A complaint worked from both sides: the Chinese medicine patterns first, then what modern research supports, then what to do about it. If nothing is wrong and you just want to do better, start with Optimize instead.
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Foundations
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): What the Evidence Supports ME/CFS is a real, disabling illness whose defining feature is post-exertional malaise, the delayed crash after even small effort. That one fact reshapes care.
Sleep
- Insomnia: a plan that sticks, and where to start Chronic insomnia is treatable, and the strongest first-line fix is free and behavioral: CBT for insomnia, built on sleep restriction and stimulus control. What else works, and in what order.
- Restless Legs: What Calms the Urge to Move Restless legs is the evening urge to move the legs that eases when you walk. Why checking ferritin and restoring iron come first, and why the alpha-2-delta drugs now beat dopamine agonists.
- Sleep Apnea: what to try first Sleep apnea is repeated breathing pauses in sleep, common, treatable, and often missed in women. Why CPAP fixes the sleepiness and lowers blood pressure, plus the mandibular-device and weight-loss options.
- Fatigue and Low Energy Persistent tiredness is a symptom, so the win is finding the cause. The reversible causes to check first, what actually raises energy, and the one pattern where pushing through backfires.
Mind and connection
- ADHD: treatment that works, and where to start ADHD is one of the more treatable mental-health conditions. What parent training, adult CBT and stimulants each do, where sleep, exercise and omega-3 help, and why neurofeedback fades under blinding.
- Bipolar disorder: what it is, and what actually helps Bipolar disorder is a serious, treatable psychiatric illness of manic and depressive episodes.
- Dementia and Alzheimer's: lowering the risk Dementia is several diseases, and much of the risk is modifiable: blood-pressure control, hearing aids, exercise and the MIND diet shift the odds. Plus the reversible causes to rule out.
- Anxiety: what helps, in order Anxiety disorders are common and among the most treatable in medicine. CBT and exposure come first, SSRIs work about as well, and exercise, mindfulness and slow breathing add to them.
Metabolic and nutrition
- Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD / MASLD): what to do first What losing weight actually clears in fatty liver, and where a Mediterranean pattern, daily movement, coffee and less sugar each lower liver fat. Plus the medicines that arrived recently.
- Gout: Lowering the Uric Acid That Drives It Gout comes from urate crystals that form when uric acid runs high. An anti-inflammatory or colchicine settles an attack; allopurinol clears the crystals when attacks keep coming back.
- Kidney Stones: What They Are and What Keeps Them From Coming Back About eight in ten kidney stones are calcium, and most are preventable. Drinking enough to pass two liters of urine a day is the strongest lever, and keeping calcium normal beats cutting it.
- Type 2 Diabetes: the levers that move it Type 2 diabetes is often improvable and, caught early, sometimes reversible: nearly half reached remission after weight loss in the DiRECT trial. What eating, movement and the modern drugs each change.
- Weight and Metabolic Health: the levers that matter Metabolic health predicts risk better than the number on the scale.
- High Blood Pressure: measuring it right, and lowering it High blood pressure is silent and very treatable. How to measure it right (a wrong cuff adds about 19.5 mmHg), and what lowers it most: less sodium, isometric holds, the DASH diet.
- Cholesterol and Lipids: What the Numbers Mean What each number on a lipid panel means, why LDL is the one that carries risk, the changes that lower it, and where the diet-and-cholesterol story has actually moved.
- Constipation: which type you have, and what to do Constipation usually eases with the right food, fluid and movement: fiber done right, prunes and kiwifruit, PEG laxatives, and why the same fiber makes a smaller group worse.
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome: calming the gut IBS is a disorder of gut-brain interaction, and highly manageable. What low-FODMAP, soluble fiber, peppermint oil and gut-directed hypnotherapy do, and what IgG food tests do not.
- SIBO: What the Evidence Actually Supports What SIBO is, what the breath test can and cannot show, where rifaximin and a low-FODMAP diet help, and why recurrence points to an underlying cause worth finding.
- Acid Reflux and GERD: what settles it What actually eases acid reflux: losing weight, raising the head of the bed, meal timing and sleep position; where PPIs heal the erosive form; which foods are worth cutting; and the warning signs.
