Dear Dr Roach: My 15-year-old son was just admitted to the hospital for depression and attention deficit disorder. His thyroid tests came back abnormal. There is thyroid disease in the family. Is that the cause of his illness? Anon.
Thyroid conditions, including both hyper- (too much) and hypo- (too little) thyroid hormone are common in the general population, but more so in people who are diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses, including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
I have read that up to a third of people in new admissions for psychiatric conditions have thyroid abnormalities. It isn鈥檛 always clear whether the thyroid problem caused the psychiatric illness and probably most often there is a large combination of factors, including genetics, environmental and medical conditions. Sometimes, but not always, treating the underlying thyroid condition can make managing the psychiatric symptoms much easier.
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Dear Dr Roach: We always hear about superfoods and their antioxidant power. Is there any truth to the hype? H.C.
Blueberries, kale and acai berries are often called 鈥渟uperfoods.鈥� I don't really know what 鈥渟uperfood鈥� means. These foods are generally healthy, as part of a balanced diet, but it doesn鈥檛 mean that eating them makes you live forever. It doesn鈥檛 even mean that eating lots of them can erase bad food choices. To me, a healthy diet is one with lots of diversity: many different fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and fish and limited amounts (or none) of red meat, saturated fat and processed foods. Health isn鈥檛 found by sticking to a fad diet, but by a lifetime of healthy eating, regular exercise, stress reduction, good social interactions and being fortunate enough to avoid injury and disease.
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Dear Dr Roach: My husband won't see a doctor because he says they are some of the 鈥済ermiest鈥� places around. After his last visit to the dermatologist, he said he wouldn't go back because the doctor didn鈥檛 wash his hands or change gloves before examining him. I asked a doctor once to wash his hands and he got very defensive, to the point of being rude, and I didn鈥檛 feel comfortable seeing him again. What can I do to reassure my husband that he won鈥檛 get a disease at the doctor鈥檚 office? R.
It is certainly reasonable to expect that your doctor鈥檚 office be kept clean and you have every right to ask your doctor to wash his or her hands before an exam, if you haven鈥檛 seen him or her washing hands in front of you. I don鈥檛 blame you for being uncomfortable about seeing the defensive doctor, infection control is part of our business.
However, it is impossible (and unnecessary) to keep surfaces truly sterile, since diseases that are transmitted in the doctor's office most often come from hands or occasionally are airborne. Washing your own hands is a good idea when leaving the doctor鈥檚 office, but don鈥檛 go overboard worrying about acquiring diseases in there.
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