Caring for a Dengue Patient: The Do’s and Don’ts

Like the Zika virus, Dengue fever is also a mosquito-borne illness. Symptoms materialize about three to fourteen days after infection and may include high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a possible skin rash. Sadly, there has yet to be a vaccine created for treating it effectively. A person with a mild case and early diagnosis of Dengue, along with utmost prevention and care, can be treated and saved. However, those in the latter stages of being affected by the disease have succumbed to it. Since there is no medication yet, the only thing that can save people from this illness is awareness, prevention and providing timely healthcare services to the patients. Let’s have a look at the do’s and don’ts of caring for a Dengue patient:

For Prevention:

As they say, prevention is better than cure. Luckily, we know how dengue is spread and how we can protect our family from the disease:

What to Do:

In order to keep our homes safe from dengue and to make it an unfriendly environment for the Aedes mosquito to breed in, we should use repellents and nets frequently, especially when sleeping. Wear clothes which can protect you from mosquito bites and build your doors and windows to be mosquito-proof by adding screens to them. Also, visit a doctor at the first sign of any fever after being bit by a mosquito.

What Not To Do:

The Aedes mosquito gets attracted to stagnant water. So, make sure that water does not collect in any part of your house.

For Health Care of Dengue Patients:

In case someone is already suffering from dengue or is recovering from it, here’s what you should and shouldn’t do for their healthcare:

What to Do:

It is important to keep the patient hydrated at all times as Dengue causes dryness and dehydration in the body. The patient should be kept hydrated by providing beneficial drinks, fruit drinks and juices. Dengue also causes pain in the entire body. The patient should be provided medication for it. Light and relaxing massages also work. The dengue patient must be given extra protection against mosquito bites by making them sleep under the net and by keeping them covered. Patients are already vulnerable at the moment and another bite might make their condition worse.

What Not To Do:

It has been noted that Dengue patients do not react well to Paracetamol, Aspirin or to any other antibiotic. In-face aspirin and ibuprofen even cause internal bleeding. Basically, self-treatment doesn’t work on Dengue patients. So, it is better to bring them straight to the doctor. Also, avoid blood transfusions immediately unless there is an active bleeding or the platelet count is less than 10,000. If the patient begins to show signs of recovery in the middle of the treatment process, don’t make the mistake of stopping the medication as it may stop them from completely eliminating the disease. Allow the patients to complete the course so that all signs of the disease end for good. Most importantly, no matter if all the symptoms point towards the disease, make sure to get the blood tests done before getting the treatments started to avoid the wrong diagnosis.

If any of your family members or a loved one is suffering from Dengue fever, then make sure that they are properly taken care of. While the cure is not yet present, proper care and prevention has been able to save many lives.

Suggested Medical Tests That Everyone Should Take

He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything – Arabian proverb

We spend a good part of our life worrying about money, relations, and just getting by. In all this chaos, we sometimes end up ignoring the most important thing in our life, something that could never return once it is gone; that is health.

While no one is safe from diseases, it is still always better when it is diagnosed in its earliest stages. Nowadays, people don’t learn about their disease until it has done considerable damage. Early diagnosis always increases the chance of survival, especially from a chronic disease. This is why every single person, young or old, should get regular checkups.

While there are many medical tests that one should get done each year, we will mention a few below:

Blood Pressure:

Most people think of abnormal blood pressure levels as being an unimportant and harmless issue, which is their second gravest mistake. The first mistake is when they don’t deem it important enough to get it checked. Getting your blood pressure checked takes hardly a few minutes and it can be kept in control by proper medications and a healthy lifestyle. If irregular blood pressure is not diagnosed and treated, it can lead to various other dangerous diseases, with heart failure being one of them.

Skin Examination:

A complete skin examination should also be on the list. At times, skin problems are an indication of a disease that has more to do with other parts of your body rather than the skin itself. Then again, skin cancer is also becoming common with each passing day and the sooner it is diagnosed, the better.

