If you’re 50 or older, or if you are having intestinal symptoms like abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, chronic constipation, or diarrhea, then a colonoscopy is in order. This is the best way for doctors to check for colorectal issues or polyps, which can be precursors to colon cancer. During a colonoscopy, the physician will remove any polyps that are found so that the polyps do not become cancerous. During the several days before having a colonoscopy, there are preparatory steps that must be ... [Read More]
Internal Medicine
What Does an Internist Do?
The hundreds of medical specialties available can confound you, especially when it comes to deciding who to see for a medical condition. No specialty induces a head scratch more than internal medicine. Their practitioners – internists – are not the interns who are in their first year of medical residency. Internists are doctors who specialize and focus on adult illnesses. It has been said that internal medicine draws the brightest and sharpest minds in the medical field. So what exactly ... [Read More]
All About the CryoProbe
The CryoProbe® may sound scary, but it actually just looks like an oversized pen. Your doctor can use this device for many applications – from precisely removing skin imperfections to performing internal surgery and removing cancerous tumors. A CryoProbe delivers cryotherapy via liquid nitrogen to treat many kinds of lesions on and around the body. Its prefix is taken from the Greek word kryos, which means cold. What Is the CryoProbe? Cryotherapy treatment uses extremely cold liquid ... [Read More]
Electromyography (EMG) vs. Nerve Conduction Study (NCS)
Here are the differences, in a nutshell, between two common diagnostic tests used to identify disorders that involve the muscles and nerves: electromyography and nerve conduction studies. Electromyography (EMG) Electromyography records the electrical activity of muscles when at rest or when contracted to determine muscle health. During an electromyography, a pin with a tiny electrode is inserted into the muscle to be tested. The pin is connected to a special recording device. You will be ... [Read More]
Flu shot myths debunked
This year marks the centennial of a worldwide flu pandemic that sickened more about 500 million people, of whom 50 million died, including 675,000 Americans. Despite the totality of the pandemic, what many more found shocking was the amount of victims who were young (between the ages of 20-40) and otherwise healthy. After all, this was in the midst of World War I as if there wasn’t enough death and destruction in the world. Today, the flu can be prevented or at least mitigated with a simple ... [Read More]