I Am an Expert in Weight Loss

How do you think that well-known experts became recognized as experts? They focused on something that was interesting to them; they mastered the literature; and they develop their own experience so that they could make their own contribution. The result is a self-reinforcing process. The more you see, the greater the experience and expertise, the more you see.

How to Be an Expert in One Easy Lesson Milton Packer shares his advice for earning recognition as an authority

I know how to take it off and keep it off.

Two. Hundred. Pounds.  I’ve kept the weight off for over forty years.

This makes me an expert.

 

The Other Drug Epidemic

Since 2011, emergency room visits related to meth in San Francisco have jumped 600% to 1,965 visits in 2016, the last year for which ER data is available. Admissions to the hospital are up 400% to 193, according to city public health data. And at San Francisco General Hospital, of 7,000 annual psychiatric emergency visits last year, 47% were people who were not necessarily mentally ill — they were high on meth.

Read the full article here.

 

Opiods + Marijuana = Bad

Cannabis Plus Opioids in Chronic Pain: Not a Great Combo

Previous research by Humphreys and colleagues showed that people who used medical cannabis also had higher rates of opioid use and misuse. “This is one of many examples where claims about the benefits of medical cannabis are not supported by evidence,” Humphreys told MedPage Today.  The current study had several limitations: it relied on cross-sectional, self-reported data and was subject to possible selection bias and confounding. It also did not assess the frequency or quantity of cannabis or opioid use, or the type of chronic pain.

Stress related disorders and risk of cardiovascular disease: population based, sibling controlled cohort study

BMJ 2019; 365 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l1255 (Published 10 April 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;365:l1255

Conclusion Stress related disorders are robustly associated with multiple types of cardiovascular disease, independently of familial background, history of somatic/psychiatric diseases, and psychiatric comorbidity.

This study is Open Access and a PDF can be downloaded at the link above.