. great to have you all here. i'm jamie colby. time now for sunday house call. >> welcome for another edition of sunday house call. chairman and professor of neurology and chief of robotics surgery there. i'm talking mark segal. he is also the author of the inner pulse with the secret code of sickness and health. we will do a lot of unlocking of secrets today. >> great to see you. >> we will start with a bold new recommendation from the fda that occurred this past week and they

are asking doctors to cut down on the amount of acetominophen. what does this mean and how dangerous is it? we are talking about liver damage. >> this is important medical news. the fda is reminding most. we are talking to doctors now and do not prescribe any of the medications that is more than 325 milligrams mostly because of liver toxicity. they gave a warning to the manufacturers that half of them went on with the flow and we have medications out there. whether the purpose is vicodin, they all have acetominophen. this therapy that a lot of people don't realize has it and over-the-counter medications. this warns has nothing to do with over the counter. that's going to come in soon.

people have headaches and body aches and flu. they may be taking some of these and in addition they may take tylenol. that causes liver toxicity that has about 22,000 visits to the ir and deaths. one of the biggest toxicities out there is liver failure and liver damage. now, what i want to know is ift only look for it, but terms such as apap. that on the prescription is the acetominoph acetominophen. don't mix with alcohol. that's bad news. the tremendous pressure. >> you get that little bottle. how do you know you can trust your doctor that you are not

overdosing. >> this is why the update is getting strict on this. as david mentioned, they gave a warning already and only half complied. they are not only on the ball with this. they are thinking i'm giving out vicodin and giving out tylenol and codeine. one of the key thingses is if you are getting more than 325 milligrams, that's one tablet. they are clamping down and saying that stuff is the most you can have. >> the most you can have with the other prescription? >> the lowest you can have in a single pill. why? if you are drinking alcohol, it decreases the amount to cause liver failure. if you get it from the cold medications, that doubles it. people will not sit there saying let me calculate how much i got in this day. the magic number is four grams. if you get more than that in a

day, you probably get into liver failure. i don't even want people to know that number. what i want them to know is that acetominophen accumulates and it's bad for your liver. you can get into trouble. what you need to know is which products have acetominophen in them and which don't. >> why don't they take it off the market. migraine medications and cold medications will have a seat min nen them. >> they should remove it entirely if it's more than that. >> you were saying, we don't want people to get scared. we wanted to tell them that tylenol when it's taken by the guidelines, it's safe. you get into trouble if you take extra strength tylenol and two of them. you go out and start drinking.

you have sinus and headache and you take nyquil. it's getting more accumulation and more amounts. >> exactly. adding alcohol to that occasion. if you have the cold medication. you have to look out for nausea and vomiting. the number one cause for liver transplants from medication. that's a huge problem. you don't top the get to that point. we have an antidote for it. you can chak charcoal and who wants to get into that. >> follow the instructions and look at the box. >> absolutely. the toxicity that he was talking about is important. you don't recognize whether you have flu symptoms or you are overdosing it. >> we are going to talk about chicago now. ask your doctor what drugs you are on and whether or not they have acetominophen especially if

you are adding it. everybody likes a drink now and then and you have a study that said long-term heavy drinking can be more toxic to a guy's brain than a woman's. this is area where women have to worry a little bit less although heavy drinking is dangerous for all of us. >> i don't want to burst of bubble, but i think it's both men and women. the studies showed that any amount of alcohol affects thinking in men and women. the reason this shows more men than women is because they used 5,000 men and 2,000 women. they are suggest figure they had more women, maybe they would have proven the same thing. why is this happening? why is this a problem? what's new about this study is elderly people might think i have been drinking that way for years. what the study found is over the age of 50, more than 2 1/2 drinks a day is enough to put

you over the top and problems thinking clearly and problem solving. i looked the at the study and i like the way it was. this is over a 20-year period. it's not just the effect on the brain. alcohol interferes with the ability for the brain cells to communicate. it interferes with the ability to communicate one brain cell to another. in addition it affects the liver. if you are having a problem where you are taking prescription drugs or you have liver disease, all more common as you get older. >> we don't have the enzyme as well to metabolize the alcohol. >> the charcoal doesn't sound too tasty and the pumping of the stomach. what do you think? what are the warnings on alcohol? the study is informational and true clinical blind and

