You may know it as heartburn – that burning sensation you get in your chest, often at night and often after a heavy meal. But its clinical name is Acid Reflux and when it becomes more than an occasional nuisance, it may cause serious complications and lead to much more serious diseases. In this post to HealthConnection.TV, the U.T. Health Science Center at Tyler’s Dr. Bola Olusola talks about recognizing, treating and avoiding Acid Reflux disease.

What is acid reflux and what causes it? (first question)

It seems lime more people than ever suffer with acid reflux. How common is it? (skip to 1:10)

There are many drugs to treat acid reflux — Pepto-Bismol, Pepcid AC, Zantac, Prilosec, Prevacid, Nexium — how do you choose which one will work best? (skip to 1:53)

When is acid indigestion serious enough to warrant seeing a doctor? (skip to 4:12)

How is chronic acid indigestion treated? (skip to 4:36)

Can what feels like acid indigestion actually be something more serious? (skip to 7:15)

Are there risks attendant to taking daily medications like Prilosec or Nexium for an extended period of time? (skip to 8:39)

What are the risks attendant to leaving acid reflux untreated? (skip to 10:22)

Is it possible for someone to still have acid reflux even after taking daily medication? (skip to 12:24)

What are some practical steps that can be taken to avoid or reduce acid reflux? (skip to 13:18)

Of all the things that can rob you of a long, healthy life, none looms larger than diabetes. From blindness to the loss of limbs to the high cost of the nation’s health care bill, diabetes looms large. In this post to HeatlhConnection.TV, the U.T.Health Science Center at Tyler’s Dr. David Shafer talks about recognizing and acting on risk factors for diabetes.

Nearly 26 million children and adults in the United States, 8.3 percent of the population, have been diagnosed with diabetes. Has the number always been this high? (first question)

The American Diabetes Association estimates that in addition to the 8.3 percent of the population that is diagnosed with the disease, another seven percent is undiagnosed. How do you have diabetes and not know it? (skip to 1:21)

Another alarming statistic tells us that there are 79 million people who are pre-diabetic. What does pre-diabetic mean? (skip to 2:06)

How do you test for pre-diabetes? (skip to 3:00)

If you have pre-diabetes, is diabetes inevitable? (skip to 3:31)

Sixty percent of all non-traumatic lower limb amputations occur in people with diabetes. If you have diabetes, what is the likelihood that you will lose a toe or a foot or a leg to amputation? (skip to 4:41)

What is the connection between diabetes and the risk for lower extremity amputation? (skip to 5:43)

Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults age 20 to 74. Why? (skip to 6:38)

Nearly 13 percent of African-Americans and nearly 12 percent of Hispanics have diabetes but only 7.1 percent of the white population is diabetic. Why the difference? (skip to 7:50)

One in three children that were born in 2010 will develop diabetes during their lifetimes. How do we reverse this shocking trend? (skip to 9:24)

Recognizing the impact of obesity on the risk for diabetes and recognizing diabetes’ impact on the cost of health care, if we as a society went back to weighing what we did in the 1950s and 1960s, what impact would that have on the nation’s overall health care bill? (skip to 10:52)

If your body is deficient in Vitamin D, all sorts of health problems can crop up. But in order to fully synthesize Vitamin D, your body needs some time outdoors in the sun. Nurse Practitioner Sally Brown from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler discusses the relationship between Vitamin D and the sun in this edition of HealthConnection.TV.

How much sun is too much? (first question)

What kind of sunscreens are best? (skip to 0:53)

Is it possible to get too little sun? (skip to 1:23)

What is the connection between Vitamin D and sun exposure? (skip to 2:04)

Do sunscreens inhibit Vitamin D absorbtion? (skip to 2:48)

What foods contain Vitamin D? (skip to 3:29)

Should we be taking a Vitamin D supplement and if so, how much? (skip to 3:48)

Can not getting enough sun exposure lead to long-term health problems? (skip to 4:33)

Taking all of these issues into consideration, what is your best advice with respect to Vitamin D? (skip to 5:16)

A big part of what makes a man a man is the testosterone that circulates in his body. But as men age, testosterone production by the body decreases, leading to health complications and a potential loss in quality of life. In this post to HealthConnection.TV, the U.T. Health Science Center at Tyler’s Dr. Monte Smith discusses diagnosing and treating low testosterone in men.

