Dr. Shane Speights

NYITCOM making an impact across Arkansas - Talk Business & Politics “This is going to take a while,” I thought to myself as we left the Arkadelphia city limits headed to Sparkman with the ambulance’s emergency lights on and the siren...

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NYITCOM Announces Partnerships with University of Guam, Two Hospital Systems in U.S. Territory New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) has signed partnership agreements that will allow its students unique training opportunities that will enhance their ability to care for some of the most medically underserved p...

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NYITCOM at A-State partners with SOFtoSOM to help veterans enter medicine NYITCOM at Arkansas State University is now one of just 15 medical schools nationwide selected for a new partnership aimed at expanding opportunities for military veterans.Our Ja’Terrica Wilson shows us

Flu and You Update 1/5/26

Data released from the CDC today shows a national spike in flu cases of 33% compared to last week. That’s a big jump. We are on a steep increase in the number of flu cases across the U.S. and have not seen it this high in over 10 years………. it’s everywhere.

Hospitalizations from the flu are also up 31% compared to last week. Children between the ages of 5-17 have the highest reported number of cases followed by those aged 0-4. Adults over 65 are actually the smallest group, but are at a really high risk of complications including hospitalization.

Arkansas is still reporting “very high” cases of influenza-like-illnesses (ILI) and I suspect this will continue for several weeks. In addition to flu, RSV has also been an issue in the state according to our Children’s Hospitals.

We can expect all these numbers will go higher now that the holiday travel period has passed and people are getting back to work and school.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, the cause of this bad flu season is the H3N2 Subclade K variant (90% of flu cases). It’s a genetic variant that surfaced over the summer, after we started producing our current flu vaccine. The current flu vaccine is not a match for this variant, but still offers some protection from hospitalization and death.

If the flu vaccine is not a match then how does it help, and why would I still take it?

Your body is uber smart. Like really. We know a lot about how the body works, but we don’t know jack in terms of how it really works. We’re still learning. One of the things we have discovered is how your body responds to a vaccine, or foreign invader. You already know that your body creates memory cells to that invader, or vaccine particle. However, what we found out is that your super smart body also creates some memory cells to genetic variants of that invader or vaccine particle. Your body actually thinks ahead that there might be a genetic change! That’s way cool, and a pretty good design if you ask me. So, get a flu shot. Your smart body will figure it out and still provide you some protection.

Whatever you do, absolutely get your kids vaccinated. This flu strain is hitting them hard this year. We are seeing pediatric hospitalizations across Arkansas, and the country, going up. With schools in Arkansas starting back this week, we can expect that will get worse.

When will this flu season peak?

Not really sure at this point, but best guess from what I have read is sometime in early February. There are so many factors involved that it can be hard to predict with any accuracy.

If you get the flu Xofluza still seems to be helping, and there are no reports of resistance to any of the current flu medications.

Hope this helps. Stay safe.

https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-52.html

https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Viral-Respiratory-Diseases-Weekly-Report-Week-Ending-Saturday-December-27-2025.pdf

Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 52, ending December 27, 2025 Seasonal influenza activity is low.

Mental Wellness

Are you running your life, or is your life running you?

As I stated in my first post, it’s really not your imagination, you are busier now than you were in the past, and the number of things you are juggling has increased significantly. Some of it is just part of the world, and the time, we live in. But some of it is from our own doing in not taking care of what’s important…….you. You can’t be a good wife, husband, parent, boss, employee, friend, caregiver, etc. if you don’t take care of yourself first. When it comes to your health and wellness, be selfish.

Approximately 20% of Americans will have clinical depression sometime during their lifetime. From August 2020 to February 2021, between 36-41% of adults in the U.S. reported feelings of anxiety or depression. Recognizing that we were in the middle of a pandemic, I’m surprised the numbers weren’t higher. However, those statics were based on survey data, and we’re not the most honest group when it comes to our mental health. Nationally, almost 20% of visits to see a physician have an underlying mental health component. I suspect that number is actually much higher. In my own practice I would guess it’s closer to 30%. Which brings me to my first point.

