Category: Uncategorized

Our health tools are sure to keep your body in check and on the right path to a healthier you!

On this page you will be able to instantly check your Body Mass Index (BMI) and you will be able to check the heart range you should stay within to effectively lose weight. You will also be able to check the healthy weight you should be at, plus you’ll be able to check your body fat percentage.

Please remember that the results below are not exact. They are to give you an idea of where you’re at. Only a medical professional can give you your exact numbers.

It is also recommended that you consult with your physician before entering any diet or exercise routine.

The biggest benefit to women and female health when they quit smoking is a decreased chance of being diagnosed with lung cancer. But there are more benefits such as less chance of having a heart attack or stroke and the chances of getting osteoporosis are reduced. Quitting smoking is one of the hardest things to do, it is an addiction. But once it is beaten there is an immediate improvement to female health.

Many female health problems have been linked to smoking. A woman doesn’t have to be a smoker to develop the conditions or diseases associated with smoking. Another way female health is compromised is by being exposed to second-hand smoke on a regular basis. If there is a smoker in the family or household, they should not smoke around others and never inside the house. For the benefit of all of the members of the household and to improve both male and female health smoking should be done outdoors.

If a woman wants to have a baby and she smokes the smoking can reduce the chances of conceiving. Female health is of the utmost importance in pregnancy. If a woman quits smoking not only will the odds of getting pregnant increase but the health of the baby will be better too. Some women decide to quit smoking while they are pregnant and then find that they have quit for good by the time the baby is born.

Female health problems that can be reduced by quitting smoking is less illnesses too. It has been found that smokers take more sick days from work than non-smokers. By quitting smoking, your body will be better able to ward off and fight off germs that cause women to become sick. Best of all, when a woman quits smoking she can increase her life expectancy having more time with her family and loved ones.

The state of Florida has developed and released a program that is meant to act as a Florida health solution for children less than 19 years of age and for children that are uninsured. There are four parts to the program and once you apply the administrators will review your application and put your application through to the correct facet of the program. In order to be eligible for this program the parents or legal guardian (including grandparents) of the child has to be a resident of the state of Florida

This Florida health solution is meant to provide better medical coverage and services to uninsured children. No child should have to go without needed medical care if they are not insured. If your child meets all of the eligibility requirements there is no cost compared to some other insurance plans that have monthly premiums.

There are other non-profit organizations that provide a Florida health solution to children in need. Some of these plans are focused on children with special needs to help ease the cost of high medical bills that these children’s parents could be faced with (with our without insurance). In addition to insurance availability as a health solution for children there are still more organizations that conduct research. Their mission is to find a better way to treat childhood illnesses or even better, cure them. The goal for these types of organizations, just like the parents is to make our children as healthy as possible.

No child should go without health care because of availability or cost. The Florida health solution for children provides a way that no child has to go without either health insurance to eligible families or for a small monthly premium. If you are not a United States citizen but have been residing in Florida for a minimum of five year you still may qualify for one of the programs.

As a parent it is your job to not only you ensure the health care that your children receive is top-notch, you need to take care of yourself and your partner too. Health care is a family concern because if one member gets sick it affects the entire family. A consistent schedule of annual check-ups and prompt doctors visits when there is an illness or concern are called for. Children need the best health care that can be provided. This does not always come in the form of a pediatrician; most family doctors are more than capable of providing health care services to an entire family. You may consider seeing a pediatrician if your child or children has a medical condition of special concern such as severe food allergies or a behavior disorder such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

When a baby is born they will see the doctor at least every six months for a check-up and immunizations. Once the baby is 18 months though there isn’t another recommended check-up until the child reaches kindergarten age. Talk to your doctor and find out what their thoughts are on bringing your child in for an annual check-up anyway. As a parent you will bring your child in for any health care concern as it comes up but it makes sense to go in to have your child’s growth and overall health looked at.

As an adult your health care is important too. But as an adult who is also a parent your responsibility to stay healthy is bigger than just you. Ensure that you book your own annual examination with your family doctor. If there have been any recent changes in your body or mental state, be sure to contact your doctor right away. The sooner screening and detection takes place for a wide variety of diseases the better your chances of treatment and survival.

