Seasonal Affective Disorder

As I was writing this last week, I looked outside my office window and the bank said it was -2F and the wind chill was somewhere between 10-15 degrees below zero. Bottom line, it's cold, baby! (Picture credit: FridayEve)

In the past, I wasn't a believer in Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. I thought it was as believable as global warming. (Oops! I'm going to get comments on that one.)

People describe this time of year as the "doldrums of winter," where it's just cold, cold, cold as opposed to the "dog days of summer," where it's usually hot, hot, hot.

Around here, people's patience is short and tempers are flaring. A lot of people describe this as having "cabin fever." Maybe it's just this seasonal affective disorder after all. Here's a brief essay from Katie Couric.

In this article from CNN.com, it describes SAD in kind of a comical way:

If anyone accuses you of being a surly misanthrope between the months of November to February, you can justify yourself with words to the effect of: "Sorry, but I'm suffering from a biochemical imbalance of my hypothalamus triggered by a melatonin deficiency in my pineal gland. So get off my back!"

Is this really a medical condition that requires treatment, specifically medication treatment? There's this report from last summer advocating med treatment for SAD.

What most people ask me about is the mysterious "light therapy" for SAD. "What's so magical about light therapy, doc?" I admit I don't know all about the research on this and the biokinetic process, but in my anecdotal experience, this light therapy thing may actually work.

My question is this: Does blogging count as light therapy? How about excessive television viewing? Hmmmmm.... I'll have to work on that. I'm not a card carrying SAD believer, yet. But, if this cold snap continues around here, I'll have more data to make an evaluation.

Sunday Naked Sunday

No, this is not the porn spinoff of the U2 song called, "Sunday Bloody Sunday." (Gotta love that U2.) Kind of picking up where yesterday's story left off...

This Associated Press story is from Amsterdam, Netherlands (naturally). For those of you who like to exercise in the buff, have I got a Dutch gym for you. Beginning March 4th, Fitworld gym in the town of Heteren will be offering the first Naked Sunday for its patrons.

"I heard that some other gyms are offering courses on 'pole-dancing' as a sport, so I thought: Why not bring something new to the market?" [gym owner Patrick] de Man said.

Is this guy's name really "de Man?" I don't believe that, but oh well. If you're worried about things being sanitary, the gym policy will be for nude exercisers to put towels down on weight machines and to use disposable seat covers while riding bikes.

Boy, does that make me feel better! And, if you sign up now, your second month is free. Yeesh! I'm all for tolerance, but a nudist gym? Where are the nudist saunas and hot tubs? Oh yeah, I forgot. They're next door - It's Amsterdam. Have a great weekend!

Sweat: An Aphrodisiac?

You may have heard the phrase, "Never let them see you sweat." Well, there is new evidence that smelling sweat, yes smelling sweat, may be your ticket to gettin' the ladies. What am I talking about?

In this week's issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are studying how humans use chemosignals to attract one another. Rats, moths, and butterflies are all known to send chemosignals to secure mates. (Scientific American online). The researchers used androstadienone, a constituent of sweat, and studied the effects of how smelling this would affect the women subjects.

The researchers exposed 21 subjects to 30 milligrams of androstadienone and to yeast, which is not in sweat but has a similar olfactory sensation. The participants took 20 sniffs of each in two separate trials.

The researchers measured physiological vital signs like body temperature, skin conductance, ear pulse, blood pressure, respiratory function and cardiac rate throughout the experiment.

The results: smelling the androstadienone increased positive mood, total physiological arousal and sexual arousal, which grew with longer exposure.

I wondered why all those guys I see at the gym all the time have an active social life. It couldn't be because they're fit and trim and muscular and I'm fat and inactive and flabby. Nah! It's all in the sweat, dude!

So, guys, as an early Valentine's Day tip from Dr. A, it's not about jewelry. It's not about roses. It's not about chocolate. And, it's not about a romantic candle light dinner.

Wanna date? Then, go to the gym and workout so much that the ladies will be all over you. Probably, they'll be calling an ambulance or your mommy because you'll over do it on the treadmill (see picture above). But, at least, you'll be sweating, and that's all that matters. Happy Valentine's Day! HA!

