_ Medical Care Second Opinions: Necessary or Not? By Sondra Forsyth article How important is that second opinion? For some medical insurance companies, second opinions are so important they are required before treatment. Are second opinions as valuable as our insurance companies make them seem? Neurosurgeon Jack Maniscalco M.D. clears up the inconsistency. ΓÇ£Second opinions are important for a number of reasons. If you, as a patient, do not feel as though your doctor is comprehensively addressing your questions or concerns, seek out another physician. If you feel uncomfortable with your diagnosis or suggested treatment, find a doctor who will listen and understand your apprehension with the previous recommendation.ΓÇ¥
The World is Waking Up to MenΓÇÖs Health: Good News for Men, Women, and Children By blog IΓÇÖve been working in the field of menΓÇÖs health for more than 40 years. For much of that time, IΓÇÖve felt like a lone wolf calling out in the darkness for people to recognize that males live sicker and die sooner than females. We suffer from illnesses like addictions, depression, and Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at rates much higher than females. But over the years the balance has been shifting and now the world is waking up to the problems of menΓÇÖs health and are ready to address solutions that are good for us all.
_ Antibacterial Soap May Be Unhealthy By Jane Farrell article Antibacterial soap may not have the health benefits you thought: A new study shows that washing with the soap exposes hospital workers to a high level of the potentially unsafe levels of the chemical triclosan.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Smartphone-Loss Anxiety By Sondra Forsyth article The smart phone has changed our behavior, sometimes for the better because we are now able to connect and engage with many more people than ever before, but sometimes for the worse in that we may have become over-reliant on the connectivity with the outside world that these devices afford us. Either way, there is no going back for the majority of users who can almost instantaneously connect with hundreds if not thousands of people through the various social media and other applications available on such devices as well as through the humble phone call.
_ The Newest IBS Medicines By Jane Farrell article Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an often misunderstood and underdiagnosed condition that affects about 15.3 million people in the United States. No one remedy works for all patients, so thereΓÇÖs a great medical need to develop new therapies for IBS, Andrew Mulberg, M.D., a gastroenterologist with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in one of the agencyΓÇÖs ΓÇ£Consumer UpdateΓÇ¥ articles.
_ Making Surgery as Easy as Possible By Jane Farrell article Have you been told by your doctor that you need surgery? If so, you're not alone. Millions of older Americans have surgery each year. Your primary care doctor may suggest a surgeon to you, and your state or local medical society can tell you about your surgeon's training. Try to choose a surgeon who operates often on medical problems like yours.
_ Heart Health Crucial Heart-Disease Devices Benefit People of Color By Jane Farrell article Racial and ethnic minorities who get implantable devices to treat heart failure derive the same survival benefit as white patients, new research shows. But non-white patients are getting the devices at a much lower rate. The study, one of the largest to compare the survival benefits of the devices by race and ethnicity, looked at 15,000 patients from 167 medical practices across the U.S. The findings are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
_ 5 Food-Drug Interactions You Want to Avoid By Sondra Forsyth article By Leah Shainhouse You have heard it again and again: Adapt to a healthy lifestyle. If you make sure to eat well, a plethora of diseases can be prevented or managed. However, there are times when you walk into your doctorΓÇÖs office, either for a routine check-up or for some sort of ache or pain and you have no choice. You walk out with another prescription, whether it is to help lower your cholesterol, control your blood pressure or fight off an infection.
_ Relationships & Love Connection is the Key to Positive Personal Relationships By Sondra Forsyth article By Lynne DΓÇÖAmico, PhD You can improve communication without improving a relationship, but you canΓÇÖt create connection without improving a relationship. Communication has been hailed as a ΓÇ£holy grailΓÇ¥ to interpersonal relationships, and is routinely promoted as the way to improve relationships between spouses, children, parents, and work colleagues. As years of research show, communication is definitely an important dimension of any relationship. But communication isnΓÇÖt the key to fixing relationship problems. Connection is.
_ Cholesterol Drug Good for Diabetic WomenΓÇÖs Hearts By Sondra Forsyth article The cholesterol-lowering drug fenofibrate cuts cardiovascular disease risks by 30 per cent in women with type-2 diabetes, according to a study done at th University of Sydney in Australia and published in August 2014 in Diabetologia. A release from the university quotes study chairman Professor Tony Keech as saying, "The finding is good news for women. The study shows that fenofibrate reduced the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, or having a stroke or other adverse cardiovascular event by 30 per cent in women and 13 per cent in men."
_ Medical Care Those with Not Long to Live Still Get Screenings for Cancer By Sondra Forsyth article A substantial number of older patients with limited life expectancy continue to receive routine screenings for prostate, breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer although the procedures are unlikely to benefit them, according to the authors of a study done at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by Trevor J. Royce, M.D., M.S. and colleagues.
_ Stay Safe During Lightning By Sondra Forsyth article HereΓÇÖs advice from the Centers for Disease Control to help you protect yourself and your loved ones from lightning during a thunderstorm: The weather forecast calls for a slight chance of thunderstorms, but you can only see a few fluffy white clouds overhead. So you and your tennis partner grab your racquets and balls and head for the tennis court. You spend a few minutes warming up and thenΓÇöwait! Is that thunder you hear? Was that a lightning flash?
_ Menopause Many Menopausal Women Go to Anti-Aging Docs By Sondra Forsyth article Feeling that conventional doctors did not take their suffering seriously, women instead sought out hormonal treatments for menopausal symptoms from anti-aging clinicians, according to a sudy done at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
_ Many Elderly ER Visitors Are Malnourished By Jane Farrell article In a new study, researchers found that more than half of elderly patients in a hospital emergency room were either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. Additionally, more than half of the patients who were malnourished hadnΓÇÖt been diagnosed with the condition. Researchers focused on patients 138 65 and older who were seen at the University of North Carolina hospitals over an eight-week period. The patients were not cognitively impaired or critically ill. None of them lived in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility.
_ Heart Health Mayo Clinic Challenges Cholesterol Guideline By Sondra Forsyth article A Mayo Clinic task force has challenged some recommendations in the updated guideline for cholesterol treatment that was unveiled by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) in 2013. The task force concludes, based on current evidence, that not all patients encouraged to take cholesterol-lowering medications such as statins may benefit from them and that the guideline missed some important conditions that might benefit from medication.
_ Osteoporosis Oxidative Stress Predicts Hip Fracture By Sondra Forsyth article Oxidative stress -- a disruption in the balance between the production of free radicals and antioxidants -- is a significant predictor for hip fracture in postmenopausal women, according to research led by University of Cincinnati epidemiologists and published online ahead of print in August 2014 in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
_ Brain Health Digital Literacy Reduces Cognitive Decline By Sondra Forsyth article Congratulations, ThirdAge fan! The fact that you are at your computer reading this means that you are among the digital literati ΓÇô and that accomplishment promises to lower your risk of cognitive decline as you age. Researchers led by Andre Junqueira Xavier at the Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina in Brazil have found that the ability to engage, plan, and execute digital actions such as web browsing and exchanging emails can improve memory. The results were published in July 8th 2014 in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Medical Sciences.
_ Exercise More Exercise Is Not Always Better By Sondra Forsyth article Did you do about a half hour of exercise today? If so, donΓÇÖt feel guilty about sitting down and putting your feet up ΓÇô especially is if you have heart disease. Working out too much is probably bad for you. ThatΓÇÖs the finding of a study published in August 2014 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. A release from the clinic notes that there is clear evidence of an increase in cardiovascular deaths in heart attack survivors who exercise to excess.