Posted 1/2/2012 Nobody wants to deal with cancer, but unfortunately as we all get older we enter the realm of increased cancer risk. Around age 30, when we finally shed the delusion that we’re not immortal, we start taking better care of ourselves. We stop smoking, eat healthier, exercise a bit, abandon skydiving as a […]
Category: Diseases
A Newly Discovered Cause of Women’s Fatigue
Posted 12/12/2011 Given the number of women who walk around feeling tired all the time, it’s truly unfortunate that the important piece of research we’re discussing today didn’t generate more publicity. Tucked away in the small-circulation medical journal Thyroid, whose readership is probably limited to endocrinologists specializing in thyroid disorders, there appeared an article about […]
Charcoal Grilling and Cancer: How to Reduce Your Risk
First it was smoking (then asbestos and DDT) and now charcoal grilling. One after another, life’s little pleasures are yanked from us by their statistical associations with increased cancer risk.
By now everyone’s heard about the significant connection between colorectal cancer and regular consumption of red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and processed meats (bacon, ham, sausages, cold cuts, hot dogs).
It’s Official: Aspirin Prevents Cancer
Most doctors I know swallow one of those low-dose healthy heart aspirins every day. I count myself among them (here’s the 81-mg version I take, but many brands are available, Costco’s among them). When research studies first started appearing well over 20 years ago showing a daily smidgen of aspirin could prevent both heart attack and stroke, the general attitude among most doctors was a profound: “Well, it couldn’t hurt…”
Hormones and Breast Cancer
By noon on the day the story hit the news, I’d received a dozen emails from (sensibly) concerned patients asking what the study meant for them. First appearing in JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) and then picked up by the wire services and spread around the world, the article addressed phase two of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Study that was originally published in 2002.
Treating Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
Last week we talked about PCOS and today we’re looking at treatments.
When I first read the phrase “ovarian drilling using lasers,” for PCOS, I thought: Only a guy could come up with this concept (and I bet he wouldn’t want some woman doc drilling away on his outdoor plumbing). Then an image crossed my mind of some surgeon in a OR with a hardhat setting up his rig, rolling up his sleeves, lighting a Marlboro, and getting to work.
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
PCOS is by far the most common cause of infertility in women, and the number of women with diagnosed and undiagnosed PCOS is best described as “vast.” Experts estimate that as many as 10% of women of childbearing age may have the disorder.
Will Alzheimer’s Skyrocket?
In 2006, the very dark comedy Idiocracy played local theatres for what seemed like a few hours before disappearing into DVD bins and obscure cable channels. Its Rip van Winkle story involves a not particularly bright Army librarian, recruited into a Pentagon hibernation program, awakening centuries into the future and finding himself the most intelligent person in America.
Lyme Disease Attacks Local Physician (!)
During these lovely summer days we’re tempted to be outside enjoying nature, but beware: predators lurk in the weeds. Here in the Midwest, we’re in a Lyme disease area so I thought it might be a good idea to let you know what symptoms to watch for, a task made sadly easier when my associate Dr Rubin, known for his love of the outdoors and risky gardening habit…well, I’ll let him tell you what he did on his summer vacation.
Women + Certain Carbs = Early Death
This is one of those “Not fair!” studies, an “Is there no justice?” piece of research that underscores the importance of gender in health.
Soy Foods and Breast Cancer
For the past several years, the advice given to breast cancer survivors by their oncologists simply didn’t make much sense. I must have heard this from dozens of women: “I was told to avoid soy because it would make the cancer worse.” They’d been told that soy “feeds” cancer, like adding gasoline to a smoldering […]
Still More on the Flu
Beyond reading the newspapers, I can tell by the number of e-mails requesting either quick information or phoned-in prescriptions for Tamiflu that the number of flu cases is rising. Despite the scary headlines (any headline about children dead of flu is truly horrifying), the overall number of fatalities remains small.
Preventing and Treating the Flu
All in all, the news is generally good about H1N1 (swine) flu. We’ve got both a vaccine to prevent it and an antiviral prescription medicine to treat it. Epidemiologists have concluded that if you had the “regular” flu last spring, you actually have some protection from this year’s epidemic of both regular and H1N1 flu. The odds are in your favor that you won’t have two bad flu years in a row.
Should I get the Swine Flu Vaccine?
By now, everyone knows there are two flus this season. First, the regular seasonal flu (for which you get an annual flu shot), as always requiring a slight change in vaccine formulation to ensure it targets this year’s flu strain. The second vaccine protects against the well-publicized H1N1 virus, better known as swine flu.
Urinary Tract Infections
Whenever a patient tells me about calling her doctor with symptoms of a urinary tract infection and being refused an antibiotic because he “never” prescribes one without a urine culture, I know the doctor has never experienced a UTI himself. Let’s face it….bladder infections are a girl thing, and most doctors are, well, male. So they haven’t experienced constantly racing to the john with this uncontrollable urge to pee, then managing to squeeze out a few drops of seemingly liquid fire.
Ulcers
Gone are the old days of ulcer treatments with their incredibly restrictive diets, hourly swigs of Maalox, and sending of patients off to surgery–thank heaven. Today, we know a lot more about the little sores found in the lining of the stomach (gastric ulcers) or the first part of the small intestine, the duodenum (duodenal ulcers), than we used to. Although still associated with the stressed executive (stress increases acid flow), we now know that ulcers are caused by a specific bacterium called Helicobacter pylori. We still don’t know for sure how people become infected in the first place. But it’s a very democratic germ: Anyone can get an ulcer. And drinking alcohol or too much coffee, or taking aspirin (or NSAIDs), or being overstressed–all simply make the situation worse.
Thyroid Disease
Here’s a section you can read to gather some information on your thyroid, a vital gland located in your neck that controls how fast or slow everything (but everything!) operates in your body. Compare it to the gas pedal of your car, with the gearshift in neutral. Too slow, and the motor dwindles and grinds to a halt. Too fast, and you’ll burn your engine out. Although most thyroid disorders are treated either by replacement hormones or prescription drugs, an inappropriately operating thyroid places all sorts of burdens on the smooth functioning of your body. Many of these can be helped with dietary changes and selected nutritional supplements.
Stroke
It’s a reflection of the body’s remarkable power to recover that most people do quite well after a stroke. We know that actors Patricia Neal and Kirk Douglas went back to work, but so do teachers, doctors, and cab drivers.
Even more remarkable is how each year the number of people who have strokes declines. This is a dramatic statement about how medications for lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, low-fat diets, and regular exercise are finally paying off.
Shingles
Since almost everyone gets chickenpox as a child, most of us are susceptible to developing shingles as adults. Each illness is caused by the same virus, which is called varicella in children and herpes zoster in adults. After the chickenpox ends, the virus goes into hibernation in the nerve cells along the spinal cord. Then, many years later, when the immune system is weakened in some way–by age, stress, certain drugs, illness (even the flu)–the virus awakens. At some point along the spine, it travels along a nerve, producing a painful rash along the band of skin served by that nerve. Herpes zoster means “belt of fire”–the name is apt.
Raynaud’s Disease
People with Raynaud’s disease are at the other end of the spectrum from people who blush at the drop of a hat. But, instead of having blood vessels that open readily, they have vessels that constrict too easily, usually in response to something cold. When you have Raynaud’s, you can walk into an air-conditioned room or even reach into a picnic cooler, and suddenly your fingers feel oddly cold, even numb and tingly. As you watch, the tips go dead white, then blue, and (after you frantically warm them up again), a bright, throbbing red.