Health Care and Medical Information – Freaksofcocks.info

Archive for June, 2010

How do you know if that forgetfulness you’ve had is an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease, or just normal aging?

You may forget the occasional name or sometimes have trouble thinking of the right word to use. Maybe you walk into another room and wonder what you were looking for. Is it Alzheimer’s, aging, or just plain being distracted, doing one thing while you’re thinking of another?

There are signs to look out for, signs that tell you it’s time to get to the specialist and get checked out. Treatments for Alzheimer’s disease work best in the early stages so it’s vitally important to get an early diagnosis. An early diagnosis and early treatment can give you more years of normal functioning, and save you and your family tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Warning Signs

Memory Loss: We all forget things like appointments, names, and phone numbers occasionally, and that’s normal. Forgetting freshly learned information more often can be a warning sign though.

Communication Problems: Having trouble finding the right word is not unusual, but the Alzheimer’s sufferer often forgets simple words and may use unusual words or strange descriptions. A camera may become “that box that makes pictures”.

Problems with everyday tasks: A person with Alzheimer’s disease can start having trouble doing jobs or hobbies that they’ve had many years of experience with. For example, they may be halfway through their favourite recipe and forget how to finish it though they’ve done it many times before.

Misplacing Things: This isn’t the normal losing the car keys, but more like putting things in unusual places such as the ice-cream in the oven, or clothes in the dishwasher.

Disorientation: A person with Alzheimer’s disease can get lost in their own street or stay sitting at the bus station because they can’t remember where they were going. They may not remember how to get home.

Impaired Judgement: Wearing a thick jacket on a blazing hot day or a swimsuit in the middle of winter could be a sign of dementia. Having poor judgement with money can be a symptom too, such as spending big amounts of money with telemarketers or buying products that aren’t needed.

Trouble with Complex Tasks: Having trouble with tasks that require abstract thinking like balancing a check book or playing a favourite game can be difficult for the Alzheimer’s sufferer.

Mood Swings, and Personality Changes: Mood changes for no apparent reason can be another symptom. The sufferer could be happy and cheerful one minute, and then suddenly become extremely angry over something that is quite trivial, or that they have imagined. They can become clingy with a family member, or suspicious of the neighbours.

Loss of Initiative: We can all get tired of housework or our business activities sometimes. But someone suffering from Alzheimer’s disease can become quite passive, watching television for hours, not wanting to do their normal activities, or spending more time sleeping.

Many more people are worried that they may have Alzheimer’s disease than actually get the disease. However, if you are suffering from these symptoms, see a specialist.

In 1550 BC, the famous Ebers Papyrus advised treating diabetes with high fiber wheat grains. Not much has changed since then. Plant foods are the drug of choice for treating diabetes. There are large numbers of scientific research findings to confirm the effectiveness of plant foods in managing this disease. Through the centuries, more than 400 plants have been identified, used, and prescribed as diabetic remedies.

Raw onions and garlic have been long been favorite anti-diabetic drugs in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The vegetable bitter gourd and the herb ginseng have been widely used for treating diabetes since the ancient time in India and China. Common mushroom is widely used in parts of Europe to lower blood sugar. Barely bread is a popular treatment for diabetes in Iraq. Other foods, used in different countries, in the treatment of diabetes include beans, cabbage, cinnamon, coriander seeds, cucumber, fenugreek seeds, Indian gooseberry and lettuce.

All these foods have anti-diabetic properties. Scientific research has confirmed that most of these foods, or their compounds, either lower blood sugar, or stimulate insulin production. Some of the more important foods that help to lower blood sugar or stimulate insulin production in diabetes patients are discussed here.

Artichoke is a tuberous root with a top like a sunflower. This vegetable contains good amounts of potassium, a fair amount of calcium and some iron and sulphur, all of which are needed by the body for maintaining good health.

Artichoke is beneficial in the treatment of diabetes because of its high insulin content. A fully ripe artichoke is said to contain more than two percent of insulin. Ripe artichokes are generally available only during autumn or fall. The insulin is converted into sugar in winter. Artichokes are most effective when eaten raw in salads. It cooking is required; they should be boiled, unpeeled, in a small quantity of water for about 10 minutes. Artichokes can be effectively combined with other vegetables.

