The Stress of Being Laid Off

There are difficulties in today's stressful economy and one of the big problems is the stress after being laid off.  Many people have to deal with the problems associated with that and it can be very difficult.  That's one of the problems with a stressful economy.  People sometimes build their identity in the work they're doing and the jobs they have.  When those jobs are taken away, it is a situation where someone can actually become depressed because of it.

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Benefits of Assisted Living

It is called assisted living, and for many people, that term has a bad connotation. They’re thinking, I’m going to be put away. Where am I going to be? What am I going to do? Well, let me tell you something. Assisted living is not necessarily a bad term for people who actually want to stay in a situation where they want to be independent, but at the same time, get help. Assisted living centers actually allow you to be independent, but they’ll help you with the things like shopping, the activities of daily living, and you get that help if something bad happens to you.

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Evaluating the Vitamins You Take

There are many vitamins out there and certainly they play a major part in our lives, but the specific vitamins you take, the strengths and weaknesses, all need to be evaluated.  One of the things physicians often talk about when they mention vitamins is the fact that they don't come without a price.  You have to know which ones you're taking and if, in fact, there are side-effects or concerns associated with them.  Doctors will tell you that the more you know, the better you can use and take advantage of them as part of your overall health care. 

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Dealing with the Pain of Depression

We keep writing about pain such as joint pain, stomach pain, chest pain, foot pain, headaches, etc. But one of the worst types of pain isn’t a pain that you can measure, like you can measure on that level. It’s the pain of depression. One out of six people suffer from depression at some point in their life and when they have the problems, they feel as if their world is collapsing around them. You see depression is like someone has taken a dark curtain and put it in front of your eyes. Dealing with depression can be very difficult and we have to do all we can to help those who suffer.

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Early Diagnosis of Migraines Is Important

As many as one out of five people suffer from migraine headaches. These headaches are usually quite severe and they are preceded by an aura, or a strange sensation, like a flashing of light or a strange smell. They’re often diagnosed as sinus headaches, tension headaches, or a variety of other types of head pain, but a new study out of Columbia and highlighted by the Journal of the American Medical Association is stressing the importance of early diagnosis. That’s because the cycle of a migraine can often be cut short through the use of drugs called Triptans. These medications are available in a wide variety of forms, including pills, inhalers, and even injections. Migraines can be unusual. They don’t always cause headaches, and they can actually cause a wide variety of symptoms from visual disturbances to stomach problems. Migraines need to be taken seriously. Clearly they are a problem that have to be dealt with.

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Information about Ovarian Cancer

It isn't talked about as much as other forms of cancer, but ovarian cancer is the deadliest of all gynecologic cancers. One in 57 women develop ovarian cancer and there have been several studies which have shown it runs in families. The major problem with ovarian cancer is it is usually found in the advanced stages and by that point the disease is very difficult to treat and the chance of five year survival is about 20%. Sadly 75% of women are diagnosed at this advanced stage. When ovarian cancer is detected early, before it is spread beyond the ovaries, more than 90% of women will survive longer than 5 years. Unfortunately, the symptoms of ovarian cancer are very vague. Feeling bloated, a sensation of being full even after eating just a small amount of food, low back pain, and fatigue are all signs, but obviously they can mean other things as well.

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A Woman’s Sleep Is Essential for Health

Do you get enough sleep? One of the biggest complaints physicians hear from their female patients is that they don’t. They’re under stress, they’re under pressure, and in addition to that, they have the pressures of their spouse. All of these things come together to make it difficult to sleep and to get that quality time. It is essential, if you are going to be healthy, that you get the sleep you need and the rest you need. If you can do that, you have an opportunity to fight the day’s battles and not feel weakened by them. Sleep is a key tool, a key weapon in your overall health.

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Allergy to Infant Formula

When you look at formula for babies, you have to understand that certain formulas for babies can cause difficulties.  Usually, though, what doctors do if someone is allergic is physicians actually look at a soy formula because soy formula is one of the ones that is the easiest to tolerate.  Doctors often say that if children are having problems beyond the soy formula, then they need to get it checked out and evaluated by the pediatrician.  What you don't want to have a child do is have severe diarrhea which is uncontrolled. 

