Monday, April 12th on the Doctor Ira Breite Show on Doctor Radio: Sirius 114 and XM 119

Happy Birthday to Me! Our show this Monday is my birthday show (my third for Doctor Radio!) and, in addition to my eternal quest for more hair, we will cover some aspects of medicine that are relate more to what I am fascinated by, rather than what I actually do.

I always wanted to be a detective. And although I definitely should not have become a police officer, it is possible for doctors to become detectives. Join me and Mark Pendergrast as we talk about his new book: "Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service." The book tells the story of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a division of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and its efforts to discover and fight disease in the US and around the world.

If you've ever wanted to know how they figure out that its "the fish" that made someone sick, you will have to listen to this segment. Call us with you own questions about being a medical detective at 1-877-NYU-DOCS.

As an internist, I write a lot of prescriptions for sleep medicine. It seems that no one in New York City can actually get to sleep at night. But what about those other sleep disorders: you, know, the weird ones...like sleep-eating, sleep walking, and even sleep sex! Join me and Dr. Mark Mahowald, the Medical Director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, as we talk about the strange world of parasomnias!

If you have any sleep questions at all, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Every year I get a little closer to bald and a little closer to doing something about it: but I need to hear from the world's experts on what my options are! Joining me to discuss hair loss is Dr. Robert Bernstein, the Founder of the Bernstein Medical Center for Hair Restoration and Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Columbia University in New York. He developed the Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation and is devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of hair loss.

Call us with any questions about hair loss at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Even on my birthday, I'm still a doctor. We will end the show with "Ask Dr. Ira," where I will answer any questions you may have on any medical topic at all: just give me a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Monday, April 5th on the Doctor Ira Breite Show On Sirius 114 and XM 119: Doctor Radio

Happy Easter and Passover to all. Tomorrow, vacation end, work begins anew, and we have a great show planned for everyone!

Did you eat too much over the holidays? Are you going to eat too much today, without even thinking about it? Join me and Dr. Brian Wansink, the author of the book "Mindless Eating: Why we Eat More Than We Think," and also a professor and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Now that the holidays are over and bathing suit season (ugggg) is just around the corner, its time to portion size. Dr. Wansink and his brother came up with a rather unique way to look at portion size from the early middle ages until now: the clue is in the photo above give you an idea of what they were looking at.

If you have any questions about controlling you eating urges give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Speaking of eating, celiac disease is a burgeoning problem in the United States. I asked my kid if he knew anyone at camp who had problems with bread or wheat: he mentioned the diabetic kid but otherwise knew of no one. But if 1 in 133 people has Celiac, then where do these kids go? Cheryl Gainer, the Nurse at Camp Gilmont in Texas, which hosts a "Great Gluten Escape" every year for kids with Celiac Disease, will tell us! Also joining us with be the camp dietician, Anna Jones, who also works with the Texas Health and Human Service Commission.

If you or a loved one have a kid with celiac disease and you want to offer them a "real" camp experience, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Although Celiac Disease is one of the most common GI disorders, it is far from the only one. Inflammatory Bowel Disease, including Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, can be devastating for patients and their families. Kimberly Frederick, the Vice President of Patient and Professional Services for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, and Nicole Defenbaugh, PhD, the 2009-10 spokes person for the "Celebrating Ulcerative Colitis Success" Campaign and the author of the forthcoming book "Sites of Discovery: A Narrative Journey of IBD Body." We will be talking about living with chronic diesease such as colitis, and of course answering any questions you may have on colitis treatments, support groups for colitis or being an individual with the disease!

We will end the show with Ask Dr. Ira, where you can ask me any questions you have on any medical topics. Thanks to everyone writing with their suggestions for show topics: I hope to have an anemia segment real soon! I would also like to thank prior callers for their feedback to either irabreite@yahoo.com or docs@sirius-radio.com: right or wrong I want to know how I did!

Call me with any medical questions at all at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

PS: I will be on healthy aging on Doctor Radio Monday afternoon...look for the time on my twitter.