Nat'l love your patients day

Did you know it was National Love Your Patients Day? Yeah, I didn't either. I heard it on the radio this morning and, just now, a patient mentioned it to me. What does that mean for the rest of the days of the year, that we don't love our patients? Saying stuff like this potentially has implications - just ask Joe Biden.

Anyway, in doing some research on this, this day was conceived by an ER doc in Maryland. You can read more in this press release. But, here's a quote:

"This day was born out of the need for a more compassionate system of health care in this country. We need to restore the heart and humanity of medicine," [the physician] says. "We're reminding doctors and other health professionals, whose jobs are increasingly influenced by technology and insurance companies, about what is most important in health care: patients, and their values and dignity."

I really shouldn't be hard on the guy. It's a good idea to remind us to "love our patients." Trying to make the doctor/patient relationship less advisarial is always a good thing. So, as I journey onward today, I will wish everyone a happy National Love Your Patients Day! It's the least I can do....

I'm done

That's right. I'm done! I'm done with the whole "boo-hoo-hoo"-feeling-sorry-for- myself, self-pity, crawl-underneath-a-rock, attitude. I just got back from the fortress of solitude (LOL), and I've decided that it's time to get back to blogging! By the way, do you like the new template?

On day number two of my blog life back in June '06 (feels like a million years ago), I talk about the Safety of Anonymity. It took seven months for me to accept the reality that anonymity really doesn't exist on the internet.

Yes, I did something really stupid to challenge this. Making and posting a video blog was not the brightest idea - especially if privacy was something I wanted to maintain. I know that I brought some of this on myself. I definitely accept full responsibility for this mistake. But, I don't regret it, and (for now), my video blogs will remain up.

When it comes to hate mail, many of you have told me to just forget about it and journey onward. Here are some similar thoughts from SaboCatGirl and Addumb. Maybe in a sick and twisted kind of way, it's a compliment. I also was referred to a video on youtube talking about a case of internet harrassment.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who sent so many supportive e-mails and comments. I apologize for not responding to each and every message. But, you have to know that it meant more to me than you'll ever know....

Oh, if there's one thing I hang onto,
It gets me through the night.
I aint gonna do what I don't want to,
Im gonna live my life.
Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice,
Standing on the ledge, show the wind how to fly.
When the world gets in my face,
I say, Have A Nice Day!

The Myth of Anonymous Blogging

The Fall of a Blogger: Doctor A now stands for Doctor Arrogant. You could also call me Doctor Naive. On YouTube and LiveVideo, they call them the haters. Over here I've heard them called bullies. They are nameless and faceless people whose sole purpose in life is to bring people down.

The media's job is to build people up only to tear them down. And, let me tell ya, there are a lot of people out there to help with the latter. You can do what you can to try to fend them off, but they will get to you eventually.

I thought I could stand up to them with a vblog, but the wrath of the haters is just too powerful. I thought I was the smartest kid in the class, but little did I know how many clues I left lying around my blog for people to locate me.

Both friends and enemies have e-mailed me in the last twenty-four hours. All of them have successfully listed my real name, place of employment, medical school, state medical licence number, and my memberships in professional associations.

All of them told me they knew this information BEFORE my first vblog. They were just waiting for the right time to let me know. One e-mail even included a picture of my office building (I think it was taken yesterday).

Let this post serve as a message to all those "anonymous" bloggers out there, particularly medical bloggers. No matter how careful you think you are about your information, there's someone out there who can learn everything about you.

I've never had this happen to me, but this only thing I can think of is the feeling of identity theft when that happens. I'm a very shy person in real life, and my privacy is something that I hold very dear. So, an incident like this has shaken me to the core.

I don't know what I'm going to do. Part of me wants to continue to spite the haters. But, I tried that once, and look where it got me. I'm going to have to do some soul searching while all this emotion works out of my system.

I very much appreciate everyone's support and well wishes during this week (has it only been a week since this has happened?). Unfortunately, it cannot overcome the hate that I've been receiving during this same period of time.

I need some time to think and see if I come back to blogging. Blogging is definitely not fun right now, and is causing MORE stress than work. I don't need that. That being said, I've decided that the Doctor Anonymous blog will be taking a brief hiatus. But, I shall return, maybe....

Is Dr. A a quack?

It has definitely been an interesting seven days. You may have been wondering why the comment moderation has now been turned on. I talk about what's been happening in a video I recorded over the weekend while I was out of town.