How does testosterone affect the male body? (first question)

What is testosterone deficiency and what causes it? (skip to 0:54)

Are there obvious symptoms attendant to testosterone deficiency? (skip to 2:20)

Why does testosterone decrease with age? (skip to 3:26)

How is testosterone deficiency diagnosed? (skip to 4:25)

How is testosterone deficiency treated? (skip to 4:58)

Are there side effects attendant to testosterone replacement therapy? (skip to 6:01)

What are the risks attendant to testosterone replacement therapy? (skip to 7:27)

Are there risks attendant to leaving testosterone deficiency untreated? (skip to 8:31)

What about over-the-counter products we see and hear advertised for treating testosterone deficiency? Do they work and are they safe? (skip to 9:20)

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – known by its initials COPD – is a progressive disease of the lung that is without cure. Untreated, the lungs become increasingly unable to effectively move air, making it difficult to supply the body with proper levels of oxygen. Though there is no cure, there are treatments and therapies that can have a significant impact on both the length and quality of a COPD sufferer’s life. U.T. Health Science Center at Tyler pulmonologist Dr. Eli Azzi discusses COPD in this edition of Health Connection.

What is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD? (first question)

How common is COPD? (skip to 1:03)

What are the causes of COPD? (skip to 1:55)

What are the symptoms of COPD? (skip to 2:59)

How is COPD diagnosed? (skip to 3:53)

What are the long-term consequences of COPD? Is there a cure? (skip to 5:10)

How is COPD treated? (skip to 6:07)

Does exercise help with COPD? (skip to 7:37)

Are there any promising treatments for COPD on the horizon? (skip to 8:25)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently retired the long-standing “food pyramid”dietary guideline in favor of the new “Choose My Plate” program. University of Texas Health Science Center Registered Dietician Erin Langewisch joins us to discuss the new Choose My Plate program on this post to HealthConnection.TV.

What is the new Choose My Plate program about? (first question)

Why was the Choose My Plate program developed? (skip to 0:49)

What are the most significant differences between the old food pyramid concept and the Choose My Plate program? (skip to 1:26)

The Choose My Plate program is built on three concepts; balancing calories, foods to increase and foods to decrease. What do these three concepts mean? (skip to 2:30)

Now that the Choose My Plate concept has been out for a few weeks, it is drawing criticism. Among those criticisms are the belief that Choose My Plate is over-simplified, that it excludes healthy fats, that it visually implies drinking only one glass of milk and that it doesn’t differentiate between healthy proteins and those that should be avoided. From the perspective of a Registered Dietician, what is your opinion of the Choose My Plate program? (skip to 4:32)

We are bombarded with ads and infomercials and websites from so-called “experts” on nutrition telling us how we should be eating. How do we know to whom we should listen? (skip to 5:54)

Are there easy-to-understand and easily obtained resources on nutrition that you can recommend?

In your opinion, if Americans followed the guidelines set forth in the Choose My Plate program, what impact would doing so have on our use of the health care system? (skip to 7:15)

We’re generally told to cut down on the amount of fat in our diets but there are some fats that are actually essential. One such fat is Omega-3 fatty acids. In this post to HealthConnection.TV, U.T. Health Science Center Cardiologist Dr. Dudley Goulden talks about Omega-3 and how to get it in your diet for the benefit of your heart.