Colonoscopy:

Colonoscopy is a procedure in which a medical expert uses a long, flexible, narrow tube with a light and tiny camera on one end to look inside the rectum and colon. Colonoscopy can show irritated and swollen tissue, ulcers, polyps, which are significant if found, as they could indicate the possibility of colon cancer. Early screening is essential and if polyps are found, they can be removed before cancer spreads.

Eye Checkup:

We complain about a headache all the time. However, what we don’t know is that more often than not, it is due to our weakening eyesight.

Spotting sight issues in kids are very difficult as they are never able to tell the difference until they reach their school age. It is up to the parents to remain observant in this regard. If weak eyesight is not picked up early, it keeps deteriorating. Many adults also discover common eye diseases, such as cataracts, when it is too late.

Kidneys:

Kidney diseases range from mild to chronic. If you did happen to suffer from it, you can still lead a normal life if the disease gets diagnosed early. The longer the diagnosis takes, the more dangerous it can become and affect your health. Kidney infections also affect other parts of our body, making it difficult to perform day-to-day work.

Cholesterol:

High cholesterol can be prevented by a few, simple medications and a preventive diet. If remained unchecked and ignored for a longer time, it can clog your arteries and cause several other non-pleasant and chronic diseases.

Our life is already too short and limited to spend it in illness. We are here for a reason other than to get sick. So, make sure you take the utmost care of your health and your loved ones to live a long and happy life.

How Technology is Helping the Medical Industry

2023 Update – Bionic Arm a Success!

Attaching bionic limbs is not anything new, but now, for the first time in history, a bionic hand has been attached to a woman from Sweden that integrates with the nervous system so that not only can she perform tasks that weren’t feasible before, but she also can feel sensations in her hand.

And now, with the advancements of AI, the hopes for even greater medical achievements will be coming in the near future!

The Emergence of Healthcare Technology

From food to education and from business to medicine, everything is being affected by the rapid growth in technology and it is accelerating at a rate never seen before. With all these advancements, nursing, and healthcare are at the top of the list.

All this technology has not only allowed doctors and nurses to perform their duties more effectively, but it has also made procedures more efficient and less painful for patients. Treatment is better, recovery is faster, and life-saving situations have increased significantly.

Let’s discover the medical technologies that are helping nurses and medical practitioners perform their jobs:

Communications:

Paper medical charts are now a thing of the past. A patient’s medical files must follow HIPAA confidentiality laws to avoid information from being compromised. Electronic Health Records (EHR) allow this medical information to be kept digitally and shared protectively with doctors and patients in a highly secure manner. Not only are patient files more protected, but information can be electronically transmitted to other medical professionals in an instant, as well as prescriptions are promptly transferred to pharmacists. All is done via the Internet in an encrypted and secure fashion.

Wearable Tech:

A recent innovation. Wearable tech is allowing people to keep track of their fitness and health and healthcare facilities can conduct their monitoring and treatment more accurately. These devices differ in their functions ranging from heart monitors, health monitors, fitness trackers, GPS trackers, and emergency response callers.

A digital healthcare solutions company in Australia is in the process of developing a smartphone app that can diagnose respiratory conditions with the phone’s microphone, acting as a stethoscope. The ResAppDx app applies artificial intelligence algorithms to the sounds, which identify potential respiratory conditions, including pneumonia, asthma, bronchiolitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Telehealth:

Telehealth/telemedicine refers to the delivery of clinical services by trained medical personnel to patients remotely. Residents of most rural areas who have been struggling with physically reaching medical facilities can benefit greatly from this technology. Many who have lost many lives due to lack of immediate medical attention can now have access to doctors, at least virtually, until physical health care services can arrive.

But it is not just remote areas that can benefit. Handled properly, many people in suburbia and cities can be helped via this technology and it is being used more and more. It may not seem much, but talking to a doctor virtually can help handle many medical situations, at least for the time being or until help arrives.

A recent survey by the Medical Society of the State of New York was conducted regarding telemedicine and the results are impressive.

