Weight Gain and Antidepressants (Including SSRIs)

More than 1 in 10 Americans take antidepressants to treat depression. For the most part, these medications get the job done. Your health care provider may need to tweak your dosage or switch you to a different kind to find the best fit, but most people notice an improvement in 6 weeks or so. Like…

Blink-182 Drummer Travis Barker Hospitalized With Pancreatitis

July 1, 2022 – Travis Barker, drummer for rock band blink-182, was hospitalized this week in Los Angeles with pancreatitis. Barker, 46, husband of celebrity influencer Kourtney Kardashian, recently had a colonoscopy to check for colon cancer. Experts have weighed in on how likely the link is between his colonoscopy and pancreatitis. “It’s possible, but…

How Do Men and Women Compare?

You’ve probably heard things like this: Men get turned on at the slightest provocation and are ready to have sex anytime, anywhere, while women tend to want sex less often and have to be “in the mood.” For years, that’s been the widespread belief: Men just have higher sex drives than women. Research has often…

Can You Get COVID From Your Cat?

June 30, 2022 – As if cats weren’t already mysterious enough, questions have now resurfaced about animal-to-human transmission of the coronavirus after a report that a veterinary surgeon in Thailand likely got COVID-19 from a cat she was swabbing. Nature reports the case is the first evidence of cat-to-human COVID-19 transmission, though early in the…

Pfizer Plans a Vaccine to Target All Coronaviruses

June 30, 2022 – Ask the sibling of any celebrity and they’ll tell you they don’t get anywhere near the same attention. The same is true for coronaviruses – the one that causes COVID-19 has been in the spotlight for more than 2 years now, while the others at the moment circulate in relative obscurity….

Can the Flu Vaccine Help Keep Older Minds Sharp?

June 30, 2022 – For older adults, getting the annual flu shot may do more than protect against the flu. It may also reduce the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease. In a large study of vaccinated and unvaccinated adults ages 65 and older, those who received at least one influenza vaccine were less likely than…

Protect Your Hearing from Fireworks This Fourth of July

June 29, 2022 – Kendall Johnson, of Sioux Falls, SD, was a teenager when he had surgery to try to restore his hearing. While he and his friends lighted up fireworks on the Fourth of July one summer, one exploded right in front of his face. Johnson says he lost nearly all his hearing that…

Nordic Walking Beats Other Workouts for Heart Health: Study

June 29, 2022 – A new study in people with heart disease shows that Nordic walking – think cross-country skiing without the skis – improved their mental and physical health more than other types of workouts. The researchers used a 6-minute walk test to measure 130 study participants’ “functional capacity,” which looks at how much…

Expert Answers to Key Questions About COVID Vaccines for Kids

June 28, 2022 – Some important questions remain after the recent authorizations of two COVID-19 vaccines for infants, toddlers, and young children through 5 years of age. If you’re a parent or health care provider perplexed by all the nuances, you’re not alone. To answer some of those questions, infectious disease experts shared what they…

FDA Panel Backs Adding Omicron Component to COVID Boosters

June 28, 2022 — A FDA advisory panel on Tuesday recommended updating COVID-19 booster vaccines in the United States to include an Omicron component, while also stressing the need for more information on how well these shots work on emerging strains of the virus. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 19-2 in…