We sat down with Gupta to discuss her current work and to learn more about her perspective on wellness. What are you working on now? I received a fellowship from the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement for a project designed to help professionals in college environments develop the mindfulness-based resilience they need to handle challenges to free speech on campus — the kinds of conflicts that can occur when working with student groups and peers....
It’s my way of getting on with life and living the best of it, multiple sclerosis (MS) and all. Most of the people in my MS community around the world seem to live by much the same ethos. We don’t like having this disease, but we try our best not to let it define us even if it may limit us. But now and again, I am struck dead-on by the disease — either by what it is doing to me, or by seeing what it has done to others....
It’s unclear how many people are using OTC insulin because the meds aren’t tracked like prescription insulin, but an article published in February 2019 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine suggested that people often buy ReliOn insulin and that Walmart sells up to 18,800 vials per day at its pharmacies in 49 states. “We were surprised that it was sold so frequently,” says study author Jennifer Goldstein, MD, assistant program director of internal medicine at Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Delaware....
On that morning, I woke at about half past 4 knowing that something was beginning to feel quite “not right.” Symptoms Crept Up One by One When I returned from my morning walk with our wheaten terrier, Maggie, my wife, Caryn (who was working from home), asked who I’d met along the way. The loop that Maggie and I tread most mornings takes almost exactly one hour. When I told Caryn that we’d had no chats at all, she noted that we’d been gone nearly twice our normal time....
An herb that has stood the test of time, peppermint has been used for millennia to alleviate digestive troubles. Indeed, its use dates all the way back to the times of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Science Has Spoken When It Comes to Peppermint Oil and IBS What sets peppermint oil apart from the rest of the pack of possible natural remedies for IBS?...
What Is Preeclampsia? Preeclampsia is defined as the presence of protein in your urine and high blood pressure occurring after the 20th week of your pregnancy. The condition affects about 5 to 8 percent of all pregnancies. In the United States, preeclampsia rarely causes the death of a mother or infant, but worldwide pregnancy-induced high blood pressure still causes 76,000 maternal deaths and 500,000 infant deaths every year. The cause of preeclampsia remains a mystery....
The good news: There are ways to make life with psoriasis easier. Follow these dos and don’ts to help get your symptoms under control. Psoriasis Dos Do talk to a dermatologist. Make an appointment with a dermatologist who specializes in treating psoriasis — he or she will be aware of the latest developments regarding treatment plans. Be prepared to discuss the details of your condition with your doctor, including when you first noticed it, what your symptoms are, any situations that seem to make your symptoms worse, and what treatments have and have not worked for you in the past....
The recall now includes three lots of losartan potassium tablets and two lots of losartan potassium-hydrochlorothiazide tablets, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which lists the specific batch numbers on its website. Losartan products are used to treat hypertension, hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy, and nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes. The medication is a type of angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), which helps control blood pressure by blocking the action of a chemical in the body that narrows blood vessels....
“Schizophrenia makes it hard for people to form close bonds,” says Dost Öngür, MD, clinical director of the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Research Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. Often, people with schizophrenia who are married met their partner before being diagnosed with the condition. Single people who have schizophrenia, however, “tend to stay single,” he says. For people whose partner was healthy when the relationship began, the onset of schizophrenia can come as a shock....
“The joints in my feet were among the first to be affected — X-rays have shown some [joint] erosion. Even during my best days, my feet have always been a sore point,” Kramer says. Erosion refers to the wearing away of cartilage and bone in the joint. It’s caused by inflammation within the joint lining. RELATED: I Tried Virtual Reality Telehealth for Chronic Arthritis Pain — and Here’s What Happened Kramer is not alone....
Mental Health Awareness Month, also known as Mental Health Month, has been observed in the United States during the month of May since 1949. A Way to Help People Understand Schizophrenia and Psychosis Linda Stalters, founder and CEO of SARDAA (Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America), was also part of a previous group that created Schizophrenia Awareness Week (SAW). “A week like this is meant to change how schizophrenia and psychosis are understood,” Stalters says....