- Iron-Deficiency Anemia: How to Correct It and Find the Cause Iron-deficiency anemia is highly correctable: replace the iron and the count recovers over weeks. How to take oral iron so it absorbs (alternate days, with vitamin C), and why every case needs its cause found.
- Thyroid Health How the thyroid goes wrong and how each problem is treated. Why an underactive thyroid needs levothyroxine while a mildly high TSH often needs none, and how iodine and supplements can harm.
- Parasites: How They Are Found and Treated What parasites are, which ones are common and where, how a stool or blood test names the organism, the specific drugs that clear each one at high rates, the herbal expel-worms tradition and where small trials support it, why the commercial cleanse kit is untested, and the signs that mean a test.
Women's health
- Osteoporosis: keeping bone strong Osteoporosis is measured by a T-score, and the harm is the fragility fracture. Heavy resistance and impact training, balance work, and enough protein, calcium and vitamin D come first; drugs come after.
- Menopausal Hormone Therapy: what it does, the risks, and when it fits Hormone therapy is the leading treatment for hot flashes, and the 2002 alarm reads differently once re-analyzed by age. How the risks, routes, and non-hormonal options actually compare.
- PCOS: what it is, and what helps PCOS responds to daily habits more than almost any hormonal condition: irregular ovulation, high androgens, insulin resistance underneath. What helps, from food and weight loss to inositol and metformin.
- Endometriosis: what it is, and easing the pain Endometriosis is an estrogen-driven inflammatory disease, and the pain is real and treatable. Hormonal treatment and laparoscopic excision carry the strongest evidence; diet and pelvic-floor work add to them.
- Recurrent UTIs: preventing the next one UTIs that keep coming back, and what lowers how often they return: drinking more water, where cranberry and D-mannose stand, vaginal estrogen after menopause, and the signs of a kidney infection.
- Menopause and Hot Flashes: What the Transition Is and What Helps What perimenopause and menopause are, what drives hot flashes and night sweats, what hormone therapy does for them and for bone and what its risks are in plain numbers, the non-hormonal options that work, why most botanicals come out level with placebo, the Chinese medicine view, and the bleeding that needs a doctor.
- Period Pain (Dysmenorrhea): what eases the cramps For period pain, an anti-inflammatory started early plus a heat pack carry most of the relief; the pill is the other first-line option, and ginger, magnesium and exercise add to it.
- Fertility and Trying to Conceive: what improves the odds Trying for a baby is a couple matter, and much of it is workable: timing the fertile window, folic acid, letrozole for PCOS, and treating male factor, a cause in about half of couples.
- Perimenopause: what eases the transition The years of hormonal flux before periods stop: what hormone therapy does for hot flushes and why its timing matters, the non-hormonal drugs and CBT with trial evidence, why contraception still matters, the botanicals that do not beat placebo, the Chinese medicine patterns, and the bleeding that always needs checking.
- PMS and PMDD What actually helps premenstrual symptoms, why the diagnosis turns on tracking symptoms across a cycle, and the supplements with real trial support versus the ones without.
Men's health
- Erectile Dysfunction: what works, and the heart check it warrants For most men erectile dysfunction is a circulation problem first, and an early warning of heart disease. What exercise, diet, weight loss and quitting smoking change, and where the pills fit.
- Premature Ejaculation: what lengthens the time, and how well Premature ejaculation is the most common male sexual complaint and one of the most treatable. What pelvic-floor training, the start-stop and squeeze methods, numbing sprays and dapoxetine actually do.
- Testosterone Therapy: Who It Helps, What It Does, and the Trade-offs What testosterone does, the difference between hypogonadism and the normal one-percent-a-year decline of aging, what treatment changes and what it does not from the Testosterone Trials and TRAVERSE, the blood-thickening and fertility trade-offs, the sleep, weight and training levers that raise it first, and the Chinese medicine Kidney Yang lens.
- Enlarged Prostate (BPH): What It Is, What Eases It, and When to Act An enlarged prostate is a benign part of aging, not cancer. What eases the urinary symptoms, from alpha-blockers to gland-shrinking drugs, and why saw palmetto was no better than placebo.
