Why Tetracycline Should Not Be Taken by Pregnant Women

Question: Pregnant women sometimes do get sick. Suppose a pregnant woman needs an antibiotic. Is she permitted to have it?

Answer: Some antibiotics, including penicillin, appear to be safe for use during pregnancy. However, tetracycline should not be used since it causes tooth discoloration in the baby.

sg

Q: Exactly what is plastic surgery? Does it have anything to do with plastic materials doctors use?

A: Plastic surgery is a specialty of medicine that seeks to heal and restore patients with injury, disfigurement or scarring resulting from accidents, disease or birth defects. It includes aesthetic or cosmetic surgery to correct or recontour facial and bodily features not pleasing to the patient. The word plastic, from the Greek, means molding, or giving form and does not refer to the synthetic plastic materials which are sometimes used. Plastic surgery is not limited to skin grafting, although plastic surgeons may use skin grafts in some cases.

Q: If exercise is so good for a person, why do so many people have to go to doctors because they hurt themselves while exercising?

A: Exercise is an important part of any program designed to promote overall good health. That does not mean it has to be strenuous; rather it should be in keeping with the individual’s age and general physical condition.

Some of the injuries to which you refer are not inherent in the exercise but in the person’s approach to it. For example, in my book “Stop Smoking, Lose Weight,” I emphasize the importance of warming up before exercising. A person who starts running without doing some stretching exercises is taking a chance on pulling a muscle or suffering some other injury. Others start out running as if they intend to complete a marathon instead of gradually increasing the distance.

It is this attitude that often results in injury, not the exercise itself.