With the opioid crisis looming on the horizon always, the question comes as to how to treat pain. So many medicines have side effects an are overall dangerous. Some work about as much as placebo. We'll talk about medicines, but then discuss better ways to deal with pain, from mindfulness to exercises to other non-medical modalities. Pain is real, but pain should not be an invitation to be smothers by medicines and the medical system. We will help you through this!

We have always known about basic cancer screening tests, like mammography and colonoscopy. But we have expanded the universe of cancer screening, relying on scans, blood tests, and genetic testing. As we screen more, we find more, we treat more, but are we saving lives? Much of the screening we do has not been shown to save as many lives as advertised, if any at all once the complications of the screening are taken into consideration. A new study in JAMA questions some newer screening tests, and past studies in Archives of Internal Medicine have found that overall most screening is not life saving. The new screens are even more perilous, introducing increased uncertainty to an already uncertain field. It's interesting to read Malcom Gladwell's take on screening in the New Yorker, helping us to learn about the promise and perils of basic screening. Alan and Andy will tackle this issue through the lens of their experience and a whole lot of data!

Many books and studies have pointed to the fact that we are a nation swimming in mental health diagnoses and drugs. The DSM--the bible of mental health diagnoses--has exploded the numbers of mental health sicknesses you may have, and for every sickness there is a drug. Both the DSM and the American College of Psychiatry are heavily funded by the drug industry, and their recommendations have led to a skyrocketing of drugs for the brain, without any reduction in depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, or any other common ailment; in fact, they are all on the rise. We are exposing kids and elders to these drugs which are outright dangerous. We'll talk about this disturbing trend and highlight some books and articles that may be helpful.