Diseases & Conditions Archive

To be on the safe side, take steps to avoid straining.

Avoid constipation and treat it with a healthy diet, good exercise habits —and laxatives, if needed.
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Nearly everyone has "occasional irregularity," as the laxative commercials say. But about one in five adults copes with a more chronic form of constipation, which is commonly defined as hard, dry, and small bowel movements that are painful or difficult to pass, and often occur less than three times a week. Now, new research hints of a possible link be-tween constipation and cardiovascular disease.

There are several remedies for this common symptom, which is rarely a sign of serious illness.

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Constipation affects women more than men and is more likely to occur at certain times, including pregnancy and in the days preceding menstruation, and becomes increasingly common after menopause. While constipation can cause discomfort and anxiety, it is usually not a symptom of a serious condition. However, it can often be difficult to determine just why someone is constipated.

Constipation isn't a simple problem. It is characterized by fewer than three bowel movements a week, hard dry stools, straining to move one's bowels, and a sense of an incomplete evacuation. "It also has many causes," says Dr. Kyle Staller, a gastroenterologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. He notes the factors that cause symptoms can vary, depending on whether the condition is sporadic (occurring occasionally) or chronic (persisting for months or years).

On call

Q. Are there any specific kinds of vitamins or nutrients I can take that will prevent my glaucoma from worsening?

A. There have been no convincing studies that show that vitamin intake or dietary supplements can treat glaucoma once it is diagnosed.

Departures from the familiar yellow color of urine are often harmless but should be discussed with a doctor.

Most of the time, urine is a pale-yellow color because it contains urochrome, one of the substances produced when hemoglobin gets broken down. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that sticks to oxygen so it can be ferried around the body.

Occasionally, though, urine turns a very different color. Men may notice the change as their urine enters the toilet bowl or urinal. Women may be more likely to observe it after wiping. Seeing red or orange instead of the usual yellow can be alarming, especially if there are also symptoms like a burning sensation or pain with urination. The alarm may be justified: an abnormal urine color can be an early sign of a serious medical condition. To be on the safe side, it should be discussed with a doctor or another clinician.

Q. My daughter, who just moved to Atlanta with her husband, is pregnant. I'm worried that she will be exposed to Zika virus once mosquito season gears up. What can she do to minimize the risk that her baby will have microcephaly?

A. You can relax. Although the mosquito that transmits Zika virus, Aedes aegypti, is occasionally found in the southeastern United States, so far, there has been no mosquito-borne Zika transmission in the United States. However, your daughter may want to check the website of the CDC (www.cdc.gov) for updates, especially if she or her husband expects to travel to Latin America or the Caribbean. There have been reports that, rarely, Zika can be transmitted sexually from men to women. Therefore, men should use condoms if they have been exposed to the virus and their partner is pregnant. And since Atlanta has quite a few types of mosquitoes, she may want to know that insect repellents containing ingredients such as DEET, picaridin, and IR3535 are safe to use during pregnancy.

New guidelines to reduce added sodium in food are good news for everyone—not just people with high blood pressure.

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If you’re like most people, chances are you eat far more than the recommended amount of sodium, one of the main components of salt. But cutting back may be a little easier in the future, thanks to the FDA’s recent proposed guidelines to scale down sodium levels in processed and restaurant food.

Health experts consider the move a long-awaited step in the right direction. Strong evidence from more than 100 clinical trials shows that lowering dietary sodium also lowers blood pressure. High blood pressure (hypertension), which affects one in three American adults, is a key culprit in cardiovascular disease.