How to recognize a ministroke or stroke — and what to do
If you suddenly experience a strange but fleeting symptom — your arm or face suddenly feels weak or numb — you might be tempted to brush it off, especially if it’s short-lived.
But if those odd, unexplained symptoms last more than a few seconds, they could signal a transient ischemic attack, or TIA. Commonly referred to as a ministroke, a TIA is caused by a temporary lack of blood in part of the brain. Most of the time a blood clot is to blame, and the symptoms resolve quickly because your body’s natural clot-dissolving action restores blood flow. But according to the American Stroke Association (ASA), these events...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 10, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Julie Corliss Tags: Health Healthy Aging Hypertension and Stroke Neurological conditions Source Type: blogs
Does lupus or arthritis affect your prognosis if you get COVID-19?
Soon after the coronavirus pandemic began, we learned that older adults and people with certain chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, are at increased risk for severe COVID-19. One condition on that list is an immunocompromised state (a weakened immune system). This can be due to a number of conditions, including having had an organ transplant, having HIV, or taking medications that suppress the immune system.
If you have an autoimmune condition such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus (also called systemic lupus erythematosus), you may wonder how this affects your risk. It’s thought that these condit...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 9, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Autoimmune diseases Bones and joints Coronavirus and COVID-19 Source Type: blogs
Early birds may be more active, but night owls can catch up
Being an early bird has long been associated with a go-getter attitude. Early birds, or those who tend to wake early and go to bed early, are people who naturally feel sleepy earlier in the evening and naturally wake early in the morning. For an early bird type, a 9 pm bedtime may be the norm, and rising at 5 am without an alarm clock feels relatively effortless.
Our internal clock controls more than sleep patterns
Being an early bird, or the opposite night owl, is usually not something that is thought of as being highly under our control. Some people seem to be hardwired to sleep early, while others get a second wind and ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 6, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Katherine Dudley, MD, MPH Tags: Exercise and Fitness Healthy Aging Sleep Source Type: blogs
Type 2 diabetes: Which medication is best for me?
If you are living with type 2 diabetes, you certainly are not alone. One in 10 people in the US has diabetes, according to the CDC. However, despite considerable progress in diabetes treatment over the past 20 years, fewer than half of those with diabetes actually reach their target blood sugar goal.
In part, this may be because doctors can be slow to make changes to a patient’s treatment plan, even when a patient’s treatment goals are not being met. One reason for this may be the overwhelming number of medications currently available. And yet, waiting too long to adjust treatment for type 2 diabetes can have long-last...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 5, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Samar Hafida, MD Tags: Diabetes Drugs and Supplements Source Type: blogs
It ’s still true: Not all the news about COVID-19 is bad
I thought the pandemic would be over by now. And I’m not alone; there were sophisticated models predicting a dramatic drop in the number of infections by the summer. And while there was understandable worry about the second wave, re-infection, and the coming flu season, there was good reason to believe we’d have the worst of the first wave well behind us.
Now, that all seems like wishful thinking. Here we are, over nine months into the pandemic, with more than 224,000 deaths, and more than 70,000 new cases and 800 deaths every day in this country as of late October. There are new hot spots popping up in the US and all ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 4, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Coronavirus and COVID-19 Health Infectious diseases Source Type: blogs
Coping With IBS
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can be painful, annoying, and embarrassing. There is currently no cure for this complex condition, and managing its symptoms and flare-ups is tricky. So, coping mechanisms are a constant need.
What are the symptoms of IBS?
IBS is a gastrointestinal disorder in which your gut becomes more sensitive, and the muscles of your digestive system have abnormal contractions. People with IBS usually have abdominal pain along with frequent changes in bowel habits (diarrhea, constipation, or alternating between both). Other common symptoms include
bloating and gas
urge to move the bowels, but being unab...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 3, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Solan Tags: Digestive Disorders Health Mental Health Stress Source Type: blogs
Defusing the “Benadryl challenge”: Discussing danger with teens
Let’s start with the bottom line: Parents of teens need to help them understand that just because they have been “challenged” to do something doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. But as simple as that sounds to us, it’s tough for many teens to grasp.
The latest challenge in the news is the “Benadryl challenge” that appeared on TikTok, a popular social media video platform. The idea was to take a whole lot of Benadryl (diphenhydramine, a common antihistamine) in order to cause a high, with hallucinations. While it’s true that diphenhydramine can make you high and make you hallucinate, when you take too much ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 2, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Adolescent health Behavioral Health Children's Health Parenting Source Type: blogs
Intermittent fasting: Does a new study show downsides — or not?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is an approach to eating based on timing. The idea is that fasting for long enough allows insulin levels to fall low enough that our body will use fat for fuel. Growing evidence in animals and humans shows that this approach leads to significant weight loss. When combined with a nutritious, plant-based diet and regular physical activity, IF can be part of a healthy weight loss or maintenance plan, as I described in an earlier blog post.
