Not just for women: Kegel exercises good for men too
Most exercises are considered gender neutral. Except for kegels — those exercises that strengthen pelvic floor muscles. They have long been tagged as “just for women,” but older men may be wise to reconsider as they can help with some common unpleasantries that can come with age. “Men can also have issues with these muscles, which can cause urinary leakage, bowel issues, and even erection problems,” says physical therapist Celia Brunette with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Center.
What is the pelvic floor?
Your pelvic floor area is made up of thin layers of muscle and tissues that stretch like a slin...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 6, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Solan Tags: Health Healthy Aging Men's Health Source Type: blogs
What a CT Scan Can Tell You About Your Lungs
Over the last half century, technology has made possible the probing of the solar system and galaxy beyond. People can instantly correspond with anyone in the world. We can see —in real time—events and phenomena heretofore only reported by second and third hand accounts. Yet with all of the distance breached by modern devices, we are also able to know in detail the goings on inside our own bodies. With the advent of computed tomography (CT) imaging, known familiarly as “CAT scans,” doctors and their patients now get a bird’s eye view of internal organs. This scientific know-how goes beyond simple x-rays to reveal...
Source: ePharma Summit - January 23, 2017 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Anatomy CT Scan Lungs Medical Devices Source Type: blogs
I Can't Get Rid of ADHD by Blowing My Nose
Maybe you can relate to this: You can’t think straight. You’re easily distracted. You keep forgetting what you’re supposed to be doing. It’s ADHD, right?Despite the two surgeries I have had in the past three months, I’ve been unusually healthy. This is a delightful change for me. No bronchitis in Winter? Unheard of! I can go out into the wet cold and not spend the rest of the day coughing and sniffling in bed? Unbelievable! In fact, it’s been so long since I was last sick, the events leading to New Years Eve caught me off guard. As December 30th hurried along, I became less and less prod...
Source: The Splintered Mind by Douglas Cootey - January 14, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Tags: ADHD Source Type: blogs
E-Cigarettes May Cause Kids to Break into Homes and Turn to a Life of Street Crime, Physician Warns
An emergency medicine physician haswarned that e-cigarettes may lead to kids breaking into homes and turning to a life of street crime in order to feed their addictions to serious drugs.In aHuffington Postcolumn, he claims that due to e-cigarette experimentation:" teenagers — and even younger children — are getting addicted early, which could lead to smoking, and e-cigs can easily become a gateway to trying and developing an addiction to more serious drugs. Addiction correlates to crime. People need to feed their habit, they break into homes to steal things to resell, they commit robberies on the streets, all to get mo...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - January 13, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
Emotional Mess!
I have been on the absolute worst emotional rollercoaster for the past few days, it has been a nightmare! Things would get into my mind and fester, growing worse and worse and giving me more anxiety, angst, sadness, anger, the whole range of intense emotions for the entire day.Chris has been the one who has been tolerating my craziness, and I mean it must seem like absolute abandonment of emotional control. He has been so, so patient and understanding, not suggesting anything like not taking medication, mania, simply replying to my rambling, constant and upset texts all day long when I KNOW he is especially busy....
Source: bipolar.and.me - January 6, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
Emotional Mess!
I have been on the absolute worst emotional rollercoaster for the past few days, it has been a nightmare! Things would get into my mind and fester, growing worse and worse and giving me more anxiety, angst, sadness, anger, the whole range of intense emotions for the entire day.Mark has been the one who has been tolerating my craziness, and I mean it must seem like absolute abandonment of emotional control. He has been so, so patient and understanding, not suggesting anything like not taking medication, mania, simply replying to my rambling, constant and upset texts all day long when I KNOW he is especially busy.&...
Source: bipolar.and.me - January 6, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
Health Update
I finally made it to the doctor yesterday, needing medication for my asthma/bronchitis, and had kind of a laundry list of other issues since I had not been in for awhile.He prescribed the needed steroid I had come for (I have just given in since that is the only thing that works), then we moved on to my...I guess I do need to document this, my apologies to anyone reading this. My bowel movement issues?Not just blood, but once, only blood, and lots of it. That should suffice for details. I had to use a pad that day to catch all of the blood from the WRONG end!No, I did not race to the doctor when it happened,...
Source: bipolar.and.me - January 3, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
Health Update
I finally made it to the doctor yesterday, needing medication for my asthma/bronchitis, and had kind of a laundry list of other issues since I had not been in for awhile.He prescribed the needed steroid I had come for (I have just given in since that is the only thing that works), then we moved on to my...I guess I do need to document this, my apologies to anyone reading this. My bowel movement issues?Not just blood, but once, only blood, and lots of it. That should suffice for details. I had to use a pad that day to catch all of the blood from the WRONG end!No, I did not race to the doctor when it happened,...
