I’m not particularly scared of the dentist but dental work can be a source of anxiety. Novocain shots are painful and a dentists’ drill reverberating through your skull is not pleasant despite your jaw being numb. Back when I was an accountant I worked a block from Baylor Dental College, which I used for some dental care. Much of the work was done by an instructor, while the student watched. At one point prior to a procedure, the student thought my blood pressure too high and insisted I get it checked by my primary care physician. My doctor said it was fine and told me it’s quite common for patients’ blood pressure to rise while in a medical office where practitioners often wear white coats. That was the first time I heard about what he called “white coat syndrome.”
Category: Consumer-Driven Health Care
Your Doc May Dump You if You Don’t See Them Often Enough
Just like a neglected girlfriend, you doctor may dump you if you don’t see her often enough. I don’t have a primary care doctor. My previous doctor was an Internist named Paul Craig. When I last called for an appointment several years ago in mid February his office staff told me he was retiring at the end of the month and was booked through the end of the February. Perhaps my irregular appointments were the reason he retired. I ended up being able to see a specialist who saw me without a referral.
Changing Our Clocks Twice a Year Has to Stop (but which Time?)
Sunday morning at 2:00am the time in most of North America officially changed from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time. The bonus, 300+ million people got to sleep an extra hour and will be getting out of bed an hour later than they did during the summer. The negative, 300 million Americans will lose an hour of daylight heading into winter when there is already less daylight. I recall much of my career I would head home from work in the dark during Winter. Any errands I needed to do after work were in the dark. In late June it remains light until after 9:00pm. In Winter it starts getting dark around 5:30pm
Monday Links
- CDC: alcohol related deaths rose 30% during the Covid pandemic.
- Global budgets aren’t just in Canada and Britain. The government is funding a pilot program for this country.
- Scott Sumner: Is the fed tightening too aggressively? No. “There’s almost no evidence that the Fed has tightened monetary policy at all.”
- Lancet publishes dishonest study on global warming heat deaths. (WSJ)
- The IRA bill is already killing potential cures. (WSJ)