There are a lot of urban medical myths that are passed down from one generation of medical students to the next. Allegedly, a patient once listed “Fireballs of the Eucharist” as the reason for her visit with a gynecologist. There is an inner (very immature) child in me that thinks of this phrase and (internally) […]
It’s a common scenario: A young woman goes to the Emergency Room with pelvic pain. She’s told that it must be Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (a condition often caused by an untreated STI), but she’s monogamous and has no risk factors or fever. She’s treated with antibiotics but all of her cultures come back negative and […]
You need an IUD. Trust me, I’m a doctor. IUDS ARE 99% EFFECTIVE IN PREVENTING PREGNANCY, MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BIRTH CONTROL PILLS AND WAY, WAY MORE EFFECTIVE THAN CONDOMS. They are also very reversible: your hormones and fertility go back to baseline within a day or two. Okay, obviously this post does not apply to […]
I was a teen in the 80s, and I remember a Time Magazine cover from 1982 that referred to herpes as the modern “Scarlet Letter.” Many of my younger patients don’t recall the intense stigma associated with herpes. Heck, they don’t recall that HIV used to be a death sentence. Times have changed, thank God! […]
Most of my patients are justifiably confused when it comes to breast exams and mammograms — they’ve been getting mixed messages their entire lives. These days, most OB-GYNs adhere to recommendations from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG). ACOG states that breast exams during an annual “may be offered in the context of […]
This post is going to be mainly about PCOS, but let me get ovarian cysts out of the way first. I recently gave a presentation to a bunch of primary care providers and explained the significance of ovarian cysts: It means the patient is female. And what about a family history of ovarian cysts? It […]
“Dr. McNally told me to leave my husband.” While reviewing the notes in a patient’s chart, I was startled to see that she had said this to another provider. Noooooo, I did not say that! Allow me to explain. My patient had complained that her libido wasn’t what it used to be, so I asked […]
