The Educated Patient

Where Women Rule - Kenya

2011-06-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Positive Outlook Is Key Anti-Aging Strategy | Worldhealth.net Anti-Aging News

2010-12-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

Positive Outlook Is Key Anti-Aging Strategy

What is Mindsight?

2010-11-13T16:51:00.000-08:00

Dan Siegel of UCLA's video on what it is and how it compares to Emotional Intellegence.

Happiness and the Brain

2010-10-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

Rejection Inflammation | Stress Inflammation | Arthritis Today Magazine

2010-10-05T07:52:00.000-07:00

Surprising source of inflammation results in achey joints>

Rejection Inflammation | Stress Inflammation | Arthritis Today Magazine

Herbal Medicines & Cholesterol: Part 1

2010-05-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

Herbal Medicines & Cholesterol: Part 1

24 ways to lose without dieting

2010-05-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

Slimming Slideshow: 24 Ways to Lose Weight Without Dieting

The Educated Patient: Better Vitamin D Status Could Mean Better Quality of Life for Seniors

2010-04-26T08:29:00.001-07:00

The Educated Patient: Better Vitamin D Status Could Mean Better Quality of Life for Seniors

Better Vitamin D Status Could Mean Better Quality of Life for Seniors

2010-04-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Vit D is a Must for Seniors! Better Vitamin D Status Could Mean Better Quality of Life for Seniors

Grapes Reduce Risk Factors for Heart Disease, Diabetes

2010-04-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Grapes Reduce Risk Factors for Heart Disease, Diabetes

Drinking Wine Lowers Risk Of Barrett's Esophagus, Precursor To Nation's Fastest Growing Cancer, Study Suggests

2010-01-25T11:20:00.000-08:00

This condition (BE) is one of my health care issues. I was so happy to read that: Drinking Wine Lowers Risk Of Barrett's Esophagus, Precursor To Nation's Fastest Growing Cancer, Study Suggests

The Educated Patient: Depression&CoronaryArteryDisease

2009-08-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

The Educated Patient: Depression&CoronaryArteryDisease

Depression&CoronaryArteryDisease

2009-08-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

A new study determines the link between depression and coronary artery disease

Clinical Implications

In adults, the effect of coronary artery disease on the future risk for major depression is greater than the effect of major depression on the future risk for coronary artery disease. The risk for future coronary artery disease is stronger with more severe, recurrent major depression.

The Educated Patient: Does wine really prevent heart problems?

2009-08-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

The Educated Patient: Does wine really prevent heart problems?

http://bit.ly/UMlXh

Pessimism, Cynicism Can Hurt Your Heart

2009-08-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

Happiness is Good for Your Health!

4 Healthy Habits That Cut Disease Risk

2009-08-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

Optimum Health: It can't be any simpler than this!
"http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20090810/4-healthy-habits-that-cut-disease-risk?ecd=wnl_fit_081409"

The High Costs of Medical Testing & The Pres

2009-08-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

President Obama, who has so far made information technology a key to his plan to reform health care, addressed this issue Monday in his speech to the American Medical Association (AMA).

"Some doctors may feel the need to order more tests and treatments to avoid being legally vulnerable. That's a real issue," he said. "While I'm not advocating caps on malpractice awards, I do think we need to explore a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first, let doctors focus on practicing medicine, and encourage broader use of evidence-based guidelines."

"That's how we can scale back the excessive defensive medicine reinforcing our current system of more treatment rather than better care," he said.

A 2008 study from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that wasteful spending in the health system accounts for more than half of all of health care spending and is the #1 money waster. The firm identified defensive medicine as the #1 money waster area of excess, estimated at over $210 billion.

The 6 top Money Wasters in Patient Health Care

2009-08-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

"Health care's six money-wasting problems - Aug. 10, 2009 New!"

Pessimism Hazardous to Women’s Health | Ivanhoe's Medical Breakthroughs

2009-08-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

Another Health Benefit of Staying Happy!
Pessimism Hazardous to Women’s Health

Medical News: Rising Obesity Rates Increase Nation's Healthcare Tab - in Pediatrics, Obesity from MedPage Today

2009-08-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

What costs the U.S. $150 million a year? OBESITY!

Medical News: Rising Obesity Rates Increase Nation's Healthcare Tab - in Pediatrics, Obesity from MedPage Today

4 Lifestyle Factors Prevent Cancer, Diabetes, and CVD - in Primary Care, Diet & Nutrition from MedPage Today

2009-08-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

Medical News: Four Lifestyle Factors Prevent Cancer, Diabetes, and CardioVasc Disease

Colon cancer survival improved with Aspirin

2009-08-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

Another Win for simple Aspirin

Colon cancer survival improved with Aspirin

Twitting for Breast Cancer

2009-08-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

Can Twitter and Facebook Help Fight Breast Cancer?

