ClaireNeelyMD’s Blog

At this time of year, I have many families bringing in their children to make sure that they are healthy for the upcoming holidays.  No one wants their child passing illness on to relatives at the big family gathering.  But, there is not magic medicine that will guarantee health.  The all-important, simple hand washing is [...]

A child was crying in the exam room across the hall. Crying loudly and long.   The patient I was seeing started to look a little worried and her mother said she hoped that the child was not hurt too badly.  But, having heard lots of different cries, I knew that child was not in pain.  [...]

This is National Influenza Vaccination Week, and today is the day dedicated to spreading the word about the importance of influenza vaccines in children and young adults-both seasonal influenza and H1N1.  I continue to get questions about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine.  The H1N1 vaccine is made the same way seasonal flu vaccines are [...]

Over 15 years ago, we learned that a major cause of acetaminophen overdose was using the wrong measuring spoon.  It is easy to mistake a tablespoon measure for a teaspoon, especially in the middle of the night.  While a single mistaken dose of many medications is not a big problem, a repeated overdose of acetaminophen [...]

One of the saddest facial expressions is the look a baby gives her mother or father when she gets a shot.  This is what makes shots worse for parents.  Babies are very oriented in the present and once the pain from the shot has faded, they are ready to put it behind them.  Even though [...]

The smell of fresh cut grass is one of the pleasures of summer. Using a lawn mower is often as routine as bike riding or barbeques during the summer months. it is easy to take these machines for granted and forget how powerful they are.  In fact, 200,000 people – 16,000 of them children – [...]

Higher gas prices mean “sharing the road” with more bicycles. Bicycles are legal vehicles on Minnesota roads and bicyclists have the same rights as motorists. This means they share equally the responsibilities of bicycle safety and reducing bicycle/motor vehicle crashes. The top factor contributing to these crashes is failure of both bicyclists and motorists to [...]

Chlamydia is one of the most commonly reported infectious diseases in the US.  It is a sexually transmitted disease, but is less well known than others.  It generally causes no symptoms, though at times can cause minor, non-specific problems in women and men.  It is one of the leading causes of infertility in women. It [...]

I am a BIG fan of fireworks.  One of my favorite childhood memories is the summer my father worked in North Carolina for 2 months, and the house where we stayed was near 6 Flags.  Every night, we could sit on the front steps and watch the fireworks just before park closing. Every year, I [...]

A study was presented yesterday at the American College of Sports Medicine meeting in Seattle that chocolate milk helped more with muscle recovery after exercise than sports drinks.  This was a small study out of James Madison Univeristy of 13 male college soccer players, but the results are interesting.  They measured the blood level of [...]