MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER COLUMNS

Medical Question & Answer Columns

Everyone always has questions they want to ask a doctor about all aspects of the body’s function and illnesses. Patients want to know what is happening to them, where the diseased organs or tissue are, when they are going to get better or worse, and why it is happening to them. Some patients just can’t bring themselves to ask their own doctor certain confidential, embarrassing, confusing or emotional questions, which is where the anonymous media doctor can play a very useful role.

For many years Dr. Carter worked in talk back radio answering medical questions from anonymous callers. He also has written medical Q&A columns for over a dozen newspapers and magazines. From these sources he has built up an enormous database of more than 1500 REAL medical questions asked by REAL people. He is only too happy to answer new questions from readers, but the vast majority of letters now received merely duplicate earlier queries.

An example of a medical question and answer column written by Medwords is:-

MEDICAL QUESTION AND ANSWER COLUMN

Q.     Is Vitamin B useful? Should I take regular capsules to supplement my diet?

A.    Vitamin B is divided into several subgroups numbered 1, 2, 6 and 12. All are water soluble and occur in dairy products, meats and leafy vegetables. It is almost impossible to have a lack of only one in the group. If one is missing, all will be missing.

    A lack of these may cause anaemia and other blood diseases. Excess is rapidly excreted from the body through the kidneys and has no harmful effects.

    Vitamin B6 may be useful in mouth inflammation, morning sickness and nervous tension. Vitamin B12 is used as an injection to treat pernicious anaemia.

    Unless you are suffering from one of these conditions, have an inadequate diet or are recovering from an illness there is no need to routinely take any vitamin B supplement.

Q.    My back x-rays show Scheuermann's disease. What is this? Is it serious?

A.    This is a relatively uncommon bone condition that affects the shape of the vertebrae in rapidly growing teenagers, particularly males, but may not become apparent until later in life when pain develops in the back.

    The back consists of 24 vertebrae, which sit one on top of the other in precise positions to give the back its correct curvature. The vertebrae are joined together by ligaments, and their exact position and movement are controlled by muscles.

    In Scheuermann's disease, the vertebrae in the middle part of the back, behind the chest, do not grow properly, and instead of being roughly square in shape, they become slightly wedge shaped. This causes the back to curve excessively giving a slightly humped appearance. The movement of the back is reduced, pain may be present due to compression of nerves, and osteoarthritis develops prematurely.

    The main treatment is physiotherapy to correct the posture, anti-inflammatory medications and exercise. Rarely, surgery is recommended.

Q.    What is the best treatment for depression? Should I keep taking drugs all the time?

A.    Depression may be due to an imbalance of chemicals that normally occur in the brain to control mood, and it is necessary for doctors to alter this balance, by giving medications that can control the production or activity of the depressing chemicals.

    The worst problem with untreated depression is suicide, and this can be seen as a desperate plea for help in many people. The disease may not be detected or treated until a radical attempt to end life has occurred.

    Medication and counseling by a general practitioner or psychiatrist will control the vast majority of cases.  Stopping the medication prematurely may cause a sudden deterioration and serious relapse of the depression.

Q.    I am traveling overseas soon, but I have to take with me a lot of different tablets. Do I need a letter from my doctor so that I can take these tablets through customs in foreign countries?

A.    Doctors have been unnecessarily inundated with requests such as these since a woman tourist was arrested in Greece for carrying headache tablets containing codeine. The Greek government has been trying to live down this embarrassing mistake ever since.

    There is no need for people taking medication to take with them a letter from their doctor for customs purposes. The chemist’s label on the medication, with your name and the directions for taking the medication, are sufficient proof that the medication is genuinely required.

    The one exception to this rule could be the traveller carrying narcotic pain killers, but I would doubt that anyone requiring such medication would be in any fit state to travel anyway.

    If you have significant medical problems, it is a good idea to carry with you a letter from your doctor outlining your medical condition, so that you can show this letter to any doctor you may need to consult during your journey.

Q.    I keep getting one cold after another. Why does it always have to be me?

A.    You are just very unlucky. Several hundred viruses can cause a cold. Once one virus infects you, you should develop life long resistance, but because there are so many possible causes, you will still catch colds. Gradually your resistance to infection will improve though, and colds will occur less frequently.

    Because they have not been exposed to many viruses, children develop more colds than adults. Unfortunately, once you do catch a cold, it becomes easier to develop a second one. This second cold knocks you about even further, weakening you so that a third one can be caught. This unpleasant chain of events can sometimes continue for months.

    Some people also have genetic factors that either protect them or make them more susceptible to viral infections. Stress, both physical and mental, can also reduce the body’s resistance to infection. Extremes of temperature are a cause of stress, and an indirect cause of recurrent colds.