The Philippines is considered one of the diabetes “hot spots” in the Western Pacific region, where the disease is already reaching epidemic proportions. Our government knows this too well, and the increased taxes on sugary drinks is just one of the steps being taken to stem the tide.
In last week’s column, we wrote about “comfort food products” which some people eat when they are under stress or feel depressed. A patient told me that, after reading the column, her “comfort food” is chocolate, and she eats small chocolate bars when she’s under stress.
More than a year ago, an elderly patient we’ve been treating for years for high blood pressure and diabetes suddenly fell unconscious in the bathroom.
We have expressed some concerns with fad diets, such as low-calorie crash diets (“Crash diets—losing weight at the heart’s expense?” Philippine Daily Inquirer, Feb. 8, 2018). Crash diets have been shown by CMR (cardiovascular magnetic resonance) to be associated with deterioration of heart function.
Readers, patients, fellow doctors and health advocates have been requesting me to write an opinion about a recent tragedy, in which a 29-year-old single mom died after undergoing plastic surgery. Out of respect for the victim, her family and her attending physicians, I would rather not.
After reading our column last week (“The AIDS virus is mutating fast,” PDI Lifestyle, 10/23/18), a medical colleague sent a message: “Are you predicting a doomsday scenario wherein the AIDS virus would multiply fast and be incurable?”
Our column last week on male domestic abuse seemed to have stirred a hornet’s nest.
March is designated as colorectal cancer (CRC) month. We lost two of our brothers to CRC and a third to liver cancer; hence, I have a deep personal commitment to any cancer awareness program.
A few days after the new year, a middle-aged patient came back to our clinic for follow-up, around six months after her last. Based on her chart, her weight increased from 55 to 66 kg. Her body mass index (BMI), a measure to determine if one is overweight or not, increased from 24.8 to 28.9, a jump from just being marginally overweight to significantly overweight, bordering on obesity.
Everyone in the medical community is wondering about the fate of the universal healthcare (UHC) law which promises to give every Juan dela Cruz adequate access to healthcare.
