HEALTH

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Health Articles

• "To Drink or Not to Drink"....your cup of coffee
  Dr. Wong's advice won't make you live longer, but you'll enjoy a lot more of it less. In the 19th Century R.L. Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Here for the 21st Century is the Strange Case of Dr. Wong vs. Mr. Coffee.
  
  
• Want to know how much a caffeine addict you are?
  Coffee, tea, CocaCola, chocolate .....
  Instant, brewed, iced ....
  
  
• "Natural" Medicine and the Wild, Wild West

Folk Medicine

• Madstone Magic by Clay Coppedge
  "[A] good madstone was believed to be the only cure for the fatal misfortune of rabies."
  
  
• Drugstore Cowboys by Clay Coppedge
  Peddling snake oil
  
  
• Allan's Anti Fat by Mike Cox
  "[A] 19th century man is credited with inventing the notion of losing weight in deference to one's health or appearance. His name was William Banting..... Yes, for generations, going on a diet was called "banting." And being overweight was known as corpulence..."
  
  
• Hot Air Verses by Mike Cox
  
  
• Water producers, grandmas make miracles by Delbert Trew
  Of all the strange, weird and confusing bits of history, none quite compare with rain dancers, water witchers and grandmas. Each could perform miracles if the sign was right, a fresh peach tree twig was used or the malady could be cured with Castor Oil or Black Draught Tonic...
  
  
• Inventions sprung from filling needs by Delbert Trew
  As a child I could always tell when my Grandmother Trew was near as I could smell the odor of Mentholatum. A close friend said his grandmother always smelled like Vicks and his uncle smelled like Bay Rum. Most old families had a relative or two who smelled like vanilla flavoring, especially if you resided in a dry county...
  
  
• "Get the Epsom Salt. This Kids Got Dew Poisoning" by N. Ray Maxie
  Grandmothers of the past four or five generations in NE Texas around Atlanta, aren't the only ones to know the benefits of Epsom Salt. That age-old compound is gaining more and more attention these days for...
  
  
• WPA aided America's health by Delbert Trew
  History records that between 1830 and 1860, epidemics of typhoid fever and cholera claimed thousands of lives across America. Between the epidemics, the third leading cause of death was amoebic dysentery and as a result of these scourges the average life expectancy in the United States was 47 years. Later research proved that most of the epidemics could be blamed on improper waste disposal allowing contaminated sewage into domestic water supplies...
  
  
• The Healing Hands from Mississippi
  
  
• Kerosene Stops Severe Bleeding by N. Ray Maxie
  
  
• Folk Medicine by Clay Coppedge
  "Some of the treatments used in the early days, which some people still remember, might appear today as cruel and unusual punishment. Take the asafetida bag, or the granny rag. Please..."
  
  
• Childhood medications were simple, gave relief by Delbert Trew
  
  
• Memory tickled by itch of childhood ailments by Delbert Trew
  
  
• Home remedies would cure or kill you by Delbert Trew
  
  
• Coal oil was useful all-purpose home remedy by Delbert Trew
  
  
• Wasp Sting by Delbert Trew
  
  
• Warts by Bob Bowman
  If you grew up in the country, miles away from the nearest doctor, home remedies were something you accepted routinely....
  
  
• Poke Sallet by Bob Bowman
  "Poke sallet is the best spring tonic you can find; it gets your blood going."
  
  
• Skunk Oil, Jackrabbits, and Red Roosters by Lois Zook Wauson
  
  
• Medicinal Kerosene by Jeanne Diver Goff
  
  
• Psychic Persimmons by Dana Goolsby
  Folklore reveals that superstitions about cutting persimmon trees may help cure warts, cancer and even predict weather, even Texas weather.

History

• Making House Calls with Dr. Keidel by Michael Barr 7-15-22
  
  
• Spanish Flu Didn't Play Fair by Michael Barr
  
  
• Epidemics Flourished in Old Texas by Murray Montgomery
  
  
• 1918 Flu by Mike Cox
  
  
• The Epidemic at Grand Bluff by Bob Bowman
  
  
• Dr. Edward Arrel Pye, a Texas Medical Hero by W.T. Block Jr.
  Whenever the virulent yellow fever plague came to town, the townsmen who were cautious packed up their families and belongings and fled elsewhere. Sometimes a town’s physician did not leave; they stayed to treat their patients and occasionally died...
  
  
• The Rubbing Doctors by Clay Coppedge
  The Milling brothers, Roscoe and George, billed themselves as rubbing doctors and utilized elements of massage therapy, magnetic healing and hypnosis in their respective practices. In towns where the water had a high mineral content they added mineral water to their treatments...
  
  
• A Clear Look at Eye Surgery History by Mike Cox
  
  
• Cedar Fever's Nothing to Sneeze At by Mike Cox
  
  
• Cabeza de Vaca, M.D. by Mike Cox
  The story of Texas medicine begins more than four centuries ago somewhere near the Rio Grande in the vastness of the Big Bend... What took place there marked the moment in history when the medical arts in this state first advanced beyond shamanism.
  
  
• Mosquitoes and Camp Bowie by Mike Cox
  No one knew anything about West Nile virus back in 1918, but at what proved to be the mid-way point of the terrible conflict in Europe that would come to be known as World War I, the military was fighting mosquitoes in North Texas.
  
