Your Health Information

Q: My father had a heart attack yesterday. While he was at home he collapsed and luckily I am trained in CPR, and started immediately. We called the EMT's who brought him to the hospital and he had an emergency angioplasty. Today he looks pretty good. I am writing you today for 2 reasons. One, I want everyone to understand that they should learn CPR, you never know when you will use it, even for a family member like me. Second, I have a question. They cooled my father in

Q:  My father is 81 and was just diagnosed with prostate cancer.  His doctor is telling him that he shouldn't do anything at all and just watch to see if the cancer progresses.  He is in very good shape for his age, so I think he should be more aggressive.  I researched on the internet and there seems to be a number of options, some don't even seem so invasive.  What do you think?

A:  You are correct, there are many treatment options for prostate cancer.  These include:  surgery to remove the prostate cancer, radiation therapy,

Q:  I am pregnant, and I went to the salon and they told me not to color my hair when I'm pregnant.  I am turning grey and it does not look good. Are they correct? HELP!

A:  While many women choose to avoid any possible toxins during pregnancy, and some are very well proven that you must avoid, like alcohol, smoking, and many medications, some of the wives tales are not as clear.  When you review the literature, there is no clear association between coloring your hair and birth defects, so we will leave it to you to make the decision.

To learn

Q: I just moved to Vermont from Miami and I,myself, am having trouble getting used to this cold winter, so I have been staying inside a lot.  My concern is with my 3 kids; they are loving the snow.  On the days they have school, I don't worry too much as I know they are inside for most of the day. But, it looks like we may have more snow days coming up, so they will be home while I am at work, so I worry about them staying out all day.

What should I have them look for to

Q:  My husband had a heart attack the other night.  He is only 44, and is very healthy.  He does cross fit and eats a healthy diet.  But after dinner the other night, I saw him holding his chest, and he said he felt like he was going to throw up.  He thought it was heartburn.  When I looked at him, I saw he was a little sweaty.  We called a friend of ours, who is a doctor, who told us to call 911, and not drive ourselves to the hospital.  Luckily, they said we caught it early, but