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But when a headache strikes, you can do more than just crawl into bed and wait for it to go away — although resting or sleeping may indeed help. There are other effective headache treatments available and ways to find quick relief. Tension-type headaches are the most common headaches. They tend to cause a dull, pressure-type pain on both sides of the head.Migraine is also common, affecting nearly 40 million Americans....

If this scenario sounds familiar, it’s important not to give up. Friends and family play an important role in making sure their loved one has access to the right doctors and medication. Finding Treatment for Schizophrenia: The First Steps It can be difficult to convince people who have schizophrenia that they need to take medication for their condition. But don’t assume that they’re in denial: Many aren’t able to think clearly when it comes to their condition....

Treatment for genital herpes must address the lifelong nature of the illness. “Herpes can be managed, with a person being able to lead a normal life and without the impact that people are often afraid of,” says H. Hunter Handsfield, MD, a professor emeritus at the University of Washington Center for AIDS and STD in Seattle. Antiviral drugs are the backbone of treatment for genital herpes. Antiviral medications can:...

If you have a history of gout, it’s important to keep the right medication on hand in case of a flare-up. Prompt treatment will help reduce the pain and the severity of the attack. It will also help to prevent damage to your joints. (1) Gout Medication and Treatment A number of drugs can be used to treat flare-ups, or attacks, of gout. Many of these medicines are anti-inflammatory, which means that they help reduce painful swelling and inflammation caused by a gout flare....

“This is the dilemma facing every person in America living with diabetes: They have been told by their doctor that they need to get exercise,” says O’Connell, who lives in New Haven, Connecticut. “But while everyone knows that exercise is good for diabetes, what is not known or supported is that exercise is different for people living with diabetes, starting with the need to test their blood sugar and manage medication....

“Higher intake of dairy foods, such as milk, yogurt, and cheese, especially from whole-fat dairy rather than low-fat dairy, is associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome and with a lower risk of developing hypertension and diabetes,” says Andrew Mente, PhD, an epidemiologist at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) in Hamilton, Canada, who is one of the study’s authors. His research was published May 18 in BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care....

Dry skinSunburnRosaceaAcneAllergic contact dermatitisEczema (atopic dermatitis) Red skin may be bumpy or have an itchy, rash-like texture. For some people, particularly those with rosacea, redness may get worse by getting too hot or overly emotional. Red skin can be hard to hide, but here are some simple home remedies you can try using ingredients you may already have on hand. Home Remedy: How to Tone Down Red Skin Fran E. Cook-Bolden, MD, a dermatologist and director of the Skin Specialty Group and the Ethnic Skin Specialty Group in New York City, suggests that you can manage red skin with:...

It comes as no surprise then that cognitive dissonance creeps into our relationships, too. “It impacts relationships in every way possible, both positively and negatively,” says Paraskevi Noulas, PsyD, a clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health in New York City. No relationship is off-limits — cognitive dissonance can be found in all of our social ties, from friendship to marriage. Here are some examples. How Cognitive Dissonance Affects Friendships Think of a friend you’ve known for many years....

“Exercise can definitely help clear my head,” said Kerri Golding, an Atlanta resident who has personal experience living with ADHD as well as professional expertise as a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice specializing in children and adolescents and a sub-specialty in ADHD. “Oftentimes when one has ADHD it is hard to ‘turn your mind off.’ Exercise helps me to do that.” She does a combination of running, spinning, and lifting weights, but finds the most success keeping up with her exercise routine when she’s training for half-marathons....

“A mesomorph is generally defined as someone who has a body type that has a high level of muscle and strength,” says Adam Feit, the head strength and sports psychology coach for Precision Nutrition in Springfield, Massachusetts. Now, perhaps you don’t have lots of muscle at the moment because you’ve been inactive for a while. But you know if you did start working out, you would gain muscle relatively easily....

They may also want to discuss new treatment options with you or discuss steps to take to live better with your condition and improve your overall health. To maximize the value of these visits with your rheumatologist, you need to prepare for them. This process doesn’t take a lot of work, but it can make the difference in how effectively your psoriatic arthritis is managed. “Being prepared for your appointment gives it a structure,“ says Guillermo J....

It’s important to try to develop a good sense of how your IBS is affected by your diet, stress, and any other factors in your life. By paying attention to these factors, you and your doctor can better determine what might improve your symptoms. Treatments for IBS fall into a few broad categories: Dietary changesMedicationsPsychotherapy (talk therapy)Complementary approaches/therapies Depending on your symptoms, any combination of these options may be part of your treatment strategy....

Infrared Light May Make Earlier Diagnosis Possible There’s no cure for RA, so this tool could potentially lead to earlier diagnosis and disease management, which provides better long-term outcomes. “Infrared light is harmless and can be used routinely. Also, as it provides information about the state of the disease, it can be an objective technique to help better understand progression of disease and therefore prognosis. In our limited study, we have shown good accuracy as compared with clinical evaluation by an expert....

Taking a Vacation From ADHD Drugs: Is It Safe? If you’re considering stopping your or your child’s ADHD drugs, even for a brief time, it’s important to start by asking some questions. “Understand why [you] want to stop it and what is the purpose," suggests F. Allen Walker, MD, a psychiatrist with ADHD and his own practice specializing in ADHD in Louisville, Ky. “There’s not really much of a risk involved in stopping medications periodically....

One of the events, while it was amazing and humbling to be included in it, also caught me up short, as so many aspects of living with multiple sclerosis (MS) can when you see something in a different light … or for the first time at all. The cinematic debut, and subsequent release on streaming video, of a documentary film called Blow-Ins made me (once again) aware that the way I think I’m living my life and the way others see my reality can be two different things....

Bieber shared his diagnosis with his fans in an Instagram video posted on June 10. “Obviously, as you can probably see from my face, I have this syndrome called Ramsay Hunt syndrome and it is from this virus that attacks the nerve in my ear, my facial nerves, and has caused my face to have paralysis,” the star explained. The condition has left Bieber unable to blink or smile on the affected side of his face, which he demonstrated in the video....

Now, a new study shows that a lifetime of experiencing discrimination is associated with a significantly higher likelihood of developing hypertension. In fact, study participants who experienced discrimination over their life were 49 percent more likely to develop hypertension than study participants who rarely felt discriminated against. “This study shows that the discrimination African Americans face on a daily basis is an overlooked social determinant of health,” says Allana Forde, PhD, an epidemiologist at the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and lead author of the study, published in the August 2020 issue of the journal Hypertension....

The Family Heart Foundation aims to change that by establishing the first Lipoprotein(a) Awareness Day, on March 24. Lipoprotein(a), sometimes called “little a,” or Lp(a) for short, is an important genetic risk factor for heart disease. Lipoproteins are proteins found in the body that carry cholesterol through the blood. Research shows that high levels of Lp(a) are associated with a higher risk of aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve), heart attack, and stroke....

Saying goodbye to a parent is a life-changing experience, marking the end of a bond we’ve known for our entire lives, explains Heidi Horsley, PsyD, executive director and cofounder of the Open to Hope Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports people experiencing grief and loss. Until it happens, we don’t know what our lives are like without our parents, she says. “To have them gone can be traumatic, whether it’s sudden or expected....

Because your pancreas doesn’t secrete the enzymes needed to digest nutrients in the food you eat, that food passes through your body. “Although you’re eating a normal amount of food, you can be malnourished,” explains R. Martin Bashir, MD, a gastroenterologist at Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It’s essential to address this lack of nutrient absorption. Left unchecked, EPI can worsen your overall health and even lead to an increased mortality rate, according to some research....