And let’s face it: This information is coming at us all day long. Our newspapers, news feeds, and inboxes are overflowing with reports about the COVID-19 pandemic — including how many have tested positive or died from it, what the curve looks like, how poorly prepared we were for it, how the economy is in free fall from it, reports of what we can no longer do, and on and on the stories go....
In the United States, COVID-19 case rates are once again surging, and the country seems hopelessly divided in a culture war over mask-wearing and vaccines. Climate crisis alarms are ringing nonstop with reports of famine, floods, and forest fires. International humanitarian crises and political conflicts roar on. The doom and gloom can weigh pretty heavily. One indicator: Research shows our collective mental health has indeed taken a dip since the start of the pandemic....
“Alopecia areata can be absolutely devastating for patients and their loved ones,” says Brittany Craiglow, MD, of Dermatology Physicians of Connecticut and associate adjunct professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven. “It’s important for those affected to understand that it is normal for hair loss to be very upsetting — it’s really not ‘just hair.’” Additionally, Pareen Sehat, clinical director at Well Beings Counselling in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, explains that many people with alopecia areata face ongoing stress, anxiety, and other mental health-related concerns....
“One of the biggest problems for people managing RA is that the source of their symptoms is generally invisible to others,” says Paul Sufka, MD, a rheumatologist with HealthPartners in Saint Paul. “It often takes a trained examiner to note the joint swelling associated with RA, and the pain and other symptoms, such as fatigue, or side effects of medications, such as nausea, are completely invisible.” RA symptoms can also be isolating....
They may cause cancer. The Medical Detective asked experts, “Should she, or shouldn’t she?” Read on to learn the truth about coloring hair, where the harshest chemicals lurk and how to tone down gray the healthy way…Many women would rather face a root canal without Novocain than let their locks go gray. “It’s important for my self-esteem,” says Gaynell Warcola, a 60-year-old Los Angeles social worker who’s been covering her gray for years....
Read on for the scoop on this concept, including how to find yours and put it into practice. The 5 Love Languages hit bookstores in 1992, but since then, there have been updated editions and versions focused on men, singles, military couples, and more. Before delving deeper into love languages, let’s outline each one. 1. Gifts You show and feel love through presents. These can be small tokens or bigger items....
Most diets involve reducing calories in some way or another: Some introduce foods that fill you up faster but contain fewer calories, such as fruits and vegetables in place of processed foods. Other diets restrict your options, and eating the same food sources becomes repetitive and less interesting, so you consume fewer items. Still other diets combine both strategies, such as diets recommending a low-calorie food such as a tomato, or a special shake that you make, for most or all of your meals....
Most people with Crohn’s disease can lead a fairly normal life with treatment. The treatments your doctor recommends will depend on the severity and type of symptoms you’re experiencing, as well as what parts of your digestive tract are affected. The two main types of treatment for Crohn’s disease are medication and surgery. Medications for Crohn’s Disease There are a number of medicines available to treat Crohn’s disease. Your doctor may recommend one or more drugs, depending on which parts of the digestive tract are causing your symptoms....
The term “vestibular disorder” generally refers to a disorder affecting the inner ear that leads to dizziness, vertigo, and balance problems. When vertigo occurs as part of a migraine attack, it can happen in any of the phases — that is, the prodrome, aura, headache, or postdrome phase — of the migraine, according to the American Migraine Foundation. “Vertigo is the feeling that you’re moving or spinning even though you are sitting still,” says Loretta Mueller, DO, a headache specialist at Cooper University Health Care in Cherry Hill, New Jersey....
So let’s talk about the ugly statistic that over 70 percent of MS marriages end in divorce. In the research I have done for this posting, I found that the divorce rate for couples with MS is actually about the same as (if not a little lower than) the general population. Did you know that? I didn’t. I assumed that our rates must be significantly higher. That said, it may be that a divorce hits a person living with MS a little bit harder - not that anyone goes unscathed by the emotional impact of a disillusion....
