To all of my patients: I regret to inform you that I will be closing my practice as of March 1, 2012 because of financial reasons. I have spent several months struggling to keep the practice going but can no longer support the financial losses. I will continue to see patients until that time. Some [...]
We are currently in the open enrollment period for Medicare, both choosing a supplement plan if you wish and picking your part D (medication) plan. I have recently begun to accept a limited number of Medicare patients. If you are a patient of mine or wish to become a patient of mine, be sure to [...]
Now is the time to get your flu shot if you haven’t gotten one yet. We have plenty in stock. The vaccination is recommended for everyone but especially for those over 50, people with chronic illnesses or people who are around people with chronic illnesses or very small children. People over 50 should also get [...]
I have been seeing many students lately who are being required to have a pertussis vaccine before they return to school. This has been confusing as pertussis (whooping cough) has been traditionally thought to be an illness of babies and very young children. The pertussis portion of the “baby series” had been removed from the [...]
While many colleges are recommending the meningitis vaccine, most so not require them. Bacterial meningitis, also known as meningococcal meningitis is a disease that can cause death within 24 hours. If not fatal, it can also result in loss of limbs vision and other organ damage. Meningitis is transferred by saliva transfer, much like a [...]
Even though my practice is comprised of many young people, I have started checking Vitamin D levels on everyone as I am finding that about 95% of my patients are deficient in Vitamin D. Vitamin D is made naturally by exposure to sunlight but is also supplemented in mild and many other food products. It [...]
Shortly after the initial phases of the nuclear disaster resulting from the tsunami in Japan, I got a lot of questions about whether my patients should be taking potassium iodide and I am told that there was a run on it in town. Just for the record, there was never a significant risk of exposure [...]
My patient portal to my medical record has been present for some time and is used by a few of you but has been difficult to access because of the long web address need to access it. There is now a link on my web site in the upper right hand corner that will take [...]
We have recently seen a big surge of patients with influenza. Many of them have already had a flu shot so it seems that whatever strain is here is not sensitive to this year’s vaccine. Symptoms of true influenza are rapid onset of high fever, chest congestion, cough, headache and body aches. Stomach symptoms are [...]
Most of us have been following the recent health reform debate with both hopes that something meaningful will emerge and concern that we may somehow lose important benefits in the massive stack of fine print. I would like to offer up some of this Santa Barbara Doctor’s major concerns for you to think about as the [...]