There is much advocacy for telehealth as well. New York recently joined 28 states plus the District of Columbia in adopting a telemedicine/telehealth reimbursement parity law (the “Telehealth Law”). The new Telehealth Law became effective on January 1, 2016, and made several
significant changes to the New York Public Health Law and
the New York Insurance Law.

Doctor’s Networking:

What do doctors do when they are faced with a medical dilemma and might need a second, third, or even fourth opinion? They ask for advice from other experts. However, while they take their time to contact the other doctor, a patient might be fighting for his or her life. Fortunately, with advancements in technology, doctor’s networking has become strong and quick. Getting answers in minutes or even getting visual assistance by a video call has become a possibility.

Proper Medications:

Errors in medicine intake are not something new or unheard of. Whether it is a mistake on the part of the patient or a distracted medical employee, it happens, and it happens frequently. Thanks to technology such as automatic medication reminders, mistakes like these can now be avoided. These devices help the patients and healthcare staff to ensure timely intake of prescriptions and the right ones with a limited percentage of error.

Robotics and Miniaturization:

The accomplishments of this technology are impressive and its functionality is providing major transformations in the medical field, such as the Colon Pill. In addition to medical miniaturization, robotics is allowing patients to forego painful and sometimes wrongful diagnoses and procedures. Diagnosis acquired from this type of automation can be precise and very accurate.

See our infographic on The Impact of Technology on Health Care

New and Affordable Way of Testing Blood Sugar

One of the most important ways of managing diabetes is checking blood sugar multiple times a day. Blood sugar is very easily affected. Food, exercise, mood, not being active, dehydration, change in hormone levels, alcohol, as well as illness are all factors that affect blood sugar. Blood glucose meters and testing strips can get quite expensive for those suffering from diabetes. A typical Type 1 diabetic can spend up to $4,000 a year just on glucose test strips. Medications, visits to doctors, annual tests, and even healthy food that is imperative to managing diabetes can get very pricey and expense can grow even higher to those without insurance. Doctors are also quick to prescribe newer medications for managing diabetes such as Levemir, Humalog, and Apidra that are incredibly expensive.

A new way of testing blood sugar could ease the cost for many diabetics in the very near future. A copper based sensor could soon be available to test glucose levels from body fluids other than blood, such as sweat and tears. This new copper sensor would be a cheaper and simpler alternative for monitoring blood sugar. Those that grew up pricking their finger to check blood sugar are now seeing new methods of testing such as the popular medical device that can be inserted under the skin. This technology however, remains expensive since it uses precious metals such as platinum and gold.

Copper mixed with polystyrene used in a sensor could easily detect glucose in salt-based fluids. Professor Yamauchi of Japan’s National Institute of Materials Science said, “Copper based glucose sensors have been intensely studied as copper is low cost, superior in performance, and very conductive.” The sensor has been built by researchers at University of Wollongong’s Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials and can quickly and accurately detect blood glucose. Hopefully in the near future a copper based sensor will be a cheaper and more effective method for testing blood sugar in diabetics.

Congress To Provide $1.1 Billion For Zika Efforts

Back in February of this year, President Obama asked Congress for $1.9 billion for the fight against the spread the Zika virus in order to protect the health and safety of Americans. The request included ramping up surveillance efforts, controlling the mosquitos spreading Zika, accelerating research into new vaccines, as well as helping other countries already battling the virus. Even though Zika’s funding bills passed both the House and Senate in May of this year, they did not meet the President’s level of funding.

Zika virus time liine — Zika Virus Time Line

After months of back and forth, Congress finally agreed to allocate $1.1 billion to help fight against Zika. The delay of the funding was due to disagreements over funding being allocated to Planned Parenthood and whether the funding should be considered “emergency” spending. Since Zika virus can be sexually transmitted and can harm pregnant women, reproductive health and family planning needs to be included in the Zika response. The CDC has stated that the primary strategy in reducing Zika-related pregnancy complications is family planning. World Health Organization Director General said in a statement, “The response now requires a unique and integrated strategy that places support for women and girls of child-bearing age at its core.” Many felt that Congress was attacking women’s healthy by eliminating funding for family planning services which would affect over 4 million people in the Zika response bill.