- Male Fertility: improving sperm health Male fertility is measurable and much of it is movable, though any change takes about three months to show. The strongest levers are free: stop smoking, lose excess weight, ease off alcohol, keep the testes cool.
- Prostate Health: What Helps and What Is Oversold Three prostate problems share one word. What eases an enlarged prostate, why saw palmetto did not beat placebo, how to weigh PSA screening, and when to watch a low-risk cancer rather than treat it.
Pain
- Low Back Pain: why most improves, and what to try first Most low back pain is not from damage and settles within weeks. What speeds recovery (staying active, exercise) and what does not (a scan for ordinary pain, opioids, most passive treatments).
- Arthritis and Joint Pain: easing it day to day Arthritis is two different diseases sharing one word, and which you have changes everything. Why loading a stiff joint helps, weight loss for a bad knee, and which treatments beat a sham.
- Sciatica: easing the leg pain Leg pain running down one leg from an irritated nerve root, usually a herniated disc, and most settles on its own. What the trials show on staying active, epidural steroids and surgery timing.
- Neck and Shoulder Pain: easing it and keeping it away Most neck and shoulder pain is mechanical and improves. Movement and strengthening are the main treatments, and several common beliefs about scans and posture do not hold up.
- Headache and Migraine: telling them apart, and easing them Telling the common headaches apart: how to know migraine from tension-type, what stops an attack and what prevents one, and the medication-overuse trap almost nobody hears about.
- Fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia is a disorder of how the nervous system processes pain, not joint or muscle damage. What it is, the treatments that help, the ones with thin evidence, and the signs of another illness.
Breathing and airways
- Hay Fever (Allergic Rhinitis): what brings relief Hay fever is very treatable. A daily steroid nasal spray controls it best; non-drowsy antihistamines, saline rinses and immunotherapy add to it, while popular fixes like local honey do nothing.
- Asthma: getting it under control The controller inhaler changes asthma; the blue reliever does not. What works, where the evidence is weaker, and the attack signs that need emergency help.
- Chronic and Acute Cough: what settles it Most acute coughs are viral and settle on their own; honey helps, while cough syrups and antibiotics barely beat placebo. A chronic cough is fixed by finding its cause.
- Long COVID Long COVID follows infection in a minority. Pacing protects people whose symptoms crash after effort; vaccination and early metformin prevent it; breathing, smell and rehab training treat specific patterns.
Skin
- Acne: what clears it, in order Acne is common and highly treatable. What clears it, in order: retinoids and benzoyl peroxide, hormonal options for women, isotretinoin for severe cases, and where diet actually fits.
- Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis): calming the skin Eczema is a skin-barrier and immune condition. Moisturize heavily every day, treat flares promptly with a topical steroid, and turn to dupilumab or JAK tablets only when creams fail.
- Hair Loss: what slows and reverses it Hair loss is several conditions, not one, and most is treatable caught early. What minoxidil, finasteride and JAK inhibitors do, why telogen effluvium regrows on its own, and why biotin rarely helps.
- Psoriasis: what calms the plaques Psoriasis is an immune-mediated disease, and modern drugs now nearly clear the skin. What topical treatment, UVB phototherapy and the biologics do, and why special diets and detoxes do not clear it.
Senses
- Periodontitis: saving the teeth Periodontitis is gum disease that dissolves the bone anchoring teeth, and most of the control is in your hands: cleaning between teeth, professional scaling, and quitting smoking. Plus the diabetes link.
- Macular Degeneration: What Protects Your Sight What actually slows age-related macular degeneration: quitting smoking, the AREDS2 formula for intermediate disease, leafy-green-rich eating, and anti-VEGF injections for the wet form.
- Tinnitus: What Helps, What Does Not, and the Signs That Need a Doctor No treatment reliably stops the ringing, but CBT reduces how much it interferes with daily life. Why the supplements most sold for tinnitus, ginkgo and betahistine, did not beat placebo.
- Dizziness and Vertigo: Which Kind You Have, and What Helps Four different problems share the word dizziness, and which you have decides the fix. BPPV, the common spinning kind, is a loose ear crystal the Epley maneuver clears in minutes.
59 conditions published. Educational content, not medical advice. Not a substitute for seeing a clinician.