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by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
Nice weather brings you weekend warriors out like ants to sugar. About this time of year we exercise muscles that have lain essentially dormant all winter. And the day after the workout, we suffer the consequence, feeling like we’ve been beaten with a baseball bat.
This severe soreness after exercise is likely to happen during a disaster. You may be forced to work far past your comfort level—and in ways you’re not used to.
So I decided to see if there were any new, study-documented ways to decrease this “severe soreness after exercise” phenomenon. To my surprise, I found one. To my greater surprise, it revolved around a common fruit.
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by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
Last week, I demonstrated how to safely use a neti pot, a popular tool to clean your sinuses for allergy prevention and treatment. You just pour specially prepared water into one nostril, and it comes out the other one.
But there’s an advanced sinus irrigation technique that’ll clean you out good and proper—without a neti pot. Your amazing, Roto-Rooter, nasal cleansing alternative? A cup.
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by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
There are not many natural ways to treat or prevent nasal allergies effectively, but using a neti pot for nasal irrigation is one of them. And it’s safe.
Okay, sure … a brain-eating amoeba has killed a few unfortunate people after they used contaminated tap water.
And, yes, some who use the neti pot actually have more sinus infections.
But … you can prevent both of those problems with two simple steps.
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by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
One of the first things I do when I see someone with an injured hand or finger is remove any rings. You’d think the person would have already done this, but sometimes it’s hard to think straight when you have an injury. Also, many are afraid it’s going to hurt (it can), and some think the finger has already swollen too much (sometimes it has).
But the thing is, with a badly swollen finger, the ring acts like a tourniquet, cutting off the blood supply, and you could end up losing your digit. What to do?
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Media reports claim radiation from the 2011 Fukushima disaster caused thyroid problems in one-third of West Coast newborns. But they’re so, so wrong.
by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
The news is grim. West Coast babies are being born with thyroid problems left and right, media reports suggest. One-third have been affected! Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster is to blame. What to do?!!!
Except … this isn’t true.
The rumor has spread across the Internet, but it comes from the misinterpretation of a new study. The preparedness organization Living Ready asked me to report the unbiased truth about this study’s findings in a guest blog post.
“Even worst case, the researchers found that nowhere near one-third of the newborns were hit with thyroid problems,” I write. “Not even close.” You can read the post here.
Have you seen these Fukushima thyroid rumors? What did you think?
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Digital Globe (CC-BY-SA-3.0).
A patient gets fitted for an EEG test, which can be used to figure out the cause of seizures.
by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
When I was a teenager, I experienced my first seizure. Actually, I didn’t have one. I didn’t even see it, but it affected me.
I was at a lake outing. I noticed some people gathered around next to a car. Everyone was looking down at the same spot. I heard someone nearby say a woman just had a seizure. I didn’t exactly know what one was, but I knew it was bad. About the worst thing that could happen to someone, I surmised, outside of dying. And all I could think is, I’m glad I wasn’t there when it happened. I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do.
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by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
Chances are very good that you, a family member, or a friend will be affected by the ravages of diabetes. About 7 million in the U.S. alone don’t even know they have it. And yet, it is slowly and silently doing permanent damage to their sight, kidneys, heart, and circulation right now.
Another 79 million (yes, you read that right—about a third of us) will get the disease unless we take action now. That’s because about 79 million of us are thought to have prediabetes (the early stage which will develop into the full-blown disease in most people).
Many people want to know how to handle diabetes if they run out of medicine and can’t get any more. I’ve tried to answer that the best I can in past posts, but in truth, there are no perfect alternatives to your prescription meds.
So what about this? What if you could need less or no prescriptions meds? And for those of you at risk for diabetes, what if you found a way to never get it? In other words, the questions to ask are: How can I prevent diabetes? How can I make it better if I already have it?
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by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
Today’s post is a quick announcement about some new resources I hope will be helpful.
A year-and-a-half after this blog started—and 175 posts later—there’s a lot of information here. To make it easier to navigate, I’ve organized some of it in two new ways:
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by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
I used to be like one of those fainting goats. If I saw an accident or was in danger, my mind just shut off. Apparently, something inside me thought, if I ignore it, it’ll go away.
But that was before I got into medicine. Now I know that there’s a good possibility that if I don’t take charge right away, worse things will happen. If you’re reading this, you’re likely to someday be in this situation also.
But how to stay calm and take leadership? I have a few suggestions.
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by James Hubbard, MD, MPH
George Washington was tough. Unbelievably tough. Everybody back then was, or they died. In his younger years he had malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, and dysentery, to name a few. He lost all his teeth by middle age and wore various poor-fitting dentures made from ivory or different animals’ teeth, never wooden.
We’re fortunate the rugged 6-foot-3, 230-pounder was relatively healthy during the long, cold Revolutionary War. But after two terms as president, he was worn out and retired to work on his farm. Two years later, he died of a sore throat. It’s interesting to me how so many great people seem to die soon after retirement. But President Washington may have had a little help from his doctors.
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