Hydration Principles

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

The heat of summer is here. The humidity makes some days unbearable, so we hide in the air conditioning. At those times you choose to be outside or must be in the heat, do you stay hydrated?

During strenuous activities, especially in the summer heat, we need to replenish liquids and sometimes, electrolytes. On a daily basis, listening to your thirst mechanism is a good way to stay hydrated. Pure, clean water is vital for optimal health.

Once your body has lost 1-2% of its total water content, you start to feel thirsty. During times of heavy exercise or work, by the time you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated to some degree. This is why it is important to drink plenty of liquids prior to and during periods of heavy sweating. Professional athletes tend to know this.

Aspirin- part 2

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Before you jump on the bandwagon of taking aspirin daily for the reduction of heart attacks, stroke and cancer, you really need to educate yourself on the actual benefits and side effects.   Like we showed last week, recent studies point toward no benefit in reducing heart attack with aspirin use.  In fact, use of aspirin by people who have not had a cardiac event seems to increase the incidence of heart attack.

Let’s start with the professed benefit of taking an aspirin a day. It is said to help prevent cardiovascular events, especially in a person who already has had a heart attack or stroke. A recent report came out saying aspirin prevents cancer when taken for at least 3 years. The process of thinning the blood so it can circulate more easily amongst clogged and narrowed arteries sure seems logical enough, if it only were true.

Aspirin- part 1

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

For many years, doctors have been prescribing aspirin therapy as a cheap, effective way to reduce cardiovascular events and improve survival after a heart attack. Neither of these is true.

Chewing two aspirin during a heart attack event has been shown to be very effective in reducing damage to the heart.  You must chew them, and it must be during the event.  That is not what we are talking about here.

Even low dose aspirin therapy has serious side effects that, just like statin drugs for cholesterol, overshadow any supposed benefit. The evidence in support of aspirin has always been weak, and over the last decade it has become even weaker.

The benefit purported by medicine for taking aspirin is that of its antiplatelet activity. They say that it helps save lives by reducing deaths from heart attacks.

Healing Laser Therapy

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Have you heard about the latest advance in pain relief?  It is called Class IV high power cold laser therapy.  Let’s take a look at the history of light therapy, what laser therapy is, what physiologic changes occur, what conditions benefit from its use and its safety and effectiveness.

Laser is an acronym.  It stands for Light Amplified by Stimulated Light Emission of Radiation.  It was theorized by Albert Einstein in 1916, invented by Theodore Maiman in 1960.  In 1967 Endre Mester discovered the bio stimulatory properties of laser light.

Peptic Ulcers or something else?

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Is that pain in your abdomen just a belly ache, or could it be reflux or a peptic ulcer? How do you know?

A short term ache in the upper abdomen is usually just that, an upset stomach that passes quickly.

Pain in the upper abdomen that burns up into the chest and throat is most likely a reflux condition, actually caused by too little stomach acid. (See my website for an article on reflux on June 28, 2012.)

Peptic ulcers are a whole different problem. About seven percent of Americans are diagnosed with ulcers, some 16 million in total, and 500,000 new cases each year.

Obviously the stomach is at the bottom end of the esophagus. After the stomach, the upper part of the small intestine is next, called the duodenum. It is about 12 inches long. Glands inside the stomach produce acid and pepsin. The stomach also produces mucus to protect the stomach lining from the acid.

Cholesterol and Statins

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

It’s been a while since I’ve hit the cholesterol and statin drug topic. There are new research articles coming out all the time. Right now there is even disagreement in the medical community as to who benefits from statins and even if they are needed at all in some people.

For 40 years the medical community and the U.S. government have warned that eating cholesterol rich foods like eggs would raise our LDL and promote heart disease. Decades of research since then have failed to produce any correlation.

The guidelines are still misleading and wrong because the basic premise is faulty. Dietary fat is indeed associated with heart disease; BUT it is the processed vegetable oils and margarines which are loaded with trans-fats and omega 6 fatty acids that are the problem, not the animal fats and saturated fats which are beneficial to the heart.

Got a Charley Horse?

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Have you ever had a charley horse? You know the muscle cramp in your calf that makes you jump straight out of bed. Why do they occur? Is it a deficiency in magnesium, calcium or potassium? Could it be your medications or a sign of a deeper problem?

According to recent research, about 1 in every 3 adults is affected by muscle cramps of the lower limbs. In most cases the pain is temporary and goes away on its own. Some people have severe regular cramping that interferes with sleep, daily activities and quality of life.

In a study of 500 people over 60 years old, 31 percent reported being woken up by muscle cramps and 15 percent had cramps more than 3 times each month.