People are tired of hearing about Covid-19–How many are dying, who is being hospitalized, which states are closing down again, whether we can send our kids to school, and who’s to blame for this tragedy. There are three common reactions: (1) Forget the virus. Get on with our lives, Sturgis, here I come. (2) Stay...Continue reading
A tiny virus about 1/50 the size of a red blood cell and containing a short little strand of RNA has rocked our world. According to Kelly Clark, the COVID virus “…is just an inexplicable, purposeless mutation” hoisted upon us, like it or not. It has maimed or killed hundreds of thousands around the world with brutal...Continue reading
Dear Healthy Men: I’ve been reading about actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, who were recently sentenced for their part in the college admissions scandal. What really struck me was the difference in their sentences. She got two months in prison, a $150,000 fine, and some community service. He got five months in prison, a...Continue reading
With Coronavirus deaths continuing to increase world-wide, the U.S. death toll now approaching 160,000, and our economy in free fall, it may be difficult to recognize the positive things that the Covid-19 crisis is trying to teach us. Here, I’ll share a few that I see:
It’s not easy to define “good medicine.” When I think of “good medicine,” I think of medical care that isn’t reactive, ponderously slow and inefficient. Good medicine is efficient, impactful, proactive, empowering and curative. Much of medicine treats illness, but good medicine heals it. Much of medicine is based on science but good medicine is...Continue reading
There is a health crisis in America, one that existed long before COVID-19. I’m talking about our country’s mental health crisis. Each year, we lose thousands of lives to suicide, the tenth-leading cause of death in this country according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide rates are three...Continue reading
Everyone is challenged by the arrival of this novel Coronavirus in the world. There’s much we still don’t know. But some things are clear: (1) Everyone is living with some degree of anxiety and fear. (2) When men are anxious and afraid, they often become irritable and angry. (3) Untreated male anger is one of the...Continue reading
More than 100 million Americans suffer with chronic pain, the National Academy of Medicine reports, but treatment of that chronic pain with opioids comes with drawbacks. More than 42,000 Americans died of opioid pain relief overdoses in 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, nearly 10 thousand more than 33,000 people who...
How can patients lower their use of opioid medications while managing chronic pain, or eliminate use of these drugs altogether? To answer that question, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) launched a funding initiative in 2016 on Clinical Strategies for Managing and Reducing Long Term Opioid Use for Chronic Pain. PCORI was established by Congress in 2012...Continue reading
No one living today will ever forget the 8 minute and 46-second murder of George Floyd as he gasped, “I can’t breathe.” Nor will we ever forget the world-wide impact of Covid-19 on our lives, particularly on the lives of men. As of today, there have been 436,297 reported deaths due to Covid-19 and 117,883 deaths...Continue reading