House Call, MD: Health Carefully Explained

MD 2012

One word: Psychosomatic.  Think about it…what comes to mind?  The majority of people, at least transiently, see the words “crazy” or “it’s all in your head” flash across their internal teleprompter.  To clarify, psychosomatic is not medical speak for “crazy”; in fact, there is an entire subspecialty of psychiatry that deals with psychosomatic medicine.  The field of psychosomatics is interested in the interface between the mind and the body and the dynamic interplay that goes on between the two.  Recently, the Los Angeles Times published an article that discussed a particular psychosomatic link between depression and heart disease.  We’d like to discuss this association and illuminate the topic with the latest research publications (not that we have anything against the way the LA Times covered it. We just thought you might be interested in the hard science).

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MD 2011 | camilon@myhousecallmd.com

Cold season seems to last longer and longer each year. Rain or shine, you always seem to find yourself around someone with a case of the sniffles. As miserable as it is for the sniffling individual, the common cold is making an even bigger impact on our society’s finances. Each year, the US spends $7.7 billion on 100 million doctors visits, accounting for an average of 2-4 colds for a single adult each year and up to 12 colds for children. American children can miss up to 189 million school days each year due to cold symptoms, causing parents to stay home and lose126 million workdays. Starting to get the picture?  The seemingly benign common cold is making a sizable impact on us as a society.

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by G. John Mullen, DPT 2011 | mullen@myhousecallmd.com

Headaches suck, period. They have an infallible ability to ruin an otherwise stellar day.  Before you can treat the awful day-buster, we need to figure out exactly what type of headache you’re suffering from.  Headaches come in two varieties: primary & secondary.  Primary headaches, including migraine, tension-type and cluster, exist without outside influence. Secondary headaches, headaches with a clearly identifiable pathological cause, include withdrawal headaches as well as headaches related to high blood pressure, cervical spine issues, tumors, etc.  Luckily, most headaches present in a relatively predictable way, making them easier to identify and properly treat.  It’s about time we had some good news!

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by Michaela Marek, MD 2011 | marek@myhousecallmd.com

What do you think is the most likely type of cancer to affect you and your loved ones?  Lung cancer?  Colon cancer?  It’s not a pleasant thing to think about by any stretch of the imagination yet it is so common (one in five will be affected) AND so preventable (in the majority of cases), that not talking about it is not an option.  The answer is skin cancer.  In fact, there are more cases of skin cancer diagnosed each year than lung, colon, breast and prostate cancers combined.  It’s kind of a big deal.  Lucky for us, most skin cancers are slow growing and do not metastasize (i.e. spread to other parts of your body) very often.  Another nice thing about skin cancer is that the tumors can often be seen and diagnosed without any fancy tools or expensive tests.  However, thousands of people continue to die from skin cancer every year.  What’s the missing link?  Knowledge…which is why we’ve broken down the three most common types of cancers to watch out for below.

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by Brenton Bauer, MD 2012 | bauer@myhousecallmd.com

For generations, mankind has searched for the mythical “fountain of youth” that will both make them look and feel younger while prolonging their life.  While immortality remains a myth, modern cosmetic medicine has found a number of ways to make us appear younger, with the wonder drug that is Botox toping the list.  Since the FDA approved Botox for cosmetic purposes, its use has spread like wildfire across the country to the point where Botox is now a household name.  But what is Botox?  Furthermore, do we use Botox for anything besides wrinkles?

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