A positive psychedelic experience can make you feel at one with the universe. A bad trip can make you feel psychotic. People who want a relatively safer experience have two choices: 1. Ask a friend to stay sober and be a calming guide (called a “trip sitter”) 2. Have remedies on hand to blunt or […]
Wow! How? Eating disorder recovery
Thirty million people in the U.S. will have a clinically significant eating disorder at some point in their lives. Treatment gaps mean that only a fraction of sufferers will receive the care they need due to the high cost of traditional, in-patient treatment and a scarcity of mental health professionals available for some populations and […]
Wow! How? Hospital Alarms
Yoko Sen is a musician who, when spending time in a hospital as a patient in 2012, noticed that her cardiac monitor and another patient’s fall-risk alarm created a spooky chord known as the devil’s interval. Composers use it sparingly because it sounds so foreboding. Even in a weakened state, Sen began asking questions about […]
Rebel Health
My book, Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care, is out in the world! You can pick up a copy at your favorite local bookstore (mine is Politics & Prose) or order it from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or another online retailer. Thank you for being part of this journey! I use this blog […]
Wow! How? Patient Data Rights
Until relatively recently, people living with diabetes were shut out of conversations about improving the devices that keep them alive. Device manufacturers saw clinicians as their customers, not patients, and nobody was asking them to change that stance, including the FDA. Patients and their loved ones were grateful to have insulin pumps and continuous glucose […]
Wow! How? Community Consults
“Lana,” a woman I interviewed who asked that her real name not be used, lives with mitochondrial disease and is an active member of a private Facebook group of people who share her diagnosis. Some of the members have become experts in drug interactions particular to “mito” and offer guidance to others based on their […]
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