Dr. Pegs Prescription
“If you don’t know your blood pressure, it’s like not knowing the value of your company.” -Dr. Mehmet Oz
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“If you don’t know your blood pressure, it’s like not knowing the value of your company.” -Dr. Mehmet Oz
You stagger out of bed in the morning, stumble into the bathroom and settle down to business. Some time later you rouse yourself, pull some paper from the roll, and — whoa. What is that? It isn’t supposed to be red. Is that blood?
Q: My big toe got all swollen and red and very painful on one side. I went to the SHAC and they cut off part of my toenail. They told me it was an ingrown toenail. How does this happen? Is there any way I can avoid this in the future?
Q: Recently, I had a rash and I went to the doctor’s office and was told it was shingles.
Disclaimer: Names and details have, of course, been changed to protect confidentiality. This patient is not real but he is representative of many patients I have seen with the same problem.
Q: Is it normal to have discharge from the vagina? If so, how much and what color?
Emma (not her real name) came to see me this week. She had pain in her hands and forearms which she described as an aching type of pain that started in the wrists, and spread to the hands or up into her arms. She also gets numbness, tingling in her fingers and weakness in her grip. All of this is worse after a long practice session with her instrument.
What is that thing on my skin? Is it normal? Could it be cancer? How can I tell?
Do you know what is special about this week, besides being the week before Thanksgiving? This is Get Smart About Antibiotics Week. Bet you didn’t know that, did you?
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go.”
Every day at about 2:30 p.m., I start thinking about chocolate. No matter what I’m doing or where, how involved I am or who I’m with, the concept of cocoa rises in my mind like a breeze and wafts through my mental senses. Smooth, creamy, bittersweet, fragrant. Right on cue, like Pavlov’s dog, I slobber and wag my tail in anticipation.
You might have seen the posters around campus.
Good morning, Sunshine! How did you sleep last night? Did you log a solid eight and wake up on your own without an alarm, feeling well-rested with plenty of time to make your first class? If so, you are in a distinct and distinguished minority.
As a medical student, I had the great good fortune to spend a winter in Beijing, China, at an urban children’s hospital that used traditional Chinese medicine as well as modern Western methods. Of course that included acupuncture, a practice I had heard of but never seen up close. I’ll never forget the outpatient clinic there. It was full of kids with colds, just like in the United States; but instead of handfuls of tissue, the Chinese kids had faces full of needles. And they weren’t crying.
Q: I just finished a two-week course of antibiotics, taking them twice a day. They wrecked my whole body, making me nauseated, giving me an upset stomach and reflux, changing my stools, and even some weirder side effects like pins-and-needles sensations on my hands and face! What can I do now to help my body get back to normalcy, and do you have tips to make any future treatment I might have to take less awful?
Raymond Plotkin was a freshman at UNM in 2009. A native of Texas, he was one of 18 freshmen accepted into the Living and Learning Community for Engineering. He planned to become a nuclear engineer, and he was very happy here. He loved living in Redondo Village and eating at La Posada. He was a friendly young man who liked his roommates and got involved in student engineering clubs and the local Hillel House. He kept in close touch with his parents and older brother in Houston. His mother Elaine said, “Raymond fell in love with UNM. He really connected with his School of Engineering advisers and did very well in school. He made good friends and was having fun. Everything was falling into place for him and the future looked bright.”
Last week, I had the great good fortune to attend a meditation retreat in the high country of northern New Mexico. Over the course of three days, I sat for many hours on a cushion, silently bringing my attention back to my breath over and over again, or walked slowly upon the earth, soles alert to every pebble on the path. During the breaks, I savored delicious food, wandered flower-bedecked meadows, and immersed my senses in fresh air, stars and running water. There was no phone service, no Internet connection, no television. By the end of the retreat, I felt a depth of rejuvenation and calm that still sustains me.
There’s a guy we have seen a few times lately. Not the same guy, but the same essential story, and one worth telling because it is happening more often. I’ll call him Dennis.
Q: I like to smoke weed sometimes to relax. But I’m applying for a job that is going to test my urine, and a friend told me I can smoke spice instead of weed and it won’t show up in my urine. Is that true?
Welcome or welcome back to UNM!