Joseph Gomes

Hi, I'd prefer to answer a revised version of the question to state, "Can bronchitis be treated without antibiotics?" Rather than "Can I treat...", as I would not recommend that you self-diagnose or treat for any serious medical condition. Best to leave that job to the experts.

It would kinda be like if I asked, "can I fix the transmission in my car?" The answer would prob be something like, theoretically, can someone fix their transmission, Yes. But should you (as in "me") fix a cars' transmission? The answer would be a resounding "hell no". That is, not if I wish to drive the thing ever again. But I digress.

But back to the question: a short and sweet answer is that yes, bronchitis can be treated without antibiotics. The more nuanced response however, is that although the vast majority (~90%) of acute bronchitis is caused by viral illness, there is still the approximate 10% or so that can be bacterial.

So, by far most cases of bronchitis are treated with "suppportive care" (i.e. medicines and other interventions aimed to reduce symptoms while the body takes care of its own healing process). Rather than with the use of antibiotic.

Hi, anemia can be thought of as "low blood levels". To clarify, by that I don't necessarily mean low blood "volume", but rather components within the blood that can affect the body's ability to carry and deliver oxygen to the brain, heart and all other cells, organs and soft tissues. There are many types of anemia. For example, there is a type of anemia associated with acute blood loss. A "blood loss anemia" is treated very differently, say from Anemia of Chronic Disease or from anemia's caused by vitamin b12/folate deficiencies.

So I'd recommend getting clarification from your health care provider regarding your particular type of anemia and how to best treat it,

Hi, great question. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects a little more than 1 in every 7 adults in the United States. Its very common and is a major contributor to chronic morbidity and mortality in our country. There are many conditions which can lead to either the cause of or the progression of CKD. Some of those include: blood pressure (hypertension), blood sugar control (i.e. prediabetes, diabetes), as well many associated medications (i.e NSAID class of medicaitons) that with chronic use can also increase the risk for CKD progression. So, knowing what can cause the condition, we can predict ways to help reduce those factors from showing up in the first place.

Hi, I'd be curious to know why you think you have "poor heart health".
But in general, diet, exercise, blood pressure control, maintaining a healthy weight for your body type etc can all help to maintain or even improve (in some cases) ones overall heart health.

For further reading, I'd recommend looking into something called an ASCVD score, which is a tool we use in medicine to help determine an individual's overall predictive risk for developing heart attack or stroke over time. This score can then be used to discuss with your doctor to help determine whether certain measures should be taken now in order to protect yourself for years to come.

Hi, great question. Acid reflux can of course be managed medically with prescription medicine, but it is often times best to first make lifestyle modifications prior to even considering pharmacotherapy.

I’ll bullet-list some items below:

• Bite Size. Yeah. Bite size. We often, quite literally, “bite off more than we can chew. Large bites often hand in hand with:

• Chewing. What did yo momma s’plain you? Gotta chew your food. Large bites and inadequate chewing forces the stomach cells to produce MORE stomach acid. So guess where all that extra acid goes? You guessed it. Right up your “throat”, causing the characteristic burning sensation acid reflux is known for.

• What else? Lying flat (supine) right after a meal. Lying flat (anatomically speaking) makes it easier for acid to reflux up.

Which is why, after your next Thanksgiving Turkey dinner (or Tofurkey, Beef Jerky, whatever) that you sit upright for at least 20 mins after the meal.

Take care!

Hi, great question. Acid reflux can of course be managed medically with prescription medicine, but it is often times best to first make lifestyle modifications prior to even considering pharmacotherapy.

I’ll bullet-list some items below:

• Bite Size. Yeah. Bite size. We often, quite literally, “bite off more than we can chew. Large bites often hand in hand with:

• Chewing. What did yo momma s’plain you? Gotta chew your food. Large bites and inadequate chewing forces the stomach cells to produce MORE stomach acid. So guess where all that extra acid goes? You guessed it. Right up your “throat”, causing the characteristic burning sensation acid reflux is known for.

• What else? Lying flat (supine) right after a meal. Lying flat (anatomically speaking) makes it easier for acid to reflux up.

Which is why, after your next Thanksgiving Turkey dinner (or Tofurkey, Beef Jerky, whatever) that you sit upright for at least 20 mins after the meal.

Take care!

Treatment for Pneumonia depends on the type of Pneumonia diagnosed. Also depends on the individuals preexisting conditions (if applicable). There’s viral pneumonia. There’s also bacterial pneumonia, there’s even Fungal pneumonia to name a few. They’re all treated according to the aforementioned features (and more).

Hi, yes, there are tons of “natural” approaches to HTN. Some of the more “natural-est” approaches is lifestyle modification. The answer is not always to do something extra, but to sometimes take a step back and perhaps reconsider some of the current practices and make adjustments at the most fundamental layers first.

The big players? Food. Drink. Exercise. Sleep.

The Basics:

Food: low salt diet

Drink: energy drinks are all bad for blood pressure. *Key Rec* don’t underestimate the influence from Alcohol.

Exercise/Sleep: goes without saying that these are important.

Hope that helps

Hi, CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) stage 1 is the stage which describes the most baseline level of kidney health. It was developed by The National Kidney Foundation's (NKF) Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) as a way to describe the filtering ability of the kidneys. CKD Stage 1 can be something to pay attention to (particularly if there are current risk factors for renal decline, but it could also just be a label being used to describe the norm.
So, assuming there’s actual reason for concern, most important would be to try to figure out what caused the CKD in the first place? Was it high blood pressure? Diabetes? Etc? Figuring which other players may be involved can help not only determine the cause, but also assist with the intervention selection (if needed).

Yes. Acupuncture is actually BEST when used to treat chronic medical conditions (including chronic pain).