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Treating PMS Symptoms

There was a time when many health professionals did not take premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, seriously. Fortunately, those days are gone and there is medical agreement that PMS affects many women just before their menstrual cycles. Common symptoms include cramps, bloating, fatigue, and moodiness. For some women, the symptoms can be severe and medication is necessary, but for others, certain lifestyle measures can make a big difference. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services actually has reviewed studies and came up with the following suggestions including getting regular exercise, eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and avoiding foods high in salt, sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. Another big step is to get plenty of sleep. That can make a major difference. The key, of course, is to figure out what you’re doing and to try to make sure you get the attention.

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Understanding Loss of Libido

Can a loss of libido be a normal phenomenon? Absolutely! If you’re someone who’s under stress and you feel pressure, it is clear that you may not feel interested in sex. You may not have that desire. That is a normal phenomenon and many women are made to feel guilty that perhaps they don’t have the desire they used to. The bottom line is, if someone is fatigued, under stress, feeling unappreciated, they’re not going to have the libido or the drive they had before. Many of these things have to be worked out. There is more to sex than just a physical reaction. It’s psychological as well.

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Migraine Headaches Often Occur with Warning Signs

A migraine headache is one of those insidious things that can occur. Migraine headaches often occur with a warning, a kind of a warning sign that there’s something going on. What happens is you feel a sense that there’s an aura; a strange smell, a strange feeling, a strange zigzagging of lights, something that’s unusual that occurs before a severe headache can occur. It’s very important that when you’re dealing with headaches, you understand these are problems that need to be dealt with, and can be dealt with, effectively.

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Medicine Cabinet Concerns

Have you taken a look in your family’s medicine cabinet lately? What you might find could shock you. Now, here’s the problem. The medicine cabinet often becomes a storage area for old medications that you want to keep around just in case you need them. The argument is usually something like, ‘I spent a lot of money on this medicine. I’m going to get my money’s worth!’ The problem is, the medication that’s good for one person with one health problem isn’t always good for the other and then there is the difficulty with expired drugs. They can make you sick, or they can even poison you. Remember, young children are curious and they might want to see what’s in those bottles. If you have teens, consider this. While illicit drug and alcohol use among teens is down, the use of prescription painkillers among people ages eight to 25 is up. In fact, prescription painkillers are now attracting the most users of any drugs.

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Study Shows Women of Young Children Eat More Calories

Are you having a struggle with weight loss?  Well, now you have someone to blame.  According to a study from the University of Minnesota, mothers of young children were heavier and ate more calories, fatty foods, and sugary drinks than women without children.  In addition, both parents were less active than those of the same age without children.  The study was not a small one.  There were over 1,500 adults with children younger than five and according to the report which is in the journal Pediatrics, mothers in this study with young children had a diet so poor, they'd have to walk three miles a day to not gain a pound.

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DNA Shows Most Neanderthals Were Redheads

There are many fields in science and occasionally the scientific worlds collide. An example? Some researchers studying the origins of man focused their work on Neanderthals. In particular, they were analyzing DNA samples from Spain and Italy. What they found was shocking for them. They discovered that most Neanderthals had been redheads. In fact, some Neanderthals may have had variations in pigmentation. Hypothetically, it could prove that they had red hair and pale skin similar to that of modern humans. A European research team found that out.

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Managing Night Terrors

They are called night terrors, and clearly, they can be terrors for the parents as well. A night terror is a situation where a child will wake up. The child actually could be fine and then will wake up about half an hour or 45 minutes in his sleep screaming wildly. They’re screaming because they really don’t know what’s going on. They look right past you. They have no idea what the issue is. The problem with a night terror is that it often scares the parents. What you have to do is just control the child from hurting themselves, and it will go away.

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Dealing with Stress Headaches

There are several kinds of headaches.  While many people say they suffer from migraines, the most common headache is called a stress headache.  Causes include stress, skipping meals, irregular sleep habits, or certain foods.  One of the first things many people do after suffering a headache is reach for a pain reliever in the medicine cabinet, but that's not always the best idea.  In fact, there are other simple things you can do.  Lie down in a dark, quiet room and try to sleep.  Also, try to figure out what led to the headache.  In addition, you should try to avoid things that are problematic and bother you.  One idea is a headache log where you can record when the headache first appears, the time each one happens, and where the pain is felt.  You get the idea.  It's common sense and it's trying to figure out the best way to approach a problem that can be chronic.  

