Health News

Features

Pop Quiz: Preventing prescription drug abuse in your home

IT’S A STARTLING FACT: Prescription drug abuse is a problem that affects people from all walks of life. Unfortunately, prescription drug abuse oftentimes occurs in the home, with pills and medications being pilfered or stolen from their legally prescribed owners. Sadly, the culprits of medication thefts could be children and other family members, friends, neighbors,…
Putting together the pieces of dementia

| Keeping our brains fit as we age | BRAINS AGE. As people get older, they may start forgetting appointments, or lose track of days and months. For a while, they may put on a good show. “They’ll tell you what they think,” says Dr. Jeffrey Reddout, a neuropsychologist at Winter Haven Hospital’s (WHH) neurorehabilitation…
Q&A: Weighing your risk for osteoporosis

We interviewed Dr. Raul B. Tallo, a rheumatologist with Lakeland Regional Health, about the bone disease osteoporosis. Central Florida Health News (CFHN): Who is more prone to osteoporosis? Is it an elderly person’s disease? A women’s disease?

The Heart of the Matter: Recommendations from the USPSTF for low-dose aspirin use

LOW-DOSE ASPIRIN has long been a therapy for those with a risk of cardiovascular disease, and studies have shown it to be effective at lowering the risk of colorectal cancer as well. However, aspirin also has been shown to have health dangers, such as increasing the risk for bleeding in the stomach and intestines and…
Healthy Cook: Adding on calories when your senior loved one is too thin

BEING A FEW POUNDS overweight can be a pain in the patootie. That can often be solved by using the simple food equation: calories in versus calories out. On the other hand, people who are too slim and can’t gain weight often have no patootie to speak of. Their challenge of putting on a few…
Surgery Facts: Answering the question: ‘Doc, do I need my gallbladder?’

AS A SURGEON, I am asked this question all the time, usually right after I inform a patient that their abdominal pain is due to gallstones. There is an aura of mystery surrounding this little green organ, with a lot of folks unclear as to its exact role in our bodies and our health. Gallbladder…