  
• Animals adjust to barbed wire by Delbert Trew
  Because of the nature of the subject, a significant chapter of Old West history - bloody livestock injuries - is often ignored or forgotten. However, it did happen, and here is the story.
  
  
• Thirsty by Mike Cox
  Along the Texas frontier, bad water posed just about as much of a problem as no or little water.
  
  
• Hair-raising stories from pioneer days by Delbert Trew
  If you had lived before, during and immediately after the Civil War and had been seriously wounded, your life might have depended on the hair from a horse's tail. How could this be? Well listen up to some "hair" stories.
  
  
• Romans say take your meds and pray by Delbert Trew
  I have often wondered where the big R with the little x mark used on medical prescriptions originated. An old 1949 Coronet Magazine (remember those?) offered an explanation...
  
  
• Henigan Water by Mike Cox
  "...Word of the amazing restorative qualities of the water spread faster than the contents of a spilled bucket. The Javelin said the people of Carrizo Springs got so healthy that the local doctors practically fell into poverty...."
  
  
• Pink Palace of Healing by Archie P. McDonald
  University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
  
  
• The Good Old Days Bob Bowman

Health - Humor & Opinion

• Portrait of a colonoscopy by Jase Graves 7-12-22
  
  
• No, it's not COVID by Jase Graves 5-16-22
  
  
• Remembering Memory by Brewster Hudspeth
  
  
• Curl up and Diet by Jase Graves
  
  
• Children's Meds by Wanda Orton
  
  
• CPR and JOSEFINA by Maggie Van Ostrand
  Medical science could have saved itself a lot of trouble if the powers that be had consulted my incredibly talented housekeeper, Josefina, before rescinding the tried-and-true method of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).
  
  
• Doctor's Visit by Peary Perry
  A friend of mine has a saying along the line of… “I’d rather be pecked to death by ducks than to…(fill in the blank). Well, when it comes to going to a doctor’s office the saying goes for me as well...
  
  
• Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal
  I was fascinated and horrified by an article written by Amy McGuire in "Advance for Nurses" regarding the bizarre case of two Texas nurses, Vickie Galle, RN and Anne Mitchell, RN...
  
  
• Medicare Fraud by Peary Perry
  Last month I read a report that stated that the good old US government had paid out more than ninety two million of our hard earned dollars to Medicare fraud. It seems so called medical suppliers have been billing the government for wheelchairs and other pieces of home equipment for people who had already died. Not only had the patients died, but so had a large number of doctors who had originally prescribed whatever was needed...
  
  
• Everybody's Scared of Something by Maggie Van Ostrand
  Comedian Steven Wright, says "I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of widths." Good thing his audiences don't suffer from Geliophobia, a fear of laughter. But there are some people who really are afraid of widths like Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger. She suffers from agoraphobia, a fear of open spaces...
  
  
• PSA by Peary Perry
  "... I thought I would take a moment to explain to both the ladies who read my stuff as well as to any men who are unaware of what a PSA score is and why it is important. PSA stands for prostate-specific-antigen test. To understand exactly what the test is and why it is important..."
  
  
• Congress by Peary Perry
  "...The spokesman for Lipitor for several years now has been a Dr. Robert Jarvik. Dr. Jarvik is the inventor of the artificial heart and started describing the benefits of Lipitor in 2006. The congress is now probing the use of old Dr. Jarvik and has reached a conclusion that forced Pfizer, the drug’s manufacturer, to remove Dr. Jarvik from the ads..."
  
  
• Children's Health by Peary Perry
  "...The parents who would sign up for any test would be the ones who were concerned over their children, but how do you reach the parents who are feeding their kids two pizzas a day and have no concept of the health of their child?..."
  
  
• Heartburn by Peary Perry
  [H]ere is this ad telling all of us that this wonderful little pill is going to help us feel much better and they are even offering to give me free samples. I didn't really think anything about this but then turned the page and found the section describing the potential 'side effects' that this wonder medication might have...
  
  
• The Pause That Regresses by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal
  "Andropause. Male menopause. HA! That’s all I can say. HA! I was interested to read an article recently addressing the issue of male menopause, or andropause. I was gratified, satisfied and gleeful and not in a very nice way, if you must know. Here’s why..."
  
  
• Follow-up Visits by Peary Perry
  
  
• Itchy Problem by John Gosselink
  "...Swollen and itchy is no way to go through life, so I ignored my usual aversion to going to the doctor and made an appointment. Looking like a bus had repeatedly backed over my face...more"
  
  
• Food and Diet by Peary Perry
  "This year I’ve decided to get a head start on my annual pilgrimage towards the torture of exercise and caloric reduction. No more pie, no more cake, no more anything that remotely tastes good...."
  
  
• Got Flu? Try A Sock Full of Onions by Maggie Van Ostrand
  
  
• Sniffing at Allergies by John Gosselink
  
  
• God and Botox by Maggie Van Ostrand
  What happens to those wonderful laugh lines when they're shot full of Botox? How will anyone know we ever had any fun if our faces are unlined, unlived.

• Poem Prescription 4-11-22
• Black Dot 4-19-21
• Smaller Circles 3-1-21
• Silent Killer 10-12-20
• Homecoming 9-21-20
• Wit's End 8-31-20
• Mining Cancer 8-24-20
• No Hugging Allowed 3-23-20
• Waiting in Line 3-23-20
• Corona 3-16-20
• Are Dental Implants Right for You

• "Devil's Dung"
• Thinking Man and Typhoid
• Peyote in Church