If you do much reading of medical blogs, you will come across the word narcotics a lot.  Much of the lives of physicians (including myself) deal with medications, and a good portion of these drugs are controlled substances. It occurred to me that many readers might not know what narcotics and controlled substances are.  The [...]

Posted in Being a Doctor, General Medical 6 Comments »

A very kind reader (perhaps meriting a reward of some sort) pointed me to an article on the MSNBC website that discusses the “Epidemic of Overmedication.”  In this article, the author tells about her mother, 61, whose memory was giving her trouble.  She suspected her mother was suffering side effects from the large number of [...]

Posted in General Medical 9 Comments »

My job involves being around people who are struggling.  Many people are dealing with personal illness, while others with loss.  Whatever the case, it is a very common occurrence to sit alongside of someone who is in significant hardship.
Here is my advice to them, and to you if you are dealing with difficulty:

You can cry [...]

Posted in General Medical 12 Comments »