General Medicine

2007 General Medicine

Click Date to read brief description	Click Short Title to read column
12/24/07	Book on fertility and diet stirs buzz, skepticism
11/26/07	A searing account of life with schizophrenia
10/29/07	The power of music
10/01/07	Let the post-diet era begin
09/03/07	Genetic link eyed in dogs' troubled ways
08/06/07	Fitness plays a key role in battling cancer
07/07/07	Finally, a study older folks can be happy about
06/11/07	MGH program teaches caregivers to tend to the spiritual need of patients
05/14/07	The fading allure of vitamins
04/16/07	Heart attack at 43, Boston Marathon at 56
04/02/07	The balance between life and disease
03/19/07	Advice for all ages: Don't skip the dentist
02/19/07	Favorite books on alternative medicine
01/22/07	How to cope with shock of cancer diagnosis

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have created a buzz with their new - and controversial - book, "The Fertility Diet." The book doesn't actually come right out and claim that the new Harvard diet is a cure for infertility. But that's the message desperate couples could be forgiven for getting, given its title, some of the authors' public statements, the intense media hype, and, of course, the clout of almost anything with the Harvard imprimatur. That's why some critics are upset.

Most of us have never had to live inside our heads as all hell is breaking loose. We've never faced the terror of falling apart, of totally losing our grip on reality. We've never experienced the horror of hearing strange voices tell us to do terrible things. Most of us, in other words, have never had schizophrenia, one of the most common and most severe forms of mental illness. Elyn Saks has.

With brains wired for song, we derive pleasure, feel less pain and transcend our body's limits. Dan Ellsey, 33, was sitting in his wheelchair in a soulless room at Tewksbury Hospital, his virtually useless arms and weak torso strapped to the chair for safety.

Is permanent, significant weight loss really possible? If you’re talking merely10 to 20 pounds -– and nobody knows the actual figure –- you probably can diet and exercise your way to a svelter self and stay there, provided you stick with your weight control program rigorously. Forever.

All summer, Dr. Nicholas Dodman, head of the animal behavior clinic at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, has been in doggie heaven. Using brand new genetic "chip" technology developed by researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, where the entire dog genome was sequenced a couple of years ago, Dodman is finally poised to do the experiments he's been waiting years to do, exploring the genetics of complex psychiatric problems in dogs.

So. You get the worst news of your life: Cancer.You dutifully sign on for chemo, surgery, radiation. You also vow to eat better. More fruits and veggies, less saturated fat –- all that good stuff should tip the odds in your favor, right? There’s actually surprisingly little evidence that such dietary changes prolong survival -- except perhaps for colon cancer.

Good news, folks! Some things actually get better with age, and I’m happy to say that emotional stability is one of them. It says so right in the authoritative Journal of Neuroscience. Ever since Freud, psychologists have focused almost exclusively on misery –- our fears, our depressions, sadness, anger, hostility, aggression, you name it. Now, thank goodness, the young discipline of “positive psychology” is gaining ground as psychologists and neuroscientists try to figure out what makes people happy.

The lovely chapel at Massachusetts General Hospital was crammed with flowers and well-wishers one recent afternoon, as seven newly certified spiritual caregivers -- five nurses, a social worker, and a medical student -- took to the microphone. The graduates of the five-month program spoke of praying with a homeless, schizophrenic man as his foot infection was treated and his toenails clipped. They spoke of helping a man with veins ruined by intravenous drug use pray to his Higher Power to ease the pain as an IV needle was inserted. They spoke of the need to make medical care more "sacred" -- to comfort by being with, not just doing to, a patient.

My love affair with vitamins and supplements is over: With a few exceptions -- stay tuned -- I'm tossing them out. Things started going south for this romance 13 years ago when a Finnish study of 29,000 male smokers showed a higher rate of lung cancer in men who took beta-carotene and vitamin E and, more shockingly, found that those who took beta-carotene had an 8 percent higher risk of death from all causes. Two years later, an American study reported similar findings for beta-carotene.

Today, Larry Haydu will attempt something that most people would have assumed was impossible -- and perhaps even unadvisable. Haydu, 56, who was almost completely sedentary until last summer, will run the Boston Marathon. He and 11 teammates –- all exempted from having to qualify for today’s race –- are running as part of an experiment dreamed up by exercise physiologists and nutritionists at Tufts University and NOVA, which is making a documentary on the project that will air in the fall.

Like many other Americans lately, I’ve found myself thinking hard about – and personally identifying with – the dilemma faced by Elizabeth Edwards and her husband, John, the former senator and would-be president. His career, her health. Not an easy balancing act. Who should sacrifice for whom? How much? Nobody wants to be – or live with – a martyr. But nobody wants to deal with – or watch a loved one deal with – cancer unsupported, either. Ultimately, everybody’s mental health counts – the sick partner’s, the healthy one’s, and the kids’.

Earlier this month, a team of researchers from the University of Connecticut and London announced that aggressive treatment of gum disease can improve the function of blood vessel walls in the body, potentially reducing the risk of heart attacks. A few weeks before that, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health reported a study of more than 51,000 male health professionals, which showed that men who had gum disease, or periodontitis, were far more likely than those without it to get pancreatic cancer.

One of the many perks of writing about health is that you end up with a terrific collection of books. A decade ago, most of the tomes on my groaning shelves were the traditional sort – biology textbooks, medical dictionaries, pharmaceutical references and the like.

Late last fall, Dartmouth Medical School researchers reported in the journal Cancer that all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in their study experienced at least some level of distress, and nearly half met the criteria for a significant psychiatric disorder such as major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.