncommon for a non-doctor to wear a T-shirt that said “trust me; I’m a doctor” that I guess was supposed to induce young women into the early stages of romance. Read more on Stealing Drugs And Eliminating Health Care…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Doctors, Education, medicine, News, politics by on Jul 18th, 2017. Comment.
Okay, those lovable folks at Purdue Pharmaceutical decided to claim that Oxycontin, one of the favorite drugs at least of the street addicts I have seen and treated at an addiction center, is less “addictive” and less “abusable” than similar drugs.
Filed under Addictions, Alternative Medicine, big pharma, FDA, Government, News, prescription drugs, Substance Abuse by on May 25th, 2017. Comment.
As a proud veteran of the US Army, I fought tears as I read how the pain of our combat veterans has been manipulated by war profiteers. I put on that green uniform and I swore to put my life on the line. I became a lifetime member of the Jewish War Veterans and the co-surgeon general for the Jewish war veterans and I tried, really tried, to make things better for the troops.
Read more on Veterans are getting screwed more than you or I knew….
Filed under Government, military, News, politics by on Oct 16th, 2016. 2 Comments.
Filed under Addictions, News, prescription drugs, Substance Abuse by on Apr 23rd, 2016. Comment.
I have seen them.
Men, who sit in my office and tell me they are addicts to internet pornography.
They describe symptoms that have long been regarded as markers of addiction.
Dependence — They start feeling poorly, maybe even depressed, if they don’t get their regular quota of exposure.
This is easy enough to get on the internet, so everybody who feels they want this (or “need” this) is able to get it. Read more on Internet Pornography IS Addiction…
Filed under Brain, News by on Oct 2nd, 2014. Comment.
This story found me in the headlines: “Colts’ Jim Irsay discusses addiction.” I had never heard of and would not have been able to cite the name of the owner of the Baltimore Colts. I certainly am no fan of professional football. I have reviewed recent problems in other posts. It seems to me that football — seemingly more than other sports — breaks brains, heads, bones and lives and may foster drug addiction to boot. Read more on Baltimore Colts Owner Jim Irsay – Too Rich To Need Help?…
Filed under Diagnosis, Sports, Substance Abuse by on Jun 16th, 2014. Comment.
I talk to a great many people in a great many areas and fields. In California, a lot of the mental health treatment programs are having “Obamacare-it is.”
While consumers who tried to use the official website to get enrolled for insurance had their “challenges” – to put it politely – the facilities expected to treat patients are having to do some major adjustments.
If you aren’t aware (especially you, Rip Van Winkle), “Obamacare” is what people lovingly call The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
I use the term “Lovingly Call” in the same manner people called homeless camps during the Great Depression “Hoovervilles” – blaming President Herbert Hoover for ruining the US economy and leading to the stock market crash. Many feel Pres. Obama has done something similar to health care. Read more on Dual Diagnosis Should Not Be A Reason To Refuse Treatment…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Government, News, politics by on Jan 31st, 2014. 2 Comments.