I plan for this website to focus more on alternative medicines and overall wellness; this will include Chinese as well as more “Western” complementary medicines. So, let’s talk about the very popular home remedies involving urinary tract issues. Many women with bladder infections (“cystitis”, UTIs) use cranberry juice, and many men swear that saw palmetto works for their enlarged prostate symptoms.… Read the rest
Monthly Archives: November 2009
Is Primary Care Doomed?
There is a lot of press these days about the messy state of health care in the US. One issue less apparent now but a major issue in the future is the shrinking percentage of medical school graduates entering primary care (family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine).… Read the rest
20 Health Advances To Be Thankful For…
Today is Thanksgiving in the US. It’s my favorite holiday, as all my relatives will gather in my mother’s house and feast for hours. It truly is a nice way to think about the previous 12 months and realize what indeed you are thankful for.… Read the rest
Cervical Cancer Screening: New Guidelines
It’s been a very, very interesting few weeks in the US regarding cancer screening. As I mentioned before, there were revisions from the highest-level agency Task Force that mammograms should be done less often for certain groups. I also mentioned how PSA tests are under a lot of scrutiny as well.… Read the rest
H1N1: You Want Data? You Got it
By now, everyone in Beijing is either: 1. recovered from having H1N1; 2. tired of hearing about H1N1; or 3. recovered and tired of hearing about it. But one common theme in discussions remains the uncertainty around the vaccine. Well, finally, there is a lot of real data last week that I wanted to share with you: hard numbers on safety that hopefully will raise up future debates with more facts.… Read the rest
Breast Cancer: Do You Know Your Lifetime Risk?
The New York Times has an excellent series of articles, called “Forty Years’ War”, reviewing medicine’s efforts to fight cancer over the last forty years. This weekend’s article reviews the important issue of prevention of breast and prostate cancer. For both diseases, there are well documented studies that show a decrease in new cases of those cancers with specific medicines taken over many years.… Read the rest