Everybody needs a therapist. Seriously. Some people need to see one once a week, some once a month, and some just once a year, but everybody needs to see one. You need a neutral third party (not a friend, spouse, family member, etc.) that’s going to listen to you, and offer honest feedback. Someone that can validate your feelings, but also tell you things you may not want to hear. Finding a therapist that you “click” with can be difficult. I tell my patients that finding a therapist is like trying on shoes. Not every pair will fit, just keep trying different ones. But remember, just because one pair doesn’t fit doesn’t mean you don’t need shoes…….

The longer you live, the more likely you are to have an accumulation of unresolved, unprocessed mental trauma. Humans are really good at putting traumatic events into a box, and putting it up on a shelf. It’s a defense mechanism so we can go on with our lives. However, over time that shelf can get full of boxes, and eventually break, which results in various responses. Relationship issues, anger, depression, anxiety, problems sleeping, addiction….. the list is long. No one is immune from it, but people that interact with the public on a daily basis have higher rates of depression, and are really good at “shelving things”. As you might expect, the medical profession, police, fire, EMS, 911, and the military, but also food services, personal care services and those in entertainment. As a society we have done a bad job of recognizing mental health. In fact, it’s historically been looked at as a weakness to even talk about, especially among men.

Untreated depression or anxiety, can have a significant effect on our overall wellness. Moderate to severe depression, that isn’t treated, almost doubles the risk of all-cause mortality (dying from any reason) from 5.62 to 9.48 per 1,000-person years. Most of the issues are related to an increase in cardiovascular disease (a 40-50% increase) and death.

Here’s how it works. Depression, anxiety, and/or stress set up a chronic state of hormonal imbalance (mismatches in serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and cortisol) that physically affect our entire body system (called allostatic load) from cognition and memory, to routine organ growth and repair. Remember, hormones are part of the signaling system in the human body that tells it how to perform routine functions, and how to respond to external stimuli. When those hormones are out of balance, the whole system gets affected. This is why you can physically feel bad when stressed.

Not managing stress, in particular, can lead to early decline in cognition, increased risk of heart disease, disruption of immune system function and it can actually accelerate aging (shortening of the telomeres in your genetic code). In terms of cognition, during periods of stress cortisol hormone levels are increased. Over time, that constant increase affects the brain and causes cognitive decline and dementia. We’ve seen this time and time again in people that live in wartime settings, but now we’re seeing that it can happen with things we read, watch on TV, or see on social media (I’ll come back to this one).

The Blue People……. not the ones you’re thinking of in Vegas (great show if you get a chance to see it).

When we look at community clusters of people that live up into their 90’s and 100’s (i.e. Blue Zones), there are some commonalities we see. No surprise to you at this point, diet and activity are big factors, but equally important is the community they live in. These groups don’t just focus on diet, or their activity. They put an emphasis on the connections to others around them (friends and family). It’s a wholistic approach that includes attention to the body, mind, and spirit (a core principle of osteopathic medicine). Humans are communal by nature. We like being around other people, and there is evidence that our happy hormones (dopamine and serotonin) increase in social settings. We also know that isolation is a risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline.

Does having a “Purpose Driven Life” make a difference?

We actually have data on this. There was a systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 different research studies in adults aged 50 or older that found that having a “meaning in life” or “purpose in life” was cross-sectionally associated with better performance on verbal fluency and memory. Positive affects also correlated with global cognitive scores (overall cognition), suggesting that having a purpose in life can support cognitive/mental health.

Do people of religion/faith have better mental wellness?

Generally speaking, “yes”. However, the devil is in the details (pun intended). Having religious or spiritual beliefs is associated with lower rates of depression, anxiety, su***de and substance abuse (especially among teenagers). There is also data on improved quality of life, and faster recovery from depressive episodes. (APA 2021, JAMA 2022). Specifically, regular attendance to religious services has the most correlation with positive outcomes linking a 27% reduction in all-cause mortality (dying from any cause) and a 33% reduction in depressive episodes. That’s pretty impressive. You actually do get points for showing up!

