Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

MOMMY TRACK New moms seem to be enjoying a bit more time in the hospital for recovery after giving birth. A government report--the first since the public outcry over "drive-by deliveries"--finds that the average hospital stay for a vaginal delivery has inched up about half a day, from 1.7 days in 1995 to 2.1 today. That's still something of a bum's rush compared with 1980, when the average time in the hospital was 3.2 days.

GOT RHYTHM? Defibrillators have been used to shock erratic heartbeats back to normal in thousands of patients with atrial fibrillation. But about 20% of the time, electrically charged paddles don't do the trick. Now there's help. A new study shows that defibrillators can work in problem cases if patients are first treated with a drug called ibutilide.

BAD NEWS

SLEEP ALARM As if Parkinson's patients didn't have enough problems, doctors say a drug called Mirapex may, in rare instances, cause them to fall asleep suddenly. That's no big deal if you're in bed or even at a boring meeting, but big trouble if you're speeding down a highway.

BRAIN STRAIN Feel like you can't think straight when you're stressed out? You're probably right. Researchers who injected volunteers with cortisol--a hormone secreted during stress--report that those who received the highest doses for the longest period (four days) had the most trouble recalling a story they had just been told. There is a bright spot: a week after the hormone injections stopped, memory was completely restored.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources--Good News: Centers for Disease Control, New England Journal of Medicine (6/17/99); Bad News: Neurology (6/99), Archives of General Psychiatry (6/99)