ArcaMax

DEAR DR. ROACH: My sister was trying to make a telehealth appointment with her primary care physician. The receptionist called her back to inform her that she needed to pay a co-pay of $30 for the appointment first. I didn't know that this was the new norm for these. Is this true?

If this ever happened to me, and I am able, I would get into ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a layman, but I disagree with your recent advice about the MMR vaccination specifically for a person without rubella antibodies. I am 73 years old. When I was 18, I caught rubella. Unfortunately I was rooming with a young couple who were newly married, Catholic and pregnant. The young wife caught the disease from me and, on ...Read more

You or your teenage kids may be into heavy metal, like Black Sabbath, Metallica and Iron Maiden, but no one should be into inhaling heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, for example). Unfortunately, a study published in the journal Central Science found that those toxins are in the mist of many vapes. In fact, the researchers said ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I was born in 1954, and my mother took diethylstilbestrol (DES) to prevent miscarriages. I had a hysterectomy last year, and my doctor told me I didn't need a Pap smear ever again. I told him I wanted one, and he said "no." Since I have my cervix, I am afraid of getting cancer, which runs in my family on both sides. Now I found...Read more

There's a new Stanford Medicine study that analyzed the levels of around 3,000 proteins in the blood of 44,000 folks to assess the biological (as opposed to chronological) age of 11 of their organ systems, including the brain, heart, lungs, liver and kidneys.

The biological age of the brain turned out to have the strongest link to future health...Read more

Prediabetes is a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as full-fledged diabetes. It's estimated that one in three American adults has prediabetes. In the short term (three to five years), 25% of people with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes. The lifetime risk is 50% to 70%. ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband is 72 years old and on a waiting list for a hip replacement due to severe osteoarthritis. The surgeon he was referred to is quite young, has been performing anterior minimally invasive hip replacements for five years, and does about 250 per year.

Originally we had asked to be referred to a different surgeon who has ...Read more

Psst! PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are toxic chemicals that show up in nonstick cookware, grease-resistant food packaging, waterproof clothing, and stain-resistant upholstery, and are then shed into the water supply, fish, and the air you breathe. According to the Natural Resources Defense Fund, animal and human studies link them ...Read more

I don't want to put pressure on you ... but did you know that if you develop high blood pressure in middle age and it's uncontrolled, you're at an increased risk for dementia? That's because high blood pressure damages blood vessels and can reduce blood flow to the brain. As a result, your blood isn't effectively clearing harmful waste products ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have been diagnosed with mild sleep apnea. (No surprise there as symptoms were omnipresent.) CPAP machines seem incredibly uncomfortable. Are they the preferred gold standard even for mild sleep apnea? (I'm not even sure if "mild" is accurate since all sleep issues are serious to me.)

Also, I believe my deviated septum is ...Read more

Wouldn't it be great if you could wash away your worries about Type 2 diabetes? Well, a new 18-month study presented recently at the Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association reveals just how powerful an influence your choice of beverage can be.

Researchers divided women with Type 2 diabetes who were in a weight management ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a 67-year-old female in pretty good health. The only medications I take are for my thyroid, arthritis and hormone replacement. Early last year, I was sick with a cold/flu for a couple of weeks and had diarrhea during this time. I figured it was from my sickness; however, the sickness went away, but the diarrhea did not.

...Read more

In May, surgeons at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, collaborated to perform the world's first human bladder transplant. Currently, when a bladder fails or needs to be removed, doctors create a "neobladder" using a portion of the patient's intestine, or they reroute urine to drain into a bag ...Read more

Between 2016 and 2023, the mental health of mothers in the U.S. significantly declined, according to new research. And while the decline occurred across socioeconomic groups, it was sharpest among single mothers, those with less education, with publicly or uninsured kids and those born in the U.S.

Study authors analyzed self-reported data ...Read more