July 25th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: Cosmetic Surgery, Diet, Exercise, Lazy, Plastic Surgery, Pregnancy, Surgery, Tummy Tuck, Weight Gain, Working Out
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Recently at the gym (I workout three to five days a week mostly swimming laps in a pool,) I got into a conversation with a mom about tummy tuck surgery. This happens occasionally when you wear your CosmeticSurgeryTruth.com t shirt to the gym. 
“I would never get a Tummy Tuck. I would just workout more.”
People do not see outside of their own experience very often. This pretty young mom would not benefit much by a Tummy Tuck as she had no “hanging apron” or much lose skin. Many gastric bypass patients or other women not as fortunate after pregnancy to have their bellies “snap back” have changes. And some of them workout several days a week too. Tummy Tuck surgery is not Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
July 24th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: Cost, Diet, Epidemic, Europe, Expensive, Fast Food, Fat, Fish, food, Good Health, Italy, Longevity, Meat, Obesity, Olive Oil, Red Wine, Sugar, United States, Vegetables
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For years I have touted the health benefits of the “Mediterranean Diet” and encouraged patients to eat like the Europeans. Fresh farm vegetables, olive oil, fish and red wine have been linked with longevity and good health. I just read in NPR news that young Italians are forgoing the eating patterns of their elders and are imitating the “U.S. diet”. The result is soaring obesity, just like in the United States.
According the the article, young Italians ages 6-12 are sitting in front of the TV and are eating fast foods and soda. In just three generations, the eating habits and activity of kids has changed from their healthy grandparents. Italian health officials say obesity is reaching epidemic proportions.
Part of the diet changes are a result of Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
July 24th, 2011 by PreparedPatient in Health Tips
Tags: Arthritis, Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia, Morphine, Narcotics, Opioids, Pain Management, Pain Medicine, Palliative Care, Patient Engagement, Psychotherapy, Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Living Beyond Pain
For people with severe chronic pain like Kelly Young and Teresa Shaffer—both of whom have become patient advocates—coping with agony is a fact of life. Young suffers from rheumatoid arthritis while Shaffer’s pain is linked primarily to another degenerative bone disease.
Chronic pain is one of the most difficult—and common—medical conditions. Estimated to affect 76 million Americans—more than diabetes, cancer and heart disease combined—it accompanies illnesses and injuries ranging from cancer to various forms of arthritis, multiple sclerosis and physical trauma.
Pain is defined as chronic when it persists after an injury or illness has otherwise healed, or when it lasts three months or longer. The experience of pain can vary dramatically, depending in part on whether it is affecting bones, muscles, nerves, joints or skin. Untreated pain can itself become a disease when the brain wrongly signals agony when there is no new injury or discernable other cause. Fibromyalgia—a disease in which pain in joints, muscles and other soft tissues is the primary symptom—is believed to be linked to incorrect signaling in the brain’s pain regions.
Finding a Doctor
The first step to deal with chronic pain is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Prepared Patient Forum: What It Takes Blog*
July 24th, 2011 by DeborahSchwarzRPA in Health Tips, Research
Tags: BMI, Body Mass Index, Cardiovascular Disease, Center for Metabolic and Weight Loss Surgery, Diabetes, Diabetes Surgery Study, Excess Body Fat, Gastric Bypass Surgery, Glucose Intolerance, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Insulin Resistance, Kidney Disease, Melissa Bagloo, Metabolic Syndrome, Morbid Obesity, Stroke
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People with metabolic syndrome are twice as likely to develop heart disease, and five times as likely to develop diabetes, as those who don’t have metabolic syndrome. But many people are not yet familiar with this relatively new term. Do you know what metabolic syndrome is?
OECD Country Populations with a BMI > 30 (1996-2003)
Metabolic syndrome is the combination of several medical problems associated with morbid obesity. In addition to obesity, these conditions include: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Columbia University Department of Surgery Blog*
July 23rd, 2011 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: Advice, Caregivers, CFAH, ePatients, Healthcare System, Hospitals, Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, MedHelp, Medical Errors, PHR, Survival
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Alright, I admit that the title of this post is a little dramatic. But it really does seem that most people I know socially have had a bad experience with the healthcare system lately. Take for example my friend whose 3- year-old went to the hospital for a common pediatric procedure – the little girl was overdosed on a medicine, aspirated, got pneumonia, went into respiratory distress (noticed first by her mom) and remained in the pediatric ICU for several days. The hospital staff swept the overdose under the rug, and outright denied it happened when faced with direct questioning. As outrageous as that all is, my friend chose not to pursue action against the hospital and staff for their error and behavior. She just “let it go” because no permanent harm had occurred.
Another dear friend was recently misdiagnosed with having a pulmonary condition when he was in heart failure from an arrhythmia… and almost had a stroke during a contraindicated pulmonary stress test. His simple conclusion: “doctors suck.” Was anyone held accountable for this? No. Again because no permanent harm had occurred.
Just the other night I was having dinner with some visitors from out of town. They both told me Read more »
