Columns
Stress of surgery hard on the heart
Dorothy Teixeira, a 76-year-old Peabody woman who had a history of chest pains, got even more bad news last summer: She had colon cancer and needed surgery. In many hospitals, Teixeira would have been taken off her heart medications during and after surgery because of the fear that the drugs – called beta-blockers – might…
Antibiotics: Knowing when to say no
You’ve had a cold for days now. You’re sneezing. Your throat hurts. Your nose is stuffy. You’re coughing. And you’re just plain sick of being sick. Is it time to see a doctor? Or, your kid has been in earache hell all winter. She’s just finished a course of antibiotics, but she still has fluid…
New clues, therapies aid stutterers
As a child, Louise Kennedy stuttered so badly that eventually she just stopped talking. Now a 37-year-old administrator at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Kennedy recalls that the other kids in Dundee, Scotland, where she grew up, were merciless. One rode by on his bike yelling, “Stutterer, stutterer.” Others “tied me up and…
For teenager, ‘confidential’ is conditional
Adolescence is hard enough, but when it comes to health care, teenagers are caught in a particularly delicate bind. They’re old enough to face the same serious issues as adults — contraception, abortion, depression, alcohol or drug use — yet not old enough to have the same guarantees of confidentiality when they seek help. Granted,…
Fat and Fit? – It’s possible but not ideal
Susan Magocsi, a vivacious 50-year-old Milton psychologist, loves to exercise. She’s training for a walking marathon in Alaska in June. She lifts weights. She does yoga and ballet. In fact, by a number of measures — such as low cholesterol and blood pressure — she’s admirably fit. But she loves to eat, too. Eating is…
Promises and pitfalls of cyber medicine
You feel sluggish, dizzy, distracted. In fact, you’ve been at work all morning and haven’t gotten a thing done. You e-mail your doctor, describing your misery in excruciating detail. Your employer, quite legally, reads it, and concludes you’re not really sick, just goofing off. Now you’re in deep yogurt. Or, you run out of Prozac….
Clues, but still no cure for Autism
Parker Beck, now 5, seemed normal when he was born, say his parents, Victoria and Gary Beck of New Hampshire, who run an educational-products business out of their home. He grew, learned a few words, did all the usual “toddler things.” Then, at 15 months, he suddenly stopped speaking. He developed chronic diarrhea. Most bizarrely,…
Medical needs, politics collide
Sixteen years ago, Doris Laird, a humanities professor at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, developed a benign brain tumor the size of an orange. She had surgery — an operation that took 22 1/2 hours. It worked, or so she thought. But four years later, the tumor, a meningioma, was back. She had…
For some, it’s sneezing all the way
You’re running around getting ready for Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Ramadan – or just a generic holiday party. You shop. You cook. You get the candles from the bottom drawer, the decorations from the basement. If Christmas is your tradition, you probably get a tree, too, all fragrant and piney.You certainly don’t need…
Freezing, balsting, peeling away scars
Ken Glasser, a 39-year-old Billerica man who works as a buyer of components for aircraft instruments, has been through hell trying to get rid of the stubborn scars on his chest. He tried laser treatments, which reduced the thick, ropy scars, called keloids, for a while. But when the treatments ended, the scars – which…
Categories
Aging
Alcohol
Allergies
Alternative Medicine
Anxiety
Breast Cancer
Cancer
Dental
Depression
Exercise/Fitness
General Medicine
Heart Disease
Hormone replacement
Loneliness/Loss
Nutrition
Pain
Sleep Problems
Women's issues