| DR. DONOHUE: FOR YOUR GOOD HEALTH: Scoliotic daughter fears pregnancy
Q: I am the mother of an only child. She is 31 and has been married for one year. My daughter is afraid to become pregnant because she believes she'll have difficulty carrying a child due to her spinal curvature. She's also afraid that carrying a baby will make her scoliosis worse. An orthopedic doctor followed her in her teens and didn't suggest treatment since her scoliosis was "borderline." I know she wants to be a mom, and I want to be a grandmom. What do you say? A: Scoliosis is a curving of the spine to one side. The curve can be in the upper back, the lower back or in both upper and lower back. The degree of curvature correlates with the severity of symptoms and with the limits of physical activity. The degree is assessed through X-rays. Your daughter had mild scoliosis as a teenager.
Food Allergies: Rare but Risky
Do you start itching whenever you eat peanuts? Does seafood cause your stomach to churn? Symptoms like these cause millions of Americans to suspect they have a food allergy. But true food allergies affect a relatively small percentage of people: Experts estimate that only 2 percent of adults, and from 2 to 8 percent of children, are truly allergic to certain foods. Food allergy is different from food intolerance, and the term is sometimes used in a vague, all-encompassing way, muddying the waters for people who want to understand what a real food allergy is. "Many people who have a complaint, an illness, or some discomfort attribute it to something they have eaten. Because in this country we eat almost all the time, people tend to draw false associations between food and illness," says Dean Metcalfe, M.D., head of the Mast Cell and Physiology Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
News to use: No CO!
Campers, beware: Many of the portable stoves, heaters and lanterns that make modern-day camping convenient can emit carbon monoxide and pose a safety hazard if used incorrectly. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission suggests following these guidelines to prevent carbon-monoxide poisoning on a camping trip: • Never use portable heaters or lanterns while sleeping in enclosed areas such as tents, campers and other vehicles. • Recognize the symptoms of carbon-monoxide poisoning: headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, sleepiness and confusion. • See a doctor if you or a member of your family develops cold or flu-like symptoms while camping. Carbon-monoxide poisoning, which can be mistaken for a cold or flu, often is detected too late.
|
