Dr. Richard Suárez — ArticlesEssays on prevention, clinical cases, and medical myth-busting by Dr. Richard Suárez, critical-care physician.https://richardsuarezu.com/en-US5 danger signs in your feet that an ICU doctor would never ignorehttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/5-danger-signs-in-your-feet/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/5-danger-signs-in-your-feet/Feet are the basement of the body. Heart failure, kidney disease, deep vein thrombosis — they often whisper through the feet for weeks before becoming an emergency. What to look for.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTAlcohol and High Blood Pressure: A Combination That Sends Patients to the ICUhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/alcohol-and-high-blood-pressure-a-deadly-combination/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/alcohol-and-high-blood-pressure-a-deadly-combination/A controlled hypertensive patient went out for drinks and landed in cardiogenic shock. Why normal labs don't mean your arteries are safe — and what alcohol actually does to a vulnerable heart.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTA Barbie with a glucose monitor: what type 1 diabetes asks of a childhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/barbie-diabetic/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/barbie-diabetic/A doll with an insulin pump may seem like a small gesture. For a child with type 1 diabetes it can be the first time they feel less alone. Why this matters — and what type 2 owes to type 1.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTAdding Salt to Your Drinking Water: Why It Backfires for Most Peoplehttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/be-careful-if-you-are-adding-salt-to-your-drinking-water/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/be-careful-if-you-are-adding-salt-to-your-drinking-water/Doctors give salty fluids by IV, so salty water by mouth must be good — right? Why that reasoning is wrong, and when adding salt actually helps.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTDoes your finger take a long time to turn red again? What the bedside test really tells us about shockhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/does-your-finger-take-a-long-time-to-turn-red-again/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/does-your-finger-take-a-long-time-to-turn-red-again/A normal blood pressure on the monitor doesn't mean the tissues are getting oxygen. Capillary refill — that simple bedside test — exposes the shock the numbers hide. Here's what it means.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTHigh Triglycerides: The Quiet Signal Your Metabolism Is Already in Troublehttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/high-triglycerides-the-danger-you-ignore/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/high-triglycerides-the-danger-you-ignore/Triglycerides don't damage arteries directly. They damage them by what they turn LDL into — small, dense, aggressive particles that infiltrate the artery wall.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTIt can lead to losing your sight: how acute glaucoma becomes an overnight emergencyhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/it-can-lead-to-losing-your-sight/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/it-can-lead-to-losing-your-sight/Acute angle-closure glaucoma can cost a patient their vision in a single night. If the eye feels rock-hard, the pain is severe and the sight is dropping, this is not a wait-until-morning situation.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTLose fat by training on an empty stomach? What the math actually sayshttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/lose-fat-by-training-on-an-empty-stomach/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/lose-fat-by-training-on-an-empty-stomach/Training fasted forces your body to use fat for fuel during the workout. That part is real. But what decides fat loss isn't the workout — it's the calorie balance for the whole day.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPancreatic cancer, the most deadly and silent: what I see when it finally arrives at the ICUhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/pancreatic-cancer-the-most-deadly-and-silent/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/pancreatic-cancer-the-most-deadly-and-silent/Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is biologically designed to survive. By the time symptoms show up, the fire is already inside the wall. Here's why it's so silent and what prevention actually looks like.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTSlim but with visceral fat: why thin bodies can still hide a metabolic disasterhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/slim-but-with-visceral-fat/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/slim-but-with-visceral-fat/Visceral fat doesn't care what the mirror says. Thin people can develop fatty liver, high triglycerides, prediabetes. Why it happens, how it inflames the body, and what actually reduces it.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTTake care of your kidneys before it's too late: what dialysis really replaces (and what it can't)https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/take-care-of-your-kidneys-before-its-too-late/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/take-care-of-your-kidneys-before-its-too-late/Kidneys do far more than make urine. Once a patient ends up on dialysis, they discover how many things those two organs were quietly doing. Here's what dialysis can replace, what it can't, and how to protect them now.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Danger of Excess Salt: What It Does to Your Arteries Long Before Hypertensionhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/the-danger-of-excess-salt/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/the-danger-of-excess-salt/Salt isn't the villain, but it isn't innocent either. How daily sodium overload stiffens your arteries silently, even when your blood pressure still reads normal.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe lie of insulin spikes: what your body is really doing after a mealhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/the-lie-of-insulin-spikes/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/the-lie-of-insulin-spikes/Insulin has become the villain of modern health. But without it you wouldn't survive 24 hours. What spikes actually mean, when they become a problem, and why the fear is misplaced.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTThis happens when bile escapes into the abdomen: why a bile leak is an ICU emergencyhttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/this-happens-when-bile-escapes/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/this-happens-when-bile-escapes/Bile belongs inside ducts. When it leaks into the abdomen after surgery or trauma, it inflames, infects, and can drive a patient into septic shock. Here's what's actually happening and why we act fast.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhy I give protein to a patient on dialysis: what really damages your kidneys (and what doesn't)https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/why-i-give-protein-to-a-patient-on-dialysis/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/why-i-give-protein-to-a-patient-on-dialysis/In the ICU I give critically ill dialysis patients up to 1.5 g of protein per kilo per day. Protein doesn't ruin healthy kidneys. The real culprits — hypertension, insulin resistance, smoking — do.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTYou are insulin dependent and you don't know ithttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/you-are-insulin-dependent-and-you-dont-know-it/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/you-are-insulin-dependent-and-you-dont-know-it/Type 2 diabetes patients fear insulin as if it were the enemy. But by the time we have this conversation, the pancreas is already giving up. What insulin actually means at that point.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTBlood pressure isn't a temperature: how to measure it at homehttps://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/measuring-blood-pressure-at-home/https://richardsuarezu.com/en/articles/measuring-blood-pressure-at-home/Your home monitor is not lying. Almost always, what's lying is the technique you're using. A guide so the number actually means something.Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT