Warts

My 86-year-old sister takes amitriptyline. I worry that this drug could be affecting her balance. She uses a cane and always seems unsteady on her feet. She has fallen many times. Is amitriptyline safe for someone her age? This antidepressant is generally considered inappropriate for older people. Although it is sometimes prescribed to ease nerve pain or help people sleep, amitriptyline can cause mental confusion, lack of coordination, dizziness, dry mouth, blurred vision and constipation.

According to the rich narrative laid out by the documentary "Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp," it's hard out there for a pimp, not to mention the life that leads to it, and after it. One of black literature's most venerated chroniclers of street life and crime, the author of seven popular autobiographical books (most famously "Pimp: The Story of My Life"), Slim comes in for a vivid, warts-and-all biography as told by fellow writers (Emory Holmes, Odie Hawkins), admiring entertainers (the doc's executive producer Ice-T, Chris Rock)

You've just gotten the diagnosis: You have genital warts. But what does this mean? Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is the virus that causes genital warts. Genital HPV is usually spread from person to person during sexual activity. But there are other facts you should know about HPV: Certain strains of HPV can increase a woman's risk of contracting cancer of the cervix. The virus does cause genital warts, but, even if you have no warts, you can still have the virus. And you can still give HPV to your partner during sex. It's hard to know when you became infected because you can have the virus for years without any signs or symptoms.

HPV infects the mouths of an estimated 7% of men and women from the ages of 14 to 69 in the U.S. -- and men have it at higher rates than women, according to a study out last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. Just 3.6% of women studied for the paper had oral HPV, while 10.1% of men did. It's unclear why there's such a difference in infection rates, but it may have to do with oral sex practices, experts say. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides some information specifically related to HPV and men .)

A person with AIDS who was ordered off an airplane because he had warts on his hands and wrists has settled his discrimination lawsuit against Delta Air Lines, his attorney said. Richard Cloutier, 30, settled out of court last month, Bennett Klein said last week. The terms were not disclosed.

If you're afraid of toads because you've heard that touching them causes skin warts, you can relax around the little creatures. Warts are simply an overgrowth of skin cells caused by infection with the human papilloma virus. Toads have nothing to do with their spread--humans do. The virus is spread either through direct skin-to-skin contact, or indirectly, through contact with a surface that has been contaminated with the virus that has been shed from a wart.

Inside a dimly lighted living room in the heart of the Javanese forest, Dede Koswara blankly examines his bulky hands, which have morphed to the size of catcher's mitts. He shuffles along on blackened, bloated feet, a prisoner of his own mutinous body. For years, the slender construction worker watched helplessly as his limbs broke out in a swath of grotesque bark-like warts that sapped his energy and limited his mobility. At one point, he seemed to sprout contorted yellow-brown branches 3 feet long.

The greatest danger in the writing of plays about terminal diseases is sentimentality. When it comes to AIDS, the volatility of the issue only accentuates the danger. Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" does not entirely escape the emotional trap, but William M. Hoffman's "As Is" comes as is--warts and all. It's a tough, ironic, profoundly serious treatment of the subject. The pleasant surprise in the edition that airs on Showtime cable (Sunday and Thursday, 9 p.m.

A little-known, infrequently discussed sexually transmitted disease is coming out of the shadows at Southern California universities, including three campuses in Orange County and at UCLA and USC. Physicians at university health centers say the topic is not pleasant. Even the name of the disease--genital warts--brings nervous reactions from students, the doctors said.

I am bone-tired all of the time. I also have dry skin, dry, brittle hair and nails that break easily. I asked my doctor if the problem could be linked to my thyroid. She ran a blood test for TSH and says it is OK. (It is just over 5.) Your TSH level suggests inadequate thyroid hormone. There is a controversy about what TSH levels are normal, but thyroid experts now believe the range is between 0.3 and 3. High cholesterol, depression, fatigue and difficulty losing weight are all indicative of low thyroid.

