tingle on side of face. Pulse rate stays about 100-110, even if I manage to keep sugar up. Is it possible I am having heart problems or a side effect of the low sugar. bad pancreas or liver or just old age? I am 43. already quit drinking about six months ago and I do not know what else to say or even try to explain to doctor. please help!

You sure it's not type 2 diabetes? I mean the numbness and tingling thing can be related to diabetes. get tested if you haven't already been so.

Two weeks ago around 6pm I had an episode of multiple symptoms that precipitated very quickly, within about three minutes, without warning. these included feeling very weak, shaking all over, light headed/dizzy,numbnessNumbness and tingling/tingling on fingertips and toes, slight shortness of breathBreath alcohol test
Breath holding spell
Breath odor and chillChills. I felt like passing out, flushed. I figured it was from not eating so I grabbed a burger and it seemed to alleviate the problems. Well, it happened again around the same time of day a few days later. But this time, eating didn't help as much. Eventually the symptoms went away. my colleagues observed that I looked very pale. Since then, I have been experiencing episodes every day in the eveningEvening primrose
Evening primrose oil. I keep a pile of energy bars in the office and gulp one down at the very firstFirst progesterone mc10
First progesterone mc5
First-progesterone vgs 100
First-progesterone vgs 200
First-progesterone vgs 25
First-progesterone vgs 400
First-progesterone vgs 50
First-testosterone
First-testosterone mc hint of weaknessWeakness, shaking, which seems to go away in about ten minutes. if I don't, the symptoms quickly intensify until I am so shaky and weak that I can't remain in a sitting position.
I've had blood/urine test and was told all is ok.
Here's the curious part. Last two days, instead of gulping down an energy bar, I've been taking Vitamin B-12 that dissolves under the tongue. This seems to help alleviate the symptoms as well as the energy bar.
Any thoughts or guesses on this will be gratefully appreciated.
Thank you

MINNEAPOLIS — with a black tweed hat on her bald head and a purple blouse stretched over her big belly, Lisa Peterson Bender leans forward in the clinic chair, the better to see the ultrasound images of her unborn daughter.

Up on the screen, the tiny girl opens her mouth, furls her fingers and kicks her legs in vibrant 3-D as a technician confirms that, for now, all appears well with the baby being carried by a woman who has cancer.

“There’s the toes: You can see all five of them,” says ultrasonographer Carla Knapp, pointing to a small, clearly visible foot as she conducts the exam at the University of Minnesota’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center. “Your baby is a happy baby in there today, I’ll tell you that.”

1. Health highlights
   1. Healthy to-do: Save energy with ‘microbaking’

      since the microwave can reduce energy use by roughly 66 percent, compared with a conventional oven, learn how to do more than just make popcorn and reheat.

For Lisa and her husband, Ryan, both 32, the relief is palpable. Lisa was barely 11 weeks into her first pregnancy last summer — young, healthy and expecting to sail through the experience — when a suspicious lump in her right breast was diagnosed as malignant.

“We were devastated,” says Lisa, who told TODAY.com she got the call as she was driving home from work. “I went through every form of emotion. I was yelling in the car, ‘No, no, no!’ “

For the past eight months, Lisa, a city planner, and Ryan, a software engineer, have navigated a new world of terrible dilemmas: How do you treat cancer to save the mother — and still protect the unborn baby?

1 in 1,000 pregnant women has cancer It’s a growing problem that now affects as many as 1 in every 1,000 pregnant women, with about 3,500 diagnosed in the United States each year. as more women delay childbirth until they’re older, the incidence of cancer during pregnancy, particularly breast cancer, is going up.

A 2009 study of Swedish women of childbearing age found that the incidence of breast cancer associated with pregnancy more than doubled between 1963 and 2002, partly because of births to older mothers, suggest the authors, whose work was published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Researchers now estimate that between 7 percent and 15 percent of breast cancers in pre-menopausal women occur in those who are pregnant, said Dr. Elyce Cardonick, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J. 

“It’s not going to be as rare as we once believed,” says Cardonick, who created the Cancer and Pregnancy Registry in 1997 to collect enough data to detect trends.

As the number of the cases grows, however, so do the options for treatment. instead of terminating pregnancy, once almost universally recommended, or waiting to treat the disease until after childbirth, perhaps allowing the cancer to grow, more women are urged to battle the cancer head-on.

“You treat them the same,” says Cardonick. “You do what would be indicated if she were not pregnant.”

That can be a shocking concept for modern pregnant women who avoid coffee, wine, even soft cheese and lunchmeat, in the effort to nurture healthy babies. Suddenly, when they have cancer, surgery and drug therapy are not only OK, they’re necessary.   

