Preventive medicine is a rapidly growing field.  Testing that detects diseases in early stages, treatments that prevent diseases before they occur, and behaviors that make diseases less likely all hold the promise to keep us healthy and let us live longer.  Unfortunately the field is also increasingly marred by tests and services that are recommended to patients without any scientific evidence tha...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common chronic condition.  The most common symptoms of IBS are crampy abdominal pain, painful diarrhea or constipation, and abdominal bloating.  The cause of IBS is unknown.  Many of my patients suffer from it.  The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has More

Six weeks ago I wrote about Zostavax, a vaccine that prevents shingles.  At that time I suggested waiting to see if the CDC was going to recommend it.  Last week the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that all adults over 60 who have had chicken pox receive the vaccine.  More

Flu season is almost upon us.  As far as I can tell from the flu activity monitoring of the CDC and the L.A. Department of Public Health Acute Communicable Disease Control site L.A. County has not yet reported any significant numbers of flu cases. So now ...

I've written before that quitting smoking is the hardest thing I ask my patients to do.  Losing weight is the second hardest.  Many patients struggle for years with their weight, and frequently after successfully losing weight, slowly regain it. Last week's New England Journal of Medicine had an important article about keepi...

Most of us think of ourselves as people who go out of our way to do the right thing, especially if it helps those less fortunate than ourselves.  We donate to charities; we volunteer our time; we tell our friends about worthy causes.  Nevertheless I was surprised to find that I had forgotten about a much-needed gift that most of us can give:  blood.  A few weeks ago I was embarrassed to find out i...

About a month ago the FDA released a warning about an interaction between very commonly used medications:  aspirin and ibuprofen. Many patients have been instructed to take low dose aspirin (81 mg daily) for heart attack or stroke prevention.  Aspirin prevents heart attacks and strokes by binding to an enzym...

Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new recommendations for all physicians for HIV testing.  The new recommendations were generated in response to the fact that of the approximately 1 million Americans infected with HIV, about one quarter have not been tested and are unaware of th...

Zostavax, a vaccine to prevent shingles, has recently been approved by the FDA and reviewed by The Medical Letter. Shingles (also called herpes zoster) is a very painful illness involving blisters that occur in a stripe-like pattern on one side of the body.  Shingles can only happen in people who have had chicken pox.  The virus that...

The Associate Press reports in this article that 50 people have become ill this week and one has died because of food contaminated with a dangerous strain of E. coli.  The FDA suspects fresh bagged spinach as a possible cause and is advising all Americans not to eat any.

The death o...