ROBERT VERKERK When we heard yet another account of a patient being given a conventional medical diagnosis, only to be sent away from the consultant’s office because there was nothing to be done except wait till the organ in question failed completely, it got us pretty heated. Especially, because, in this case the diagnosis was […]
Category Archives: Health & Wellness
01
Feb
Feb
RICHARD FIRSHEIN When Jeff Walker, a sixteen-year-old with mononucleosis, came to see me, he was completely exhausted, and his liver enzymes were alarmingly elevated. He’d been bedridden for three weeks, and his doctor had advised him to take off the last semester of high school, which meant delaying his entrance to Yale University in the […]
01
Dec
Dec
RICHARD FIRSHEIN Julie Thomas was a fifty-seven-year-old actress who visited my office to rid herself of postmenopausal symptoms. She’d suffered from premenstrual syndrome [PMS] throughout her life, and she was now experiencing crippling joint pains, stiffness, and alternating chills and hot flashes due to menopause. She also noticed swelling in her legs and ankles. She […]
01
Dec
Dec
GAYATRI PAGDI Each one of us has gone through a time in life when we felt that things were getting on top of us, we couldn’t cope anymore, or life was not worth living. Our reasons differ: personal illness, chronic sickness of a loved one, disappointments, or losses at work, or in business, and let-downs […]
01
Nov
Nov
JAWAHAR NIDAMBOOR Diabetes is a growing epidemic. Approximately 425 million adults are living with diabetes, across the world, today; in India, the figure is 70 million. Picture this: the estimated prevalence of diabetes, worldwide, in 2025, is slotted to rise to over 500 million, with India slotted to be ‘home’ to 100 million individuals with the disorder. The cornerstone […]
01
Jul
Jul
RYAN HARRISON Everyday your brain churns out between 12,000 and 50,000 thoughts. That’s as many as 18 million thoughts in a single year. Well, there you are. We often take our mental activity and acuity for granted… until it’s no longer something we can count on. And, then? You might find yourself turning to crossword […]
01
May
May
RICHARD FIRSHEIN There are some puzzles in life that medicine may never decode, some holy grails we may never capture. One of these is the possibility of eternal youth. The mystery of longevity intrigues me as much as most people. When I observe elderly patients who have defied statistics and are enthusiastically enjoying long lives, […]
01
Apr
Apr
RICHARD FIRSHEIN Most news journalists will tell you that their job is their life. Hopping from story to story, from scandal to scoop, leaves little time for romance, or family — not to mention eating, or sleeping. Steve was the highly paid, highly acclaimed, highly stressed producer of a popular New York TV news programme. […]
01
Feb
Feb
DAVID PETERS I almost left medicine as a fourth year student. Science was ascendant in a system I found dehumanising. In staying, I resolved to change it, at least within myself. Rather than diseases and interventions, my work became centred on people, their capacity for healing change, and the conditions that affected this — within […]
01
Nov
Nov
RICHARD FIRSHEIN Cindy Patton was a woman who, like many, had battled with her weight for years, but never seemed to make much progress in controlling it. For Cindy, avoiding obesity was of the utmost importance for her health. First, she had a family history of high cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, and diabetes. Her mother had […]