Your Good Health: Supplements and a precancer scan wrack up large bills

Dear Dr. Roach: I’m 65 and in good health. I’m only on a low-dose cholesterol medication and a blood pressure medication. I also have laryngopharyngeal reflux. I went to a functional doctor and was sold $350 worth of supplements to do a 21-day cleanse/clean-eating/vegan-type diet. She said I would then need to go get a full blood panel afterward. She also wants me to get a whole body precancer scan, which is $750 and isn’t coverd by insurance. Insurance doesn’t cover all the supplements either.

A plant-based diet, in combination with a regular moderate-to-vigorous exercise program, helps most people reduce their need for cholesterol and blood pressure medications. Diet and lifestyle modification are also the first-line treatments for LPR reflux in adults. I also do not recommend whole body imaging scans to diagnose cancer, as the evidence is clear that these are more likely to diagnose incidental findings that will never bother you, rather than diagnosing a problem early. It may take much time, worry and expense to prove this. I don’t know which blood tests she is recommending, but it may be completely appropriate to reexamine cholesterol and other blood tests after a major change in diet and lifestyle.

Dear Dr. Roach: I understand there are multiple kinds of anesthetic, and I was wondering which would be best for my husband who is 85 and getting a shoulder replacement?Choice of anesthetic is firmly in the realm of the anesthesiologist whose expertise is in this very issue. Because older adults tend to metabolize many anesthetic agents slower than young adults, anesthesiologists adjust the agents they use and their doses based on a person’s age and many other medical characteristics.

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