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Jim Gagné, MD, Internal Medicine: Patient & Practice Information
I'm a physician certified in internal medicine, pain medicine, and addiction medicine. You can learn about my practice near La Canada, California, and look over a variety of articles and handouts.
Contact Me
Verdugo Internal Medicine, Inc.
1809 Verdugo Blvd., Suite 200
Glendale CA 91208
(818) 790-4300 (voice)
(818) 790-2816 (fax)
Biography and Practice Information
- Here's a description of my background and training, and how you pronounce my name.
- My internal medicine practice is across the street from Verdugo Hills Hospital in La Canada, just north of downtown Los Angeles.
- Here is information for prospective patients.
Do you need a primary physician?
Preventive Medicine
- What is preventive medicine?
- Which preventive medicine tests should you have?
- Which vaccinations do adults need?
- Do men over 50 need a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test?
Health Information Articles and Handouts
- Get started on exercise for health, mood, and pain relief.
- Here are Healthful Hints brochures on a variety of general medical topics. These are handouts I've written over the years to give to my patients. For easy printing, you can also download many of them in Adobe Acrobat format.
- How can you assess your risk of heart disease, and what can you do if your risk is elevated?
- What is metabolic syndrome, and how do you treat it?
- A section on emotional healing. Several handouts discuss various antidepressant medications.
- Information for patients with chronic pain and those trying to arrange for their care. This section is an introduction to how I treat chronic pain. You'll find a description of my approach to pain management plus information on the diagnosis and treatment of this condition.
Fifteen Minutes of Fame
- I was an expert witness in the Anna Nicole Smith trial in August and September 2010.
Extraordinary Maturity
- In April 2006 Greg Mooers and I recorded two videos that discuss Extraordinary Maturity: how to grow up and become genuinely yourself. Now you can watch them here on DrGagne.com.
Spirituality in Medicine
- A number of techniques and approaches have great potential in helping you heal. Here's an overview of spirituality in medicine.
Miscellany
- I often recommend books to patients to help deal with a variety of problems. Here's a descriptive list of books and tapes you may find helpful.
- You'll find an opportunity to provide feedback, comments, and discussion at the bottom of every page. (Please do not use the feedback page to ask questions about your personal medical situation.)
- Finally, this site continues to grow and develop. See the list of upcoming future topics.
Updates and Announcements
In the next 1-3 weeks, two of the six Verdugo Internal Medicine physicians -- Drs. Kaesler and Dr. Wallstrom -- are leaving to open their own practices. We will downsize the office, and during the month of October 2011 you might find some construction going on.
The other four Verdugo Internal Medicine physicians -- Drs. Barber, Pocock, Duarte, and me -- aren't going anywhere. You can call the same telephone numbers and come to the same office.
I like to tell my patients it will be the same and just a little bit different.
---Jim Gagne, MD---
British doctor Ben Goldacre (not sure if he's a scientist or a physician) gives a rapid-fire stand-up comedy routine about the placebo effect. He's really funny. This is fabulous if you're interested in topics like magical thinking and how our minds affect our health. He uses a lot of four-letter words, so skip if that's not your thing.
---Jim Gagne, MD---
Just got my first reader comment (actually a question about a friend). I've posted the question and my reply on the comments page.
And of course, my first spam, from the obviously valid and truthful email address "zwpooxfb@wopwrzzb.com".
For the past couple of years I've been getting dozens of empty Feedback messages. I couldn't figure out why there were so many and why they were all devoid of any content.
It turns out the Feedback mechanism was buggy and ignored any information users typed in. I fixed it today. Now we'll see how much spam there is...
---Jim Gagne, MD---
Dr. Sonnee Weedn is a psychologist who lives and practices in Marin County, north of San Francisco. Last year we met at a professional's weekend at the Canyon and decided to collaborate on an article that appeared in the Fall 2010 issue of Marin Medicine, the peer-reviewed journal of the Marin Medical Society. It's entitled "Addressing the Complexities of Chronic Pain" and was written for medical professionals. The editor at Marin Medicine has graciously granted permission for me to reproduce the article here (in PDF format), for educational purposes only. As you might expect from our collaboration, the article emphasizes psychological causes of chronic pain.
---Jim Gagne, MD---
We had to change internet service providers in last June, and the secure email service has been down since then. Many of my patients found it extremely helpful, and I apologize for the delay in getting it working again.
I am much of the way through the upgrade needed to move it to a new server, and hopefully the secure email will be up and running in the next few weeks (if not sooner). Until a few weeks ago, the web address drgagne.com also didn't work, but now it will direct you to this page.
---Jim Gagne, MD---
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Disclosure
The information provided on drgagne.com (or jamesgagne.com, which is the same location) is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician. Its purpose is to present medical information to Dr. Gagne's patients and to the public at large. Also, Dr. Gagne hopes those who are looking for a physician will find drgagne.com useful to learn more about him and to help decide if they are a good fit. Its intended audience is existing and potential patients and the general public. This site is funded solely by its author and owner, Dr. Jim Gagne. It accepts no advertising or other outside funding aside from fees for purchases referred to the Amazon website. Except where other material is quoted, Dr. Gagne is the author of all the information on the site.
If you wish to contact Dr. Gagne about any information on this website, please call the office or use the feedback page.
Privacy policy
The only user information collected on the site is when someone sends feedback. Feedback generates an email to Dr. Gagne, who deals with it as he feels appropriate. Often Dr. Gagne will post the feedback and comment on general medical issues raised by the feedback. Dr. Gagne will immediately delete and not post spam, inappropriate or inflammatory material, or personal medical questions that cannot be addressed without seeing the patient. Dr. Gagne will post a user's first name and general location (city, state). He retains nondeleted emails for an indefinite period of time. Any information collected via feedback, such as email address, will never be passed to any third party, unless required by law.
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Last updated Thu, Apr 28, 2011
©2011, James Gagné, MD. All rights reserved. Except where otherwise indicated, Dr. Gagne is the sole author of all content.