Mar
21
2006
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Women with chest pains may be dying of heart disease unnecessarily because doctors under-estimate the severity of their condition, research suggests. A team from University College London found that angina - often the first sign of heart disease - affected women at the same rate as men.
However, women with suspected angina were less likely to be offered confirmatory diagnostic tests.
The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Women and AnginaÂ
Mar
20
2006
It’s the first day of spring and I’m itching to get into the garden (a favorite activity). I am reminded that spring is not always welcome for thos that suffer from allergies (something I don’t experience).
If you have allergies and want to garden, and don’t want to resort to taking medication, what can you do?
The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) has posted several tip guides that can help you get through allergy season…even one that is appropriate for gardeners!
Mar
19
2006
Having diabetes means you need to monitor several things - what you are eating, your glucose levels at various times of day, your weight, your exercise level, etc.
These are only a few of the items that need to be monitored to keep you healthy. Your health care provider should be recommending that the following screening be done on a regular basis.
Every visit with your provider:
- Review blood pressure. Your goal is to keep your reading less than 130/80 mmHg
- Review your glucose log. Depending on which guidelines your provider is monitoring they will look for your glucose goal to be 90-130 before meals and 140-180 2-hours after meals.
Every 3-6 months (depending on your level of control)
- A1C reading which is an average glucose over 24 hours a day over 3 months. You should be less than 6.5-7% (again depending on the guidelines being followed).
Annual Screening
- Cholesterol panel
- Triglycerides should be less than 150
- HDL should be greater than 50 in women and 40 in men
- LDL less than 100
- Microalbumin urine test (check fro urine protein)
- Get a dialated eye exam to check for retinopathy and glaucoma
- Foot Exam, specifically looking for numbness, changes in sensitivity to touch, coldness and sores.
Make sure you are keeping up with your screening. It will help detect any early problems so you can make changes to prevent long term complications.
Mar
13
2006
This latest study does not surprise me at all. We’ve known for years that keeping one’s blood pressure normal can reduce the risk of dementia related to vasular causes (vascular dementia).
It seems the more we learn about the effects that high blood pressure has on us, the better off we really are at keeping it low (not just normal).
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Blood-Pressure Drugs May Lower Alzheimer’s Risk
03.13.06, 12:00 AM ET
MONDAY, Mar. 13 (HealthDay News) — Taking medications to lower blood pressure, particularly diuretics, may help reduce risks for Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.
Experts speculate that high blood pressure may increase the risk of the brain-wasting disease. That means drugs that ease hypertension — another name for high blood pressure — might also lower Alzheimer’s risk.
In fact, “we found that among people taking anti-hypertensives, there was an overall 40 percent reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease over a three- to four-year period,” said study co-author Peter P. Zandi, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Continue reading…
Mar
10
2006
The American Cancer Society recommends colon cancer screening starting at age 50 (sooner if you have a family history of the disease), but few people are doing this. In the following survey, many said their providers don’t bring up the issue. However, I think it goes further than that.
I do happen to discuss this with my patients, and about 1/2 of them will get the test done - the others…they don’t even want to think about it. I can understand it - I’m not looking forward to mine either…but I think I’d rather have the test than develope something that can be taken care of early on.
While this study was done by the makers of another type of test, I think the results are probably valid. See what you think. Most Americans still skip colon cancer screening
Mar
08
2006
Recent research is showing that those wonderful heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids that are found in fish, may indeed be helpful to our brains - especially in the areas of depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse and attention deficit.
While at this point, I would not recommend using Omega 3’s alone for your depression, it certainly cannot do you harm and will definitely help our hearts.
(Research was perfromed at the University of Pittsburgh)
