A Multivitamin a Day Really Will Keep the Doctor Away
Take Your multi
I ask every patient who comes to see me if they take a multivitamin every day. Some people look me straight in the eye and say no, others look at the floor and mumble something that sounds like "sometimes." But a big handful of my patients are sticklers, and take a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement every day...and they're the ones I see the least.
That doesn't surprise me: Plenty of studies have shown that taking vitamin pills every day can cut down on infections, especially for older folks. One of the latest took a look at all the results from eight studies and put them all together. These researchers found out that people over 65 who take their multivitamin and mineral supplements every day spend about 17.5 fewer days throughout the year being sick -- that's more than two weeks!
Now, not every study had the exact same results, and we don't always know which brand of vitamins were used. But it looks like a multivitamin and mineral supplement a day really will keep the doctor away. Talk to your doctor about the best brand for you, and start taking them every day. Then when he asks you about it during your physical, you won't have to look at the floor and mumble.
But while vitamin pills fall squarely in the "good" column, other kinds of pills don't belong there. There are lots of medicines that may do as much harm as good, and you need to think twice before taking them. Keep reading to learn about one drug you should definitely use with a healthy dose of caution...
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Migraine Medicine Messes with Memory
Topamax is gaining ground as one of the more popular migraine-preventing pills. It's no surprise -- most people who've had even one migraine tell me they'll do just about anything to keep it from coming back. But it turns out that Topamax may be doing more than blocking headaches, it could be messing with your brain power as well.
Topamax is the brand name for topiramate, a drug that was created to treat epilepsy. Somewhere along the way, some doctors realized it could prevent migraines, too. Sounds great, but a few years ago researchers found out that topiramate caused some major declines in brain function after just two weeks of use. This study looked at two other epilepsy drugs also, but neither of them brought on such big effects. Some of the known side effects of topiramate include slow thinking, poor concentration, memory problems, confusion, and speech problems (mainly trying to come up with the right word).
If you get a lot of migraines and your doctor thinks Topamax may do the trick, proceed with caution. This is one drug where starting low and going slow is especially important.
If avoiding serious side effects is just as important to you as preventing migraines, you may be interested in trying natural remedies. Some of these can work really well, and others just seem to. Keep reading to learn about an alternative migraine treatment that may help in a different way than we thought.
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The Acupuncture Effect
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese healing art, used for thousands of years to treat hundreds of ailments. Now, here in America, it's being used by a lot of folks to prevent migraine attacks. Turns out that it may not be the treatment itself that's helping those people stay migraine-free as much as the belief that it will work.
A German study of 302 migraine sufferers found that fake acupuncture worked just as well as the real thing...and both of those worked better than nothing when it came to helping with the headaches. So whether acupuncture itself really works or the idea that it will work gives it an edge, the patients in either acupuncture group (real or fake) walked away feeling better.
Until next time,
Dr. Alan Inglis
House Calls