For diabetes information, diabetes diet, diabetes treatment, diabetes causes visit www.diabetesmellitus-information.com

You are now home from the hospital, and while the healing process is well underway, or you would not have been discharged, there are miles to go. There seem to be so many instructions to remember. You simply will not be up to much in the first few weeks, and in some cases, for several more. I won’t understate this. Yes, an upbeat approach by the hospital medical staff may have sent you waltzing home and it’s thrilling to be leaving the hospital, where you haven’t been permitted to sleep through the night. Yet you are returning home greatly fatigued, with a medications schedule to manage, possibly a tank of oxygen, and perhaps recurrent irregular heartbeats or other complications that remain unresolved. Now is the time to dedicate yourself to the hard work of recovery. Alternating rest and exercise, and above all patience with the physical and emotional trials ahead, is your assignment for the next several weeks.

You and your caregiver will mostly be on your own unless your particular situation requires a treatment plan that includes post-op visits from a home health care nurse. Even if that’s the case, now is the time to review any guidelines your hospital medical team has given you about what to be aware of.

If you have purchased the paperback or downloaded the e-book version of The Open Heart Companion: Preparation and Guidance for Open-Heart Surgery Recovery, from my website http://www.openheartcoach.com, it’s time to reread Chapter 5, “The Challenges You May Face.” This chapter provides detailed information not only on challenges that may arise in your recovery, but it also supplies solutions as well. For example, on the subject of feeling isolated: “This is the time to find other open-heart surgery survivors and their caregivers to talk to. Swap stories, share information, hear what other families have gone through. Just knowing that you are not alone as you go through your rehabilitation can lift the veil of isolation. There can be a tendency to hold one’s surgery and recovery experiences too privately, but not reaching out to others will only deprive you of receiving compassionate support. If you are feeling isolated, do yourself a favor: reach out to friends and family, and look for a heart surgery support group locally or online.” However, whenever in doubt about what you may be experiencing specifically, contact your designated medical liaison for professional diagnosis or medical attention. No question or concern is too trivial.

For most of us, there is a difficult recovery challenge from the time we leave the hospital until we are healed and strong enough to enroll in a local rehab program. That’s one of the reasons for my book, to bridge this gap as so little medical attention is focused on the recuperation period that lasts anywhere from four to eight weeks. We thought getting through surgery was the biggest hurdle. However, the hurdle is greater when we are home on our own with not much progress to report fast enough — and without all those experts in the hospital to lean on.

Every recovery is different. If you’ve been told to expect improvement “two days forward, one day back,” you might be disappointed to experience instead only one good day (a period of energetic spunk) followed by two, three, or even four days of just plain feeling lousy. Even to meet the assignment of increasing your walking time from five minutes to ten minutes a day may feel like an insurmountable task at first. You may also be swinging in and out of temporary depression. (In my case, I wished the discharge nursing staff had emphasized the psychological challenges of recovery, not just the physical stresses.) Or, you may feel “off,” and think you might be coming down with a virus. That might be the case, but feeling off can be due to other things as well: you may have become anemic (as I did); you may be having an allergic reaction; sleep deprivation may have caught up with you—there are many possibilities. Know that everyone goes through discouragement, yet those who are informed to expect ups and downs will fare far better.

Recovery after surgery takes time. There’s often a feeling of “being all alone.” Because I, and dozens of patients and caregivers who were interviewed for The Open Heart Companion, have gone through open-heart surgery recovery ourselves, I offer the help you need via a free monthly phone support group, a newsletter specifically on recovery, a highly informational paperback (also available as an e-book), and general practical tips. Stop by my site at http://www.openheartcoach.com to see how we can help you recover faster.

Summer is a season where a person gets affected by the airborne allergens that tend to thicken the air during the season. These allergic reactions can be harsh for many people. Even though medication will help to recover from the allergens, but the best way to prevent summer allergies are to find out the allergens and prevent those allergic reactions. Some of the tips are

Keep the home clean: Apart from the pollen, there are number of other allergens that affect the body. Dust mites is the common the allergens which cause severe problems. The easiest way to avoid these problems is to keep the home clean and neat. Try to dust the sofa, then surfaces and wash the bedding regularly. Then clean the carpet and vacuum once a week to make free from the dust.

Open-air time: The time should be selective when we spend it outside the home. Air feature plays the main factor that increase in the density of pollens which cause allergic reactions.

Ban pollutants: Be sure not to allow any allergens into home through doors and windows. It is compulsory to keep the air conditioner clean which may help to avoid from the pollutants at bay.