I know I’ve touched on this a few times, but this myth is going to take a LONG time to die out, so I think it’s worth reviewing. Somewhere along the road of medical advancement, someone made the suggestion that if mucus is thick and green, then that is a …
Every day I receive calls from people concerned that they have the flu. The interesting thing is, once I start asking questions, I realize that they all believe the flu is something different. Some have diarrhea, others a runny nose. Some have had symptoms for 2 hours and others for …
One of the great things about telemedicine is that patients can literally wake up and see a doctor before they even get out of bed. This can be a little scary on the doctor side 😉 but it’s a nice convenience for the patient. And a lot of patients take …
Benadryl has been around since 1947! It has been used as a first-line antihistamine for treating allergies and insomnia for decades. Since it has been around so long, most of us (doctors included) have thought it to be ‘tried-and-true’ and rarely concern ourselves with the safety data. In fact, it …
There’s this squirrel in my yard that has been really bothering me lately. It’s getting into everything. Digging holes in my garden. Making annoying noises at night. I can’t seem to get rid of it. I’ve tried all the usual stuff and nothing is working. Just so you know, I’m …
Yep, it’s upon us. The snotty-nosed, coughing, hacking cold and flu season. Delightful. Well, it’s not all that bad. Beautiful leaves. White snow. Holidays. It’s actually a great time… unless you get sicky. So, although I have no magic bullets or charms that can guarantee that you won’t get sick, …
In my practice, sometimes a patient will tell me, “Hi, Doc, my [family member] was just diagnosed with a sinus infection and put on antibiotics. I’m starting to have symptoms now, so I wanted to get on top of it.” The thought being, maybe if I start antibiotics now, I’ll …
I’ve actually wanted to write about this for quite a while, and since we were recently talking about strep, it seems like a good time to bring it up. In my experience as a doctor, there are a surprising number of people who really struggle with the whole “say ‘Ahh’ …
As I wrote yesterday, making the diagnosis of strep is not so easy. There are many viruses that can give a mean sore throat – and some that even look worse than strep. So, how do I approach a sore throat – especially in the online world? First, I ask …
Many patients come to me saying, “Hey doc, I think I’ve got strep. I’ve got a sore throat and have some white spots on my throat.” So, do they have strep? Based on the current information that they gave me here’s the statistical likelihood based on age. 3-14 years old: …