Now for the “devil”. Faith can also have a negative effect on mental wellness. Especially if it leads to shaming, isolation and patterns of abuse within a religious sect. There are tons of examples where religion went awry because of a few bad actors, and I'm not being dismissive of the gravity of those groups, but don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Overall, having a positive connection to faith can be a plus for your mental wellness.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2794049?utm_source=openevidence&utm_medium=referral

Social Media

It’s no secret that companies, politicians and influencers have wanted our attention for decades, but social media opened a new door for literally anyone to reach anyone and, as expected, it has been abused. There are a lot of factors to consider when looking at the actual effect social media has had on mental health. For example, teenagers spending more than 3 hours a day on social media have a much higher risk for depression and anxiety compared to those who don’t. Passive (doom) scrolling has a negative effect on mental health, but direct texting can enhance social connections. Cyberbullying, shaming, embarrassing AI generated videos/photos all add to the negative effects social media has on our mental state, but reconnecting with a colleague from high school or college can be positive.

Just by design social media platforms reduce your ability to have empathy. We’re human. We rely on facial cues, vocal tone, body language and a host of other interactions to communicate. Social media removes that, but the big issue seems to be the computer algorithms that track our viewing, and “feed” us content. Unfortunately, that “fed” content taps into our emotions, and changes how we see the world. Suddenly, finding out that a friend or family member “liked” something we disagree with creates a divide in our relationship. We then, fed by our algorithm, find other reasons to disagree and before you know it you’re estranged from that person without ever having a conversation. Strangely, in today’s world, negativity sells. That means you have to fight against it. In a study looking at how, and why, posts are shared, it found that a negative political post about the “out-group” (the other guy, who’s an idiot) was 67% more likely to be shared compared to any other post, and it was found to be almost 7 times stronger versus content that had a moral basis. (Nat. Acad. Sciences 2021). Between the ability to be anonymous, that it’s not real-time communication, the computer algorithm that amplifies negative posts and that the human brain is inherently lazy (it searches for the fastest answer, regardless of accuracy, and then moves on), it’s no wonder we’re so divided.

As a skeptical optimist, my advice – find the positive and break your algorithm. Follow content, watch channels and seek out opinions that you don’t inherently agree with. It will be uncomfortable (which is why most people don’t do it and the Catholic Church created a position around it - “Devil’s Advocate”), but I suspect you’ll find the same thing I did. The truth seems to always be somewhere in the middle.

https://mhanational.org/resources/31-tips-to-boost-your-mental-health/

31 Tips to Boost Your Mental Health | Mental Health America 2. Spend some time in nature today. Whether it’s taking a walk, smelling the flowers, or sitting by a tree, nature can make you feel calmer.

Flu update (new data just in from the CDC today – 12/30/25)

Across the country we’ve seen a 25% increase in flu cases with about 20 states reporting high (or very high) cases of influenza. Louisiana is getting hammered with about 7% of all ER visits across the state being related to flu symptoms. The Arkansas Department of Health is currently reporting “very high” cases of influenza for our state. Hospitalizations from the flu are also going up with the two largest groups being those over the age of 65, and those younger than 18 (the numbers in children are really high). The only “good” thing is that schools are out for the holidays so the spread has been somewhat blunted, but that will change starting next week. Be prepared for that.

For the United States, the CDC is reporting that 92% of the influenza cases are “type A”, and that about 90% or more of those cases are the H3N2 (subclade K) variant – this is new variant that hit our radar over the summer and caused bad flu cases across Europe and Canada. We were hoping we wouldn’t see it, but it’s here. As a reminder, H3N2 is a tough strain of flu on its own, but this new strain is worse.

The CDC estimates the U.S. has seen about 7.5 million flu cases so far with 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths.

Does the current flu vaccine work? Can I still get it?

Yeah but....... let me start by saying that, in prior years, even when the circulating flu strain didn’t match the vaccine, the flu vaccine still offered some protection from hospitalization and death. With this new flu variant everyone wants to know if the vaccine will help.

Because it’s a variant, that means it has genetically changed from the original, it will not be a match for our current flu vaccines (that were manufactured back in the spring of 2025). Ok, so it’s not a match, then how well does it work? The frustrating thing is, we don’t really know. We calculate vaccine effectiveness after the season has ended. That’s really the only way to have reliable data.

However, we can look at other places that have already had this H3N2 subclade K variant and see what their data says…… Europe.

