Ask Dr. Gott

Dear Dr. Gott: I am a 77-year-old woman. I eat mostly vegetables, fruits, whole-grain cereals and drink water.

[Local]

Spironalactone can be taken as an anti-androgen. It is usually taken for high blood pressure, but it's side effects are anti-androgenic, so you can take it but it will lower your blood pressure, too, which may or may not be good for you. My sister uses this for the hair loss she has from polycystic ovary syndrome. It is the only thing out there by prescription. There is another product called D-chiro-inositol (DCI). She got it from chiralbalance.com , it is a vitamin of sorts. Apparently you can reduce the amount of Spironalactone you need by taking this vitamin. This is a terrible problem for many women and I wish you luck in dealing with it.

[In the Dark]

35 million men have this condition? That can't be true. 35 million men in the US -- probably, but not 35 million men period. It's not that rare.

[Local]

There are 304,059,724 people in the US as of Jul 2008. Thirty five million is not so many out of more than 304 million people.