Most animals on Planet Earth spend their lives alternating between two states of being, which we call “sleep” and “awake.” This alternation is rooted in an essential condition of our planet – that it rotates on its axis once a day, a day being defined by the time that it takes for this planet of […]
Author Bio
I have been a medical writer for about 25 years; before that I was a documentary film maker, and some of my films were about medical subjects. I am not a physician, but I have a pretty good scientific background. I wouldn’t dream of recommending any kind of treatment to anyone, and I cannot give medical advice. However, I understand the medical literature and the data and evidence behind it, and I have an inquiring and skeptical turn of mind.I scrutinize and question and, sometimes, challenge the positions of some of the established health-care organizations as well as the marketers of health information. Eternal vigilance is a small price to pay for health. — Michael Jorrin (aka DocGumshoe)Michael Jorrin is a paid contributor to Stock Gumshoe, he has agreed to our trading restrictions but he chooses his own topics and his words and opinions are his own.
Author Archives
February 29, 2024
Dealing with Migraines – February 2024 Update
Migraines cause a lot of pain and trouble to lots and lots of people, and managing this chronic condition is far from simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, even though there are some fairly effective treatment options for migraineurs (what people who are prone to migraines are called), migraines tend to be undertreated. Migraines are one of […]
Sometimes in the health-care universe, the not-so-good news turns out to have beneficial consequences. It was certainly not good news that excessive sugar in our diets contributed to diabetes, a disease with dire consequences. However, that understanding led to effective options for the treatment of that disease. Diabetes affects many millions of people around the […]
January 18, 2024
New Year’s 2024 – COVID Update and Short Takes
A double dose of vexation afflicts me as I once again take up the COVID 19 cudgels. Firstly, I was hoping and expecting that by this time COVID would have receded into the past and no longer be of much concern. Clearly, I was wrong. But secondly, both my wife and I got hit (once […]
December 21, 2023
Diagnosis is Central to the Science of Medicine
I anticipate objections to the title that I have tagged onto this offering. The science of medicine is about attempting to cure disease, or at least alleviate the symptoms. Thus, treatment is what is central to the science of medicine. Certainly, diagnosis is an important step in that process. First, you try to figure out […]
November 15, 2023
Hernias, COVID, Obesity Drugs and Medicare Negotiation
No sooner had the most recent Doc Gumshoe dispatch posted than a lengthy NY Times article appeared in my daily paper that abundantly illustrated the point of that piece, namely that the practices of the healthcare system sometimes veer away from what’s in the best interests of patients. The Times’ headline was “Lucrative Hernia Surgery, […]
This is by no means a new problem. A couple of thousand years ago, Virgil wrote “aegrescit medendo,” which means, roughly, “healing (medendo) makes it worse (aegrescit).” (Aeneid XII) About four hundred years ago, Francis Bacon wrote “The remedy is worse than the disease.” Back in those days, the remedies were indeed pretty severe. Blood-letting, […]
October 11, 2023
More about Tick-Borne Illnesses
While I was digging around for information about Lyme disease for the Doc Gumshoe epistle a few weeks ago, I kept coming across stuff about other tick-borne diseases, some of which was concerning, to say the least. I knew something about some of them, but one tick-borne illness was totally new to me, and, I […]
September 6, 2023
Short Bits for September
I really, truly, did not want to take up the COVID cudgels one more time, but new things keep coming up that deserve some notice – things like new variants, the composition of the COVID vaccine booster that will supposedly become available in late September or early October, and also evidence on the severe and […]
August 16, 2023
Another Look at Lyme Disease
Almost ten years ago, on October 7th, 2013, Doc Gumshoe posted a piece about Lyme disease, with a couple of short bits about babesiosis and Erlichiosis/anaplasmosis. The clinical details about Lyme – the pathogen that carries the disease, the ticks that transmits the pathogen to the patient, the initial symptoms, the usual treatments – were […]
August 3, 2023
Cancer 2023 – Second Installment
In this follow-up to the previous Doc Gumshoe missive about cancer, entitled “Cancer 2023 – What’s Happening in the Combat Zone,” which posted on July 18, we’ll be discussing several general types of cancer – brain, lung, ovarian, breast, liver, and cancer caused by obesity. In each case, however, there are special conditions associated with […]
July 18, 2023
Cancer 2023: What’s Happening in the Combat Zone?
