April 11th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Aging, Alopecia, Baldness, Cosmetic Enhancement, Depression, Dermatology, Female Pattern Baldness, General Medicine, Genes, genetic, Hair Loss, Hair Restoration, Hormones, Minoxidil, Primary Care, Scalp, Wig, Women, Women's Health
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A reader sent me this really sad story that got me thinking about hair restoration for women
:
Happy, I wanted to share with you this picture of a woman who’s lost all hope. I saw her a few years back during my psychiatry rotation. As you can see, it looks like she’s going bald, but in fact, during her fits of rage and depression she’s actually pulling out her own hair. How sad is that? Just another example of what we docs take care of on a daily basis.
Man, that’s unbelievable. I don’t know much about classic female pattern baldness. From what I’ve read it’s usually a diffuse loss of hair everywhere or a central expansion of hair loss but rarely does it encompass the entire scalp. It’s usually caused by hormones, aging and genes. In advanced age, I’ve seen more than my fair share of elderly women who have more hair on their chin then they do on their head. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
April 10th, 2010 by DaveMunger in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Humor, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: Exercise, General Medicine, iPad, Kinesiology, Mortality Rate, Physical Activity, Primary Care, Sedentary Lifestyle, Standing Up
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If you follow me on Twitter or read my personal blog, you probably know by now that I bought myself an iPad this week. The main reason I got it is because I’m a sucker for shiny new technology, but I also wanted to see if I could use it to help myself become a little less sedentary.
As I mentioned in my first two posts about fitness this month, there’s a growing body of research suggesting that a sedentary lifestyle is harmful to your health. I was interviewed about one such study a few months ago on the PRI show “The Takeaway,” and the evidence is fairly convincing: People who spend more hours watching TV also have a higher mortality rate than those who watch it less, even after accounting for exercise. Granted, it’s only a correlation, but the evidence converges quite well with several other studies.
But what am I supposed to do about it? My job requires me to spend long hours in front of a computer screen. If exercising a 30 or 40 minutes a day can’t prevent me from getting heart disease or cancer, what will? Some researchers, including David Dunstan, the lead researcher on the TV-watching study, suggest that just standing periodically, rather than sitting all day, can help a lot. That’s where the iPad comes in. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Daily Monthly*
April 10th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Aetna, Assurant Health, Denied Coverage, Doctors, Health Insurance Policy, Health Insurance Rates, Health Insurance Reform, Health Savings Accounts, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare reform, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, HSAs, Humana, Medical Coverage, Medical Training, Personal Health Insurance, Physicians, Premium Increases, UnitedHealth Group, Wellpoint
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Physicians aren’t exempt from the struggles with personal health insurance coverage, affordability, denied coverage, etc.
When I finished my medical training and opened my practice 20 years ago, I had to buy individual coverage. All options included a rider that excluded coverage on my uterus and ovaries due to fibroid surgery during my training, so when I had my TAH & BSO a few years later, the entire cost came out of my pocket. Fortunately I knew how to ask for cost reductions, but still.
My husband and I are both small business individuals. I have always carried our health insurance under my name (office). Over the years we have gone to a health savings account with a high deductible to keep the cost reasonable. Fortunately, we have been mostly healthy. Last month we received a letter from Assurant Health. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
April 10th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: American Diet, Basal Metabolic Rate, Caloric Intake, Calories, Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Cholesterol, David Kessler, Diet and Nutrition, Dieting, Dietitian, Food and Nutrition, General Medicine, High-Protein Diet, Mediterranean Diet, Primary Care, Research Diet Study, The End of Overeating, Weight Loss, Which Diet Is Best, Zone Delivery Diet
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I’ve been waiting for this soup for weeks. Eleven weeks, to be exact. That’s how long I was enrolled in a research diet study, and unable to eat anything other than the food they provided me, which was nowhere near as delicious as this soup.
The study is designed to compare the effects of three different diets — the American Diet, the Mediterrnean Diet, and a high-protein diet — on weight loss and cardiovascular disease risk.
I randomized to the American Diet, meaning that Thursday’s lunch was a slice of pizza with potato chips and an afternoon snack of Oreos and chocolate pudding, Saturday’s lunch was hamburger and fries, and the most veggies I ever saw at one sitting was a measly stalk of broccoli.
Despite this, I lost 30 pounds over the 11 weeks of the study, primarily because my caloric intake was only 1,200 calories per day, carefully calculated based on my basal metabolic rate. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*
April 10th, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Academia, Addiction Medicine, Addiction Recovery, Addiction Therapy, Alcoholic, Alcoholism, Bloggers, Blogging, Cocaine, College Admissions, Criminal Record, Drug Addict, Drug Addiction, Drugs, Felony, General Medicine, Graduate School, Higher Power, Homeless, Morphine, Opiates, Primary Care, Substance Abuse, Substance Dependence
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Last July we wrote about the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and spoke of Buzz Aldrin’s autobiography about his battle with alcoholism in the years following. The post drew a comment from a reader who I’ve renamed “Anon.” It read:
Thank you so much for this post.
I am a recovering drug addict and am in the process of applying to graduate programs. I have a stellar GPA, have assisted as an undergraduate TA, and have been engaged in research for over a year. I also have a felony and was homeless for 3 years.
I don’t hide my recovery from people once I know them, but I sometimes, especially at school, am privy to what people think of addicts when they don’t know one is sitting next to them. It scares me to think of how to discuss my past if asked at an admissions interview. Or whether it will keep me from someday working at a university.
I’ve seen a fair amount of posts on ScienceBlogs concerning mental health issues and academia, but this is the first I’ve seen concerning humanizing addiction and reminding us that addiction strikes a certain amount of the population regardless of status, family background or intelligence.
I really appreciate this post. Thank you.
While I’m not a substance abuse researcher, many drugs of abuse come from my research area (natural products) — think cocaine, morphine and other opiates. I also have special compassion for folks with the biochemical predisposition to substance dependence, as I come from a long line of alcoholics, including my beloved father who I lost way too early.
With that said, I’m sure you understand how Anon’s comment hit me and how grateful I was for her appreciation. So moving, in fact, that I raised her comment to its own post. Since many of you are in academia and serve on graduate admissions committees, I figured you’d have some good advice for her. Well, you did. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
