Life

Animals need fresh water daily

DEAR HELOISE: My vet told me to make certain that my dog has fresh water every day. The big water bowl is in the kitchen, which is inside my house, so why does he need fresh water daily? — Joyce F., in Arcadia, Florida Joyce, your dog’s saliva and germs contaminate the water that he drinks. If you leave this water for three or four days, bacteria multiplies hour after hour. Then there’s also your average amount of dust and loose hair that floats into the water. And if other animals are drinking from the same bowl, then their bacteria is present as well. Before you know it, the ...

Travel can help to facilitate healthy aging

The adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” may be true, but for seniors, enjoying that apple at a hotel or on a cruise may be even more healthy than having it at home. Travel can be an important component of healthy aging. Travel provides many benefits across multiple areas of ...

Tart cherry juice can help ease arthritis pain

Q. Your article on glucosamine increasing the chance of dementia progressing caught my attention. But it also made me feel smug. I stopped taking glucosamine with chondroitin when I discovered that taking dark cherry juice daily works better for my joint pain. It was an article here on People’s Pharmacy that inspired me to try it. Now I have no more knee pain and much better flexibility. It has also helped the arthritis in my fingers. A. How wonderful that you have found a natural way to alleviate your joint pain. A double-blind randomized trial conducted more than a decade ago ...

Thursday evening TV

To Your Good Health: Inquires about back pain devices

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 77-year-old woman with degenerative disc disease. I had an L4 microdiscectomy surgery in 2020, but I still have chronic pain in my lower back. Although I do core strengthening exercises with physical therapy (which helps), I’m still in daily pain. I’ve been seeing advertisements for multifidus muscle-strengthening devices, such as NeuroMD and ReliveX. What’s your opinion on this type of exercise device? — C.K. ANSWER: I think that better non-pharmacologic therapies are needed for back pain, and the theory of electrical stimulation to strengthen the ...

‘Bang Bang’ takes aim at The Playhouse Downtown

New Castle, Pa., native Ingrid Ullrich traveled the world performing on cruise ships and with renowned organizations such as Cirque du Soleil. Those opportunities stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic and then she suffered a hip injury while teaching dance. “I sadly, unfortunately, ...