My Health Weblog

Patient: been taking 50 mg,of zoloft for 2 years for depression,stop taking the meds 3 days ago.now experiencing some headaches,light headiness.,my doctor never put me on a wean off process,any suggestions to speed up this process of recovery?

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Gender: Male
Age: 52

Doctor: It is strange that your doctor did not taper you off of the medications. Coming off of SSRIs fast like this can lead to withdrawal symptoms – ex upset stomach, headaches, anxiety, etc. I would suggest to consult with the prescribing physician and definitely report your symptoms.

Here is a link to a Traditional Chinese medicine interpretation of the process (yet, I would stick with the Western view on this one-hence the need to taper off of the medication appropriately and monitoring by a physician)
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/ssri.htm

Patient: I guess i need a new doctor,i have called the md,a couple of times,as has the pharmacy,to renew,the meds. No response.already 4 days without the zoloft,and my question is,we have talked about me discontinuing these.if this is ..Continue reading..

Patient: What are the withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking diazepam

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Age: 67

Doctor:Hi,
Withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, tremors, shaking, diarrhea, flu-like feelings, panic attacks, paranois, headaches, sweating, seizure activity, etc. This drug effects people differently and it can also depend on how long you have bee taking it.

Hope this helps.

Patient: I am a teacher and one of my students was diagonised with swine flu. She recently returned back to school today and I had close contact with her today now I have a head ache and feel hot does t his mean that I now have it I also feel like I wnt to throw up

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Age: 31; Female, New York
Already Tried: Drinking water and eating I also an breast feeding mom should I breast feed tonight my child is 10 months what should I take

Doctor: Hello,
Id like to help you with this but I need more information. How many days was she absent? You said she recently returned to school…how many days has she been there prior to you having this headache?

How old is she?

And what are you feeling besides a headache and hot…do you have any fever?

Please check and tell me what your temperature is.
Thanks for clarifying,
Sincerely,
Dr. james

Patient: It is an after school dance class and she was absent about two week if you count weekends I would say about 14 days. Today is the second day she is back and today is the day I felt the headake I was with her for two hours and then I started feeling th hot about an hour after I was with her. She is 11 years old and I am 31 year old I feel like I am going to th row up at any minute. I am very concerned since I have an 10 month old in the house and it is coming up for the time I breast feed. Should I do that I just took two teaspoons of therau flu my temp is 98.5 ..Continue reading..

Patient: I am a registered nurse who holds a BA in Community Health from CUNY NYC, and a BS in Nursing from Columbia U. in NYC in 1989. I graduated with honors from Columbia. Since that time I have not worked, as I cared for my family. During my time at home, I have done significant and important charity work and have been on the board of a nurses PAC and other organizations. At this point I would like to enter the work force. Any ideas on what a “resume” should look like for me to use in applying for work that is not in bedside nursing?

Doctor: Hi there

What type of job are you looking to attain? (what field) or do you know yet?

Patient: I think that I would like to go into occupational health or some other areas where I would be treating basically well people who are having a problem related to something. Also, I would consider teaching health education in some capacity. I might want to begin part-time if that were possible, but ..Continue reading..

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Patient: I am 36 years old and 17 weeks PP. This is my first and only child. I breastfed for the first 3 weeks only. I have not felt “well” since the birth. I was dx with PPD and PPA(health anxiety) at 4 weeks PP but have been going to therapy. It is getting better everyday. I have not yet had my period and am wondering what the normal time after birth is to have my period. Before I had her I was dx as being “pre-menopausal”. (My mom was done with menopause at age 40, as was my sister) My periods would fluctuate between 19 days and 46 days. Now I feel like I have PMS all the time. My face will get flush and feel warm for an entire day and then be gone the next…I have other weird pre meno symptoms as well. Is it possible that the birth kicked me in to menopause? Or is there a potential problem that my period as not yet started? Any suggestions or help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Gender: Female
Age: 36

Doctor: Any other medical problems, what medications are you taking, any surgeries, did you have a lot of bleeding when you delivered your baby?

Patient: No surgeries, no regular medications ( I was on Lexapro for 4 weeks but it made me worse so I am dealing with the PPD through CBT and support groups) I have been off the lexapro for about 6 weeks. I occassionally take .125 of xanax as needed. About 1 or 2 times a month. I feel like I could take it more…but I hate medications so I just tough it out. I take a multi vitamin and magnesium supplement as well as cranberry tablets and a daily probiotic.

I did not have a lot of bleeding…I bled for about 4 weeks…but nothing major. The delivery was very fast. But very painful. No epidural…she was sunnyside up and came out arms first…I did tear. My doctor thought I might be slightly traumatized by the painful birth which could have lead to the anxiety….but I don’t know about that. I don’t feel traumatized.

I did have occassional mild anxiety prior the pregnancy…in fact that was what sent me to the doctor…who did the 30 day saliva testing and ..Continue reading..

