January 5th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Research
Tags: Emergency Medicine, Flomax, Kidney Stone, Tamulosin, Ureteral Stone, Urology
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Wilderness medicine professionals often discuss which medications should be carried on which trips. There’s usually a limit to the size of the medical kit, and precious space must be allotted to the most important items. The painful passage of a kidney stone as it travels down the ureter, enters the bladder, then exits the urinary tract via the urethra, is “epic” for anyone who has ever suffered this event. So, anything that might be helpful to facilitate the stone’s passage or ease the discomfort is a good thing. Tamulosin (Flomax) is a drug that is often prescribed by physicians to promote the passage of a kidney stone(s). It has not quite become “standard of care” to prescribe the drug, but it is increasing in popularity, largely because of the observations by patients and doctors that it seems to help. Read more »
This post, Can Flomax Help You Pass A Kidney Stone?, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
January 2nd, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Research
Tags: Breast Cancer, Guidelines, Mammogram, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Oncology, Surgery, Task Force, USPSTF
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Unless you’ve been living on another planet, you know that in mid-November, the US Preventive Services Task Force released new recommendations on screening mammography, in which they recommended against routine mammogram screening in women under age 50, and recommended that mammograms now be every two years in women ages 50-74.
What you may not have heard is that the Task Force has acknowledged that the mammogram guidelines were poorly worded, and have revised their original statement to clarify their intentions, mostly by removing those two little words “recommends against”. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*
January 2nd, 2010 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: Body Image, How I Look Journal, New Years Resolutions, Parenting, Pediatrics, Psychology, Self Esteem, teens
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The How I Look Journal was designed for middle school girls in 2007 (revised in 2009), and has been used primarily in group settings, although girls can use it by themselves. Counselors and therapists tend to use the topics as a basis for discussions and teachers prefer using the journal in lesson formats. There is also a companion journal (2009) for mothers called “How I Look at my Daughter, Her World, and Her Future.”
Given I had the week off I decided to review the copies I was sent and am delighted to say that my teenage daughters and I thought the journals are a great idea. The journal prompts help girls identify and celebrate their inner strengths and attributes, manage stress, accept their bodies and dream!
I found myself thinking that the self-talk section was very important as parents cannot hear what teens are saying to themselves in their own heads. We would like to believe that our kids are affirming their healthy and positive decisions and characteristics, but the reality may be that they are using “bully talk” to themselves, saying things like “I am dumb, ugly inconsiderate, mean …” These negative statements undermine their self-confidence, but are difficult to change, especially if they are reinforced by comments parents (inadvertently) make when annoyed.. Read more »
This post, Teen Girls And The “How I Look Journal”, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
December 31st, 2009 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: Augmentation, Dermabrasion, Dermatology, Hand Rejuvenation, Laser Therapy, Plastic Surgery, Skin Resurfacing
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I took this photo when my mom was in the hospital earlier this year. My hand looks like I wash dishes for a living. Her hand shows many of the spots that come with age and sun exposure: actinic keratosis, liver spots, etc.
There is a decent article that gives an overview of hand rejuvenation in the Sept/October issue of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal.
The epidermis thins as we age. Lentigines, actinic keratoses and seborrheic keratoses, general dyschromia, and textural roughness appear. Capillary fragility may make bruising common. Fat atrophy may make tendons and bony prominences more noticeable and the veins appear to bulge.
The article goes through the available treatments: chemical peels, vein sclerotherapy, fillers, laser therapy, intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy, fractional skin therapy, and Thermage.
It also reminds us that caution must be exercised as hand skin has relatively few adnexal structures and therefore has less capacity to replace the epidermis.
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
December 27th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Tips
Tags: Exericse, Fitness, Food and Nutrition, Healthcare reform, Healthy Life, How To Get Fit, How To Lose Weight, Lifestyle Choices, Lose 20 Pounds, New Years Resolutions, Simple Steps, Tips, Weight Loss
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Regular readers know that I’ve been promoting healthy lifestyle choices since this blog’s inception. In fact, I even used to lead a weight loss group called “Lose 20 pounds with Dr. Val.” I’ve often joked that because of the law of the conservation of mass, when someone loses weight, someone else must “find” it. And well, I guess I realized – looking towards 2010 – that I had found some of that weight myself!
If healthcare reform debates teach us one thing, it’s this: the future of healthcare coverage is uncertain for all of us, so the most important thing we can do is avoid needing it (if at all possible)! Time to turn that into a New Year’s resolution… so here’s what we can do: Read more »