Just over 50 years ago, President Richard M. Nixon signed into law the National Cancer Act of 1971, which established the National Cancer Institute. Cancer had become the second leading (after heart disease) cause of death in the US in 1970. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) from its establishment had broad powers, including the creation […]
June 22, 2023
Alzheimer’s Disease, RSV, Migraines and more…
In this installment, we won’t be talking about the two Big C’s – Cancer and COVID-19. I had my say about COVID last time around, and I would be quite happy not to have to deal with that particular blight ever again. As for the other big C, the news has been coming out of […]
May 24, 2023
COVID-19: Looking Both Ways
This morning my wife phoned to tell me that she had stopped in at a little local store where she occasionally shops. She learned that the owner had just come down with COVID. She was concerned, because she had been in the store a couple of days ago, been close to the owner, and purchased […]
May 3, 2023
Weight and Waistline Worries
I began looking closely at the value of the body-mass index (BMI) as an indicator of a person’s health status after this incident, which took place more than twenty years ago in a large medical practice. The reason I was at that large practice is that my regular primary care physician had retired and merged […]
April 4, 2023
Women, Statins and Curry
I was considering starting off this installment of the Doc Gumshoe meanderings with a discussion of an article about why women in particular reject statin therapy. The thought then occurred to me that surely there is a constituency in Gumshoe Nation that would promptly reply that the reason is obvious: women have more sense than […]
March 27, 2023
March 2023 Miscellany
My mission as Doc Gumshoe is almost the contrary of what the mainstream media do every day. They give prominence to disasters – a train wreck, an earthquake, an outbreak of a dire disease – which get promoted to the top of the news. Doc Gumshoe deals in an area which is fundamentally not cheerful […]
March 1, 2023
One More Look at COVID-19
When I go to the grocery store these days, I see only a few people wearing masks, and in our chorus, my wife and I are among the handful of masked singers. I acknowledge that wearing a mask is a nuisance, and singing through a mask is not much fun. But at the same time […]
February 14, 2023
Osteoporosis Update (Part Two)
Part One of this opus ended with a few paragraphs that approached the question of what we can do to prevent osteoporosis. Prevention is more important in the management of osteoporosis than in most medical conditions. Yes, preventing a disease is always preferable to treating it once the disease takes hold. There are cures, of […]
February 8, 2023
Osteoporosis Update (Part One)
Osteoporosis has been part of the human condition since there was a human condition. It doesn’t fit into the characteristics of a disease or an illness. It’s not an infection, nor yet a cellular mutation like cancer. It’s not caused by trauma of any kind. It’s a condition that goes along with aging. The essentials […]
Recent Author Comments
Posted on March 20, 2024
Posted on September 6, 2023
Thanks very much, but sorry, I know absolutely nothing about Jimmy Buffet.[...]
Posted on July 19, 2023
Can't think why the deaths total should exceed the cases total. Good catch. I'll have to look at other data sources.[...]
Posted on March 6, 2023
Regarding the evidence about the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine entering the human liver cell line in vitro, I'll do a bit of digging around, but my opinion is far, far from expert. Thanks for the hint.[...]
Posted on November 16, 2022
In many previous Doc Gumshoe postings, I have clearly stated that indeed we do make cholesterol from whatever food we eat, and also that we require cholesterol, since it is an essential component of many bodily functions. And, by the way, I have pointed [...]
Posted on November 2, 2022
I've been keeping an eye on TauRX for a couple of years & will not let it out of my sight.[...]
Posted on October 27, 2022
I've discussed Anavex several times & will do so again.[...]
Posted on October 5, 2022
Parkinson's disease is not caused by a virus, although it's not impossible that a viral illness such as flu could have some movement disorders as a side effect.[...]
Posted on September 26, 2022
Here’s the source of the statement about the increase in metastatic prostate cancer since the USPSTF came out against regular PSA screenings in 2012:“In men 45 to 75 years old, there was no statistically significant change in the incidence rate of [...]
Posted on September 23, 2022
No question that MYMD-1 has an interesting mechanism of action - different than Humira or Enbrel, both of which block the TNF. MYMD-1 prevents the formation of TNF by the CD4 cells. But it will be years before they demonstrate efficacy. And I can't [...]
Posted on August 12, 2022
On my agenda - thanks![...]
Posted on August 12, 2022
ALS - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - is an extreme challenge. A friend of a close friend tried to enroll in a clinical trial that was taking place fairly close to where he lived, but unfortunately he died before the trial got started. That trial, w[...]
Posted on August 11, 2022
I know almost nothing about CBD o CBDA, and I have serious doubts about the reliability of the information that's out there about them. Sorry![...]
Posted on August 11, 2022
Thanks for the blush-making compliment! As for cholesterol, it does get deposited in arterial walls, leading to serious problems. Inflammation may partly be what causes that to happen, but cholesterol itself is at least partly a cause, if not THE caus[...]
Posted on July 21, 2022
What I wrote about Anavex was based on the best information I could get from outside sources - not Anavex's own releases. If you have any accurate information sources, please let me know.[...]
Posted on July 19, 2022
No thoughts as of yet - I'll need to do some sleuthing.[...]
Posted on July 19, 2022
No need to apologize!! Doc Gumshoe likes questions![...]
Posted on July 19, 2022
Why don't you read what I wrote?[...]
Posted on July 19, 2022
Misfolded proteins are real - not a hypothesis, Whether ProMIS has a way to deal with them is hypothetical, for now, at least.[...]
Posted on June 22, 2022
Many recent developments are being touted as "the future of medicine." I don't know of a Nobel committee getting into that. Tell me little more and I may be able to come up with something.[...]
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More Info Please note that this is your publicly visible biography - we recommend not including any personal information (phone, email, address, etc.) and ONLY linking to any other pages or profiles you're comfortable sharing with everyone.
I'm overwhelmed by the flood of comments! I need to acknowledge my ignorance about CPAP and related devices to compensate for sleep apnea problems. I did a bit of poking around when I was researching the article & will do some additional sleuthing to t[...]