Diabetes and memory loss – If I were a mouse…

In diabetics, blood sugar levels that are persistently high, low, or widely fluctuating are an indication that the diabetes is not under control. Diabetes, especially when uncontrolled, is a known cause of progressive memory loss. Besides making sure that your diabetes is under control, what else can you do to protect against memory loss?

Many of us drink coffee to feel more energetic, help us think more clearly,  or work more efficiently. But does regular coffee, or decaffeinated coffee help memory or prevent memory loss? 

Studies in specially bred mice, done several years ago, suggested very strongly that coffee enhanced memory. When mice drank the equivalent of five caffeinated cups of coffee a day over several weeks, their memory was far superior to those who drank plain water.

For those who think 5 cups of caffeinated coffee a day is too much, what about decaf?

A more recent study done on the same type of mice, showed similar results.

So what about man?

Several uncontrolled studies in man suggest that caffeine slows age-related memory loss. One study, done in Portugal, showed that people with Alzheimer’s had consumed less coffee than their non-Alzheimer counterparts.

So where do we go from here?

Meet you at Starbuck’s tomorrow morning, and bring your mouse with you.

Think prevention and early detection

We now answer our phone as “Doctor’s office” rather than “Doctor Staw’s office,” and there’s a reason.

As of Monday, January 16, a new physician in town is sharing office with me. His name is William Sanchez, specializing in family practice. Dr. Sanchez was born in the Dominican Republic, where he also attended medical school. He did his medical training at Columbia Presbyterian in New York City and at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

While Dr. Sanchez and I will each maintain our separate practices, both of us expect to be working closely together; we firmly believe in the value of early detection and preventive medicine. Office cost sharing will allow both of us to give our patients the type of service which is only available in a “solo practice.”

Our office is now in the midst of implementation of our newly acquired EMR (electronic medical records) system. It takes a little while to get used to it, but I know it will be worth it at the end. More about it in the next blog(s).

Don’t forget to request your renewals by email at renewals@drstaw.com. You can also contact me for non-urgent matters at istaw@drstaw.com.

Stay warm.

Smoking, lung cancer, and early detection

Smoking is the number one primary cause of premature death in the US (did you know that the obesity-sedentary lifestyle is number two?)

Many pulmonary physicians, including myself, argued for many years that periodic x-rays of the lungs in heavy smokers could save lives. Several years ago a study showed that doing chest CT scans in heavy smokers leads to early detection and possibly a better cure rate. All this was met with harsh criticism from many professional organizations (I wonder why).

But what the pulmonary specialists knew for quite a few years was finally shown to be true in the June 29 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The use of low radiation, periodic CT scans of the lungs in heavy smokers led to early cancer detection, and thereby saved many lives. This is not the total answer to lung cancer, but it certainly helps.

So, if you are a heavy smoker and have not discussed the cancer risk issue with your physician, do it now. If your insurance company doesn't cover this screening test, I know several radiology practices that will do it for $300, and it's well worth it.

Suboxone treatment resources

If, for whatever reason, you have developed an opiate dependency problem, this may be an excellent time for you to quit. Suboxone is gaining popularity as a medical, office-based opioid dependency treatment program.

Fewer than 3% of US physicians are certified to prescribe Suboxone. Most of those certified are psychiatrists. In our area, very few internists, like myself, are Suboxone-certified.

You can find Suboxone-certified physicians at http://www.suboxone.com/, and you can try to match up with one by email at http://www.treatmentmatch.org/local/.

For additional information you may want to watch my interview of the weekend of 11/5/2011, Cablevision channel 12.

On a personal note...

Getting the garden ready for the Fall and Winter. Have you ever seen a Marigold this tall (or a doctor this short)?