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Ongoing tinnitus affects an estimated 15% of the population in the United States.

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Ask the Doctors: Ringing in the ear has no easy solutions

Tinnitus is not a condition in itself but a symptom of some other underlying problem.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Potential effects of statins include muscle pain, headache, brain fog and fatigue. But recent research has also linked statins to an increased risk of developing insulin resistance.

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Ask the Doctors: Weigh benefits of statins against possible rise in glucose level

Research has found that statins cause elevated blood sugar levels in about 9% of people using the drugs.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

A woman sneezing. Allergies are one thing that can cause rhinitis.

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Ask the Doctors: Chronic stuffiness could be rhinitis

Besides congestion, symptoms include sneezing, nasal itching, reduced sense of smell and a runny nose.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

To slow cartilage loss, you want to reduce stress on the joint. That means limiting repetitive and high-impact activities.

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Ask the Doctors: Cartilage loss increases joint friction

Cartilage can also sustain physical injury. Twisting a joint can result in damage. So can the force and impact common in sports.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

A man sweating. Excessive sweating with no clear cause is called primary hyperhidrosis.

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Ask the Doctors: Botox injections one way to treat excessive sweating

Hyperhidrosis is excessive perspiration that isn’t associated with exercise, temperature or other typical triggers.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Depending on the type of fracture to a person’s arm, it can require the physician to reposition, or set, the broken ends of the bone.

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Ask the Doctors: Severity of broken bone determines whether surgery is needed

For a broken bone to heal properly, it must be appropriately aligned. This can require the doctor to reposition the broken ends of the bone.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

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Ask the Doctors: Increased sugar intake might trigger rheumatoid arthritis flareup

Studies have linked added sugar in the diet to an increased risk of chronic, low-grade inflammation.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Vitamin D can be found in foods such as fatty fish, egg yolks and vegetables, as well as over-the-counter supplements.

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Ask the Doctors: Older adults at risk of vitamin D deficiency

Research shows the vitamin also has an anti-inflammatory effect, helps fight infection and can reduce cancer cell growth in some situations.

By Dr. Elizabeth Ko and Dr. Eve Glazier

A wealth of research continues to find that living with a companion animal is associated with a wide range of health benefits.

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Ask the Doctors: Owning a companion animal helps with cognition in older adults

The pet owners in a recent study tended to have lower body-fat percentages, better blood pressure and a lower incidence of diabetes than those without pets.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

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Ask the Doctors: Study links onset of IBS to stress

IBS is seen in women more often than in men, and it typically arises in people under 50.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which sensory input gets cross-wired in the brain. Information that would ordinarily be interpreted by a single sense spills over and stimulates another unrelated sense.

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Ask the Doctors: People with synesthesia might hear colors or taste words

For some with the condition, sounds activate the brain’s vision centers. For others, colors can have flavor, flavors can evoke a shape, reading can elicit aromas.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, or RA include stiffness, swelling and tenderness or pain in the joints, often on both sides of the body.

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Ask the Doctors: Rheumatoid arthritis patients can have higher risk of mild cognitive impairment

Symptoms include stiffness, swelling and tenderness or pain in the joints, often on both sides of the body.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

One recent study found that patients who used VR headsets needed markedly less sedation prior to surgery than the control group.

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Ask the Doctors: Virtual reality headsets might be effective add-on for anesthesia

This is being explored in conjunction with what’s known as regional anesthesia, in which the surgical patients is sedated but remains conscious.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Numerous studies have shown that adding a creatine supplement to the daily diet can enhance an individual’s natural store of the compound. This can lead to modest, but still measurable, improvements to both athletic performance and endurance when engaged in high-intensity exercise.

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Ask the Doctors: Creatine supplement can be beneficial for young, healthy weightlifters

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that our bodies use to help power the skeletal muscles.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

More study, with more patients and ongoing follow-up, are needed for CAR T-cell therapy to be effectively evaluated as a potential treatment for lupus.

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Ask the Doctors: Lupus might one day be treatable using CAR T-cell therapy, study hints

Unlike traditional treatments, which can only ease the effects of the disease, CAR T-cell therapy hints at a path to remission, though that’s based on a very small study.

By Dr. Elizabeth Ko and Dr. Eve Glazier

Working with weights helps maintain and strengthen your muscles. Staying strong plays a key role in maintaining agility and balance and helps protect against falls.

