Practicing family physicians from the UNC Department of Family Medicine have teamed up with The Carrboro Citizen to bring you a weekly feature responding to your questions about health and medicine. Send your questions or comments to yourhealth@unc.edu
This week we respond to questions about late diagnosis of cancer and treating hypertension with supplements.
Dear HOUSE Calls, My aunt was just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and I want to know why she didn’t find it sooner. It’s always been a problem in my family that people don’t like to go to the doctor for check-ups. Why is that, and how can I help the younger members of my family?
We are so sorry about your aunt’s diagnosis. This must be a difficult time for her and your family. There are a lot of reasons that people don’t go to the doctor. Maybe they don’t trust doctors, or they prefer just not to know. Maybe they can’t afford to see the doctor, or the doctor’s office is just too far away or otherwise inconvenient.
Maybe they don’t think they need to go unless there is a problem. Maybe they are scared there is a problem. We share your sadness and frustration. All of these problems are surmountable. But perhaps the most difficult two are lack of trust and just not wanting to know if something is wrong. The medical community in this country did some things in the early 20th century in terms of unethical research on poor people, prisoners, mentally retarded children and blacks. Most of these things we now consider grossly unethical and even deplorable. Ethical standards for research have changed a lot. For your family members, perhaps the most important thing you can do is encourage them to develop a relationship with a trusted personal primary-care clinician.
Dear HOUSE Calls, What alternative supplements can you recommend for high blood pressure?
You will find a variety of products available if you just start searching on the Internet. As with all supplements, the quality and consistency of these products are a challenge. In general, the volume and quality of the research literature is limited. On the upside, most of these things are safe. We should be clear that we are not trained as naturopaths or homeopaths. Certainly there is a lot of information on supplements like omega-3 fatty acids, calcium and co-Q 10. We could quickly find 30 supplements promoted for treatment of hypertension. The most promising alternative to medicine is a special diet called the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension), which is a low-saturated fat, high-fiber, low-sodium diet. Weight loss and exercise are important too. Also, treating sleep apnea if you have it is very important in reducing blood pressure. Hopefully, that will get you started.
House Calls is a weekly column by Dr. Adam Goldstein, Dr. Cristy Page and Dr. Adam Zolotor on behalf of Your Health and the UNC Department of Family Medicine.