Doctor Fakes Research and Goes to Jail

A prominent 51 year old anesthesiologist pled guilty to falsifying research on the analgesic medications Celebrex and Vioxx for post-op pain managment.  He was sentenced in Massachusetts federal court to 6 months in prison and given hefty fines to be paid to the pharmaceutical companies who financed his research and paid him to promote their drugs.

Dr. Scott Reuben just plain faked the results.

6 Ways To Help Simplify Your Life

I like to pass on good tips and these six ways to simplify your life make a lot of sense.  The constant stress we feel because life is so complicated is not good for our health.  Here are six ways you can have a simpler lifestyle:

1. De-Clutter Your Home

Look around.  If you have piles of paper, too many "things" and nic-nacs laying around it is hard to think clearly and function. An open,

Good Lessons Come from McChrystal Debacle

General Stanley McChrystal's loose lips and ultimate downfall can teach us all some valuable lessons.  He was a career military man (West Point Graduate) who rose to the top of the heap as Commander of the International Security Assistance Force and Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.  People are scratching their heads about how a man who was in such an esteemed position could be so stupid

Omega 3 FFA for Depression

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry has shown that supplementing Omega-3 fatty acids (FFA) can significantly reduce symptoms for patients with major depression.  This study looked at 432 adult patients (mean age 46 years, 68.5% female) and randomized them to receive either 8 weeks of omega 3 FFA or placebo.  40% of the patients were also taking antidepressants when they

Black Spot Poison Ivy

I love learning something new in medicine and this was a new one for me...black spot poison ivy.   Poison ivy (also known as rhus dermatitis) is a common contact allergic dermatitis.  Like poison oak and poison sumac, the chemical that causes a reaction is called urushiol.  When this plant sap touches the skin a pruritic (itchy) red rash appears with little blisters that are often in a line.

Weight Loss from Activity Only Works in Thin Middle Age Women

Talk about a cruel trick of nature!  A study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in JAMA shows that physical activity prevents weight gain in middle-aged and older women ONLY IF THEY ARE ALREADY AT IDEAL WEIGHT.  Did you read that?  It means that the recommended guidelines advocating 150 minutes of exercise a week isn't sufficient to prevent weight gain in most middle

SpaghettiOs Recalled

I know the readers of EverythingHealth would never eat Campbells SpaghettiOs but in case you know someone who does, you should know that the USDA has recalled 15,000,000 pounds of SpaghettiOs because of under processing. The recall includes 14.75-ounce cans with a use-by date between June 2010 and December 2011 of three varieties of the product: "SpaghettiOs with Meatballs," "SpaghettiOs A to Z

Email Alerts by Popular Demand

Dear EverythingHealth readers,
Many of you have requested an email alert when new blogs are posted.  It took me awhile, but now it is easy to sign up on the right hand side of the blog.  Check it out and never miss a fascinating topic.
Thanks for visiting and reading.

Senate Approves Last-Minute Delay for Medicare Physician Cuts

Yesterday's Medicare pay cuts for physicians have been delayed in a last-minute compromise deal today by the U.S. Senate.  The agreement was passed by "unanimous consent" without a roll call vote.  (I need to go back to 8th grade Government 101 to figure out how that is done!)

The last minute agreement means that the pay cuts will be reversed.  The House of Representatives will (hopefully) pass

The Doctor is Out for Medicare Patients

Breaking news tonight that in a last minute shocker, the Senate voted today against postponing a scheduled 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement to physicians and other health providers.  60 senators were needed to end filibuster debate and stop the cuts under Senate rules.  Fifty-six voted in favor, with 40 opposed. There was no Republican support. (And, of course, no support from Senator Lieberman,

Surgery and Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer Cause Lack of Ejaculation

The American Urological Association 2010 Annual Scientific Meeting was held in San Francisco.  One of the reports at the meeting dealt with the fact that nearly 90% of men who undergo radiation therapy for prostate cancer will eventually develop anejaculation (inability to ejaculate).  Additionally radical prostatectomy (surgery) is almost always associated with loss of ability to ejaculate.  It

