Dr. Steve Info: Thursday

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7:00am Segment Info:
Just about everyone has tried an over the counter cough or cold medicine when they're sick, but did you know that about 3 million people between the ages of 12-25 have used these same medicines to get high?

Parents need to know that young people are more likely to abuse cold and cough medicines than LSD or methamphetamine. According to the federal substance abuse and mental health services administration a 2006 survey found that more than 5 percent of teenagers and young adults had misused these drugs.

What's in the cough medicine that gets them high?

It's dextromethorphan, and it's found in more than 140 cough and cold medications. When taken in large amounts, it can cause disorientation, blurred vision, slurred speech and vomiting. The first thing you can do as a parent is not have these medicines in the house in the first place. Studies show they don't really do much to suppress a cough anyway. But still you have to know that your kids can walk into a drugstore and buy this stuff right off the shelf.

In other news, there may be a way for doctors to pick up rare heart problems in athletes.

We often hear of athletes suddenly dying while playing a particular sport or activity. Many times it turns out they have structural heart problems that weren't picked up by doctors.

Now researchers in Italy say abnormal results that can be picked up on electrocardiograms or EKG's may be an early warning sign of these rare heart problems. They studied more than 12,000 young, elite Italian athletes and followed them for nine years. During that time they found 81 athletes that had abnormal EKG’s but no signs of structural heart problems at the time. Five of them went on to develop cardiomyopathies later. One even died.

So what does that mean? Should every student athlete get an EKG before playing sports?

They're not saying that yet, but it may not be a bad idea. Unless you're over 40 or have a history of heart problems, you've probably never had an EKG. If you're like me when i was a kid, there wasn't any kind of significant screening that went on except for a doctor listening to your heart with a stethoscope, and the same is pretty much true today. The researchers are not saying that every kid in school that plays gym needs an EKG, but having a normal EKG can be reassuring to young athletes.

8:00am Segment Info:
Here's a report that's not so shocking. A new study finds most American adults don't protect themselves enough from the sun.

They estimate only two-thirds of adults take precautionary measures... Like wearing sunscreen or limiting their time in the sun. Part of the problem is that people like the way they look with a tan. They don't realize or don't care that they're putting themselves at risk for skin cancer. Which people most at risk? - those under 40, smokers, drinkers, whites and those from the Midwest.

You have to worry about the sun in the winter don't you?

You really do. Sun protection should be a year round thing especially for people who are at risk for skin cancer. In the winter we usually have most of our skin covered, but don't forget your face. It's still a good idea to wear a sunscreen of at least spf 15 for your face.. And even your lips. And stay away from the indoor tanning facilities even if you're planning to go away on vacation and get tan. You're better off using a sunscreen when you get to your destination.

In other news, there's a warning about these "natural" hormones.

In the wake of all the research that proved hormone replacement for women after menopause can be dangerous, so called natural or bio-identical hormones have taken off.

These hormones are made by special "compounding pharmacies" and are marketed as being safe. Now the FDA is clamping down on these pharmacies calling their sales to women as false and misleading and warning them to stop marketing HRT containing Estriol because is has not been approved by the FDA for at any dose for any use.

Does the FDA have jurisdiction over these compounding pharmacies?

There's a court battle going on right now to determine the answer to that question. Oral arguments are expected tomorrow in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The fda is appealing a lower court ruling, which found that they do not have jurisdiction over drug preparations produced by compounding pharmacies.