Finding Quality Health Information Online

The Internet puts a large amount of health and wellness information at your fingertips. But if that information is outdated, incorrect or downright dangerous, it could cause more harm than good. So which websites should you trust? Follow these basic rules for evaluating health information websites and start feeling better about finding health information online: 1. Know who sponsors the site. If the website doesn’t disclose who sponsors the site, ignore it. Most credible sites — like those...

What’s Your Risk? The Five People Who Need Vaccines Most

Some people are more likely than others to develop infectious diseases. Want to know if you or someone you care for is at an increased risk of getting the flu or another vaccine-preventable disease? Check to see if you or the person you care for fits into any of the following five groups of higher risk individuals. People who are at higher risk should speak with their doctor about any needed immunizations to help keep their immunizations up-to-date. Children Infants and young children do not...

Breast Self-Exams: Should You Do Them?

For many years, we women were told to examine our breasts at least monthly to check for signs of breast cancer. In medical school, my fellow students and I learned how to teach our patients to examine their breasts. It’s a multi-step process that takes several minutes – checking your breasts in the shower, in the mirror, lying on your back (maybe you’ve seen diagram-heavy brochures -- still a staple in many college and community health centers). But in recent years, some medical organizations...

Taking Prescription Pain Medicine Safely

Prescription opioid pain medications such as oxycodone and codeine are some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs. And there has certainly been a lot of talk in the media about the very real problem of pain medicine addiction. Unfortunately, all of that news coverage can sometimes overshadow the fact that these medicines are important tools in treating pain. For many people, opioid medicines—which work by reducing pain signals that are sent to your brain—can be extremely helpful. When...

How to Safely Buy Medicine Online

There’s no limit to the types of products you can purchase online. You can even purchase prescription medicine over the Internet. Ordering your prescription online does provide some degree of ease because the medicine is delivered to your home. However, this convenience can come at a cost. In the United States, it is believed that the majority of counterfeit medicines are purchased online. Counterfeit—or fake—drugs can be dangerous because they can have the wrong ingredients, no active...

Exploring the Manufacturing and Testing Processes of Pharmaceuticals

When a doctor prescribes you a medicine, how does she know it could be helpful? Your doctor relies on experience, medical knowledge and training, but also on information and conclusions drawn from clinical trials. Clinical trials are research studies that test a medical intervention aimed at treating, diagnosing, or preventing a disease or health condition in human volunteers. The intervention could be a drug, a medical procedure or device, or a behavioral therapy, such as diet or exercise. Some...

Managing Sickle Cell Disease as an Adult

People with sickle cell disease (SCD) are now living longer than they did in previous decades. Doctors have a better understanding of the disease, are able to diagnose it earlier, and can more readily treat and prevent the infections the disease can cause. And thanks to new ways to treat and manage the condition, patients are now more aware of what they can do to live healthier, for longer. Still, there is currently no widely available or acceptable cure for the inherited blood disorder...

Sickle Cell Trait vs. Sickle Cell Disease

Millions of people worldwide are affected by the sickle cell blood disorder. About 100,000 people in the U.S. have sickle cell disease. It mostly affects African Americans, but it can also affect people from Hispanic, southern European, Middle Eastern and Asian Indian backgrounds.Another 2.5 million people in the U.S. have sickle cell trait (SCT). But having sickle cell trait (SCT) is not the same as having sickle cell disease (SCD).What is the difference between having sickle cell trait and...

Is It Rheumatoid Arthritis? Ask a Rheumatologist

It’s a Match! Telemedicine and a Healthier You

My parents, born in pre-war Hungary and Poland, were introduced in New York through a matchmaker. That was the custom of the times. They had a happy marriage despite the reality that the matchmaker gave incomplete and sometimes incorrect information to them and to their respective families. Their union blossomed because they used what the matchmaker provided as a starting point for deeper discussions on what mattered to them. The matchmaker's information was only the first stage in finding...

Hemophilia Q&A

Q: What is hemophilia?   A: Hemophilia is a blood disorder that primarily affects males. People who have hemophilia tend to bleed for longer periods of time following an injury or surgery. This happens because they have little, or even none, of a protein called clotting factor. Clotting factors help your blood form clots, which play an important role in stopping bleeding.    There are many of these clotting factors in the body that are needed for the blood to clot properly. People with...

Finding the Key to Alzheimer’s Dementia

I recall very vividly one of my patients who couldn’t see that his Alzheimer dementia (AD) symptoms were changing. Despite concerns from family members and his primary care doctor, this patient continued to drive. A quick brainstorm with the family led to my suggesting that they hide the car keys. Unfortunately, this caused frustration for both my patient and the caregivers. Every day he would search for the keys, going through every inch of the house and leaving a trail of disarray behind him...