DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Many years ago, when I was still a teen, I went skiing with my older brother. He was a much better skier than I, so we went our separate ways. Later, on the way to get something to eat, I saw a group huddling around one skier who looked a lot like […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: For years I have checked my blood sugar on my own meter and made adjustments to my diet and medicine as needed. The meter gave me results in numbers of milligrams. Now my doctor has me going to a lab, where the results are in percentages of hemoglobin A1C. Why the change? […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My husband sees a dermatologist regularly for psoriasis. I asked him to take our 3-year-old son with him on one of his visits. The boy has a patch of five wartlike growths on the back of his left hand. They don’t bother him. My husband did take him, and the doctor said […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Six years ago, my father died of a stroke. My mother tried to rouse him from bed, but he responded with confusion and was unable to speak. She called for an ambulance. He was in the hospital only four hours before he died. The doctor said he would have lived if he […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I need help and information. Because I had a cough that lasted for more than a month, my doctor had me get a chest X-ray. My lungs were normal, but my heart was big. The cough went away. The doctor’s receptionist called to tell me that the doctor thinks I have cardiomyopathy […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Three weeks ago, I had the most awful stomach pain I have ever had. Then I started to throw up. My wife called 911, and they took me to the nearest hospital. The emergency-room doctor thought I had pancreatitis and got the ball rolling. I did have it. I stayed in the […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What about shin splints? — I.J. ANSWER: That’s a concise question. Shin splints aren’t a condition and aren’t a diagnosis. You might just as well ask about “lower leg pain.” The shin is the surface of the tibia, the larger of the two lower leg bones. The shin is right under the […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My husband expired from his large intestine being kinked and twisted. The death certificate said it was volvulus. Will you write an article on this? Let me know the cost, and I will send you a check. — V.M. ANSWER: The cost is the stamp you put on your letter. Picture one […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Back in 1945, I was a baby and supposedly had scarlet fever, which damaged my heart. I had an aortic valve replaced and a bypass in 2006. In 1964, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Then I read an article stating that rheumatic fever causes heart-valve damage. Was I misdiagnosed? Was […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: In 1970, when in college, I had a friend who bruised so badly that she looked like a battered woman. The doctor at the health care center told her to take vitamin C because it strengthens cell walls. She did, and the bruising stopped. My father died of ischemic stroke and had […]