Dear HealthSmart,

I suffer from insomnia and worry taking prescription sleep pills will have negative side effects. Should I avoid them?

HealthSmart asked Dr. Lee Ritterband, PhD, Professor of Neurobehavioral Sciences at University of Virginia School of Medicine. Here’s his response:

I’m not against sleep medication if it works for you and you experience no harmful side effects. Meds can be effective for a short period, though there are no long-term studies on their use. Keep in mind, however, that some patients do experience such harmful side effects as memory loss, drowsiness, headache, stomach ache and changes in appetite.

Dear HealthSmart,

Are certain groups at risk for kidney cancer? Who should have routine screening?

HealthSmart asked Dr. Kimryn Rathmell, M.D./PhD., Director of Hematology Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Here’s her response:

There’s a very small group of patients who doctors recommend receive routine annual kidney cancer screening. The two risk groups are patients with a known hereditary risk and patients in dialysis for kidney failures. Smoking, hypertension, and diabetes also pose risk but do not necessarily put patients into a group that needs routine screening. Screening for kidney cancer outside of the groups is not currently recommended because they aren’t cost effective and often pick up benign tumors or cause false alarm and unnecessary procedures. More large scale studies need to be done to determine the appropriate approach for screening.

Dear HealthSmart,

What about the new HPV vaccine? How is that different from the original vaccine?

HealthSmart asked Dr. Joel Palefsky, M.D./Ph.D., Chair of the HPV Working Group of the AMC and Professor of Medicine at University of California San Francisco. Here’s his response:

The main differences between the new HPV vaccine and the original one are that the new version consists of two doses, whereas the original was three, and protects against five additional types of HPV infections. As with the original vaccination, doses should be administered at least six months apart, and ideally within one year of one another. There have not been sufficient studies done regarding the absolute maximum time allowed between does of the vaccine. As a general rule of thumb, we say that anywhere within two years should be fine and that a patient should always pick up where they left off with the vaccine no matter the length of time that as passed.

Do you have questions on health or wellness you’d like answered by the nation’s leading medical researchers? If so, you can send to Editor@WashNews.com. HealthSmart is a national newspaper column from the Washington News Service in DC. Due to demand, we are unable to reply to all inquiries. Responses through the column are no substitute for care from physicians or other medical professionals.

Copyright Ellen James Martin 2021