Sleep is a drug, and most of us need more of it!

Why do we get tired at the end of the day and then spend roughly one-third of each day unconscious? Here are some basics about sleep in general. Also, does lack of sleep cause dementia? What GI problems come from sleep deprivation? What can we do about all of this?

Letter: What to do when the colonoscopy prep doesn’t work?

But what if it's too late? If you're reading this while in the midst of a potentially failed bowel prep don't despair! There are many ways to salvage a bowel prep and still have a safe, high-quality colonoscopy the next day. It all depends on what time you take action; If you wait until 2 hours before the procedure is scheduled than nothing can be done, but if you're already having issues the night before you can totally recover from this and be fine. This is what I usually recommend...

“Doctor, are you SURE?”

Hubris is a killer. Fight it with humility! In medicine, we often don't know why things happen as they do, and it can be hard to say "I don't know" when faced with certain questions.  Some patients view uncertainty very unfavorably and want total confidence by their doctor all the time. How do you feel when your doctor says "I don't know"?

Last year I wrote down six things that eventually changed my life…this is #5.

I made a list of six things that needed to happen if I was going to turn my life around. I was frustrated with my then-current work-life situation, and kept falling into the same bad patterns but couldn't figure out how to break the cycle. After constantly feeling like I didn't have time to exercise or eat right because I was too tired or spent, one day I literally looked in the mirror and had an epiphany...

There were no survivors. [Warning: GRAPHIC]

Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month continues on! However let’s face it, awareness by itself is not enough! To have an impact, we need to take action against colon cancer. We must also have the necessary tools, tactics, and training to take care of business when polyps rear their ugly head. It's a bad month to be a polyp!!!

What causes colon polyps?

Roughly half of all cases of colon cancer (and by extension, colon polyps) are a result of modifiable risk factors. These are the things that you can control. If we know what these risk factors are, maybe we can make better choices...