All posts by Mark Crislip

Mark Crislip, MD has been a practicing Infectious Disease specialist in Portland, Oregon, from 1990 to 2023. He has been voted a US News and World Report best US doctor, best ID doctor in Portland Magazine multiple times, has multiple teaching awards and, most importantly,  the ‘Attending Most Likely To Tell It Like It Is’ by the medical residents at his hospital. His multi-media empire can be found at edgydoc.com.

Boost Your Immune System?

The immune system is not a muscle, not a rocket, not a pump, not a balloon, nor anything else that can be inflated, expanded, or launched into the stratosphere simply by adding more power.

/ September 25, 2009

More Flu Woo For You, Boo Boo

In which we try to be smarter than the average bear. Flu season is upon us (it kind of never left us this year), and there is a new strain of flu, the H1N1, aka Swine flu that adds a wrinkle or two to the usual potential for influenza related morbidity and mortality. And with the new flu is the new woo....

/ September 11, 2009

The Microbial Metagenome

First some background.  I was first directed to the Marshall protocol by a reader who wondered about the information the found on the web.  So I went to the web and looked at the available information, much as any patient would, and discussed what I found there. I have subsequently been lead to believe that none of the information on the website...

/ August 14, 2009

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Not every post will be an in-depth, authoritative review of a topic like yesterday’s on Dr. Sears.  A change of pace can be nice, and I have always liked history. JAMA likes to run articles called “JAMA 100 YEARS AGO” and the reprint from the July 24, 1909 issue is interesting. It...

/ July 31, 2009

The Marshall Protocol

Revised 7/23/09 to correct an error. While there are many taxonomies of alternative medicines, one thing almost all alternative therapies have in common is they are originally the de novo discovery of one lone individual. Working outside of the mainstream, they are the gadflies who see farther because those around them are midgets. Hanneman conceives of homeopathy, the treatment of all disease....

/ July 17, 2009

The Evil League of Evil is Nothing in Comparison

Transcribed minutes of a meeting, provenance unknown. Chairman: “I would like to call this emergency meeting to order and thank you all for coming under short notice.  If there are no objections, I will dispense with the usual formalities and get right to the business at hand.” Murmur of approval. Chairman: Ladies, Gentleman and Demons of all kinds, we have been, to...

/ July 3, 2009

Naturopathic Prescribing: The Dark Side Beckons

I am a terrible Oregon chauvinist.  I think there is no better place to live on the planet. Period.  Great natural beauty, not a lot of people, best beer ever and no pro football team. Oregon is both casual and tolerant.  It is safe to say that dressing up in the Pacific NW means tucking your t shirt into your jeans.  And...

/ June 19, 2009

Herd Immunity

Some infections can be eradicated from the face of the planet. Smallpox is the one example of disease eradication to date. Smallpox still exists in US and Russian labs, but there has been no wild cases since 1977.  It is, like the Dorothy, history. Why were we able to eradicate smallpox?  Three reasons: 1) There is only one form of smallpox. Unlike...

/ June 5, 2009

Homeopathy and Sepsis

It had once been suggested in the comments section of the blog that homeopathy is useful in the treatment of diseases that are not self limited. Homeopathy is effective therapy for diseases that do not get better on their own, that homeopathy has a real effect on real diseases. One example given was for the treatment of sepsis. “Frass M, Linkesch, M,...

/ May 22, 2009

Flu Woo Hodge Podge

Perhaps you have discovered for yourself that I am always the last to write a post on a ‘hot’ topic. I am definitely the slowest writer (and thinker?) on this blog, starting each post at least a week before it is up. So the faster writers weigh in first and I am left with clean up. As I finish writing on Thursday,...

/ May 8, 2009