Partnering for Better OutcomesIn autumn 2004, my husband and I had been dating a few months when I begged him to drive me to the ER with unrelenting intense pain in my side. The next thing I remember, a surgeon announces I need an emergency cholecystectomy. I was 23, in agonizing pain, and unprepared. No […]
Doctor Appointments
When I was growing up, I lived a stone’s throw from the Connecticut side of Long Island Sound and spent time on a half-dozen beaches. Summer required getting a tan, which in my case meant getting sunburned first then suffering through the pain and peeling to finally get one.I’m paying for it now with regular visits […]
Children
Dr. Google vs. Med SchoolAfter each visit with my primary care doctor, I get a one-page letter in the mail saying my blood counts, liver and kidney functions, blood sugar, cholesterol and remainder of my lab work were “all within normal limits.” I, then, get an email with a multi-page PDF “Summary of Visit” that […]
Digital Health
Brain Awareness: Ways to Love your BrainYesterday, I found myself chanting my pool mantra (“1-2-3-4.1-2-3, wait that’s not my kid, oh never mind, she’s over there now, ok 3, 4.”) as my eyes frantically darted around the premises. It’s SUPER relaxing, and if you haven’t taken four children under the age of 8 to the […]
Family
“To Screen or Not To Screen? That is the question”Many have been asking about when and even whether men should have PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) tests to screen for prostate cancer or even possible prostate cancer. PSA tests can yield false-positive readings on the level of a protein produced by the prostate gland in a man’s […]
Doctor Appointments
Pro Tips for Preparing for Your Doctor Appointment You arrive 30 minutes early to complete or review paperwork (again) and then wait. A nurse brings you back and records your weight, BP, vitals then more waiting in a room. You try to awkwardly adjust yourself on a long, loud paper sheet while anxiously staring at the […]
Doctor Appointments
We need to consolidate and centralize our health dataGrowing up in post-WWII America seems, in retrospect, to have been a lot simpler. (I was a kid, of course.) This was life before computers, cable, wi-fi, and smartphones gave us ready access to vast stores of information and advice on almost any topic.I’m not saying things […]
Caregivers
Turn Medication Adherence to Medication Dedication, but How?Looking at my prescriptions lined up on the counter, I realized although they’re written by my doctors for good reason, I don’t always take them as directed on a consistent basis. For whatever reason, I subconsciously assign importance to each based on my perception of the severity of […]
Digital Health
Taking too many meds?I take six prescription medications a day (plus two vitamin supplements and a baby aspirin). So when an article in The Washington Post by a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University declared “too many patients are taking too many drugs for too long in too-high doses”, I read on.In it, Dr. […]
Caregivers
Autoimmune diseases occur when the body gets confused and the immune system attacks its own organs, tissues, and cells. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), there are more than 80 identified autoimmune diseases that affect between 23.5 -50 million Americans and the prevalence continues to rise. In my immediate family alone we cover type 1 diabetes, celiac […]
Allergies
Michelle Riffer 
Jerry Elprin