Posts

Here’s what you need to know about managing COPD in the workplace, including how to talk to your employer about your condition, asking for reasonable accommodations at work, and what to do if you and your doctor decide it’s best for you to leave your job. Benefits and Challenges of Working if You Have COPD COPD can greatly impact your day-to-day life, including your ability to work. One in two Americans with COPD has to limit their activities because of health problems, one in three has trouble walking or climbing stairs, and one in four uses special equipment for health issues, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)....

After conducting two rounds of clinical trials to determine that their COVID-19 vaccines are safe, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and biotech startup Moderna launched phase 3 trials in late July to determine whether the vaccines could reduce infection risk on a mass scale. They have contracted with dozens of clinical research sites across the country to recruit a total of 60,000 volunteers for the two-year study. Participants will receive one shot of either the vaccine or a placebo, followed by a booster shot about a month later....

It’s almost laughable the number of times medical professionals ask us to make the oral gesture of outing our lingual appendage. In just about any other setting than a medical one (save, perhaps a Maori haka) the practice is considered rather impolite, or juvenile at best. The diagnostic window of the tongue is pretty remarkable. Your doctor may be looking for any number of maladies which could be evidenced by coating, discoloration, or swelling of the tongue....

Antiviral medications such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) are currently used to treat flu symptoms and sometimes given preventively to people at high risk for the flu and related complications. But there have been questions about the effectiveness of oseltamivir, and the World Health Organization (WHO) removed the drug from its list of essential medicines in June 2017, downgrading it from a “core” drug to one that is “complementary” or less cost-effective....

“I was one of those crazy people who would get up at 5 a.m. and go to the gym before work,” she says, “and have a green smoothie each morning and grilled chicken and vegetables for dinner.” She and her husband were leading “a relatively boring but super-healthy lifestyle,” she jokes. Riegert’s first pregnancy was also off to a great start. Still exercising and eating healthy, she felt good. But in 2019, about a month before delivery, some things started feeling off....

Your physician can usually diagnose the form based on your symptoms and a careful skin examination. But a biopsy is sometimes needed for confirmation. Most people have just one kind of psoriasis, but you can develop a new type of the skin disorder at any time. (1) Between 80 percent and 90 percent of people with psoriasis have this form, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. (2) Plaque psoriasis is characterized by raised, scaly patches of skin....

But it’s not your grandfather’s arthritis. Psoriatic arthritis typically crops up in people ages 30 to 50. It can feel like an invisible disease, as not everyone can see the joint issues you’re dealing with. As a result, there’s a lot that’s misunderstood about the condition. A lack of understanding among friends, family members, and even coworkers can affect your mental health. In some cases, it can even contribute to depression....

A number of things can cause pulmonary edema or lung congestion, but most are related to the way your heart pumps blood. (1) Depending on the cause, the signs and symptoms of pulmonary edema may appear suddenly or slowly over time. If it comes on acutely, pulmonary edema is a 911 situation and can be life-threatening. Types of Pulmonary Edema There are two main types of pulmonary edema, based on what is causing the lungs to fill up with fluid....

RELATED: 7 of the Best Activity Apps for Rheumatoid Arthritis But as with many chronic diseases, those with rheumatoid arthritis often turn to CAMs to manage the symptoms that their medications don’t eliminate. “I would say more than half of rheumatology patients have taken herbs and remedies,” says Gustavo Carbone, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Miami Health System. RELATED: Drinks That Don’t Mix With Rheumatoid Arthritis Medications...

This autoimmune attack causes joint inflammation, the hallmark of RA. When inflamed, the synovium releases damaging chemicals to nearby areas. Over time, inflammation can not only damage and deform the joints — and the cartilage and bones within the joints — but also affect surrounding muscles, ligaments, and tendons that support the joints. Classic Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Progression The main signs of RA are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness. Most case of RA are polyarticular, meaning the disease affects five or more joints at once....

We sat down with Chin to discuss his current work and learn more about his perspective on wellness. What are you working on now? Taking care of myself. As a result of my multiple myeloma, I must take care of myself so that I can continue to benefit others. I’m also contemplating what I’ll do next in my life. There are compressed fractures in my lower spine that put me in a body brace and a wheelchair for more than a year and a half....

“Sea greens or sea vegetables are simply edible plants, such as seaweed and algae, that come from the sea,” says Vicki Shanta Retelny, RDN, of Chicago, the author of The Essential Guide to Healthy Healing Foods and host of Nourishing Notes podcast. They can be a nutritious and tasty addition to your diet. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about sea greens, why you should add them to your next meal, and creative ways to do just that....

“As far as we know, there haven’t really been any good studies … to quantify the sexual dysfunction that you get with hernias,” says Shirwin Towfigh, MD, surgeon and president of Beverly Hills Hernia Center in California, adding that there is no link between male sexual organs and hernias. “The nerves are totally different. The anatomy is actually separate.” A hernia occurs when part of an organ protrudes through an abnormal opening in an abnormal way....

In 2019 at the age of 36, Huie made the decision to return to competitive soccer after more than a decade of retirement, joining the LA Galaxy OC as a midfielder. “I was playing with really young, fresh-out-of-college 20-year-olds, but I was doing really well and I loved it,” she says. Playing on the team added considerably to her already busy schedule. As the mother of five young girls, Huie had recently started working as a soccer coach for a number of youth teams, including ones her daughters played for....

The study, presented March 27 at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer in New Orleans, found that one in five cases of cervical cancer may be missed by halting screening after age 65. Cases of cervical cancer in the United States have declined dramatically over the past 30 years because of screening. About 12,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year and about 4,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....

Past research has similarly pointed to the long-term health benefits of strength training, but the new analysis, published February 28 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, considered more recent data, up to June 2021. The data suggests that 30 minutes to a full hour of weekly strength training was the amount linked with the most benefit in terms of longevity before the advantage plateaued (and with longer amounts of weekly strength training, it did actually start to decrease)....

Have You Ever Gone to a Therapy Session Only to Feel Worse Later? Having therapy as an outlet is helpful, but there have been a couple of times when I left my traditional talk therapy sessions feeling worse than I did when I walked through the door. Talk therapy (aka psychotherapy can bring up a lot of emotions, and especially if you are someone with anxiety, it gets stressful when you realize an hour has passed and the session is over....

Spasticity isn’t the normal muscle stiffness you might experience as you age. Spasticity is a medical condition that’s caused by damage or disruption to the areas of the brain and spinal cord that control your muscle and stretch reflexes, AANS says. People who have experienced a brain injury or spinal cord injury or who have cerebral palsy (CP) or MS may have varying degrees of spasticity, and it can impact their ability to walk, talk, and move around their home or workplace safely....

GERD has a broad spectrum of symptoms, including classic heartburn — a painful feeling in your throat or chest from the backup of stomach acid into your esophagus, along with stomach pain, chest pain, coughing, muscle spasms in the esophagus, and shortness of breath. “In most patients with GERD, the lower esophageal sphincter — the valve between the stomach and the esophagus (food tube) isn’t working properly,” says Paresh Shah, MD, the director of general surgery at New York University’s Langone Health in New York City....

What really sets white and sweet potatoes apart is their beta carotene content, which is the antioxidant pigment that colors sweet potatoes a beautiful orange, says Darsa. Beta carotene is indeed healthful. People whose diet included the highest level of beta carotene had a 17 percent lower risk of premature death from all causes compared with a group who ate the least amount, according to a study published in May 2016 in the journal Scientific Reports....