Dear Dr. Gott: My mom turned 84 on March 9, 2007. In 2000, she started having sharp pain in her lower back. The pain goes right around to her stomach. My mom says it's more like a grab in her back. When this starts, she can hardly walk and has to hold on to the walls to get to other rooms. The pain lasts for weeks, then it will let up (never goes away, just lessens) for a couple of weeks before it starts all over again. The doctors have no idea what is going on.

Reply: I recommend that your mother have a liver/gallbladder ultrasound test, because she may have gallstones. In the list of tests she has had that you sent me, her liver was not examined. It needs to be. Ask her doctor to order the ultrasound exam when she is nearly pain-free, with a repeat test performed when she has symptoms. The comparisons may reveal the cause of her pain.

To give you related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report "Managing Chronic Pain''. Other readers who would like a copy should send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope and $2 to Newsletter, PO Box 167, Wickliffe, Ohio 44092. Be sure to mention the title.

Dear Dr. Gott: I am a 56-year-old male who is somewhat overweight. Lately, when I drink even a single beer, my face gets very red. I drink Coke and coffee during the day, and my face will get red during the day on occasion, also. My wife thinks I drink too much caffeine or I am allergic to something in beer. It didn't used to be this way. What do you think?

Reply: You have probably become highly sensitive to the effects of caffeine and alcohol. This can be an age-related phenomenon. It may also occur if caffeine and alcohol raise your blood pressure, a potentially dangerous situation. Discuss this issue with your primary care physician. You need a medical evaluation, even though your flushing may be a benign consequence of your age.

To give you related information, I am sending you copies of my Health Reports "Allergies" and "Hypertension''. Other readers who would like copies should send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope and $2 for each report to Newsletter, PO Box 167, Wickliffe, Ohio 44092. Be sure to mention the title(s).

Dear Dr. Gott: A few years ago, I saw a new doctor. As usual, everything about me was recorded, including my height. I have always claimed 6ft ½in, but the nurse measured me at 5ft 11in. When I complained, she told me to stretch out as much as possible, and she would measure me again. This time I came out at 5ft 11-¾in. "Welcome to old age," I thought to myself. I was about 60 at the time and am now 65. I saw another new doctor and was weighed, measured and all the rest.

This time the nurse recorded my height as 6ft 2in! I did not complain, but I really doubt I grew some two inches in the preceding five years.

The moral of this story is, just because it came from a measurement in a doctor's office does not automatically make it correct.

Reply: Nothing is perfect, including doctors' measurements. Thanks for the insight.

Dr. Gott is a retired physician and the author of "Dr. Gott's No Flour, No Sugar Diet''. Contact him c/o United Media, 200 Madison Avenue, fourth floor, New York, New York 10016.