DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an active 70-year-old female in good health. I have an issue with sleep that is affecting everything in my life, because I am tired most of the time. I started taking Lunesta about 20 years ago. I had teenagers and a stressful job at the time, and just needed some […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 71-year-old woman in generally good health. The only prescription drugs I take are carbamazepine for seizures and ibandronate for osteoporosis. I’ve taken carbamazepine since 1996, after I suffered a second seizure. (I’ve had only two seizures in my life, the first in 1992.) I tended to have low sodium […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I disagree with your recent column about the glucosamine/chondroitin supplements. I have arthritis in my lower back. I am taking this supplement each day, and my lower back pain is completely gone. I can now bend down from the waist. I was very skeptical about this or any other supplement and was […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Recently, I got into a conversation with a group of friends about toxic shock syndrome. One of them claimed it is caused by synthetic menstrual products containing toxic chemicals like bleach, rayon and dioxins. I said that I’d never heard that theory before and that I thought it was because women weren’t […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have a friend with multiple health problems, mostly digestive and throat, who has recently discovered the supplement astaxanthin through his treatment with a nutritionist. He is extremely optimistic that this supplement is his ticket to better health. He said it was developed by a biochemical engineer. As a doctor, would you […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 73-year-old male with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). I pretty much have it under control with medication, but I am still not able to do a whole lot, as I feel shortness of breath easily. But, that is not my main problem! I have a dry mouth from the […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 78-year-old woman who, in my early years, was exposed to many sunny days at the beach. Sunscreen was still a relatively new product in 1954 and not formulated to the standards required to prevent skin cancers the way today’s strong sunscreens are. In those early years, sunblock was not […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an extremely active 79-year-old woman. For at least 10 years, I have had lower back pain. I assumed it was arthritis and ignored it. By June, after an extremely tough exercise class, the intermittent pain became permanent. I called my orthopedic medical practice for an evaluation. The staff took X-rays, […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: No wonder COVID-19 doesn’t go away — people don’t seem to take it seriously anymore. I work with someone who tested positive for COVID, spent one day out of work, and then came back the very next day with “casual” use of a face mask. I work in direct contact with customers […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m 72, and I have had arthritis for three years: two years in both knees, one year in my right hip and the base of my spine. I am 5’3″ and weigh 221 pounds, with a body mass index (BMI) of 39. I lost 23 pounds from January to June. What is […]