Health

How to Chart Your Family Health History

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This holiday season, many of us would probably like to avoid discussing politics at family gatherings. So here’s an idea: Talk family health history instead.

Since many health problems run in families, a holiday gathering is a good time to delve into a discussion about the health of your blood relatives, both living and deceased. This exercise can offer a glimpse of any conditions or illnesses to which you and your family may be predisposed, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, certain cancers (including breast, ovarian, and colorectal), osteoporosis, and asthma.

Having a family history of a disease doesn’t mean you’ll also develop the same condition. But, since some diseases do run in families, you can share your genetic background with your doctor, who can advise you of any measures that could prevent or decrease the risk of a particular disease or detect it at an early stage when therapy is likely to be most effective.

What to include and where to find it Continue reading →

Mistakes to Avoid During a Health Emergency

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emergencyssignFOUR MISTAKES COMMONLY MADE DURING THE FIRST 24 HOURS OF A HEALTH CRISIS…

There are no two ways about it—medical emergencies fill us with fright, confusion and sometimes panic. While you may think that you can’t prepare for an unexpected health crisis, the truth is that you can—and should.

Whether you’re dealing with a stroke, heart attack or even a relatively minor injury such as a broken ankle, the consequences of not being prepared can be quite serious. In the most extreme cases, it can result in a preventable medical error, which studies show is a leading cause of death in the US.

Below are four common mistakes that patients make during the first 24 hours—and simple steps you can take to avoid them…

Continue reading →

Fainting First Aid

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neyl (sxc.hu)
neyl (sxc.hu)

Why People Faint

Fainting is a frightening experience—especially when you don’t know the cause.

What you may not realize:

 Up to half of all Americans will faint at least once during their lives.

The cause is often relatively harmless, such as standing up too quickly, getting overheated, becoming dehydrated, receiving bad news or experiencing intense fear. You can even faint when a vigorous cough stimulates nerves that trigger a decrease in blood pressure and brain circulation. But in some cases, fainting can be a red flag for a potentially serious medical condition that affects your heart, lungs or nervous system. Continue reading →

Asthma Attack Survival Without an Inhaler

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(© Jenny Rollo)
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If you have asthma, then you know how scary it can be when you have an attack and have trouble breathing for anywhere from a few minutes to a few days, depending on its severity.

So you’re probably careful to keep your rescue inhaler with you at all times—in case of an emergency.

But what happens if an attack starts and you discover that your inhaler is empty or you don’t actually have it??

How can you lessen the severity of an asthma attack and/or stop it altogether without your trusty inhaler?

To find out, I called Richard Firshein, DO, director and founder of The Firshein Center for Comprehensive Medicine in New York City and author of Reversing Asthma: Breathe Easier with This Revolutionary New Program. And he had some very interesting advice… Continue reading →

Symptoms That Can Save Your Life

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Red Flag Warnings:

Some symptoms are signs of a true emergency — but we put off getting prompt medical attention, thinking that if we wait a bit, they will go away. Here, symptoms never to ignore…

 EMERGENCY SYMPTOMS

The following symptoms can indicate a potential emergency. Call for an ambulance (usually 911). If one is not available, have someone drive you to an emergency room. Continue reading →

How to Survive in the Intensive Care Unit

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If we’ve learned one thing about hospital care in recent years it’s this — being a patient can be more dangerous than whatever medical problems you already had! It’s one of those perplexing ironies, but the intensive care unit (ICU), in particular, can be destructive to one’s health and well-being. As many as 80% of patients who have survived a critical illness that required a stay in intensive care paid a price. While recovering from the immediate problem — such as a heart attack or pneumonia — many patients develop cognitive problems, for example, trouble with focus and concentration. They may also have difficulty performing simple, everyday tasks and experience a decreased quality of life, and once they’ve left the hospital, they may find themselves unable to return to work. In some cases, individuals continue to feel these ill effects up to one or two years later… and for an unlucky few, the impact is even longer term.

Memory and thinking difficulties after a stay in the ICU can make it seem as if your brain is stuck in molasses, observes E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH, an expert in critical care at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Now he and his colleagues have designed a five-step protocol to improve care and outcomes for ICU patients.

 THE CODE: A-B-C-D-E Continue reading →

Run and Not be Weary; Walk and Not Faint

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Get Fit in Just a Few Minutes

 Lack of time is a primary reason people give for failing to get the recommended 30 to 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise most days of the week. Admittedly, it can be tough to find such a big chunk of time in your busy schedule.

What helps: Instead of feeling compelled to cram an entire day’s worth of exercise into a single block of time, commit to fitting in little bursts of physical activity — two minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes — Continue reading →

Take Care

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sarej (sxc.hu)

Riley M. Lorimer, “Take Care,” New Era, Jul 2007, 34–37

You only get one body. Here are some tips for taking care of yours.

Elliot Grow had it made.  The summer before his senior year of high school, he was an aspiring lacrosse player with a promising future, and it looked like he just might land a starting spot on his school’s basketball team as well.  But calamity struck for Elliot one day in June when Continue reading →