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Category Archives: Public Health
Straight, No Chaser: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast cancer disturbs me deeply, and if it doesn’t affect you as well, you haven’t been paying attention. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in th
Straight, No Chaser: What Would You Do If Your Tongue Suddenly Swelled? Learn About Angioedema
Here at Straight, No Chaser, we want you to know how to prevent disease and injury because that’s a lot easier than the alternative. However, if and when the time comes, you
Straight, No Chaser: Five Important Questions About Contact Lenses
Question: Which is better: disposable or regular contact lenses? The development of disposable contact lenses has lessened the risk of various eye problems. This isn’t the same a
Straight, No Chaser: What Should NOT Be in Your Medicine Cabinet
Ever notice that people run straight to the medicine cabinet to do harm to themselves or others? I want you to know the harder the effort is to obtain items to hurt oneself, the le
Straight, No Chaser: Contact Dermatitis, Diaper Rash, Poison Ivy and the Like
Let’s pick up where we left off. In our discussion of eczema and psoriasis, we described the common theme of underlying inflammation manifesting in rashes of different appear
Straight, No Chaser: It's October 1st – Do You Know Where Your Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Exchanges Are? Your Top Ten Questions
No politics here folks, just facts. The bottom line is the Affordable Care Act (ACA) isn’t going anywhere prior to implementation, so let’s look at where things are. Yo
Straight, No Chaser: 10 Questions You Want Answered About Genital Herpes
If you’re in a room, look around. Look to your left, then to your right. Look behind and in front of you. Then look deep inside yourself. Statistically, one of the people you
Straight, No Chaser: Syphilis Prevention, Treatment and the Tuskegee Experience
Syphilis should be a word derived from something meaning horrible. In an earlier post, we reviewed the rather horrific progression of the symptoms of syphilis. An additionally horr
Straight, No Chaser: The Most Common STD – Chlamydia
For most people, NGU isn’t a college in South Carolina. In fact, non-gonococcal urethritis isn’t really even that anymore, meaning it doesn’t need to be defined b
Straight, No Chaser: Bacterial Vaginosis – No, That's Not an STD
I try to give you straight talk but never crudely. Therefore as I wade into conditions involving the genitalia, I’ll be sure to respect various sensitivities. That doesn̵
Straight, No Chaser: The Doctor/Patient Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Talk
As an emergency physician, my first consideration is to eliminate life threats. Along the way, I cure disease and provide a ton of information. With all of these efforts, I pro
Straight, No Chaser: The Medical Issues You Encounter While Flying
I’ve probably been engaged twenty times on airplanes to provide medical assistance. My favorite incident was when four doctors (and a nurse) simultaneously jumped to assistan
Straight, No Chaser Editorial: The Future of Medicine – Nurses are Stepping Up to the Plate
I doubt you’ll hear this perspective anywhere else anytime soon, but there are some very interesting developments in health care underway. By way of introduction, a few decades a
Straight, No Chaser: Inappropriate Antibiotic Use
Here’s a great concern regarding strep throat and the previous post that leads to a much more important topic (I’ll take the liberty of paraphrasing.): What about the c
Straight, No Chaser: Life Begins (To End) at 40 (Unless It Doesn’t) – The Cerebrovascular System (Your Brain)
Last but not least, in the first part of this series, let’s talk about your brain. But first a summary comment. Life after 40 poses both opportunity and obstacles. 35 to 40 is ei
Straight, No Chaser: Erectile Dysfunction, Part Two – Causes
In my last post on erectile dysfunction (ED), I gave a simplistic way to understand and address it. However, the truth of the matter is the overwhelming majority of cases of ED a
Straight, No Chaser: Life Begins (To End) at 40 (Unless It Doesn’t) – The Cardiopulmonary (Heart and Lung) System
The fourth part of this series looks at your heart and lungs. One thing the heart and lung share in common is, left to their own devices, they could function normally for much lo
Straight, No Chaser: Erectile Dysfunction, Part One
It seems appropriate to follow-up a post on age-related changes in your genitourinary system with a discussion on erectile dysfunction (ED). The nature of the topic is such that
Straight, No Chaser: Life Begins (To End) at 40 (Unless It Doesn’t) – The Genital System
The third part of this series is about your genital system after 40. There’s a lot here both for the ladies and the gentlemen, but everyone should want to know all the informat
Straight, No Chaser: Life Begins (To End) at 40 (Unless It Doesn’t) – The Musculoskeletal System
The second part of this series is about your muscles. This section combined with the previous skin section explains why you wrinkle. As before, I’m going to go through system –
