Many of our patients have issues with heartburn that can affect their diet and aspects of their everyday life. These five tips could help in getting your heartburn under control. As always, make an appointment with your healthcare provider if you are unable to control your symptoms with over the counter medications.

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20484802,00.html

Thursday December 8, 2011  5:30 – 8:00 pm.

LIMITED SEATING. YOU MUST RSVP.

Join my staff and I for appetizers and refreshments to see first hand how the non-surgical Coolsculpting Freeze Technology can get rid of love handles and belly fat. This is a unique opportunity to witness the non-surgical, FDA-approved treatment for a dramatic reduction of belly fat.

Basically, It Is Non-Surgical Liposuction

No scalpel, needles, anesthesia, or down time from work. It works by killing fat cells with a new “freeze” technology. The body absorbs the dead fat cells and within two to four months you will see up to 25 percent of your body fat gone from the treated area. You can eliminate even more with multiple treatments.  For before and after pictures click here.

20% Discount If You Sign Up For The Procedure At The Event

There is no obligation to buy but if you sign up at the event you’ll get a 20% discount for a future treatment.  We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, December 8, 2011 between 5:30 and 8:00 pm!  Space is limited so you must RSVP at 404-888-0228.

Yours in good health,

Dr. T. Douglas Gurley

Date:  Thursday, December 8, 2011

Time:  5:30-8:00 p.m  Seating Limited.  YOU MUST RSVP.  Thanks!

Place:  Our medical practice in StudioPlex.  659 Auburn Avenue, Suite 156

RSVP:  404-888-0228.

Do you want to look and feel better for the Holiday Season and 2012? Do you to lose your love handles or smooth out those wrinkles?

We are having several events throughout the month of December that you may be interested in:

- We are having a LIVE CoolSculpting demonstration at the office on Thursday, December 8th starting at 5:30. If you haven’t heard of this fat reducing, non-invasive procedure, please make plans to come see us that night. It was featured on Dr. Oz just last week. Also, if you book a procedure that night, you will receive a 20% discount! Appetizers and refreshments will be provided. Make sure to call us at (404) 888-0228, as space is limited for this one-time event and promotion.

- Also, if you are interested in getting any fillers, we currently have a special on Radiesse through December. If you buy one 1.5 cc syringe, you can get a 0.8 cc syringe absolutely free! There is still time to look even better for all of your holiday parties!

- Xeomin is a new product that is used for wrinkles just like Botox. It is just as effective and costs 10% less! We are currently offerring this product. Call us today and set up a consultation!

Even though swim suit season is over, there is never a good time of the year to pack on extra pounds. Maintenance diet and exercise throughout the fall and winter will make it easier to look great in that swim suit next year. Check out this slide show of delicious, fat fighting foods that will help you stay trim year round!

http://www.webmd.com/diet/slideshow-fat-fighting-foods

http://www.chron.com/default/article/Medical-schools-teaching-little-about-gay-health-2157451.php

If you are a smoker, you have probably been told by family, friends, your spouse and your healthcare providers for years that you need to stop. It is definitely a difficult, personal process that demands a lot of energy, strength and support. This slideshow from WebMD has some great tips on how to start your journey to be a non-smoker.

http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/slideshow-13-best-quit-smoking-tips-ever

The FDA has recently approved the second one-pill, once-a-day regimen for HIV treatment. The drug is called Complera, and has three drugs in one pill. It is an option for newly-diagnosed HIV patients, or for patients who have not yet been on another medication regimen. It is a very exciting time in HIV research, as there is often new information and treatment options being released.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232561.php

A new study shows that there may be an addictive component to indoor tanning. The use of tanning beds continues to increase despite documented risks of premature aging and skin cancer.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Addictions/28029?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=WC&userid=366726

Many of my patients have asked me about the benefits and risks of colon cleansing.  I’m a fan of complementary alternative medicine as long as there is clinical evidence that it works and causes no harm.  The latest study quoted in WebMD.com isn’t very encouraging.  Here’s a quote from the article:

“Colon cleansing, promoted as a natural way to boost well-being, has no proven benefits and may be risky, according to a new report.

Ranit Mishori, MD, a family medicine doctor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, looked at studies that evaluated colon hydrotherapy or irrigation. She also looked at studies of cleansing by the use of laxatives, teas, and other products taken by mouth or inserted into the rectum.

“If you are a healthy human being, there is no reason to detoxify yourself using these concoctions or colon hydrotherapy,” Mishori tells WebMD.

“The body is designed to detoxify itself,” she says. “There is no need to help the body do that. If you are not a healthy person and have heart disease, diabetes, or kidney disease, definitely don’t do that.”

The study is published in The Journal of Family Practice.”

To read the entire article, including rebuttals from the Association of Colon Hydrotherapy, click here. 

