Drug abuse changed during the 13 years that Adam McIssac has been working as a drug and alcohol counselor in Asheville. At the beginning, McIssac mostly saw clients who were addicted to methamphetamine. But over time “pills,” including opioids like oxycodone (OxyContin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin), became the main drugs that his clients abused. Opioid abuse […]
ASHEVILLE, N.C.— In a field on the outskirts of Cherokee stands a nondescript mound about 6 feet high, covered in grass and flanked by woods and mountains. Though it appears to be little more than a rise in the land, it is a sacred site for the native people of the Carolina mountains: Kituwah, the […]
The therapeutic power of music has been evident for centuries. But now music therapy is catching on in modern society and the use of music is proving to be particularly helpful in patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
Each night before he went to sleep in his cot in Afghanistan, Asheville resident Dustin Degman set out three sets of clothing: one for surgery, another for a normal day on the base and a third for incoming mortar fire.
Degman, who works as a certified nurse anesthetist at Asheville Anesthesia Associates, returned from his tour of duty on Feb. 14. He sat down with Xpress to talk about those differences and share his experiences about what it was like providing care abroad during a time of war.
Every year there’s a new fashionable herb on the market. It’s always some exotic thing that comes from afar with a foreign sounding name and a miracle cure.
The N.C. Medical Board has suspended the medical license of a controversial Henderson County neurosurgeon known for treating neurological conditions found in patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia with surgery to shave off bits of skull or spinal cord.
Depending on whom you ask, Fletcher-based neurosurgeon Michael J. Rosner is either a skull-shaving savior or a shameless opportunist who’s needlessly operating on patients desperate for a cure. Dr. Michael J. Rosner has operated on hundreds of patients to remove bits of bone at the base of the skull and along the spinal cord — […]