Source: bipolar.and.me - January 3, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
The Perils of Precision Medicine
By MERCEDITAS VILLANUEVA , MD
When The White House announced their Precision Medicine Initiative last year, they referred to precision medicine as “a new era of medicine,” signaling a shift in focus from a “one-size-fits-all-approach” to individualized care based on the specific characteristics that distinguish one patient from another. While there continues to be immense excitement about its game-changing impact in terms of early diagnoses and targeting specific treatment options, the advancements in technology, which underlie this approach, may not always yield the best medical results. In some cases, low cost ap...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 26, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Diagnosis – the adjectives are just as important as the nouns
This article from the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology speaks loudly to this problem – The CKD Classification System in the Precision Medicine Era
Chronic diseases of the kidney range from rare inherited disorders, such as Fabry disease, to more common acquired entities, such as diabetic kidney disease. Despite the myriad clinical phenotypes and histopathologic subtypes, even within, for example, diabetic kidney disease, this diverse collective is viewed similarly when estimates of glomerular filtration align. Contrast this approach with that of multiple myeloma, a diagnosis that prompts routine...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - December 6, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
New Study on E-Cigarettes and Bronchitis: An Example of Scientific Dishonesty and Deception
Anew study published online ahead of print in theAmerican Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine along with apress release issued by the American Thoracic Society (publisher of the journal) conclude that youth use of electronic cigarettes contributes to " the burden of chronic respiratory symptoms in youth. " Specifically, the research concludes that there appears to be a causal relationship between e-cigarette use and " chronic bronchitic symptoms (chronic cough, phlegm or bronchitis) " among youth.According to the press release: " E-cigarette use among teenagers is growing dramatically, and public health exper...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 21, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
A Few Days Later
It was a bad week. I know a lot of other people who felt the same. I happen to be fortunate enough to live in an area where the vast majority of the population shared my dismay, but it was still difficult. Not much sleep. No appetite. Hard to concentrate. Anhedonia.
Calls for “healing” and “moving on” didn’t help. I feel assaulted, and it’s just too soon to try forgiving my attackers.
I had to keep going, though, so this morning I went downtown to work at one of my side gigs. Actually, I was there last week, but someone called out so they asked me to fill in this week as well. So I went....
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - November 13, 2016 Category: Primary Care Authors: notdeaddinosaur Tags: Medical Politics Source Type: blogs
When a cough just won ’t go away
Who has never had a cough? I bet no one can raise their hand. We see this in clinic all the time. But chronic cough— one that lasts at least eight weeks — can be hard for patients to deal with and difficult for doctors to figure out.
In the October 20, 2016 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, lung experts describe a step-by-step approach doctors can use to help treat patients with chronic cough. Most often a prolonged cough is due to one of the “usual suspects.” But when it’s not, we have a long list of increasingly rarer conditions that we should run through and rule out. If it isn’t due to any of th...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 7, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Cold and Flu Health Lung disease Source Type: blogs
Legalizing Marijuana in California: Information for Parents
It is likely that Proposition 64, which will legalize the use of recreational marijuana in California, will pass in November. At least, that is what most people expect.
As an addiction treatment provider, it matters little to me whether or not marijuana is legal or illegal. The drugs that people use and abuse are based largely on social norms, not legal status. When it is socially acceptable to use a substance, more people will choose that substance to use over others. Think about prohibition; people didn’t stop using alcohol because it was made illegal. Although use trends fluctuated, people continued to use alcohol, ...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - October 5, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: sheilas Tags: Richard Taite Source Type: blogs
Twenty-Seven Years
Twenty-seven years. More than a quarter of a century. Maybe not much in terms of a tree, but rather a long time.
Time for a babe in arms to reach adulthood, complete with a condo, live-in girlfriend, three cats, and a PhD within spitting distance.
Time for a medical practice to begin, grow, expand, and contract again until it is just the right size for a solo dinosaur.
Twenty-seven years ago today I hung out my shingle in front of a tiny basement office. I saw three patients that first day but only three more the rest of the week. I’ve had my ups and downs; overall, more of the former than the latter. Paper charts ha...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - October 2, 2016 Category: Primary Care Authors: notdeaddinosaur Tags: Family/Personal Medical Source Type: blogs