I apologize for the fair quality of the video. I had my laptop last weekend. And, of course, it's not a fast as the home desktop. The audio is pretty clear and that's what's most important.

There have been many questions (via e-mail and comments) on whether I'm actually a real physician or not. Get ready, because this is the only post I'm ever going to talk about this. And then, I'm moving on with my life.

For those without high speed internet capability, you should know that this video lasts about eight minutes and on my computer the file is about 8 MB. Hopefully, that will give you an idea how long the download time will be.

So, without further ado, and for those who are interested, Doctor Anonymous answers his critics in this video I'm calling, "Duped by Dr. A?" (link removed)

Grand Rounds

Grand Rounds 3.19 is now up and running at the blog called Envisioning 2.0. The theme is consumer driven health care. Because I was so busy last week, I didn't have an opportunity to submit anything.

If you don't know what Grand Rounds is, it is a weekly compilation of the best posts from the medical blogosphere that moves to different sites each week. And, who doesn't like reading about medicine and science? Next week, GR moves to Tales from the Emergency Room.

The Carmela Treatment

No, the above picture is not Carmela. More on him later....

Carmela Bousada is believed to be the world's oldest mother. The beginning of this Associated Press story is very uplifting. Her dream has always been to have a child. She sold her house in Spain to raise the money to pay for fertility treatments in California. She gave birth to twins on December 29th.

"I think everyone should become a mother at the right time for them," Bousada said in a video of the interview provided to Associated Press Television News.

Happily ever after, right? Not quite. Here's the rest of the story....

The Pacific Fertility Center in Los Angeles has a policy which states that anyone over the age of 55 years old cannot receive treatment. How old was Carmella when she became a patient there? She was 66 years old! And, she just turned 67 years old this month.

How could this happen? There are many angles on this story. I will only analyze two (or three) of them below...

Fertility Center Responsibility: This is the obvious place to point the finger. According to clinic policies, presentation of a passport is required before any treatments are started. In the article, the clinic director is quoted as saying, "We do check identity." Is it me, or does anyone else think that this clinic will not be open much longer?

"Often circumstances put you between a rock and a hard place and maybe things shouldn't have been done in the way they were done but that was the only way to achieve the thing I had always dreamed of and I did it," she [Bousada] said.

Personal Responsibility: How many times have I talked about personal patient responsibility on this blog? To lie to get what you want? Sheesh! That's a great first lesson to teach your twins.

"Mommy, tell me the story of how we came into the world?" Does Carmella think that she can tell her twins any 'ol story about how she started in Spain by selling her house to come to the land of opporunity. Then, she LIED to get what she wants? Does she think they'll never know? What's up with that?

The gentleman pictured above is Niccolò Machiavelli. Sound vaguely familiar? Many associate him with the phrase "the ends justify the means."

I try to understand the passion people have about becoming a parent and being a parent. (Full disclosure: I am not a parent myself). But, for someone to do this, and for the clinic to allow this to happen. I just don't get it.

People are probably asking why I even care about this story. What's done is done, right? My question is if this person will take responsibility for what she's done. Yes, she has twins now, and that's enough. Or, is it?

Yes, she sold her house for her dream. But, who is paying for the care of her twins who were born seven weeks premature? This is not a political blog, but if the tax payers of California are subsidizing people who lie to get fertility treatment, and are paying for neonatal intensive care for her twins, wouldn't people want to know about that? Does the end justify the means?

Dr. A Revealed

So, I did it. I took a small step out of the shadows of anonymous-ness (is that a word?). In the midst of my blog funk, I tried out video blogging. I have to tell you, it was an interesting experience. Don't get me wrong, my blogging home is still here. I don't know how much I'll vblog, but we'll see.

Why reveal my big mug now and in the past be reluctant to even show my face in a picture? I dunno. As I say in the video, I've been looking at vblogs for about a month now. And, I've been really taken by them.

It was kind of like the feeling I had when I first started looking at text blogs. It took me six months to get up the courage to start this blog here. During my blog funk this month, I told myself that I was not going to wait that long again to try something new.

So, I recorded it, and waited. I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it. Should I really post this thing up there? Am I ready to really do this? Is this the right thing to do? We'll see. Check out my first vblog called, "Help! I'm a Blogaholic!" (link removed)