A newly released series of interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy, recorded in 1964, just months after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, offers an extraordinary and occasionally shocking glimpse of a woman enshrined in our popular culture as a figure of grace, fortitude and civility. In the conversations, the then-34-year-old widow reveals herself as variously audacious, narrow-minded and unsparingly tart. She called Indira Gandhi "a real prune — bitter, kind of pushy," and said she had told Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at a dinner to stop boring her with statistics on Ukraine.

My 86-year-old sister takes amitriptyline. I worry that this drug could be affecting her balance. She uses a cane and always seems unsteady on her feet. She has fallen many times. Is amitriptyline safe for someone her age? This antidepressant is generally considered inappropriate for older people. Although it is sometimes prescribed to ease nerve pain or help people sleep, amitriptyline can cause mental confusion, lack of coordination, dizziness, dry mouth, blurred vision and constipation.

What's the best way to get rid of warts? Freeze 'em? Sizzle them with acid? Or just wait for them to go away? (They often do.) Because warts are not exactly life-threatening, perhaps it's not surprising that their eradication has not been at the top of the medical establishment's research agenda. But a study just published in the Canadian Medical Assn. Journal (CMAJ) did address the issue. Its investigation of 240 Dutch people with warts found that cryotherapy (in which warts are frozen in the doctor's office with the use of liquid nitrogen)

Inside a dimly lighted living room in the heart of the Javanese forest, Dede Koswara blankly examines his bulky hands, which have morphed to the size of catcher's mitts. He shuffles along on blackened, bloated feet, a prisoner of his own mutinous body. For years, the slender construction worker watched helplessly as his limbs broke out in a swath of grotesque bark-like warts that sapped his energy and limited his mobility. At one point, he seemed to sprout contorted yellow-brown branches 3 feet long.

I have suffered from insomnia for many years. My doctor prescribed Ambien , but it doesn't seem to be working very well anymore. I also suspect that it affected my memory. Now the doctor is suggesting the antidepressant amitriptyline (Elavil) . The side effects I have read about make me nervous. Is there any herb or home remedy that might help me get some sleep? Amitriptyline is an old-fashioned (tricyclic) antidepressant. Some people experience a morning hangover effect that leaves them drowsy and disoriented.

Unless you're Australian, or have a long memory for short films, you've likely never heard of cane toads. But be prepared, they're coming at you. And in 3-D no less. "Cane Toads: The Conquest" had its world premiere at Sundance on Tuesday night before an audience that roared with delight at the amphibians' antics. The reception fulfilled the expectations of filmmaker Mark Lewis, who called it "just like 'Avatar,' except with toads." An Australian with a lively and playful sense of humor, Lewis has been to Sundance before, with the irreverent "The Natural History of the Chicken."

In May, 1987, after a routine pap-smear test, my doctor informed me that I had warts on my cervix. I had them removed with a cone biopsy. At the time I wasn't informed just how severe Condyloma actually is. Since my warts were gone, I didn't think about Condyloma again until 1988, when I started reading more and more on the subject. I had pap smears every 60 days. All came back normal, but these warts were on my mind every waking minute. Then, in February, 1990, I had terrible itching and redness, and I went to the doctor.

I am bone-tired all of the time. I also have dry skin, dry, brittle hair and nails that break easily. I asked my doctor if the problem could be linked to my thyroid. She ran a blood test for TSH and says it is OK. (It is just over 5.) Your TSH level suggests inadequate thyroid hormone. There is a controversy about what TSH levels are normal, but thyroid experts now believe the range is between 0.3 and 3. High cholesterol, depression, fatigue and difficulty losing weight are all indicative of low thyroid.

What better time to examine the history of the Hall of Fame than in baseball's Steroid Era -- a time when the very "integrity of the game" has been called into question? That is exactly what Zev Chafets does in his new book, "Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame," tracing the beginnings of the hall up until the present with a critical eye on the institution that was meant to represent the best of the American pastime. Chafets renders a very interesting history of the hall going back to the beginnings of baseball and the small and quiet little village of Cooperstown, N.Y., itself.