What a better topic for Halloween than fear?
All of us when hearing of a coworker or loved one who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness wonder if we could be next. “What if I have lung cancer? Should I get checked out? There must be some tests I can get to make sure I’m OK.” Those who take an active role in staying healthy are confident that they could do more to make sure they don’t get some dreaded disease. Most cancers, after all, are preventable, right? Or at least they ...
More
Vaccines: Fighting Fear with Information
Diversity of opinion is a mark of any free society. Whenever I hear the latest conspiracy theory, see a commercial for a ghost-investigating “reality” show, or hear the latest quack cure advertised on radio, I remind myself that the spread of wacky fringe ideas is a consequence of liberty. And, though I wish my fellow citizens would develop a bit of skepticism, I wouldn’t want anyone preventing them from hearing, watching or believing all that nonsense.
So it’s a major victory when facts fina...
More
A Dose of Realism about Advanced Dementia
Dementia isn’t one disease. Like cancer, dementia is a family of different diseases that have important similarities. The diseases that cause dementia all lead to progressive memory loss and brain dysfunction. Dementia is caused by Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease and several other rarer brain disorders. The different diseases that cause dementia cause different symptoms initially and have different treatments. But unfortunately all the treatments are temporary an...
More
The Challenge of Trusting Science
Around the turn of the last century medical practice was in a sorry state. Despite dramatic advances in physics, chemistry and physiology, the day-to-day practice of medicine was still entirely estranged from the scientific method. Medical training and medical practice was still what it had been for thousands of years – an apprenticeship in which treatments were passed down from teacher to student and applied by doctor to patient for generations without rigorous testing. At about that time le...
More
The H1N1 (Swine) Flu Vaccine
Countless of you (well actually, several of you) have asked me in the last few weeks “What about the swine flu vaccine?” “Should I get it?” “When will it be available?” “Is it safe?” “Does it not herald the coming of the zombie apocalypse?” Well, your long wait for answers is finally over.
So far the H1N1 infection has caused symptoms very similar to garden variety seasonal flu, except that diarrhea and vomiting have been more common and that most hospitalizations have been in people young...
More