Blog Archive
You may or may not be surprised by this, but men don’t always like to talk about their feelings, including potential health problems, especially if they’re feeling fine. In fact, a recent national screening discovered that 33% of men don’t think they need an annual physical exam, and 65% of...
Nearly 16 million people in the United States have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with many more not realizing they even have it. COPD is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory disorder that causes airflow in your lungs to be disrupted. Symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, tightness in your chest,...
If your doctor just gave you the news that you have diabetes, you can take comfort in two things. First, you’re not alone. More than 38 million people in the United States have diabetes. 90%-95% of those people have Type 2 diabetes, which occurs when your body doesn’t respond to...
Obesity is a major epidemic in America. The condition, in which excessive accumulation of body fat impairs your health, affects 42% of adults, leading to an annual medical cost due to obesity of $173 billion (in 2019 dollars). It’s also a major risk factor for multiple chronic diseases, leading to...
You wake up in the morning and feel pressure and pain in your ear that wasn’t there the night before. Your kid comes home from school rubbing their ear and complaining that it hurts. In both scenarios, your first thought is that you or your child has an ear infection,...
When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked? If it’s been a few years, you need to get to a doctor and have your blood pressure taken as soon as you can. You may be dealing with hypertension, or high blood pressure, and not know it. In...
The numbers tell the story. Life expectancy for men is five years less than that of women, and men are up to 50% less likely than women to go to the doctor. How, then, do we get men to take their health seriously by instituting preventive health care measures? At...
If you’re noticing pain in one of your joints, you naturally want to fix it, so you must figure out what’s causing your discomfort. To determine the cause, start by looking at the symptoms. Your pain may be constant, or it may come and go. Your joint may feel stiff,...
“Here we go again,” you groan inwardly. “Another ear infection for my kids?!” Or is it? Trying to determine whether your child’s issue is a full-blown ear infection that needs medical attention or some other minor problem you can treat at home can be difficult, even for experienced parents. (Quick...
There it is again. You’ve been wondering if that’s just a tickle in your throat or if it may actually be hurting. You’ve tried to ignore it as long as possible, but it keeps popping up to remind you to pay attention. But how can you know when it’s actually...
You know you’re in shape because you exercise every day. You’re no couch potato. In fact, you’re one of the fittest people in your group of friends. Why did you have high blood pressure the last time you went to the doctor? The answer lies in the fact that there...
You need to lose weight, and you know it. You even want to lose weight. You’ve tried a bunch of different weight loss plans, but all of them fizzle out eventually. You might see some quick results, but you always feel cranky and less than your best self because you’re...
Waking up in the morning with a sore throat is no fun. Your mouth is dry, it hurts to swallow, and you’re not sure if the pain is caused by drainage, an upper respiratory infection, or strep throat. The majority of sore throats are caused by a virus. Only three...
Most people develop more physical issues as they age than when they were younger, including pain in their joints, extra weight around their waist, and blurry vision in their eyes. There’s another physical problem whose likelihood increases as you age that you may have without even realizing it — and...
Pain in your body is a signal that something is wrong. If the pain is acute, it can be dealt with quickly and will be over soon, but if it’s chronic, the pain is long-lasting and will require different strategies. Such is the case for people who suffer from osteoarthritis....
You know diabetes is a serious health condition, but you may not realize that you may be at risk for it. About 96 million American adults (one in three) have prediabetes, where their blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. Here’s the startling...
As flu season approaches, myth season does too. Every year, various myths about immunizations float around, with some taking root in people’s minds. The upshot of these myths is that many people who should be vaccinated to protect themselves from diseases are instead left unvaccinated, increasing their risk of becoming seriously ill....
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects more than 16 million people in the United States annually. It causes millions of visits to the emergency room and requires tens of billions of dollars in healthcare costs every year. Because COPD can lead to severe long-term disability and even early death, you should know...
Believe it or not, summer is fading rapidly, the temperature is starting to drop, and flu season is almost upon us. Here at Physicians Primary Medical Care in San Jose, California, we get common questions about the flu around this time every year. We have compiled a list of these...
Nearly one out of every two adults in the United States has hypertension, and most of them do not have it under control. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, occurs when the force of your blood pumping against the walls of your arteries is too high for too long. Treatment typically...
Immigrating to the United States is a big deal. While there are many rules and regulations to follow, one of the most important parts of the process is the immigration physical. Designed to ensure public safety, the physical itself is fairly routine, but you’ll want to make sure you have...
If you’re looking for a new primary care doctor, you have likely seen offices that specialize in family care, and offices that specialize in internal medicine. While both of those specialties might seem like they would work for you, you may still wonder what the difference is between them. Read...
Gestational diabetes is diabetes first diagnosed in a mother during pregnancy. Just like other types of diabetes, it affects how your body’s cells use sugar (glucose), which leads to high blood sugar that can affect your health. One of the main issues with gestational diabetes is that it can also...
As you live your daily life, your body is doing many, many things you’re not aware of. One aspect of your how your body works is that it relies on hormones to regulate many bodily functions, including things like your sleep cycles, your digestion, and even your sexual health. As...
When you say you need to “go to the doctor,” you’re usually referring to your primary care provider, who addresses your general health and well-being. Primary care is an excellent way to treat ordinary illnesses and catch health problems early, before they become more serious. In addition to treating various...
Diabetes is a general term used to describe diseases that affect the way your body handles blood sugar. All the cells in your body need glucose (sugar) for energy, but sometimes your body doesn’t produce enough insulin (a hormone that enables the sugar to enter the cells), so the sugar...
You see the reminder pop up on your calendar and groan. The time for your annual wellness exam at the doctor has rolled around again, but you don’t want to go. You’re tempted to reschedule or even cancel, and you wonder: how important is this, anyway? Can’t I just skip...
More than 58 million people in the United States have arthritis, and for about 24 million of them, the condition limits their ability to participate in everyday activities. More than one in four of them report severe joint pain. All this arthritis leads to another problem: work disability. The annual...
A diagnosis of arthritis is not the end of your life, but it will change your life in some significant ways. Depending on the severity of your case and the type of arthritis you have, you’ll likely be dealing with significant pain, joint stiffness, and swelling. Seeing one of the...
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 34 million Americans have diabetes. That’s about 10.5% of the US population. In addition, more than 7 million adults whose blood met laboratory criteria for diabetes were not aware they had the condition. Those numbers tell us at least two things:...
You probably know that high blood pressure is bad, but you may not know why or the trouble that high blood pressure can lead to. Your blood is carried throughout your body by a series of blood vessels called veins and arteries. As your blood circulates, it pushes against the...
If your child is one of the 45 million kids playing sports in the United States, you’ve probably thought about the many different ways you can prepare them for their chosen sport: conditioning, individual coaching, drills, weight lifting, and practice, practice, practice. But you may have overlooked one vital piece...
If you’re overweight, chances are you’ve tried to lose weight more than once, and it just hasn’t worked. Maybe you’ve tried the latest diet craze, or maybe you’ve been super determined, but then a few weeks in, you drift back to your old habits. At Physicians Medical Primary Care, we...
More than one in three adults in the United States are overweight, and 17% of kids and adolescents fit in that category as well. These are troubling statistics, especially when you realize that obesity isn’t just a problem itself — it can also lead to all sorts of other health...
It’s no coincidence that the growth of diabetes diagnoses in the United States — approximately 100 million now — has occurred at the same time that one-third of the nation has tipped the scales into obesity. In fact, many in the medical world call the problem “diabesity.” At Physicians Medical...