Self-Care for Pain
By David Spero
Last week I wrote about all the different medicines available to treat chronic pain. But there are many nondrug approaches as well. Here are a few:
You can do physical things at the point of pain. Massage is good, and it doesn't have to be professional. Any kind of caring touch may distract from pain sensations and help tissues heal. Self-massage helps, too.
Topical creams like something that includes capsaicin or Arnica reduce pain for a lot of people.
Ice or heat can help healing and reduce pain. It doesn't seem to matter which — some people like cold and others like heat, or you can alternate them....
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - February 13, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
The Sleep Education Blog has moved!
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine thanks all of the readers who have been following the Sleep Education Blog since its launch in January 2009. We hope that the blog has kept you informed with the latest news, updates and tips about sleep and sleep disorders.We are excited to announce that the blog recently moved to the AASM’s website at www.sleepeducation.com. On the website you will continue to find the same relevant and insightful content that you have come to expect from the blog.Launched in 2005, www.sleepeducation.com has received a complete overhaul. The new site includes online videos and fu...
Source: Sleep Education - January 22, 2013 Category: Sleep Medicine Source Type: blogs
Interview: Phillip Hornbostle,MD Bariatric Surgeon
This is the first in a series of interviews I plan on publishing. Dr Phillip M. Hornbostel, M.D., FACS, FASMBS is an accomplished bariatric surgeon in Missouri who has performed thousands of weight loss procedures over the years. He is also the resident dean of the commentariat at the physician-only social media website Sermo. The following represents a series of email exchanges he and I had over the holidays:
Dr Hornbostel, tell me about your professional journey from general surgeon to an exclusively bariatric practice.
I finished general surgery residency in 1984 and immediately wen...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 22, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD Source Type: blogs
Do doctors know how to treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol?
Blood pressure and cholesterol problems affect millions. These are the bread, butter and sugary drinks of Internal Medicine and general Cardiology practice.
It stands to reason then, that the treatment of these basic maladies would be well agreed upon. Guidelines and expert consensus statements would be clear and up-to-date.
But this is far from reality.
This recent story on theHeart.org chronicled the fact that treatment guidelines for high blood pressure and high cholesterol are a decade old. (And the last word on best practice for obesity treatment was 15 years ago.)
Surely this death of clarity is worthy of comment. A ...
Source: Dr John M - January 16, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr John Source Type: blogs
Sleep Apnea – NOT for Men Only!
Below is another guest blog post. One clarification I would like to make to the guest articleby Alex Smith is that the increased frequency of night-time urination seen with OSA is often due to increased urine production (for an explanation, seehttp://www.thoracicandsleep.com.au/latest-news/115-obstructive-sleep-apnoea-osa-and-urinating-at-night )Michael Rack, MD-----------------------------------------------------------------Doctors and patients alike are beginning to realize that sleep apnea in women is more common than previously thought. Men remain statistically more likely to develop obst...
Source: sleepdoctor - October 23, 2012 Category: Sleep Medicine Source Type: blogs
Catching Some ZZZZs: Safe Ways To Get to Sleep
Have you ever had a night when you just couldn’t fall asleep? It’s a terrible feeling. Tossing and turning, watching the minutes click closer to dawn, dreading how tired you’re going to be the next day—the more you try to sleep, the harder it gets.
Everyone has trouble sleeping sometimes for many different reasons, like stress and anxiety, or disorders like sleep apnea.
Some people are prescribed sleep aids called sedatives, a type of central nervous system depressant, to help them sleep. When used as prescribed—and only by the person they were prescribed for—sedatives are safe and effective for helping people ...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - May 17, 2012 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
Obesity crisis examined in HBO documentary series " The Weight of the Nation "
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that if nothing is done to reverse the nation ' s current obesity trends, < a href= " http://www.ajpmonline.org/webfiles/images/journals/amepre/AMEPRE_33853-stamped2.pdf " > 42 percent of Americans could be obese by 2030 < /a > . With the obesity current rate at 36 percent, the nation would add 32 million obese people in less than two decades. Sleep apnea, heart disease, diabetes and countless other debilitating and chronic health problems linked to obesity would devastate the national health and cost the health care system an estimated $550 billion. < br / > < br / >...
Source: Sleep Education - May 10, 2012 Category: Sleep Medicine Source Type: blogs
prn MSLT's
A doctor asked on the AASM message board about prn (as needed) MSLT ' s. In his sleep medicine group, doctors sometimes order a nocturnal polysomnogram to evaluate for OSA, with instructions to the technicians to perform an MSLT if OSA is not found. < br / > < br / > < em > < span style= " color:#006600; " > Should the practice of " prn " MSLT be abandoned? Is it a bad idea? < br / > < /span > < /em > < br / > Here is my answer to the the doctor ' s question? < br / > < br / > yes and yes. < br / > < br / > If you think someone has narcolepsy/idiopathic hypersomnia it is reasonable to order a psg/MSLT with instructions t...
Source: sleepdoctor - June 27, 2010 Category: Sleep Medicine Tags: narcolepsy obstructive sleep apnea polysomnography Source Type: blogs
