Health Information Center

Except in an emergency, you cannot be given a treatment or test without your “informed consent.” You must be informed of the risks and agree to the treatment. In a partnership, however, informed consent may not be enough. The real goal is shared decision-making, where you actively participate in every medical decision.

Why should you help make decisions with your doctor? Aren’t you paying him or her to know what to do? Well, the choices aren’t always black and white. With many health problems, there is more than one option. Consider these examples:

• You have moderately high blood pressure (160/95). Your doctor says that exercise and diet might bring it down, but most people don’t succeed that way. Your doctor recommends that you start on medication to control it. You would rather try exercise and lose weight than take pills for the rest of your life. The best decision depends on your values.

• Your three-year-old has a headache and a fever. The doctor says it’s probably nothing to worry about. Then you mention your hunch that it might be meningitis. Some testing may be appropriate.

• You have been suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome for several months. Your doctor is now recommending a wrist splint and a steroid injection. You would prefer Continue reading ‘The Wise Medical Consumer: Share in Every Medical Decision’ »

Monitoring the drug abuse statistics in our youth is a great indicator of the future of the next generations. Organizations such as Monitoring The Future (MTF) have been conducting research since the mid 1970s on the use of drugs amongst 12th grade students and their perception of drugs and its use. The University of Michigan’s Institute of Social Research conducts the studies.

The study is longitudinal and follows the patterns and changes in attitudes of the students over time. In 1991, the studies included 8th and 10th graders too.

The latest drug abuse statistics conducted by MTF were taken in 2008. The key findings showed a decrease in the abuse pattern for a majority of the drugs compared to the previous year.

There were a few positive results that were highlighted. In 2008, the number of 10th graders that have used any illicit drugs in their lifetime had significantly declined in comparison to 2007.

The percentage of youngsters in this age group that smoke cigarettes have continued to decline over the years, and has fallen to the lowest rate in the history of the survey. This is a promising finding, as the use of tobacco is one of the major concerns in health problems.

Continue reading ‘Drug Abuse Statistics – Trends in the New Generation’ »

If you don’t have a family doctor (primary care physician), now is the time to get one. Everyone needs a regular doctor. A host of specialists working on separate health problems may not see the whole picture. In choosing a doctor there are lots of questions to ask, but these three matter the most:

- Is this doctor well-trained and experienced?

- Is this doctor available when needed?

- Will this doctor work in partnership with me?

Training and Experience

For most people, a good choice for a family doctor is a board-certified family practice doctor or internist. For children and teens, a pediatrician is a good choice. These doctors have broad knowledge about medical problems.

Availability

Because health problems rarely develop when it’s convenient, it helps to have a doctor who can see you when needed. Call or visit the office. Tell the clinic receptionist that you are looking for a new doctor.Ask these questions: Continue reading ‘How to Finding the Right Doctor’ »

The rapid increase in obesity across the country has resulted in a number of serious health problems. Many of these health problems can deteriorate a persons quality of life and even shorten a persons life. One such health condition that is made worse when obese is asthma. Studies are now showing that there is a link between asthma and morbid obesity. For people who are suffering from severe obesity, lap band surgery has been shown to be an effective method of weight loss that reduces instances of severe asthma attacks.

Obesity has been proven to be a risk factor for such diseases as heart disease, some types of cancer, and diabetes. Now, research studies are revealing that obesity is a risk factor for asthma. For instance, studies now show the risk for developing asthma increases when there is a large increase in weight. When a person is seriously overweight, their breathing becomes shallow because their lungs do not expand as much as it would if one were a normal healthy weight. As well, in obese individuals, there is a chronic inflammation of the lungs which reduces the airway passage. The inflammation takes place in the fatty tissue. A narrower airway passage also means the airways will remain blocked when breathing normally which reduces oxygen exchange. The airways will contract more causing more asthma symptoms. Narrow airways in obese asthmatics are more likely to stay closed during normal breathing which results in reduced oxygen exchange which puts one in a higher risk category for pulmonary hypertension. As well, obese people are more prone to sleep apnea and gastroesophageal reflux disease which can make asthma worse. Continue reading ‘Is Lap Band Surgery Good For Severe Asthmatics?’ »

How is it that as technology advances and new inventions are created to make life easier, more people in the developed world are dying of cancer, heart disease and stroke every year?

The key lies in a lack of Awareness and Action. More people need to know about the links between the lifestyles they lead and how these affect their bodies. But knowledge is nothing if it is not applied. There needs to be the additional effort of acting on the knowledge to make the tough but necessary lifestyle changes that will halt disease and put our overtaxed bodies back on the path to health and wellness.