Sometimes it can be confusing reading all the updates in health news. One year eating eggs wasn’t good for you and then the next it is recommended to include eggs in your diet as a good source of protein. What can you do to stay on top of all these changing health news stories? Two of the most important things to look at is the source of the health news (is it reputable and well-known) and the second is the date – do you have the most recent information?

The reason health news is constantly changing is that there are a multitude of studies that are conducted at any one time. The purpose of these studies could be different (trying to prove different hypotheses) and the process they use to achieve the results will most likely be different too. One way to ensure the information is the best and the advice should be followed from health news is to consult with a doctor. Before you make a drastic change in your diet because of something you read, get your doctor’s thoughts on it. Not only will this ensure the information you received is accurate but your doctor will also be able to tell you if it is the right thing for you as an individual.

Health news is also full of warnings of different risk factors that can cause various diseases such as cancer. There are common sense ones – quitting smoking reduces the chances of getting lung cancer but there are also ones that bear double-checking with a health professional. If the link seems questionable to you, find a secondary (and trusted) source to collaborate the information you read in the health news. The same advice holds true for new treatments, don’t start a treatment program until you have the go ahead from your family doctor.

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Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are ravaging the health of Americans of all ages.  The evidence is usually visually obvious, especially around the waistline, but less obvious consequences of unhealthy eating behaviors are common, too.  And sometimes an eating disorder is a symptom of other medical conditions.

For example, adolescent girls with attention-deficit, hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are 10 times more prone to eating disorders than ADHD boys of the same age.  ADHD is characterized by behavioral problems that lead to poor relationships with family and friends.  These issues of behavior are often associated with low self-esteem and extreme feelings of self-consciousness.

This lack of personal confidence, especially at adolescence, triggers eating disorders that include anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.  Girls with these eating disorders are more likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders, too, especially when ADHD compounds the diagnosis.

Fibromyalgia

Approximately one of every 50 Americans suffers from fibromyalgia but it’s one of the most baffling medical conditions known.  The musculoskeletal disorder causes excruciating, debilitating pain but leaves no organic evidence of its presence, a situation that gives it its nickname – the invisible syndrome.

Fibromyalgia feels like intense arthritis pain in the joints but doesn’t produce inflammation like arthritis does.  Some doctors think it’s a physical manifestation of depression but antidepressants don’t ease the pain.  It’s usually misdiagnosed for many years and over- or under-treated along the way.

The disorder, affecting mostly women, is so maddening that one out of 20 fibromyalgia patients admit to wanting, from time to time, to kill their doctor because nothing’s working to ease the pain.  A recent report in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, however, suggests hope is on the way.

Researchers using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), discovered an abnormality in cerebral blood flow at the part of the brain associated with pain.  In a study of 30 women, only the 20 with fibromyalgia showed evidence of hypoperfusion (decreased cerebral blood flow).

This finding is the first-ever physical evidence of this disease that causes such devastating pain.  With an organic clue to work from, there is hope effective therapies can be developed.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a visual disorder caused by increased pressure inside the eye.  When the pressure becomes extreme, visual impairments, including blindness, result.  In fact, glaucoma is the #1 leading cause of blindness throughout the world, affecting mostly the elderly.

Pressure can be relieved by medications but sometimes surgery is required to drain the over-pressurized fluid inside the eyeball.  There’s even a ‘smart’ contact lens in the development stage that might make glaucoma treatment much less troublesome some day.

At the University of California-Davis, biomedical engineers have developed a material, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which can be shaped and worn like any other contact lens.  What makes this lens different is that it’s fitted with precise patterns of powdered silver, an antimicrobial agent that will act as a sensor to detect intraocular pressure.

The PDMS lens will be able to detect when and how much medication is needed to maintain optimum eye pressure and dispense glaucoma-fighting medications as needed.  It’ll also relay pressure readings and other statistics needed to further the study of the disease.

