Thanks Trisha from BlogHer!

Since I've been away from my blog for a little while, I haven't had the chance to write this gratitude post, so here goes....

Thanks so much to Trisha from BlogHer for linking not one but two of my posts over the past few weeks. She writes for their Health and Science News of the Week, and I was linked on their March 30, 2007 post and their April 6, 2007 post.

I very much appreciate being mentioned and appreciate the traffic that came my way from those postings. I tried e-mailing Trisha but somehow my messages were not getting through (I kept getting error messages).

I hope to keep writing interesting stuff for Trisha's readers so that I may have another opportunity to be included in their health and science news of the week. Thanks again!

The No Tag Zone

I know I'm going to offend some people out there in happy blog land, but I just have to be honest about something (and I know I can be honest with all of you being my blog friends and all).

But, this meme thing, and this "getting tagged" thing, it's really not as fun as it used to be (at least for me). I know that this may sound hypocritical, because I participated a lot in memes in the past. Heck, I even started a meme last December.

In the past few months, I responded but I have been tagging less and less people, and giving that generic "you're all tagged" message. But, now, I'm going to be honest and telling everyone that I'm taking a break from memes.

My apologies especially to the Queen of Memes and to everyone else who think I may just be having a temper tantrum here. Rather than just ignore future tags and memes, I just wanted to be up front and honest about where I stand with memes at this point.

I know other people out there agree with me on this one, even if you don't blog about it. Maybe some day in the future I'll come back to memes, being tagged, and tagging others to continue the fun. But, not right now....

Worst blog of all time

Vote for me today! I was nominated in the Blogger's Choice Awards for the Worst Blog of All Time. What an honor! I can't believe that someone would go through all the time and trouble for nominating me. Thanks to all of you who nominated me. I'll try to do you proud!

Actually, not really. Just kidding. But, there has been a little bit of a buzz out there in the blogosphere about these blogger choice awards. In looking at the best health blog category, the top vote-getter only has about 50 votes.

I learned the first time about blog awards. I just let myself get caught up in the hoopla. There's a lot of other better and more popular blogs out there. I'm content to sit on the sidelines and let others fight it out on this one.

By the way, I did enjoy my little blog holiday. I hope I didn't worry anyone. Sometimes you just need to take a break away from things to clear your mind before re-starting again. More posts soon....

Happy Easter

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not going to be posting for next few days. I may also be doing some blog maintenance. Back soon....

Is depression really depression?

It is not often that I compliment the media. But to give them credit, they have increased the awareness of mental illness in our culture - particularly depression. Whether it's television, movies, radio, or print, I think they have done a good job of decreasing some of the stigma that was out there 30-40-50 years ago.

In a study released in this week's Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers state that 1 in 4 people characterized as depressed are in fact struggling with "normal mental fallout from a recent emotional blow, like a ruptured marriage, the loss of a job, or the collapse of an investment." (New York Times) What?

One of the tools that I have used in the past are some simple one page depression screening tests. Many primary care offices use these checklists - whether they are administered by a nurse or even self-administered by the patient. These checklists can open the door to discussion with the patient/client. Researchers state that these screening tests do not take into account "normal mental fallout."

"Larger and larger numbers of people are reporting symptoms on these checklists, and there's no way to know whether we're finding normal sadness responses or real depression," said Jerome C. Wakefield, a professor of social work at New York University and the study's lead author.

Normal sadness response verses real depression? Mental illness is confusing enough (clinically) with terms like depression, dysthymia, mania, hypomania, generalized anxiety, panic, obsessive compulsive, bipolar, PTSD, and others.

Dr. Darrel Regier, director of research for the American Psychiatric Association, said, "I think the concern this study raises is real, and that we do need to be very careful not to overdiagnose a normal, homeostatic response to loss and call it a disorder."

I think this study will allow physicians and other mental health professionals to brush off depression as only a reaction to a "normal" sad event. This will lead to underdiagnosis (and delayed treatment) of depression. So much has been done in the early identification and discussion of treatment, that I fear this study will negate part of this progress, and allow depression denial to return.

Blogcast number 5

Two days in a row. Can you believe it? Another non-medicine and kind of introspective blogcast. Robert commented on the volume level of the file. Hopefully, I improved things a little bit. So much so that the computer fan may even be a little distracting on the audioblog. I'll keep working on the technical stuff.

Muddy left a great comment about the reasons why people blog. I reflect a little bit on why I started blogging and why I continue to blog now. The self-reflective aspect was interesting to me, but may not be interesting to everyone who listens. So, I won't be offended if you want to pass on this post.

I'm kind of enjoying the five minute unscripted format of this type of audioblog/blogcast. At least for me, it mixes up the medical commentary I do on the text blog with the personal commentary on the audio blog. We'll have to see how this thing evolves....

Just FYI, the audio file itself is about 7.5MB to download and it is in MP3 format. Enjoy! Here's the link to Blogcast #5.

TB patient in jail

I believe one of the reasons many physicians take up anonymous blogging is to complain about non-compliant patients. If a patient does not follow my recommendations, it's pretty simple. We agree to disagree and I ask the patient to find another physician. Most of the time, that works out.

