The phone rang at 5 a.m. on a Sunday, but I somehow incorporated it into a dream and didn’t wake up. It was my 84-year-old mother on the other side of the country, leaving a message that she’d probably had a stroke and was about to be put into an ambulance and taken to the [...]
Q: I’ve been reading that REM sleep helps with memory and erases stress from that day. As a college student I really need a good memory and have a lot of stress, but there’s not much info about what increases or decreases REM sleep. Do you have any suggestions? A: REM sleep, a form of [...]
Q: I was wondering what the steps are for the saliva testing for progesterone and estrogen. I experienced a miscarriage 3 days after taking a home pregnancy test about 4 months ago. I have concerns about my progesterone levels after ovulation. My questions are how soon after the start of menstruation do you test? I [...]
Q: My Dad is 86 years old and is starting to get pretty rickety. He has trouble getting up out of chairs and his legs are weak. I suggested he take some testosterone but he wants nothing to do with it (he’s getting cranky too). I love my father and hate to see him declining [...]
In the early 1900s, doctors often considered depression to be a symptom of low thyroid levels. We now understand that depression is about more than low thyroid, but still, they were onto something. Today many doctors are again turning to thyroid medication for their patients with depression. The long list of symptoms that can be [...]
Q: My husband and I have both recently retired and we’re trying to get our sex life going again, but I am terribly sensitive and dry “down there.” I’ve tried some lubricants but it still hurts. There’s a history of breast cancer in my family so I want to be careful about hormones and was [...]
Q: I utilize progesterone therapy in my chiropractic/acupuncture practice but cannot find information about the use of it postnatal. I have a patient who had great success with eliminating fibroids with progesterone use and quit mid-pregnancy, which allowed the fibroids to return. I want to start her on the therapy again, but want to confirm [...]
Dr. Jen’s Power Plan to Fire Up Your Libido by Jennifer Landa, M.D. and Virginia Hopkins Just in time for Valentine’s Day, my latest book has hit the shelves. Co-authored with Jennifer Landa, M.D., The Sex Drive Solution for Women: Dr. Jen’s Power Plan to Fire Up Your Libido is a no-nonsense, information-packed guide for [...]
It’s well-established that in overweight people, too much salt in the diet significantly raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. However, a study (O’Donnell et al) published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), using urine tests of nearly 30,000 people, reports that too little salt, below 3.0 g per day, also [...]
If you’re over the age of 65, the drug most likely to send you to the emergency room is the blood thinner Coumadin (warfarin). According to research done by the Centers for Disease Control and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Coumadin is responsible for 33 percent of emergency room visits among older [...]
