As CoVID-19 spreads, don’t lose sight of malaria. Via Bill Gates. How to get unstuck from your anxiety. Via NYT. “X+Y: A Mathematician’s Manifesto for Rethinking Gender.” An interview with a mathematician and an author Eugenia Cheng. Pictures of jets sitting on tarmac. It looks strangely calming and unsettling at the same time. Desks of famous creators. There is something magical in these black and white … Continue reading Friday Assorted Links #7
There are a few basic observations (regulatory issues aside) that shape my thinking about the use of cannabis, cannabinoids, or cannabis-based medications (for simplicity, I’ll stick with “cannabis”) for pain. There is a significant interest among patients, especially patients with cancer, in using “cannabis” for a variety of clinical problems, with pain being the most commonly cited. According to a recent Canadian survey, 1 in … Continue reading Cannabis and cancer pain. The search for relief continues.
School starts soon for some, and many parents are worried about the educational experience associated with remote learning. Here is a fantastic article on The Importance of Becoming a Self-Directed Lifelong Learner by David Handel, MD. He talks about meta-thinking and learning from first principles. Worth reading! My 14 y/o daughter ran home the other day convinced she just saw the Asian giant “murder” hornet. … Continue reading Friday Assorted Links #6
Most of us have a narrow view of trauma. We think of trauma as an extreme, eruptive and dramatic experience. It comes to mind when we hear about acts of violence, natural disasters or loss of loved ones. Yes, this is trauma. No doubt. But trauma has also an unfamiliar face. One that is subtler, less ostensible, and often unrecognized even by those who are … Continue reading Cancer and the Experience of Trauma.
A new book by neuroscientist and philosopher, Sam Harris: “Making Sense. Conversations on Consciousness, Morality and the Future of Humanity.” You may know him from his popular podcast under the same name. Best known in the US for her Neapolitan Quartet novels (you can also see the TV adaption by HBO), Ellena Ferrante’s new novel, “The Lying Life of Adults” is coming out on Sept. … Continue reading Friday Assorted Links #5 (all books)
Advanced metastatic cancer is a serious, life-threatening illness. No one doubts that. Severe addiction is also often lethal (in 2017, more than 70K people died from drug overdoses, 2/3rds involving opioids1), but it clearly does not get the same attention as cancer care does, for a lot of diverse reasons ranging from stigma and lack of appropriate funding, to systemic issues related to how care, … Continue reading Treating Addiction as a life threatening Illness:
A new book: “Transcend” by Scott Barry Kauffman. I just started reading it and it is fabulous. Kauffman takes Maslow’s humanistic psychology and his most known – and turns out often misunderstood – concept of “hierarchy of needs” and elevates it with the latest scientific findings from a wide range of fields. “My research has convinced me that we all have extraordinary creative, humanitarian, and … Continue reading Friday Assorted Links #4
While in his late 50s, my dad was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). His course of illness was rocky. He spent a few tough years in and out of hospitals. He died suddenly, at 62, because of an intracranial bleed when MDS transformed itself into acute leukemia – a common pathway (I wrote about it here). During his illness he was under the care of … Continue reading Dr. Azra Raza: is this time to change the way we fight cancer?
1. Kevin Kelly and 68 bits of unsolicited advice. Three of my favorites:Don’t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you: busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It’s amazing how often a second try works. Rule of 3 in conversation. To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just said. Then again, and … Continue reading Friday Assorted Links #3
The iconic and longtime host of “Jeopardy!” announced in March 2019 that he was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. His course has been rocky; interspersed with some periods when the disease was under control and he felt optimistic, and some when he did not feel well and suffered bouts of depression and severe pain. But he never stopped working. Even during the pandemic, when … Continue reading Today is Alex Trebek’s 80th birthday.
Marcin Chwistek, MD 