Columns
At last, help for the fungus amoung us
So you think toenail fungus is a joke. Not even a blip on the radar screen. Of interest only to your pedicurist, if that. Well, try telling that to Gertrude Patenaude, a 57-year-old teacher-librarian from Portsmouth, R.I. who had the fungus on every toe. “It was brutal,” she says. “I couldn’t put my feet in…
That second concussion could be a deadly one
It was five years ago, a classic football afternoon. With his mom and stepfather cheering from the stands, Brandon Schultz, a lineman for Anacortes High School in Washington state, took what his mother, Lane Phelan, recalls as a “hard tackle.” Brandon looked “shook up” and sat out the rest of the game. Later, he told…
Finding a combination to fight hepatitis C
Until now, there has been no truly effective treatment for hepatitis C, the blood-borne virus that is spread in the same ways as AIDS, and that is believed to infect about 4 million Americans. A drug called interferon helps in 40 percent of cases, but the benefits are short-lived. Only 10 to 15 percent of…
Meditating helps, but how is a mystery
The idea of standing stark naked in a little booth soaking up UV light three times a week doesn’t seem all that bad as medical treatments go, especially since it can help ameliorate psoriasis, an itchy, scaly, disfiguring skin disease. But many people do find the experience stressful, which is why meditation guru Jon Kabat-Zinn…
‘Deep pockets’ that nobody wants
It was the “Floss or Die” poster that got to 54-year-old Jack Kelsch of Wareham. Kelsch works as a grants administrator at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, where the perils of periodontal disease are standard water cooler fare and “deep pockets” means gum disease, not money.But as Kelsch discovered, that poster was no joke….
The midwives’ time has come – – again
Carol Rose, a Harvard-trained lawyer from Melrose, was pregnant with her first child two years ago when her health plan pulled a switch. She was in the exam room, waiting for her female doctor when a male doctor walked in. She’s not anti-men, or anti-doctor, but this guy was a bad match. “I had a…
Herbal hazards taken alone or with prescription drugs, some of these innocent-sounding `natural’ remedies can be dangerous
If your doctor suggested that you take two different sleeping pills that have never been tested in combination, would you do it? If she recommended an energy-booster, but you couldn’t tell from the label what was in the bottle, would you take that? What if she told you to ingest a medication normally used on…
Thyroid ills catch many by surprise
To listen to Lisette Mancini, a 40-year old Walpole audiologist and mother of three, you might be tempted to conclude that thyroid troubles are a blessing. Years ago, as a student at Boston College, her metabolism was cranked so high she “flew through school because I had so much time to study. I never slept….
Talk about what really ails you
You sit there in that silly little gown, trying to act normal. The doctor comes in. You exchange hellos, then launch into why you’re there. Within 18 seconds, according to a study of more than 1,000 doctor-patient encounters, the doctor interrupts. Suddenly, you blank out on that chest pain two weeks ago and start babbling…
When a staple of diet can be lethal
Max Collins, now 8 and a second grader in Burlington, was a baby when a tiny taste of peanut butter nearly killed him. No sooner had his mom, Lisa, now 32, spread a smidgeon on Max’s lips than he began vomiting and screaming. Huge hives sprouted on his skin. “It was almost simultaneous,” Lisa says….
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