Discerning Lies Can Be Challenging According to Scientific American Mind, lying “is among the most sophisticated accomplishments of the human mind.” It requires cognitive skills that children are not born with and must acquire. Our ability to lie seems to improve until we reach young adulthood, and then it levels off. Once we reach about…
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The Immutable Truth You may think of science as factual or the immutable truth. Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion are accepted as true, but they aren’t proven. No scientific facts ever have been proven, and they never will be. Science is based on measurements or tools that can be informative and provide useful data.…
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Six years ago, this blog was first published. It has been slightly edited, but the words remain as true today as they were then. Caregivers Sacrifice Themselves for the Good of Others Religions call their holiest people saints. In secular speak, saints are people who are pure, honest, beyond reproach, and devote their lives to…
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This is an article by Ryan Varela. I offer it with the author’s permission for informational purposes. The author and I have no financial involvement. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE HIS OWN AND DO NOT REPRESENT MY VIEW OR MEDICAL ADVICE. Women train and exercise with the specific aim which is not limited…
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My Review of Drug Dealer MD: How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked and Why It’s So Hard to Stop, a Book by Anna Lembke, M.D. In Drug Dealer MD: How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked and Why It’s So Hard to Stop, Anna Lembke, M.D. offers her views on how a failed health care system created the…
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Molly’s Story Illustrates How Addiction Can Happen Molly (a pseudonym) was a 25-year-old woman who developed an addiction to opioids. She was initially prescribed opioids for pain by her gynecologist. Although only a small percentage of people who use opioids become addicted to them, Molly’s story illustrates how it can happen. Molly came to me looking…
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Here is the email I sent to The Oregon Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) and its subcommittee, Value-based Benefits Subcommittee (VbBS), at the suggestion of a recent National Pain Report article: I am writing in regards to the Oregon Health Plan’s proposal to limit access to opioids for people in chronic pain. Certainly, opioid abuse…
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“Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics” Benjamin Disraeli reportedly said that there are three types of lies: “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” He may have been right. The Washington Post recently published an article titled, “Companies shipped 1.6 billion opioids to Missouri from 2012 to 2017, report says.” The story references a report released by Senator Claire…
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HHS Pain Task Force Holds Its Inaugural Meeting The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Pain Task Force held its inaugural meeting in May 2018 that included a public comment period. Members of the public had also been invited to submit their comments about chronic pain online, and the site received 2,530 posts.…
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What Is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)? Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) affects between 1 and 3 million Americans, typically women between 15 and 50 years old. It is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, or a dysautonomia disorder, which involves blood pressure, heart rate, digestion, urination, breathing, and body temperature. As the Standing Up…
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