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category archive listing Category Archives: Feature

Corey Haim, prescription drug abuse and you

March 14, 2010 – 5:04 am

Prescription drug abuse has exploded in the last few years. Rush Limbaugh is perhaps the most famous person to become addicted to them, and commit crimes to obtain them. Corey Haim may (or may not) be the latest in a too-frequent series of celebrities-who-died-too-young from drugs that were obtained from a dealer with an M.D. [...]

By Doc Gurley | Also posted in Practical Medicine | Comments (1)

Chile (and Haiti, and Katrina…): Preparedness lessons for you and me

February 27, 2010 – 12:07 pm

We’ve entered a new arena of horror – where our Richter scale, for the first time, doesn’t seem to reach high enough, and adjectives are crumbling under the impact. “Devastation” or “catastrophe”? None of the usual descriptors feel powerful enough.
So as punched-gut news of another urban area implosion reaches you today, this one from Chile, [...]

By Doc Gurley | Also posted in Practical Medicine | Comments (0)

Haiti: Things Shift

February 20, 2010 – 3:57 am

Even the predawn day began a little differently. The shrill distant stadium cheers of hundreds of Haitian roosters sounded oddly synchronized, as though perhaps they were doing the wave. There were more dogs keeping the beat with incessant, rhythmic barking.
Dogs in Haiti are everywhere underfoot, seemingly ownerless. It is something of a shock, after all [...]

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Live Chat from Haiti – hopefully

February 19, 2010 – 8:38 am

Image via Wikipedia

If all technical issues align correctly, Doc Gurley will be taking part in a live chat/webinar from Haiti TONIGHT at 8PM EST, 5PM Pacific Time along with Dr. Enoch Choi. The talk is organized by HCPLive. You will get the chance to ask questions as well as hear them talk about the challenges [...]

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Haiti – Day Two

February 18, 2010 – 12:00 pm

After six hour of unaccustomed sleep, I awoke like a mad pirate, with one red eye, hair askew, lurching and croaking. While fearful in aspect to my teammates, my somewhat altered appearance had simple explanations. Despite my wearing glasses, concrete grit fell in my eye when I tried, unsuccessfully, to hammer a mosquito-net hook into [...]

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Haiti Journey: More than a month later

February 16, 2010 – 10:30 am

Immediately after crossing from the DR into Haiti, you can see the visible downshift into a worse level of poverty. The major road around the lake is now, unbelievably after all these miles, dirt. Only an ankle-pile of rubble at the edge prevents flooding, making me wonder what will happen, in the rainy season, to [...]

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Haiti Journey: Carry the world in a pocket

February 15, 2010 – 8:20 am

If you look at the photo of what finally went into my personal bag to Haiti, it’s hard to imagine how much thought and fretting and, frankly, geometric calculation was involved. Keep in mond, we’re talking only about all my personal stuff, which had to fit into a carry on. No medical supplies – those [...]

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Dating Post Diagnosis: 6 Practical Tips

February 12, 2010 – 8:09 pm

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When Avatar-esque aliens finally descend on us from another multi-verse, they will undoubtedly believe that Valentine’s Day celebrates the mating rituals of the svelte, the pristine, the adored, and the orthodontially flawless. In other words, we take a day to honor sex lives of the Photoshopped. Because that’s what you see everywhere, isn’t [...]

By Doc Gurley | Also posted in Practical Medicine | Comments (0)

Lost Tampon Chronicles

February 11, 2010 – 9:47 am

See, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, so is this column going to be all-Haiti, all the time?
Well, no. After all, health and wellth wait for no human. When the tides of symptoms start to rise, you have to grab whatever life preserver might help.
And so, while I’m in the stage of Haiti-trip-preparation that [...]

By Doc Gurley | Also posted in Practical Medicine | Comments (0)

Our Haiti journey: Extreme needs for women in Haiti

February 9, 2010 – 4:40 pm

Haiti trip, 5 days and counting (and, can I just say – !!). The overriding question, for me, has become, just how bad is it? There are so many stories – including stories of pressures that are building, like the report that aid workers shouldn’t visibly drink water because people are so desperate (and dying [...]

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