“Big” diseases such as AIDS are grabbing the headlines. But as a physician, an internist and a cardiologist, I can tell you that the diseases you read about, terrible though they may be, are only the tip of the iceberg. The number-one killer in this country is heart disease: 50 percent of us will fall prey to heart conditions. Cancer will claim another 20 percent. About 36 million of us are suffering from arthritis; another 10 million have diabetes, which is the leading cause of new cases of blindness, about five thousand per year. An additional 20 thousand people a year have toes, feet or legs amputated because of diabetes. Add to that the innumerable colds and flus, the general aches and pains, the fatigue and weariness, the listleness and unhappiness I see so much of.

Martha R. is a 42-year-old mother of three who came to my office and announced, “I haven’t been healthy in ten years. They ought to make a TV show about me, ‘What’s My Disease?’ On the average I have four colds a year, the flu twice, six to eight asthma attacks, migraines twice a month. I have to drag myself out of bed every morning, my life is boring and nothing makes me laugh. Oh, and my last doctor said I also have hypoglycemia.”

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