There are many treatments out there for weight loss, which involve either taking medications or surgery such as gastric bypass. Ideally,diet and exercise should be tried first before starting any medications or undergoing surgery. Recently a novel device for weight loss has been approved. This is an electric stimulator which [...]
Sialolithiasis is one of those conditions which have a funny, hard to spell and pronounce name but which is simple to explain. Sialolithiasis means stone in the salivary duct. The salivary glands are located near the tongue and secrete saliva through the ducts. if a stone forms in one of [...]
Hypothermia or low body temperature is used in patients, whose heart has stoppped and then was restarted. If the patient still remains unconscious, this usually means that the brain did not get enough oxygen during the time the heart was stopped. If nothing is done to help out the brain [...]
When adults undergo painful procedures, we doctors place an iv and can give medications through the iv to relieve the pain. What about kids? Sure you can put an iv and give them medications as with adults, but even putting the iv in is painful and anxiety producing. For newborns [...]
Emergency medicine can be a very trying career. I should know. I've been at it for almost 30 years! I still enjoy the ER-making a difference in patients' lives, thinking on my feet, solving complex problems (or at least trying to) and of course meeting some great people, both patients [...]
There are some nasty bugs out there and our mouth is often the first place these bad boys land. Thrush is an example of one such infections. Thrush is caused by yeast, which are slow growing microorganisms that exist just about everywhere. Most of the time our immune system wards [...]
Nobody plans on a sudden death. I mean you don't walk out of your house and think, "Jee I could be hit by a drunk driver, have a heart attack or be struck by a meteorite. Yet, as my father was so found of saying: Man plans and God laughs. [...]
Bee stings are usually painful but no big deal otherwise. Sure, your face might look like a ripe tomato or your arm like a large watermelon, but what's the beef? If the same allergic reaction, which causes the area near the bee sting to swell occurs in your airway, then [...]
Our hearts need a solid electrical system to synchronize the heart muscle so that blood is effectively moved around. Sometimes, this electrical system can malfunction. The heart can end up beating too slow, too fast, chaotically or with only some parts working. For example, in atrial fibrillation, the right atrium, [...]
What are some of the risks of flying? What I'm not talking about here is a plane crash, which is very rare. However there are some other, much more common problems. To begin with, the cabin pressure is set to an altitude between 6000 and 8000 feet. This means that [...]