Heart Attack

If you don’t like daylight savings time, it may be more than a case of simple grouchiness.  It may be a matter of survival.

Swedish doctors recently reported they’d studied the number of heart attacks occurring on Mondays in the fall, before and after daylight savings time ended, and on Mondays in the spring, when the time change begins.  It seems the time changes affect our hearts as well as our schedules.

In the springtime, when daylight savings time begins, the number of heart attacks spike rather dramatically, by 6% to 10%, on the first Monday after the change, compared to other Mondays in the spring.  In the fall, the opposite is true.  With the extra hour of sleep in the fall, the number of heart attacks the following Monday drop at about the same rate they rise in the spring.

This spike, up or down, in heart attacks immediately after these time changes even lingers a few days.  The same fluctuation in the number of Monday heart attacks happens on the Tuesdays and Wednesdays following the time changes, too.

Poisons

ACETONE: found in some nail polish and paint removers. Small doses (such as the amount in the bottles sold for removing nail polish) are not likely to be dangerous.

Antidotes: Induce vomiting. Give one to two tea- spoons of bicarbonate of soda in water. Follow with coffee or tea.

ACIDS: often give off fumes and are highly corrosive to tissues.

Antidotes: Avoid vomiting. Give large amounts of milk, or repeated tablespoon doses of milk of magnesia. Or give bicarbonate of soda or other household remedies for heartburn and hyperacidity.

ALKALIES: lye (used in many products for stopped-up drains), strong ammonia water, quick lime.

Antidotes: Avoid vomiting. Give large amounts of ciuus fruit juices, or vinegar diluted with water, or large amounts of milk.

ARSENIC: found in various ant, mouse and rat poisons, also in plant sprays. Produces burning stomach pain, thirst, constriction in throat.

Antidotes: Induce vomiting. Give large amounts of milk, milk of magnesia, egg whites, or universal antidote.

ASPIRIN: a common ingredient in many household headache and pain remedies. Poisoning produces sleepiness, flushing, ringing in the ears, gastric irritation.

Antidotes: Induce vomiting. Give soda bicarbonate (baking Soda) in water, one or two teaspoons.

BARBITURATES: include various kinds of sleeping pills and sedatives.

Antidotes: Unless victim is comatose, induce vomiting. Follow by large amounts of strong coffee. If victim is comatose, proceed with artificial respiration.

BELLADONNA: or one of its active ingredients, atropine, found in many medications used for spastic conditions of the intestinal tract. Overdosage produces dilated pupils, dryness, excitement, collapse.

Antidotes: Induce vomiting. Give strong tea or universal antidote. Repeat induction of vomiting. Combat shock; have victim lie down. Give artificial respiration if necessary.

BICHLORIDE OF MERCURY: often called corrosive sublimate, and frequently used as a germ-killer. Produces burning pain in mouth, stomach, and throat; also nausea and vomiting.

Antidotes: Give large amounts of milk, or the whites of several eggs. Induce vomiting. Repeat procedure.

CARBOLIC ACID (creosote): produces corrosive changes in lips and mouth, with burning in mouth and stomach. Weakness and collapse may follow.

Antidotes: Do not induce vomiting. Give large amounts of olive or cottonseed oil, or several egg-whites. Follow with Epsom salts in water (one ounce to pint of water.

CHLORINE: the active agent in various bleaches.

Antidotes: Give an emetic. Induce vomiting. Follow with dilute ammonia, one teaspoon in water.

CLEANING FLUIDS: include benzine, kerosene, gasoline, carbon teuachloride.

Antidotes: Do not induce vomiting (except when poison is specifically carbon tetrad~loride). Give strong coffee or tea. Artificial respiration may be necessary. Occasionally, poisoning may result from inhalation of fumes. Remove victim to fresh air and give coffee.

CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING: motor exhaust fumes. Produces headache, loss of muscular power, reddish lips & Death.

Antidotes: Remove victim to fresh air, Give O2

COPPER SULFATE @lue vitriol, Bordeaux mixture): produces burning pain in mouth, throat and stomach; also irritative symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea; also collapse and shock.