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Ask the Doctors: Weight training can help keep down body fat percentage

Perhaps no other exercise will help build muscle mass as effectively as weight-training. Working with weights will also help maintain and strengthen your muscles.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

When gallstones block the bile ducts, it can cause a gallbladder attack. Symptoms include sudden and ongoing pain in the upper right abdomen or sometimes in the central abdomen, just below the breastbone.

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Ask the Doctors: Gall stones — what causes them, when you need to do something

The most common cause is an overabundance of cholesterol, with a corresponding deficit of bile salts.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

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Ask the Doctors: GERD is more than just heartburn

Though it’s often referred to simply as acid reflux, GERD is more severe.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

A plate of ultra-processed foods — junk food. These types of foods are formulated to tease our palates with a blend of sweet, salty and fatty flavors that keep us reaching for more and also prevent us from feeling completely satisfied.

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Ask the Doctors: Junk food is engineered to taste good, not satisfy

Ultra-processed foods are formulated with a blend of sweet, salty and fatty flavors that keep us reaching for more and also prevent us from feeling completely satisfied.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Childhood pets are an early source of exposure to a range of harmless microbes as well as to potential allergens. Researchers are learning that via the gut microbiome, such exposure might have a positive effect on some children’s immune systems.

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Ask the Doctors: Can a pet dog in childhood protect against developing schizophrenia later in life?

Researchers were surprised to find a statistically significant connection between having a dog in early childhood and a decrease in the risk of developing schizophrenia.

By Dr. Elizabeth Ko and Dr. Eve Glazier

This photo shows a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 bivalent vaccine.

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Ask the Doctors: Omicron variant COVID-19 boosters are now recommended for all

More than 90% of new COVID9 cases nationwide are being caused by infection with the omicron variant. So it’s a relief that there’s a tool to fight that.

By Dr. Elizabeth Ko and Dr. Eve Glazier

Washing your hands thorougly with plenty of soap and warm water — especially after using the rest room, changing a baby’s diaper or handling raw meats and poultry — is one way to help avoid E. coli infections.

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Ask the Doctors: Handwashing, proper cooking, handling of food help avoid E. coli infection

Thoroughly washing produce before preparing and serving food is a good routine to get used to. You should also always cook meats to their recommended internal temperature.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

With no added sugars and no calories, carbonated water has become a mainstay of American life.

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Ask the Doctors: Study linked drinking carbonated water, weight gain

It suggested the carbon dioxide that gives fizzy water its effervescence has an effect on body chemistry that can lead to overeating.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

A continuous glucose monitor, also known as a CGM, is a wearable medical device that allows someone to track their blood-sugar levels in real time.

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Ask the Doctors: CGM a useful tool for tracking blood glucose in real time

With multiple data points, a continuous glucose monitor offers a more complete picture of how your body manages blood sugar but hasn’t replaced finger sticks.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Craving junk food is not uncommon when you’re sleep-deprived.

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Ask the Doctors: Junk food cravings are tied to hormones, circadian cycle

Research has linked sleep and our endocrine system, and the connection plays out with two hunger hormones in particular: ghrelin and leptin.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Saliva is stocked with an array of antimicrobial and antifungal compounds.

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Ask the Doctors: Saliva a key defense against toxins, microorganisms

Research has found that tiny sugar molecules in saliva, known as glycans, play an important role in keeping a fungus present in the mouth from becoming a health problem.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

Healthful fats — such as those found in salmon, nuts, legumes, avocados and a variety of vegetable oils — have beneficial effects on blood pressure and have been shown to support gut health.

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Ask the Doctors: Healthy fats have many benefits. How to include them in your diet.

They’re found in plant-based foods like walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, soybeans, avocados and olives, in vegetable oils like olive oil and in fatty fish.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

The benefits of screening for colon cancer with a colonoscopy outweigh the risk of an IBS flareup.

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Ask the Doctors: Benefits of colonoscopy outweigh risk of a possible IBS flareup

A colonoscopy can identify precancerous polyps, which can be removed. And colorectal cancers found early are highly treatable.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

To help make a home safer, clear floors of clutter such as cords someone might trip over.

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Ask the Doctors: For older adults, fall-proofing a home can help prevent injuries

Every year, 36 million adults over 65 suffer a fall in the United States, with more than three million ending up in an emergency room, over 800,000 needing hospitalization and 32,000 dying.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko

In one study, coffee drinkers between 65 and 70 took 33% longer to metabolize caffeine than did younger participants.

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Ask the Doctors: Caffeine sensitivity grows as people age

Research shows that older adults metabolize caffeine more slowly than younger people.

By Dr. Eve Glazier and Dr. Elizabeth Ko