“Dear old friend who I am enormously fond of and barely know,” was how Kate Milliken started her response. The world of multiple sclerosis (MS) is like that. We all have our connection to the disease, to our former lives, to our new circumstances, and we have connections to one another. For me and for many in the MS world, Kate has been one of those connections. Kate Milliken’s Done ‘Loads of Work’ for the MS Community Some of you will know her from her work on the MS Learn Online video series for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society....
New research published in the May 2019 issue of the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension not only reveals how updated guidelines (published in September 2017 in the journal Pediatrics) have identified more youngsters as having high blood pressure, but also shows how children with elevated pressure are more likely to develop a thickening of the heart muscle wall and metabolic syndrome (a group of conditions that raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease) compared with those who have normal blood pressure....
An estimated 62,210 people in the United States will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year. Most cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, and current therapies only lead to a median overall survival benefit of approximately six to eight months. Mutations in the KRAS gene occur in between 70 to 90 percent of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, of which KRAS wild-type is a distinct subtype. The five-year survival rate for this subtype is less than 10 percent....
In one investigation, published January 21 in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), analysis of more than 220,000 visits to emergency or urgent care departments between August 2021 and January 2022 found that receipt of a third vaccine dose of Pfizer or Moderna was highly effective at preventing COVID-associated emergency and urgent care encounters (94 percent and 82 percent, respectively) and preventing COVID-associated hospitalizations (94 percent and 90 percent, respectively)....
Everyday Health: From your own research or that of others, what have you learned about stress that you didn’t know or that surprised you? Nikita Gupta: In our culture, we often view stress as something bad, understandably, because it doesn’t feel good! I used to think that being stressed meant that I wasn’t handling things as gracefully as I should — that “I shouldn’t be affected by this” or “I shouldn’t be involved in that because it’s too difficult....
To address the pain in your feet caused by walking or standing for long periods, it’s vital to understand and choose the right type of support in order to ease symptoms and prevent further complications. How Psoriatic Arthritis Affects the Feet and Ankles Psoriatic arthritis is a type of chronic inflammatory joint condition that affects approximately 30 percent of those living with psoriasis, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation. People who have psoriatic arthritis may be diagnosed with oligoarthritis (when two to four joints are involved), polyarthritis (when five or more joints are involved), and, less commonly, a particularly debilitating form of arthritis known as arthritis mutilans....
While taking out the trash in October 2014, Free — a 68-year-old, semiretired healthcare consultant — had a hard fall and injured her hand and hip. Emergency room doctors told her that nothing was broken and she would be fine. They were less reassuring when she described the strange pull she felt in her abdomen when she fell and the persistent abdominal pain and bloating she’d been experiencing for months....
You might have some reluctance when it comes to exercising with RA; perhaps a fear of aggravating inflamed joints, says Andrew Naylor, PT, DPT, a physical therapist at Bellin Health Titletown Sports Medicine and Orthopedics in Green Bay, Wisconsin. And there may be times when you just can’t handle a heavy workout session, such as during an RA flare. But regular exercise is recommended for most people who have RA, says David Pisetsky, MD, PhD, a rheumatologist and professor of medicine and immunology at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina....
But before anyone goes throwing out comments about wasted money and ridiculous research projects, know that there was solid scientific theory behind why someone would even propose introducing hookworm larvae into the body to treat MS. The Hygiene Hypothesis of Autoimmune Disease First, there’s what’s known as the hygiene hypothesis for autoimmune conditions. This hypothesis is based on the idea that the decreasing incidence of infections in Western countries, and more recently in developing countries, is at the root of the increasing incidence of both autoimmune and allergic diseases....
RELATED: Misdiagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis Is Common Defining and Describing Preclinical Rheumatoid Arthritis Some people with preclinical rheumatoid arthritis may have mild aches and pains, swelling in a joint on one side of the body (but not the other), or some fatigue or malaise — or they may feel quite normal. Even so, the presence of these biomarkers suggests they’re at risk for developing full-blown rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, research suggests that the detection of these biomarkers and autoantibodies typically occurs three to five years before the onset of RA joint symptoms....
