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Friday, August 9, 2010 – Daily News – 5A Vitality & health DEAR DR. GOTT: I would appre- ciate your advice. I am a 72-year-old Cau- casian female with treated high blood pressure and high cho- lesterol (362)/triglyc- erides (403). Using a statin drug, I am able to get them down to 231 and 288, respec- tively. My problem is that I react poorly to statins. My legs have become weak, I have a nightmare of leg cramps, my muscles hurt, and I cope with nausea and gas. The cramps have spread to my hands and chest muscles. I formerly was walking Dr. Peter Gott give it a try for a satisfactory length of time? If you smoke, discontinue the habit. Eliminate fried foods, the skin on chicken and the fat on steak. Broil meats, and be sure to cut off any excess fat SAN JOSE (MCT) — The mother charged into the emergency room unannounced carrying her 8-year-old daughter, who was having seizures and couldn't breathe. As she placed the girl on a gurney, Dr. Kathy Corby instinctively reached for her iPhone. "It was very tense," recalled Corby, prior to cooking. Continue to exercise and modify your diet. Eat more fruits, vegeta- bles, whole grains, fish and chicken. Limit the amount of cheese and eggs you con- sume, and switch to fat-free milk. Ask your physician if he two miles a day; now I can barely walk a half-mile, and that is with stops. I have tried niacin and red yeast rice. I am currently taking omega-3 and flaxseed-oil capsules. I am 5 feet, 2 inches and weigh 168 pounds. I am careful about my diet. I feel good and energetic when not taking a statin; however, I’m lethargic when taking the drug. I’m afraid to quit but am truly miserable, so which is the lesser evil? I truly do not know what to do. DEAR READER: Statin drugs work well, but for some people, the price is high. This poses the ques- tion of whether the benefits outweigh the risks. No one wants to suffer a heart attack or stroke, nor do they want unpleasant side effects such as those you have experi- enced. The answer should be a decision between a patient and his or her physi- cian. That said, there might be alternatives. First, how- ever, let’s hit some possibil- ities. You can lower the dose of your medication. This may reduce or eliminate the leg cramps and fatigue but may also reduce the effec- tiveness of the statin. You can change to another label; however, this might not be successful. You have already cut back on your exercise routine, so I can’t endorse a further reduction. While some researchers question its effectiveness, you might consider ezetim- ibe, a prescription choles- terol-absorption inhibitor, or you might try an over-the- counter with natural plant stanols and sterols. You don’t indicate if the niacin was at all effective. 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Per- haps a referral to a nutrition- ist and the physical-therapy department of your local hospital will be appropriate. Consider an OTC that does- n’t contain a statin compo- nent. Ask your physician or specialist for advice on treating your leg cramps. If an underlying cause, such as iron deficiency or peripheral neuropathy, enters the equa- tion, obtain appropriate treatment. Then consider ibuprofen, meditation, yoga and warm or cold packs. Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Place a bar of soap under your bed sheet to alleviate cramping. Exercise, but don’t overdo it, because fatigue will make your symptoms worse. To provide related infor- mation, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Understanding Choles- terol.” Other readers who would like a copy should send a self-addressed stamped No. 10 envelope and a $2 check or money order to Newsletter, P.O. Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092-0167. Be sure to mention the title or print an order form off my website at www.AskDrGottMD.com. Dr. Peter H. Gott is a retired physician and the author of several books, including “Live Longer, Live Better,” “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Diet” and “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Cookbook,” which are available at most bookstores or online. His website is www.AskDrGottMD.com. an emergency room physician at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister. "If you can't terminate a seizure within an hour or two, the per- son can sustain brain damage and it can ultimately be fatal." The child has a rare hereditary dis- ease and Corby needed to become an instant expert. So she began scanning a number of medical apps loaded onto her iPhone to access "everything you can't remember on your own in the midst of something like this." While medical reference informa- tion has long been available through the Internet on computers, physicians like Corby say the ability to instantly access data in any situation and through one-touch technology is changing the way they practice medi- cine. Asked to choose between having a stethoscope or a smartphone, some doctors say they would choose the lat- ter. "You've got a whole medical library right in the palm of your hand," said Meredith Ressi with Man- hattan Research, a health-care market research firm that studies doctors' use of technology. "It's really transforma- tive." Doctors no longer have to spend time thumbing through fat manuals stuffed in lab coats — or rely on mem- ory in the heat of emergencies. The ability to easily exchange photos — and engage in video chats — with col- leagues using a smartphone is adding a new dimension to consultations. Eventually, doctors may be able to access electronic patient records on their pocket devices, experts say. Already emergency rooms and other hospital areas are being equipped with iPads so medical staff can quickly get critical information. The Stanford Medical School plans to provide all first-year medical and Master of Med- icine students with an iPad this fall. Still, the sudden plethora of med- ical apps — there are hundreds on the market and more coming virtually every day — has caused government officials to consider whether new reg- ulations are needed to ensure accurate information is being disseminated digitally. "When it comes to reference Have a news tip? Call 527-2151, Ext. 112 fitness Alternatives to statins Doctors rely on iPhones MCT photo Dr. Kathy Corby, center, shows her iPhone 4 to anesthesiologist Pat Lauder, right, in the emergency room at Hazel Hawkins Hospital in Hollister. medical apps, you really should only trust the ones from the companies that have been in the ecosystem for a while," said Iltifat Husain, founder of www.imedicalapps.com, a review site. Physicians are three times more likely to use smartphones than the general adult population in the United States, Ressi said. More than 70 per- cent of doctors in the United States now use advanced phones or personal digital assistants, and of those 80 per- cent say the devices are essential to their work, she said. Medical professionals had viewed such technology as more foe than friend because it was clunky and com- plicated to use, said Margaret Laws, an executive at the California Health- Care Foundation in Oakland. But when Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, and then offered the software tools for developers to customize applications for the new platform a year later, it was an "ah-ha" moment in medicine because the new device and software were easy to use, Laws said. Makers of other smartphones, from BlackBerry to Android devices, are now providing similar intuitive technology. "We want the data right at our fin- gertips," said Dr. Lars Grimm, who is completing his residency at Duke University Medical Center. Grimm recently relied on informa- tion gleaned from his iPhone to treat an executive suffering from extreme diarrhea and vomiting after being exposed to a bacterial toxin during a business trip to India. The doctor had read a medical alert about antibiotic- resistant bacteria in India. So he changed the standard antibi- otic prescription for the man and immediately began treating him. Two days later, the patient walked out of the hospital. Smartphone medicine, though, has triggered some concerns. Dr. James Chu, a Monterey endocrinologist, said using a smart- phone for a doctor's professional and personal life means getting deluged with data, such as routine lab reports, day and night. "It's almost like a leash tying you to work 24-7," he said. "There are advantages (to smartphone medicine), but I haven't needed one." Other experts caution that the exchange of medical cases between doctors through smartphones could place a patient's privacy at risk. 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