You might be deficient in vitamin B-12. Although hair loss is not the most serious sign of vitamin B-12 deficiency, it is one possible result. Your diabetes medicine metformin (found in Actoplus Met, Avandamet, Glucophage, Glucovance) and your reflux drug omeprazole (Prilosec) could both contribute to lower levels of vitamin B-12.
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Please ask your doctor to test your B-12 and methylmalonic acid (MMA) levels. If you are deficient, you might need vitamin injections to get back in balance.
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My husband loves hot chili peppers. He puts hot sauce on just about everything — eggs, spaghetti, burgers, vegetables, you name it. But I fear that all this hot stuff could cause an ulcer. Am I worrying needlessly?
Although spicy food is thought to be bad for digestion, there is little data to support this belief. There is even a suggestion that the essence of hot peppers (capsaicin) might be good for combating indigestion (New England Journal of Medicine, March 21, 2002).
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Joe Graedon, a pharmacologist, and Teresa Graedon, an expert in medical anthropology and nutrition, can be reached at http://www.peoplespharmacy.com or care of this newspaper.
