This website invites you to converse with John Reginald Dykers Jr., M.D., who practices medicine in Chatham County, North Carolina, grew up in Jacksonville, Florida (where he played football and tennis at the Bolles School), graduated from Davidson College and then from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
After decades of practicing medicine, he's learned a few things. This site's main feature (below) is his blog, where John says what he thinks, but enjoys anyone who has a better argument. As he says, "Learning something new requires recognizing that what you used to know ain't so!"
In 2009-2010, John has been concerned about health-care reform. Click here to read the Medical Care Reinvention Act he wrote 10 years ago.
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| JRD in Santa Cruz |
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H1N1 Flu advice:
For this 2009-2010 flu season, good health starts with good sleep and healthy eating. Flu viruses can remain infectious on surfaces for hours after someone with droplets on their hands touches a doorknob or chair arm or stair railing. So wash your hands & clean surfaces. Carry alcohol-based hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes.
Another key was to get flu vaccine last fall. Remember: if you were vaccinated last year but got sick, you likely needed flu vaccine to boost your immune system. Up to now, most cases have been handled by sufferers' immune systems.
Help yourself if you get flu. Quickly take your temperature. Don't take ibuprofen or Tylenol until you take your temp to determine if you have fever. If you have a fever, ISOLATE yourself. Stay away from others until a FULL 24 hours AFTER your temp returns to normal. Diagnosis is easy: You have a fever (even a small one), muscles ache, you may have a headache and sore throat, perhaps diarrhea or vomiting (not everyone gets these last 2 symptoms). You probably sneeze and cough.
The virus is contagious. We have no cure. Vaccine prevents acquiring a virus. Vaccine is NOT a cure if you get a virus. The "cure" is time, sleep, liquids (lots of water and soup). However, IF you have a hard time BREATHING, a fever of 103 or higher, or cough up yellow-green sputum, GO to a doctor. You may have treatable complications -- such as pneumonia or a bacterial sinus infection.
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All work here, unless otherwise noted, is original work by Dr. John R. Dykers Jr. All Rights Reserved. 2009-2010.
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