I have been asked several times this week about tonsillectomy – whether or not a child should have their tonsils taken out by surgery. Usually the question is in response to a sore throat of some kind, whether or not there is an infected tonsil.
There are just so many variables (i.e. whether it is acute or chronic, allergic or contagious etc.) that my reply must be largely individualized; so, a short article cannot adequately cover the topic.
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What would you think if your child, who had been toilet-trained for many years, began wetting the bed but was otherwise healthy and in no discomfort; or, if your little girl, 2 1/2 years old, began refusing to sit on the toilet, had a low-grade fever, and was extremely irritable; or, if your 15-year-old boy told you that he had pain on urination for the past four or five days and was now passing bloody urine; Read more→
I have been holding off writing a summer article until the weather made it clear that it really was summer. I don’t seem to have been quick enough on the draw, however, there was no spring to warn me.
When the weather warms up we begin seeing less contagious illnesses like colds, ear infections, chicken pox, etc. (very warm areas decrease illness in summer as people go indoors for air conditioning.)
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What do pilgrim and pioneer children have in common with aborigines in the highlands of New Guinea, hamsters, and some children living in "progressive" homes of today?
The answer? Read more→
We’ve done this before but in this case history I won’t make you guess. It was between me and my “professor” many years ago. Attendings and residents both saw clinic patients but residents also had hospital ward rotations. An attending “summoned” me Read more→
We’ve been reviewing all the new pediatric health-care guidelines published last year in the past two articles. So far we’ve found that new research prompted governing groups to release care-guidelines for Congenital Dislocated Hips, Calcium supplementation, Fluoride supplementation, Read more→
Today we go from previous posts on “Vintage Medical Advice” to several new treatment guidelines so “hot off the press” they are still smoking!
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Two Thousand Fourteen was a busy year for medical organizations making treatment guidelines. I counted at least seven of them applicable to children, from ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) tears to Flu Vaccinations.
Of course, these are made so physicians can have the advantage of new research and developments being analyzed and recommended by specialty organizations; and so there might be at least some standardization in treatment.
4 Posts in "2014 Medical Guidelines" Series
- 2014 Medical Guidelines: Intro/Index – 2 Feb 2015
The Intro/Index to the 2014 Medical Guidelines Curated Series of posts.
- Dislocated Hips, Calcium and Flouride – 3 Feb 2015
We go from previous posts on “Vintage Medical Advice” to several new treatment guidelines so “hot off the press” they are still smoking! Dislocated Hips, Calcium and Flouride
- RSV, Drug Testing – 7 Feb 2015
Today we’ll cover new 2014 guidelines for the prophylaxis against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) as well as how we now think best to handle drug testing in children and teens.
- ACL Tears, Flu Vaccination and Autism – 15 Feb 2015
We’ll finish the set of new 2014 Healthcare Guidlines by examining the new recommendations for physicians treating: Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Tears, Influenza Vaccination and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
If you’re wondering about how guidelines are made you may like to try a previous post about evidence-based medicine in the top 50 doctors of all time series.
I’m sure somebody like Steven King could make a good movie about this eight-legged bug, too small to be seen by the naked eye, but which lives by eating a persons top layer of skin and burrows through it to lay eggs that hatch in 4 days to an entirely new crop of bugs needing to feed.
read article…
Lots and lots of bugs bite our kids causing lots and lots of diseases, not to mention how miserable they make them. They often itch!
If they would just stop at itching, that would be enough to be going on with; but, they don’t. They often cause illness ranging from mild to severe to even death; and many times massive outbreaks.
This series is frequently added to because of the many biting insects and the seriousness of their diseases around the world. The “lowly” mosquito alone racks up many thousands of cases each year including deaths. Malaria, Zika, Typhoid—to name just a few.
7 Posts in "Bug Bites" Series
- Bug Bites Series: Intro/Index – 15 Oct 2014
It's incredible just how many bugs there are that bite and how many diseases caused by them. From mosquitos to ants to ticks to spiders, as we think of them, we add them to this list.
- Scabies is coming back! – 27 Oct 2014
It's BAAACK, the disease Scabies, also known as the 7-year-itch is making a comeback!
- Mosquitos and their illnesses – 23 Jun 2016
An in-depth description of the mosquito, its bite and the diseases they cause
- Bed bugs, Mites and Lice – 7 Dec 2016
This seems like it's getting a bit much. A simple series about bug bites just seems to get bigger and bigger. Today it's bed bugs, mites and lice.
- Ticks and Fleas – 11 Dec 2016
What's eating you? Could it be ticks and fleas? That's what we cover in this posting in the Bug Bites series.
- Part 1 - 33 things about bug bites: Ants, Chiggers, Ticks – 23 Mar 2018
Part 1 - 33 things doctors should keep in mind about bug bites. Fire ants, Chiggers, Ticks and their diseases
- Part 2 - 33 things about bug bites: fleas, bed bugs, spiders, Zika, Dengue and Ehrlichiosis. – 28 Mar 2018
Part 2 - 33 things doctors should keep in mind about bug bites. Zika, Dengue and Ehrlichiosis, and other diseases caused by fleas, bed bugs and spiders.
When we began this journey through a pediatric resident’s “second brain” of commonly common child diseases, I had no intention on making it such an effort with this many parts; but, then again, I never do.
I’m realizing now that it’s a “no win” effort; because, after all, “how common is common?” The diseases could just keep on coming – but they won’t because I’m ending this effort today.
One caveat I forgot to mention before: (more…)
As much fun as this has been romping through the memories generated by reviewing the “second brain” notebook I used all through medical school and residency, I think that we might be nearing the end of this series: Child Diseases Parents Should All Know About.
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