Addiction to Tanning

According to the Archives of Dermatology, there are people who are addicted to indoor tanning.  That journal reported on a study of 421 University students in the northeastern United States.  Using self-reported questionnaires, they screened for alcoholism and substance use as well as anxiety and depression.  They also had a questionnaire about addiction to indoor tanning. 
If you are

Doctors Offices Not Keeping Up with Online Demand from Patients

At a time when more and more patients are using the internet to research doctors, hospitals and medical conditions, there are still few physicians who utilize on-line services for patient care.  Thirty eight percent of  US adults have researched a medical problem online in the past 12 months, according to a Forrester Research Study.  The survey also showed that 26% of adults researched a specific

Eight Secrets You Should Tell Your Doctor

It is important to have an open relationship with your primary care physician because the more she knows about your health and lifestyle, the better able she is to diagnose illnesses as they come up.  You wouldn't take your car to a mechanic and not tell him that the brake is sticking.  And a human organism is thousands of times more complicated than a car.  But patients are shy. They are

Are We Overmedicating Our Kids?

One of the blogs I read by Maggie Mahar, pointed out that a new study found that 26% of kids under age 19 are now taking prescription drugs for a chronic condition. The drugs include asthma medication, anti-psychotics, diabetes, anti-hypertensives and heartburn medications.  According to the Medco study (the largest pharmacy benefit manager), the incidence of type 2 diabetes increased over 150%

Keratosis Pilaris

This photo of the arm of a 17 year old girl showing tiny red rough bumps that were not painful or itchy.  She had similar bumps on her thighs.  This common condition is called Keratosis Pilaris and it peaks during adolescence in all races.  It goes away by itself as a person ages.

We don't know the cause of this strange phenomenon.  Since it is mainly seen in puberty there may be a hormonal

Extra Fees Help Physicians Stay in Practice

I was interested in an article in USA Today about the growing number of physicians, especially primary care doctors, who are boosting their revenues by requiring patients to pay new fees for services that insurance doesn't cover.  No longer is your insurance payment "all-inclusive". These fees can include annual administration fees, no-show fees, medical report fees, and extra fees for email or

Start Talking - a book for Teens and Moms

Raising kids gets really challenging when they hit the pre-teen age and there are few books that really help moms understand how maintain closeness with their teen daughters.   Authors Mary Jo Rapini and Janine Sherman offer a helpful book for young girls and their moms to read individually and together.  "Start Talking - A girls guide for you and your mom about health, sex or whatever" is a

More Medication Errors in July

We medical folks have always known that July is the worst time for a patient to be admitted to the hospital.  It has nothing to do with nice summer weather or staff vacations.  Although it cannot be proven, we think the answer to the mystery of July hospital errors is human...yes it's the new interns.

A new study published in the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine looked at

Chin Slimmer

After yesterday's eyebrow post, I am on a cosmetic run. Here is a gimmick, "As seen on TV" , on which you should save your hard earned money.  The neckline slimmer claims to reverse the effects of aging without cosmetic surgery.  Simply hold this gadget to the chin area and it will exercise your neck muscles to reduce those jowls or sagging fat under your chin.  Just two minutes a day should do

Desired Shape of the Eyebrow

While my Internal Medicine Journals are filled with long studies about breast cancer, diabetes and optimal doses of Vitamin D, the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery reports on the aesthetically desired position of eyebrows and the range of eyebrow motility.  Please understand, dear reader that  I am not poo-pooing the importance of eyebrows.  We all have two and I am sure how they sit on our

What You Should Know About Prostate Cancer

When Dennis Hopper died of prostate cancer at age 74, my husband asked me "Hey, I thought prostate cancer didn't kill men and it is slow growing".  Well, he is right  about it usually being slow growing, but prostate cancer is still the 2nd leading cause of cancer death in men.  His question made me realize that there are some facts that everyone should know about prostate cancer.

Prostate