DEAR DR. ROACH: I just read your column about Fosamax and wondered what you thought about Evista (raloxifene). I have been on it for 13 or 14 years because both my sisters have had breast cancer and I have osteopenia. Is this something that can be taken indefinitely, or do I need to stop? My […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Would you please speak about the proper way to wean off of Paxil? I have been taking 20 mg daily. To wean off, I took 10 mg alternating with 20 mg every other day for one week, then 10 mg daily for four days, then stopped. After three days, I developed dizziness, […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: My 18-year-old daughter has had digestive problems on and off for a few years now. Her appendix was removed in March 2015. She had brutal abdominal pain, but the ultrasound scan didn’t show anything wrong with her appendix. Summer 2018, she started having bad digestion problems. She could hardly hold anything in. […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 69-year-old male in good health. In 2017, I experienced a pulmonary embolism in my left lung. Following that episode, my cardiologist put me on a statin regimen of 40 mg Lipitor. This was to get my LDL numbers down to 60 or lower in order to counteract a buildup […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I became short of breath walking upstairs or during mild exercise, like walking a short distance. My stress test was normal, heart normal and blood pressure good. My doctor has ordered a coronary calcium score. Should I be concerned about the amount of radiation in this CT scan? — P.M. ANSWER: A […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I will never willingly get a vaccine for anything. I have been sick only once in my life, and it was from a vaccination that I received in the seventh grade. I am now 80. Besides my bad experience, I do not get vaccinations because I do not know what they are. […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 56-year-old-female with very high lipoprotein(a) and am wondering if I should be as concerned about it as I am. I became aware of it in 2018 after I was tested as part of an executive-type physical. After almost two years of looking for a doctor to take my concern seriously, […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Recently, a well-respected consumer organization ran an article asserting that hundreds of thousands of people die every year just from eating deli meat! The problem is supposedly that the nitrates and/or nitrites in the meat combine to make nitrosamines, which are supposedly carcinogenic. Just what evidence is there that nitrosamines cause cancer […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: My doctor started me on Wellbutrin 150 mg XL for depression, but I have had terrible insomnia. She said it would get better in two to four weeks, but I am having severe anxiety due to not sleeping. Do you have any suggestions? — N.M.N. ANSWER: Bupropion (Wellbutrin) is an antidepression medicine […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: At the end of January, I had my yearly physical, and my doctor recommended that I start taking a statin drug. I am a female, 71 years old and take no prescription drugs now. At the end of the physical the doctor told me that I am “very healthy.” My cholesterol is […]