Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry

Prince, Lil Wayne, and Elton John have all suffered from the disorder of seizures. Yesterday I witnessed a video of Wendy Williams who looked to have suffered from one on live TV say that it the lights in the room was just too hot. Now I can't be 100% certain but on today's episode I think I make a compelling point that what she had suffered was more than just heat stroke. One in ten people will s...

As a hospital physician I have learned that not only is the patient not prepared to deal with their hospital stay but the family is even more ill prepared. Over the past few weeks I have had experiences of both spectrums of care where I had family members who were amazing while taking care of the their loved ones and I had family members who I couldn't wait to heal their loved ones  and discharge...

Every now and then I get to take a "Vacation" away from taking care of patients but being that I have never been the vacation type I always seem to end up at a medically related function. This time I end up in Washington D.C., a place I hadn't been in almost 10 years when I was applying to medical school. I had a fabulous time there if you take away the fact that I spent my first night in my room...

At the time of the recording I had a totally different game plan for tonights episode but being that it was World Mental Health Day I didn't want to miss an opportunity to bring up a topic that I hold near and dear to me. I again enlisted the assistance of Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Maria Davis-Pierre to give her professional take on the sheer importance of World Mental Health day in regard...

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is upon us. Did you know that Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women and is the second leading cancer diagnosis in women.  Did you know that every 2 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer or how about the fact that African American Women under the age of 45 are not only more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer but also more likely t...

Back with another discussion on a very important and common autoimmune disease - Rheumatoid Arthritis. In my office quite often when patients were asked about their medical history some would check off that they have rheumatoid arthritis when they really meant to just say osteoarthritis. Its a phrase we hear a lot on television but very few understand the overall severity of the disorder. On our F...

Chest pain is one of the most common complaints in the emergency room. Reports show that it is responsible for approximately six million visits a year. As a hospitalists I am usually tasked with taking care of these patients in the the hospital to ensure the number #1 goal that anyone should have when walking into the hospital, being able to walk out. Because of  hurricane season in south florida...

Hurricane season has been a yearly occurrence for me growing up for as long as I can remember. Born and raised in south Florida  it was an all too common time getting the preparations in order for yet another season of uncertainty regarding this phenomenon that had loomed over our summers. It didn't matter how much you prepared for it there was always something we wish we had done more of. As a Ph...

Sickle cell disease is a disorder that has affected both my professional & personal life. I have watched patients suffer from a disease that we don't seem to have a very good handle on time and time again. Noted as the most common genetic disorder in the United States, sickle cell disease earns the honor of getting its own month to shed some spotlight on it.  Links/Resources  My overview from last...

Self confidence is an issue that affects everyone. It is a very common determinant of a positive outlook and I have found that over the years as I have continued to grow in both my professional & personal development that it is something that will hinder anyone from their full potential. I remember finishing up residency and starting to work and one day looking around wondering was this it? Now if...

It is the bodies normal defense mechanism to keep us from doing things that will cause us harm. The conversation of death, grief & loss is one of those things that we avoid until we absolutely have to face it. For many health care providers these conversations can become daunting because the reaction is never the same for two families alike. I wanted to approach the subject because I have seen far...

It seemed like August in the hospital was bring all your liver problems to me month because I had way too many people being admitted to the facility with liver issues. It got me thinking that if I was going to work on preventing these things from happening than I needed to scream from the rooftops why your organ, the liver was so important. Some important fun facts regarding the liver includes it...

This is a time where taking care of your health is so important with all the different changes in healthcare on the horizon. An important question to answer is do you still trust your doctor to be in charge of your health. On the episode today I discuss the importance of trusting your physician, we go into detail about different doctor/patient relationships and give some tips to improve patient sa...

Sexually transmitted diseases have become a mainstay in the primary care setting but with recent reports that the numbers are on the rise a Public Health crisis may not be too far behind. Today were are going to be focusing on just three STDs, syphilis, gonorrhea & herpes simplex. Because of the recent legal troubles Usher has been having regarding herpes transmission I thought I would shed some l...

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in men. In 2017 almost 160,000 people with diagnosed with prostate cancer with many more going undiagnosed. There are major symptoms associated with prostate cancer but the most common one will surprise you. Learn today why your doctor's are missing the boat on treating you for prostate cancer and if you are an African American male you don't want...

It is a disease that affects women almost 90% percent of the time. Toni Braxton, Selena Gomez, Seal, Nick Cannon all suffer from the disorder lupus. This autoimmune disease is chronic in its presentation, has no triggers on what causes it but still manages to effect 1.5 million yearly and is responsible for 140,000 hospital visits per year. It's a disease that I will also keep an eye on because my...

Somehow I went this far without talking about a disease that a day doesn't go by that I don't see it one way shape or form. Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects almost 30 million people here in the United States. It cost the health care system approximately $250 billion each year to take care of and the co-morbidities associated with diabetes are as long as a grocery lists. I have told my st...

In my office more often than not "the rock" in  the family is concerned about being over burdened. Its a very common theme to see with those who serve as the mental "rock" in their family because everyone tends to come to them because they are seen as the problem solvers. My biggest gripe is that for many of the "family counselors" they tend to have no one that they can lean on for emotional suppo...

To get a medical license or even renew your medical license we are required to take a 1-2 course on domestic violence. I remember seeing it listed and being pretty excited because I had learned about its serious effects from a public health perspective. Some of the numbers are startling with one in four women and one in seven men over the age of 18 being a reported victim of abuse. Quite often its...

If there is only one thing that I absolutely want you to take from all of my lunch and learn episodes is that I never want to see you pick up a cigarette for the first time or smoke it ever again. There is absolutely nothing that could be said that would make me that that smoking a cigarette in 2017 isn't the equivalent of slowly killing yourself. As a medical student you learn that if quitting or...

You know that I promote my love for Public Health whenever I get the chance and quite often find a way to point out how important it is in everyday medicine. Well, this is one of those times again with the subject of antibiotics. There isn't a shift that goes by that I have to prescribe someone an antibiotic for their illness but because of that we are beginning to run into a huge public health is...

Today's episode is a follow up from my finding out my  child has autism podcast. I will be discussing some of the differences of raising kids together where one has autism and the others seeming do not. There are things now that my youngest kids(twins) do that I didn't realize you did at that age because my oldest daughter had a developmental delay. Some of the key differences from a developmental...

Hearing that your child has autism can be life altering and usually brings out way more questions than you could imagine. I remember when my wife who is a licensed mental health counselor began noticing developmental delays in our child that she was just uncomfortable with waiting to see how things played out. Being an internist, who specializes in the treatment of adults I was in the dark and rea...

If you had to guess which is the most common cancer in the world how many of you would say skin cancer? In the episode today we will begin to shed the light on skin cancer and talk about how many diagnoses per year of skin cancer is found. In my office quite often do I have to tell my patients that getting a yearly test is almost mandatory (even though are insurance companies who think it is). Bei...

Heart disease is the number one killer in the WORLD. Cardiovascular disease as it is most commonly described as takes up 2 of the top 10 reasons world wide. As a primary care physician I have seen my faire share of patients who has suffered the ill effects of this disease. According to the CDC heart disease is accountable for 1 in 4 deaths here in the United States with about 600,000 deaths per ye...