House Call, MD

by Rebecca Shatsky, MD 2011 | shatsky@myhousecallmd.com

We hear it all too often, “No, the weight gain wasn’t my fault.  My doctor told me I have a gland problem!”  Seems like a reasonable explanation right?  Mass media around the globe continues to remind you that hormones are involved in weight loss and that glands make hormones so…who cares if I haven’t hit the gym in six months and the pizza place knows me by name.  It has to be my glands that caused me to gain a few pounds last winter, right?

While “glandular problem” is not the technical term, colloquially when someone says they have a glandular problem they are most commonly referring to an underactive thyroid.  In medical-ese we call this hypothyroidism. While it’s usually not a life-threatening condition, hypothyroidism is a fairly common disease that brings with it a variety of negative symptoms including excess fatigue, dry skin, cold intolerance and weight gain (i.e. symptoms that can make you miserable).  Conversely, if your thyroid is overactive, you may develop the opposite symptoms: heart palpitations, anxiety, weight loss and heat intolerance.  What’s amazing about this underappreciated organ is that it can be easily checked with a simple blood test at your doctor’s office and any abnormalities can often be kept at bay with a simple medication.  Before you go running off to your doctor, it’s important to understand what the thyroid gland is and how it works.

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by Georgina Lee, PharmD 2011 | lee@myhousecallmd.com

Does your mind wander when you’re trying to study or read the newspaper?  Do you tend to switch the subject often when you’re having a conversation?  Do people call you “hyper” or “energetic” when you go out?  If the answer is yes to any of those questions, we’d like to congratulate you on being just like the rest of us who exhibit normal behavioral tendencies (like constantly flipping between radio stations while driving).  Then how exactly is one diagnosed with ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)? Currently, about 3-10% of children and 4% of adults worldwide have ADD/ADHD with a strong propensity for boys over girls (4 boys to every 1 girl).  According to the DSM-IV criteria (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), ADD/ADHD is considered a childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorder in which the person has either inattention or hyperactivity-impulsivity (or both) as defined by the following:

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by Kelly Erickson, MD | erickson@myhousecallmd.com

We all know what “cancer” is, but when you or a loved one hears it as a diagnosis in the physician’s office, the word suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.  Not only may you become overwhelmed with emotions and the notion of mortality, but also with an entirely new vocabulary.  The number of words the medical community has conjured up to describe cancer is astounding.  As scary as it sounds, your understanding of cancer and the terms we use to describe it are paramount to your personal decisions and treatment.  Here we will explain the basics of cancer as well as outline some of the most commonly used terminology in the field of oncology (a.k.a. cancer…and the vocabulary lesson begins).

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by Marissa Camilon, MD 2011 | camilon@myhousecallmd.com

What is infertility? When should you see a doctor?

In a world where one woman can become famous for having eight children and celebrities can have children at practically any age, some people lose sight of why this aspect of medicine even exists. Despite the media’s glamorization of the subject, infertility is not a condition taken lightly by the medical community. Infertility is a serious condition, just like diabetes, asthma or cancer, with proven medical treatments available. Many of us take the ability to become pregnant for granted; something we think happens with the blink of an eye. We have to remember that the chance of becoming pregnant is 20% per month of unprotected intercourse (not 100%). As physicians, we begin to investigate infertility after a couple tries a year of regular, unprotected intercourse that does not lead to a pregnancy. We pick one year as the cutoff because 85% of couples will conceive within that time frame. If you and your partner have been trying for that long, or even longer in some cases, it may be time to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist and Infertility specialist.

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by Rebecca Shatsky, MD 2011 | shatsky@myhousecallmd.com

It’s one of the great paradoxes of life: what we perceive as beautiful has a tendency to be bad for us. Tan skin, while masking cellulite and stretch marks, is quite literally a sign of skin damage. Tanning is a fashion trend. Throughout history, tan skin has fallen in and out of fashion. Unfortunately, for the past forty or fifty years, since the days of fashion icon Coco Chanel, tan skin has been a status symbol that we equate with health, happiness and the lavish life the wealthy can afford filled with luxurious vacations.  Even now in 2010, after the dangers of sun exposure have been spelled out explicitly by dermatologic research, the tanning trend is stronger than ever.  Self-proclaimed “tanorexics” from the MTV series The Jersey Shore (particularly Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi) broadcast their love of tanning beds to anyone who will listen. Last month, Polizzi even slammed president Obama for imposing a new 10% tax on tanning beds that went into effect on July 1^st. Republican political opponent, John McCain, was quick to respond to Snooki’s criticism of Obama with a tweet supporting Polizzi’s “freedom to tan,” a fairly controversial move considering McCain’s recent struggle with the deadly skin cancer, malignant melanoma. Naturally, with tanning now in the political hot seat (both literally and figuratively), we at House Call think it’s only appropriate to re-educate our readers on the process of tanning and the dangers of skin caner with scientific research and medical literature leading the debate (instead of reality TV stars and politicians).

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