I’ve been writing in this column about trapped fight-or- flight responses as the origin of post-traumatic stress disorder. The theory is that the primitive part of the brain that controls our nervous system’s response to threat needs to come to completion any time it...
It’s a scary idea. That we might have a disease process going on with no symptoms or signs to help us know that there’s a threat. This is the concept that drives the importance of routine physical exams and doctors visits. And certainly some of the diseases that...
I love a good Who-Done-It. This attraction to solving mysteries extends beyond my recreational reading. When I was introduced to functional medicine about 10 years ago, my immediate reaction was to ask why they didn't teach that to me in Medical School! The core...
A year ago I had two grandchildren, Ezra and Liam. Now I have 9! Three more have been born this year and my eldest son married a wonderful woman with 4 children. We had all but one in town for Easter holiday and we spent three glorious days together around good...
As some of you know, I spent many years teaching medical students at the School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. There was an interesting phenomenon I observed over and over again. When the students entered School in their first year they had what I’d call patient-centered...
[published in Health and Healing in the Triangle, October 2012 issue on Surgery] I’ve been cut. Couple of times, actually. Mostly I remember Kathleen’s presence. She goes in with me. She holds my hand when I talk with the pre-op nurse and the anesthesiologist and she...