MomTime TV

CALLING ALL MOM”S…
To take an interest in your families health.
Women tend to be gatekeepers of health in the family.  They are often the ones who make medical appointments for the other family members.  Women tend to also see a doctor sooner with symptoms, while men tend to ignore symptoms and hope they will go away.  
Women make 64-80% of healthcare decisions.
Women tend to be more conditioned to frequent doctor visits due to early adoption of well women exams and pregnancy, and childcare.  However this also seems to cause many women by their thirties to burn out on going to the doctor.  Mom’s tend to focus more on their children believing well and less focused on themselves.   Men tend to ignore and seek care later. 36% of men say they will only see a doctor when they are extremely sick.  Men tend to see it as a weakness as opposed to women.  
While our society continues to evolve, the roles of parents continue to change.  With the economic crisis and the frequency of single mom’s, dual working parents, places more demands and stressors in both women and men’s lives.  These frequently led to bad eating habits, poor physician condition and other health care risks.  Unfortunately, a lot of household burdens still rest in the Women’s hands despite the additional working and outside responsibilities.  But taking an active role in your families health remains paramount to maintaining your families happiness and well being.

Learn more ask us how to keep your family healthy.  Visit us on iPatientsonline.com

 

Everyone knows someone with cancer.  Cancer is a difficult and large topic to be blogging about.  I welcome your individual questions and comments.  
Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body.
Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in genetic material.  This may be caused by carcinogens (cancer causing substances) such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals or infectious agents.  Random errors in DNA replication or through inheritance.  
Cancer genes are in two forms:
A.    Oncogenes: Active in cancer cells allow cells to have hyperactive growth/division, protects against programmed cell death, loss of boundaries and to allow establishment in other organs.
B.    Tumor suppression genes: inactive in cancer cells resulting in loss of normal function of cells such as accurate DNA replication control over cell cycle, orientation/adhesion within tissues.  
Prevention:
Lifestyle Changes:
1.    Alcohol consumption: oral/ esophageal/breast other CA
2.    Smoking
3.    Physical inactivity may lead to certain cancers such as  colon, breast
4.    Overweight/Obesity
5.    STD
6.    Sunlight exposure:  related with skin cancer
Diet:
A lot of associations have been made but many unproven.  World Cancer Research fund/American Institute for Cancer Research recommends the following  for diet.
1.    Reduce intake of foods/drinks that promote weight gain.
2.    Eat foods of plant origin
3.    Limit intake of red meats/processed meats
4.    Limit alcohol consumption
Vitamins: Cancer prevention?  There is poor data with this in modern age.  
1.    Low vitamin D can cause increase in cancer
2.    Beta carotene- pre-cursor to Vitamin A (vitamin A thought to be protective) has not been shown to reduce cancer.
3.    Folic acid did not prevent colon cancer
Vaccination:
Certain strains of HPV 2 have two vaccines on market for this- Gardasil and Cervarix
Given the largeness of this topic please feel free to ask a question and visit us on ipatientsonline.com
If you have any topics you want to expand on please let me know.

 

Heart disease- #1 killer in men and women. Cardiovascular deaths account for roughly 40% of all deaths and it the leading causes of death.   
In Arizona cardiovascular disease 38% of deaths followed by 25.6% cancer related.  8% unintentional injury; respiratory diagnosis 7-4%.
More men than women die of cardiovascular disease, but more women die of stroke than men.  However it still is the #1 cause in women, up to 23 women die a day in AZ to heart attack and stroke.  
GOT YOUR ATTENTION!  There are major national health education campaigns taking place on a national basis to help educate physicians and consumers that this is not just a man’s disease or problem.  
Women are 4-6 times more likely to develop heart disease than breast cancer.  Heart disease kills more women over 65 than all cancers combined.  Women develop heart problems 7-8 years later than man, but by age 65 risk is the same as a man’s.  
Women tend to survive less than men from heart attack, may be to lack of seeking treatment.
What can you do to protect yourself or your husband?
PREVENTION!!!!
Don’t smoke!! ½ of heart attacks in women under 50 are related to smoking.  Quitting can lower risk of heart attack within 2 yrs it will decrease the rate by 1/3.  Smoking and birth control increase the risk.  
Blood pressure
Cholesterol/Total cholesterol  <200, 200-234 border line, >240 high
Exercise Regularly- 30-60 min 4-6 times a week
Diabetes
Family history
Symptoms: chest pain (tightness), shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, pain in back, neck, jaw, heartburn, loss of appetite, fatigue, cough, heart flutters
Hormone Replacement therapy- during hormone talk.
Please ask a question and visit us on iPatientsonline.com

