Real Talk Rx: Doctors Answer Readers' Health Qs

No judgment, no jargon—just honest answers from doctors we trust to break down the biggest question marks you have about your health and wellness.

Dementia, obesity, stress, substance use—no topic is off-limits in this series, where doctors answer the biggest health questions submitted by you, our readers.

A letter from our Editorial Director of Health, Kaitlin Ahern

For many of us, an annual physical or impromptu trip to urgent care is about the only chance we get to chat one-on-one with a doctor. And in those cases, you’re probably more focused on either getting back home to the couch or getting on with your day than bringing up the questions you’ve been harboring in the back of your mind.

Sure, you could Google them. But there’s nothing quite like getting a dose of real talk: an honest answer from a real human who can break things down candidly, without judgment, and sans medical lingo.

That’s where Well+Good comes in. We asked you to send us your biggest health head-scratchers — the questions you’d ask a doctor you really trust, if you both had all the time in the world — and then posed the most common to a panel of three board-certified family medicine docs: Samuel Mathis, MD, Alexa Mieses Malchuk, MD, and Divesh Goel, MD.

Here, the MDs weigh in on everything from how worried you should be about chemicals in food to what you should do if dementia runs in your family. Consider this your personal script for all the ponderings that’ve been plaguing you.

Meet the Experts

Samuel Mathis, MD

Dr. Mathis is a board-certified doctor of family medicine and integrative medicine specialist. He's also an assistant professor of family medicine at The University of Texas Medical Branch and the associate program director of UTMB's Medical Student Education Program.

Alexa Mieses Malchuk, MD, MPH

Dr. Mieses Malchuk is a board-certified family medicine physician who believes in a multi-pronged approach to achieving health equity. She's also a medical writer and the district medical director at One Medical in North Carolina.

Divesh Goel, MD

Dr. Goel is a board-certified family medicine doctor who is passionate about individual and public health advocacy. His research areas of interest include mental health, substance abuse, patient health literacy, physician cultural competency, and patient-physician ethnic disparities.