'This Guy Goes to the Doctor ...'
I'm not a joke person, but I liked this one passed along by the science fiction novelist Joe Haldeman: This guy goes to the doctor to get his first prostate exam. The doc puts on his glove and sticks his fingers in to take a look. After awhile he says, "Son, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is you don't have prostate cancer!" The guy says "So whats the bad news?" Doc tells him, "You'll have to stop masturbating." "Why?" the guy asks. Doc says, "Because it's making me nervous!" ... read more
But Never Sip From That Cup Again
Today's healthy living tip from Primate Brow Flash: Matt turned me on to a use for old sippy-cups. They work perfectly as Neti Pots! Fill with warm salt water (1/4 teaspoon salt to 1 cup warm water), lean over a sink, tip your head sideways and jam the nozzle of the sippy cup into the higher nostril and pour. You will feel the salt water fill your nasal passages and then it will fall out of your other nostril. It left me with feeling of cleanliness in an entirely new place. ... Note. If water steadily rises ... read more
Dealing with a Newborn's Group B Strep Diagnosis
My three-day-old newborn niece has been battling a bacterial infection since she was 12 hours old. They confirmed a preliminary diagnosis of Group B Strep yesterday and have her in the hospital's neonatal ICU while she's treated with the antibiotic Penicillin G. She's had some setbacks, but the last 24 hours have gone well. As you can imagine, we're fishing for information on what can be done to help her beat the infection and fully recover. I've found a Group B Strep mailing list on Yahoo, but I wanted to reach ... read more
Doctor Has a Beef With Health Claims in Food Ads
One of the more interesting blogs I've discovered recently is Weighty Matters, a weight-loss and wellness blog by Yoni Freedhoff, a Canadian doctor who exposes efforts to make unhealthy food sound like it's good for you. Freedhoff began his career as a family physician, but switched gears and started the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, Canada, because he "quickly became frustrated prescribing medications for conditions that could be controlled with lifestyle changes. ... It's much more fun to stop drugs ... read more