Here's a story which I find very interesting. It definitely has public health implications, and is sparking quite a debate about an individual's civil rights verses the health of the public.

Robert Daniels has been in an Arizona jail since last summer. (Associated Press) He has not been charged with a crime, but what he does have is a drug resistant case of tuberculosis. It is so resistant, that it is considered untreatable. Why is he in jail? Here's why:

County health authorities obtained a court order to lock him up as a danger to the public because he failed to take precautions to avoid infecting others. Specifically, he said he did not heed doctors' instructions to wear a mask in public.

Though Daniels' confinement is extremely rare, health experts say it is a situation that U.S. public health officials may have to confront more and more because of the spread of drug-resistant TB and the emergence of diseases such as SARS and avian flu in this increasingly interconnected world.

"Even though the rate of TB in the U.S. is at the lowest ever this last year, we live in a globalized world where, if anything emerges anywhere, it could come to our country right away," said Mark Harrington, executive director of the Treatment Action Group, an American advocacy group.

So, the debate is what to do with this guy. On the one hand, you have a non-compliant patient who refuses to be treated. An individual has the right to refuse treatment, right? And, on the other hand, you have someone with a highly contagious disease which is incurable. You let this guy out of jail, and he will definitely infect the public, and then what do you do?

I'm all for personal sovereignty, but if this guy was in my little county jail, there would be no way that I would let this guy out. I mean, he is choosing not to be treated. There are consequences to choices, and I think remaining locked up is a small price to pay for preventing a TB epidemic.

Blogcast number 4

A little bit different post today. Yes, I'm trying audioblogging again. I'm still calling it a blogcast, but I'm not that happy with the name. It's not really a podcast. I've heard podcasts, and this audio file is not as good as some podcasts out there.

Anyway, there's no medicine in this blogcast today. I talk about blogging, specifically, my challenge in trying to keep the blog fresh and not stale with the same ideas/format.

Here's the question I pose on the blogcast: What do you do to keep from getting blog burnout? Take a blog break? Post on different subjects? Sometimes start an entirely new blog?

I close my blogcast by mentioning two of my favorite podcasts. My Three Shrinks: Great information and great banter. I can't wait for the next podcast. The Dashing MD: He's a surgeon in training on the west coast of the US. He has interesting patient stories.

Just FYI, the audio file itself is about 6MB to download and it is in MP3 format. Enjoy! Here's the link to Blogcast #4.

Gmail Paper: April Fools!

Funny stuff from Google/Gmail today. As I log out of my Gmail this morning, I see the ad below. It's worth checking out. Kind of funny....
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New! Introducing Gmail Paper

Everyone loves Gmail. But not everyone loves email, or the digital era. What ever happened to stamps, filing cabinets, and the mailman? Well, you asked for it, and it’s here. We’re bringing it back.

A New Button Now in Gmail, you can request a physical copy of any message with the click of a button, and we'll send it to you in the mail. Simplicity Squared Google will print all messages instantly and prepare them for delivery. Allow 2-4 business days for a parcel to arrive via post. Total Control A stack of Gmail Paper arrives in a box at your doorstep, and it’s yours to keep forever. You can read it, sort it, search it, touch it. Or even move it to the trash—the real trash. (Recycling is encouraged.) Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe Google takes privacy very seriously. But once your email is physically in your hands, it's as secure as you want to make it. Learn more about Gmail Paper

April fool's day

Above: April Fool's Day Joke gone bad. (Cartoon credit) Yes, I know it's tomorrow, April 1st. But, in some parts of the world, it's already April 1st, so there!

I ran into this interesting article on Yahoo news of the top pranks pulled off on April Fool's Day. I haven't heard of all of these, but here are the interesting ones (to me):

-- Sweden in 1962 had only one television channel, which broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to receive color pictures by pulling a nylon stocking over the screen. In fact, they had to wait until 1970.

- In 1996, American fast-food chain Taco Bell announced that it had bought Philadelphia's Liberty Bell, a historic symbol of American independence, from the federal government and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell.

Outraged citizens called to express their anger before Taco Bell revealed the hoax. Then-White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale and said the Lincoln Memorial in Washington had also been sold and was to be renamed the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial after the automotive giant.

-- Burger King, another American fast-food chain, published a full-page advertisement in USA Today in 1998 announcing the introduction of the "Left-Handed Whopper," specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new burger included the same ingredients as the original, but the condiments were rotated 180 degrees. The chain said it received thousands of requests for the new burger, as well as orders for the original "right-handed" version.

-- In 1992, US National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon was running for president again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." They even had clips of Nixon announcing his candidacy. Listeners flooded the show with calls expressing their outrage. Nixon's voice actually turned out to be that of impersonator Rich Little.

-- Noted British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on the radio in 1976 that at 9:47 am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth's gravity. Moore told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation. Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.

I've done my share of practical jokes (the good ones I'll never admit to). But, there's always the standard changing the office furniture while someone's on vacation thing. I mean, nothing close to the level of punk'd, but stuff I thought was amusing. Any funny practical joke stories out there?