People living along the Gulf of Mexico are still feeling the effect of the BP oil spill disaster, the largest oil catastrophe in history. To learn more about the spill's health effects, I spoke with Dr. Gina Solomon, an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Dr. Solomon was on the Louisiana ...
Erin Marcus, MD
Use the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service
Brenda Bryant learned she had breast cancer while she was sitting alone in her car in the parking lot of her grandson's day care center. It was early evening on a Friday two years ago, and her surgeon called to tell her the results of a biopsy. "He just gave me my results and that was it," says Bryant, who lives in Northern Virginia. "It was like there was ...
Osteoporosis in patients with HIV
At the age of 56, Jules Levin felt pretty invincible, despite being HIV positive. He went to the gym regularly and controlled his disease well by taking his antiretroviral medicines every day.Then he slipped one day while on vacation and broke his wrist.He underwent an operation to insert pins in his bones and needed to wear a cast for a month, keep his arm ...
Strategy and support is needed to quit smoking
Tobacco is the single biggest cause of preventable death and disability in the United States. But nicotine is highly addictive, and quitting the cigarette habit can be extremely tough.L.J., a 55 year old man who gave up smoking after 35 years, proves that it can be done. In L.J.'s words, he was "sick and tired of being sick and tired." But he didn't do it alone; his success depended on ...
Check for skin cancer and melanoma, even with dark skin
The mole on Ivis Febus-Sampayo's face looked odd. But it wasn't until her son needed treatment for acne that she went to a dermatologist."As mothers, we're working, we're busy," she said. "I forgot about me and called the dermatologist to make sure my son was getting taken care of."The doctor removed a sliver of the mole, and reassured Ivis that it was probably nothing to worry about. Two weeks later, ...
Post traumatic stress disorder after the Haitian earthquake
In the months since the Haitian earthquake, psychologists from around the world have been traveling to the island, hoping to help a population in shock and at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. Many are veterans of crises such as Hurricane Katrina, and have extensive experience responding to disasters.But Dr. Guerda Nicolas, a Haitian-born researcher who has conducted landmark studies examining how Haitians experience depression and cope with disasters, has a ...
Doctors and family members often push for futile, aggressive care
Every once in a while, there's a magazine piece that so encapsulates the key moral issues -- and irrationality -- of 21st Century medicine that it warrants designation as mandatory reading for anyone who interacts with patients. Atul Gawande has written some of these; so too has Slate medical columnist, Darshak Sangavi.The latest entry on the required reading list is Katy Butler's "My Father's Broken Heart," which appeared ...
Colonoscopy and other screening options for colon cancer
It’s exceedingly uncommon for a healthy middle-aged man to walk into his doctor’s office and demand a colonoscopy. But even though he lacked a family history, Stanley Thornton, an African-American engineer who was then in his mid-40’s, wouldn’t take no for an answer.“I was concerned that African-Americans do get colorectal cancer earlier, and I said, ‘hey, let me lead by example,’” he said recently. “We argued about it for a ...
Who really benefits from President Obama’s health reform plan?
I don’t know about you, but as I watched coverage of President Obama signing the health care bill three months ago, it was hard not to notice the constant ads for power wheelchairs. Emblazoned across the ads was a flashing notice reminding viewers: Medicare may cover this!Don’t get me wrong. As a primary care doctor who takes care of low-income patients, I was glad to see something being done to ...
Rental housing can worsen your health
Whenever I diagnose a person with asthma or allergies, I usually ask a few questions about his or her living environment. Is there shag carpeting in the bedroom? Is the air conditioning filter changed every month? Is there evidence of roaches and other vermin? I ask these questions because mold, dust mites, animal saliva and insect droppings can worsen the symptoms of asthma and other illnesses.But some of my patients ...
High blood pressure treatment that patients need to know
When her gynecologist told her she had high blood pressure, Marie had a simple solution: switch doctors. After all, she had gone to him for a different problem, and this was the first time he had ever checked her blood pressure.“He said, ‘Oh my God, you’re like a bomb waiting to explode.’ I said, ‘I didn’t come here for that, I came here for something else,’” she explained.Two years later, ...
10 salt reducing tips that can lower your blood pressure
It’s hard for Cassandra Mathieu to describe her mother’s cooking without mentioning the salt shaker.“I remember my mother used to cook with seasoning salt, garlic salt, every kind of salt you can imagine,” she said recently. “We grew up on salt.”Cassandra grew up fixing food the same way, adding generous amounts of salt to dishes she prepared and to her food at the table. At age 42, she discovered her ...
The Haiti earthquake and its broken health infrastructure
Dr. Barth Green co-founded Project Medishare, which has worked in Haiti for two decades. He led the first team of U.S. physicians to Port-au-Prince after the earthquake and, together with the University of Miami’s Global Institute, spearheaded the development of a 240-bed tent hospital that is now the country’s largest functioning urgent care hospital. His group is working with the U.S. government to establish Haiti’s first rehabilitation hospital. Green ...
How will the earthquake affect the future of the Haitian American community?
Marleine Bastien is the founder and executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami--Haitian Women of Miami--www.fanm.org, which advocates for the rights of Haitian women. She is also a congressional candidate for U.S. House District 17, representing Little Haiti and other neighborhoods in Miami. Erin N. Marcus spoke with Bastien on Jan. 22 about the Haiti earthquake.What has FANM been doing since the earthquake? As soon as we heard about it, ...
How to prevent diabetes with diet and exercise
By all accounts, Frances Vasquez ought to be a diabetic. Raised on a diet of fried steak, fried pork chops and lots of rice, her father, mother, and two sisters suffered from the disease. At age 47, Frances was overweight and already experiencing high blood sugar.But over the past 11 years, Frances has been able to avoid diabetes, and her sugars are now normal. By participating in a ground-breaking, government-funded ...
Tips for Haiti earthquake relief: How to find the right charity for donations
It’s impossible to watch coverage of the immense suffering in Haiti and not want to help. But many charitable groups seem to have sprung up since the disaster, and it’s tough to know which ones will be most effective at getting your donation to those most in need.To try to sort out the difference between the major aid groups, I asked Haitian-American community organizers, as well as physicians I know ...
Smoking related diseases are the number one cause of death in African-Americans
Lawrence Jones started smoking Kool Menthols when he was playing Rhythm and Blues in the ‘70s, as a way of fitting in with his bandmates and the in crowd at the clubs where he played.The band broke up after a few years, but the cigarettes remained. Instead of being a way to look sophisticated, smoking became a means for Jones to relax and, he says, to feel he was “in ...
What women should know about the new mammogram guidelines
Whenever I order a mammogram for a woman in her 40’s, I also give her a warning: “Don’t get scared if it’s abnormal.” I tell her this because research shows that a woman who undergoes 10 routine screening mammograms has a 50-50 chance of having something unusual that requires her to go for more tests. The vast majority of these mammographic abnormalities aren’t cancer, but she still needs to get ...