One solution: Set goals for yourself and outline the steps you’ll take to achieve them, says Amy Walters, PhD, director of Behavioral Health Services at St. Luke’s Humphreys Diabetes Center in Boise, Idaho. The more realistic and specific your goals are, the better, she adds. For the best chance at success, experts say, make your goals SMART — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Start by thinking about what matters most to you....
Marked by progressive damage to cartilage and other joint tissues, osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis. People who have osteoarthritis in the knee may feel a “scraping” sensation when they move the joint and have trouble walking or climbing stairs, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Some shoes affect knee osteoarthritis symptoms, pain, and progression more than others. Consider these expert recommendations when choosing your footwear. The Worst Shoes for Knee Osteoarthritis Clogs “Clogs may not be an optimal footwear choice for people with osteoarthritis because they place high loads on the knee,” says Najia Shakoor, MD, a rheumatologist and a professor of medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago....
A study published February 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that among people infected with the virus, smokers were 2.4 times more likely to have severe illness compared with nonsmokers. Another study, also published February 28 in the Chinese Medical Journal, showed smoking increased the risk that COVID-19 infection would progress to pneumonia. Smokers are more likely to become infected with COVID-19 because of the frequent hand-to-mouth motion intrinsic to smoking, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has officially declared smoking a risk factor for the virus....
“The benefits of smoking cessation are even greater than we realized,” said Tinka van Trier, MD, PhD, an author of the study and a cardiologist at Amsterdam University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. For the study, researchers examined data on 989 current smokers age 45 and older who had all had a heart attack, bypass surgery, or a procedure to implant a stent — a tiny wire mesh cage that helps keep blood flowing through arteries — at least six months earlier....
Research published on March 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that passengers seated within one row and within two seats laterally of someone with a common infectious respiratory disease had an 80 percent or greater chance of becoming infected. For everyone else on the plane, however, the risk of infection was less than 3 percent. “We were interested in how infectious disease might spread from one person to another via large-droplet transmission,” says the study’s first author, Vicki Stover Hertzberg, PhD, of Emory University in Atlanta....
For the analysis, researchers examined data from 23 previously published studies with a total of more than two million stroke survivors. Overall, 5,563 people in these studies attempted suicide or died by suicide. Compared with people who had never had a stroke, those who survived a stroke were 2.11 times more likely to attempt suicide and 61 percent more likely to die by suicide, the analysis found. “Stroke survivors have physical, cognitive, and mental health consequences that may put them at a higher risk of suicide,” says the study’s lead author, Manav Vyas, MBBS, a neurologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Toronto....
COPD, which causes airflow obstruction and difficulty breathing, is associated with several common symptoms, such as a cough, wheezing, and chest tightness. If the individual is still smoking or if they have chronic bronchitis as an important part of their COPD, they may have a chronic cough (also known as smoker’s cough) as well, adds Edelman. WheezingChest tightnessConstant fatigue, which often results from the decreased muscle strength associated with a long-term inability to exerciseFrequent respiratory infections, including acute bronchitis (in emphysema patients) and pneumoniaCyanosis, a blueness of the lips and fingernail beds, which develops from tissues not getting an adequate amount of oxygenBarrel chest from the lungs being chronically overinflated with air (in emphysema)Reduced appetite and weight loss, resulting from the increased energy required to breatheInsomniaSwollen ankles, feet, or legs, which can signal more severe COPD...
Appendicitis occurs when your appendix becomes inflamed and filled with pus, a fluid made up of dead cells and inflammatory debris that often results from an infection. If appendicitis is left untreated, the appendix will swell and eventually burst, leaking its infected contents throughout your abdomen and leading to a potentially life-threatening infection. There is no way to predict who will get appendicitis, so spotting the signs of appendicitis is vital for early diagnosis....
“He told us: ‘There is no heartbeat,’” Alston says. When the Alston’s got pregnant, she described their life as “really coming together.” She was thriving in her career in the corporate relocation business, as was Paul in his role in the field of transportation. “It was a happy time,” she says. Her doctor had told her, “you’re having a textbook pregnancy,” she says. “Once we got past that first trimester, I really wasn’t thinking that anything bad could happen....
