Allergies? Common cold? Flu? Or COVID-19?
With so many of us wrestling with fears and unknowns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, every throat tickle, nose drip, or cough is suspect: do I have coronavirus? By now, we all know that COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus, can cause severe, life-threatening symptoms, although the majority of people who have it will experience a mild to moderate version.
Of course, it is spring, so many people may be experiencing their annual springtime tree pollen allergies. Colds also remain common, just as was true before the coronavirus. And although influenza season is coming to an end, perhaps you’ve wondered if some o...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 9, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Anna R. Wolfson, MD Tags: Allergies Cold and Flu Health Infectious diseases Source Type: blogs
‘Not Just Dots On a Map’: SLPs Speak Their Truth From the COVID-19 Battlefront
Tuesday, March 10. Speech-language pathologist Fatima Warren was grocery shopping with her grandmother when she first noticed the painful body aches. Chalking it up to the rainy day and an earlier workout, she ran a hot bath.
Wednesday, March 11. Warren woke up with chills, fever, and worsening aches. She drove straight to the closest ER in her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. There, staff ran numerous tests, but not for COVID-19. The 45-year-old didn’t qualify because she hadn’t traveled outside the country and couldn’t name a contact with the virus.
Thursday, March 12. Worried about infecting her 13-year-old son an...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - April 1, 2020 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Bridget Murray Law Tags: Slider Speech-Language Pathology Uncategorized acute care Cognitive Rehabilitation Dysphagia FEES Health Care MBSS personal protective equipment skilled nursing facilities Swallowing Disorders Source Type: blogs
CT scanning is just awful for diagnosing Covid-19
This study, in the same high-tier journal, claims that the sensitivity of CT is 98% vs a sensitivity of 70% for viral PCR. They say:
“Our results support the use of chest CT for screening for COVD-19** for patients with clinical and epidemiologic features compatible with COVID-19 infection particularly when RT-PCR testing is negative.”
With a statement as strong as that, surely they are saying that they have evidence that CT can be applied broadly? They even mention patients with epidemiological features of infection … that is to say, folks who have been exposed but don’t have symptoms.
Here is the patient...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 25, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Artificial Intelligence COVID-19 Health Tech Physicians Research CT Luke Oakden-Rayner Radiology Source Type: blogs
Coronavirus Anxiety: Social Distancing Helps Stop the Spread
A lot of people are understandably anxious and upset about the looming spread of the novel coronavirus — called COVID-19 — in the United States. When faced with the unknown, with a scarcity of data, and disagreement among scientists about the likely infection rates within the US, anxiety appears to be an entirely appropriate emotion to have.
But we can all help to stop the spread of the coronavirus, even if we’re not at particularly big risk for getting it or getting sick from it. It’s called “social distancing,” and it can help a great deal in keeping our national outbreak as low as pos...
Source: World of Psychology - March 12, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: Anxiety and Panic General Centers For Disease Control coronavirus anxiety COVID-19 social distancing Source Type: blogs
E-luminations: Racing Cars Helps Me Live With Degenerative Swallowing Disorder
It’s not often that a person growing up among the cotton fields of southwest Oklahoma goes on to become a successful manager of global technology companies, but Leland White is not your average person. During his career, he built and managed semiconductor manufacturing plants around the world and provided management consulting services to large corporations and federal agencies. After a successful business career, he retired in Colorado to pursue two passions: downhill skiing and high-performance driving.
Referred to by family and friends as “Lee,” he turned 78 last spring. I talked to Lee about the challenges he...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 11, 2020 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Sharon Baker Tags: Health Care Slider Speech-Language Pathology Dysphagia Swallowing Disorders Source Type: blogs
Symmetry VNS Wins EU CE Mark for Difficult-to-Treat Depression
LivaNova announced today that Symmetry, a device for vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy, has received CE Mark approval for difficult-to-treat depression.
Symmetry is a small device that stimulates the vagus nerve to improve symptoms of depression and quality of life. After surgical implantation, the device regularly sends mild electric pulses to the vagus nerve, which is connected to areas of the brain that control mood. While previous devices for VNS therapy have received CE Mark for the treatment of depression, Symmetry is the newest and is specifically designed for this indication.
Symmetry won FDA approval i...
Source: Medgadget - March 10, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Cici Zhou Tags: Neurology Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
Quick update
Well, quite a lot has happened since I wrote my post on the loss of our Priscilla.
A few days after her death, Stefano came home complaining of a sore throat, which soon turned into a full-blown case of bronchitis: more proof, to me anyway!, of a close association between stress (and, in this case, probably grief as well) and a lowering of the immune defenses.
Anyway, we tried to be careful, but to no avail: on top of everything else, I caught his bronchitis and was sick (againnnnnn!) for about two weeks. This happened in mid January or thereabouts. So, all in all, I was sick/convalescent/sick/convalescent for more than a ...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 27, 2020 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll coronavirus curcumin myeloma Source Type: blogs
American Primary Care and My Soviet Era Class Trip: Sensing the Inevitable Collapse of a Top Down Bureaucracy
By HANS DUVEFELT, MD
Swedish Healthcare seemed competent but a bit uninspired and rigid to me but my medical school class trip to the Soviet Union showed me a healthcare system and a culture I could never have fully imagined in a country that had the brain power and resources to have already landed space probes on Mars and Venus by the time my classmates and I arrived in Moscow in the cold winter of 1977.
