Kuan Yin Acupuncture

We still need all of these layers.

When I started writing this post, I was planning on a straightforward update on the current situation with the delta variant (sorry, I couldn’t resist the obvious title). And then a 13-year-old killed a classmate at a local middle school for no discernible reason. And then the Taliban took back Afghanistan.

The murdered boy was trying to talk his killer out of continuing to bully his friends. He stood up to him with words, doing exactly what most of us would teach our kids to do, what my daughter would do, what I would do. The right thing.

Going into Afghanistan was never the right thing. I remember writing “Can you say ‘quagmire’?” back then. Three quarters of Americans thought this war was a great idea. I was part of the other quarter. I take no pleasure in being right in this case…

Best New Mexican conspiracy theory. The booster has microguacamole.

Last week we got the news that a little girl, under 10 years of age, died of COVID-19 in our state. Because of privacy concerns, all we know is that she had underlying conditions and was hospitalized. Kids her age are of course not being vaccinated as yet, one more reason we still need to be careful. This is not over, not by a long shot.

I started writing this post in early April, then ended up working on other matters and putting it off for an unconscionably long time. Many things about the pandemic have become clearer since then, while others have become muddier still.

At that time a few months ago, COVID-19 was doing its maximum damage in India, and Brazil was not far behind. There were still influential voices referring to the pandemic as a “panic,” implying that…

I’m just coming off a session of attempting to de-freakout someone about a misleading vaccine scare article. I’ve had it with the antivaxx disinformation crew, and then I’ve also had it with the “science-based” bunch who poo-poo everything that doesn’t fit their narrow field of vision, like the guy I was reading a few minutes ago who insists that chiropractors aren’t doctors. I’ve had it.

I bet you’ve had it too.

Let’s take a deep breath, get a cup of tea, and survey the current state of play in our pandemic reality.

Are you confused about where, when, and whether to wear a mask now, or whether they help at this point? Of course you are. The current guidance is about as confusing as anything in the past 15 months has been, though I don’t know how it could be stated much…

This is the second part in a series that focuses on “garbage can diagnoses” (see Part I for a more detailed description of what constitutes a GCD.)

TMJ: (properly known as temporomandibular joint disorder) “My doctor/dentist says I have TMJ.” Gawd, I wish I had a dollar (nickel adjusted for inflation) for every time I’ve heard this one. Of course, they never follow up this statement with how it’s being treated, because most practitioners don’t know what to do with this condition besides give you a mouth guard. Great, now I can play hockey without losing my teeth, but my jaw still hurts. This GCD could include everything from jaw clicking, locking, joint pain, and nighttime clenching and grinding.

The importance of the jaw in overall health can’t be overstated. Because of the intense concentration of nerve receptors in the jaw that monitor proprioception–the body’s ability to sense…