DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a healthy 64-year-old woman. My only medication is atenolol for blood pressure. I get the aura of migraines very often. The light flashing in my peripheral vision and then in front of my eyes always lasts between 30-45 minutes, no more. Then it is gone, leaving me with a tired, […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: One of my relatives has been diagnosed with stage 2 or 3 triple-negative breast cancer. Her death sentence is chemotherapy every two weeks for eight weeks, and then every week for 20 weeks! What is your opinion on this kind of chemotherapy? Isn’t there some therapy safer than this? — R.I. ANSWER: […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I had a DaVinci prostatectomy 11 months ago. I can sit or stand for hours with no problem, but then sitting on the floor to play with my dog causes me to leak. I realize that getting on the floor or any other bending squeezes my bladder, thus causing a leak. So […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I had apoplexy, a ruptured pituitary tumor, developed panhypopituitarism, then adrenal insufficiency. I am doing fairly well with cortisol replacement, thyroid supplement and oral diabetic medicine. My problem is exhaustion that comes on very easily. I have other ailments to blame, too — chronic pain from fibromyalgia and tendinitis. I am 67. […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an 84-year-old male in excellent health. In 2009, I had a stroke, which the doctors called a ”sensory stroke.” I was told that I was very lucky to come out of it with no paralysis. What I do have is partial numbness on my left side, especially in my left […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: My 58-year-old daughter has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. She started to have memory problems in April 2015. I know this disease is rare, and I can’t find out much about it. Most people and even some doctors have never heard of it. We know she doesn’t have long to live, because she can’t feed […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Our 44-year-old son was diagnosed with gout 10 years ago. He was given different medications to help with the terrific pain. Several of the meds were steroids. He seems to have this condition under control, somewhat. However, one year ago, he started to experience a different kind of pain in his hips. […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: My daughter’s blood pressure has been high since she was 14, and she is now 43. Her blood pressure recently has been 210/142, and she is having trouble getting it down. She has seen several doctors, and none has an answer. — J.E. ANSWER: There are two big warning signs in your […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: In February, I experienced a massive gastrointestinal bleed, resulting in a seven-pint transfusion. Luckily for me, I was in my bariatric doctor’s office for a well checkup when I used the toilet, and I had the presence of mind, or overcame modesty, to ask a nurse to verify if that was indeed […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband and I are at odds about sugar and other carbohydrates as a cause of diabetes. I say it’s sugar; he says carbohydrates. Why not just eliminate all sugars, I say to myself? We live in the good ol’ South — the diabetes belt of the U.S. — where sugar exists […]