Spoilsports
Maybe you shouldn’t kiss your dog. Let me just add that, although I had a dog I loved very much, I never kissed him. However, he kissed me once or twice. My dog, a cockerpoo of about 25 pounds, was … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Health
The latest scary virus: Zika
It’s not really new; the virus and the disease it causes, Zika fever, was identified back in the 1950s in Africa. But it has been spreading for a while, and recently made the leap to the Western Hemisphere and is … Continue reading →
Coitus interruptus and the disappearing diaphragm
Now that I’ve caught your attention– The title of this NY Magazine article: “No Pill? No Prob. Meet the Pullout Generation” certainly caught mine. Reading it was one of the most bizarre experiences I’ve had in a long time. The … Continue reading →
The most extreme weight-loss TV show of all
It’s called “Fit to Fat to Fit,” and I happened across it by chance when channel-surfing the other evening. The show is scary, but I was riveted. It features a fitness trainer—a new one each week—who contracts to gain an … Continue reading →
I love love love…
…this story, in which two young people who met when one donated a portion of his liver to the other ended up falling in love and are engaged to marry. There’s a video at the link, but it can’t be … Continue reading →
Antibiotics and weight gain
I don’t know why—but today, as I was about to go to my computer, I thought, “I wonder if antibiotics can contribute to weight gain?” It makes a certain amount of sense as a possibility. After all, it’s long been … Continue reading →
Is Donald Trump’s doctor—Donald Trump?
Are there two people on earth who speak like this? [emphasis mine]: Trump’s physician of 25 years, Dr. Harold Bornstein, said Trump “has had no significant medical problems” and called the candidate’s blood pressure and lab results “astonishingly excellent” in … Continue reading →
Sepsis: the killer you probably know almost nothing about
I knew very little about sepsis until a dear friend of mine came down with it. I knew the word. But I thought it meant some sort of nasty infection, and my knowledge was very vague, involving the archaic term … Continue reading →
And while we’re at it: October is National Caramel Month
Only two days left, but still worth celebrating. I’ve always had a certain devotion to caramel. But ever since the dread hand of chocolate-induced migraine descended on me several decades ago, and chocolate became a distant, poignant, and beautiful but … Continue reading →
Permanent spinal cord implant for chronic pain
As a former sufferer from fairly severe chronic pain, news such as this interests me: Joe Grewal, the first human to be fitted with a permanent implant, said he has suffered chronic back pain for more than 30 years and … Continue reading →
Most toes feel alike to me
Can you tell which toe of yours is being touched? When they’re not allowed to peek, many people can’t differentiate between which toes of theirs are being “prodded” by an experimenter. Sounds a bit kinky: Researchers at the University of … Continue reading →
An ebola vaccine may be in the works
This is potentially very good news. Very: Researchers gave one dose of the new vaccine, developed by the Canadian government, to more than 4,000 people who were contacts of confirmed Ebola cases within 10 days of being identified. In comparison, … Continue reading →