“I had given up caffeine, I was trying to eat really organic food and then I was going to do chemo?’” says Lisa, a marathoner and cyclist. “It’s so psychologically hard to reconcile putting poison in your body.”

Lisa, who was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer, opted for both surgery and chemotherapy, undergoing four three-week rounds of drug treatment during her second trimester. while she struggled with the idea of putting harsh drugs in her body — “The purpose of chemotherapy is to stop cells from growing,” she points out — she knew she had to try to halt the disease even as she protected the baby.

“I was very committed to this pregnancy,” explains Lisa, who was slow to embrace parenthood, but discovered a fierce protectiveness that surprised even her husband.

“She has this strong maternal instinct that I hadn’t even seen until now,” Ryan says, adding later: “I want to make sure the baby has a mommy.”

Their daughter is due March 17; the couple has picked out a family name for the child, but they’re not sharing it until she’s born.

‘A little bump’ leads to diagnosis In some ways, Lisa was fortunate. her cancer was diagnosed quickly, within weeks of her husband noticing “a little bump” in her right breast and then her own detection of another, larger lump.

But many women are not. changes in their bodies caused by pregnancy can mask the symptoms of cancer, said Dr. Douglas Yee, director of the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota.

“Delay in diagnosis among pregnant women is a problem,” he says.

Lisa also was fortunate to find immediate support for her decision to continue the pregnancy. That’s not always the case, even now, notes Cardonick.

Cardonick was spurred to start the cancer registry by Patty Sosnader, a pregnant woman whose doctor sent her to an ethics board and to mental health counselors when she refused to terminate her pregnancy after a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease.

“To me, I guess I’m not an advocate of abortion. I just couldn’t see terminating the pregnancy,” says Sosnader, 46, a mother of three in Worcester, Pa., who turned to Cardonick for help. this month, her youngest son, Brenden, the child she bore while battling cancer, turns 13.

Of the 282 women logged in Cardonick’s cancer registry so far, 67 were advised to terminate their pregnancies and 13 actually did so.Current research recommends that most pregnancies continue despite cancer, but some doctors — about 20 percent — continue to advise termination, Cardonick says.

You'll need to be prepared for dangerously cold temperatures during your Tuesday morning commute. make sure you are dressed for the elements and that your car has everything it needs to run and travel safely.

The wind chill temperature is how cold we feel when we are outside. Wind chill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by wind and cold. as the wind picks up it takes heat away from our body which sends our skin temperature down and eventually our internal body temperature as well. During temperatures like we are having on Tuesday skin can freeze within thirty minutes.

In these extreme cold temperatures you also need to be aware of frostbite. you have frostbite when your body tissue freezes. The most susceptible parts of the body are fingers, toes, ear lobes, or the tip of the nose. Symptoms include a loss of feeling in the extremity and a white or pale appearance. You'll want to get medical help immediately if you have frostbite and remember the area that's affected should only be re-warmed slowly.

Hypothermia occurs when body temperature falls below 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Warning signs include uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness, and exhaustion.

AAA also recommends that you keep an extra close eye on your car during extreme cold weather. You'll want to make sure your battery is well maintained. Check all the battery terminals and connections and be sure they are all clean and attached tightly. In cold weather your battery needs all the power it can get. If the battery is over three years old you'll want to get it checked and maybe even replaced.

If you walk outside to find that your door locks are frozen do not pour warm water on them. This will very likely only make that water freeze as well making the situation worse. If you have a can of key lock de-icer you can try that. you can also try to warm up your key first which will help heat the lock from the inside.

Also make sure you are dressed for these extreme cold temperatures and that you have your winter survival kit in your car. getting stuck in temperatures this low will be a dangerous situation if you are not prepared.

By Fred Cicetti Published: 2:00 AM – 01/19/11

Q. can drinking alcohol give you gout?

A. Gout, which is one of the most painful forms of arthritis, is caused by a build-up of crystals of uric acid in a joint. Alcohol can lead to increased production of uric acid, so it puts you at a higher risk of getting gout.

Alcohol leads to gout in multiple ways:

–It contains purines, proteins that are broken down into uric acid. Purines are found naturally in your body and in some foods. — it promotes dehydration, which raises the uric-acid level in the blood– it leads to the production of lactic acid, which can increase the level of uric acid.– it stimulates enzymes in the liver that break down proteins to produce more uric acid.

Often, gout affects joints in the lower part of the body such as the ankles, heels, knees and especially the big toes. however, it can also attack the elbows, wrists and fingers.

Pseudogout has similar symptoms and is sometimes confused with gout. however, it is caused by calcium phosphate, not uric acid.

Gout is more common in men. Men are more likely to develop gout in their 40s. Women generally get gout after menopause.

