The Patient's Voice

The Voice for Patients and Families About Health Care

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Leslie Brewer

Breathe In, Breathe Out: Asthma Awareness

What is asthma?

Source: girihomeo.com

Asthma is a lung condition where the bronchial muscles contract, blocking the air and making it difficult to breathe. Various factors can trigger an asthma attack such as allergens, infections, pollution, trauma or fatigue. Asthma can be of two types: intrinsic and extrinsic.

Intrinsic asthma is a type of asthma which doesn’t have an identifiable cause of attack while extrinsic is the opposite. The triggering factor is known. Some asthma attacks are abrupt while some can last for several days. They often start after a few minutes of being exposed to a triggering agent.

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A Deeper Understanding Of Hives (Urticaria & Angioedema)

Hives are outbreaks of itchy red wheals that are elevated smoothly on the skin with usually blanched centers. It can induce itchiness, a burning feeling, or a stinging sensation on the affected surface. They appear anywhere in the body in different shapes, sizes, and numbers and are very irritating. Its causes are too plenty, which makes diagnosis hard. Currently, an estimated 20% of the human population will experience it in their lifetime at some point.

Source: mountsinai.org

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Osteoporosis: Build Stronger Bones

Imagine a jellyfish floating around the sea. That’s how we would look like without our bones. An adult body is composed of 206 bones which provide frame and support. Bones work with our muscles to make us move. They serve as protection to our vital organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and the brain. Without them, the inside of our body will be vulnerable to trauma.

 

source: thehealthsite.com

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What Are The Women-Related Diseases That Can Also Affect Men?

 

 

Source: cloudfront.net

 

If you’re fond of viewing different video clips online, you’ll see that more content producers show men trying stuff that only women can do, biologically speaking or not. That includes putting makeup on, stimulating pregnancy, wearing high heels, taking contraceptive pills, etc. In the end, they tend to express how lucky they are to be born without such worries.

While there’s nothing offensive in that statement, there are still women-related diseases that can also affect men. Read on to know more about them.

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Source: newshunt.com

 

Breast Cancer

As unbelievable as it seems, guys are not exempted from acquiring breast cancer. The reason is that men, like women, have breast tissues where lumps can develop. They are just more abundant in the latter, so the cases involving the former are quite rare.

Osteoporosis

The products that promote bone health for aged folks often depict females alone. That is an absolute misrepresentation, however, because the senior males can have osteoporosis too.

In truth, the bone density in men can deplete rapidly once they go beyond the 50s. It’s just that the usual signs that women notice are not too obvious when it comes to the opposite sex.

Lupus

Lupus causes the swelling of glands, eyes, joints, and legs. As an autoimmune disease, scientists are yet to figure out what makes people obtain such an illness. It can also be difficult to find a lot of information regarding men who have this disease since 90% of the diagnosed patients belong to the female population.

Yeast Infection

Fungal infection is another disorder that males can get but is normally just linked to women. Honestly speaking, the microscopic yeast strains that may already be inside or outside the body may germinate in moist regions. Meaning, the inner part of the mouth and the foreskin. The risk increases if you’re either a diabetic or popping antibiotics a lot.

Source: wp.com

Thyroid Diseases

An illness involving the thyroid glands occurs when your system generates too much (hyperthyroidism) or too little (hypothyroidism) of metabolism-regulating hormones. Weight gain, lack of sleep, and mood swings are the common symptoms of hypothyroidism, while hyperthyroidism causes weight and energy losses.

Bladder Infections

Urinary tract infection (UTI) and diverse bladder-related diseases are typically associated with females. Regardless of that, males have a tendency to acquire any of them as well due to possible prostate or kidney issues. The infection becomes evident once it’s painful to urinate, there’s blood mixed with the urine, and there’s fever.

Male Menopause

The problem may not be familiar to you, yet know that middle-aged men may experience the symptoms of menopause too. Doctors blame it on the decline of testosterone levels that males go through as they age.

Eating Disorder

Women are predominantly connected to eating disorders because of body image, but men may also suffer from it. The list can comprise the gay, the obese, and the athletic – different types of males who often feel the need to conform to beauty standards. Few are diagnosed, though, as not everyone can admit that they have this issue.



What Stress Does To Underlying Diseases

Change, according to sayings of old, is the only constant thing on the planet.

Simply put, it is your body’s natural reaction to any danger or pressure. The cause may be different each time, yet stress can still take a toll on your well-being. Now, it appears like something else is vying for the same recognition. “Dealing with distress is difficult. By its very nature, distress is great pain, acute suffering, and extreme misfortune,” said Casey Radle, LPC. In fact, there are studies linking it to a broad range of illnesses.

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Source: http://beautysummary.com/

How Stress Aggravates Ailments

Stress is technically a psychological strain that affects anyone. Since it occurs in mind, though, many may not accept that it can make your current health condition worse. But stress is very much capable of doing so because it slows down your system from acting against inflammations. Hence, by the time the antibodies come into force, the pathogens already began spreading.