Follow me at Twitter.com/Doctorira

Monday, March 29, 2010 on the Doctor Ira Breite Show on Sirius 114 and XM 119: Doctor Radio

Happy holidays to everyone. With the upcoming Easter and Passover seasons, many people have food on their minds. With that in mind, we have a great show, revolving around Irritable Bowel Syndrome, in store for you.

Before getting to IBS, we are going to start with stroke prevention. Dr. Mark Adelman, the Chief of Vascular Surgery here at NYU, will be joining me to talk about surgical ways to prevent stroke, and how a new study shows that a less invasive procedure, carotid stenting, is safe and effective for the same thing. But there are differences, and before deciding which one is right for you learn the facts.

If you have any questions about surgical stroke prevention, carotid surgery or stenting, give us a call. Our phone number is 1-877-NYU-DOCS.

Passover celebrates when the Jews left Egypt: and they left in a hurry! Because of this, they had no time to bake bread, and therefore had only flat dry wafers to eat; otherwise known as matzoh. Unbeknownst to the ancients, matzoh is one of the most constipating foods on Earth, and every year I get a slew of visits because of this. But you don't have to be Jewish to have constipation: its one of the most common reasons that people see a doctor. Dr. Wes Jones, author of "Cure Constipation Now: A Doctor's Fiber Therapy To Cleanse and Heal" will be joining me to answer all of your constipation questions.

If you or a loved one is suffering from constipation, give us call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS and we will be happy to help!

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is sometimes used synonymously with constipation, and while patients with IBS often have constipation, they are not the same. Join me and world IBS expert Dr. Douglas Drossman of the University of North Carolina and the Co-Director of the UNC Center for Functional GI and Motility Disorders as we talk about IBS, functional GI disorders, and an interesting new study showing that shift workers may be at increased risk for this potentially disabling disorder.

If you have been suffering from IBS, now is an opportunity to speak with one of the world's experts on this condition! Call us at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Of course, we will end the show with Ask Dr. Ira, where I will tell you stories from my own office (this is an always exciting "Post Call" Ask Dr. Ira) and answer any medical question you may have at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

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Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome Related to where you are from?

I was on Samantha Heller's Radio Show yesterday talking about IBS and a caller asked me if there was a geographic relationship to the prevelance of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I was stumped. Its a great question because there is a geographic relationship for Crohn's disease: it tends to occur in Urban and Northern areas. So I looked it up. As far as I can tell, the answer is not known. Although IBS is quite prevalent throughout the world (there are studies from Peru, India and Iran that I reviewed), there is no study looking at whether being from a rural area is more (or less) protective than being from an urban area.

If anyone knows of any other research that I may have missed, feel free to leave me a comment with a link.

We will definitely being doing more IBS on the show in the future.

Monday, March 15, 2010 on the Doctor Ira Breite Show on Sirius 114 and XM 119: Doctor Radio!

Hello everybody. I am writing this is in the bowels of Staten Island, where, despite flooding, raining, and pretty much everything wet except a guy with a beard, a boat and lots of animals, one of my kids is playing in a hockey tournament.

Speaking of bowels, we are going to start the show by talking about non-medical treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Jeffrey Lackner, Psy.D, the Director of The Behavioral Medicine Clinic at the Erie County Medical Center, an assistant Professor of Gastroenterology at SUNY Buffalo, and the author of the book "Controlling IBS the Drug Free Way,” will be joining me to talk about his research in treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome using non-medical therapy. I am very excited to have him on to talk about this.

If you have any questions at all about your IBS: particuarly trying to use non pharmaceutical means to treat it, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Bedbugs! Ugggg. And all over. Learn about bedbugs, spiders and other insects that invade your home; and you. Join me and Dr. Louis Sorkin of the American Museum of Natural History as we talk about problems with our six and eight legged neighbors.

If you have a problem with home infestation attacking YOU, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS

Many of you have been wondering about the wrist splint that I've been wearing the past few months. Others have wondered about why their own spouses decided, at the age of 45, to try to learn to snowboard, only to blow out their ACL's. Some people just hurt themselves shoveling snow. Regardless of cause, middle age brings with it a panoply of orthopedic injuries. Join me and Dr. Vonda Wright, orthopedic surgeon and the author of Fitness After Forty, as we talk about injury prevention and staying in shape while rehabbing.