double-blind. >> it's good. >> sorry this a good study? >> certain things that i like. the fact that it's being done over 20 years and there 5,000 men or 2,000 women in the study is great. the fact is that it's done every to five years and people have short-term memories about the number of thirchgs they have. as a doctor when you ask how many drinks you have, it's always under estimated. i will give you a lower number. it could be what was published, but they show a lot of people that alcohol should be used and thought of as a drug. social drinking, i have no problem with red wine every other day, but when it gets through the stomach and the small intestine, the heart pumps into the brain. it affects your emotions and personality. now based on the study, if you drink for about years, you

reduce the risk of memory loss for years and about two years. >> i will take care of it. we should be counting the number numbers. >> coming up in a moment, new technology against a leading cause of blindness. macular degeneration is a drill on the doctors. tell us about that coming up next. >> many people eat heartburn when they eat greasy food, but what do do you when it conflicts with the advice on doctors and what that has to do with heartburn, next. i bought a car, over and tells you, and you're like. a good deal or not. looking at truecar.com. there's no buyer's remorse. save time, save money, and never overpay. visit truecar.com

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. beer vision loss thanks to a new procedure. that helps restore sight for actually putting a microscope or a telescope directly into the eye. this has to do with macular degeneration. what is it and what have they done? >> it's a very important topic. as americans we are getting it all. we will see more of this macular degeneration. it's a disease and think of the eye as a camera that has you would see that there is degeneration in the center of the eye. that doesn't work so well. that's perfectly fine. you can't see well and drive well. that's what macular degeneration is. the risk factors are age and women are certainly involve and

more prone to this. smoking and high blood pressure are big risk factors and high cholesterol. there is no cure for it and prevention and delaying it is perfect. it is posted on the doctor's facebook. these are some of the vitamins you can take. i'm not going to start. >> under the macular, there is a layer that are the elements. if you take them, it's delayed. the new technology that they are making. >> on the vitamin angle, this is the leading cause of blindness in the united states.

this is a big deal. it's dry and wet. we are talking about dry macular degeneration where you get de s deposits in your eye and you can't see straight ahead. usually we use this with magnifiers on. this technology that is approved. the question is you go into the doctor today and get this. instead of the lenses, eye presuming you haven't had a cataract operation before and they take the lens out and put in the telescope instead. it's not a miracle and a major player and even a tiny bit where you can see the sign now and somebody in front of you and recognize things and you didn't recognize a year or two ago. >> this is noninvasive and put the telescope in. >> you implant it instead of the lens. you take the lens out and the telescope in. >> if you have macular degeneration, you can ask them

for the telescope? >> absolutely. >> the people with macular degeneration, you have the blood that goes into the eye. 90% of the generation, you want to go for prevention and experience every dwreer take the vitamins and healthy diet. >> there is a genetic component and your family has to check it out. >> we will have to take care of the bleeding. this is the truck. >> occasionally doctors take certain terms to cope with bothersome affliction. you ever get that feeling? what do do you when your instructions differ from those of the manufacturer. do you make the change some. >> have you heard about this? baby wipes could be linked to a mysterious rash. what you need to know to protect your children. the doctors will weigh in on this as sunday house call

continues. suffering from the flu is a really big deal. with aches, fever and chills- there's no such thing as a little flu. so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so call your doctor right away. tamiflu treats the flu in people 2 weeks and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing, have serious health conditions, or take other medicines. if you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, . . mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. so don't wait. attack the flu virus at its source. ask your doctor about tamiflu, prescription for flu.

look, i'm no worry wart, but a lot of people out there are. so they come to us. sh our weekend segment about everything that worries you. this one comes from a viewer who asks, i've been taking prylosec daily for years under the advise of my doctor. the packaging indicates it should only be taken for short periods of time.worry? let's ask the doctors. dr. siegel? >> jamie, the biggest problem with these right now is they're available over-the-counter. which means anybody can go and pop them anytime they want without the doctor in the equation. the other problem is, if i'm treating an ulcer or gastritis, which is an irritation of the

