DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 71-year-old healthy female who has struggled with my weight all my life. In the ’90s, I thought I had finally found the solution in fen-phen. It was like a miracle! It took all the nagging thoughts of food out of my brain. My question is, with all the drug ads […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an 86 year old woman in good health, and I run and walk regularly. I was having intense pain in the area of my right shoulder as well as down my arm on and off. I sent a note to my doctor and said I thought I had bursitis. He […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 76-year-old woman in good health, although I am overweight. I was recently diagnosed with CREST syndrome. I’m finding it difficult to learn more about this autoimmune disease. Very little seems to be known. I am particularly interested in learning how this will affect my lifestyle. I am currently in […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 70-year-old woman. I have asked my doctor for genetic cancer screening and was told I didn’t need it unless I had symptoms. I had a hysterectomy, but I still have my ovaries. My maternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer. My mother had an ovarian cyst removed when she was […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am 79. Two recent tests confirmed that my PSA level was 4.6 ng/mL. Previously, my results were never higher than 1.4 ng/mL. Flomax has been a necessity for me for the past 20 years, and my original diagnosis of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) was 30 years ago, at age 49. Out […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Would you please address how to use compression socks? I sit most of the day, so wearing the socks helps my legs to feel less heavy and tired by the end of the day. Are there people who should not wear them? And what about wearing them during exercise? — C.S. ANSWER: […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Do people with pacemakers need to be concerned about wireless devices? — B.L. ANSWER: In most cases, there is very little risk to a pacemaker from wireless devices. However, there are some exceptions, so it is prudent to stay away from some types of devices as much as possible. For instance, anti-theft […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an 81-year-old male who is in generally good health, except that I suffer from heart disease and acid reflux. My heart disease started in 1994 when I had three stents inserted, and I underwent an angioplasty in 1995 to have one of the stent ends opened up. In subsequent years, […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have been advised by my sports medicine doctor to never take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs because they are detrimental to my health. I think this is unfortunate because NSAIDs do actually work to reduce pain. Do you agree with this advice, or is there some way to take them safely? — R.K. […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: You have written about immunocompromised people before, but what about those of us who have immune systems that overreact instead of underperform, such as with Guillain-Barre syndrome? What is the likelihood of this happening again, and what precautions should one take? I didn’t recover completely and fear having the myelin sheath stripped […]