Jan Haig

Personal Health MD • 7th July 2026

Apolipoprotein B Normal Range: What Your ApoB Score Really Means - Personal Health MD

You open your lab results and spot a marker you’ve never seen before: Apolipoprotein B (ApoB).
If you’re told your ApoB number is outside the normal range, it may be unsettling, especially if the conversation topic quickly turns to heart disease risk.
My first piece of advice to patients when this is the case: Don’t panic...

Signature Healthcare • 9th June 2026

Environmental Medicine: A Valuable Key to Your Health

Each of us imagines our home, workplace, and/or school as a safe haven. But hidden pollutants or toxins in your environment, such as mold and chemicals, might subtly undermine your health over time.
Environmental medicine takes an educated look at how these invisible dangers affect us.

Signature Healthcare • 21st April 2026

Blood Glucose Monitoring: Try a CGM for Metabolic Health

We all know we should keep our blood glucose under control. Poor control of blood sugar and insulin resistance are a downward spiral to type 2 diabetes and several other metabolic issues.
That’s why blood glucose monitoring with a CGM device has become a popular wellness trend to optimize metabolic health. CGMs (short for continuous glucose monitors) are wearable medical devices that track and measure an individual’s glu...

Signature Healthcare • 14th April 2026

Is Sauna Good for Heart and Brain Health? A Doctor Explains

In Finland, sauna is a national treasure, a fundamental part of daily life and culture. But is traditional Finnish-style sauna good for heart and brain health?

It appears so. Large studies in that country show that people who use a sauna four to seven times a week tend to have better health than those who sauna two to three times a week or less.

Signature Healthcare • 31st March 2026

Semaglutide vs. Tirzepatide: Which Is the Best at Managing Weight Loss?

For people who’ve struggled for years with excessive weight, GLP-1s are a paradigm shift. Medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide are game-changers in the revolutionary treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes...

Signature Healthcare • 24th March 2026

Best Probiotics for Gut Health: Advice From a Nutritionist

You’ve heard probiotics are good for gut health, so you head to the store, ready to browse your options.
But once there, you’re presented with an overwhelming abundance of products. How do you determine which ones are the best probiotics for your gut health?

Signature Healthcare • 17th March 2026

Is Insomnia a Symptom of Dementia? A Risk Factor?

Another sleepless night, spent tossing and turning for hours?
When you’ve had fewer than seven hours of sleep, you don’t perform at your best, physically or mentally.
Many chronically sleepless patients are concerned about long-term brain health. Fueled by media reports, they fear a pattern of insufficient sleep heightens their risk of some form of dementia. They wonder: Is insomnia a symptom of dementia? Does lack of sleep cause...

Signature Healthcare • 24th February 2026

Flu A vs. Flu B: It Helps to Know the Difference

Have you ever had the flu? Would you know if you did?
The flu is a broadly used term. People frequently mistake common colds, allergies, and even stomach bugs for “the flu.”
Influenza has been around for centuries, but it wasn’t until 1933 that medical science isolated the flu virus. It’s uniquely different from Parvovirus B19, SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID-19), and the thousands of other viruses in circulation today.
Flu often comes o...

Signature Healthcare • 17th February 2026

Testosterone Pellets: Are They Medically Necessary (and Safe) for You?

Testosterone replacement therapy helps many men recapture the vitality, confidence, and vigor they had before their testosterone (T) levels dipped. But not every T therapy suits every routine.
Today, some men are turning to testosterone pellets, frequently promoted by clinics claiming to specialize in hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
A brief outpatient procedure implants six to 10 rice-sized pellets under the patient’s skin, typ...

Signature Healthcare • 13th January 2026

What Is Dense Breast Tissue? What to Do if It Shows Up on Your Mammogram

Have you had a mammogram lately? If so, you may receive a post-visit letter stating that your results show “extremely or heterogeneously dense breast” tissue.
What is dense breast tissue? Should you be alarmed? Does dense breast tissue require any action?

Signature Healthcare • 23rd December 2025

Can Anxiety Cause High Blood Pressure? A Physician Explains the Connection

If you’re anxious occasionally, or more than occasionally, you may wonder, “Can anxiety cause high blood pressure?”
High blood pressure is a medical condition known clinically as hypertension. Doctors treat hypertension because a blood pressure above 120/80 is associated with an increased risk of vascular disease, which can damage the heart, brain, kidneys, eyes, or other organs.
In North Carolina, approximately 37.5% of...

Signature Healthcare • 11th November 2025

Why Is Pancreatic Cancer So Deadly? Are We Making Progress Against It?

