Our Internal Ecosystem
Our bodies are constructed from the products of our digestion – we literally are what we eat. With that in mind, think of the digestive tract as an entire ecosystem, a self-contained environment supporting...
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Anatomy of the Mouth
Why is it so important to chew our food well? Chewing well mixes our food with saliva to begin digestion and makes it easier to swallow. Chemicals in our saliva (enzymes) start breaking down...
The Liver
The liver is the Grand Central Station of our metabolism, handling an enormous amount of molecular traffic. The liver is the site of a huge variety of processing, whose vital roles include: Breaking down...
Nutritional Therapy
Deficiencies of vitamins and minerals are as individual as any other aspect of health and can be a major cause of illness. You may know, for example, that vitamin C deficiency can cause scurvy,...
Questions About Down Syndrome
A government recommendation to screen all unborn babies for Down syndrome may be overkill, according to a new study. The study, published in the current issue of British Medical Journal, shows the tests may...
Estrogen for Turner Syndrome
Women with Turner syndrome often have confusion about space and distance and learning disorders. Turner syndrome is a chromosomal disorder characterized by short stature, ovarian failure, and incomplete sexual development. Many women with this...
Illegal Medicine? Doctor’s Interview
How did the Institute of Medicine’s study regarding the use of marijuana for medical purposes came about? Dr. Joy: It came about because the ONDCP, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, otherwise known...
Doubling Up Against Strokes
Headache, confusion, sudden loss of vision, dizziness — these are the symptoms of a stroke that can come at any moment, and getting help fast is crucial to a stroke victim’s recovery. Now a...
Calming Restless Legs
Do you ever feel an uncontrollable urge to move your legs? You could have a condition called restless legs syndrome. It often goes misdiagnosed despite estimates that up to 15 percent of the adult...
Avoiding Montezuma
Nothing puts a damper on getting that passport stamp like contracting illness overseas. Unfortunately, traveling abroad carries risks. Unregulated quality control standards on preparation and sanitation can make some foods or water unsafe to...
Advances in Dyslexia
Dyslexia is defined as difficulty learning to read. A commonly held myth is that it’s just the confusion of different letters. Now researchers say it’s more than that, and that information is leading to...
The Long Good-Bye
Alzheimer’s disease attacks nearly four million people every year. Recent genetic discoveries may better explain why it happens, but what can be done to delay it? Doctors in Seattle may have found one answer....
Shocking Pain Relief
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy is a complex name for an easy-to-understand problem: severe pain that will not go away. Treatments for the disorder range from acupuncture to medicine to surgery. We’ll tell you about another...
Sundowning Syndrome
As a caregiver of an Alzheimer’s patient, you see the mood shifts change almost daily. Some good days, others bad. But when the sun goes down each evening, it also changes the mood for...
Help For Caregivers
It could be one of the most difficult challenges you’ll ever face. Caring for a loved one who has Alzheimer’s disease. Seventy percent are cared for at home, but that can be a confusing,...
Regrowing Bone Q&A
What is osteonecrosis? Dr. Lieberman: Osteonecrosis is when the blood supply to the femoral head is jeopardized in some way leading to the death of bone cells. Necrosis means death. Osteo means bone. So...
I Don’t Want to Talk about It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression
Typically, upon hearing that someone is depressed, our immediate assumption is that the depressed person is female. That connection is not surprising, since, statistically, the rate of depression in women is considered to be...
A Better Back Brace
Can you describe the traditional scoliosis braces that are in existence right now? The traditional braces that exist now are all spin-offs of a brace that was developed in the 1940s, called the Milwaukee...
Rib Repair – Doctor Interview
First of all, how do doctors generally treat rib fractures? Dr. Mayberry: Most physicians and the public, in general, believe rib fractures heal on their own within six to eight weeks. But, when I...
Diverticular disease – the basics
Understanding the problem Diverticular disease is a common condition that affects many people. It is believed to be caused by increased pressure in the colon. The colon weakens with age, and, in some people,...
Take a Deep Breath
Breathing is one of the body’s most basic functions, but it doubles as a powerful relaxation tool with real health benefits. In times of stress, your internal “fight or flight” response gets triggered. Your...
Fighting Malaria
Malaria is a parasitic disease caused by Plasmodium and results in more than 750,000 deaths annually, but what if there was a more effective approach to curing it? Malaria is transported from one person...
From Panic To Power
If you’re expecting something earth-shattering, a magic bullet to transform the person held captive by anxiety into a self-confident world-conqueror, look elsewhere. Lucinda Bassett’s book, while promising in its painstakingly laid-out approach to overcoming...
Improving Pain Management
There’s a problem coming to the forefront of the healthcare community. Some 50 million Americans suffer with pain, yet only about 60 percent say they get adequate relief. While that may be due, in...
Less Exercise for Arthritis Patients
Middle-aged arthritis patients may need to give up their favorite physical activities to avoid surgery, according to orthopaedic surgeons. At the 69th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Dallas, Arlen...
Got Your Back
About 80% of Americans suffer from a hostile spine at some point in their lives — from muscle spasms, pinched nerves, and aching kinks to chronic, debilitating disk degeneration. What’s more, your posterior side...
Cool Coronary Lasers
Every year, 300-thousand Americans have bypass surgery. Unfortunately, more than half of those bypasses block up again in less than 10 years. A couple of years ago, your best bet would have been a...
Sleep Thieves
Our society has launched frontal assaults on alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes; now it’s time to slay the sleepies, contends neuropsychology professor Stanley Coren in this comprehensive book. It seems that sleep, or rather our...
Ending Acid Reflux Doctor Interview
Who are the ideal candidates for the new procedure for GERD? Dr. Melvin: Most people with reflux are treating with antacid pills and they work quite well for a lot of patients, but some...
Stopping Heartburn
It starts as a burning sensation in the chest, before slowly making its way up toward the neck and throat. At one time or another, nearly everyone experiences heartburn. Occasional heartburn is normal. However,...