Twitter and other social media sites are often perceived as the ultimate navel-gazing tools. Seemingly a narcissist’s dream, many think that Facebook status updates and the 140-character Twitter messages (known as “tweets”) are really just boring play-by-plays of daily life—I had granola for breakfast! I’m stuck in traffic!

But Laurie Brosius, 31, isn’t buying it. Brosius, a business analyst in Dallas, used Twitter to raise $6,000 for a walk for breast cancer research in 2008. “Fifty percent of that came from online strangers,” she says. She was able to reach those people in part because her Twitter followers re-tweeted her messages.

Share Your Thoughts
Are you more—or less—likely to donate on Twitter or Facebook?

Read Comments ()
In 2004, Brosius started blogging about her upcoming wedding. But after she married, she felt a key person was missing from the happy picture—her husband’s mother, who had died of breast cancer at age 48 when her husband was 20 years old. “I felt like I missed out on having her in my life,” says Brosius. “I felt cheated.”

She wanted to raise money for breast cancer research, so she participated in a three-day walk and fund-raiser, but felt she could do more. She had used Twitter to raise a small sum for that first walk, but for the second walk she relied mainly on tweets to direct people to the donation website.

(Anyone can see breast cancer–related tweets by typing #breastcancer into Twitter’s search field.)

Brosius still blogs and says that breast cancer organizations’ websites are great places to donate. However, Brosius says, they only reach a specific crowd—those already interested in the topic.

“[Social media sites] are reaching people who might not be specifically looking for that kind of information,” she explains. “They’re reaching everyone.”

Is brevity the key to charity?
In a busy world, Twitter posts are succinct and to the point, and that’s one of the main reasons they’re so successful in charity promotion, says Adam Hirsch, the chief operations officer of Mashable.com, a social media blog. Navigating websites can be time-consuming, notes Hirsch. Twitter, however, states a user’s case in no more than 140 characters. “It’s a message you know people will read because, face it, it’s only 140 characters,” he says.

With Twitter, users can interact one-on-one, but they can also broadcast a message to many followers. Even if an individual doesn’t have a lot of followers (say, just family and friends), those people can re-tweet that message in outgoing concentric circles of social contacts—potentially reaching thousands.

“With social media, you have the ability to spread a message with like-minded individuals pretty rapidly and virally to a targeted audience that is receptive to this message,” Hirsch explains.

Mashable.com is leveraging its social media savvy through its Summer of Social Good, which is an online charitable campaign. The site is raising money for four big charities: the Humane Society (you can search for @HumaneSociety on Twitter): LiveStrong, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (@LiveSTRONG); OxfamAmerica, which seeks to end poverty (@OxfamAmerica); and the World Wildlife Fund (@WWF_Climate).

The idea got started last year when Mashable founder Pete Cashmore tweeted on his birthday, asking followers to donate to Charity: Water in lieu of birthday gifts. He raised $10,000 in a little over a day.

“I thought, ‘This is definitely an interesting way to use social media,’” says Hirsch. “It’s time to give back and to really try to make a big difference.” Mashable’s Social Media for Social Good campaign ends on August 28.

Peg Mulligan, 40, is a content developer in Beverly, Mass., who raises awareness of breast cancer via Twitter, by tweeting (or re-tweeting) fundraising initiatives, blog posts, and other relevant links. Although she has breast cancer in her family and cares about the topic, she says she doesn’t necessarily want to think about it all the time. That’s one reason people may not seek out traditional breast cancer donation channels, she says.

Unlike such message boards and topic-specific websites, Mulligan says, Twitter is a “gentler way of reaching people” because it indirectly grabs users’ attention in a stream of other topics.

Facebook vs. Twitter
Mashable’s Hirsch prefers Twitter to Facebook for social causes because anyone can choose to follow someone on Twitter, which leads to broader, looser networks of people. “Facebook is inherently different because it’s more built around friends,” he says.

However, some people are using Facebook to communicate their personal messages to their immediate social circle—though it’s not always smooth sailing.

Earlier this year, a breast cancer survivor named Sharon Adams posted pictures of her ropy red mastectomy scars on Facebook. She hoped to shock friends in her suburban England network into checking their own breasts for cancer. “I wanted to take something positive out of a bad situation,” says the 45-year-old, who posed for the shots just six days after having surgery.

Instead, Facebook management took down the photos in a routine purge of “sexual” images. The result? An avalanche of media attention and a 900-member protest that quickly grew to 3,000, even as the company rapidly apologized and backpedaled. Facebook said they had “made a mistake” and Adams put the images back up.

Adams says that despite the setback, she realized her goal—extra online chitchat about the issue and maybe more checked breasts. In her own circle alone, several friends and a niece made the extra effort. “It turned out to be a good thing in a way,” she says. “This amount of publicity would never have arisen if they had not [removed the photographs].”

