DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I’ve suffered from ulcerative colitis since I was 16. I am now 21. My mother passed away two years before my diagnosis from complications of the same disease. No medicines helped her. I’ve taken a laundry list of medications. They work for about three weeks and then stop working. I can have […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My sister just discovered that she has neuropathy. She gets tingling and burning sensations from the calves to the buttocks. Her doctor has her on amitriptyline. It makes her sleep a lot. What can she do to improve this illness? Will it get better? — M.W. ANSWER: Neuropathy is nerve damage. We […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: In November of 2010, I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. For one year, things were fine, but the atrial fib returned. After five months of hell and reactions to meds, I agreed to have ablation. I was told it was 80 percent effective; I’m in the 20 percent. Now the doctors recommend […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am writing about severe thigh-muscle cramping. I am 52 years old, 6 feet tall and weigh 210 pounds. I am currently on enalapril, simvastatin and Lipitor. I try to take a long walk at a decent pace three to six times a week. The walks vary from half an hour to […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I wrote to you before on this. I didn’t see an answer, so I thought I would try again. On the local news, they were talking to a doctor about using an antibiotic for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD. The name of the drug is azithromycin. What do you know about this, […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Since starting to clip your articles, I haven’t found any that deal with using adult stem cells for breakthrough treatments, such as repairing heart damage. Will you elaborate on what kind of damage adult stem cells help? Could they help if one needs an aortic valve replacement? — A.R. ANSWER: Stem cells […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: You probably have discussed this disease before, but it didn’t apply then. I have been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. I am a 79-year-old woman in good health. How serious is this? Now it affects only my vision. My doctor has prescribed Mestinon. Does myasthenia progress? — F.M. ANSWER: Muscles work only when […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have a yearly checkup with a number of blood tests. All has been well for a number of years, except for my HDL cholesterol. I am a 62-year-old woman, and my HDL has hovered around 39. I watch my diet carefully, exercise daily and have taken and am still taking niacin, […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am 18, just graduated from high school and want to build a better body. If you saw me, you’d say I was scrawny. Everyone does. My father is on the large size and has always been a good athlete. He’s encouraging me, and says I can have half the garage to […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have a niece who participated in one of those “touch the car continuously the longest” contests, where you win a car. She won after almost three days. About a year later, she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease. She was treated for it. Could this grueling contest have precipitated the onset of […]