Adults Can Get Fifth Disease, Too

Did you know that while most adults have been exposed to the paravirus that causes Fifth Disease (also called Fifths Disease), not all are immune. In fact, adults can get Fifth Disease, and the symptoms can be different and more severe than those that appear in children. Furthermore, Fifth Disease is often hard to diagnose in adults, not only because there are different symptoms, but also because most physicians won’t be likely to test for it. I found this out first hand, after a pretty scary couple of weeks. On the first day that I really noticed anything, I woke … Continue reading →

Dining Out with Diabetes

My father has diabetes, which makes dining out challenging. You want to be able to dine out with friends and family, but you don’t want to do anything that will cause your blood sugar to rise or drop dramatically. Here are a few tips for dining out if you have diabetes: Timing If you live in a large city, you know that eating out often requires a wait time. But, it is important for diabetics to eat on schedule. If you go to a restaurant at your normal dinner time, but have to wait 45 minutes, your blood sugar can … Continue reading →

What You Need to Know about West Nile Virus

The United States is currently experiencing one of the biggest outbreaks off West Nile Virus with almost 1,200 confirmed cases reported as of Tuesday this week. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are concerned that the rate of infection will continue to grow. The CDC estimates that many more cases, about 98 percent have not even been reported. What is West Nile and how dangerous can it be to us? West Nile Virus is spread by the bit of a mosquito that carries the disease. There are two forms of it. A milder form, referred to West Nile Fever results … Continue reading →

Why is Whooping Cough Back?

Whopping Cough, a disease that had been pretty much eradicated from the United States is back, and it is at epidemic proportions in some areas of the country. Those of us who are older than 30 and have seen Whopping Cough virtually disappear are very confused by its return. Why do we need to worry about Whopping cough now? It is a scary illness, especially for the young. At least 18,000 cases have been reported so far for 2012. According to news reports, bioethicists have an idea. They are blaming it on the refusal of some parents to vaccinate their … Continue reading →

Foot Care for Diabetics

My father is a diabetic and if I don’t quit eating like I am and start exercising, I am headed in that direction. Since both my grandmothers were also diabetics, I probably know more about diabetes than the average person. One thing I learned from my grandmothers is that diabetics need to take good care of their feet. Why the focus on foot care? Well, if you don’t take good care of your feet, it can lead to amputation of toes, feet, or even your leg. Diabetics are more likely to have foot problems because of reduced blood flow to … Continue reading →

Diabetes Screening

Have your ever been screened for diabetes? Did you know that there are an estimated 7 million people in America with undiagnosed diabetes and 79 million people with pre-diabetes? This is according to the American Diabetes Association. Undiagnosed diabetes can have some serious consequences and complications including eye problems, skin infections, heart disease, kidney disease, hearing loss and even depression, among others. With adequate diagnosis and treatment, many of these issues could be lessened or even avoided altogether. So when should you get screened for diabetes and what is involved? Usually, all that is required is a simple urine or … Continue reading →

Treatment For Pancreatic Cancer

Are you becoming a pancreatic cancer expert? My hope for you is that you never need this information but it is here for you. We have covered symptoms, test and risk factors and now we need to talk about treatments. Pancreatic cancer is has a low survivability rate because of the fact that it is usually diagnosed after it has spread and therefor it is in a later stage for diagnosis. However pancreatic cancer does have low survival rates. For exocrine pancreatic cancer if you are diagnosed with stage 1A your 5 year survival rate is only 14% and that … Continue reading →

Test for Pancreatic Cancer

SO far we have talked about risk factors, symptoms and types of pancreatic cancer so today we are going to talk about some of the tests that are run to check for pancreatic cancer. The first is the computer tomography scan also known as a CT scan. Now most people have heard of a CT it is a very common test. You simply lay on a table and a CT scanner sits over you and internal parts of the machine rotate around the area being scanned. Now if you are like me you would be thinking ugh I hate CT’s … Continue reading →

Pancreatic Cancer Symptoms

During the last entry we went over some of the risk factors for pancreatic cancer. Today I would like to talk about some of the symptoms that you should be watching for. Please keep in mind that even if you have symptoms please do not jump to the conclusion that you have cancer there are many diseases that have the same symptoms. The purpose of this is to make you aware to be your best advocate. See your doctor to rule out the cancer. The first symptom you should be on the lookout for is if your skin tone turns … Continue reading →

Pancreatic Cancer

When you hear someone has cancer you may have many questions about what they are feeling and how their cancer was found. What I am going to do is go through some of the different types of cancers and what the symptoms are so if you notice some of them that you will make the call to the doctor. The first cancer I am going to talk about is PANCREATIC CANCER. Pancreatic cancer has been in the news the last few years some well known people. Pancreatic cancer has taken the life of Patrick Swayze,Steve Jobs, Michael Landon, Count Basie, … Continue reading →