stomach, there's nothing better than these drugs. they're great miracle drugs. but for most of the population b, it's reflux that's causing people to take it. what's reflux? acid comes back from the stomach into the esophagus and burns the esophagus because your muscle gets weak. and so you end up with acid in your esophagus and that's uncomfortable. there's a lot of things you can do about that. drink more water, cut down on dairy, cut down on fried foods, cut down on chocolate. you can do a lot of things before you get to these medications. and the problem is what happens, and the viewer is asking, if i end up taking these medications over a long period of time? a lot of studies on that. we worried that decreasing the acid in the stomach over a period of time increases bacteria, that it also interferes with calcium, iron and mag cesium absorption. so it could have an effect on bones. one study in england looked like it did. the bottom line is, consult your physician, but all medications have side effectes and don't go

just taking this yourself. >> that could potentially league to cancer. >> i'm getting acid reflux just listening. >> look, i think we -- the whole idea of using this medication for gastric ulcers and reflux is it's -- jamie brought a very good point is that we're overprescribing this medication. who knows, maybe they have food poisoning, maybe they have hiatal hernia. when you're taking them for a long period of time, you're going reduce your calcium, you're going to have -- >> what do you do if you have this problem? >> item, item, itetum, tum, tum. take it for a short period and don't overprescribe it. >> i think we talk about what

drugs are available over-the-counter like claritin. you can buy it on your own. you should maybe tell us which ones we should go to the doctor and ask first. >> and this is one of them. one quick point i want to make, to prove david's point, if you're pregnant, you can take plenty of tums, but you can't go anywhere near these medications. and women that may have been taking them unnecessarily, now they're pregnant, they say well, i can't take that. they take the itemes and they do just fine. >> the other thing is when you get addicted to this, you continue to make the gastrin and when you stop them, the whole surge of acid is going to make you nuts. use it for a short-term. there's malox, mylanta. >> and sit up in bed if you read or whatever. >> from beyonce. >> elevated, elevated. >> talking about baby wipes, as you know, they're used to prevent rashes, but now they could be linked to something else. our doctors will tell you what

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another thing used by almost everyone from babies to adults may become a quick way to freshen up. others have a warning about baby wipes after they were apparently linked to a mysterious rash. these are supposed to help you clean up and help the baby's bottom. >> this was published in pediatrics. there were six kids who had severe rash and itchiness and they went to the doctors and diagnosed them as psoriasis or excema. this is a result of contact with preservatives in the wipes. and it has a lot of fragrances.

so it causes contact determine tightis. if you're using this on your children, hands, face, buttock ones, the minute you stop them, this rash is going to disappear. they don'tny prolonged antibiotics. if you see this on your children on yourself, we want you to recognize it. it's a very clear rash and it stops like any other dermatologyist. it's not excezema or psoriasis. >> should i have your child tested? >> jamie, this is how i put this together. it's only six cases in belgium a couple years ago and now six cases in the u.s. and it occurred because this product that david mentioned, mi, used to be combined with a different one at much lower amounts. now they've raced it at 3.7 parts per million to 100 parts per million so the chances of having an allergy are greater. but for the millions out there, six is not a lot of cases. here is the message, i think. your doctor has to think outside

the box. you go ahead and treat with an antibiotic ointment, it ain't getting better. you have to re-evaluate the case all over again. it's how david and i practice medicine, as a matter of fact. it's not dangerous, but the doctors who figured it out did so because they rethought the case. they went back and said what else here? an allergy is always a possibility. >> what about going back and using soap and water or witch hazel? >> that is a very good point. the doctors recommend just a dry towel or water going back. and just to answer what jamie asked is that they tested all six with the same wipe and everyone of them came back positive. that's how they found out that it's as a result of these wipes. if you see an abnormal rash or itchiness in your children, we would you to get tested. >> and withdraw the thing that may be causing it. >> so if you stop the wipes and it goes away, you can save a trip to the doctor. >> exactly. >> and that's the kind of things our doctors do for us every sunday.

thanks for being here. >> see you next sunday, of course. >> that's going to do it for us. i'm jamie colby. great to have you here for sunday house call. >> and media buzz with howard kurtz on the media, destructing it, contracting it, howard, up now. >> take it, howie. >> on the buzz beater this sunday, a war of words breaks out on chris chris christie's office and msnbc over the scandal that's enveloped the governor which took a turn as new jersey mayor accused christie's folks of pressuring for a real estate deal in exchange for hurricane sandy relief aid. it christie has called msnbc a partisan angle. >> new jersey chris christie giving an explanation today for that traffic. >> for the second time i