DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am the mother of six children. The oldest is a boy, 18, and the youngest a girl, 6. All my children spend their free time outdoors. The boy is a lifeguard at an outdoor pool. Two of my daughters play baseball and practice all the time. The rest are outside, too. […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I will turn 65 next month and am in very good health. I am 5 feet 10 inches, have weighed 145 pounds for years and have a trim build with no gut. I look pretty good. What I don’t understand is why I have absolutely no muscle tone whatsoever. My flesh is […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Please address the subject of wildly fluctuating blood pressure readings. A couple of years ago, my 87-year-old father was taken off blood pressure medicines because his readings were OK. For the past year, he has had extremely low readings when he stands up. He has been to doctors and the emergency room […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Please discuss the management of seasonal allergies. Should I always take an antihistamine? Are some better than others? If I take one and two hours later I’m sneezing my head off, can I conclude that that one doesn’t work for me? Should I use eyedrops and nasal sprays along with an antihistamine? […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: You have written about when an aortic aneurysm should be removed, but you did not discuss how one is detected. There has been much solicitation through the media and mailed brochures about imaging screening to determine if you have one. I asked my doctor about these screenings, and he just scoffed at […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I get pain in my upper arms when I raise them to do things like turn on the lights on my medicine cabinet. The switch is at the top of the cabinet, and it really hurts to reach up. When I shower, the pain is so bad that I can raise my […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I read your response to a runner who complained of heel pain, and I was appalled that you gave advice that would only worsen his situation. “Well-cushioned shoes and heel inserts” do not help. Studies at many universities show shoes cause us to land on our heels. Many scientific and sports-medicine journals […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: When I was 5 years old, I had rheumatic fever. We didn’t have any medicines for it then. I was put on bed rest. I have a heart murmur as a result. I am writing to you because I wonder what’s happened to this illness. I never hear about it. Has it […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My doctor thinks I might have multiple sclerosis. All this started because I couldn’t see well out of my left eye. That has cleared without any treatment. I know very little about this illness, except that it leaves a person wheelchair-bound. I understand there is no treatment. I am 41 and have […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I hold a responsible job and earn good money. I am married to a wonderful woman and have three great children. In the face of all this, I have been so depressed for the past three months that I can barely function. I can’t concentrate, have no interest in my work and […]