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Posts from the ‘Sleeping’ Category

Grand Rounds 3.25

It’s my honor to host this week’s Grand rounds, the weekly rotating carnival of the best of the medical blogosphere. Medical students think alike: in preparing for this edition I came across an earlier Monty Python theme, The Holy Grail of GR at The Rumors Were True. Now, I decided to use some medicine and health care related Monty Python videos to provide funny moments while reading all the nearly 60 submitted articles.

I hope you’re going to enjoy this edition. Let’s start with one of my favourite subjects: from prenatal care to childhood. Also don’t miss the Python’s hospital sketch about a childbirth below:

  • Hsien Hsien Lei at Genetics and Health writes about Dr. Rav Dhallan of Ravgen and shares her thoughts on prenatal testing.
  • Health Observances blog examines the economic impact of birth defects, or the folic acid awareness.
  • Tales from the Womb presents Baby Toby Saga, a collaborative mini-series created with Dream Mom. The idea was to pilot a new form of short story on the blogosphere between a physician and a patient. Don’t miss any of the chapters.
  • Healthy Children’s post, Enhance Your Kids with Drugs, Machines, and Perfect Genes asks parents: which group will they choose for their kids: the enhanced or the ordinary?
  • Dr. Wes talks about a headline story, the relationship between trans fat and milk (Milk Might Be Harmful to Children).

Let’s continue with many bloggers’ main subject, diet from several aspects:

Mr. Gumby, in the Python video below, can’t find a nurse, but we always find the best posts of our favourite nurse bloggers:

Posts on Diabetes care:

Before watching a video on a hospital in which the doctors relax and the patients do all of the work, let’s see the usual health care section:

  • Dr. David Erani at HealthcareForum.com asks the big question: is death penalty disproportionately used against the poor?
  • Kevin, M.D. (1 doctor for 18,000 patients) and Universal Health (From Zero To Infinity And Beyond) both posted on military healthcare.
  • According to the Health Business Blog, Senators still seem to be missing the point on generic biologics.
  • Doc in the Machine describes new FDA programs which try to track drug safety and share data with the public.
  • MSSP Nexus Blog examines patient safety and mentions a book on how to build a safer health system.
  • Susan Palwick at Rickety contrivances of doing good is a volunteer ED chaplain and has written a post about the frustration of dealing with inappropriate parenting in the ED.
  • Transplant Headquarters tells us how to look up a transplant center.
  • A true story from The wait and the Wonder blog on miscommunication. For over 3 months, she thought her daughter was actively listed for a liver transplant, when she was, in fact, still listed as a status 7, inactive.
  • An other transplantation issue from A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure about the organ-transplant network.
  • Then The InsureBlog takes us into the far future where everyone will have access to free health care.

Our medical bloggers provided us with many interesting and instructive cases:

  • Val Jones, M.D. presents a story about a man who was bitten by a rabid bat. Did you know why rabies can cause “hydrophobia” in its victims?
  • Or did you know what is the correct way to remove a tick if it is embedded in a person or pet? Medicine for the Outdoors answers the question.
  • Odysseys of George’s first article is about an elderly lady with intestinal obstruction (fascinating images!); in the second one, he shows the sad part of medicine: death.
  • Parcho, MD knows well how to deliver a baby in medicine style.
  • Dr. Signout tells us a drug seeker’s story in the Gut reaction post.
  • And a terrible story in other things amanzi blog on sjambok syndrome.

Fun, musings, robotics and a strange video which proves that sometimes we can’t hear or see the patient even if it’s our fault. Consider this section as the editor’s choice:

I don’t know whether there have ever been an images’ section, but here it is:

At last, I hope I create a new section in the history of Grand rounds with medicine and web 2.0:

I hope you enjoyed this Grand rounds edition as I’ve had so much fun while doing it. Thank you, Nick Genes for the opportunity and all the help. Please prepare for the next edition at Blog, MD. Sorry for the irking medical Monty Python videos, but I must say that thank you for watching and good night a dingdingdingdingding

MedWatch: Breast cancer art, arm wrestling and many more

While having a celebration cigar (for my 5th exam – one left), I was searching for great medical posts and naturally have found some. Please bring a coffee, turn out the TV and enjoy:

It’s a group of hippies artists that are coming together to do something novel and attention grabbing: they make casts of female torsos, have artists decorate them, and then auction off the works for charity.

A while back I stumbled across this post, about Web 2.0 applications designed to track weight loss and encourage dieters in their efforts to exercise, lose weight and get fit.

A clip posted recently on Google Video shows a serious injury associated with arm wrestling: spiral fracture of the humerus. These fractures often require open reduction and internal fixation with a metal plate and screws, and recovery can take months.

The results of the BMJ medical advance poll was announced this week and Dr. John Burn seems to be quite disappointed that the discovery of DNA structure didn’t win.

By the way, don’t worry, I’m strictly against smoking, but a traumatology exam is not a piece of cake…

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Blogterview with Michael Breus, the sleep doctor

drbreus.jpgDr. Michael Breus is a practicing Ph.D. in clinical psychology with a specialty in clinical sleep disorders. He is the editor of the Insomnia Blog and the co-founder of SoundSleep Solutions. His book “Good Night: The Sleep Doctor’s 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health” was published in 2006.

  • Why did you specialize in clinical sleep disorders?

In no other area of psychology could I help people change their lives so quickly. I can help someone in less than 48 hours some times and it is really rewarding.

  • What do you find the most common sleep problems among patients?

Without question Insomnia is the greatest challenge to sleeping, however Apnea has gotten “center stage” because it is easier to measure and treat.

  • What are your suggestions? How to sleep better?

If I had to pick just a few I would say:

1) Reduce the amount of light you are exposed to before bed: light tells your body to wake up not sleep. Put dimmer Switches in your bedroom and switch the bulbs to 40 watts, or use a book light.

2) Create a “Power Down Hour” this is a situation where you give yourself 1 hour before bed to do some very specific things: 20 minutes for mindless chores ( dish washing, light cleaning, getting ready for the next day) ; 20 minutes for Hygiene; 20 minutes of relaxation.

3) Go to bed on a regular schedule and when you are tired.

  • Is it important to dream? Does it mean a problem if we don’t dream?

Everyone dreams, we just do not remember it. Dreaming can occur in any stage of sleep but has the greatest likelihood of occurring during REM sleep. If you want to remember your dreams, keep a pad by the bedside and write down exactly what you were thinking about when you woke up. Give it a week and see what happens.

  • Please tell us about your book: Good night!

The book is set up in 3 parts:

1) Part I: This list the 6 culprits of poor sleep and what can be done about them right now. The 6 are Anxiety, Caffeine, being a female, being a parent, traveling, and your bed partner.

2) Part II: Tells you all the reasons why sleep is important: It helps with beauty, sex, exercise even loosing weight. This is where the really interesting science is located.

3) Part II: This is a 28 Night Program that gives you a step by step guide for 28 nights to better sleep.

  • What was the weirdest case in you practice?

I have had so many it is hard to say. In one insomnia case we found someone who actually had a brain tumor causing the insomnia, in one Apnea case we found a very rare problem where one half of the brain had formed outside of the skull and was pressing on the respiratory center, in an RLS case we found that the person was actually anemic from giving his very rare blood type twice each month. The list goes on and on.

Thank you for your answers!

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