What Stress Does To Diseases

Being aware of the illnesses that life pressure may inflict on you allows you to tread on stressful waters with caution. Below are some of them.

Jeremy Savage, MA, LPC said “Mindfulness is a helpful skill to learn because it lets you observe these “uncomfortable thoughts, feelings and physical sensations without judgment.”

Exacerbate Diabetes

When you’re stressed out, you tend to deal with the negative feelings

Cause Asthma

Children rarely have demanding activities to worry about, so they should ideally be safe from stress. As it turns out, however, the mother can pass it on to them during pregnancy. The stakes of acquiring asthma from birth, therefore, increases.

Worsen Alzheimer’s Disease

The lesions that appear in the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient may grow in size or number with stress at play. While nothing’s set in stones, it’s essential to reduce the sources of the latter to thwart speeding up the degeneration.

Source: https://www.livestrong.com/

Promote Obesity

of cortisol becomes unbalanced. Thus, you may detect that your pants or dresses no longer fit your body.

Intensify Insomnia

Sleep deprivation comes to light when you accept more tasks than you can manage. When your mind should be resting, various ideas may run rampant even with your eyes closed. If you don’t do something about it, the problem can lead to insomnia.

Cause Ulcer

This gastrointestinal problem is known to affect the lining of several internal organs, including esophagus, stomach, and intestines. Scientists link stress to it since you either consume unhealthy meals or not eat at all; hence, the bad bacteria can take over your gut.

Source: https://www.onhealth.com/

Bring About Coronary Diseases

An increase in the cortisol generation may also influence heart attacks from taking place after a while. Too much of this hormone can encourage the white blood cells to stick to the blood vessels. The action creates plaque, which will then stop the regular blood flow to and from the pumping muscle.

 

To eliminate the chances of acquiring or elevating the symptoms of a disease, stay away from activities or people that cause your stress. Elizabeth York, M.Ed, LPC, LMFT says “An understanding of the basics of stress management may help.”

 



Practices That Make You Prone To Diabetes

 

Diabetes is a rather frightening disease not only because it’s incurable but also because it’s so easy to acquire. You drink alcohol, smoke and consume a lot of food, and you’ll most likely be diagnosed with it after a few years. In case the illness runs within your family too, even eating sweets bit by bit may trigger it to appear.

Nonetheless, those are simply the publicly known reasons for getting the disease. Below are the other practices that make you prone to diabetes.

source: thesun.co.uk

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Forgetting Breakfast

You should have your first meal in the morning, never around 12 noon, to ensure you won’t feel constantly hungry. Skipping breakfast will interrupt the normal flow of insulin in your body, which causes the blood sugar levels to fluctuate.

Using Plenty of Butter

This dairy product may taste so good on pancakes or dishes, yet it is teeming with saturated fat. That’s the kind of fat that may clog your arteries and may not be affected by the insulin you produce.

Staying Up Late At Night

When you lack sleep and need to wake up early the next day, it’s not just your brain that seems disoriented. Your metabolism goes haywire as well, so it may be difficult for you to control the blood sugar.

Loving BadCarbohydrates

Although carbohydrates give you energy to finish tasks daily, you should opt for whole-grain choices. The ones that come in white (e.g. rice, pasta, and regular bread) contain starch, which causes weight gain and diabetes.

Microwaving Food in Plastic Containers

It’s quite effortless to store your leftovers in a plastic container that you can pop in the microwave anytime, right? But transfer them in non-plastic bowls from now on as some ingredients for the vessel are found to be insulin-proof.

Binge-Watching

Staring at the TV show or movie that plays on your monitor for hours means you barely move your body. The existing fats, therefore, remain stagnant and may prevent your system from accepting more insulin to regulate the blood sugar.

Hiding From The Sun

Vitamin D is a vital nutrient that the body creates when you stay under the sun often. There are scientists who say that it allows the pancreas, the main insulin producer, to function more efficiently.

source: livenaturallymagazine.com

Skipping Probiotics

Probiotics are living microorganisms that can propagate within and keep your gut healthy and safe from bad bacteria. Yogurt products are pumped with various probiotic strains, as well as kimchi, cheese, and other pickled goodies.

Not Drinking Coffee

Several types of research divulged that sipping coffee on a daily basis can make you 33% less prone to diabetes than non-drinkers. That is not a negligible percentage at all. In case you don’t like some effects of normal coffee, drinking a decaf may generate similar results too.

Living With Stress

Stress will never be a positive sign of health. Other than visibly aging your appearance or short-circuiting your fuse, it can also increase your body’s production of cortisol. This hormone usually helps fight inflammation, but when it’s released for no reason, it can destabilize your blood sugar levels.




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