ArcaMax

DEAR DR. ROACH: How could I have an A1C of 5.9% in March, then 8% in July? My diet has been the same. I rarely eat fast food and never drink sodas; I avoid carbs such as sweets and breads whenever possible. Because I was so encouraged by my A1C of 5.9%, I increased my vigorous swimming routine to 2 hours a day. I'm cutting this down to 1 hour ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a relatively healthy 54-year-old male. My daily medications are 20 mg of lisinopril, 20 mg of atorvastatin, and 145 mg of fenofibrate. I also take a 500-mg dose of naproxen on an as-needed basis for various aches and pains from military-service-related conditions. My naproxen intake varies anywhere from 0-4 doses per week. ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: Do you know anything about aggressive digital papillary adenocarcinoma? My 39-year-old nephew was just diagnosed, and his parents are searching for answers. He's getting scans to determine whether they should amputate his finger. As far as we know, it hasn't metastasized. -- A.M.

ANSWER: No, I'd never heard of this condition. ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm writing regarding the recent column that mentioned frequent nighttime urination. I had a similar problem and awakened several times to urinate each night. About a year ago, I started using a CPAP for sleep apnea. Immediately after starting to use the CPAP, my nighttime urination frequency decreased. It'd range from sleeping...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: My daughter, age 44, has had chronic kidney disease since she was 10 years old. She had a renal transplant at 23, then another at 32. The second graft started gradually failing a year back. In January, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. This past month, she had a total hysterectomy, along with the removal of malignant ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm 78 years old and in pretty good health. I walk 3 miles four times a week, bike 8 miles once a week, and lift weights twice a week. Besides eye drops for glaucoma, the only medication I take is 20 mg of lovastatin each day. Due to corneal edema, I'll be having a partial cornea transplant. My surgeon has asked me to decide ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: You have commented on gabapentin before. This seems to be a miracle drug that they're giving out to everyone for everything. However, I'm absolutely convinced that this drug made both of my parents crazy. Both were given gabapentin in the hospital, and I absolutely felt that it altered their mental state. For the record, both ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm an 82-year-old man with osteoporosis, a pacemaker, and a vegetable garden, which I worked in yesterday for 5 hours in the extreme heat. I consumed a large bottle of ice water. When I came back into the cool house, I was unable to select or even pronounce the proper words. I felt like my brain's gears were all in neutral. My...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a 66-year-old retired female who's trying to keep active. My neurologist thinks that I may have tardive dyskinesia (TD), for which I tried Ingrezza, but I experienced heaviness in my chest. I've tried meds, vestibular therapy, balance therapy and acupuncture. I've also been evaluated by an ENT physician and a cardiologist. ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm writing to seek your perspective on a diagnosis that has caused me significant anxiety. A recent incidental finding on an MRI, followed by an endoscopic ultrasound, revealed a cluster of several small cysts (3-7 mm) in my pancreas. They're suspected to be branch-duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs). My main...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I've been hearing about Legionnaires' disease. What is it? How's it spread? Can it really be spread through windshield wipers? -- D.G.

ANSWER: Legionnaires' disease is a pneumonia caused by Legionella pneumophilia. It was first described in 1976, when an outbreak killed 34 people at an American Legion convention in ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a 77-year-old woman with degenerative disc disease. I had an L4 microdiscectomy surgery in 2020, but I still have chronic pain in my lower back. Although I do core strengthening exercises with physical therapy (which helps), I'm still in daily pain. I've been seeing advertisements for multifidus muscle-strengthening devices...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: My sister died about a month ago. We were very close, and I was with her when she died of a brief but serious illness. The day after, I felt completely unbalanced. I had brain fog and nausea, which comes and goes, as well as extreme exhaustion and tinnitus. I saw my general physician and asked for a full blood test, which came ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I was reading your recent column about shingles. Several years ago, I contracted shingles, even after getting the shingles vaccine. It hit me in my left eye, so I went to my eye doctor. (I wasn't sure what the problem was.) He took one look at my eye and diagnosed me with shingles.

He gave me an antibiotic that cleared up the ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a 74-year-old male who's in otherwise excellent health. However, I have severe arthritis in my knees to the point where it keeps me up at night. I keep reading about this treatment called GAE (genicular artery embolization), and since I only have about a good 10 years or so left on this planet, I wanted to know your ...Read more