A recent study found: "If guidelines are universally ignored, their impact on treatment and outcomes is minimal. Certain patients may be harmed by adherence to specific guidelines." Plus, let's compare Obama and McCain to see who best moves us to the 21st century.  

                 "What happens in the mind of man is always reflected in the disease of his body."

                                                    -Scientist-humanist René Dubos

One of the things that drew me to medicine was the importance of combining both the art and the science of medicine. In the approximately three decades since then, most physicians have lost faith in their own ability to diagnose by listening to and examining the patient, and they've seen the average time allotted them per patient visit drop to around 4-7 minutes. Many have also forgotten about "bedside manner" and the ability of words to both harm and heal. 

Dementia changes people and changes relationships, sometimes for the better. In the latest edition of Newsweek (September 22, 2008), author Sara Davidson shares her story about her relationship with her mother who became less demanding and more accepting of life as her cognitive impairment progressed, much to the surprise of the family. This is not the first time we've heard the story of a relationship improving with progressive cognitive impairment.

We here at PT have some fine blogs on health, integrative medicine and pain, but nothing addressing physical disability in general. With 12% to 20% of the population qualifying as disabled I think the subject is worth a few posts. I hope to kick start some dialogue by interviewing Dr. Galen Buckwalter: scientist, punk vocalist, quadriplegic and star of the PBS documentary Rolling.

Numerous studies show that people with infertility get pregnant with a number of natural therapies. If you have unexplained infertility (including low sperm count), couples can enter a study (done by mail). You supply the needed labs and we review, evaluate, and send you both the treatments and instructions you'll need—free! We expect most couples will get pregnant. This is an exciting (and free) way of getting pregnant if you have infertility.

"Pain" is the word most associated with labor and delivery.  But it doesn't have to be; here's why.

As mothers tend to sacrifice during their lives to meet their children's needs, a mother's body will give up its own essential nutrients to provide health and growth for her developing baby. Unfortunately, the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) is often so nutritionally deficient that even this sacrifice does not guarantee adequate nutrition for the unborn baby. Fortunately, there are a number of tips that if followed during pregnancy, can help both baby and mother stay healthy and vital!

Stress is a killer, whether it comes from a job or a relationship. Married people experience less cardiovascular disease than single people, however, a bad marriage can be disastrous to the heart.

This summer was a busy time for global Alzheimer's activities and the changes in thinking are dramatic.

Postpartum depression usually occurs because your body gave up the oils in your brain (which come from fish oil)so the baby could make its brain. That was nicely self sacrificing of you, but you need to eat more fish so your brain will recover-and it will with eating enough fish or fish oil.

Although many women find bald men to be sexy, aplocia areata can be emotionally devastating to a man or woman.  Mind-body medicine may be "help-on-the-way" for this type of baldness and hair loss. 

Depression is becoming increasingly common, but often goes away with natural therapies. Although how we feel has a lot to do with psychological issues, it can also be dramatically affected by our biochemistry. Although doing one's "psycho-spiritual" work is important in treating any illness, you will be amazed at how much better you can feel when you optimize your biochemistry—naturally! This article will teach you how.

I have been teaching hypnosis to physicians and patients for over 30 years, but was not prepared for this experience.  It involved combining acupuncture needles and hypnosis which produced some amazing results.

Emotions can heal us…and they can also harm us. Among them, anger is like the Achilles heel of the cardiovascular system, a trigger for serious problems, including a heart attack.

Seeing the voice of the patient lets you view their physical symptoms more clearly.  But you have to put on your metaphor goggles and take the lid off the metaphor jar.  Does this make any sense?  Not until you listen to the literal message within the figures of speech the patient is saying to you.

Migraine headaches can be very severe and often leave people crippled for days. They may afflict as many as 28 million Americans. Over 85% can be prevented naturally! 

The study, which looked at 4,435 Americans aged 30 to 75, showed that those who did not have a cat had a 40% higher risk of having a heart attack and a 30% greater risk of dying from other heart diseases than those who have or have had a cat. For those without a previous history of heart attacks, taking statin medications (e.g. Mevacor, etc) results in less than 2% decrease in heart attack deaths.

Tim Russert's headline death carries multiple messages for all of us. It brings attention to one of the most insidious realities in cardiology: Ninety percent of the time, people with coronary artery disease are asymptomatic and 50 percent of the time, the very first symptom is sudden death.

Although the prevalence of congestive heart failure is skyrocketing, medical treatments are only modestly effective. The good news is that natural therapies can safely and dramatically improve heart muscle efficiency and function. Because of this, these treatments can also help those with angina, abnormal heart rhythms, and heart valve problems. One gentleman was too sick to even be on the heart transplant list. After these treatments, he is happily out riding his motorcycle-too healthy to need a heart transplant! Here is a simple four step recipe that can give you your life and function back.