H. pylori, a true stomach “bug”: Who should doctors test and treat?
In 1982, two Australian scientists discovered that a certain bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, was a common cause of persistent stomach inflammation and stomach ulcers. This realization revolutionized ulcer treatment.
While fairly common, this infection usually causes no symptoms, but it can sometimes lead to ulcers in the stomach or the very first part of the small intestine (duodenum), and to certain types of stomach cancer. There is also evidence linking H. pylori infection to other conditions like iron-deficiency anemia and vitamin B12 deficiency. The bacteria are thought to spread through contaminated water, vomit, or f...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 5, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Wynne Armand, MD Tags: Digestive Disorders Health Infectious diseases Tests and procedures Source Type: blogs
Replacing the ACA; Closing the Deal
By GARY MENDOZA
Last week, the CBO threw buckets of cold water on the American Health Care Act.
While there are serious questions concerning the CBO’s methods and its historical accuracy (see Avik Roy’s critique), Democrats fighting to defend the ACA as it heads towards collapse celebrated; they know CBO scores have potent political weight.
The Republican response was two fold—the loudest voices want to repeal the ACA and see what happens. They’re wishing away the concerns of millions of Americans to demand a rapid march over the political cliff.
Many other Republicans (e.g., Senators from Medicaid expansion st...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 22, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Repeal Replace Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The depressed and unhappy infertile patient
Most infertile patients are unhappy and stressed out. They're depressed , because they're unable to perform the basic biological function every woman is designed for - to have a baby . For some of them, their whole life seems to revolve around this inability to have a child.Having kids is a basic biological urge which is hard wired into us. It's something which we all take for granted. No one ever anticipates they'll ever have a problem with their own fertility , and when they do find out that they're having difficulty conceiving , this comes as a rude shock.Usually one hopes that it's going to be a simple problem - ...
Source: Dr.Malpani's Blog - February 23, 2017 Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: blogs
Marking a melancholy anniversary
Theresa Miller is one of the hardest working women I know. She doesn’t come into the office very often. She no longer needs my prescription for her heartburn medication, as it costs less for her to buy it over the counter these days.
Today I saw her for a preoperative clearance. She finally decided to get an operation for her chronically sore shoulder. She had injured it many years ago>. In spite of the heavy physical work she does, she has managed to live and work with her pain and limited range of motion — until now. She never took a pain pill in all the years I’ve known her.
“I figured as things slow down for...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 23, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/a-country-doctor" rel="tag" > A Country Doctor, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
Don ’t tolerate food intolerance
Who hasn’t eaten something that did not agree with them? But when your stomach issues become more frequent and severe, you might have a bigger digestion problem called food intolerance. Food intolerances occur more often as you age since your digestion naturally becomes slower and your body produces fewer enzymes needed to break down food. “This allows more time for bacteria to ferment in the GI tract and lead to digestive distress,” says Evagelia Georgakilas, a registered dietitian and nutritionist with Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Over time, you also may become more sensitive to particu...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - December 23, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Solan Tags: Digestive Disorders Health Healthy Aging Healthy Eating Source Type: blogs
The best gift of all
This holiday season we are all in search of the perfect gift. What is the one thing you truly desire for yourself and your family? Don’t you think we all want it? What if you were handed a beautifully wrapped box containing a miraculous tool that caused dramatic weight loss without limiting calories or requiring exercise?
What if this gift reduced appetite, shrunk belly fat, dropped your dress size into the single digits, and accomplished all of this while sparing you from a Biggest Loser sob fest?
What if that same gift freed you from acid reflux, heartburn, bowel urgency, and diarrhea, but also improved mood, incre...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - December 20, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Dr. Davis Priceless Gift Weight loss Wheat allergy Wheat Belly Wheat Belly Lifestyle Wheat Belly Total Health Wheat Watch Wheat-Free Lifestyle Detox diabetes gluten gluten-free grain grains Source Type: blogs
What If You Had a Priceless Gift?
This holiday season we are all in search of the perfect gift. What is the one thing you truly desire? Don’t you think we all want it? What if you were handed a beautifully wrapped box containing a miraculous tool that caused dramatic weight loss without limiting calories or requiring exercise?
What if this gift reduced appetite, shrunk belly fat, dropped your dress size into the single digits, and accomplished all of this while sparing you from a Biggest Loser sob fest?
What if that same gift freed you from acid reflux, heartburn, bowel urgency, and diarrhea, but also improved mood, increased energy, deepened sleep, ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - December 20, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Dr. Davis Priceless Gift Weight loss Wheat allergy Wheat Belly Wheat Belly Lifestyle Wheat Belly Total Health Wheat Watch Wheat-Free Lifestyle Detox diabetes gluten gluten-free grain grains Source Type: blogs
Why We NEVER “ Cheat ” On the Wheat Belly Lifestyle?