If you know someone with advanced pancreatic cancer, you’ve likely heard their prognosis is poor... Why is pancreatic cancer so deadly? A major reason is the difficulty in diagnosing the disease in its earlier stages...

Signature Healthcare • 4th November 2025

Is Cancer Hereditary? Understanding Your Family’s Risk

“My dad died of cancer, and I’m feeling nervous about it. Am I at risk as well?”
If your parent or other family member succumbed to cancer, you may feel anxious or overwhelmed by the question, “Is cancer hereditary?”...

Signature Healthcare • 23rd September 2025

Not All PT Is Created Equal: The Different Types of Physical Therapy

Do you tediously walk the treadmill at your physical therapy (PT) visit while your therapist seems to be preoccupied elsewhere?
Perhaps it’s time to consider a physical therapist who takes a more holistic and individualized approach to your needs. There are many types of physical therapy, but in each, your therapist should view you as a whole person, not a point of injury.

Signature Healthcare • 16th September 2025

What Causes Pain With Intercourse? And What Can You Do About It?

Making love should be a pleasant experience, but many females quietly endure physical pain with intercourse.
Research suggests that painful intercourse, or dyspareunia, may affect two in 10 American women at some point in their lives. Other studies put the number as high as 74%...

Signature Healthcare • 9th September 2025

Leaking When You Laugh? An Expert Explains Stress Urinary Incontinence

Oops, there’s that trickle again.
If you “leak” more than occasionally or often find yourself in a frantic dash for the ladies’ room, you may have stress urinary incontinence. It’s an involuntary loss of urine when you laugh, sneeze, cough, exercise, or generate other pressure on the bladder.

Signature Healthcare • 2nd September 2025

Is This Innovative Bladder Pain Treatment Right for You?

Let’s get personal:
- Do you feel the need to urinate a lot?
- Do you feel pain or burning when you go?
- Does the feeling persist or perhaps worsen as your bladder fills?
For many people, bladder pain is a chronic condition that hurts their quality of life.

Signature Healthcare • 29th July 2025

The Benefits of Probiotics: A Healthier Gut for a Happier You

There are certainly times when probiotics for gut health may be appropriate and important for patients. But the truth about probiotics is that no single product ranks as “best.” And we still have a lot to learn about them.
The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract contains a wide array of microorganisms: bacteria, yeasts, b...

Signature Healthcare • 22nd July 2025

Your Overnight Hospital Bag Checklist: What to Bring to the Hospital

Every hospital stay is unique.
You may be in for an overnight observation or a procedure with a planned stay of a few days. Perhaps you undergo regular cancer treatment or have a chronic health condition like emphysema that calls for intermittent hospitalization.
Most hospital visits, though, are unplanned, and you may unexpectedly find yourself in the emergency room!
In the former cases, you typically have plenty of time to consider what...

Signature Healthcare • 15th July 2025

Fuel Your Focus: An Anti-Inflammatory Diet Plan for Optimal Brain Health

Have you ever experienced temporary brain fog? Perhaps you forgot a doctor’s appointment or suddenly found it difficult to complete simple paperwork.
To a certain degree, cognitive decline is part of the aging process, and occasional brain fog can become more common as we enter middle age. Over 28% of participants in a recent study reported that they sometimes experience confusion or forgetfulness, feel mentally exhausted, or struggle to...

Signature Healthcare • 8th July 2025

Savor the Benefits of Mindful Eating

Do you ever eat hastily in the car while running errands? Nosh at your desk while you work? You’re not alone.
We’re a nation of hurried, distracted eaters. We wolf down meals while watching TV, scrolling through our phones, or even standing at the kitchen counter...

Signature Healthcare • 1st July 2025

The Power of Creatine for Women's Health and Fitness

Is creatine good for women?
An online search gives you a mixed bag of results, and clicking one brings an instant chain of creatine marketing hype to your phone or computer. Much of it features inflated promises, intended to generate maximum clicks and product sales...

Signature Healthcare • 24th June 2025

Is Your Chronic Cough Actually GERD Cough?

GERD can sneak up on you in the form of a cough.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (or GERD) is a digestive disorder where stomach acid and food back up into the esophagus, the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach...

Signature Healthcare • 17th June 2025

Hypothyroidism vs. Hyperthyroidism: How Are They Different?

We all experience a fatiguing day every so often. Yet chronic fatigue, coupled with fairly rapid weight gain, may signal a thyroid condition.
And you may be surprised to learn that ongoing jitters, accompanied by weight loss, can point to the thyroid as well...