Now, a randomized controlled trial published in JAMA claims that IF has no significant weight loss benefit and a substantial negative effect on muscle mass. News o...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 30, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Health Nutrition Source Type: blogs
Keeping your family safe this Thanksgiving
So much is different and hard during this pandemic — including planning for the holidays.
It’s understandable to want to gather with friends and family. We are all so worn out by the COVID-19 pandemic, and need some cheering up. And most of us have friends and family that we haven’t been able to really spend time with — or haven’t seen at all — for months.
But gathering with friends and family can bring real risks during the pandemic, especially with cases rising all over the country. All it takes is one sick person — who may not even realize that they are sick — to infect others and spread the virus even m...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 29, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Coronavirus and COVID-19 Health Infectious diseases Parenting Relationships Source Type: blogs
Talking to your doctor about an abusive relationship
When Jayden called our clinic to talk about worsening migraines, a medication change was one potential outcome. But moments into our telehealth visit, it was clear that a cure for her problems couldn’t be found in a pill. “He’s out of control again,” she whispered, lips pressed to the phone speaker, “What can I do?”
Unfortunately, abusive relationships like Jayden’s are incredibly common. Intimate partner violence (IPV) harms one in four women and one in 10 men in the United States. People sometimes think that abusive relationships only happen between men and women. But this type of violence can occur between...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 29, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Rose McKeon Olson, MD Tags: Adolescent health LGBTQ Men's Health Relationships Safety Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Mind-body medicine in addiction recovery
As someone who struggled with a miserable opiate addiction for 10 years, and who has treated hundreds of people for various addictions, I am increasingly impressed with the ways in which mind-body medicine can be a critical component of recovery from addiction. Mind-body medicine is the use of behavioral and lifestyle interventions, such as meditation, relaxation, yoga, acupuncture, and mindfulness, to holistically address medical problems. Mind-body treatments can be integrated with traditional medical treatments, or used as standalone treatments for certain conditions. Mind-body medicine is now being studied by the Natio...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 28, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Peter Grinspoon, MD Tags: Addiction Alcohol Complementary and alternative medicine Mind body medicine Source Type: blogs
What your skin should expect when you ’re expecting
Are you pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant? You’re probably prepared for morning sickness, weight gain, and an expanding belly. But did you know your skin can also undergo a variety of changes when you’re expecting? These changes are due to normal alterations in hormones that occur during pregnancy. Rest assured, most skin conditions that develop or worsen during pregnancy are benign, and tend to improve following delivery.
Darkening of the skin
A large majority of women experience darkening of their skin due to hormone shifts that occur during pregnancy. You may notice that the areas around your thighs, genital...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 27, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kristina Liu, MD, MHS Tags: Pregnancy Skin and Hair Care Source Type: blogs
Making special education work for your child during COVID-19
Even in normal times, parents wrestle with decisions about how best to support their children’s development. Now, however, parents are faced with nearly-unprecedented choices, and problems with no clear solutions: What if in-person schooling is better for emotional health, but remote schooling is better for physical health? How can children foster social skills without typical social interactions? How can parents select among learning environments when all the options have clear downsides?
These concerns and choices are even more difficult for parents of children with disabilities, who are among the most vulnerable stude...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 26, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Catherine Ullman Shade, PhD, MEd Tags: Children's Health Coronavirus and COVID-19 Source Type: blogs
Aspirin and breast cancer risk: How a wonder drug may become more wonderful
Aspirin has been called a wonder drug. And it’s easy to see why.
It’s inexpensive, its side effects are well-known and generally minor. And since it was developed in the 1890s, it’s been shown to provide a number of potential benefits, such as relieving pain, bringing down a fever, and preventing heart attacks and strokes. Over the last 20 years or so, the list of aspirin’s potential benefits has been growing. And it might be about to get even longer: did you know that aspirin may lower your risk of several types of cancer?
Studies of aspirin and cancer
A number of studies suggest that aspirin can lower the risk of...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 23, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Breast Cancer Health Source Type: blogs
Promoting equity and community health in the COVID-19 pandemic
Editor’s note: Second in a series on the impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, and responses aimed at improving health equity. Click here to read part one.
In early March 2020, as COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency in Boston, Mass General Brigham began to care for a growing number of patients with COVID-19. Even at this early stage in the pandemic, a few things were clear: our data showed that Black, Hispanic, and non-English speaking patients were testing positive and being hospitalized at the highest rates. There were large differences in COVID-19 infection rates among communities. Across the river f...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 22, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Sarah Wilkie, MS Tags: Coronavirus and COVID-19 Health Health care disparities Infectious diseases Source Type: blogs