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Eating More Chocolate Is Associated with Higher Depression Scores

Eating more chocolate is associated with higher depression scores.  Researchers assessed the mood of 931 participants who were not taking antidepressants using a standard depression scale.  They then correlated the results from those with a food survey.  Those who scored very highly, reflecting probable major depression, reported consuming more than twice as much chocolate as those who were negative for depression.  The findings were similar between women and men.  The researchers speculate that depression may stimulate cravings for chocolate as a form of self-medication.  Animal studies suggest that chocolate may have positive mood benefits, however, they cannot rule out the possibility that chocolate actually contributes to the depressed mood, or that both cravings and depressed mood are caused by a third, underlying factor.  The report is in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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Teeth Brushing and Heart Disease

How important is it to brush your teeth? Well, more and more studies are showing that keeping your teeth and your mouth clean can actually be effective at preventing, of all things, heart disease. That’s right. We have found that people who have bacterial infections, periodontal disease, are more likely to have problems associated with heart disease. Now, whether it’s because of the teeth or it’s because of the fact that certain individuals may not take care of their teeth or their overall health, we’re not sure. But there is clearly that association.

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Understanding Juvenile Diabetes

In Type 1, or juvenile diabetes, the hormone insulin does not work the way it should and blood levels can go out of control. People with this form of diabetes need to be given insulin to control the blood sugar and help with the basic metabolic pathways of the body. There is a theory that for some reason the body's immune system actually attacks insulin. This is why it doesn't work. Scientists have struggled to understand what causes the body to turn against itself in Type 1 diabetes. Essentially, the immune system destroys pancreatic cells that normally produce the blood sugar regulating hormone insulin. Researchers have struggled to find out why. That's because it is a disease that affects one in every 400 to 500 children and adolescents in the United States. According to a report in the journal Nature, scientists studied mice that actually developed Type 1 diabetes and engineered them to lack normal insulin. Using those mice, they are trying to do what they can to find out secrets.

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Radiation Exposure from Medical Tests

Exposure to radiation from medical tests is a very important problem and in the New England Journal of Medicine, they took a look.  A study of 952,000 non-elderly adults found that over two-thirds were exposed to twice as much radiation as they would have received from natural sources because of medical imaging.  Women and older individuals were at greater risk for radiation exposure.  The study found that CT scans and nuclear tests accounted for three-quarters of non-treatment-based medical radiation exposure.  An accompanying editorial called for the clinical trials to prove whether or not diagnostic tests and imaging prevented major medical problems or reduced costs, or whether they're worth the inherent risk of developing cancer from radiation exposure.  A report by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement, Americans are exposed to a great deal of radiation.  

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Appropriate Medications for Children

You may have heard the statement, children are just little adults. Well that is true, but it’s also not true when it comes to medicine. You just can’t give the same drugs to children that you give to adults, and you can’t give half the dose, or anything like that. Many medications cannot be processed by children. Many medications given to children can cause problems in bone development, teeth development. All of these things have to be checked into. So if you have a medication at home that you think worked for you, just don’t give it to your child. Check with your doctor, and find out if they need their own prescription, or their own dose.

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Study Suggests Optimists Live Longer

Optimists live longer.  Results from a government study showing nearly 100,000 women being followed adds to scientific findings saying that optimists live longer.  The report is from the American Psychosomatic Society meeting and the University of Pittsburgh.  Women aged 50 and above were in the study that started in 1994.  Optimists were defined as those who said they expected good things rather than bad things to happen.  Over the course of the study, optimists had a lower death rate in general and had a 30% lower death rate from heart disease.  In contrast, those who were more hostile had a higher death rate and a 23% greater risk of death from a cancer-related condition.  The results also suggested that optimism and hostility levels had a larger impact on black women's health.  The researchers say that finding needs more study due to low numbers of black women in the group

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Study Shows Even Light Smoking Carries Serious Risks

If you're a person who smokes casually, maybe you light up a cigarette a few times a day in social settings, you probably think it's safe, but you may want to look at it again.  That's according to a Norwegian study of 43,000 men and women.  They found that smoking fewer than five cigarettes a day, commonly known as light smoking, triples the risk of dying of heart disease or lung cancer in men.  In women, the increased risk of lung cancer was five times greater.  Researchers looked at a 32 year period.  This is not a small study and it shows the concerns we must look into.  

