Archive for 2000
Christmas
This is the last column of the year. I am writing it on Christmas day. By the time you read this, the Christmas will be over. And like me, you will be sitting and wondering where did the year go. It wasn’t too long ago that we were spending millions of dollars to prepare for the impending disaster in year 2000. We are grateful that no disasters wrecked
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Prostate Cancer
Dear Dr. B: Pierre Trudeau died of prostate cancer. At the age of 58, Preston Manning is diagnosed to have prostate cancer. Can you please tell me something about prostate cancer – especially prevention and early detection? Yours: Mr. Worried. Dear Mr. Worried: Let us start with bad news first.
Exercise and Health
Dear Dr. B: Physical activity clearly benefits cardiovascular health. But people do die suddenly during or immediately after vigorous exertion like jogging or snow shovelling. What can one do to reduce the risk of sudden death during or after vigorous exertion? Yours: Born to Exercise! Dear Born to Exercise:
Impotence (Erectile Dysfunction)
Dear Dr. B: I have erectile dysfunction (impotence) and have been on Viagra (sildenafil) for sometime. Can you tell me more about this drug and is it safe to take Viagra if a person has heart disease? Yours Anxious. Dear Mr. Anxious: About 100 million people worldwide are estimated to be affected by
Animal Bites
“When your best friend bites…” is title of an article in the Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases (CJID). It’s not about human friends who bite but it is about animal friends – dogs and cats. Dogs and cats are very important to millions of Canadians. It is estimated that there are more than
Washing Hands
How many times have we seen people walk out of public washrooms without washing hands? How many times have we seen restaurant servers wipe tables with wet cloth and then take orders without washing hands? Do we know what is going on in the kitchen? How clean are those counters at fast food restaurants
Stroke 2
Are you afraid to stroke? I am! So are millions of people. My dad used to say: better to die of a heart attack than be disabled by a stroke. His wishes were fulfilled when he died peacefully at the age of 80. How many of us will be lucky like him? Stroke, also called cardiovascular accident, is the third
Stroke
Dear Dr. B: What is meant by “brain attack”? Is it something to do with acute stroke? Is there a treatment for acute stroke in Medicine Hat? Yours, Afraid to Stroke (ATS). Dear Mr. ATS: When blood supply to the heart is cut off then it is “heart attack”. When blood supply to the brain is cut off then
Volunteerism
What makes you happy? While you are thinking about it, let me tell you what makes Evelyn Stall happy. Evelyn is one of the very happy persons I have met. From time to time, she drops by my office at the Palliser Health Authority. She wants to know how I am doing. How is my family doing? And then she
Stomach Bugs 2
Mr. Bugged is still worried about the bugs that have been bugging his stomach. As you may remember, the last column was bugged with H. pylori bacterium in response to a question from Mr. Bugged. But Mr. Bugged feels that the column did not completely answer his question. He is not sure if the debugging