Are you concerned about swine flu?  I’m sure all the news has you concerned…H1N1, the scientific name, causes flu like illness in people.  It is spread through human to human transmission through respiratory droplets/touching contaminated objects and then touching mucous membranes.   So what’s the deal…
Swine flu is no different from other flu’s.   H1N1 is a mutated form of the Influenza A virus.  It has had a dramatic impact because previous flu vaccination did not predict/anticipate this strain therefore it has had wide spread impact.
Symptoms include
1.    Body aches
2.    Fever/chills
3.    Sore throat
4.    Cough
5.    Runny/Stuffy Nose
Who is a high risk person who should be get vaccinated:
1.    50 years or older
2.    Pregnant
3.    Children ages 6-19
4.    Chronic medical illness (heart disease, kidney failure patients, diabetes, respiratory illness)
5.    Health care/Day care personnel
Who should not get vaccinated?
1.    Individuals who are allergic eggs, history of allergies to vaccination
2.    Infection less than 6 months,
3.    People who have had Guille Barre syndrome.
You can spread the flu even before you have symptoms.  You can spread it from one day prior to having symptoms to 5-7 days after symptoms start.  
Therefore we must maintain, and teach our children good HYGIENE!!
Prevention:
1.     Cover nose/mouth with tissue when you cough and sneeze
2.    Wash hands with soap/water (15-20 seconds)
3.    Avoid touching nose, eyes, and mouth
4.    CDC recommends staying home for at least 24 hours after fever is gone.  

Early warning signs in children:
1.    Fast breathing/trouble breathing
2.    Blush/gray in color
3.    Not drinking enough
4.    Severe persistent vomiting
5.    Not waking up or interacting
6.    Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
7.    Flu like symptoms improve but then return with fever and cough
Adults:
1.    Difficulty breathing/shortness of breath
2.    Pain/Pressure in chest/abdomen
3.    Sudden dizziness
4.    Confusion
5.    Sever/persistent vomiting
6.    Flu like symptoms improve then return with fever/cough
Medications: Severe symptoms 2 days of becoming ill Tamiflu or Zanamivir can help reduce the duration of the illness.
Concern regarding a pandemic:
“US for every 1000 people who get it 40 will need hospitalization”
44,000 people naturally, hospitalizing 5000, killing 300
FDA 50 million doses will be available in October . Takes about 10 days to kick in
What is different?
Novel infection a strain with mutation originally thought to be related to flu seen in pigs in North America.  Most vaccines are made in anticipation of which strain will cause flu in that season. Given it is a novel strain standard flu vaccine will not cover H1N1.  Urgent design for new H1N1 vaccine will be available in October.
How effective is vaccine:
Extent on match with circulating flu the vaccine prevents influenza illness in approximately 70-90% of the healthy adults under 65 years of age.  Children 1-5years 77-91% effective, effectiveness in ages >65 is less but can reduce 50-60% in the related hospitalization.  80% effective in preventing death, effectiveness in preventing influenza respiratory is under 30-40%.  
So essential while you may have some flu like illness and be susceptible for this the mortality and serious illness rate with the vaccination tends to drop considerably.  
Please ask a question and visit us at Ipatientsonline.com

 

Miscarriage can be an emotional occurrence for many women.  It’s like the ‘unspoken experience’ for women of child bearing years, even older women.  Spontaneous abortion or miscarriages is the term used for a pregnancy that is lost within the first 20 weeks of gestation.  Studies have shown that these are not rare events occurring in 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies.  Of course if the pregnancy is not realized it is unclear how often they occur.  

Why do they occur?
1.    Most causes are often unknown
2.    Abnormalities with chromosome division (faulty sperm, or egg or during division)
3.    Hormonal problems, infectious, other maternal health issues (uncontrolled diabetes, blood clotting disorders, lupus, etc)
4.    Lifestyle issues: obviously these are the most in your control.  Smoking, drug use, malnutrition, caffeine intake (~ more than 4 cups), radiation exposure…
5.    Failure of the embryo to implant
6.    Advance maternal age:
a.    Under 35 years old 15%
b.    35-45 years old 20-35%
c.    >45 years old 50%
d.    Previous miscarriage 15%
7.    Trauma
8.    Medications! Including over the counter medications.

What about….

SEX? EXERCISE? WORK? All are not scientifically proven to cause miscarriages.

What are warning signs?

1.     Mild to severe back pain
2.    Weight loss
3.    Contractions
4.    Brown/Red bleeding

What is the treatment?
1.     Prevent hemorrhage
2.    Earlier miscarriage less likely to cause/necessity treatment later in pregnancy.  May need dilation and curettage.  
3.    Prevention of infection

Prevention of Miscarriage:  
1.     Exercise regularly
a.    However with more than 7 hours per week there is a 200% increase of miscarriage.
2.    Eat healthy
a.    Diet supplementation with prenatal vitamins
3.    Manage stress
4.    Keep weight within normal limits
5.    No smoking
6.    Avoid alcohol
7.    Limit caffeine
8.    Avoid abdominal trauma

What do you do if you have a miscarriage?

If you have suffered a miscarriage emotional support is critical.  This type of loss is emotional draining and depressing for most women.  Support through groups/family is important.  

Please ask a question and visit us on iPatientsonline.com