musingsonwomenshealth.com

Reflections on 40 years as a doctor in Women's Health

    • About
  • Once Upon a Time

    Once upon a time, rumour had it that we were at the top of our game –nothing else came close. Well, maybe chimpanzees, but come on –they don’t even have a decent language, so how would we know? Anyway, we had no real competitors, and –just in case- we wrote the rules and we were…

    gozzter

    June 15, 2016
    Uncategorized
    BBC news, feathers, giant African pouched rats, mammorgrams, Nature, pathologists, pathology, pigeons, Public Health infrastructure, salmon, Tuberculosis, waste treatment, women’s health
  • Zoobstetricoses

      Ever since I was a little knicker I had a dog, or a cat, or both. It was part of growing up –playing with the dog in the park, avoiding the cat’s claws as it grabbed for the piece of wool dangling temptingly in front of it. And then there were the times sitting…

    gozzter

    June 8, 2016
    Uncategorized
    Canadian Medical Association Journal, cat scratch disease, cats, CDC, CMAJ, cryptosporidiosis, dogs, mercury contamination, multi-drug resistant bacteria, pregnancy risks, toxoplasmosis, zoonoses
  • Rethinking Placebos

    Placebo. I love the word; it comes from the Latin verb placere: to please, and in the first person future indicative –placebo– translates as ‘I will please’. Wonderful. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, probably since rereading a Dec. 31/14 article in Medscape entitled ‘Should Doctors Use More Placebos?’ http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/835197 The answer, of…

    gozzter

    April 20, 2016
    Uncategorized
    antiprostaglandin, ASA, autonomy, etymology of placebo, etymology of the word placebo, informed consent, medical ethics, patient autonomy, pharmacological effect, placebo, placebo effect, placebos in gynaecology, temporal placebo
  • The Yang of Yin

    We are, it would seem, a binary species and we live in a binary world where opposites define each other. Think, for example, of up and down –the one depends on the other for its very existence: there is obviously no up without a down with which to contrast it. Good/bad, in/out, light/dark, near/far… even…

    gozzter

    January 27, 2016
    Uncategorized
    BBC news, binary world, complementarity, David Bowie, Gender, gender assignation, gender lability, labels, opposites, sexuality, Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Yin and Yang
  • An Obstetrical Edition

    Miscarriages –early pregnancy losses- have long been the subjects of research. They are unfortunately all too common, and until very recently, we were only aware of those that occurred after a noticeable menstrual delay –the tip of the iceberg, in other words. Some progress has been made in understanding why they occur, of course –random genetic…

    gozzter

    January 20, 2016
    Uncategorized
    BBC news, blastocyst, DNA, Dr. Niakan, Early pregnancy loss, ecosystem, gene editing, genes, genetic modification, human embryo, infertility treatment, IVF, miscarriage, morula, Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare, unintended consequences
  • What is it like to be a…?

    I should have known not to answer her question like that. I should have seen the book she was reading; I should have seen how heavy her briefcase was… But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m a doctor now -an obstetrician/gynaecologist- but in the beginning I wanted to head in an an entirely different direction:…

    gozzter

    January 13, 2016
    Uncategorized
    epiphenomenalism, Hydra, Obstetrics, philosophy, physicalism, reductionism, subjective character of experience, Thomas Nagel, What is it like to be a bat?
  • What the Walrus said.

    The media are at it again, beating the data-drums for scraps of hope. It’s not that we don’t all long for reassurance and want to believe in the steady march of Science; it’s more that we can’t shake the suspicion that if we wish hard enough, stuff happens. For some reason I am reminded of…

    gozzter

    January 6, 2016
    Uncategorized
    BBC article, Ca125, cancer screening, clomid, clomiphene, Lancet, Lewis Carroll, ovarian cancer and clomid, screening for ovarian cancer, Stephen Leacock, surrogate pregnancy, The Walrus and the Carpenter, women’s health
  • A Pink Elephant in the Room?

    You could see her waiting in the wings, peeking around the curtain, anxious for her debut on the public stage. And what a buildup; the opening acts pretty well guaranteed her a receptive audience -one that would assume that anything less than a full symphonic orchestral introduction and a dais at centre stage would be…

    gozzter

    December 30, 2015
    Uncategorized
    acquired generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Critical Thinking, erectile dysfunction, evidence-based medicine, FDA, female sexual dysfunction, flibanserin, Health Canada, hypoactive sexual desire, pink Viagra, sexual dyspfunction
  • An Unfamiliar Worry (for some)

    I don’t know how the world used to manage with just men at the helm. There are so many things –obvious things- that simply pass by us uncharted. I don’t think its intentional; it’s more likely that those things just do not affect us in the same way. They have different consequences; we assign them…

    gozzter

    December 16, 2015
    Uncategorized
    Amy Peake, BBC news, cultural sensitivity, culture, food and shelter, gender boundaries, Iago, incontinence pads, Lenin, menses, menstrual pads, menstrual stigma, menstrual taboos, Othello, Refugee camps, refugees, resettlement of refugees, sanitary pads, Shakespeare, women’s needs, Zaatari camp in Jordan
  • The Most Unkindest Cut of All

    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… I’m a surgeon, so for me, the operating room has always been a haven of sorts. It’s one of the few places where I feel safe from interference from out there. Where, for a brief but immeasurable time, there is no outside –no politics, no…

    gozzter

    December 9, 2015
    Uncategorized
    BBC news, Brigadoon, classical music, Confirmation bias, Henry IV, Journal of Anaesthesiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Macbeth, music, Music in the operating room, Shakespeare, surgical distractions, survey, tempo, volume
Previous Page
1 … 52 53 54 55 56 … 75
Next Page

Blog at WordPress.com.

    • About
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • musingsonwomenshealth.com
    • Join 337 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • musingsonwomenshealth.com
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar