Diagnosis & Disease Information

An infant’s hand is a good indicator of whether he or she is getting enough milk in the first few days of breast-feeding. A tight fist means the child is hungry, while a relaxed hand with the fingers extended signals a full stomach.—CHERYL HARROW, CRNP-F, IBCLC, Baltimore (98-20)

Q: When considering exercise stress testing for risk stratification in your patients with symptoms suggestive of CAD,be sure to listen for a systolic ejection murmur in the aortic area. Such a murmur is indicative of hemodynamically significant aortic stenosis, which is an absolute contraindication to exercise stress testing. As an alternative, consider ordering an adenosine…

To prevent flushing, eat some applesauce when taking niacin.—Randolph M. Huang, MD, Spring Hill, Fla. (98-18)

One vexing problem for anyone who has had a cholecystectomy is postoperative diarrhea, which can be explosive in every sense of the word. I see a similar problem in selected patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The solution in both instances is once- or twice-daily dosing of cholestyramine (I prefer a “light” formulation). The source…