Grandfather Cleaves
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
This is not a medical or technical story. It is not related for medical men - except those who. secretly wonder sometimes if that little feeling of fullness in the back of their heads or the ringing in their ears means anything and are loath to find out. This story is written in the hope that it may be of interest - and possibly value - to the many men who knowingly or unknowingly, carry a blood pressure far higher than it theoretically should be and yet must go on about their daily affairs. And if the personal pronoun I is used too frequently for "good form," please excuse it, because this story is true; and it ap - plies, I am sure, to many more of us than you suspect.
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The Polypill
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
Listen. I'm not advocating closing down all the drugstores don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that we all, consumers and physicians and pharmacists need to use drugs more judiciously and especially less frequently if eating and living more healthfully will do the job.
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Hypertension Is Not Essential
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
"Most cases of high blood pressure are known as essential or primary hypertension. This means your doctors aren't sure what the exact cause of your high blood pressure is."
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Our Over Consuming Society
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
We poor susceptible humans are being manipulated by such powerful forces, we don't have a chance to resist. In fact, we don't even know that resistance is called for! I guess the operative word here is "seduction". Hey, if you are enjoying yourself, like some fish gobbling down a big, fat juicy worm, why would you even consider resisting such urges? Well, for starters, gobbling down worms, that's how you end up in somebody's frying pan! Gobbling down too much of the American diet, that's how we got, and are still getting into ever more deeply, the Healthcare mess we are in today.
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Pills Can Only Delay the Inevitable
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
I am 73 years old. I have been a doctor for 50 years. I am definitely old enough to kick back and retire. I have enough money to live comfortably, and I have 3 children who could and would take care of me should I ever need to be dependent on them. I would have no problem calling them on those promises. I have been a good daddy.
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I quit smoking “cold turkey” at age 34 in 1968.
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
At age 34, I was a doctor on the faculty at Duke University School of Medicine, my first real job after completing my post-graduate training at UCLA (1960-62), Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1962-1964) and the National Heart Institute of the NIH (1964-1967). I had smoked a pack a day since my early teens. I had started smoking at the end of World War 2. With our troops returning home, cigarettes were available in great abundance again for the civilian population. The tobacco companies were ready to take advantage of this pent up demand. The returning troops already had a permanent tobacco habit and they felt gratitude for all the entertainment they had enjoyed near the front lines, sponsored by (you guessed it) the tobacco companies.
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Whatever it is that’s going down, deal with it. No excuses.
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
I am in the first month of my first year of residency at UCLA Medical center. It is mid-July, 1961. I have just finished one year of internship, I look like a college kid. I don’t need to shave every day yet. But I am a real doctor. I’ve been on duty all that day and night and am now taking a nap early in the morning, about 2:30 or 3:00 AM.
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Dr. Bennett’s Professional Experience
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
I have been a doctor for 50 years. Because I was named after my grandfather, a beloved small town GP, I have wanted to be a doctor for 70 years. The first third of my doctoring career was spent in 6 different highly regarded academic institutions. My plan was to become a medical scientist.
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The Kiddie Cholesterol Debate
Author: Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP | Category: Articles by Dr. Bennett | Monday, January 07, 2008
Making decisions about your health is never easy, and things get even harder when the choices involve children. That's why the latest recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to widen cholesterol-testing to include kids as young as 2 is shaking up doctors and parents alike. The academy is also urging doctors to consider treating young patients from families with a history of abnormally high cholesterol levels — a major contributor to heart disease — with medications known as statins.
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