It’s that time of year again when the sun is bigger, brighter, hotter and higher, and the days are longer! That means it’s time to go out in the sun and allow our bodies to photosynthesize! The sun emits a continuous spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, and 99% of it is in the form of light, both visible and invisible, from infra-red to ultra-violet. Over time, ultraviolet light can damage elastin fibers in the skin. When they break down, the skin…

The Science of Homeopathy Abstract: Homeopathy is a centuries-old system of medicine which has been a source of controversy and debate in scientific medical circles since its origin. Studies demonstrate consistently high patient satisfaction rates, but outcomes from randomized controlled trials of homeopathy remain inconsistent. This discrepancy may reflect a failure of the method applied to judge homeopathy, the Randomized Controlled Trial. The benefits of homeopathy appear to cover a broad range of conditions. The safety profile of homeopathic treatment…

The Opioid Epidemic At the heart of America’s epidemic of opioid abuse is a medical system designed to entrap and addict patients to pain medications. A different strategy of pain management, one that would help resolve pain rather than temporarily suppress it, is desperately needed. To change behaviors as well as treatment approaches, it is necessary to understand the importance of pain in the recovery process, and to recognize how current pain management strategies worsen pain, prolong inflammation and slow…

Sunlight and Longevity Welcome to a very brief update on a very important topic. If any of you haven’t read my previous article on sunlight, I would urge you to take a look at: Got Sun I wanted to make sure you are aware of an important new study that was just released. An article was just published in the peer reviewed “Journal of Internal Medicine”, which may be viewed at the Wiley Online Library at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joim.12496/full The authors of…

Introduction After completion of the Human Genome Project, the National Institutes of Health turned its attention toward the study of the entire library of microbiologic life in and on the human body. This study, called The Human Microbiome Project[1] (HMP), used genetic sequencing technology to determine that there are upwards of ten thousand different microbial species, and more than one hundred trillion different individual organisms, colonizing the average normal healthy human body. The actual quantity of individual “non-human” organisms outnumbers…

With a virtual “feeding frenzy” going on with the media right now there is so much hype and fear being generated about measles that we are beginning to see a Mob Mentality develop around this issue. Unfortunately, all this hype is being continually stoked by innuendos and half-truths on the part of media personalities and pundits. One celebrity medical advisor after another seems to be pushing the “party line” and advising the public to “get into line” to make sure…

Over Medication   Americans are dangerously overmedicated, over-treated and yet, suffer from ever rising rates of chronic illness.  Although we spend more, per capita, on health care than any other nation on earth, our health indices and life expectancy are near the bottom of the list of all other developed nations.[1]  This is no coincidence since health suffers even more from inappropriate overtreatment than it does from neglect.   Americans overuse medicines (as well as diagnostic testing) without understanding the…

 Got Sun?   Just a few years ago, I composed an article about my concerns with sunlight, but after hearing further repetitions of the same dangerous rhetoric in the popular press as before, I’ve decided to try once again to set the record straight.  I hope you find this revised version more helpful, as I’ve added new information.  Have a great summer, and don’t avoid the sun! Just Googling, “sun dangers”, brings on numerous warnings, like these, Avoid sun exposure…

How do we know when we are getting better or just in a dormant stage of Lyme disease?  The two are the same; and it is important to recognize that one cannot exist without the other.  LD is about symptoms.  Studies show that 20-25% of people exposed to LD have serologic evidence of infection, but have never been sick, and will not become sick from it.  One can be infected with the spirochete, yet not have LD.  This is one…