The president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said, “Immediate efforts to improve access to contraception and prevent pregnancy will help us avoid the long-term affects associated with the Zika virus.” Republicans finally agreed to set aside the extreme provisions that would have specifically blocked Planned Parenthood providers from receiving critical funding.

The new deal that has been approved in Congress will include $396 million for a Zika virus vaccine and better diagnostic testing, $394 million for the CDC for mosquito control and surveillance, as well as $66 million for the health care of people affected in Puerto Rico and other US territories. In total, the FY2016 Zika supplemental bit will provide $1.1 billion in emergency funding. Combined with the funds already reprogrammed by the Administration for Zika response activities, the total available resources to respond to Zika virus will now be $1.7 billion.

How To Manage Diabetes

Below are some suggestions on how you can control your diabetes. Please note, these are only suggestions and you should consult with your medical professional prior to executing any of the tasks below.

Exercise at Least 30 Minutes a Day

This can include easy exercises such as taking a brisk walk, riding a bike, doing floor exercises while watching TV, and taking the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator, taking your dog for a walk, cleaning your home, and parking at the far end of the parking lot are all ways to incorporate exercise into your day.

Regular physical activity helps to manage diabetes and it can be as simple as running errands and briskly walking to the post office during your lunch break.

Choose Healthy Food

Blueberries and rasberries — Photo: Pxphere

Selecting nutritious foods and balancing what you eat with activity level helps keep sugar levels as close to normal as possible.

Eat a lot of vegetables and fruits, one rule of thumb is to keep your consumption of produce as colorful as possible.

This adds variety and different nutrients to your diet. Be sure to choose non-starchy veggies such as spinach, broccoli, and green beans in your meals. Include fish, lean meats such as skinless chicken and turkey and use low-fat cooking methods such as roasting, poaching, and baking. Choose healthy oils for cooking such as olive, avocado, and canola oils. Eat fruit for dessert instead of high calorie sugary and fatty foods that contain little nutrition.

Check Your Blood Sugar

Your doctor or health provider will explain how often your blood sugar should be checked and how to test it. Alongside checking your blood sugar, be sure to take the medicine you are being prescribed by your doctor and know why and how to take it. Let your health provider know of any herbs or supplements you take as they could interfere with your medication and blood sugar.

Yearly Tests

Doctor talking to patient in a hospital — Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Those with diabetes need to have a blood or urine test each year to check how well their kidneys are working. An eye doctor should also perform a dilated eye exam every year.

Cholesterol needs to checked once a year as well. Total cholesterol should be less than 200mg/dL. LDL (bad cholesterol) should be less than 100mg/dL and HDL (good cholesterol) should be greater than 40mg/dL for men and greater than 50mg/dL.

A1C Blood Test

This specific blood test measures A1C, average blood sugar, which should be less than 7 percent. This test should be done two to four times a year for those with diabetes.

Foot Exam

At each health care provider’s appointment, it is important to take off your shoes and socks and learn how to check feet for cuts, breaks in the skin, or ingrown toenails. Your doctor needs to know if there are any changes in the color or shape of your feet as well as any pain or numbness.

Quit Smoking!

Smoking Inhibitor — What keeps you from quitting?

Smoking can be a death sentence to even the healthiest of us. Just one story here to make the point, but as you might imagine, the horror stories about smoking are extraordinary!

There was a bar bounce, 6’8″ tall, super healthy, but had to have his cigarettes. The consequence let him to many hospital stays in his later years of which he had to be under care 24×7. He passed at too your an age.

Those that wish to stop smoking should call the NYS SMoker’s Quitline (866-697-8487). You don’t have to stop cold turkey unless you can, but a gradual decrease in smoking should not be out of the question.