Early attacks usually subside within 3-10 days, even without treatment, and the next attack may not occur for months or even years. Uric acid buildup can lead to kidney stones. Untreated gout can cause permanent joint and kidney damage.

Most people with gout are able to control their symptoms with treatment. the most common treatments are high doses of oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or corticosteroids, which are taken by mouth or injected into the affected joint. Patients often begin to improve within a few hours of treatment.

More than two drinks a day for men and more than one for women increases the risk of getting gout. Other factors include family history of gout, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, narrowing of the arteries, thiazide diuretics and low-dose aspirin.

No specific dietary changes have been proven to reduce your risk of gout. however, even though there is no absolute proof that a gout diet works, it seems like a sound idea to avoid purines. Foods high in purines include organ meats, anchovies, herring, mackerel, asparagus and mushrooms.

There are studies that show an association between coffee drinking and lower uric acid levels. the current evidence isn’t strong enough to begin a coffee habit.

Vitamin C may reduce uric acid in your blood. however, vitamin C hasn’t been studied as a treatment for gout.

Cherries have been linked to reduced uric acid in your blood, but it is unclear if they affect gout symptoms.

Fred Cicetti is a freelance health-care writer from Sussex County, N.J. if you have a question, send an e-mail to .

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January 15, 2011 in Features Peter H. Gott, M.D., United Media the Spokesman-Review

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DEAR DR. GOTT: I am disabled with extensive nerve damage from liver failure. I have a lot of problems. Just in the past few months, I’ve had spells where I yawn constantly. the problem usually starts shortly after I wake up, but it also happens later in the day. they aren’t wimpy little yawns, either, but those that start in your toes and gather momentum as they head north. by the time they reach my head, my mouth is wide open and I’m stretching my jaw as far as I can. this may go on for hours and simply wears me out, not to mention that it kinda hurts. Any ideas?

DEAR READER: unless performed intentionally, yawning is an involuntary action involving many body parts. the mouth opens, the jaw drops, abdominal muscles flex, lungs expand, the diaphragm is pushed down, heart rate increases, and muscles and joints flex. the process is reversed as we force that air back out of the mouth. People of every age – even an 11-week-old fetus will yawn. And when we see someone do just that, we will likely follow along. To even read about the topic in my column will likely cause a person to yawn.

Excessive yawning can be caused by a vasovagal reaction on the blood vessels and could indicate a cardiac problem, sleep apnea or excessive daytime fatigue. Because of this, you should address the subject with your doctor or cardiologist. Yawning doesn’t reflect boredom, as proven by athletes who will yawn prior to running a race or entering a swim meet. Therefore, I recommend you make that appointment so you can get to the bottom of the problem.

To provide related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Sleep Wake Disorders.” Other readers who would like a copy should send a self-addressed stamped no. 10 envelope and a $2 check or money order payable to Newsletter and mailed to Newsletter, P.O. Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092-0167. be sure to mention the title.

DEAR DR. GOTT: Is there any cure for scleroderma?

DEAR READER: the localized form of scleroderma affects only the skin, while systemic scleroderma damages the heart, lungs, kidneys and digestive system. Symptoms and treatment vary, depending on the type.

Localized scleroderma can resolve on its own, systemic cannot, but a variety of medications is available to reduce the intensity of pain and help control symptoms. some drugs can dilate blood vessels, possibly reducing the severity of symptoms of conditions such as Raynaud’s disease and kidney and lung abnormalities. Physical therapists can help a patient work toward methods to manage pain, improve mobility, and increase strength. the appearance of skin lesions can be helped through ultraviolet-light exposure or laser surgery.

On the home front, a person should remain active, protect the skin from cold, discontinue smoking, and refrain from eating foods that contribute to heartburn or gas. Walking, yoga or tai chi might be to your liking. should Raynaud’s be present, remember to protect your hands at all times, such as by wearing gloves when placing foods in or taking them out of the freezer, or when hanging clothes on the line to dry.

i want to know what is the symptoms of low blood pressure?
is it a bad news ?

low blood presure is bad but its not common trust me u will know if u have it because u will be fanting everytime you knock your self or get over heated or havent eaten u would feel dizzy sick n tied all the time

Slight headache, depression, feeling cold inspite of warm weather, tips of fingers and toes go cold very fast. Feel like consuming more salt.

Poor circulation, light-headedness, headaches.

Check out this website: firstsigns.org/

There are a lot of resources on the web that list some warning characteristics.

Does he avoid eye contact? have a limited vocabulary? Speak in a high pitched voice? Walk on the tips of his toes? Flap his arms in the air when excited?have a hard time interacting with children? Is he always off on his own?

These are possible indicators of autism. I would call his pediatrician and make an app.
Good Luck