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Tibial Band Pain

It's called the tibial band, and it's just that.  It's a band that goes down on the outside of the leg.  It more or less goes from the hip all the way down to the feet in the way it works.  What happens is when the patellofemoral pain occurs in the knee, it can also aggravate what we call tibial pain in the side.  That pain is kind of an inflammation.  It can make you feel as if your knee is giving way, it can cause severe pain, and it can even go down into the feet and cause difficulty.  It's obviously a concern that needs to be treated.  Stretching often helps. 

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Oral Bacteria May Be Linked with Heart Risk

Could mouth bacteria be linked with heart risk?  Studies are finding out this is the case. According to University of Buffalo, research comparing oral bacteria from 386 heart attack patients with oral bacteria from 840 without finds two species of bacteria are more common among heart attack patients.  Overall, heart patients tended to have higher levels of bacteria in their mouths, but of two types; Tannerella forsynthesis and Prevotella intermedia.  They were statistically linked to heart attack.  Researchers say more study is needed to determine if these bacteria actually contribute to the heart risk, but clearly, the studies are pointing in that direction and it's something we should look at and understand. 

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Study which Linked Measles Vaccine to Autism Turns Out to Be Fraudulent

Here's the bottom line...a study linking measles vaccine to autism was fabricated.  That it was a fraud is very disturbing.  The reason why this is the case, is you have parents who have children with autism who have been sold a bill of goods. They are frustrated because they were looking for answers.  Why did their child have this condition?  But even more important than that, for those children who have not had the vaccine, for those parents who have questioned it, for physician who have had that conversation with patients hundreds of thousands of times, all of this information leads to confusion.  It’s one thing if someone makes a mistake, but if it’s downright, outright fraud, you’re in a situation where it takes the entire medical system, the entire way we base our decisions about whether treatments are good or bad, and discredits it. There is a seed now planted in people’s minds that there is something wrong with these vaccines and that there’s a link with autism.  That is not something that will be erased by one report like this.  That question is ongoing.  We’re not saying it’s a bad thing to question, we are saying it’s a bad thing to question when you have misinformation.

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Air Pollution and Asthma

Let's face it, our health is largely dependent on our environment.  In many cases, we don't even think about it, but a good example is how air pollution is known to increase the risk of developing asthma.  According to a study, it just doesn't end at developing the condition, it also makes controlling it more difficult.  In the study, researchers surveyed 481 people about their asthma symptoms and compared that data to information about local levels of ozone, nitrous oxide, and particulate matter.  They found that poor air quality really made a difference. 

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Basal Cell Skin Cancer

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer.  It mainly affects the head and the neck.  The people at the greatest risk are males, people who tend to freckle easily, those with increased sun exposure or excessive use of tanning beds, and smokers.  Basal cell can be treated and although it can metastasize, or spread, it usually does not do that.  It usually stays local, close to where it originates.  People with basal cell near the ears, eyes and nose need to be watched very closely.  Those with it on the arms or legs still need to be treated, but local growth has less of a chance to attack vital areas.  Basal cell cancer is on the rise in this country and it's another reason why it's important to get regular skin checks.  It can't stress it enough.  You need to follow-up with your physician and do what you can to get all of that proper treatment.

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Should You Exercise While Pregnant?

It is one of the most common questions medical experts are asked.  It comes up in the office and even in social settings.  The question is, "Should you exercise while you are pregnant?"  The answer is yes.  Exercise and proper conditioning can help with the labor and certainly improve your overall blood supply to the baby.  In addition, stretching, flexibility, and exercise are quite helpful and can help at the time of delivery.  But, there is a longer answer we need to stress.  Women who are pregnant need to realize they should not expect to do more than when they were not pregnant.  That's a very important point.  

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Toilet Training Battle

It is a source of constant problems for parents. Should they toilet train their baby? Are they affected by the toilet training? Are they doing a good job? Many parents get upset about it. The bottom line is your child will learn to use the toilet. Don’t put so much pressure on your child that your child actually feels that they have to deal with the toilet training under a gun. The bottom line is this…this is one of the first times your child can exhibit independence and it will be a battle. It’s not done easily.

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Helping Kids Deal with Divorce

Divorce and children. You can not underestimate the role that divorce can play. The best thing to suggest to people who are suffering from divorce and dealing with those pressures is to not forget the children; to realize that when they seem okay, they may not be. In other words, you need to talk with them and consistently reinforce what’s going on. There is nothing better than communication. Communication can get you through a lot of those pressures and things you have to deal with under that stress.

