Medical Conditions

On the list of “fun things to do,” medical tests of any kind don’t usually make the top 10. Some, however, are notoriously worse than others. For example, I’d rather have my body cryogenically frozen…

‘Tis the season for get-togethers, gift exchanges and goodwill.

But it’s also the season for colds and flus.

The best defense is offense. Wash your hands for 20 seconds when touching or near contagious people or shared items. Use the hand wipes provided in grocery stores to wipe the handles of shopping carts. Read More

Are you facing surgery and wondering how long you’ll be laid up doing rehab? If so, now is a great time to get started on a ”prehab” program instead! Ask any athlete about the importance following a training program before every competition…

Researchers estimate that almost one in three heart attacks are linked with eating an unhealthy diet while an unhealthy lifestyle – smoking, not exercising, drinking too much alcohol – accounts for many of the others. Following a heart-friendly diet and lifestyle can reduce your future risk of a heart attack whether or not you have already experienced one. Ask yourself these 10 questions to see if you need to take action…

Imagine the following scenario. You’ve just finished dinner and now you are playing on the floor with your two grandkids. As you play, you start a feel a pain in your chest. Read More

On a beautiful fall morning in late October 2002, I was planting Iris bulbs along the waterfront of our home in the Northern Neck of VA. I felt a bit more tired than I thought was reasonable and noted that I was sweating more than normal, so I sat down and lit up a cigarette. Read More

Chances are that during the course of your lifetime, or maybe more so in your 50s and 60s, you’ve known people who’ve said that they wanted to end their lives. Perhaps they were victims of trauma or were dealing with physical…

One of the most challenging issues we face as we age is recovering from various illnesses and surgeries. It seems that we tend to ignore the reality of the amount of time it may take us to fully (or mostly) recover from a medical episode…

I was recently diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. The sleep study test found I had lapses of breathing for at least 10 seconds about 35 times an hour. Shocking! Some of you probably have it too…

Aspirin is probably one of the safest, most used, and well-known painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications around. Most of us grew up with it in the family medicine cabinet. Read More