DEAR DR. ROACH: I am 81 now and had a thyroidectomy in 2017. My whole thyroid gland was removed. I also had a little bit of cancer. I have started to get hot flashes again. I had originally been on thyroid medicine before and after the surgery. Then I was put on levothyroxine and decided […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: We just learned that a 30-year-old woman who was six weeks pregnant with twins had a heart attack during a spin class and is now lying in a coma in the hospital. The woman was then diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. Other than insurance companies balking at paying for imaging, is […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 70-year-old woman who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia decades ago. I suffered before my diagnosis and have suffered since with every single symptom that defines this disease. It is a disease without obvious signs; therefore, we who suffer are seen as whiners and hypochondriacs. The flare-ups come in waves and […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m concerned about my blood pressure. I take readings twice a day, in the a.m. and p.m. I find that when I first take my blood pressure, it is high. Then, after I wait 5-10 minutes and retake it, it is sometimes 10 points lower in the second reading. If I am […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m 77 and have an enlarged prostate. My PSA score has been between 5.2 and 5.9 ng/mL for years. Recently, my internist had me take a PSA test, and it was 9.5 ng/mL. Two weeks later, my urologist did another test, and it was 5.7 ng/mL. The two tests were done by […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Recently, I was rejected from donating plasma (not blood), since my iron that day was 57 mcmol/L and the maximum allowable was 54 mcmol/L. I am rescheduled to get retested in a few days. The technician said to eat beans and similar foods to lower my iron levels. I checked my own […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 73-year-old man. I exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet and have not eaten beef or pork in over 40 years. In spite of all of this, I was diagnosed in January 2022 with a 90% blockage of the left anterior descending artery and had a stent put in. I […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m 58 years old and was diagnosed with high blood pressure back in 2021. Since then, I’ve been prescribed atenolol, which slows down my heart rate. I was later prescribed 10 mg of amlodipine, which I’m told relaxes and dilates my blood vessels. I wouldn’t say it’s severe, but I never experienced […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 79-year-old healthy female. My doctor advised me to have a CT scan due to the bump above my head and the fact that I might have a brain bleed. Since I had quite a few regular X-rays in the past, I really did not want to do a brain scan. […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband is 80 years old and a survivor of liver cancer after receiving four years of immunotherapy. On a recent follow-up visit to his oncologist, the doctor told him that he has a heart murmur. He takes medication for his thyroid and adrenal glands. Could you please explain what a heart […]