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Severe spinal cord injury recovery times can be significantly shortened by using acetyl l-carnitine early after the injury. Damaged mitochondria can be resuscitated and begin making ATP by speeding the delivery of long chain fatty acids across the mitochondrial cell membrane, where they can be used for making cellular fuel. Another mechanism to consider to...

Addiction and co-dependency often go hand in hand and are very difficult to resolve. It is possible to learn new ways to deal with life situations through coaching. Getting help is the first step.              

Shocking events can lead to abrupt very high stress hormones levels which can stun the heart and lead to heart failure, angina, and/or rhythm disturbances that act like a heart attack. In this "broken heart syndrome" there is no underlying heart damage. If people survive this their heart returns to normal.        

The first US case of mad cow disease in six years was found in central California in a dairy cow that was not slaughtered for food. It has not been reported to be transmissable in milk. Testing of downer cows is only about 0.2%, so we cannot rest assured that Americans are not being exposed to a lot of cows that have the disease but are not yet sick enough to...

  A study out of the University of Kentucky published in November of 2012 in the Southern Medical Journal showed that music therapy can benefit patients pre-operatively, intra-operatively, and post-operatively. They found that patients needed less sedative medication, recovered more quickly, had shorter ICU stays, felt better, and had lower hospital...

Sports injuries are common and cause disabilities that keep us from exercising. There are many simple conventional measures that work but there are new approaches that can be miraculous. Infrared light therapy is discussed because it works so well, is safe, and affordable. It is also so new that it has not yet found its rightful place in sports medicine.      

Acupuncture has been touted to help stroke victims, but a study was done showing that it doesn't work. The study suffered from selection bias. Placebo effect is discussed. Getting better should be the bottom line, not whether or not the beneficial effect is placebo.

  Type 2 diabetes is largely a disease of lifestyle, especially diet and exercise. However, stress, sleep, and certain pharmaceutical drugs predispose to developing it. The metabolic syndrome is discussed and the concept of insulin resistance is reviewed.