On-Line Medical Information

There is wonderful, accurate, and  medically sound information on-line. However, there is also inaccurate, dangerous and down right false medical information on-line.

On-line medical information is not a replacement for proper medical care and evaluation by a physician. I have recently had some patients that did not have primary doctors and had symptoms of illness. In both cases they went on-line.  One patient found his problem on a medically accurate site that directed him to go to a physician, which he did. The other patient went on-line and found several sites that were vague.  From his description they were not reputable medical web sites. He delayed care by several weeks by looking on line and thinking his problem was a minor episode of indigestion. However, he had heart symptoms that finally resulted in a heart attack a trip to the ER and emergency heart by-pass surgery.

What about Wikipedia? Wikipedia itself reports that they have an error rate. Most colleges and universities will not accept Wikipedia as a source for research. The reason is the way Wikipedia works; anyone can post an article on Wikipedia. "Wikipedia is collaborative writers by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles," this per Wikipedia.

So where can you get accurate medical information? Stick with universities, medical schools, government agencies and specific disease associations or societies for accurate medical information on-line.

 
A few of examples of reliable web-sites:

World class medical centers such as the Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.com/

Government organizations such as National Institute of Health http://www.nih.gov/

Major teaching centers such as The University of Virginia http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu

The largest local hospital system such as Northern Virginias Inova Health System http://www.inova.org/

 

Disease specific websites such as:

American Heart Association www.americanheart.org/

American Diabetes Association www.diabetes.org/

American Cancer Society www.cancer.org/

 

Remember, on-line medical information does not replace good medical advise by your doctor!

Constipation

What is normal for bowel movements? Normal can range from 3 movements per day to three movements per week. Therefore, before you can determine if constipation is the issue, you must determine what the normal is for that person. Constipation includes infrequent, difficult or incomplete bowel movements.

Defining characteristics of constipation include:
1. A decrease in one’s typical frequency of bowel movements
2. Hard, pellet like stools
3. Straining to have a bowel movement
4. Bowel movements are infrequent and hard to pass

What are the causes of constipation?
1. Inadequate hydration – not drinking enough fluids (8 glasses per day 8 ounces each glass)
2. Inadequate fiber in the diet – lack of fiber (bulk) makes it so there is not much to move through the intestines.
3. Lack of activity – particularly for the ill and elderly
4. Ignoring the urge to have a bowel movement
5. Medications – in particular pain medications, antidepressants, Blood pressure medications, antihistamines, Parkinson’s medications, anti-diarrhea medications and others always read the medication information provided by the pharmacy
6. Other conditions such as pregnancy or travel
7. Obstructions of the bowels – such as cancer, strictures, adhesions, diverticulosis, and others
8. Other medical conditions

Severe constipation can be a true medical emergency and even require surgery depending on the cause. I will do another blog on treatment of constipation.

Tools to Quit Smoking

Now you should have your quit date set. You should have a list of personal motivators to help you quit smoking. Ideally you have made your lists of motivators and placed them strategically around the areas you frequent.

Thirty days prior to your quit date:
1. Start decreasing smoking. You want to quit so that on you last day you are only going to smoke five or less cigarettes on that day. 2. Make a doctor appointment to discuss strategies for quitting with your physician. You need to discuss nicotine replacement if you plan to use it.

3. Nicotine replacement includes such things as: Nicorette gum, Commit lozenges, Nicoderm CQ or Habitrol patches, Nicotrol nose spray or inhaler. While some of these products can be purchased over the counter you need to consult your physician to ensure your body can tolerate these products. You also must follow the directions – use of cigarettes and nicotine replacement together can lead to an overdose of nicotine and serious heart irregularities.
4. There are many medications that can reduce the cravings, such as Chantix or Zyban (Wellbutrin). Reading this information is meant to give you inspiration as well as information.

You will also want to read information from other reliable sources such as:
American Lung Association: http://www.lung.org/
American Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.org/
Center for Disease Control:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/
Smoke Free: http://www.smokefree.gov/
Women Smoke Free: http://women.smokefree.gov/

I will continue to pray for you in your effort to quit smoking. If I can be of assistance in nswering other questions please leave me a comment and I will answer them.

You too can Quit Smoking - Some information to help

I have faith that if you really want to quit you can! I know it may seem like you never will. I remember quitting on at least four separate occasions before I actually quit for good. Being a person of faith I will say that praying about quitting smoking helped me immensely. I am praying for all who read this blog that they will be able to quit smoking.

So, you should now have your list of reasons to quit and have it somewhere you can read it regularly. You may want to add more lists with more reasons in other places – like the car, the bedroom mirror, on your desk at work, in your calendar and any other places you look frequently. I know we all know the dangers of smoking as it is very prominent on the news and many other sources. You need to have some of this information in your quiver of motivation to quit! Smoking can cause damage to all the organs of the body – not just the lungs.

The American Lung Association reports that every year 392,000 die from smoking related illnesses, making it the leading cause of preventable death. Let this sink in.

Quitting smoking is the number one way to prevent your death!
You would never think of consuming some of the products in cigarettes such as:
a. Acetone - which is found in nail polish
b. Led - used in batteries
c. Arsenic – used in rat poison
d. Cadmium – component in battery acid
e. Carbon Monoxide – product of car exhaust
f. Lead – we know this is very harmful to children
g. Tar - used for paving roads
h. And many more. There are over 600 ingredients that when burned create 4,000 chemicals.