The first time we sat down for breakfast at two big tables in the restaurant of the big Россия hotel near the Red Square, our two male waiters asked if we wanted coffee or tea and people started stat...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 26, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Primary Care American healthcare Hans Duvefelt Source Type: blogs
Coronavirus: What parents should know and do
As a parent, you can’t help but worry about the safety of your children. So it’s natural that as stories about the novel coronavirus that started in China flood the news, parents worry about whether their children could be at risk.
We are still learning about this new virus; there is much we do not know yet about how it spreads, how serious it can be, or how to treat it. The fact that so much is unknown is a big part of what makes it frightening. But there are things we do know — about this virus and other similar viruses — that can help us keep our children safe and well.
All of the advice below assumes that you a...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 5, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Adolescent health Children's Health Infectious diseases Parenting Source Type: blogs
Digital Health Helps Tackle Indoor Air Pollution
“We are placing a spotlight on the fact that air pollution isn’t just a problem on our streets, but in our homes too. You can’t just close your door and shut out air pollution.” says Chris Large from Global Action Plan after their study found that indoor air is 3.5 times more polluted than the air outside. This 2019 study measured polluting nanoparticles in four British towns and cities in- and outdoors as well. At one point they even found a family living in pollution levels 560 times higher than the pollution level on the street.
According to another research, people spend approximately 90 percent of their ti...
Source: The Medical Futurist - February 4, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: szandra Tags: Future of Medicine Healthcare Design digital health digital technology indoor air quality Source Type: blogs
Medical Records in Primary Care: Keeping the Story of Phone Calls and Medication Changes with Less than Perfect Tools
By HANS DUVEFELT, MD
I need the right information at the right time (and in a place that makes sense to me) to make safe medical decisions.
Here’s another Metamedicine story:
In learning my third EMR, I am again a little disappointed. I am again, still, finding it hard to document and retrieve the thread of my patient’s life and disease story. I think many EMRs were created for episodic, rather than continued medical care.
One thing that can make working with an EMR difficult is finding the chronology in office visits (seen for sore throat and started on an antibiotic), phone c...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 3, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Hospitals Medical Practice Patients Physicians Primary Care EHR EMR Hans Duvefelt Medical Records medication list medication reconciliation Source Type: blogs
Why this physician supports Medicare for all
Alexa Karsdan ’s medical bill for a sore throat reached over $28,000. NPR told her story recently, but I want you to know why I am actually glad this happened. Why is it good news that her charges were so exorbitant, and that her insurance paid over twenty-five thousand dollars for one laboratory test? This sto ry […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 24, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/thad-salmon" rel="tag" > Thad Salmon, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Policy Public Health & Washington Watch Source Type: blogs
Coronavirus FAQ
What is a coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases in mammals, including humans, and birds.
Why are they called coronaviruses?
The name derives from the fact that the viral capsule has a “halo” or “crown” surrounding it.
What do coronaviruses do?
In humans, the virus infects the airways giving rise to flu-like symptoms, a runny nose, cough, sore throat and fever, these are usually mild, but in rare cases can be lethal.
Is there a vaccine against coronaviruses?
No.
Are there any drugs to block or treat infection?
No.
When were coronaviruses first discovered?
In the 1960s
...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 24, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Viral symptoms, then acute chest pain and this ECG. What do you do?
A late 30 ' s male presented with fever, sore throat, headache, vomiting, and body aches ( " bones hurting " ) for 2 days.He presented to the ED because he developed sudden severe, sharp, pleuritic (but not positional), substernal and left mid to lower chest pain.He had this ECG at time 0What do you think?There was an old ECG for comparison:Very normalInterpretation:There is serious widespread ST elevation that could easily by due to a wraparound LAD with anterior and inferior MI. It could also be due to pericarditis or myocarditis, but I always say that " you diagnose pericarditis at your peril. "If you thought...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - January 9, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Monk fruit –More than a healthy sweetener?
Because I wanted a benign and healthy way for followers of the Wheat Belly lifestyle to recreate dishes such as chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake, and pies with none of the health problems of grains or sugars, I helped Wheat-Free Market develop its Virtue Sweetener product.
Yes, you could do without such sweeteners. But I learned long ago when I introduced Wheat Belly concepts to patients in my cardiology practice that having options while entertaining friends, during holidays, and pleasing kids was important for staying on course on this lifestyle. Before I understood how to use such natural sweeteners, patients would ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - December 12, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Open blood sugar diabetes Dr. Davis Inflammation insulin low-carb monk fruit natural sweeteners undoctored virtue sweetener Weight Loss wheat Wheat Belly Total Health Source Type: blogs