Mental Health

People with diabetes are at higher risk for depression, be sure to talk with your healthcare team about any questions, problems, or feelings you may have.

First Treatment Approved for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and How You Can Help!

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe and disabling condition that typically affects boys. The disorder of progressive muscular weakness develops in young children and worsens quickly. Affected individuals lose the ability to run, walk, move their arms and hands, and eventually breathe. Patients typically die in their 20s or 30s.

DMD is caused by a mutation or error in the gene for dystrophin, which is an essential protein involved in muscle fiber function. It affects about 1 in every 3600 male babies born.

However, there is now an FDA-approved drug for this disease.

“In rare diseases, new drug development is especially challenging due to the small numbers of people affected by each disease and the lack of medical understanding of many disorders,” Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. “Accelerated approval makes this drug available to patients based on initial data, but we eagerly await learning more about the efficacy of this drug through a confirmatory clinical trial that the company must conduct after approval.”

But it’s not without controversy. The drug Exondys 51, developed by Sarepta Therapeutics, was tested in 12 boys in a trial. Ten of those boys were able to walk distances beyond what untreated patients would. They also tolerated the treatment for years without serious side effects. Common side effects were balance disorder and vomiting.

But when the FDA chose to approve the drug, it went against the recommendation of an advisory panel that voted against approval because there is a lack of hard evidence that Exondys 51 works.

Exondys 51 works in patients with a specific mutation in the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping, according to Sarepta. An estimated 13% of people with DMD have mutations that can be addressed by Exondys 51.

As a condition of the FDA’s approval, Sarepta must conduct a clinical trial to confirm the drug’s clinical benefit.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) applauded the FDA’s approval.

“For our families, therapy options can’t come soon enough,” Valerie A. Cwik, MD, MDA executive vice president and chief medical and scientific officer, said in a statement. “MDA is eager for this treatment to get into the hands of those whom it can help, forever grateful to our partners, supporters, and, most importantly, our families, who all helped turn hope into a treatment that can change the course of Duchenne.

Donations for this debilitating disease can be made to EndDuchenne.org.

Zika Might Spread Through Bodily Fluids

A new possible and worrisome route of transmission for the Zika virus may be through contact with bodily fluids. The first person to die from Zika virus infection was an unidentified elderly man of Salt Lake City, Utah. The man caught the Zika virus while traveling abroad to a Zika infected area. He also suffered from another health condition when he died this past June. This particular case of Zika has been puzzling researchers since the virus mysteriously spread from the elderly man to his son.

Researchers are still trying to figure out exactly how the virus spread. The man’s son helped take care of his dying father in the hospital and hugged his father according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s report. The report also stated that the father had an extremely high level of the virus in his blood when he died. No other family members or health workers working with the Utah man have contracted the virus. Even though his son has recovered from the Zika infection, it is uncertain how he contacted the virus since he did not travel to any Zika affected areas or had sex with anyone who did according to the CDC report.

Currently, Zika virus has been found in blood, urine, semen, and saliva. Zika virus mostly spreads to people that have been bitten by an infected Aedes species mosquito. An infected mother can also spread Zika virus to her fetus during pregnancy. A person infected with Zika can also spread the virus to his or her sexual partners. Zika might be spread through blood transfusion as multiple reports of these cases in Brazil are being currently investigated. This new case of the Utah man’s son might prove to be a unique new way the virus can spread which may be through bodily fluids such as blood but also sweat or tears.

Health Tips for People with Diabetes

It has been predicted that the number of people with diabetes by the year 2050 would amount to 48 million. The prediction is solely based on the number of people suffering from the disease at the present moment. However, the good news is that with the right care and treatment, diabetic patients can live a regular life. But if proper care is not taken, diabetes can further lead to various other medical conditions; with blindness and kidney failure just two of the dangerous consequences.

