Posts

“EPI can vary [from person to person] and cause no symptoms — or at least symptoms that patients didn’t think were unusual — to severely distressing symptoms,” says Suresh Chari, MD, head of the Pancreas Interest Group in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Fortunately, your health care provider can work with you to get a better understanding of your symptoms and determine an effective treatment plan....

Even in normal times, though, living with this chronic disease is no easy feat: There’s blood sugar monitoring to think about, a diet plan to stick with, and often a medication regimen to stay on top of. Keeping stress in check is also a key aspect of care, and these days, you may be feeling more frazzled than usual. If stress is high, you’re not alone. When we polled our diabetes audience on social media about their top concern right now, a majority ranked fears of getting sick and suffering complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as No....

Roberta Anding, RDN, a sports dietitian at Rice University in Houston, puts it like this: “If I pull the wheel too hard to the left and end up in a ditch, I’m dehydrated. If I pull too hard to the right, I’m overhydrated. Neither one of those is conducive to performance.” One consequence of drinking too much water, which is sometimes called water intoxication, is hyponatremia. This condition occurs when the blood’s sodium level drops below 135 milliequivalents (mEg) per liter (L), per the Mayo Clinic....

I woke one morning in early December 2010 with a throbbing ache in my right shoulder. Unlike my other midlife sprains and pains, it got worse. I began marking time with doses of ibuprofen, noting—with alarm—how my stiff arm could barely reach the medicine cabinet. An orthopedist ordered an x-ray. “You might have a small tear in your rotator cuff,” he said and sent me home with a script for eight weeks of physical therapy....

A study published November 1 in the journal Menopause found that the women who ate by themselves were 2.58 times more likely to have angina, a symptom of coronary artery disease. Angina is pain or discomfort that feels like pressure or squeezing in the chest, caused by a lack of blood going to the heart. Heart Disease in Older Women The risk for heart attack, stroke or heart disease goes up for everyone — both men and women — as we grow older, especially for people older than 65, according to the National Institute on Aging....

Bales was more than just tired. She was experiencing fatigue — an overwhelming sense of exhaustion that is not relieved by rest or sleep, which is a common symptom of ulcerative colitis (UC). “When I was flaring, and for the last year before surgery [to remove my colon], the fatigue was absolutely unreal,” Bales recalls. Like Bales, about two-thirds of people with an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as ulcerative colitis experience persistent fatigue, according to a study published in December 2020 in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases....

Overwhelming news cycles overlap with trying MS symptoms. Difficult financial times are laminated with impending dread. Increased family commitments occur simultaneously with a lack of ability to fulfill them. The next plane we have responsibility for is taking off as we’re still trying to land this one. And, if we let it, the world around us will demand more even if we are pulling a muscle trying to meet its current demands....

The Link Between Your Gut and Your Emotions The physical reason why emotions and stress can lead to stomachaches and other digestive problems is because the gut is highly sensitive and full of nerves, just like the brain. “There is definitely a connection between the brain and the gut,” says Francisco J. Marrero, MD, a gastroenterologist with the Digestive Disease Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. “The gut is called the little brain — it’s the largest area of nerves outside the brain....

This problem is known as the Koebner phenomenon, and it affects about 1 in 4 people with plaque psoriasis, says the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF). Named after 19th-century German dermatologist Heinrich Koebner, the Koebner phenomenon (also called Koebnerization) describes a psoriatic rash that occurs at the site of an injury or irritation. People susceptible to the Koebner phenomenon risk getting a new patch of psoriasis in areas where they don’t typically experience lesions, explains Teo Soleymani, MD, a dermatologist at UCLA Health....

Electroacupuncture May Relieve Musculoskeletal Pain for Cancer Survivors What’s New Electroacupuncture (electrical stimulation of acupuncture needles after insertion) reduces average pain severity scores and improves physical and mental quality of life in cancer survivors with chronic musculoskeletal pain, according to a study published March 18, 2021, in JAMA Oncology. Research Details Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers randomized 360 patients who had been treated for cancer previously and were experiencing musculoskeletal pain into three groups....