Tobacco is as addictive as heroin as a mood and behavior altering agent. In a University of Minnesota Study they report:

Nicotine is 1000 times more potent than alcohol
Nicotine is 10-100 time more potent than barbiturates
Nicotine is 5-10 times more potent than cocaine or morphine

A smoker takes in 200 to 400 puffs a day for years. This constant intake of fast acting drug, which affects mood, concentration and performance eventually, produces dependence. Let this information sink in. You will need to be able to recall this information along the path to quitting. I needed to keep telling myself “why” it was good for me to go through the process of quitting smoking. For more information please see the websites below.
Sources:
http://www1.umn.edu/perio/tobacco/nicaddct.html
http://www.lung.org/

Preparing to Quit Smoking

To this day there are a few things I will always remember about smoking. First, I still clearly recall the day when I got out of the car in front of my parents house smoking a cigarette. I had been successfully hiding it for about a year. Busted. My dad sat down on the curb in front of the house and said, “So you got a pack of those coffin nails on you.” I said, “yes.” He said something like, “smoke the whole thing now. If you are going to be a smoker, smoke them now.” He hoped I would get sick and quit. I had picked up smoking from friends in of all places – nursing school. This was in the days smoking was allowed at the hospital in fact most of the nurses and doctors smoked at the nurses station when I was a student nurse.

Dad’s motivation did not work. I smoked for the next twenty-five years. I have been a successful non-smoker now for thirteen years. So I know the pain of smoking, coughing in the morning, smelling like smoke, health issues and the expense. There is hope and freedom as a non-smoker. I was very motivated to quit by the youth pastor at my church as well. I was working with the youth at the time and we were about to go on a service project trip to Belize. The youth pastor said that to be a good example for the youth I could not smoke on the trip. This was about five months before the trip. It was also about a month before my birthday. So I set my quit date as my birthday so I would never forget the day I quit smoking.

I also know the freedom that comes with quitting smoking! Let me encourage you. It can be done! You can be smoke-free for the rest of your life! I can tell you from first hand experience that the hardest part is making the decision to quit and the first several months after you quit. The urges get less and less as time passes. If you are ready to take the steps to quitting here are some tips that helped me. Please feel free to post comments with questions, successes and struggles. I will follow-up on any comments. Set a date that you plan to quit by. You will be more successful it you set that date for within 30 days. You are more likely to follow through if the “quit date” is soon.

Make a personal list of benefits to quitting smoking. Identify some motivators to quit smoking and write them down. I kept mine on the mirror and read it when I brushed my teeth. Keep this list where you will see it. Here is my list from all those years ago:

1. Better example for my patients and the youth at my church
2. Stop smelling like smoke
3. Save money
4. No more coughing or being short-of-breath
5. Avoid long term effects of lung disease, cancer and potential oxygen dependence when I get old
6. Save time by not taking “smoke breaks”
7. Overall better health for the rest of my life
8. I will lower my risk for stroke, cancer, heart disease, cataracts, wrinkles and early death.

I will follow-up with more information on quitting smoking. Quitting smoking is a process and one of the biggest positive life changes you can make. I will follow-up with more information on this positive life change over the next few blogs. Remember, feel free to leave comments or questions and I will provide answers and follow-up information.

February is Heart Month

February is Heart Month so it is only appropriate that I write about Heart Disease in
February. Aside from being a nurse for over thirty-five years I myself have been a Woman with Heart Disease for the past five years. So professionally as well as personally I am qualified to write about heart issues.

I will be focusing on the most important things you can do to protect your heart over the
next several blogs. A quick preview is:

~ Have an annual physical with your regular physician and follow through on their advice.

~Follow a Heart Healthy Diet - for more information seethe American Heart Association website at http://www.heart.org/ and see the section getting healthy. I will discuss some heart health eating basics in some future bogs.

~ Exercise Regularly - The American Heart Association recommends for heart health exercise, “at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise (or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity). 30 minutes a day, five times a week is an easy goal to remember, however you will also experience benefits even if you divide your time into two or three segments of 10 -15 minutes per day.”

~ Quit Smoking - We all know this is a huge benefit to health. I am living proof it can be
done. I was a very heavy (2-3 packs per day) smoker when I quit. I would not go
to non-smoking restaurants as I was a very committed (addicted) smoker. I will be sharing more insight on this topic in a few days.

~ Maintain a Healthy Weight - This is something you and your doctor need to determine what your number is. I have had weight problems most of my life and I am still a work in progress in this area to achieve my best health level. However, I am still a work in progress.

~ Manage Stress - There are sources for stress in our everyday lives. I have experience with stress and stress reduction that I will share with you.

Cold or FLU?

How do I know if it is a cold or the flu? Prevention is key – if you get your flu shot you can be pretty sure it is a cold. Many health care workers are required to get a flu shot by their employer so know that research has been done and it is safe for most people to get the flu shot yearly.

Cold symptoms will give you many “flu like” symptoms but in a much milder version. For example with a cold you may feel fatigued where as with the flu you will have extreme exhaustion that can last for weeks. The chart below will help you determine what you have. Sometimes it is impossible to tell them apart. A cold has many symptoms of the flu but in a milder version. If the person is getting sicker and extreme or intense symptoms then if you seek medical attention they can do a test to determine which is, cold or flu.

If you have the flu seek medical attention. If you have a cold it is from a virus and antibiotics will not help. There is an old saying that if you see a doctor it will be better in one week, if you do nothing you will be better in seven days. Your body can fight a cold on its own, the flu you will need to see the doctor. If you have the flu seek medical attention as there can be some serious complications associated with the flu such as pneumonia. If in doubt ask your doctor. If you are not better in a week see your doctor.


..........................Cold..............FLU
Aches/Pain.......Mild..............Often Severe
Cough...............Yes, Mild.......Often Severe
Exhaustion.......Never............Often Severe
Fatigue.............Mild..............Often Severe
Fever................Rare..............Often 100 to 102 for several days
Headache.........Rare..............Usually
Sneezing..........Frequent.......Rare
Sore Throat.....Common.......Sometimes
Stuffy Nose.....Yes.................Rare