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TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH: Metformin promising for skin rashes

Lifestyles

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have a skin rash (granuloma annulare), and my dermatologist said that there really isn’t a cure for it. It’s in various areas of my body — my upper back, my trunk and a few other places. The dermatologist recommended using metformin to see if this helps. All my labs are excellent, so metformin has never been something that any of my docs suggested. She even looked at my labs and said that they were great but wants to see if metformin might help. Have you ever heard of this? Should I find a different dermatologist? I’m a 67-year-old female who’s in excellent ...

Bridge by Steve Becker

Lifestyles

Giorgio Belladonna, winner of 16 world championships and a member of the famed Italian Blue Team that dominated world bridge from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, was a player of infinite resources. On top of his oft-demonstrated talent for rarely making an error in judgment — the trademark of all great players — Belladonna had an imagination that seemingly knew no bounds. He made bids and plays on the spot that no one had ever thought of before, and bridge literature is replete with his exploits. Consider this deal where Belladonna, playing the Precision System, opened two ...

Starches should be modest part of mixed meal

Lifestyles

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 77-year-old man who’s prediabetic. I was told by a longtime diabetic that sugar (candy, soda, cake, etc.) doesn’t need to be avoided — just carbohydrates such as pasta, potatoes, etc. I was surprised to hear this. Is it really true? — Anon. ANSWER: We often use terms like carbohydrates, starches and sugars imprecisely. Strictly speaking, sugars are small molecules (usually 5 or 6 carbon molecules long), like glucose or fructose, which are called monosaccharides. These can also be combined into a single molecule (a disaccharide), which, in the case of ...

Valley Grows Calendar

Lifestyles

Here are upcoming gardening events through the Ohio State University Extension Office. For more information and a complete list, contact: • OSU Mahoning County Extension Office, 490 S. Broad St., Canfield. 330-533-5538. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. • OSU Trumbull County Extension Office, 520 W. Main St. Suite 1, Cortland. 330-638-6783. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Plant and Pest Clinic You can submit your questions by calling the Mahoning County office at 330-533-5538 or emailing us at ...

Siblings take opposite stances on sleepaway camp

Lifestyles

DEAR ANNIE: My husband and I are at odds over whether to send our two children to sleepaway camp next summer. He went every year from the time he was 8 and talks about it as one of the happiest parts of his childhood. I never went to sleepaway camp, and the thought of sending our children away for several weeks makes me very uneasy. Our older child is excited by the idea, but our younger one is sensitive, has trouble falling asleep in unfamiliar places and still gets homesick during overnight visits with relatives. I worry that we would be pushing them into something before they are ...

Older woman can only shower

Lifestyles

DEAR HELOISE: More than anything, I’d love to be able to sit and soak in a warm tub of bubbles to ease my aching bones. However, I am 81 years old and cannot get out of the tub, and I can’t afford a walk-in shower. I have tried to bathe a few times, only to acknowledge my stupidity and yell at Alexa to please call somebody to help me out. Sometimes people shower just because they have to. — Carolyn R., in Slidell, Louisiana DEAR HELOISE: I taught English for 10 years — 5 in high school and 5 in college. I directed the freshman composition program. My takeaway is that ...