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Stress of Stay-at-Home Moms

Stay-at-home moms don’t get enough credit. Yes, there is the lip service, the comments such as, ‘It’s very difficult to stay at home.’ ‘That’s yet another job.’ But in the workforce, many stay-at-home moms are put down. The reality is, women who stay at home to be with children have a very important job. One of the big stresses they have is the fact that they don’t get out and they don’t have the opportunity to interact with other adults. If you’re a stay-at-home mom, at least several times a week, give yourself an opportunity to get out.

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Can Drinking Coffee Help Fight Skin Cancer?

Can coffee help fight skin cancer?  The Journal of the National Cancer Institute recently took a look at the effects of caffeine intake. What they found is that people who drink coffee on a regular basis, four or more cups a day, had a 20% lower risk for developing the deadliest form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, than those who drank less coffee.  The same did not hold true for decaffeinated coffee drinkers.  Malignant melanoma is the 5th most common cancer in the United States and the leading cause of skin cancer deaths.  Coffee has been the subject of medical research quite a bit. In the past, researchers have found associations between coffee and protection against Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, depression, and diabetes.

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Sleep Apnea May Be Associated with Diabetes

Sleep apnea is a very common health problem where people have sleep interrupted with periods of snoring and erratic breathing. We have known for quite some time that sleep apnea is associated with high blood pressure. Now, a new study from Dublin, Ireland, has made the association between sleep apnea and diabetes. The study looked at 8,000 people and found an association. One of the most important points is if you’re someone who has sleep apnea, or suspects that you might, it is worth getting a complete physical and clearly be evaluated for diabetes.

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Dealing with Muscle Aches

Muscle aches and pains can be very frustrating. If you sit in one position or if you’re under a lot of pressure, you will find that those aches and pains can occur. It also will happen after you extend yourself if you’re exercising and haven’t been doing that for quite some time. The way you should deal with the muscle aches and pains best is to stretch and improve your flexibility. That’s the most important thing that can play a major role in helping you out. Muscle aches can become frustrating, but you can’t give in to them. You actually have to work through them.

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Studies Are Showing Alternative Medicine Techniques Can Be Helpful

Complementary and alternative medicine include such things as yoga, acupuncture, massage, and tai chi.  In the past, these modalities were considered a far field from medicine, but as a growing number of studies are being performed, the medical community is beginning realize that some of the techniques can be helpful for everything from stress reduction to help with blood pressure.  It may be years before we have enough significant studies to suggest using them as treatment, so what can you do?  Here's our suggestion…as long as you're not replacing a tested medical treatment with something like yoga or massage, there's no reason not to combine it with others.  It makes sense to try things that are good for you. 

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Mentally Quitting Smoking

There is no doubt that it is tough to kick the habit when it comes to cigarette smoking. If you ask 100 people how they stopped, the odds are quite strong you will get 100 different answers. But there is usually one consistent comment that comes across. It goes something like this. ‘I was so frustrated with smoking that I finally said, ‘The heck with it. I’m quitting.” It is clear that to finally stop smoking, a person needs to take a mental order to do it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the latest drugs, acupuncture, or whatever. You have to want to.

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Cold Weather Exercise Cautions

It’s tough to exercise in the cold weather, and certainly one of the most frustrating things is that you can pull muscles. You can also put extra pressure on the chest. When you’re in the cold, the blood vessels that go to the heart actually can clamp down, and when they clamp down they can have decreased oxygen supply to the heart. With that decrease of oxygen can come chest tightness and situations resolving and leading into a heart attack. The other problem of course is if you don’t warm up properly, and you don’t stretch out, you can also pull hamstrings and other muscles and tendons.

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Fruits, Vegetables and Cancer

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables doesn't help women with breast cancer and it doesn't necessarily reduce the risk of the disease returning.  The same can be said for prostate cancer and other forms of the disease.  But a recent study found, in colorectal cancer, that a diet that relied more on these foods plus whole grains fish and chicken did reduce the recurrence.  Here's our take on it.  We will definitely find that a diet like this helps in all cases, but it is difficult to get a clear association or correlation because diet has so many components and effects.  It also depends on the individual's genetics.  Nevertheless, it shows how we are looking more and more at diet and its role with cancer and other conditions.  That's the point we need to take home.  Diet plays a key role and a crucial role in how we evaluate cancer and other health issues. 

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