No “home run” here. This medication is minimally effective. I think that there would be an infinite amount of controversy and abuse concerns if this drug was actually significantly efficacious in increasing the libido of women. I think that there are few concerns regrding this matter because this drug just doesn’t pack that much clout.
Now this I find exciting: A new drug which inhibits the accumulation of cholesterol in our body. It plummets our serum blood fats (even while on maximum doses of the traditional cholesterol lowering drugs) and consequently dramatically lowers the incidence of stroke and heart attacks.
Three different pharmaceutical companies are going to come out with similar versions of the agent. It will have to be given subcutaneously (by injection) but only once or twice a month. If I was a young patient with known atherosclerosis and already had a bypass, angioplasty or stroke, I would be first in line to get this treatment. It will be very expensive and the insurance companies are trying to figure out which type of patient it will be a covered benefit.
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Fad diets do indeed get a bad rap. In fact, I feel that what they really do is help "jump start" you on the way to a healthier diet. Fad diets are like diving into the pool before you start to swim. Once you get into the water, it is easier to start your strokes. A fad diet gets us off our usual consumption of excessive foods and initiates a different eating routine. I vote yes to any and all changes from what has gotten us overweight.
If drinking protein drinks and eating fruits and vegetables for a couple of weeks is going to jump start your motivation to overhaul your eating regimen, then go for it.
I have been preaching this to my family for years. There are great benefits from going to bed early and arising early. You tend to sleep more deeply and for sure you actually get more total hours of restorative sleep without the interruption of that obnoxious alarm. Upon awakening (often when the "non converts" are still sleeping), there is wonderful quiet time to read and have a leisurely breakfast.
Recently, reader Bob asked me about my habit of waking at 4:30 a.m. each day, and asked me to write about the health benefits of rising early, which I thought was an excellent question. Unfortunately, there are none, that I know of.
However, there are a ton of other great benefits.
Oh, our aching back.... The old body isn't what it used to be. The answer to why our back hurts lies in our wall mirror: our sagging middle. With age, abdominal muscles atrophy and hence don't provide the support that they used to. Our back muscles get overwhelmed by trying to compensate. As we age, we need to fight back!
Read moreThe ball is in your court. Weight loss and sodium restriction are the backbone of nonpharmacologic therapies to treat high blood pressures. Medications can indeed be avoided but not without lifestyle changes. Some new alternative approaches to hypertension might have a place in our armamentarium as well.
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Yup…. Our old knees ache. The most effective way to relieve our pain when “push comes to shove” are injections of hyaluronic acid or corticosteroids. This requires having a needle inserted into our knee joint and being injected with one of these substances. The good news is that knee injections often are able to relieve our pain for a significant period of time. The bad news is: who wants to be injected?
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Sign me up! It looks like moderate consumption of alcohol might actually be good for you. The idea that moderate drinking protects against cardiovascular disease makes sense biologically and scientifically. Moderate amounts of alcohol raise levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good” cholesterol), and higher HDL levels are associated with greater protection against heart disease.
Read moreThe bottom line here is you can be thin and blubbery. Indeed, diet and aerobic exercise is the best pathway to be thin. For sure you lose more weight with a careful diet and aerobic exercise over diet and weight training. However, for trimming abdominal fat, that ghastly collection of lipids by our belly, weight lifting is more effective in burning the middle away.
Read moreAll day in the office, I hear the excuse of “being unable to get to the gym” as the reason for an inadvertent weight gain. Nonsense! It is all in the intake. Biking for 40 minutes burns 230 calories. That isn’t even a bagel with cream cheese. When you are gaining weight, you have to reassess your intake. When you want to drop weight, you have to dramatically reduce your intake. Indeed, it is just that simple.
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