If you have had an orthopedic injury have questions about getting back to yourself, call us at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Of course, we will end the show with Ask Dr. Ira, where you can ask me any question on any medical topic at all...call me at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

You can also email questions of show ideas to docs@sirius-radio.com. Just make sure my name, IRA, is somewhere in there!

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Monday, March8, 2010 on the Doctor Ira Breite Show on Sirius 114 and XM 119: Doctor Radio

What a show! Manuals and lawyers and numbers, oh my! Actually, its all pretty cool.

Before there was the internet, doctor (and many patients) would often consult the Merck Manual. And, despite the internet, the Merck Manuals (yes there are more than one now) continue to thrive in print and on line. Joining me is Dr. Robert Porter, the Editor in Chief of the Merck Manuals. We will be talking about how things have really changed since the manual was first published in 1899.

If you have a story about an old doctor remedy (leeches a favorite of mine) that seems sort of silly nowadays, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

And next, a first on the Doctor Ira Breite Show: a lawyer guest! Don't worry, I haven't gotten soft. Sandra Eskin, JD is the Director of the Food Safety Campaign at the Pew Charitable Trust. She will join us to talk about a very large recall of hydrolyzed vegetable protein: its sounds gross and it turns out its in tons of different foods! Wait till you find out its other name! Food safety is a huge public health and financial problem, and Ms. Eskin will be telling us about the Pew Charitable Trust's efforts in this important issue.

If you have any questions about food safety, give us a call. You have a doctor, a lawyer and an aspiring amateur chef at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Although diabetes is ultimately about people, part of its management involves the following of tons of numbers. From sugar values, to hemoglobin A1c, microalbumin to LDL Cholesterol, there are a lot of digits to keep under control. Joyce Keady, CNP and educator in pediatric and adolescent diabetes at the Joslin Diabetes Center, will be joining us to talk about all of these numbers, as well as a really interesting new study looking at one number in particular: the hemoglobin A1C.

If you have any questions about your diabetes mangement, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

We will of course have Ask Dr. Ira, where you can ask me any question you want on any medical topic at all. Call me at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

You can also email me or Doctor Radio directly at docs@sirius-radio.com for show ideas or specific questions, comments or follow up. Just make sure my name, Ira, is somewhere in the topic line.

Monday, March 1st, 2010 on the Doctor Ira Breite Show on Sirius 114 and XM 119: Doctor Radio

Its a new month, but its the same great show! We have a great show planned for March 1st in honor of the recently completed Olympics . There has been a lot of news recently on strokes and stroke prevention and also about the dangers of abdominal aneurysms, such as that suffered by the father of US 1980 Gold Medalist Jim Craig. What do these two things have in common? The vascular system! Join me and Vascular surgeon Dr. Mark Adelman as we talk about prevention, screening, surgical and non-surgical treatment of this common and important medical problem.

If you or a loved one has a problem with aneurysms, blood clots or wonders about that vauge abdominal pain that you have, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS.

If you've been watching the Olympics, then you realize that it takes a certain kind of somebody to be able to wear a bodysuit if your body mass index is a bit high. But Steven Holcomb, in addition to driving a mean, gold medal winning bobsled and looking sort of stylish in spandex, also suffered from a potentially blinding eye disease called keratoconus. He was treated with a new kind of surgical procedure. Join me and ophthalmologist Dr. Robert Cykiert to talk about this and other problems of the corneas.

If you are having problems with your corneas, or have been told you need a corneal transplant, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Lupus stinks. I don't think there is a better way to describe it. An autoimmune condition, it can cause problems from rashes to kidney failure to brain damage. And treatments have been almost unchanged for years. Join Anca Askanase, MD, of NYU Langone Medical Center's Seligman Center for Advanced Therapeutics as we talk about new therapies for this disease!

If you or a loved one has Lupus, or if you are worried you might, give us a call at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!

Finally, it will be time for ask Dr. Ira, where I can answer any question on any medical topic at all. Remember, if your doctor doesn't have the time, we do!

Call us at 1-877-NYU-DOCS!