What are Omega-3 fatty acids? (first question)

Doesn’t fat cause heart disease? (skip to 0:39)

What is the connection between Omega-3 fatty acids and heart health? (skip to 1:08)

Are there other health benefits to Omega-3 fatty acids? (skip to 1:46)

What foods contain Omega-3 fatty acids? (skip to 2:16)

Do we get enough Omega-3 fatty acids in what we eat? (skip to 3:11)

Are fish oil supplements that contain Omega-3 effective in improving heart health? (skip to 3:44)

Should we take fish oil supplements? (skip to 4:25)

Are all fish oil supplements created equal? (skip to 5:16)

How much fish oil supplement should one take? (skip to 6:11)

How much is too much? Are there dangers to having too much Omega-3 in your system? (skip to 6:53)

If one carefully follows the recommendations regarding Omega-3 fatty acids, how effective will such a regimen be in reducing the risk for heart disease? (skip to 7:29)

Many of us got allergy shots as kids or take allergy shots as adults. Aside from the discomfort of getting a shot, there is also the inconvenience of having to visit a doctor’s office or clinic. There is now an alternative to taking allergy immuno-therapy by injection. The U.T. Health Science Center at Tyler’s Dr. Jonathan Buttram discusses a safe alternative to allergy shots in this post to HealthConnection.TV.

What is sublingual therapy or allergy drops? (first question)

How are the drops administered? (skip to 0:36)

How does it work and is it safe? (skip to 0:48)

Are drops as effective as allergy shots? (skip to 1:23)

Do allergy drops work for everyone? (skip to 1:41)

Is the success rate for drops different that for treatment using shots? (skip to 2:00)

How long is the treatment using drops effective as compared to shots? (skip to 2:29)

What are the financial benefits to using drops as opposed to allergy shots? (skip to 2:59)

Is there a higher rate of patient compliance with treatment using drops as opposed to allergy shots? (skip to 3:37)

How can someone find out if he or she might be a candidate for allergy drops? (skip to 4:00)

If you had the chicken pox as a child, the virus may yet come back to haunt you. When it does, instead of being called chicken pox, it will be called shingles. Shingles can manifest as a rash limited to one side of the body and be accompanied by pain that is sometimes long-lasting and severe. In this post to HealthConnection.TV, the U.T. Health Science Center’s Dr. Wyn Andrews discusses diagnosing, treating and preventing shingles.

What is shingles? (first question)

Why do some people who have had chicken pox develop shingles and others don’t? (skip to 0:51)

Are some people at greater risk for developing shingles? (skip to 1:26)

Is shingles contagious? (skip to 2:09)

What are the symptoms of shingles? (skip to 4:05)

How is shingles diagnosed? (skip to 3:25)

What is the treatment for shingles? (skip to 4:05)

How long does a case of shingles last? (skip to 4:35)

Why do some people experience such intense pain when they have shingles? (skip to 5:02)

Are there any comfort measures that can be taken at home for shingles? (skip to 5:39)

Does shingles have any long-term complications? (skip to 6:07)

Is there any way to prevent getting shingles? (skip to 6:59)

When the body doesn’t use the insulin it naturally produces in an efficient manner, it’s called insulin resistance and it’s the first step on the road to diabetes. Physician Assistant and Certified Diabetes Educator Gerald Brown discusses insulin resistance in this edition of Health Connection.

What is insulin and what role does it play in the body? (first question)

What is insulin resistance? (skip to 0:45)

What causes insulin resistance? (skip to 1:10)

Who is at risk for developing insulin resistance? (skip to 1:40)

What health problems can insulin resistance cause? (skip to 2:10)

Do all people with insulin resistance automatically have diabetes too? (skip to 2:37)

What are the symptoms of insulin resistance? (skip to 3:10)

How is insulin resistance diagnosed? (skip to 3:20)

How is insulin resistance treated? (skip to 3:51)

Are there lifestyle choices that can be made that will reduce the chances of developing insulin resistance? (skip to 4:13)

What foods should we eat more of and what foods should we avoid if we suffer with insulin resistance? (skip to 4:53)

Can children have insulin resistance? (skip to 5:16)

Can insulin resistance be reversed or cured? (skip to 5:40)