World-class pediatrician Perri Klass, MD, co-host of Doctor Radio’s weekly pediatrics show On Call for Kids, hosts the Doctor Radio “Back to School Labor Day marathon,” introducing each segment and sharing her own wisdom and tips on getting through the return to school days. As a mother herself who learned from doing before she started tutoring others as a pediatrician, she will dispense her knowledge on all aspects of beginning the school year from back to school medical exams to making new friends, separation anxieties, plus how to deal with allergies, head lice, cuts, scrapes and bumps, getting enough sleep, eating nutritiously and what to do about those phantom tummy aches on test days.

24 hours on Labor Day, September 6

The Back to School Marathon will feature advice, tips and helpful hints from a variety of Doctor Radio’s shows, including:

Child psychiatrist Jess Shatkin, MD and Psychologist Lori Evans, PhD co-hosts of the weekly About Our Kids show, discussing the stress of returning to school, the internet, texting, homework and teacher’s first impressions.

Pediatrician Perri Klass, MD, on back to school checkups for students of all ages from pre-schoolers to college.

Orthopedic surgeon Ramesh Gidumal MD, co-host of the weekly sports medicine/orthopedics show, on how to deal with and avoid back problems from heavy backpacks

Pediatrician Dan Rausch, MD, co-host of On Call for Kids, on how to stay safe during school sports and treating injuries such as concussions.

Andrew Rubin, VP, Clinical Affairs, NYU Langone Medical Center, host of the weekly Health Care Connect show, on how to choose the right health coverage for college students

Veteran journalist Perri Peltz, host of Doctor Radio Reports, on raising teens: from hormones to honor roll

Perri Klass, MD along with Samantha Heller, host of Doctor Radio’s weekly nutrition show, on eating healthy for healthier grades.

How many times have you remembered something to ask your doctor — after you leave the office? And do you know what you should be asking a new specialist? That’s why world-class physicians on Doctor Radio have created these printable lists: 7 Essential Questions to Ask Your Doctor. Simply download the documents and bring along on your doctor visit.



7 Essential Questions Collection

General Practitioner

Pediatrician

OB/GYN

Plastic Surgeon

Urologist

Cardiologist

Pulmonologist (Lung Specialist)

Psychiatrist

Rehabilitation Doctor

FAQ by Dr. Fred Feit
Interventional cardiologist, Director of NYU Langone Medical Center’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab Host of a weekly heart health show on SIRIUS XM’s Doctor Radio (Wednesdays 6 am & 4 pm ET).

• It is a serious but routine procedure
  
• The procedure does not require a chest incision
  
• The procedure is performed by inserting a thin tube (catheter) over a guide wire via a needle puncture (akin to an i.v.) of the femoral artery in your groin. Contrast material is injected through the catheter after it has been advanced directly into the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart. Under x-ray guidance blockages in the arteries due to the buildup of plaque can be seen.
  
• Once the blockage is identified, a tiny guide wire is placed through the catheter across the blockage. Then a small balloon catheter is positioned at the blockage and the stent (cylindrical metal scaffold) is deployed to restore a wide channel for blood flow.
  
• It takes about 20 minutes to do the diagnostic procedure and usually 20 to 90 to deploy the stent.
  
• The blockages are caused by a buildup of plaque. Risk factors for the development of plaque include poor diet, genetics, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure and elevated LDL-cholesterol
  
• The procedure is generally quite safe, with a 30-day mortality in NY State of less than 1% in all cases, including emergencies such as acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).
  
• The vast majority of patients are discharged the day following the procedure.
  
• Most people walk into the hospital and walk out within 2 days.
  
• About 1 million are performed annually in the United States
  
• Currently,there are approximately 2500 coronary artery stenting procedures performed annually at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Dr. Dolores Malaspina, psychiatrist, NYU Langone Medical Center

You need to be aware of change in your child:

• Decline in school
  
• New sets of friends
  
• Changes in the types of clothing they like to wear and the music they like to listen to can show more of an attachment to a type of a drug culture.
  
• Real shifting in their values and their willingness to talk to you
  
• Irritability that can be sometimes be extreme
  
• Early drug use can start with alcohol, which you can smell on your kid’s breath.
  
• Loss of motivation
  
• During the time kids are high they can be more paranoid

How to talk to your children about your prior drug use:

CALLER: "I have two daughters, 14 and 13, and they’re just starting to be exposed to this challenge. And I was wondering what I should say to my kids if they ask if I’ve ever smoked pot or was exposed to this kind of thing?"

DR. MALASPINA: "First of all, be honest with your children. Hopefully you’re having an ongoing dialogue before these ages so you’ve established a comfort in communication. Find out what are your kids actually doing, what’s important to them, what’s happening? And if they say to you, 'did you use drugs?' you say, 'Yes I did. I wish I’d known then what science has taught us in the meantime about the real risks and consequences.'"

Should you smoke pot with your kids at home?

"I think that that is such a problem. I’ve heard people say that very often, and it’s the wrong message. It’s absolutely the wrong message. There’s evidence out there that marijuana is one of the biggest [precursors] of later schizophrenia and psychosis, possibly more than other drugs. There are long-term risks to this and I discourage any parent from saying 'we’ll smoke together.'"

DR. CARISE, MD. Chief Clinical Officer, Phoenix House: Inventive ways children hide drug purchases from their parents.

"Ecstasy dealers will bill in ringtones or other things so that the parents will not know what it was that was purchased. The bill won’t come in saying ‘pharmacy.’ Others will also send you 5 or 8 or 10 pills, and you don’t have to pay them, but if you like the pills, you pay them, then they’ll send you 16 or 20, and if you pay for those they’ll send you more. It really is very much like a drug deal."


John Gilbride, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Field Division: Tips for Parents.

• Talk is very important. Talk to your kids. Be involved with their lives. Yes, they’re going to push back but they want that [and] they need that structure. They want to know that someone cares about them. You need to be involved.
  
• If there are packages showing up at the house that you didn’t order [be aware] ... It’s your house — take a look at those packages.
  
• Make sure you know what your credit card is being used for. There are ways they could be charging [drugs to your credit card] and it’s charged as a ringtone for something that they ordered.
  
• Secure your medicine cabinet, the same way we do with a liquor cabinet. Make sure these abuse substances are secure.
  
• Talk to your kids early and often. Be involved in their lives. Parenting is hard. They’re going to push back without a doubt, but you need to stay the course. You love them, you don’t want them to get hurt — so you need to stick with it.
  
  
  

All tips and comments were originally broadcast on the special, Doctor Radio Reports: Is Your Kid High? Friday, January 22, 2010.

Host Dr. Billy Goldberg talked with Dr. Stephen Rennard, M.D. of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who took his wife’s family chicken soup recipe into his lab and discovered that it did slow cold symptoms.

Print the Recipe *

*(note from Dr Marc Siegel, M.D, medical director of Doctor Radio: Do not add salt if you have been diagnosed with hypertension or heart disease!)