Patient: Helo my name is Lisa, I was pregnant ( I believe) I did two tests in diferent days, both were positive, and my body change a lot,my breast grew as twice the normal size, as pregnant woman. I Start to feel bad yesterday and, my menstruation started, and today just to make sure I did another pregancie test, and was negative. But my husband and I was so sure I was pregnant, and I a mom already, I know the diference. How that is possible?

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Gender: Female
Age: 32
Already Tried: I have a son 7 years old, I was pregnant last year and I lost on 5/6 weeks of pregnancy. Now I’m trying to conceive again, thought I was pregnant, I did 2 tests and different days and was positive, and my body change my breast grew twice of the normal size. 4 days ago I started feel bad, and yesterday my menstruation started. Today I did another pregnancy test and was negative, how that is possible?

Thanks

Doctor: Please let me know when your last period was prior to yesterday.

Patient: The last period was 10/06/2009. Than started yesterday again.

Doctor: That is highly possible. Early miscarriages are very common. More than we know. Most will just assume their period was late when in fact it was an early miscarriage. If you desire, you can use an ovulation detection kit so that you will know when is the best time for intercourse. Follow the instructions on ..Continue reading..

Patient: gold crown fell off. there is no pain or sensitivty to cold. money is a big issue.can i just not do anything about it?

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Gender: Female

Age: 68

Already Tried: nothing

Doctor: Hi,

thanks for posting your question on Health.is.edu

You need to get your gold crown cemented again, please visit a dentist and get it cemented.

pain and sensitivity may not be really relevant

when a crown is prepared the dentist shapes the tooth, in the shaping process the enamel has to be removed.

If you stay without the crown, you are likely to get decay of your tooth and also food will get stuck and neighbouring teeth can also get decay

the cementation of a crown usually costs about 100 dollars

you should get it done

till you get the cementation done from the dentist you can use this cheap product at walmart for a week or 2

do not use this temporary cement for too long, it does not prevent leakage of food

a very important aspect of a crown is to keep the marginal seal intact

Best wishes

Dr Craig

Patient: Question for a dentist please..I have just had a back tooth crowned with a precious metal and porcelain crown but am concerned on two counts..the crown I have already had in the past was all ceramic as I am allergic to most metals (the only exception I know of is gold and silver, so I am unsure if my gum is going to go sore and inflamed with the palladium and gold crown). I requested ceramic crown but dentist overlooked my request & gave me this with metal. He maintains that an all ceramic crown would not be strong enough for a back tooth, but I have one already that has been fine for 10 + years. He suggested I ’see how it goes’ with the crown he had made, and I feel he just wanted me to not waste his crown!! Still so far so good, it is not inflamed and have had it 5 days-but on the inner edge there is a gap between the gum line and the start of the porcelain crown, while the outer edge fits flush to the gumline. Food collects in this gap. Do I need this filled or replaced maybe?

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Gender: Female
Age: 53
Already Tried: I am cleaning the gap between gum and start of crown edge very well with water pick and copious regular brushing and rising with a mouthwash. However my mouth felt *cleaner* when I had the lost filling and the original tooth than it does with the crown. It is also slightly high on the bite so my teeth don’t sit in line..the botton row crown hits the top teeth. Will it ‘bed down’ at all as time passes? If I have to have it replaced, should my dentist replace it at his cost or would I have to pay again (I paid £370 as a National Health patient!) I did ask my dentist about the gap on a phonecall and he said it would be fine, that I could just feel a ‘ledge’ and it wasn’t an actual gap where food could reach under the crown..should I trust this remark? I feel he should take a look at it? If so, how soon? Could it get infected or will it be Ok till my next filling appointment in 3 weeks? I am rather concerned as I already had an apisectomy on another crown 8 yrs ago and then months into years of intermittent antibiotics as the infection went into the sinus..then I ended up having the crown and root out anyway, so now have a gap (awaiting a bridge or implant but he wont do it yet).Also I wanted some veneers and he said ‘my type of teeth weren’t suitable for veneers’..is there such a thing as unsuitable teeth? They are sound but crooked in places? I now have seen these very fine veneers (thin as contact lenses) that can be had so maybe I could have those!Thanks in advance!

Doctor: thanks for posting your question on Health.is.edu ,

there is absoulutely no allergy problem with the high noble gold ceramic crown,

the metals are non allergic

if there is a little problem at the inner margin, the most common problem is in adequate brushing and flossing

I suggest you brush and ..Continue reading..

Patient: I have a lump on the gum, under a tooth that had a root canal done,with a gold crown, about 25 years ago. Could this be an abcess? They lymph nodes are not swollen

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Gender: Female
Age: 70
Already Tried: just brushing and flossing

Doctor: hi,
thanks for posting your question on Health.is.edu.

there is a high possibility of this lump being an abcess.

you will need a   antibiotics such as amoxycillin and then you will need an x ray

the x ray will determine if you have a

1) gum abcess
2)root abcess

the treatment for both varies is

please DO NOT apply heat, this tends to spread the infection around the face.

please feel free to ask any follow up question you have

Sincerely

Dr. Craig