Medicine and Physiology for the Non Doctor
I plan on covering a number of topics. I might split or join some of those topics if I feel it makes more sense that way. In that case I’ll update this index.
Don’t expect textbook ready content... That needs a serious time investment, the help of a professional editor, and given the breadth of what I’m trying to cover, a team of co-authors. While I do have a plan, I might scrape parts of it or rewrite it furiously if it doesn’t work well.
I’ll try to keep a regular schedule I’m comfortable with, but it might take some time until such schedule emerges. I appreciate reader feedback enormously, and I accept reader’s suggestions for topics they might wish to see covered. To cover some of these topics appropriately, I will need to do some reading of my own,
The goal here is to be informative in a way that is understandable to laymen, but I think some medical students or even doctors might benefit from reading. I will try to bring in something new, because there’s no need to parrot stuff that’s easily available elsewhere.
The focus here is more on understanding the human body, both in health and disease as well as some selected topics about the practice of Medicine which I think might be interesting for non medical readers. I won’t focus much on actionable medical advice. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever give much medical advice except for the Three Mighty Pillars Of Healthy Living:
- Stop smoking!
- Stop smoking!
- Stop smoking!
For people who do not smoke, the Three Pillars are:
- Don’t start.
- Don’t start.
- Don’t feel too smug for never having started.
Biology Basics
- What is Life?
- Molecules of Life
- The Physics and Chemistry of Life
- The Cell as the Basis of Life
- Moving Molecules Around
- What is Death?
- Reading the Genetic Code
- Communication Between Cells
Basics of Clinical Medicine
- Principles of Bioethics
- Medical Education and Specialization
- Diagnosis - Symptoms: When the Doctor Talks you You
- Diagnosis - Signs: When the Doctor Touches You
- Diagnosis - Other Investigations: When the Doctor uses Tools
- Treatment Part I: Pharmacology, or when the Doctor Drugs You
- Treatment Part II: Surgery, or when the Doctor Cuts You Open
- Treatment Part III: Capabilities and Limits of Medicine, or When the Doctor Can’t Do Much
- Prognosis: The Pitfalls of Trying to Predict the Future
- Cost: The Costs and Benefits of Medicine
Human Physiology and Medicine
- Basic Organization of the Human Body
- The Good Guys - The Immune System
- The Bad Guys - Infectious diseases and Infestations
- Bonus: AIDS
- Good Cope Gone Rogue - Autoimmunity
- Bonus: Organ Transplantation
- The Danger from the Inside - Cancer
- The Circulation
- The Heart
- Bonus: Cardiovascular Disease
- Gastrointestinal System - Part I: the Danger Inside
- Gastrointestinal System - Part II: Keeping you Fed
- Gastrointestinal System - Part III: The Liver
- The Kidneys and Dialysis
- Inter System Communication - The Hormones
- Bonus: Diabetes, a multi-system disease
- Bones and Joints
- Bonus: Trauma
The Nervous System
The nervous system is complex enough to deserver it’s own section.
- Fast Communication: Neurons
- Sensing the World: Touch
- Sensing the World: Sight
- Sensing the World: Hearing
- Sensing the World: Taste and Smell
- Moving Around: The Muscles
- Moving Around: Bones and Joints
- Moving Around: the Brain and Spinal Chord