November 24th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Research
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I live on the West Coast, where it is rare to see a smoker. Because it is not socially accepted, smokers are not out in the open. They lurk behind buildings to take a smoke break at work and I don’t even own an ashtray for friends because none of my friends smoke. But San Francisco isn’t the rest of America. In 2010 there were 45.5 million Americans who smoke, with men smoking more than women. Tobacco remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Each year approximately 433,000 people die of smoking-related illness.
Here are some more stats on American adult smokers. The highest prevalence is American Indians/Alaska Natives (31.4%) followed by whites (21%). Smoking incidence decreases with increasing education and improved economics. By region, the Midwest has the most smokers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia (22-27%). That is huge.
California and Utah have the lowest percentage of adult smokers at Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
October 17th, 2011 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in News
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U N I T E D N A T I O N S
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL—MESSAGE ON WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY: 10 October 2011
There is no health without mental health. Mental disorders are major contributors to illness and premature death, and are responsible for 13 percent of the global disease burden. With the global economic downturn – and associated austerity measures – the risks for mental ill-health are rising around the globe.
Poverty, unemployment, conflict and war all adversely affect mental health. In addition, the chronic, disabling nature of mental disorders often places a debilitating financial burden on individuals and households. Furthermore, individuals with mental health problems – and their families – endure stigma, discrimination and victimization, depriving them of their political and civil rights and constraining their ability to participate in the public life of their societies.
Resources allocated for mental health by governments and civil society are Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
October 5th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in News
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If you have watched any news over the past week you know there is a listeria outbreak from contaminated cantaloupes that has been traced to Jensen Farms in Colorado. The CDC has confirmed 72 illnesses, including 13 deaths linked to the melons and three other deaths may be involved. By now most of the cantaloupes should be gone as they usually last only a couple of weeks. The recalled cantaloupes were shipped between July 29 and Sept 10.
Listeriosis is a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. It causes fever, muscle aching and sometimes diarrhea. It feels like a bad flu with headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and in severe cases, convulsions. As with many infections; babies, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and older adults are more likely to have severe illness. There are about Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
September 26th, 2011 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories
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Whenever a patient asks whether they can exercise, or go here, or there, I liken it to them asking whether they can live life. My answer is always the same…YES. The alternative seems terrible.
In this regard, moving on in the face of illness, let me share with you the writings of a very famous twitteratti, my friend, Melissa T (or @drSnit). Her post today about “doing sick well” struck my optimistic neurons.
You may wonder, how it is possible; putting sick and well together in the same sentence? Let me share her writings…
Dr Snit, author of the blog, “Living with Lupus–But Dying of Everything Else,” should know. She lives with the disease called Lupus–a mysterious ailment known for its flares of inflammation. These spasms of joint, muscle and overall body aches make a post-ride soreness feel like nothing. It’s a tough lot having Lupus.
But yet, Dr Snit stomps forward in life–in defiance of the most inflamed of the inflammatory diseases. She writes Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
September 14th, 2011 by Jessie Gruman, Ph.D. in Opinion, True Stories
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“My doctor can titrate my chemotherapy to the milligram but can’t tell me when I am going to die,” a friend who was struggling with his treatment for cancer complained to me a couple years ago.
Had he lived, he might have been reassured by the announcement last week of a new scale that allows clinicians to estimate the time remaining to people with advanced cancer. He was spending his final days “living by the numbers” of his white blood cell count, the amount and size of his tumors and suspicious lesions, the dosage of various drugs and radiation treatments. And he was peeved about what he saw as a critical gap in those numbers. He believed (hoped?) that because his cancer was quantifiable and the treatment was quantifiable, that the time remaining should be similarly quantifiable. He needed that information to plan how to use the time that remained.
Many of us would make a different choice about knowing how long we will live when we are similarly ill. But most of us are attracted to the certainty we attach to the numbers that precisely represent aspects of our diseases.
It is not just when we are seriously ill that numbers dominate our experience with health care. Advances in technology have made it possible to quantify – and thus monitor – a seemingly infinite number of physiological and psychological health-related states. For instance: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Prepared Patient Forum: What It Takes Blog*
I live on the West Coast, where it is rare to see a smoker. Because it is not socially accepted, smokers are not out in the open. They lurk behind buildings to take a smoke break at work and I don’t even own an ashtray for friends because none of my friends smoke. But San Francisco isn’t the rest of America. In 2010 there were 45.5 million Americans who smoke, with men smoking more than women. Tobacco remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Each year approximately 433,000 people die of smoking-related illness.
