Adolescents Who Harm Themselves
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry defines self-injury among adolescents as, “Self-injury is the act of deliberately destroying body tissue, at times to change a way of feeling.” Self-injury is seen differently by groups and cultures within society. This appears to have become more popular lately, especially among adolescents. The causes and severity…
Read MoreDon’t Be Afraid of Your Food
“I’m afraid my food was grown in poor soil and doesn’t have the right nutrition.” “What if my food has been contaminated by pesticides?” “Will I get cancer from my food?” “Did someone irradiate my food?” “Do I need to avoid a certain types of food?” These are questions heard by nutritionists every day from…
Read MoreTraveling Health
Doctor Bob folded up his stethoscope and put it in his pocket. “Is there anything else I should know, Ken?” He stood at the counter, entering his findings of the yearly physical for this retiree. "No, don’t think so.” Ken buttoned his shirt. “Marie’s home packing. We’re going to the Caribbean for two weeks.” Ken…
Read MoreA Mother’s Diet Changes Baby’s Genes
A healthful diet during pregnancy results in a healthy baby. This is common sense and universally known to be true. But research has discovered that a woman’s diet at the time of conception can permanently impact the genetic code of her baby. The genes of the baby are forever changed by mom’s diet before…
Read MoreSo What?
In our last blog post we learned the most critical stage of “filtering the firehose” of health information: knowing what health info you can trust. However, that can still leave us with a LOT of solid health advice. The firehose is still spewing more than we can drink, so we ask our second filter question:…
Read MoreThey All Have Side Effects
Look at the folded paper, stapled to the professional white pharmacy bag, which instructs you on how to use the drug you just received. Or look at one of several websites which discusses various drugs or herbals that you might be taking. In either of these sources, did you notice, in addition to the “mechanism…
Read MoreTestosterone — the New Male Miracle Medicine
A casual perusal of night time television, the sports channels, or the masculine adventure channels will reveal a plethora of ads for testosterone therapy for men who think they have low “T” (testosterone). While twenty-five percent of the males over age 45 have lower than normal testosterone levels, only a small segment of these males…
Read MoreStatins and Grace
Statins are an important class of medications for lowering blood cholesterol levels. Statins can help unblock arteries and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The first line of treatment for high cholesterol is dietary. Eating fewer dairy products, eggs, and red meat will often dramatically lower cholesterol levels. Statins can be added if diet alone…
Read MoreNew Guidelines for Old
Late in 2013 new guidelines were published for health care professionals to manage people at risk of cardiac or vascular (stroke) disease. The guidelines were written because the old guidelines did not 1) address the risk of stroke, 2) consider younger patients with risk factors but normal cholesterol numbers, and 3) make recommendations in the…
Read MoreThe Truth About Caffeine
The information available on caffeine these days is very confusing. Some sources advocate caffeine drinks as “energy” drinks. Some recommend caffeinated drinks but suggest avoiding the “additives” in caffeinated drinks – sugar, fat, vitamins, and amino acids. Others claim that caffeine is addictive with nasty side-effects. Others condemn caffeine in all forms and for all…
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