The preliminary data from Europe is saying that the current flu vaccine is about 50% effective in preventing hospitalization or death. Honestly, that’s better than I expected based on the genetic changes of the virus. Bottomline, get a flu shot. It’s not too late and it’s better than nothing.

Do the anti-flu medications work?

The current CDC information says that the approved medications (Oseltamivir, Peramivir, Zanamivir, Baloxavir) for influenza are not showing any resistance to current strains of flu. However, in terms of how effective they are, I will mention a study that came out in JAMA Internal Medicine in January of 2025.

It looked at 73 randomized controlled trials from 1971 to 2023, the results were less than positive. It said Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and Zanamivir (Relenza) had little to no effect on symptom duration, hospitalization or mortality. Peramivir (Rapivab) had little to no effect on symptom duration and mortality rate, but no data on hospitalizations. However, Baloxavir (Xofluza) was the only one that had some evidence of making a difference. If you really need it, and get a choice (and can afford it) go with that one.

Does the flu vaccine give you the flu?

No. It doesn’t. Remember, the flu vaccine is not a live virus, there is no flu virus in the vaccine. It’s just “pieces” of the virus. It’s like saying you can drive a car engine to work. You can’t, the engine is not the whole car. It’s just a part of the car, and it doesn’t work by itself. Here are the two most common reasons people believe that the flu vaccine gives them the flu:

1. When you get vaccinated your body responds by creating memory cells of the virus, that “response” causes your body to get all amped up and mad at this foreign invader (the vaccine). That’s what you want to happen, that means the vaccine is working. Feeling achy or a little under the weather for 24-48 hours after the vaccine is common, but it shouldn’t be a full-on illness. You just may feel meh.

2. You already had the flu when you got the vaccine (or soon after) and you didn’t know it. This is surprisingly more common than expected. You’re at some social gathering or family event and someone is sick. Seeing that person cough and sneeze reminds you that you need to go get a flu shot (you’re too late). You go to the clinic a day or two later and get the flu shot, then the next day…..BAM. You’re sick in bed. Stupid flu shot. I’m never doing that again.

What actually happened: It can take 24-72 hours for you to start having symptoms after you get infected with the flu. You got sick at the social gathering and didn’t know it. That flu shot didn’t give you the flu any more than brushing your teeth did.

Also, remember that it can take about 10-14 days for the vaccine to be fully effective once you get it. You can absolutely still get the flu during that period. That’s why we recommend getting a flu shot before the flu season starts. How long does the flu vaccine last? Current data says you’ll have protection for about 4-5 months depending on your immune status (aka how healthy you are).

What else can I do if I get sick?

Homemade chicken soup (noodle or rice). Seriously. There is data that supports its ability to boost immune function. Specifically, those soups containing celery, carrots, chicken, bone broth, garlic, etc., and homemade is better than store bought. It’s not a cure, but it helps.

Stay hydrated. Water is preferred. Stay away from energy drinks and sodas. Your body sucks up a ton of water when it's fighting off an illness.

Stay active. Try not to lay around too much. Even if it’s just walking around the house, you need to keep up some type of movement. If you workout regularly, and still feel up to it, you need to cut it in half. It’s a balance, activity is good but your body needs rest to fight off the infection and heal itself.

Sleep. Big deal here. Try not to get too off schedule with your sleeping. You don’t want to get your days and nights mixed up. Keep the blinds open and shades up (vitamin D). If you have a lot of sinus drainage, you can raise your head at night with a couple of pillows.

I’m not opposed to some of the over-the-counter medications for symptom relief. Mucinex (or the generic) has pretty good data behind it, and ibuprofen for the muscle and body aches. Not a fan of supplements (remember, they are basically unregulated and untested, so there’s no telling what’s really in there). If you’re not eating much, a multi-vitamin is not a bad idea, but get a brand you trust and remember that a vitamin is no substitute for the real thing (e.g. an orange).

Seek medical attention for worsening or trouble breathing, chest pain, or changes in mental status.

Good luck.

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/early-estimates-seasonal-influenza-vaccine-effectiveness-against-influenza-requiring

https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-51.html

Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 51, ending December 20, 2025 Seasonal influenza activity is low.