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GET MORE SLEEP
Why do we yawn? It’s probably not because we’re bored. How often do you yawn because you’re bored? We take in more oxygen when we yawn. Maybe we need more oxygen. I believe yawning was a signal we developed before we used language. It might have been a way to show our teeth before fighting. Have you ever noticed that you sometimes yawn when you’re nervous? I always thought I yawned before a test because I was tired after staying up all night. I thought I yawned before surgery while I was in residency because I had been on call the night before, and yet I wasn’t actually tired.…
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FEAR OF NEEDLES
I’m a doctor. I give shots. It doesn’t bother me to give shots…not one iota. But you know what? I am a freak when it comes to getting shots. Oh you might smugly say, “The doctor doesn’t like it when the shoe’s on the other foot.” But let me tell you, it doesn’t bother me to break my arm or blow out my knee. It doesn’t bother me to have babies. It doesn’t bother me to get thrown off horses…too much. But I can’t handle getting a measly shot. I haven’t taken a flu shot in 5 years. Six years ago someone talked me into getting one…for the first and…
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NARCOTIC PAIN PILLS
In my line of work, I get a lot of requests for pain pills. The majority of patients who need them have either just had surgery or an injury, like a fracture. And most people stop taking the pain pills as soon as they feel they don’t need them. Sometimes they wean themselves off of them by lowering the numbers of pills they take, or gradually increasing the interval of time in between the narcotics. Sometimes they supplement the pain medications with non-narcotic pain relievers. But sometimes patients continue to take pain pills. Weeks and even months go by, and they continue to request large doses of pain pills. It’s…
