Getting warm isn’t easy

February 18, 2011 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: My hands and feet are cold winter and summer. My doctor has tested my thyroid a couple of times, but nothing comes of it. I’m 86 years old, had a mild stroke and, before that, a heart attack. My pills are warfarin, simvastatin, atenolol and furosemide. Can you help me get warm?

DEAR READER: Hands and feet become cold to the touch when they fail to receive an adequate supply of oxygenated blood. When a person is exposed to lower temperatures, the small arteries of the arms and legs narrow as a means of shunting heat to the remainder of the body where it is most needed. While the most common reason for this to occur is outdoor exposure or from sitting in a cool room, there may also be an underlying health problem, such as a thyroid condition, Raynaud’s, arterial disease, circulatory inadequacies and more.
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Uncommon condition has many causes

February 15, 2011 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: My 26-year-old son has been diagnosed with homocysteinemia. It seems that physicians don’t know a great deal about this. I know it is a genetic disease that has something to do with amino acids in his blood. The neurologist who confirmed the disease has told us that he has Marfan-like features (my son is 6 feet 7 inches, 160 pounds and has long limbs). He has had an irregular heart rate for many years that fluctuates from 40 into the hundreds. (His cardiologist said a lot of people have this.) His level was 16 at his last blood test. My research states that a normal level is between 3 and 7, but his family doctor (who admits not knowing much about the disease) said 12 could be normal. The neurologist said his count was high.

What is this disease and what complications can it cause? [Read more...]

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Analyzing blood-pressure numbers

July 2, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: My hypertension has been treated for many years with lisinopril 20 miligrams daily and amlodipine 5 milligrams daily. These medications seem to have little effect on my numbers. My systolic readings are in the range of 140 to 165, while my diastolic readings are in the 50s.

I recently came across an article on the topic of isolated systolic hypertension, in which a physician pointed out that this form of hypertension can lead to serious problems — stroke, heart disease, chronic kidney disease and dementia. The doctors and nurses who have taken my blood pressure have universally said that the diastolic reading was not a consideration; however, this report indicated that medications to control systolic hypertension should not be allowed to cause the diastolic pressure to go below 70 mmHg.
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FMD may have caused stroke

June 20, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I am an active 58-year-old female, 5 feet 6 inches and 119 pounds. I had Grave’s disease, for which medication was ineffective, so I was given radioactive iodine, which eliminated my thyroid. I now take Levoxyl as well as full-strength aspirin and a daily multivitamin. My father died at age 57 of a stroke. He also had asthma and high blood pressure. My mother passed away from cancer and had adult-onset diabetes.
Out of the blue, while driving with my husband to our daughter’s house three hours away, I suddenly had split vision. A horizontal black line appeared in the middle of my vision with a picture on top and one on the bottom. It was very disconcerting, and I knew something very bad had happened, although the incidence only lasted about two minutes.
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Farmer’s night sweats a mystery

March 10, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I am an 80-year-old retired farmer. I have night sweats that begin at 10 p.m. and last until 10 a.m. I have to change my pajamas three times a night. This has been going on for three months now. I have been tested by infection, kidney, heart, lung and urology specialists, but everything checks out. I have no fever, diarrhea, vomiting or weight loss, and I continue to have a good appetite. Every blood test that has been taken (for which it seems I have given several pints of blood) is normal.

I did have a malignant tumor on my prostate in 1996. After both were removed and the tissue was tested, I did not have to undergo chemotherapy or radiation. My PSA was 0 for nine years, but it is now reading 1.08. I also had a slight stroke six months before I started having the night sweats. The part of the brain affected was two small spots above the forehead. There were no visible signs of even having a stroke when the event occurred. [Read more...]

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Stroke and heat stroke not the same

February 17, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I would like to know the difference between heat stroke and a massive stroke leading to death.
My friend was out most of the day in 85 F to 90 F heat. He wasn’t sick at all. He went to bed that night and fell on the floor. He couldn’t get up. About a half-hour later, he went into a coma and never came out of it.
I am blaming myself for keeping him outside. He was having a good time, even doing the chicken dance. I am wondering if the heat had anything to do with it. He was 93. [Read more...]

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Birth Control Pills Linked To Blood Clot Formation

March 12, 2009 By

DEAR DR. GOTT:
My 24-year-old granddaughter recently had a stroke due to a clot because of her birth control medication. She got fast treatment and will be okay but now I am concerned about the other young women out there.

I have talked to several members of the medical community who say that this is primarily due to the medication, orthotricyclin. Manufacturers state that five percent of women taking it will develop a blood clot. To me this still means hundreds of thousands of women are at risk.

Please raise awareness about blood clots and birth control.

DEAR READER:
Consider it done.

For many years now, gynecologists and physicians have known about the risk of developing blood clots because of birth control pills. [Read more...]

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Unusual Stroke Due To Vasculitis

March 5, 2009 By

DEAR DR. GOTT:
This is a long story starting in 2001, but I will only tell the last part.

My niece supposedly had a stroke. She then had X-rays that showed she had a small spot of bleeding in her brain. She went to several doctors because she had all kinds of things happening to her like headaches that nothing helped that disappeared, only to be replaced by seizures. She was having trouble walking and her memory was getting worse. Her legs would give out and she would fall. One arm became limp and a host of other things.

All this lasted for two years and was accompanied by numerous hospitalizations. Finally her doctor told her that both carotid arteries were plugged. He said it was caused by plaque. She kept getting worse so her husband changed her doctor and switched hospitals. [Read more...]

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Daily Column

September 3, 2008 By

DEAR DR. GOTT:
I am an 87-year-old female. June 2007 I had a very bad stroke and am now in a rehab facility because my left side is paralyzed. I have Restless Legs Syndrome. Requip no longer works, I get little sleep and it is driving me nuts. A friend told me you had a soap remedy which might help me. I am counting on you!

DEAR READER:
The soap-under-the-sheets remedy was originally sent to me as a cure for night-time leg cramps but since then many RLS sufferers have also found relief using it. It does not work for everyone but it is worth a shot. Simply place a bar of soap under the bottom sheet of your bed near your legs. That is it. Many individuals have also found that if they have a problem while not in bed, putting soap in their socks or rubbing liquid soap directly onto their legs also reduces pain. Let me know if it works. [Read more...]

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Sunday Column

August 5, 2008 By

DEAR DR. GOTT:
Thank you for printing the article “When one’s time has come”. It was like a God-send letter to me; it spoke to me in such a big way. I read this article at the time my aunt had a stroke.

My uncle was 89 and my aunt was 85. They were married 65 years on Valentine’s Day 2007 for which we had a surprise drop in party. They loved it. We had as many family and friends there as possible so they could talk and reminisce with them. It was a very enjoyable time for them to say the least. They talked about it for a long time afterwards.

They have been an inseparable couple throughout their whole lives, working side by side on the farm with no outside help, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They never wanted to be apart from each other. They had a devotion for each other that went beyond words. Both displayed anxiety when the other was not by their side. [Read more...]

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