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), the idea that eating disorders are restricted to women who are young, white, and straight is one of many damaging myths that continue to persist. Eating disorders have neither a “look” nor do they discriminate by race, ethnicity, age, size, or sexuality. And one population that NEDA says is disproportionately impacted by eating disorders is the LGBTQ+ community, whose members often experience unique stressors that can contribute to developing an eating disorder....

As a general rule, if that spot you’re staring at is new to you, it’s a good idea to check in with your dermatologist, says John Wolf Jr., MD, a dermatologist, professor and chairman of the dermatology department at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “I strongly recommend a full-body exam for anyone over age 50 - maybe even earlier for some patients,” he says. People who have a personal or family history of skin cancer should go for an exam sooner....

Serves 8Prep Time 10 minutesCook Time 20 minutesTotal Time 30 minutes Ingredients Crust 2 tbsp butter½ cup almond flour (can be made by placing whole, raw almonds in a food processor) Cheesecake 8 oz cream cheese, softened1 ½ tbsp butter, softened1 large egg, room temperature¼ cup sour cream, room temperature½ tsp lemon juice½ tsp vanilla extract1 pinch salt¼ cup erythritol (or equivalent keto-friendly sweetener)24 fresh raspberries Directions RELATED: What to Eat and Avoid on the Keto Diet...

In some cases, drug therapies can help with MS symptoms, but what about tech solutions? Surely with all the devices and apps being created for various medical conditions, something is available for MS. Indeed, several things are available. And while technology hasn’t yet found a way to completely resolve MS-related problems, there are some devices that may be able to help. Appearing at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a meeting of technology innovators and entrepreneurs in Las Vegas in January 2020, several new products that have been released may provide some help and relief for people with MS....

Although doctors don’t know exactly what causes a flare or how to predict one, there are some triggers you can avoid. Lapses in treatment “One of the most common reasons for a flare is forgetting to take medications or not taking them appropriately," says Richard Desi, MD, a gastroenterologist with the Institute for Digestive Health and Liver Disease at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. Another possibility is that the medication you’ve been taking has stopped working and needs to be changed....

One plan that has gained a lot of interest among diabetics is the so-called paleo diet, which is a high-protein, low-carb food regimen — likened to a “caveman diet” — that minimizes processed foods and emphasizes meats and vegetables. Indeed, some type 2 diabetics have proclaimed life-changing results within just a few weeks of following the paleo diet: improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol, blood sugar levels consistently in the normal range, and even the ability to stop taking medications to manage their condition....

Understanding Panic Attacks A panic attack and its symptoms of tremendous anxiety can strike suddenly, out of the blue. While a panic attack itself may be brief, it can lead to a lasting fear of having another episode. When panic attacks and the fear of having attacks occur repeatedly, people are said to have a panic disorder, a type of anxiety disorder. “People have these panic attacks under various circumstances,” explains Martin N....

Lynparza, a drug known as a PARP inhibitor, benefits women with BRCA gene mutations who have responded to platinum-based chemotherapy but whose disease has recurred, according to the data. Ovarian cancer is diagnosed in more than 22,000 U.S. women each year and causes about 14,000 deaths annually. Because its symptoms, such as abdominal pain and bloating, are vague it is often diagnosed in later stages and survival is low. The disease accounts for 2....

Paxlovid is still relatively new — the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized this therapy for emergency use in December 2021 — so you may be wondering how it works, who should take it, and what side effects to expect. What is Paxlovid, and how does it work? Paxlovid is a drug regimen developed by Pfizer for people 12 and older who have mild to moderate COVID-19 and are at high risk of becoming severely sick or dying, per the FDA fact sheet (PDF)....

Pfizer also asked wholesalers and distributors to stop the use and distribution of Chantix tablets immediately. Long-term ingestion of N-nitroso-varenicline may be associated with a theoretical potential increased cancer risk in humans, but there is no immediate risk to patients taking this medication, according to a release from Pfizer. This isn’t the first time the drug has been recalled because of impurities. In June, the company announced it was stopping global shipments after testing found nitrosamine....