July 7th, 2010 by AlanDappenMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays, True Stories
Tags: At-Home Care, Bedbound, DocTalker Family Medicine, Dr. Alan Dappen, Elder care, Family Caregivers, General Medicine, Geriatrics, Homebound, Housecall, In-Home, Internal Medicine, Knee Replacement, Lesion, Nodule, Older People, Opting Out Of Medicare, Osteoarthritis, Primary Care, Referral, Word-Of-Mouth
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One of my patients is an elderly woman who is completely bedbound due to osteoarthritis. Since she’s considered “too old,” she isn’t considered a surgical candidate for a knee replacement. Her son, George, is her caregiver.
George had been referred to our practice through word-of-mouth from a geriatric care consultant. When he called me for an initial visit, his mother had a spot on her left forearm that was growing rapidly. The nodule was red and tender. Both of them wanted a doctor to look at and remove it, and at the house if possible. Read more »
July 6th, 2010 by Steven Roy Daviss, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
Tags: American Psychological Association, APA, Cab Driver, Dr. Steven Daviss, Life-Changing Experience, My Three Shrinks, Psychiatry, Psychology, Self-Awareness, Self-Care, Self-Help, Single-Session Psychotherapy
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Here’s a story that came out of the American Psychological Association (APA) conference:
I was in a cab going to dinner. The cab driver found out I was a psychiatrist so he told me about his life-changing experience with therapy.
At one time he was having an incredible problem with his life. He was using cocaine, couldn’t keep a job, and his relationships were going down the tubes. Therapy helped him quit cocaine and change all that. (Which was good, since he was the driver of my cab. I really wanted him not to be high or in distress.) This kind of turn-around story isn’t unusual for me — parolees will often come back and tell me about things they’ve done in free society that they’re proud of. The unusual part of this story is the fact that he made all of these changes after a single one-hour session. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
July 6th, 2010 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: CDC, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Chickenpox, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Herpes Zoster, Immunization, Immunology, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, NNT, Number Needed To Treat, PHN, Placebo, Postherpetic Neuralgia, Primary Care, Public Health, shingles, VA, Vaccination, Vaccine, Varicella Zoster Virus, Veterans Administration, Zostavax
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Shingles (herpes zoster) is no fun. It usually begins with a couple of days of pain, then a painful rash breaks out and lasts a couple of weeks. The rash consists of blisters that eventually break open, crust over, and consolidate into an ugly plaque. It is localized to one side of the body and to a stripe of skin corresponding to the dermatomal distribution of a sensory nerve.
Very rarely a shingles infection can lead to pneumonia, hearing problems, blindness, brain inflammation (encephalitis) or death. More commonly, patients develop postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in the area where the rash was. The overall incidence of PHN is 20%; after the age of 60 this rises to 40%, and after age 70 it rises to 50%. It can be excruciatingly painful, resistant to treatment, and can last for years or even a lifetime. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
July 6th, 2010 by Joseph Scherger, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: Added Sugars, American Diet, Chronic Disease, Denver, Dietetics, Drink Water, Family Medicine, Fructose, General Medicine, Healthy Diet, High Blood Pressure, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Hypertension, Internal Medicine, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Low Sugar, National Nutrition Survey, Natural Fruit, Obesity Epidemic, Primary Care, Salt, Soft Drinks, Sugar, Sugar Free, University of Colorado
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Most of us know that salt raises blood pressure in many people. When I learned that in medical school almost 40 years ago, I have not touched a salt shaker since. I enjoy having a low normal blood pressure. A new study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (July 2010) suggests that sugar, especially the fructose that comes from corn syrup, may also raise blood pressure.
A study team from the University of Colorado in Denver looked at sugar intake among thousands of Americans in a major national nutrition survey between 2003 and 2006. Those who consumed more added sugars, such as the fructose in soft drinks, had significantly higher blood pressures than those who did not and ate more natural foods such as fresh fruit. Fructose from corn syrup is a major cause of the obesity epidemic and may also be contributing to high blood presure, the most common chronic disease in adults. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at eDocAmerica*
July 6th, 2010 by DavedeBronkart in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Amanda George, Cancer Journey, Cancer Patients, Cancer Survivors, Dave deBronkart, ePatient Dave, Health and the Internet, Oncology, Online Health Communities, Online Tools, Patient Empowerment, Patients in the Internet, Person-Centered Health, Psychology, Social Networks, Take Control Of Your Illness And Treatment, ThinkAboutYourLife.org
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I love this — a website that could’ve ONLY been created by cancer patients. From ThinkAboutYourLife.org:
Find empowerment: Anything you can do to feel like you are taking control of your illness and treatment will help you. Think About Your Life was developed by cancer survivors. We have used the tools on this website in our own experiences, and we hope to inspire you do the same.
This website provides easy-to-use tools for each stage of the cancer journey to help you:
- Process your thoughts and feelings: Elizabeth shared the “Good Day, Bad Day” tool with her family to tell them how they could help her throughout treatment.
- Take control and make decisions: Amanda used her “One Page Profile” with her doctor to discuss the impact of treatment on her life.
- Think about the “what now” and the “what next”: The “Hopes & Fears” tool helped Susan think about the next few months of her life after treatment.
I learned about the site from its creator, Amanda George, who commented on a recent post about person-centered health. Hot diggety. Don’t you just love how the Internet lets us connect with each other and share ideas?
*This blog post was originally published at The New Life of e-Patient Dave*
