Category: Uncategorized
Resentment
One thing about having giant student loans is how helpless you feel. You see a giant money sink crushing your hopes and dreams beneath its current. All sweat and tears go to feeding that behemoth. No wonder Dave Ramsey and the financial independence blogs urge us to kill it immediately. No wonder people my age… Continue reading Resentment
Thinking About Money
January is a dreary month. Not just because of the frigid weather, but because I always vow to do better with money. Some things stick. Some don't. It's also a month of bills. Car insurance payments and incessant reminders about tax time, on top of the rent, loans, and Internet. I also admit the plummeting… Continue reading Thinking About Money
Bitcoin and Medicine
All right, confession time. That was a clickbait title. What I really want to talk about is the blockchain technology underlying Bitcoin and its possibilities in health care. Basic definitions first. Blockchain is a public ledger, or database of every transaction conducted stored on it. It is decentralized in that no transaction is controlled by… Continue reading Bitcoin and Medicine
Artificial Intelligence and Medicine
Note: Apologies for not updating in a while. I've been working on a science fiction novel for National Novel Writing Month. Stay tuned, I might show some of it on this blog! Artificial intelligence, or more accurately machine learning, has exploded within the past couple of years. This is not the artificial intelligence of science… Continue reading Artificial Intelligence and Medicine
When correlation collides with causation
Recently, an article caught my eye (link) entitled "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?" It discusses the possible deleterious effects that smartphones may have on young people, or those born in the mid-1990s. The unique aspect of this cohort is that they were born after the start of the Internet age. For all their lives, they… Continue reading When correlation collides with causation
Kratom: Curse or Cure?
Recently, the US FDA issued a public health advisory warning the public not to use kratom, a substance purported to treat pain and opioid withdrawal. They give the following arguments: 1) There is no reliable evidence that kratom effectively treats opioid withdrawal; 2) use of kratom can lead to death; and 3) it can worsen… Continue reading Kratom: Curse or Cure?
A Challenge to the Behavioral Addiction Concept
While I do believe that behaviors in excess can be called addictions, I must consider the counterpoint that doing this can actually worsen the chances of improving health. When observing a new phenomenon, say Internet Gaming Disorder, it is recommended to follow a theory, a systematic set of concepts that explain the relationships between variables.… Continue reading A Challenge to the Behavioral Addiction Concept
Benzodiazepines: Another Face of the Crisis
A little-commented on aspect of the opioid epidemic is the polypharmaceutical nature of the overdoses. For many deaths, it isn't just morphine or oxycodone found in the drug toxicology report. There can be antidepressants, stimulants, alcohol, and perhaps of most concern, benzodiazepines. If you think opioids are overprescribed, then benzodiazepines, or benzos, are on a… Continue reading Benzodiazepines: Another Face of the Crisis
Boredom
Boredom. The bane of modern existence. It is the trigger for relapse. It can also be extreme enough that it is a sign of depression. With few exceptions, the hyper-technological, air-conditioned, screenbound world we live in bores us to tears. All basic needs are met. No longer is the imperative survival and procreation, by self-fulfillment.… Continue reading Boredom
Stoic Scientist 