DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an 83-year-old male and have been in excellent health. My vital signs all are normal, my heart function is normal, MRI of my brain and a full-body X-ray of my bones are normal, but a CT scan of my abdomen showed organs with “fuzzy” material around the exterior. I recently […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: The letter from the person taking tramadol for 10 years hit a nerve. Your answer prompted me to write. My 63-year-old husband has been on painkillers since 1994, when he tore his ligaments around L-5/S-1. He had back surgeries in 2002 (fusion and hardware), 2005 (remove hardware that was bothering him) and […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 63-year-old female in very good health. Admittedly, I smoked for 22 pack-years, but that is pretty far in the past. I have had two CT lung scans as a result of a pneumonia diagnosis last fall. The second, a follow-up six months after the first one last December, found […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: At around 4-6 years of age, I got the chickenpox and, of course, had a lot of itchy bumps on my body. One bump in particular did not heal right; I scratched it so much that it formed into a small (smaller than a dime) keloid on my inner thigh. This happened […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: My son-in-law recently was diagnosed with pancreatitis. He used to drink more often, but in the past year he has imbibed only on weekends, socially. He was quite overweight and ate a lot of junk food before he became ill. The emergency doctor told him to watch his diet, and his general […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: My daughter tested positive for group B streptococcus while pregnant with her first child, who had no medical problems after delivery. She’s almost 36 weeks along with her second and just tested negative for GBS. I’ve read that a carrier can test positive some times and negative others, but if she’s been […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I was having lots of arthritis pain in my neck and feet last summer. Someone recommended turmeric supplements to help. I started taking 600 mg twice a day. The pain slowly subsided. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I took it for about a month, then I started getting minor stomach cramping […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Please write about the increasing use of “fashionable” coconut oil and coconut milk. I am on a plant-based diet, approaching vegan, and I see more products with high amounts of saturated fat, which seems to be due to increased use of coconut. I see this used in yogurts (where soy used to […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 66-year-old male and was a patient of the same doctor for over 30 years. He recently retired. Part of my annual physical for as long as I can remember included a prostate exam. I now have a young, new doctor and at my recent physical, he did not give […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am blessed to be a very healthy 63-year-old woman. I am a vegetarian who eats fish occasionally. I take 600 mg of calcium a day, along with 1 mg folic acid for thalassemia minor. I exercise every day. I sleep well. I feel great and full of energy. I have diverticulosis […]