Health info from Mayo Clinic and others...


Mayo Clinic Report
Home care services: Questions to ask
Home care services range from medical care to help with daily household chores. If you're considering home care services, ask these questions to choose the best provider for your needs.
read more
Paying for the ‘Institutionalized Spouse’
What happens when one half of a married couple is retired and in need of expensive nursing home care while a younger spouse is still working and earning income?
read more
Source:The New York Times

1 in 4 Patients Undergoes Revolving-Door Hospitalizations
About one-quarter of all U.S. hospital patients are readmitted over a two-year period for the same conditions that led to their original hospitalization, a new study finds.
read more
Source:US News

Moving from cancer treatment to the waiting phase
If you're 1 of the more than 11 million cancer survivors living in the United States, the phrase "the waiting room" brings on a new meaning.
read more
Source:

Peripheral neuropathy — Managing the side effects of chemotherapy
Many of you have written in through this blog and mentioned you're dealing with symptoms of peripheral neuropathy as a result of chemotherapy treatment.
read more
Source:

What can I do about headaches during pregnancy? I'd rather not take medication.
You're right to be cautious about taking medication to treat headaches during pregnancy. Many headache medications may have harmful or unknown effects on a developing baby. You're not at the mercy of your headaches, though. There's much you can do to prevent or relieve headaches during pregnancy.
read more
Source:

Fictional Stars, Real Problems
In Medical Schools, Therapists Train on Characters From Hit Movies, Television and Books
read more

1 in 4 Patients Undergoes Revolving-Door Hospitalizations
About one-quarter of all U.S. hospital patients are readmitted over a two-year period for the same conditions that led to their original hospitalization, a new study finds.
read more

Red meat — no longer bad for us?
Researchers at Harvard pooled data from 20 studies to see if different types of red meat — unprocessed versus processed — had different effects on the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Unprocessed red meat was defined as beef, hamburger, pork, lamb or game.
read more
Source:

Chest Pain? What to look for
Chest pain can come on suddenly at any time. You try to ignore it at first, but your chest pain has you scared and worried. Could you be having a heart attack? Should you go to the emergency room (ER)?
read more
Source:

Paying for the ‘Institutionalized Spouse’
Craig Reaves, past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, practices in Kansas City, Mo., and on occasion fields questions from New Old Age readers.
read more


Work-life balance: Tips to reclaim control
When your work life and personal life are out of balance, your stress level is likely to soar. Use these practical strategies to restore harmony.
read more
Source:

How Acupuncture May Work
Despite acupuncture's 4,000-year history, little is known about the biological pathways that enable carefully placed needles to relieve pain in many patients.
read more


Whooping cough still with us, still dangerous
The case of a new mom, who passed along the bacteria to her newborn son, who later died, is a cautionary tale. A booster vaccine in now recommended.
read more


Nutrition and healthy eating
Which spread is better for my heart — butter or margarine?
read more
Source:

Hospitalists may be reducing costs, but are they best for the patient?
By the time Djigui Keita left the hospital for home, his follow-up appointment had been scheduled. Emergency health insurance was arranged until he could apply for public assistance. He knew about changes in his medication — his doctor had found less expensive brands at local pharmacy chains.
read more


How to use hand sanitizers
Hand-sanitizing gels are a great option for killing germs when you're nowhere near a sink, but only if you use them right
read more


Thermometers: Understand the options
Thermometers come in a variety of styles. Understand the different types of thermometers and how to pick the right thermometer for you.
read more
Source:

Is primary physician care headed toward crisis?
What is clear is this: primary care is hurtling toward a crisis point. Once lauded as health care’s frontline clinicians, primary care practitioners — general internists, family physicians, geriatricians, general pediatricians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants — are instead struggling with growing paperwork demands, inadequate and misaligned reimbursement and dwindling numbers of providers.
read more


Can St. John's wort supplements help depression?
The flower, leaves and stem of the St. John's wort plant can treat mild to moderate forms of major depression as effectively as standard antidepressants with significantly fewer side effects, research shows
read more


Tips for talking with your children about cancer diagnosis
It's never easy to talk with your family and friends about your cancer diagnosis, but when you have children it's even more difficult. Over the years, I've worked with many parents who have wanted to know the best way to approach the subject with their children.
read more
Source:

