Empowered Patient Blog
Hypnosis for Stress
Hypnosis is a state of consciousness marked by increased awareness and suggestibility. Despite being a favored technique of magicians, illusionists, and mentalists, hypnosis isn’t all that mysterious. A captivating book or movie drives attention to the exclusion of other outside stimuli, and the reader/viewer may experience emotions associated with the characters. That is suggestibility we allow into our experience as an observer.
Digital Detox for Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Rejuvenation
Are you feeling burnt out on social media or suffering from screen fatigue after a week of online meetings? Do your hands feel cold after hours of typing or get brain fog when working next to a wifi router? If so, it may be time to give your body a break from technology.
COVID vs Cancer: Reflecting on 2020
History teaches that neither side of any extreme is the sole arbiter of truth. No single political party, religion, or economic model can provide all the answers to all people. Thus, we are left with the uncomfortable yet necessary task of practicing tolerance at a minimum, but ideally putting forth effort to expand one’s intellectual and emotional horizons with informed nuance.
Light, Heat, Sweat, and Heal
It’s the coldest and darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. We celebrate and make merry with the holidays, but the passing of the winter solstice near the end of December reminds us we have a lot of dark winter ahead. Combined with the post-holiday slump, this can be a depressing start of the year for some folks.
The Cure for the Common Cold?
Cold and flu season is here. Add a pandemic into the mix, and the slightest cough or sniffle results in the sick individual spending several days at home. As this blog has repeatedly pointed out, building resilience in the form of immunity is the ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure in missing work or school.
Yet the coronavirus known as the common cold has eluded a cure for as long as we have been suffering with it. Or has it?
The Promise and Peril of a Coronavirus Vaccine
Will global governments mandate that every citizen be injected with a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2? Does the greater good outweigh the repercussions of introducing an RNA vaccine into the human gene pool? These are serious questions with critical implications for the future of human health and medical freedom.
Reflux: Too Much or Not Enough Stomach Acid?
If suffering from reflux, don’t settle for a “band-aid” solution and get to the root of the problem. Proton pump inhibitor drugs are appropriate for those who genuinely overproduce gastric acid but were designed for short-term use only. Taking them for years further degrades digestive vigor for someone not producing enough stomach acid. Clean up your diet and try on or more of these natural remedies to reclaim your digestive health and live free of the symptoms of reflux.
Environment, Terrain, and Germ: The COVID-19 Story
One bug, one drug—such is the philosophical undercurrent to allopathic medicine. Sometimes that principle works. I suffered for three weeks with pneumonia before the right antibiotic enabled my...
The Pros and Cons of Masks
My Facebook feed is an even mix of those questioning the conventional narrative of donning a mask (and practically everything else related to pandemic) and demeaning or self-righteous pleas to get...
Is the Coronavirus an Exosome?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the content of this video in which Dr. Zach Bush introduces the notion that viruses are synonymous with exosomes, fragments of genetic material (microRNA) that communicate danger within a species and enable adaptation. Exosomes represent the possibility of rapid evolution.
Finding Our Humanity
For the first time in recent memory, I was in tears listening to a patient share her story of grief. Sad news comes with being a clinician. Although I strive to remain professional yet compassionate, present but emotionally receptive, the heartache that ensued from this story spurred me to relay the interaction. It is one we all need to contemplate.
The Anticancer Lifestyle
It was the first appointment with my patient after her diagnosis of uterine cancer and subsequent total hysterectomy. The prognosis was good: stage 1A with no lymph involvement. During her intake, I inquired if she was ready to adopt an anti-cancer lifestyle following this shake-up. It didn’t take long to recognize that she didn’t have a clear sense of what that involved, save for not using chemical herbicides anymore.
The 4th Phase of Water
Solid, liquid, and gas—these are the three states of matter presented in the home-schooling science curriculum I was preparing to review with our 7-year-old daughter. The best example to learn these states is water in its different forms: moisture vapor in a cloud, liquid rain, and solid ice. I couldn’t stop there though, not when the intersection of biology and physics tells of a truly amazing fourth state of water that may be the key to life in the animal kingdom.
Universal Healthcare Is Not Socialism
In an election year, paying for healthcare is one of the most discussed issues, with much of the rhetoric from politicians being polarized. On one side, any mention of universal healthcare is sloshed in the bucket of un-American socialism. On the other side, a single-payer option is championed as the only humane way forward.
Overprescribing Statin Drugs
I recently met with a new primary care physician. At the close of the appointment, the doctor ordered a lipid panel to check cholesterol levels. After the results were posted, his nurse called to report that the doctor had prescribed a statin (cholesterol-lowering) drug that he would like me to start right away. What was this horrific cholesterol level that prompted such an emergent response? Here are my results…