I’ve heard this many times over the years: “I allow myself one cheat day a week.” Or “I allow myself a cheat every Friday night.” Or “I have a couple of slices of pizza every Saturday.” Or the comments from naysayers such as “A little bit can’t hurt” or “Everything in moderation.”
I urge everyone to never cheat. On the Wheat Belly Lifestyle. – Tweet this!
It’s not because I’m a control freak or because I like to make arbitrary rules. There are many reasons to never allow yourself such a cheat. This has nothing to do with the few calories ingested. The implications are also far greater than the...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - November 22, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates Source Type: blogs
Why We NEVER “ Cheat ” On the Wheat Belly Lifestyle
I’ve heard this many times over the years: “I allow myself one cheat day a week.” Or “I allow myself a cheat every Friday night.” Or “I have a couple of slices of pizza every Saturday.” Or the comments from naysayers such as “A little bit can’t hurt” or “Everything in moderation.”
I urge everyone to never cheat on the Wheat Belly Lifestyle. – Tweet this!
It’s not because I’m a control freak or because I like to make arbitrary rules. There are many reasons to never allow yourself such a cheat. This has nothing to do with the few calories ingested. The implications are also far greater than the ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - November 22, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Diabetes Dr. Davis Grain Free Lifestyle Grains Inflammation News & Updates Wheat Belly Wheat Belly Total Health Wheat-Free Lifestyle Weight Loss 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
3 Ways to Navigate the Emotional Side of Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a beautiful and miraculous time. You’re growing a baby for goodness’ sake. And for many moms-to-be, it’s also a tough time. There are the physical symptoms—marathon-level fatigue, nausea, heartburn, appetite loss—which ensure that you don’t feel like yourself. The days might be limping by, and all you want to do is spend hours on the couch, vegging out.
There also are the emotional symptoms. You might be feeling overwhelmed, anxious, frustrated and sad—all in one day or all in one hour. It can feel like 500 different concerns are running through your mind (and heart). There are just so many unkno...
Source: World of Psychology - October 5, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Books General Habits Health-related Mental Health and Wellness Self-Help Stress Women's Issues anxiety Calm Discomfort Emotional Health Emotions Guilt mindful walking Mindfulness Mood Swings Personal Needs Pregnancy P Source Type: blogs
Heart Pain: When To Sound The Alarm
Is the pain heartburn or a heart attack?
How can you tell the difference between a sharp, burning sensation in your chest caused by the pizza you just ate or a sign of something more serious?
Women’s heart attack symptoms can be difficult to diagnose. My heart attack absolutely started out feeling like heart burn. I’ve experienced both severe heartburn and a heart attack and the pain is very similar at the beginning.
Here are 7 ways to tell the difference between heartburn and a heart attack:
Did you just eat something which upset your stomach? If your tummy is usually upset 30 to 40 minutes after eating spicy or grea...
Source: Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative - September 15, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Eliz Greene Tags: Award Winning Blog Heart Health Source Type: blogs
Oh So Quietly, Evidence of Bad Health Care Corporate Leadership Accumulates - Three AstraZeneca Settlements
While the news media is distracted by seemingly more spectacular issues, we hear the steady drip, drip, drip oflegal cases suggesting just how systemically bad the leadership of big health care organizations is. From February 2015 to now, for example, there have been three cases involving multinational pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.Settlement of Allegations of Kickbacks to Give AZ Drugs Preferred Status in FormulariesFirst, in February 2015, reported in most detail by Ed Silvermanin the Wall Street Journal,AstraZeneca has agreed to pay the federal government $7.9 million to settle allegations the drug maker paid k...
Source: Health Care Renewal - September 8, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: AstraZeneca bribery deception impunity kickbacks legal settlements Source Type: blogs
Physicians versus computers – the wrong question!!!
Over the past 2 days, listening to separate podcasts, I have heard the same story and now have a better understanding of artificial intelligence. A Freakonomics podcast – The Future (Probably) Isn’t as Scary as You Think
And in general, what’s happened in the past couple of years is the best chess player on this planet is not an AI. And it’s not a human. It’s the team that he calls centaurs; it’s the team of humans and AI. Because they’re complementary. Because AIs think differently than humans. And the same of the world’s best medical diagnostician is not Watson, it’s not a human doctor. It’s the...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - September 7, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
A failure in transition of care
Alvion Barr had a four-month delay in his diagnosis.
He is technically a patient of my colleague. But he had drifted between two of our regular doctors and a locum tenens physician we hired to work during March, when both other doctors were on vacation.
I saw him late Thursday afternoon for a rash, but he also asked what he could do about his heartburn.
“Tell me more about your heartburn,” I said.
Continue reading ...
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 28, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/a-country-doctor" rel="tag" > A Country Doctor, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Heart Source Type: blogs
