The doc replies

What is Graves’ disease?

Graves’ disease is a thyroid disease. This is a gland that sits in the neck and helps to control lots of the body’s functions, including metabolism. People with Graves’ disease may lose weight, have tremor and sometimes eye symptoms as well. Generally we can use medication, radioactive iodine or surgery to treat Grave’s disease. Although it’s an unpleasant condition usually this is something that can be treated well.

I trim my nasal hair but a friend said it would make me more susceptible to a cold. Is this true?

The body has many ways of protecting itself. Nasal hair helps to protect against foreign particles and debris from getting into the back of the nose. However trimming excess nasal hair wouldn’t affect this function.

Why does cancer return after treatment like chemotherapy? Although chemotherapy and other treatments like radiotherapy and surgery have really helped cancer patients unfortunately sometimes it is just not possible to control cancers with these methods. Chemotherapies work by killing off the cancerous cells but sometimes all the cancerous cells cannot be killed off, especially if the tumour is widespread.

I have trouble hearing other people when there’s a bit of background noise. Others appear to converse just fine.

This can be a sign that you have a degree of hearing loss with certain frequencies of sound. I suggest you be referred for tests to see if you would benefit from hearing aids.