Antidotes: Give whites of eggs, large amounts of milk. Induce vomiting. Repeat procedure. Artificial respiration may be necessary

DIGITALIS: a widely used heart medication often prescribed in derivatives such as digoxin, digitoxin, gitaligen, having similar propertes. Produces weakness, headache, slow pulse, collapse and delirium.

Antidotes: If no more than one half hour or so has passed since taking, induce vomiting. If longer, do not induce vomiting. Give strong tea repeatedly. Have victim lie down.

FLUORIDES: the active ingredient of many ant and mouse poisons.

Antidotes: Induce vomiting. Give large amounts of milk, or calcium tablets.

IODINE: produces stomach and throat pains.

Antidotes: Give any starchy substance such as cornstarch, flour or bread. Then in- duce vomiting.

LEAD: found in some paints, white and red lead. Produces pain in throat and stomach, vomiting, convulsions, collapse. (More chronic forms of poisoning produce headache, high blood pressure.)

Antidotes: Induce vomiting for acute poisoning. Give large amounts of milk or Epsom salts. Induce vomiting again.

OIL OF WINTERGREEN: chemically related to aspirin, producing similar symptoms.

Antidotes: Give one or two teaspoons of baking soda in water. Induce vomiting. Re- peat the baking soda and leave it to be absorbed.

PHOSPHORUS: found in roach and rodent poisons. It often has a disagreeable garlicky odor.

Antidotes: Do not induce vomiting. Give half a glass of hydrogen peroxide.

STRYCHNINE: found in rodent poisons.

Antidotes: Induce vomiting. Give strong tea and the universal antidote.

TURPENTINE: produces burning pain, excitement, weakness, nausea, shock.

Antidotes: Induce vomiting. Give one to two ounces of Epsom salts in a pint of water.

Colorectal Cancer:  This disorder ranks the second most common visceral cancer in the United States and in Europe, affecting men and women equally.

Colorectal malignant tumors  are almost always adenocarcinomas (carcinoma derived from glandular tissue or in which the tumor cells form recognizable glandular structures).  About  half of these are sessile (attached by a broad base, as opposed to being pedunculated or stalked) lesions of the rectosigmoid area; the rest are polypoid (resembling a polyp) lesions.  This type of cancer  usually spreads slowly, it’s potentially curable in  most patients if early diagnosis allows resection before nodal involvement.  With improved diagnosis, the overall 5 yea survival rate is estimated at 55%.

Cause:  The exact cause of colorectal cancer is unknown.  Studies show concentration in areas of higher economic development, suggesting a connection to a high fat diet.  High risk factors include other diseases of the digestive tract; age over 40; history of ulcerative colitis (average interval before onset of cancer is 11 to 17 years); and familial polyposis (cancer usually almost develops by age 50).

Symptoms:

Signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer result from local obstruction and, in later stages, from direct extension to adjacent organs (such as; bladder, prostate, uterus, vagina, sacrum) and distant metastasis (usually to the liver).

Later;  Pallor, cachexia (general ill health and malnutrition), ascites (effusion and accumulation of serous fluid in the abdominal cavity). hepatomegaly (enlargement of the liver), or lymphangiectasis (dilation of the lymphatic vessels).

On the right side of the colon (which absorbs water and electrolytes), early tumor growth causes no obstruction, because the tumor tends to grow along the bowel rather than the surrounding lumen, and the fecal content in this area is usually liquid.  It may cause black tarry stools; anemia, and abdominal aching, pressure, or dull cramps. 

As the disease progress:  Patient may develop –weakness, fatigue, exertional dyspnea (difficulty breathing), vertigo, diarrhea, obstipation( intractable constipation), anorexia, weight loss, vomiting, and other signs of intestinalobstruction. By this time tumor on the right side may be palpable.

On the left side of the colon:  ( where stools are denser, a tumor is obstructive even in early stages).  Symptoms  usually will have rectal bleeding , intermittent abdominal fullness or cramping, and rectal pressure. 