So, if you are a diabetic patient, take charge of your health and create a lifestyle that will allow you to live a long and healthy life. Here are some suggestions to do just that*

Daily Blood Sugar Test

A person with diabetes has fluctuations in their blood sugar level. So in order to maintain it, they should keep a regular check. Thanks to technology and medical advances, we now have devices that allow us to check our blood sugar level within seconds. Anytime you find your sugar level to be out of proportion, better take measures immediately.

Watch What You Eat

Diabetic patients cannot be as careless with their diet as other people. Their weight plays a huge part in helping them maintain their health. Obesity is a diabetic’s worst enemy, and it could lead to some bad consequences. In fact, losing some weight can have such a positive effect on the body that a patient can even go without insulin for a long time.

Working Out Could Be Your Savior

The healthier you try to stay, the more at bay you’re diabetics will stay. Eating healthy and following an exercise plan will help you stay fit and healthy. Physical activities, like walking or jogging, help in stabilizing the sugar level in the blood. Therefore, daily exercises could lead to even better results.

Consume Fiber

Eating food with fiber will not only help you with keeping your blood sugar level stabilized, but will also lower the risk of heart diseases and help you with losing weight. So, it’s a win-win situation at all costs. Make sure to increase your fiber intake by consuming fiber-rich vegetables, beans, whole grains and nuts.

Ditch The Sugar

This one might be the most challenging of all measures, especially for those diabetic patients who are a little too fond of sugary delights. You’ll have to skip on all the desserts and drinks containing sugar. However, drinking water, coffee, and tea are okay, as long as neither of them contains sugar.

See Your Doctor Regularly

If you keep taking these measures, then you’ll realize you are actually getting along with your diabetes. However, don’t make the mistake of ignoring your doctor’s appointment. A regular checkup will help you learn how good you are doing. Also, a doctor will be able to tell you more preventive measures in accordance with your medical history.

We understand how being diagnosed with a disease like this can affect your physical and mental condition but, there are only ways to deal with it. Either you let the disease control your health or you let your health control the disease. The choice is yours.

*Note: The suggestions on this page are for information purposes only and should not be followed prior to consultation with an experienced medical professional.

Unusual Diseases You Might Not Know About

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a disease is “an illness that affects a person, animal, or plant : a condition that prevents the body or mind from working normally”.

Most people are familiar with diseases such as cancer, diabetes and parkinson’s, there are numerous illnesses that many have not heard of.

Erotomania

No doubt all of us have gone through a feeling when we think that the other person loves us madly the way we do but it isn’t so. When it comes to Erotomania, it is something different. This disease takes infatuation entirely to a next level.

This type of disease makes an individual think that a high profile person such as a celebrity is madly in love with them and pulling out all stops to make contact with them. The scariest part of this disease is that the patient’s feeling can be very overwhelming. This delusion is really difficult to break as the person remains unconvinced, no matter how hard you try to convince them.

Erotomania is different from the illness attributed to John Hinckley, the shooter of Ronald Reagan. In this case, this person was obsessed with actress Jodi Foster, but had no illusion that she was not obsessed with him. According to psychiatrists, Hinckley was suffering from narcissistic and schizoid personality disorders.

Walking Corpse Syndrome

Do not misunderstand this type of disease with its colloquial terms. It is not a disorder where dead people rise and walk all along. It is a belief by an individual that they are dead and do not exist in the world any more. This type of feeling usually occurs when one is extremely depressed or has gone in a shocked state because of a tragic incident.

Also, this can happen due to drug psychosis. Often this illness is misunderstood by Capgras Syndrome, where individuals believe that someone else has replaced their life as a duplicate. Walking corpse syndrome is a mental disorder that does not let a person recognize themselves. Hence individuals affected with this disease convince themselves that they are dead.

Pica

Pica is a kind of disorder in which people are forced to eat things that do not have any food substances such as paint or wood, or any nutritional value. This disease has further four types, including Geophagy, eating soil, dirt and clay, Trichophagia, consuming hair and wool, Coprophagy, consuming feces, Hyalophagia, eating glass, and Urophagia, consuming urine. This type of disease can be very dangerous to health as an individual consumes elements that must not be consumed by hum