From primary care physicians to cardiologists and dermatologists, explore answers to common questions from verified healthcare experts. Ask your non-emergency health questions and find informed answers from verified doctors like Aaron Baggish, Jordan Metzl, and Katherine Wojnowich.
Bloating can be caused by a variety of foods, including legumes, cruciferous vegetables, dairy products, and FODMAPs. It can also be triggered by large meals or high fat meals. The best way to figure out what is causing your bloating is to speak to a GI specialist or dietitian. Transcript: "So the question is, what foods are most commonly implicated in causing bloating? And I wish I had a very simple few line answer for this but it's a little more complicated than that. Obviously, the legume family, which is a, the beans and the peas, as well as the cruciferous vegetables, the broccolis have always been implicated in bloating and this is because they're highly fermentable to your colonic bacteria, which produce gas there's a kind of universally known as having an some degree of issues to people. However, there are also a myriad of foods that cause Choose, which are not at all part of those categories. So people who have lactose intolerance will have a significant response to Dairy, depending also on how much lactose it may have people without lots of Tolerance would not people who have fructose intolerance, for example, or sucrose intolerance, which are different sugars. Would have issues with those respective sugar, ingestion patients, who have sibo or bacterial overgrowth. May have problems with a myriad of FODMAP foods, which is a whole other question in its own right. Those with indigestion, may have problems. Them's from super large meals or super high fat meals as opposed to patients who wouldn't have that would not. So the best way to really figure out what bloats used to have a nice sit-down with a GI, specialized dietitian would be able to tease out. What is causing your symptoms based on the food you addressed in the timing to which you may be reacting to it? That's my advice for that."
I've been researching the use of mouthpieces for 18 years, and have used different materials to create pieces that can elicit the desired effects. Transcript: "So that's a great question. I've actually been doing the research for 18 years. It started out with a lower actually upper mouthguard material. And some of the research we were getting in the lab led me down the path of a lower mouthpiece and the placement of the mandible and the tongue. And so that caused me to look around the house, look for things that I could build up and create a mouthpiece that would elicit the effects that I believed would happen in the lab. And so you can see behind me, there's different examples. These are just four of numerous mouthpieces I've made over the years. And that again, being 18 years of research trying to figure it out. Thanks."
Studies have shown that after a chiropractic adjustment, the brain is able to utilize glucose more efficiently and the prefrontal cortex is activated by 20%, suggesting an improvement in executive functions, decision making, and behavior. Transcript: "How is chiropractic work good for cognitive function? Great, great question. So I want to share two studies with you that you can definitely check out on PubMed. The first study is that after a chiropractic adjustment was received, the brain was able to utilize glucose more efficiently and what they did is they tested this through functional MRI that after an adjustment the brain was able to eat more, basically eat more glucose to function properly. So what that is basically saying is that the brain is more efficient after a chiropractic adjustment. And then the second study, and this came out of Australia as well, that the prefrontal cortex, which is the lobe of the brain behind the forehead, so it's responsible for executive function, behavior, decision making, has a little bit of a role in immune system, a little bit of a role in the parasympathetic nervous system versus the sympathetic nervous system, that the prefrontal cortex lights up the most by 20% or is activated by 20% after a chiropractic adjustment. So we're looking at more executive function, we are looking at better decision-making, we are looking at better behaviors, and again this is our window into also helping people who are suffering with different mental health challenges but also kiddos with special gifts like autism, Asperger's, behavior challenges overall. So really, really profound impact on the brain. Those are two studies that you guys can look up even more, but we know that chiropractic definitely has a profound effect on brain function and cognitive function."
Chiropractic adjustments can help children with digestive issues by stimulating the vagus nerve, which is the connection between the brain and the gut. This helps to increase digestive health as well as overall health. Transcript: "The question is, how can chiropractic work help a child with digestive issues? So great question and this is definitely one of the reasons, the top reasons, why parents bring their child into see a chiropractor. So first and foremost, we are looking at every stage of digestion. So not just our intestines and our evacuation process, but also even when food enters the child's mouth. So we're looking at the relationship between the nervous system and tongue movement, nervous system and jaw tension. We're looking at the nerves that are controlling suck swallowing and breathing. We're looking at the nerves controlling our stomach, our liver, our gallbladder, our pancreas. We're looking at the nervous system holistically when it comes to controlling different areas in the digestion process. So a lot of our second window into how we help kiddos with digestive challenges is chiropractic's relationship with the vagus nerve and the brain-gut connection. So the vagus nerve is the literal connection between the brain and the gut. And so the vagus nerve is bidirectional, meaning that the brain talks to the gut and the gut talks to the brain via this really cool nerve. And so the vagus nerve passes through a little hole in the back of the skull called the jugular foramen and passes in front of the first two bones in the neck and helps to increase and have good digestion, good digestive health. So with the chiropractic adjustment, because of its relationship between the first two bones in the neck and its placement, we're able to positively impact by stimulating this nerve, therefore leading to a better healthy vagus nerve, therefore leading to a better brain-gut connection, and then overall digestive health."
Typically six to eight sessions of pelvic floor therapy are needed before seeing improvements in bladder control and urinary incontinence. Variations depend on age, ability to build muscle, etiology of the problem, and how long the patient has had it. Transcript: "How many sessions of pelvic floor therapy are typically needed before seeing improvements in bladder control and urinary incontinence? So that all depends. Typically the estimate that we give patients is anywhere from six to eight sessions. Obviously I'm not the physical therapist, I'm a gastroenterologist, but I work with physical therapists a lot for this issue, more so in GI, but usually spanning multiple compartments. The variation could depend on somebody's age, ability to build muscle and learn to coordinate muscle, the etiology of their issues to begin with, so whether this is a purely neurological disorder, whether there's a muscle component to the problem, whether there's any other issues that are amenable, and also how long somebody's had the problem. So I find that some people are much better within just a few handful of sessions and really make huge progress in how they feel. And there's some patients that take a full year of work to really get to where they want to be, but I think typically we like to reassess the situation after six or eight sessions and see how far that's gotten us, because there should be at least some improvement at that point, not necessarily perfection, but some improvement should be present."
The main risk factors for breast cancer are female sex, older age, family history, radiation to the chest, obesity, drinking alcohol, early age of first period, late menopause, and hormone replacement therapy after menopause. Transcript: "So what are the risk factors for breast cancer? The most important is female sex. We know that 99% of all breast cancers do occur in women. Older age is also a risk factor as it is for many other cancers. And family history is very important here. People who have multiple family members who have had breast cancer are at higher risk. And that's at least in part due to deleterious genetic mutations such as the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation. In addition, having a history of radiation to the chest, being obese, drinking alcohol, are all risk factors for breast cancer. Having had your period at an earlier age and having menopause at a later age are also associated with increased risk. And women who take hormone replacement therapy after menopause have a higher risk of breast cancer than others."