Marcia Gilbert has spent most of her life in Charlotte, North Carolina, but for the end of summer, she decided to make a special trip.Gilbert, 56, spent the weekend before Labor Day in New York City. She roamed from Chinatown to the Upper East Side, went sightseeing in Central Park and painted the town with her husband of 33 years, their two 20-something children and assorted friends.

One evening, they found themselves at Del Posto, a chic Italian restaurant. Glancing at her watch, over the sparkle of conversation, wine glasses and half-eaten dessert, Gilbert marveled at the time: just a few minutes to midnight."It was awfully late for me," she laughed as she told the story. "It was just a great moment to know that I was holding up enough to be there, to feel great and make memories."Late-night hours, any hours, are especially precious to Gilbert, who could have been forgiven for feeling just a bit weary. [Read the full article]

Edward Darden started taking the diabetes drug Avandia in 2006 to help control his blood sugar and was doing just fine, he said. But he became concerned when he saw warnings linking the drug to a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack, following the 2007 release of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine."I had been tolerating the drug very well," said Darden, "but I had a family history of heart disease and I was also taking blood pressure medications."His doctor performed several cardiac tests and found Darden's heart was in good shape. But Darden and his doctor decided to err on the side of caution and switch medications anyway.It's a predicament many people taking Avandia have faced over the past few years. Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration said access to the drug would be restricted to patients who cannot control their type 2 diabetes with other medications. [Read the full article]

The bounce in your step has become a plod. Climbing stairs feels like summiting Mount Everest. Your brain's mired in fog. Whatever your personal energy crisis might be, it's time to act."Fatigue that's new or dramatic, prolonged or unexplained can signal a serious medical problem like heart disease or anemia," says Dr. Lori Mosca, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. "A lot of women hesitate to tell their doctors about low energy. But if you're feeling any new kind of tired, speak up."Your physician should check for the usual suspects, including insomnia, stress, sleep apnea, depression, and diabetes. If she rules those out, ask her to probe deeper for these often overlooked causes.Located at the base of your neck -- and barely larger than the knot in a bow tie -- the thyroid gland controls your body's metabolic speed by producing the hormones T4 and T3. [Read the full article]

Maybe it's a twitch that you're sure means multiple sclerosis. Or a little mark that must be cancer. You could Google symptoms for days -- and now your pulse is racing, so you can look that up, too. Unless you have a heart attack first... Whoa! Step away from the keyboard.Most twitches, bumps, and pops are actually harmless. Here's when to see a doctor -- and when to just relax.What's up with that? These floppy little nodules, which are usually flesh-toned but occasionally darker, typically develop in spots where skin rubs against skin or clothing, like under the arms, around the neck, under the breasts, or even on the eyelids.It's not entirely clear why some people are more prone to them than others, although they may run in families. The good news is, they're virtually never cancerous and can be easily removed by a dermatologist.See your doctor if... you find a growth that is hard, rough, or darker or redder than flesh-toned. [Read the full article]