Democratic Inquiry Just Confirmed Companies Correct Healthcare Bill Provisions Would Adversely Impact Earnings/Coverage
When major companies declared that a provision of the new health care law would hurt earnings, Democrats were skeptical. But after investigating, House Democrats have concluded that the companies were right to tell investors and the government about the expected adverse effects of the law on their financial results.
read more


Time for your whooping cough booster?
Whooping cough is on the rise again in California, say state public health officials, with nearly twice as...
read more


Cancer blood tests: Lab tests used in cancer diagnosis
Cancer blood tests and other laboratory tests may help your doctor make a cancer diagnosis. Reduce your anxiety by learning about cancer blood tests and how they're used.
read more
Source:

Are you living with depression?
Depression is a medical illness that involves the mind and body. Also called major depression, major depressive disorder and clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave.
read more
Source:

Health care coverage in Minnesota
The state's eight non-profit health plans that cover most Minnesotans turned a profit last year.
read more

Is chewing gum a secret to a better smile?
Changes in oral flora can be achieved using small amounts of xylitol, a natural sweetener, administered daily, after meals.. It is found in candies, mints and gum. A mix and match approach can be applied, using xylitol dissolved in water and candy or gum after meals.
read more
Source: www.radthemag.com

Is Marriage Good for Your Health?
In 1858, a British epidemiologist named William Farr set out to study what he called the “conjugal condition” of the people of France. He divided the adult population into three distinct categories: the “married,” consisting of husbands and wives; the “celibate,” defined as the bachelors and spinsters who had never married; and finally the “widowed,” those who had experienced the death of a spouse.
read more

Stairway to Health
So this guy goes to the doctor for back pain and the diagnosis is pretty awful: The patient is going to need spinal surgery again, for the third time in three years.
read more

Don't stain those white teeth
Whitening strips and professional treatments aren’t the only ways to keep your teeth pearly.
read more

Weight Loss
Your weight is a balancing act, and calories are part of that equation. Fad diets may promise you that counting carbs or eating a mountain of grapefruit will make the pounds drop off. But when it comes to weight loss, it's calories that count.
read more
Source:

Hydrocephalus: Water on the Brain
Hydrocephalus occurs when excess fluid builds up in your brain, most often because of an obstruction preventing proper fluid drainage.
read more
Source:

Abdominal Pain: Check your symptoms
Find possible causes of abdominal pain based on specific factors. Check one or more factors on this page that apply to your symptom.
read more
Source:

Plantar Fasciitis, the Root of Most Heel Pain
The key to understanding plantar fasciitis is that it develops because the plantar fascia, for many of us, is the weakest link in the postural chain.
read more

Medicaid Cuts Squeezing Patients and Doctors
Carol Y. Vliet was devastated, therefore, when Dr. Sahouri informed her a few months later that he could no longer see her because, like a growing number of doctors, he had stopped taking patients with Medicaid.
read more

Higher Mortality Rate for Men than Women After Hip Fractures
The risks associated with hip fractures may linger long after the initial recovery period is over, especially for men. A new report shows the risk of death is five to eight times higher in the first three months after hip fracture for older adults. This risk diminishes substantially during the first two years after hip fracture in men and women.
read more

NEW STUDY by Columbia University
NEW STUDY by Columbia University shows ICU patients discharged home with home healthcare have a much LOWER mortality rate than those discharged to skilled nursing facilities.
read more

Flunking Flu - The Season that Fizzled
This has been a flu season like few others.
Normally at this time of year, influenza is rampant in the U.S., prompting hundreds of thousands of people to stay home in the dead of winter with fever, aches and pains.
Now, after raging through college campuses and communities last summer and fall, cases of the new H1N1 swine flu virus have dwindled to a trickle, and run-of-the-mill seasonal flu has barely made an appearance...
read more

Surgery: Artificial Hip Controversy
Some of the nation’s leading orthopedic surgeons have reduced or stopped use of a popular category of artificial hips amid concerns that the devices are causing severe tissue and bone damage in some patients, often requiring replacement surgery within a year or two...
read more

Caring for Loved Ones at the End
After Ryan Fiegel fell into a coma in the wake of a brain tumor in February, his parents made the tough decision to take him off his ventilator...
read more