QUESTION: I'm a 77-year-old man who is suffering from hot flashes. Really! It's not only uncomfortable, but a bit embarrassing. I am taking Glucotrol for diabetes. Could this be a side effect? - S.N.
ANSWER: You can suspect the Glucotrol. Although this oral diabetes medicine doesn't commonly cause that reaction, the potential for it exists.Glucotrol is one of the sulfonylurea drugs used to lower blood sugar in Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes. Sulfonylureas are chemically related to disulfiram (Antabuse), the "antagonist" medicine used to keep alcoholics away from alcohol. When the person does drink alcohol while on Antabuse, various reactions occur, one of which is a flushing. Can you connect your problem to alcohol ingestion?
Many other conditions cause face reddening and flushing. It happens when blood sugar dips too low, also in rare disorders, i.e., carcinoid tumor. I offer the above only as possibilities to explore with your doctor.
QUESTION: I learned that before I can be a candidate for gallbladder removal (by laparascope) I must first undergo ERCP. What exactly is it? What does it hope to accomplish? Should I gamble on this or have the "real surgery"? My time is running out. - B.Z.L.
ANSWER: First I should explain that laparascopic gallbladder removal is done with tiny surgical instruments inserted through small abdominal incisions. The ERCP test referred to permits a direct view of the bile drainage duct that serves both the pancreas and gallbladder.
In ERCP testing, a viewing tube is swallowed and enters the small intestine. It's not as terrible as it sounds, and it makes possible the maneuvering of a dye tube to the common duct site. Squirting dye into the duct lights up things for X-rays. You can spot ductal stones that may have hidden from an ordinary gallbladder X-ray.
The name of the test procedure is (take a breath) endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography (ERCP).
The laparascopic gallbladder removal surgery itself is not a gamble. It is safe and swift and requires a smaller incision and a briefer convalescence than does conventional surgery. The prior ERCP test precludes the accidental leaving behind of stones hiding in the duct. (The duct is left in place when the bladder itself is removed.)
QUESTION: I've got arthritis so bad that I cannot do the treadmill walking you have to do for a stress test. My doctor says no problem. He wants to give me a dipyridamole test. Hope it's spelled right. He says with it I won't have to run or walk. Please explain. - Mrs. V.A.
ANSWER: Dipyridamole is the drug you will be given for this test. It expands arteries - so long as the arteries are normal and not obstructed, as with cholesterol/fat buildup.
After you take the drug, you are given thallium, which makes the arteries more distinct on scans. It shows whether the arteries have expanded and whether blood flow to the heart has increased in response to the dipyridamole. It is a good way to check circulation in those who cannot take the physical stress test.
1991 North America Syndicate Inc.