carypresant

10 Jun

Know What to Expect from Your Treatments

carypresant elderly patients, Health Care, Physician Communication 1 0

You can develop potentially serious health conditions or illnesses. Good doctors develop excellent treatment plans for their patients, and you may get lots of information about tests, treatments and drugs you may need. But there is a possible problem in how you understand what the doctors and nurses tell you. In an excellent study http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1204410 J. Weeks and coauthors evaluated over 1100 patients with serious diagnoses of cancer. Between 69% and 81% of the patients…

03 Jun

You May Need More Sleep to Stay Healthy

carypresant Health Care, illness, Medical Tips 0 0

Getting enough sleep is very important. Reduced sleep can lead to diabetes and obesity. Sleep also helps learning and memory.

A recent study shows how the benefits of sleep occur. In a study by J. Broussard and coauthors http://bit.ly/QKf7b1 people were allowed either 4.5 or 8.5 hours of sleep. In people with shorter sleep, biopsies of fat cells from the area around the navel showed resistance to insulin compared to people with more sleep.

…

31 May

How You Can Avoid Delays in Treatment After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

carypresant Breast Cancer, Health Care, Medical Tips, Uncategorized 0 0

After a woman gets a diagnosis of breast cancer, she has anxiety, depression and fear until she gets her treatment plan from her doctors, and begins therapy (surgery possibly followed by radiation, chemotherapy and/or hormonal treatment). This delay from diagnosis to treatment with surgery has been growing (according to Dr. Richard Bleicher and coauthors, J. Clin. Oncol. 30: 4485, 2013). The delay averaging 21 days in 1992 has grown to 32 days in 2005 (the…

20 May

Using an Online Patient Portal Can Increase Your Healthcare

carypresant Electronic Medical Records, Physician Communication 9 0

Electronic medical records are becoming more common in doctor’s offices. One part of these software programs in some but not all electronic records is the online patient portal. These portals allow people to send messages to the doctor, get messages from the office, and review their tests and records.

It has been felt that use of these portals might make healthcare more efficient and reduce office visits, ultimately decreasing the costs of health care.

But…

16 May

Angelina Jolie’s Mastectomy and YOU: Tips for Your Health

carypresant Breast Cancer, Celebrities, Prevention 0 0

Everyone has heard the news: one of our favorite stars, Angelina Jolie, knew that her mother had died of breast cancer. So she had her blood checked and news reports told us that she tested positive for a gene mutation that causes a very high risk of breast cancer, the BRCA gene mutation. So she made a life-changing decision: she would undergo a bilateral mastectomy and breast reconstruction. What does this story mean you have…

13 May

Preventing Falls Can Save Lives

carypresant elderly patients, geriatrics, Prevention 0 0

As people age, there is a loss of mobility and an increased tendency to falls. This can result in concussions (e.g. Hillary Clinton), brain bleeding, fractures, and even death. Because this is such a problem in aging, you need to be aware of how to prevent falls and preserve maximum mobility.

In institutions (hospitals, nursing homes) as well as in private homes where you are taking care of elderly family members, at least 20% of…

06 May

Using Aspirin to Control Prostate Cancer

carypresant Prevention, prostate cancer 0 0

Many men in America are now prostate cancer survivors. But there remains a risk that the cancer can reappear and spread, causing pain and death.

Aspirin can help prevent recurrences of prostate cancer. In patients with an intermediate to high risk of cancer recurrence, aspirin prevented 50% to 80% of prostate cancer reappearance http://nyti.ms/16qtxFg. Aspirin is more frequently being recognized as a preventive of many forms of cancer.

Here are my tips for…

29 Apr

Do You Want to Email Your Physician?

carypresant Electronic Medical Records, Physician Communication 0 0

The ease of using email communications is increasing the efficiency of many businesses, and our social lives as well. Many patients are emailing their physicians and the doctors are sending back answers.

But new regulations implementing 2 of our laws, HIPAA and HITECH privacy statutes, have now been finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services in January 2013.

These new rules indicate that it is a violation of the law for a physician…

22 Apr

Increasing Your Voice in Medical Decision Making

carypresant Doctors, Medical Tips 0 0

Doctors have been talking about shared decision-making by patients with physicians for over a decade, at least since the Institute of Medicine reported “Crossing the Quality Chasm” in 2001. But for you to have your voice heard in making decisions about your own health care, doctors must be giving you honest and complete background information about your condition, and be discussing the pros and cons of proposed treatments.

In a recent analysis, authors concluded that less…

17 Apr

Overcoming Psychological Effects of Terrorism and Natural Disasters

carypresant diasaster, ptsd, terrorist attack 0 0

The Boston Marathon terrorist attack has shaken our sense of security and shown us pictures of horror and panic. In the aftermath of that event, as well as after Hurricane Sandy, we recognize that many psychological effects can be long-lasting. This is just the same as after the World Trade Center attack of 9-11, and after Hurricane Katrina or other natural disasters (earthquakes, fires, floods). You or your family may still be experiencing distress remembering…

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Surviving AmericanSurviving
American Medicine