By Victor S. Sierpina, MD With 36 states having legalized medical marijuana and 18 allowing it for recreational use, we hear precious little on data for its benefits and harms. We also don’t see any reports of massive upticks in marijuana addiction, overdoses, deaths, except for some cases of cannabis hyperemesis syndrome and reports of impaired driving. A recent article in The American Family Physician, “Cannabis Essentials: Tools for Clinical Practice” delves into the clinical...

By Victor S. Sierpina, MD Prime health concerns of patients as they age are the 3-D’s: dependence, disability, dementia. No one wants to be in a situation where they are totally dependent on their family or others, disabled from normal activities of daily living, or worst of all, demented with Alzheimer’s or another cognitive problem. These are deep and very real concerns of so many patients I have treated over the years. Preventing or slowing...

By Victor S. Sierpina, MD “Do or do not. There is no try.” -Yoda If there were a pill as good as physical activity, it would be a blockbuster. We have long known the benefits of exercise, as little as 150 minutes a week, on improving risk and outcomes of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and even cancer. Now, we can add our new buddy COVID-19 to the list. In a study...

By Jaysonn Vel, MS3, UTMB and Samuel Mathis, M.D., UTMB Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is an increasingly common intestinal condition characterized by a relapsing and remitting course of abdominal pain with a change in bowel habits. It affects millions of individuals and has severe effects on quality of life with an increase in morbidity and risk of colorectal cancer. There are two variants of IBD that are defined according to location and depth of intestinal...

BY Victor S. Sierpina, MD, ABFM, ABIHM, WD and Laura Nell Nicholson Family Professor of Integrative Medicine Director, Medical Student Education Medical Director, Island West Family Medicine Clinic University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor Are integrative medicine approaches useful to the management of post-COVID syndrome? This is an evolving space of clinical and pre-clinical science, so no definitive consensus, adequate randomized trials, or meta-analyses are yet available to answer this question. However, at this stage...

By Amulya Sajja, MS4 and Samuel Mathis, M.D. Depression is a common diagnosis that is seen in almost all medical practices. It is characterized by feelings of sadness or guilt and changes in sleep, energy, appetite, concentration. In severe cases, it can also cause psychomotor symptoms and suicidal ideations. Prompt and appropriate treatment is vital to improving patient quality of life and for safety. With the increased stress of Covid-19, cases of depression and anxiety...

BY Victor S. Sierpina, MD, ABFM, ABIHM, Director, Medical Student Education Program, WD and Laura Nell Nicholson Family Professor of Integrative Medicine, Professor, Family Medicine University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor Primary care is indeed primary. It is the foundation of our health care system. Those who have a primary care doctor have fewer hospital days, better care of chronic disease, improved screening, and immunization rates, and overall improved health. A root cause of health...

By Amulya Sajja MS4, Family Medicine, UTMB & Samuel Mathis M.D., FAAFP, Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, UTMB   Depression is a common diagnosis that is seen in almost all medical practices. It is characterized by feelings of sadness or guilt and changes in sleep, energy, appetite, concentration. In severe cases it can also cause psychomotor symptoms and suicidal ideations. Prompt and appropriate treatment is vital to improve patient quality of life and for safety. With...

By Mercedes Hernandez, Family Medicine Residency, UTMB and Sagar Kamprath, MD, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch Unfortunately, obesity is a problem that many Americans struggle with and the effects of obesity on one’s health are overwhelmingly negative. Therefore, addressing ways to combat obesity is essential. Setting SMART goals is arguably the most important first step. SMART goals are goals that aim to be: “specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-oriented.”  As...

By Sagar Kamprath, MD, Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, UTMB   Stress runs deep in today’s pandemic-driven society adds fuel to the cycle of increasing inflammation and worsening immune function. Managing inflammation and optimizing the immune system is the underlying message in most illnesses with the current pandemic being no exception. However, through nutrition, supplementation, and breathing we may augment our immune system and give our bodies the tools it needs to stay sharp and fight...