Why do I have Chronic Diarrhea?

This is a very good question and is becoming increasingly common. If you have diarrhea for more than four weeks – it is chronic, although many who have suffered will call it chronic after just a day.  The misery of diarrhea felt by patients is equal to the amount of investigation we do to figure out what kind of diarrhea it is.

Besides an infection or inflammation, some people have diarrhea from irritable bowel, while some people suffer from medications.

Some people will not just have diarrhea but actually will have fecal incontinence from inflammation occasionally caused by fecal impaction or chronic constipation.

It's important to know if there is any previous travel to tropical areas.   Doctors will test for celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Type I Diabetes, thyroid disease and iron deficiency anemia,  weight loss, infertility, elevated liver enzymes and chronic fatigue syndrome.

There are a lot of drugs that can cause diarrhea including citrates, magnesium-- containing antacids, anti-arrhythmics, antibiotics, calcitonin on steroidal anti-inflammatory medications stimulant laxatives and cancer medication.

Whatever the cause of your chronic diarrhea, this is a challenge for physicians to figure it out and the best start is to go to the doctor and give them an appropriate history on your diarrhea. Our first goal would be to figure out and categorize the type of diarrhea that you had, and once that is done, the rest is as they say smooth sailing.

Taking care of our Fathers

The week leading up to Father’s day has been celebrated as National Men’s Health Week.  So it is important for this community to focus on the health and well-being of the men and our fathers. 

Men do not see physicians for their annual exam nearly as often as women.  Men are dying of the top causes at higher rates than women.  Men are more likely to be uninsured than women.  Approximately 30,000 men die each year from prostate cancer.

Men need to start checking their testicles at the age of 15, and if they notice lumps they should be seen by a physician asap.  Annual skin exams should be done at 18 years and above.  Men should be seeing a dentist every 6 months.  Eye exams should be done once in the 20s and twice in the 30s to rule out cataracts or glaucoma.

A lot of young men who have families in this wonderful county do not have insurance, which is a great reason to have a hospital district.  The hospital would be able to assist better than current county requirements for indigent care.

At 35, men should have their thyroid checked, diabetic screening should be done on obese and overweight men, and blood pressure readings recorded. 

At 50 years of age, men should get screened for colorectal cancer with a colonoscopy every 5-10 years.  Men with risk factors should be evaluated for osteoporosis at this age as well.  

The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that “due to a lack of awareness, poor health education, and culturally induced behavior patterns in their work and personal lives, men’s health and well-being are deteriorating steadily.”

We need to take care of our men in this community, and the first way is to get them to one of our local GRMC physicians.

Why is Azithromycin causing Heart Attacks?

A recent study done by Ray and colleagues created an uproar among patients because they have been on Azithromycin, aka “Z-pack.”  I would like to reassure everyone about a few points.

The study looked at patients in Tennesse on Medicaid from 1992 to 2006.  This isn’t representative of the national population. 

Next, they found that almost 350,000 scripts were written for Azithromycin.  Out of 350,000 scripts written for a 5 day course, 45 patients had died.  22 of the patients had sudden death from cardiac arrest. 

Compared to auto accidents which numbered 6,420,000 in 2005, in which 42,636 people died, or 1 death every 13 minutes, an antibiotic is pretty safe.  That means it is safer to take an antibiotic than it is to get in your car every day.

Another point is the controls.  I love it when they compare the controls with antibiotic treatment.  Nobody died who weren’t taking antibiotics.  Well, when you are healthy, you probably don’t need antibiotics.  And when you are on antibiotics, you are probably sick.  And if you smoke, have high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and possibly have pneumonia, there is a pretty good chance you could have a heart attack, too.

So rest assured, and do not let the media scare you away from your local doctor.