You’re at the gym riding your stationary bike and feel soreness on your testicles.

The pain is getting worse as the movement aggravates the discomfort in this area.  You become alarmed and finish your workout early.  In the shower you are shocked to see a red, tender, swollen area on your sack.

Of course, you panic about what could be the cause.  You immediately recall hooking up with that guy a week ago.

Your gut instinct told you not to trust this guy, but of course you had sex with him anyway.  D/d free?  Right!  But you used a condom, you tell yourself.  However, this does not resolve your fears that you’ve contracted an STD from him.

Without a second thought, you set up an appointment with your doctor for the next day.  After a brief exam, your doctor states that you most likely have contracted MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

He tells you that Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as “staph,” is bacteria commonly carried on the skin, rectum or nose of healthy people without causing any disease.  Sometimes the bacteria don’t cause any problems.

But sometimes it can cause infections.  Infection usually arises when some type of skin injury occurs.  It typically causes a pimple or a boil but can cause more serious infections.

Staph infections can be easily treated with common antibiotics.  However, when the staph becomes resistant to common penicillin antibiotics, it’s called MRSA.

You’re still wondering: How did you get this infection?  You reluctantly confess to the doctor about having casual sex a week ago, feeling sure this had to be the cause.

But your physician begins asking you a lot more questions, interested that you frequent the gym three to four times a week, use the sauna after most workouts – and regularly shave your testicles.

You want to ask, “Don’t you shave yours?”  But you refrain.  He also asks if you’ve been to a bathhouse or used crystal meth.  You said no; well, it had been more than a month ago on a business trip that you stumbled upon that bathhouse in Toronto.

You ask your doctor why he is curious about all of these activities.

He informs you that, during the past 20 years, MRSA has been mostly limited to patients in hospitals or nursing homes. However, recently it has appeared outside this setting.  Although it is not an exclusive MSM (men having sex with men) disease, it is commonly affecting gay men.

You learn that MRSA is contracted through direct or indirect physical contact and not through the air.  Although not a sexually transmitted disease, you could have contracted MRSA through skin-to-skin contact during sex, and skin-to-skin contact appears to be the most likely way to get the infection.  You know you got it from him, you think to yourself.

But MRSA can also be contracted by touching objects contaminated by someone else’s infected skin.  The most likely objects:  Towels and sheets at gyms or bathhouses, benches around whirlpools and in saunas and on sport equipment.  So that is why your doctor needed to ask you those questions.

He tells you he has seen an increase among crystal meth users in his practice, again, likely because of spread of the disease by skin contact, sexual activity and shared needles.

You then ask your doctor how MRSA can be treated.  He tells you that, while MRSA can’t be treated with standard antibiotics, it usually can be treated with oral medication – Bactrim being most common.

He obtains a culture by swabbing the lesion to make sure the medication will be effective in treating the infection.  He tells you that, had you waited any longer before coming in, he most likely would’ve needed to drain the lesion and that, rarely, hospitalization is required.

You learn that MRSA is much more likely to cause disease when there is some compromise to the skin, with this commonly being caused by shaving body parts which can cause micro abrasions.  Ah, shaving your balls!  Also, dry/cracked skin is compromised, which is common in the winter.

Your doctor informs you that you can protect yourself from infections by practicing good hygiene.

He reminds you that you can have totally safe sex and still get this disease.  He applauds you for using condoms!  But he wants to know a few more details about your sexual experience.  Oh, boy, you thought confessions were over!

He asks you if you took a shower after you had sex last week.  You told him that only a warm, wet washcloth was provided to have a quick clean up and then you went straight to the gym to meet your workout partner.  He told you to be sure to wash your hands, body, and genitals thoroughly with soap and water after you have casual sex.

And at the gym it is impossible to prevent all exposure from sports equipment.

He told you to take your own towel to the gym, to take a shower after working out and to keep any abrasions or cuts bandaged or covered.  If you’re sitting on a bench in a sauna or around a whirlpool, you should be sure to sit on your towel.

Maybe that was the cause.  You did follow that cute guy that was eying you into the sauna and sat on the bench without your towel.  But you kept that to yourself.  The doctor told you to wash your gym clothes and towel after each workout and that the same principles apply if you frequent bathhouses.

If your skin gets dry and cracked during winter months, he reminded you to use moisturizer and take tub baths to hydrate your skin.

He told you, since you have an active staph infection, you could prevent spreading by keeping the wound bandaged or covered and washing your hands frequently with soap and warm water, especially after touching the infected area.

After a week of taking medication, you woke up and noticed your sore was completely resolved.  You packed your clean towel and workout clothes and headed straight to the gym.

The moral of the story?  If you get signs of a staph infection, see your doctor as soon as possible.