Creating Awareness

Let’s talk about cholesterol. It is one of the fats in the blood and can lead to serious health problems such as heart disease and stroke. Yet how many people actually know this? We may vaguely “know of” good and bad cholesterol from what we read or hear about in the news, but not many of us will make the connection between what we are eating now on a daily basis and the disease that erupts years down the road. Even fewer will do something about this connection. Continue reading ‘How To Die Of Old Age, Not Disease’ »

Many countries in the world are facing a potential health crisis as the population ages. In North America, millions of Baby Boomers are turning sixty every day. Aging can bring with it many benefits such as increased wisdom and experience, but aging also increases the risk of serious health problems affecting the body and the brain.

One of the most serious health problems facing people as they get older is the increased risk of dementia. Dementia is a word used to cover a variety of different types of loss of brain function. The most well known type of dementia facing older people is Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease leads to an irreversible destruction of brain cells. At the same time, the types of neurotransmitters the brain needs in order to think and remember are also destroyed. Over a period of years, the patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease progresses from a state of mild forgetfulness to a profound loss of intellect. This is accompanied by an inability to think and remember. The sense of identity is lost. Forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease are one of the main reasons why many senior citizens are unable to live independently. Continue reading ‘Keep Your Brain Healthy in Old Age – Avoid Alzheimer’s Disease’ »

Everyone wants to be healthy and vigorous throughout their life. But more so being healthy in old age is just like a boon. Since, old age brings with itself many health problems and if you are not taking complete care of yourself then these diseases becomes hard to cure and manage in old age. Here are given some useful health tips for old age:

Drink enough water:

It cleanses your body machinery and helps your heart in functioning well. Drinking of enough water will keep away chances of kidney stone and urine problem. It will also keep you looking young and active along with natural glow on your face.

Exercise regularly:

Inclusion of regular exercise in your daily life is the best health tips for old age. Exercising will not only help in promoting brain regeneration but also obviate decline in body parts. Practice any form on exercise depending on what you and your body can manage. Talk to you health care provider on what exercise you should undertake in your old age. Seniors can also use yoga which generates flexibility and balance in their body. Continue reading ‘Health Tips For Old Age – Get A Long And Healthy Life’ »

Health practitioners are becoming increasingly alarmed at the growing problem of vegetarians and vegans who practice a restricted diet only to end up with a spectrum of malnutrition disorders. Where are these cases coming from, and who is convincing these people to slowly starve themselves to death? And the answers we will explore here aren’t too cheery.

Vegetarianism is practiced by individuals for either its perceived health reasons or by some groups for religious reasons. Not all vegetarians have the same dietary requirements; some are people who have decided to give up eating some or all meat. A vegan is the strictest kind of vegetarian, a person who also abstains from eating all types of animal products including cheese, milk, and eggs. Some vegetarians will eat items such as fish and eggs, and others will eat some types of dairy products such as milk or cheese.

Continue reading ‘The Health Problems of Vegetarians’ »

Each year, almost 44 million Americans experience or suffer from health problems. In fact, health problems are among the most common conditions affecting health today. It’s been said that most serious health problems are caused by complex imbalances in the brain’s chemical activity. They also believe environmental factors can play a part in triggering, or softening against, the beginning of mental illness.

Stress is simply a fact of nature forces from the outside world affecting the individual. The individual responds to stress in ways that affect the individual as well as their environment. Stress is a normal physical response to actions that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger whether it’s real or imagined the body’s defenses kick into high rapid gear, or the stress response.

The stress responses you receive are the body’s way of defending you. When it’s working the right way, it helps you pay attention by staying focused, energetic, and alert. In other emergency situations, stress can save your life giving you extra strength to defend yourself, such as like slamming on your brakes to avoid a car accident.

Continue reading ‘Ways to Keeping Yourself Stress Free’ »

Cancer is such a devastating disease that it takes an intense toll not just on the physical well being of the patient, but the emotional and social aspect as well. This may lead to other health problems during and after treatment or even during recovery from cancer. Cancer is an aggressive disease and the treatment is also aggressive. Radiation and chemotherapy treatments are physically exhausting and also severely affect the mental state of the patient.

If the treatment is administered without taking into consideration the emotional impact or even the physical repercussions, the patient’s suffering will unduly increase and their resolve and motivation to follow through with the treatment will also get affected. Sometimes the focus seems to be just on eliminating the tumors, but now reports from reputed medical institutes propose that cancer therapies have to be administered using new guidelines for oncology care.

The new standards proposed intend to accomplish three goals: identifying if patients are distressed and unhealthy otherwise, helping patients treat these secondary problems, and periodically evaluate the patient care standard and be flexible enough to accommodate new changes. This could lead to a better way of compassionately administering cancer treatment, not just with the specific intent to kill cancer cells alone turning a blind eye to all else. Continue reading ‘Psychological and Social Support Crucial For Cancer Patients’ »