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How to cope with shock of cancer diagnosis
Late last fall, Dartmouth Medical School researchers reported in the journal Cancer that all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in their study experienced at least some level of distress, and nearly half met the criteria for a significant psychiatric disorder such as major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Well, duh! Is it really news that…
Benefits from aromatherapy tough to prove
Aromatherapy — the use of plant oils to improve well-being — sounds lovely, doesn’t it? How wonderful if a whiff of lavender could make you feel drowsy, or a little dab of rosemary oil could relieve muscle pain. There’s certainly a plausible biological basis for the idea that smells can have direct effects on the…
Physical therapy arrives, popularity surges for varied reasons
So there I was, the quintessential battered athlete, standing in a silly, little “johnnie” so physical therapist Susan Lattanzi could put me through my paces. I had arrived on her doorstep at Mount Auburn Physical Therapy Associates in Watertown because my right shoulder was killing me. I had just joined a swim team and suddenly…
Endometriosis Can Afflict Young Women, Too
Christina Shimek, a senior at St. Bernard’s High School in Fitchburg, is only 17, but she has already had more pain than many adults have in a lifetime. A year ago, Shimek, who lives with her parents in Leominster, said she woke up one morning “in excruciating pain in my lower back and pelvic area….
Sunscreen Isn’t Perfect, But Still Worth Using
“Any bad, blistering burn in your lifetime increases your risk for skin cancer,” — Dr. John Williams, Brigham and Women’s Hospital For years now, I have been, shall we say, a rather haphazard sunscreen user. And I’m not alone — a fact that makes dermatologists apoplectic. The American Academy of Dermatology, on its website, recently…
For The Facts on ‘Natural’ Remedies, Go Online
We Americans now spend an estimated $20 billion a year on dietary supplements and so-called “natural” remedies, many of us blissfully — even willfully — ignorant of the actual medicinal value, or utter lack thereof, in of these products. It’s not entirely our fault that we buy this stuff so blindly. In 1994, Congress limited…
Carotid Stents Get Better, But Proof They Work is Scant
Stents, long famous for their success in propping open clogged arteries in the heart, are now being used in neck arteries in an effort to reduce strokes. Technical advances have made the stents safer to insert in neck arteries, and some experts now fear that doctors may adopt the procedure — and patients may clamor…
Runners Who Don’t Train Well Can Have Marathon of Miseries
Today, as an estimated 20,000 runners begin their mad dash from Hopkinton to Boston, Dr. Wood, a cardiologist, four-time marathoner and co-director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Women’s Cardiovascular Health Center, will be setting up shop in the corner of the medical tent at the finish line. As soon as they’re finished, about 25 amateur…
Inflammation is Culprit in Many Ailments
The idea is as simple as it is radical: Chronic inflammation, spurred by an immune system run amok, appears to play a role in medical evils from arthritis to Alzheimer’s, diabetes to heart disease. There’s no grand proof of this “theory of everything.” But doctors say it’s compelling enough that we should act as if…
Social Support Shields Spouse from Damage of Caregiving
Yolanda Spencer is eternally grateful for the weekly visits from fellow members of the Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain. Without them, she’s not sure how she would have survived the last eight years, since her husband Vincent, now 62, fell off a ladder and became a quadriplegic. An accident like Vincent’s “is such a…
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