The largest breast cancer–related group on Facebook is LookPink, a search engine that aims to provide free mammograms for women. It has 850,000 members and acts as a fund-raising and awareness hub with round-the-clock discussion—especially during October, breast cancer awareness month. It’s one of several Facebook gateways to the corresponding LookPink website.

But there are hundreds of breast cancer groups on Facebook, many no bigger than the page of eight women from the Persian Gulf city of Doha, Qatar.

The Facebook page that hosts Sharon Adams’s protest group has a link to her own efforts to raise cash for breast cancer research in the U.K., for instance, and a petition to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to get gene tests covered by insurance.

“There is a huge presence of women who have battled or are battling breast cancer who are connecting online,” says Alison Gordon, the vice president of strategy, marketing, and communications for Rethink Breast Cancer, a Canadian nonprofit that encourages breast self-exams.

“Social media offers an incredible forum for women to expand their online communities from around the world and share their stories,” she says.

Part of Brosius’s story—and another reason she started using Twitter to raise funds—is her concern for her husband’s sister and her sister-in-law’s three daughters. “I wanted to do all I could to find a cure before they grow up,” she says.
Lead writers: Sally Chew and Heather Mayer
Last Updated: July 28, 2009
Find this at:
http://www.health.com/health/condition-article/0,,20294300,00.html

Copyright © 2009 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

What is Self-Care?

2009-08-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

This is what the Educated Patient needs to know now...

What Is Self-Care?
Self-care refers to a decision making process made by you...the patient...that helps increase the efficient and appropriate use of medical services, resulting in better health care for you.
It consists of a number of skills that include knowing:
• When a real medical emergency occurs
• When and when not to see a physician
• When to treat oneself at home and how
• When to use outpatient rather than inpatient services
• When diagnostic tests are appropriate
• When and how to question a provider’s recommendation

The "All in One" Poly Pill for Heart Disease?

2009-04-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

I remember a time, in the 1970's, in Medicine, when older combination drugs were being purposely eliminated from use. The reason being that, in combination, it was hard to identify which ingredient may have been the source of side effects or reactions. It was also thought that a patient may not need all 4 drugs but could be well treated with just one ingredient.

Holy Combo! The concept is back and, from my view, this "wonder drug combo" is a set back in finding basic therapies that have proven to work, such as diet and exercize. Of course, these therapies are more difficult because they require the patient to take responsibility for their disease....an underlying concept in creating personal health and wellness.

As a licensed and certified Health and Wellness Coach, I strongly object to the basic concept of this combo pill.

In addition, it has huge profit benefits for the pharmaceutical companies that market it as the ideal pill is one that is taken for the rest of one's life, generating revenue forever or at least until the patient dies.

Finally, the studies were done in India by a Canadian researcher with direct ties to the Drug Company.
What do you think?

Back Surgery - Thoughts & Studies

2009-02-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

I have a bad back, doesn't everyone over 55?

Sports injuries, bad posture, arthritis are all common causes. And there are many more. Mine is congenital, a mild scoliosis of the spine, decorated with bone spurs and arthritis. So I have followed treatments for low and mid back pain. I personally have found that walking and water exercise keeps me mostly pain free and without medication. I was able to stop the medication when I lost 15 lbs. and now I am at the recommended weight for my height. Guess I lightened the "load" my back was carrying.

However, I have always heard to stay away from back surgery. I could not agree more. I have heard so many horror stories about and from patients who have had it. I was delighted when American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) published an article 2 weeks ago that concluded that non invasive treatment: anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy was the best treatment for chronic low back pain for 90% of patients. With this approach, symptoms will be gone in 2-3 months. The success rate for disc fusions is only 50% success.

Surgery should never be considered as a "cure" and it should only be performed as a last resort. To read this article in its entirety, please visit my website, www.yourhealth-coach.com.

The Value of Patient Support Groups

2009-01-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to join a support group for a relatively minor, hereditary condition, Essential Tremor. It is a progressive tremor. In my case, it is the right hand. I have had it since childhood. It showed up as a distraction to controlling the process of nailpolish application at first. Today, in my 60's, my one beautiful cursive (perfected by a series of grade school Nuns and their rulers) is eratic. I was curious as to what was the nature of this condition and possibility of greater progression. So I went to the monthly support group. This is where I found out it was hereditary. The bad news is that it is progressive and there is no cure. The good news is that it is a slow progression and I definitely will never die from it.
.
What I realized was the benefits of Support Groups. Within a short time, I found out who were the best MD's in the area to treat this condition. I listened to stories of how others finally got the correct diagnosis. I heard what alternative treatments (sublingual B-12) seemed to work (at least for 1 participant). I saw others, some with limbs that tremored and one lovely lady who head shook constantly, who said to me that it was "nothing". And all I had was a shakey hand. Everything is definitely relative.

So, if you have a chronic condition or cancer or ?, and there is a support group available, GO! You'll learn something about your disease and, even more, you may learn something about yourself.