Naked Medicine

I don’t know what’s going on, but October has been a productive month for studies that show different ways to get heart attacks. For example, in addition to the “traditional way” of getting a heart attack, you can also get a heart attack by:

Undergoing prostate cancer therapy (consumer news / original research), speculated to be due to androgen deprivation – a key strategy in treating androgen (hormone) dependent prostate cancer.

Being in a bad relationship (consumer news / original research), which made a lot of sense because relationships that cause you to engage in vein-bulging screaming matches probably require your heart to work in overdrive to supply all that blood coloring your face red and engorging your vessels.

Working in a stressful job (consumer news / original research). Here’s what I don’t get: WSJ’s blog entry stated that, “Thankfully, a majority of those who survive heart attacks are able to return to work, other studies suggest.” Huh? If your job is so stressful that it gave you a heart attack, why on earth would you want to return to that job? “Whatever doesn’t kill you make you stronger?”

My blog buddy Johnny Ancich created this very smart cartoon about cigarettes:

It may not be a bad idea if Steve Jobs gets into the cigarette manufacturing business. Just consider at least these 3 benefits: Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Hamish Meldrum is the head of the British Medical Association and has upset a lot of people because he wants to stop sugar-coating the obesity problem and start some serious prevention. Meldrum’s view is that obesity is not always a “medical” problem, but a behavioral one, and when doctors are too quick a write a prescription for a pill for a patient who should be best helped with dietary modification and behavioral changes around food, this prevents overweight people from taking personal responsibility about their weight problems. Read the rest of this entry »

For many doctors (religious or not), the practice of medicine is more a “job” than a “calling”, even though there may be an undercurrent of “desire to serve”. Ask any job applicant, and you’ll get the typical answer: “I am applying for this job because I want to help people.” Doctors enter medicine for many reasons, one of which may be “to help people”, but this is different from being called specifically to serve a certain group of people. It does bring a reality check for those patients who believe that a doctor’s religious affiliation may have a greater influence on the altruistic motives of that doctor than a doctor who does not claim a religious affiliation. Read the rest of this entry »

Reuters reported on a study that was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that suggests the restoration of normal menstrual periods in anorexic women to be necessary for normal bone metabolism and prevent osteoporosis.

One of the limitations of this study is the small sample size: when I checked out the abstract, the study contained only 28 women. Additionally, there may be other confounding effects, including the role of dietary intake in bone metabolism. The study suggests that anorexic women form bones at a normal rate, but break down bones faster than they make bones to result in net loss of bone mineral density. Read the rest of this entry »