Health Buzz: Cellphone Elbow and Other Health News

Hold the Phone: An Elbow Syndrome? From a Cellphone?

Media reports yesterday called attention to "cellphone elbow," a nerve condition that afflicts high-tech talkers. When talking on a cellphone without a headset, some people hold their elbows in an unnatural, flexed position at an angle greater than 90 degrees. If that's you, hold the phone—or rather, drop it. Holding that position for a long time can lead to cubital tunnel syndrome, a nerve condition similar to carpal tunnel syndrome that could—at worst—cause you to lose strength in your hand. U.S. News's January Payne reported on the problem of cellphone elbow last month.

Long periods of sitting at a desk while leaning your elbow against a chair's armrest or flexing your elbow as you use a computer can cause the same condition, in which the ulnar nerve—which runs from underneath the collarbone down along the interior of the upper arm through the cubital tunnel—can become compressed, causing symptoms that can spread from your hand to your forearm.

People with elbow pain should straighten the joint and rest it. If cellphone use seems to be the culprit, there is a simple solution: Buy a cellphone headset. Or try switching hands frequently while talking on the phone in order to avoid unduly stressing one arm or the other. People with cubital tunnel syndrome can wear elbow pads or splints to keep their elbows properly positioned. Other treatments include physical therapy, anti-inflammatory meds, or surgery to decompress the ulnar nerve.

Consider how your BlackbBerry could be causing your thumb pain, and see U.S. News's page for bone, joint, and muscle problems.

Buying for Baby: Advice From Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports remains the gold standard when it comes to independent safety testing, and the latest Consumer Reports Best Baby Products guide morphs the group's essential safety-testing reports and bargain-hunting advice into a 368-page book that will fit easily into a diaper bag, U.S. News's Nancy Shute reports. The new book includes advice on buying baby bottles without BPA, a chemical that has been linked to diabetes, cancer, and attention problems, among other effects, when exposure occurs in early childhood. Another caution: Avoid drop-side cribs. Recent safety recalls suggest they pose too much of a risk. Go for a fold-down side or stationary side instead, Shute writes. To be safe, it's best to buy car seats, cribs, and baby carriers new, the book advises; for discounts on baby gear, try Wal-Mart or Target rather than manufacturers' websites.

In October, Shute wrote about a Consumer Reports ranking of kids' breakfast cereals, which showed that 11 popular cereals had more sugar than a glazed doughnut. Shute added 9 great breakfast ideas for kids of all ages as alternatives for sugary morning meals.

Tamoxifen and Antidepressants Don't Mix

Research presented Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology finds that breast cancer patients taking antidepressants along with tamoxifen, a cancer drug, were more than twice as likely to have their tumors return within two years as those who were taking only tamoxifen. The Food and Drug Administration is poised to add a warning to tamoxifen's label alerting doctors to the drug's interaction with antidepressants, according to the Wall Street Journal. As early as six years ago, research indicated that tamoxifen was rendered ineffective by antidepressants of the type known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which include Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, and others.

For breast cancer patients taking tamoxifen, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz lists some options, including, for example, switching to a non-SSRI antidepressant like Effexor.