As the disease progress:  Patients may develop – obstipation, diarrhea, or “ribbon” or pencil – shaped stools.  Usually the patient notices that passage of a stool or flatus relieves the pain.  At this stage bleeding from the colon becomes obvious, with blood or mucus in stools.

A rectal tumor is noted by a change in bowel habits, often beginning with an urgent need to defecate on arising (or morning diarrhea) or obstipation alternating with diarrhea.  Other signs are blood or mucus in the stool and a ‘feeling of ‘ incomplete evacuation.

Later stage:  Pain begins as a feeling of rectal fullness that later becomes a dull, and sometimes constant, ache confined to the rectum or sacral region.

Treatment:

Surgical treatment to remove the malignant tumor and adjacent tissues, as well as any lymph nodes that may contain cancer cells.  -Type of surgery depends on the location and type of tumor.

For cecum and ascending colon:  Right hemicolectomy for advanced disease may include resection of the terminal segment of the ileum, cecum, ascending colon, and right half of the transverse colon with corresponding mesentery.

For proximal and middle transverse colon:  Right colectomy includes – transverse colon and mesentery corresponding to midcolonic vessels, or the surgeon may perform segmental resection of the transverse colon and associated midcolonic vessels.

For sigmoid colon tumors:  Surgery is usually limited to the sigmoid colon and mesentery.

Upper rectum tumors:  usually call for anterior or low anterior resection.  A newer procedure, using a stapler, allows for resections much lower than were previously possible.

Lower rectum tumors:  Usually abdominoperineal resection and permanent sigmoid colostomy.

Chemotherapy is indicated for patients with metastasis, residual disease, or a recurrent inoperable tumor.

Drug therapy

Radiation Therapy – may be use before or after surgery

Biotherapy – is still experimental

We have all had it happen to us – we have a ton of things that we want to ask our doctor when we go into our next appointment, but then as we get into the room we blank and totally forget about everything that we were going to discuss with them.

There are, however, several things in particular that you can do in order to be able to remember what to ask a doctor, so that you can remember all of those things that you meant to at your appointment.

The first idea of how to remember what to ask a doctor is quite simple – make yourself a list beforehand. Every time you think of something that you want to ask a doctor before you go into your next appointment, make sure that you mark it down on the list, and then you can just bring the list in and refer to it once you actually go in for the appointment.

This is the easiest method, however another one is to think about what you want to ask a doctor and then do your own research, and this will not only help you to better figure out just what questions you want to ask, but as well may help to answer some of your questions before you even get into the actual appointment.

Regardless of which method you end up using, or if you create one of your own, the important thing is that you are not going to get into the doctor’s office and completely forget everything that you were going to ask, because this happens far too often, and then you never end up getting any answers for the issues that were bothering you.

Make your doctors appointments count by making sure that you have a way of remembering what you wanted to speak to the doctor about, and using these methods is just one great idea of doing so.

Figuring out what you should ask the doctor at your next appointment is certainly not something that has to be difficult, although most times it seems to be. There always seems to be a ton of things that you want to make sure to ask the doctor at the next appointment, and it can often be overwhelming.

Thus we try to narrow down the list of questions however this can often cause an array of problems. For one, we may then end up not asking a question that actually could have been very important, and as well we may then end up causing further or more serious problems for ourselves.

However there are certain things that you can do in order to ensure that this does not happen. For one, there are various different online medical forms and chat rooms that you can use which will help to answer at least some of your questions, and then obviously you will not need to ask the doctor again when you go in to your appointment.

Another idea is to call a toll-free clinic, and there are many of these as well, and here you will be able to speak to qualified and experienced medical professionals who will be able to give you proper advice regarding your medical questions.

Shortening the number of questions that you are going to ask the doctor at your next appointment is not only going to save you time, but as well your doctor. After all, most doctors are double booked with patients these days and so as little time as you have to take up of theirs is incredibly appreciated.

This is why taking this bit of time beforehand is so important and you are really helping out others, besides yourself, by doing so, which makes it even more valuable.