Ososillyococcinum and other Flu bits.
Osillococcinum I keep half an eye on the medicine displays in stores when I shop, and this year is the first time I have seen Oscillococcinum being sold. Airborne as been a standard for years, but Airborne has been joined by Oscillococcinum on the shelves. Dumb and dumber. It may be a bad case of confirmation bias, but it seems I am...
Sky Maul
The worst part of flying is the take off and landing. Not that I am nervous about those parts of the trip, it is that I am all electronic. Once I have to turn off my electronic devices, all I am left with is my own thoughts or what is in the seat pocket in front of me. Since there is nothing...
Nosodes Redux: “I hate those meeces to pieces!”
Life and medicine generate facts and experiences that require conceptual frameworks that aid in understanding. It is no good have a pile of facts if they cannot be understood within a broader understanding. The practice of Infectious Diseases, while certainly aided by understanding anatomy, physiology, microbiology, chemistry and the other sciences that form the core of medicine (referred to in Medical School...
Homeopathic Vaccines.
It is probably of no surprise to anyone who has read my blog entries, I am a proponent of vaccines. They give the most bang for the infection prevention buck, and many of the childhood illnesses covered by the vaccine are now so rare that many physicians, even in Infectious Diseases, have never taken care of cases of measles or mumps or...
Influenza Vaccine Mandates
I have been involved in infection control and in what is now called quality for my career. Since infection control issues can occur in any department, my job involves being on numerous quality related committees (Medical Executive, Pharmacy and Therapeutics, etc) where I have witnessed or participated in what seems to be innumerable quality initiatives. It always gripes my cookies when someone...
Reflexology. Insert Nancy Sinatra Reference Here.
In the last post on acupuncture, I noted that the University of Maryland offered reflexology along with other supplements, and complementary and alternative medicine (SCAMs). I was uncertain as to the particulars of this SCAM, and this post is a result of those investigations. Although messy in reality, science is a tool that gives us an idea as to how the real...
Short Attention Span SBM
The bar on this blog is set high. The entries are often complete, with no turn left unstoned. Yet, not every topic needs the full monty with every post. The blog has extensive evaluations on many topics, and new medical literature doesn’t require another complete analysis. Many new articles add incrementally to the literature and their conclusions need to be inserted into...
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Lots of Speculation
Humans love to find patterns in the world. Sometimes patterns exist, sometimes they are imaginary. Sometimes you can see a pattern that may be interesting and ignore its significance. As a resident I used to say that anyone who smokes three packs of cigarettes a day has to be schizophrenic, it was meant more as a joke, when, in fact, it was...
Reflexology. Insert Nancy Sinatra Reference Here.
Note: I think the following post is perfect in terms of spelling and grammar. It isn’t. I am starting to think I have a language processing problem given the typo’s that seem to slip in to each post. Be that as it may, there is a subset of readers who get their underoo’s in a twist at missing articles and apostrophes. If...
NEJM and Acupuncture: Even the best can publish nonsense.
I realize that the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) review of acupuncture has already been covered by Drs. Gorski and Novella. But my ego knows no bounds; so I thought I would add my two cents, especially since this review, more than any paper I have read, generates a deep sense on betrayal. There was a time when I believed my...