Good sleep finally found me. Nine hours total. That changes everything. I missed the free bus but that was OK because I got the best cab driver ever. He drove me to the fair two days ago. His Mercedes is spotless, his English good and his willingness to teach about Greece was welcome. I shared […]
It must be the time change. Sound sleep is eluding me. The good news about waking at 0330 is you can get serious work done. The bad news is doing the (involuntary) nod during a nice lecture on molecular biologic causes of atrial fibrillation this afternoon. I really did want to get that whole intracellular […]
Hey all, I am in Athens Greece covering the European Heart Rhythm Association meeting. It’s called EuroPace 2013. I am here alone, the sole representative of theHeart.org. My first post is up over at theHeart.org. It concerns the release of a new website for patients with atrial fibrillation called www.afibmatters.org. Truth be told, I came […]
If I had to be another kind of doctor, I’d be a geriatrician. I enjoy taking care of older people. Older folks impress me because they got to be old. They survived, and more often than not, gained wisdom. I’m drawn to wisdom. When I see an elderly patient referred to me for an arrhythmia, […]
It’s been a while since I did a Cycling Wednesday topic. As I was skimming thorough the Journal of the American Medical Association last night, I came across this review article on spinal injection therapy for low back pain. It was a shocker. Two factors brought my attention to the article: First, almost all the […]
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Father’s Day
The desk was a small one. It sat in the corner of the bedroom I shared with my younger brother. I was in high school the night my Dad came and sat beside me at that desk. The algebra problems seemed pointless. Why in the world would one need to match up ‘x’s and ‘y’s? […]
The idea that long-term endurance exercise increases the risk of arrhythmia should no longer be considered counterintuitive. The list of published studies confirming this association is long, and this week, it got a little longer. In a study published in the European Heart Journal, researchers from Sweden report a cohort study of more than 52 […]
Admit it: You were surprised a legitimate study came out in support of Coenzyme Q10 supplements. You probably looked away at first, nervous a colleague would notice your interest in something complimentary or alternative. It’s shocking, isn’t it? What if the purveyors of supplements are right about something? Part of me so wants it to […]
Here is an edited email I received from an athletic colleague: John, Quick question…. A 50 year-old male healthy athlete has the new problem of occasional periods of premature beats. He (or she, it doesn’t matter) has visited the doctor and an ECG shows PVCs, or premature ventricular contractions. Otherwise the history, exam, ECG, ECHO […]
Perhaps it’s because I love the practice of medicine so much. Or maybe it’s because doctors (and teachers) have always been my heroes. I’m trying to sort out why I feel so offended by Dr. Paul McHugh’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal last weekend. His sensational and paternalistic view of physician-assisted suicide can be […]
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Memorial Day — 2013
It’s easy to forget. We get up each morning to peace. I’m looking out my window now at the flowers, and birds, and walkers strolling by. They all look so free. It is all so easy. It goes without saying that all living creatures desire freedom. In the US, freedom comes as a default; it’s […]