Got a question for us? Drop your tricky, random, wacky or plain confusing health question into the Suggest-O-Matic, leave a comment, or tag your tweets with #wellwire and our team of experts will answer them in this weekly column. Q: More than ever my patients are asking about alternative hormone replacement. Many are concerned about developing reproductive and associated...

Cancer. ITP. Burst appendix. Hit and run. That was 1989, not my greatest year. A life-threatening illness, a rare bleeding disorder, a burst appendix and infection. Then, to add injury to injury, as I was walking across Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, I was hit by a ’57 Chevy. I was 32 and very fit, and I recovered, physically. Meanwhile I was thinking, Why me? Will I...

Courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Radon is an odorless, colorless, tasteless gas formed from the natural breakdown of uranium. The gas is found naturally in certain soils around the United States. It enters buildings through cracks in concrete floors and walls, and especially builds up in basements. Decaying radon produces radioactive particles that...

The media has propelled estrogen-mimicking chemical bisphenol A (BPA) to the forefront of health news. It’s ubiquitous, and it’s likely in your body. The chemical, developed as an estrogen replacement, is commonly used to harden plastics such, most commonly polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. It’s been linked to various cancers, diabetes, heart disease...

We’re trained to feel for lumps or bumps in our breasts because common breast cancers start with a single cell that replicates its way into a ball of palpable concern but did you know that not all breast cancers form a lump? Inflammatory breast cancer is easily confused with a breast infection because it attacks the lymph ducts and causes fluid to back up and turn...

How often do you do examine your own breasts? Monthly? Quarterly? Never? Don’t feel guilty if your answer is never, just read on! The most common answer I hear is actually, “I’m not sure what I’m feeling for anyway,” or, “It’s always lumpy bumpy in there.” Let’s talk breast tissue so you can learn how to distinguish lumps from bumps and know when...

I had an English neighbor who wagged his finger disapprovingly when they first came out with 1 gz cellphones, circa 1997. “Cancer,” he spat. Even cordless phones with a high enough frequency were off limits. What’s the new iPhone, 3 gz? I was watching the news last night, a mainstream channel I can’t remember which, and they had a piece on the dangers...

When it comes to breast cancer women can’t control certain risk factors like their age, genetics, age of first period, and age of menopause onset. Good news ladies: there are just as many things that you can control to reduce your risk of getting breast cancer: Estrogen exposure. Your female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, are very much a part of you being a...

I’m in the US for a few days this week visiting my in-laws and just realized it’s labor day weekend! You know what that means: hot dogs! The problem is that eating a lot of hot dogs can equal cancer of the colon, pancreas and COPD. It’s not the hot dogs themselves of course, it’s the cancer-causing sodium nitrite, a food preserving chemical that...

Getting sun on a regular basis is part of a healthy routine, like getting all of your fruits and veggies, taking your daily multi-vitamin, and flossing! Your body needs the sunlight to make an essential super nutrient that goes by the name of Vitamin D. The bad news is that sunscreen as low as SPF 15 blocks most of the skin’s production of vitamin D. That means going...