Tag Archives: family physician

Stop your kid from starting smoking

90% of tobacco users start before age 18 (read this: while they still live in your home).  I am a mother of three who feels passionately about my children not using any form of tobacco. As a physician I have … Continue reading

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Good Riddance Day! Emotional baggage be gone!

Today NYC’s Times Square today hosts its fourth annual Good Riddance Day. This event allows individuals to bring paper (bills, love letters, photos, divorce decrees, notes of a least favorite memory) to ceremoniously shred. It is concrete, definitive and visual– … Continue reading

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Mammograms. No big deal. Just get one.

There is no controversy that women aged 50 to 69 need screening mammography.  The question is whether women older and younger benefit. Studies have estimated that mammography detects about 75% of breast cancers in women in their 40s, compared to … Continue reading

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Is the shingles vaccine right for me?

Do you want to avoid a painful rash and long-term nerve pain?  Are you older than 60? The Zostavax vaccine, which decreases the chance of shingles, has been in short supply (and is expected to be through 2011).  Our office … Continue reading

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Do you wheeze?

Do you cough without a cold?  Do you get winded easily?  Hmmm. . . asthma comes to mind. Frequently asthmatics are not adequately controlled.  Symptoms are frequently a wheeze, cough or feeling “tight.”  Some have a cough that they just … Continue reading

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Kids and bladder infections

Can kids get bladder infections? Yes.  1 in 10 girls get a bladder infection before age 16.  Only 3% of boys do.  Boy babies under 6 months are more likely to get a urinary tract infection (UTI) than girls.  After … Continue reading

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Wound care 101–cub scout badge time

I assisted at my son’s Cub Scout meeting and helped dispel some wound care myths.  Lots of questions need answers. . . here is how I address wounds. Allergies? to latex, antibiotics or anesthetics (the medicine to numb a wound)?    I don’t want to … Continue reading

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Menopause

I went to a ‘Menopause The Musical’  a few years ago: utterly hysterical. It may only be funny onstage. I have seen two patients this week in their 40s who have all the symptoms. . . including a little denial. … Continue reading

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When should women have their first pap?

Common question. New guidelines. Let me share. . .ACOG (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology)  released a position statement delaying pap screening in adolescents. A pap is now suggested at age 21 unless the patient has HIV or a weak immune system … Continue reading

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The sore-throat-should-I see-my-doctor quandary. . .

I saw a patient this morning who I diagnosed with viral pharyngitis, not (bacterial) strep throat. She said she felt embarrassed that she came in to see me. I reassured her the importance of coming in to figure out  if she has … Continue reading

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