Ask Dr. Marie

I can’t turn on the television or radio or pick up a newspaper without hearing about the new flu strain epidemic. Note: I am calling it the “new flu strain” epidemic rather than the swine flu epidemic. And I confess, although I am not overly alarmed by what we know so far, my public health training has me concerned and intrigued by this story too. As I do countless radio interviews for ABC News on the subject, I find that everyone is asking the same smart questions.

1) Since this flu strain apparently originated in pigs, should we avoid pig products altogether?

Recently I talked about a study on Good Morning America showing that although statins effectively reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, they also appear to reduce patients’ levels of energy and activity. I discussed 5 ways to deal with the problem of low energy or fatigue while on statins. The response was tremendous and I have learned what my own patients have been telling me for some time – not all people tolerate statins without side effects. Complaints of memory problems, fatigue, low energy, muscle weakness were fairly common although with over 13 million users it is hard to know how many people overall suffer.