I wasn't planning to think about shingles all week, but couldn’t avoid it. It started with an email from a close friend saying she had the painful skin rash, which is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. I winced, recalling my own bout of shingles, when I drove to and from work every day, steering with my right hand and holding the seat belt away from my torso with my left, because the pain from having the belt touch the rash on my rib cage was intolerable. The next day, I came across a 2011 Institute of Medicine report on chronic pain. One of the leading causes? Post-herpetic neuralgia, …
Americans feel it in their guts. Poor health, that is, the combined consequences of an unwholesome diet, stress, aging, and not drinking enough water. Every year, more than 90 million Americans seek help from a doctor for gut-related problems such as acid reflux, pancreatitis, gallstones, and irritable bowel syndrome, according to the American College of Gastroenterology. With a few simple and straightforward steps, you can improve your GI tract function, boost your overall health, and perhaps avoid being one of those 90 million in the doctor’s office. Your gut not only digests your food, but…
Ringing in your ears, or tinnitus, is a common aftermath of a night at a boisterous club or thunderous concert. The annoying sound generally resolves itself in a few hours. But evidence is mounting that loud noise not only damages the delicate cilia in your inner ear, but also causes other neural pathways to become hyperactive. According to the American Tinnitus Association, more than 50 million people suffer from tinnitus, which can range from intermittent and mild to severe and debilitating. People with tinnitus typically describe ringing in the ears, but the condition can also manifest …
The American Psychiatric Organization is considering a controversial move to reclassify grief as depression. The decision could have lasting implications on the treatment of grief, and it already has the psychiatric community deeply divided. The American Psychiatric Organization may change the way grief is regarded and treated in its revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or D.S.M. Specifically, the criteria for diagnosing depression would be broadened to include bereavement. Previously, bereavement was excluded from the diagnostic criteria for depression if a …
The discussion of whether the Krispy Kreme Burger did it, or if a paid endorsement of a diabetes drug is OK, or whether Paula Deen waited too long to tell the world that she had been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes is an exercise in asking and answering the wrong questions. Instead, let’s talk about how to avoid joining Deen and the nearly 26 million Americans who have type 2 diabetes. Are You At Risk? The American Diabetes Association reports that 79 million American have pre-diabetes—blood glucose levels that are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. People …
Put down the butts. Eat more fruit and vegetables. Get to the gym. Ease up on the alcohol. If you choose any of these tried-and-true resolutions, you’ll boost your health in 2012. But here are three more health-promoting strategies to consider for the New Year: Dig In Gardening brings multiple health benefits. When you dig, weed, rake, plant seedlings, and harvest, you’ll burn roughly 167 calories in a half hour if you weigh approximately 155. You’ll burn more calories if you weigh more, fewer if you weigh less. Gardening in the sun allows your skin to produce vitamin D, which helps protect…
As you ring in 2012 over the weekend, organize your festivities so that the first family gathering of the year doesn’t take place in the emergency room. Heart attack incidence spikes on New Year’s Day, according to a 2004 study in Circulation. The uptick in heart attacks on January 1 isn’t fully understood, but most likely results from the unhealthy mélange of stress, depression, and high-fat, high-salt meals. A sudden increase in fat and salt poses a particular risk to people who already have heart disease. However, in many instances, people crowding the ER on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s …
Unlike white fat that stores energy and makes your pants feel tight when you have too much of it, brown fat burns energy in the body. Scientists don’t yet know how to activate brown fat, a potential key in preventing diabetes and obesity. However, with the recent discovery of significant pathways to brown fat activation, researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston moved another step closer to the day when brown fat can be activated in humans with a drug or cultivated in the laboratory for transplant into humans. “The biggest thing we’re trying to find out is how to activate this …
For people mourning the death of a loved one, holidays can bring renewed or intensified grief, casting a pall on what once might have been a favorite time of year. The sense of loss can be particularly acute on the first Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or Christmas with an empty place at the table. Grief's intense emotional toll also has health implications, marked by elevated stress hormones, diminished immune response, insomnia and increased susceptibility to illness. People struggling with grief need extra support to get through the weeks between Thanksgiving and the new year. However, strategies …
Despite suffering from severe autism, Sue Rubin, 33, will graduate from college this year. Rubin is unable to speak except for two- to three-word utterances, but learned to type with one finger at age 13. She uses this form of communication to express herself. She takes classes at Whittier College, and expects to graduate this year after persevering to complete her bachelor’s degree, one class at a time, for 14 years. Through extraordinary tenacity, Rubin has been able to achieve success. Still, her mother Rita Rubin, can’t help but think of how much more could have been done for her daughter…
A supersoaker filled with icy water, an air horn, shouting, tickling, siblings or pets jumping on the bed—these are methods desperate and stressed-out parents use to try to roust a seemingly comatose teen in time for school. High school teachers regularly face first period classrooms in which the majority of teens sit, dazed and uncomprehending, or sleep outright. Research suggests that laziness, late-night texting, and overconsumption of jolting energy drinks can’t take the full blame for teen inertia in the morning as much as parents might like to think so. Teens need at least nine hours of…
You don’t miss your saliva and tears until they’re gone. Venus Williams joined the 4 million people in the U.S. living with Sjogren’s syndrome when she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease last week. The syndrome causes white blood cells to destroy moisture-producing glands in the eyes and mouth, leading to uncomfortable dryness. In some cases, the syndrome affects the kidneys, liver, pancreas, blood vessels, skin, and gastrointestinal tract. Williams reported that fatigue and joint pain associated with Sjogren’s were severe enough to prompt her to withdraw from the U.S. Open tennis …
The death of Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic homeless man, following a violent confrontation with police in Fullerton garnered national attention this month as grainy footage from security cameras and witness cell phones surfaced. For John Tischler, that footage strikes at his greatest fear. Tischler is searching for his 30-year-old son, Shawn, who suffers from schizophrenia, and has been missing since May 26. Shawn left a board-and-care home in Pacoima, was taken into custody by Long Beach police a month later near the Aquarium of the Pacific, and wandered away from the police station lobby. …
Waiting for medical test results can transform every hour into what seems like days, a stomach-churning, nail-gnawing, pacing eternity, punctuated by jumps each time the phone rings. The next time you or a family member has a blood test, an MRI, CT, or PET scan, or a tissue biopsy, knowing more about the timing and the process in advance can help ease the stress of waiting. When your doctor orders a medical test, be sure to ask these questions: What test am I having? What will the test tell you? When will I know the results? Will you call me with the results, or should I call you? If your …
The photo of my mother on the giant screen showed her looking relaxed and happy in Wexford, Ireland. Her hospice nurse, who was sitting next to me, said quietly, “There she is.” This was at an annual memorial service organized by the hospice agency that had taken care of my mother so that family members and friends could gather to remember loved ones who had died in the last year. I asked the nurse if many of the people pictured on the screen—squinting in the sun on cruise ships, holding a beloved pet, mugging in family group shots, or beaming at weddings—had been her patients. She gazed at …
