Health | People for Drug Reform

Learning about Senior Care for the Elderly

Much of senior care involves proper care and medication. If an elderly person receives quality care from both their caregivers and their medical professionals, they can enjoy a comfortable life. However, problems arise when either their caregivers or doctors fail to give them the attention that they need.

As a person ages, their body begins to function less and less well. As a result, seniors are generally prescribed a large collection of pills to help fend off problems like heart failure or osteoporosis. Other more specific problems may arise, often as a result of lifestyle and genetics. With such a large number of prescriptions, a wrong prescription or an overdose can have traumatic effect on an elderly patient. Thus, today drug law reform is an important issue on lawmaker’s minds.

Another part of senior care that is important is the care provided by institutions. An elderly person may need help dressing, showering, or accomplishing other daily tasks. This requires the help of a strong, knowledgeable, and patient staff. Not all institutions are known for providing consistent care to their elderly patients, however. Limited staffing and poor training can be the cause for patient mistreatment at nursing homes, according to Los Angeles nursing home abuse attorney Peter K. Levine.

Of course, elderly people still need exercise to stay in good health and activities to keep their minds running strong. Healthcare professionals are so focused on keeping the patient physically healthy that they can forget about the patient’s need to enjoy life. Proper staffing at nursing homes and meticulous doctors are both required for a patient to receive quality care.

Filed Under: General, Health Tagged With: Elderly, Senior Care

How Does Alcoholics Anonymous Work?

If you or a loved one is faced with a drinking problem you may have heard of Alcoholics Anonymous. There are many different programs available in our society to deal with addiction. One of the most commonly recognized programs for dealing with drinking is Alcoholics Anonymous, but how does it work?

First of all Alcoholics Anonymous is a free program. Meetings are run by donation only to cover expenses. No one is turned away due to money. For people with limited income or no insurance this may be the only way to seek treatment.

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Meetings are relatively easy to find. There are no minimum or maximum meetings to attend. Attendees can attend as few as one a month or as many as four a week depending where you live. There are AA chapters located in virtually every locale, city or rural.

AA is based on a 12 step program to achieving and maintaining sobriety. The meetings are usually facilitated by someone who has been through AA and has been sober for a long period of time. Participants do the 12 step program one step at a time to work toward and maintain sobriety.

Participants also usually have a “sponsor”. A sponsor is a person who has been through AA and has maintained sobriety for a lengthy period of time. A sponsor is someone who can help the alcoholic learn how to complete the 12 steps and can be called on for help day or night.

AA is one of oldest and most respected alcohol rehabilitation programs available to treat alcohol addiction.

Filed Under: Health, Workout Tagged With: Alcoholics, Health, rehabilitation

Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

A rare blood disorder that a lot of people are unfamiliar with is Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. It’s a blood disease that destroys the patient’s red blood cells and their platelets and is often deadly.

There are three common things that are used in the treatment of Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, or TTP as it is called.

Plasmapheresis – This is a process which is similar to dialysis, during which the patient’s blood is run through a machine and fresh frozen plasma is spun into the blood and then transferred back to the patient. It can cause high or low blood pressure in the patient receiving the treatment.
Chemotherapy – Another treatment which is used for TTP is chemotherapy. Although it often destroys blood cells, it’s been found to be helpful in the treatment of TTP and can often put a patient into remission.
Steroids – The third kind of treatment that doctors use for TTP is steroids. This treatment has been found to be most helpful in treating patients with this rare disease and helping with their recovery.

Some of the symptoms of TTP are the following:

Unexplained bruising
Fatigue
Flu-like symptoms

Low platelets are often found through a complete blood count and the hematologist may order a bone marrow aspiration to ensure that the patient is not suffering from leukemia.

If the other types of treatment are not working, the patient who has TTP may have their spleen removed, but this is usually done only when the conventional therapies for TTP have not worked.

TTP is something that has become more common with the introduction of Plavix over the recent years, but before then there weren’t a lot of known cases. It’s an illness which is quite serious and which can kill the patient if it’s left untreated.

Filed Under: Health, Workout Tagged With: Thrombocytopenic

5 Tips for Fibromyalgia Sufferers

Fibromyalgia is something that a lot of people have and it can be very painful. In fact, some of the people who have it find that they are unable to work due to the pain that they are in. Here are some tips that those who are suffering from this illness can use to ease their suffering.

Reduce Your Stress – The first thing that you should do is to reduce the amount of stress you are under. If you work full time, see if you can switch to part time.
Get Sunlight – The second thing that you should do is to make sure you’re getting lots of sunlight. People who have fibromyalgia are often depressed and getting out in the sunlight can help with that depression.
Get Plenty of Sleep – The third thing that you can do if you suffer from fibromyalgia is to get enough sleep. This can be difficult, since one of the symptoms of it is insomnia. But there are things that you can get from your doctor that are going to help you get to sleep. If you don’t want to take drugs, sometimes a nice warm cup of tea(without caffeine) can work wonders.
Get a Massage – The fourth thing that you can do to help you is to get a massage. It does wonders on your aching muscles and it does a lot of good for helping you relax as well.
Exercise – The fifth thing that you can do for your fibromyalgia help is to get exercise. One of the best types of exercise for those who have it is swimming. It’s low impact and it still gets your muscles working. It can be very relaxing and wonderful.

These are five things that someone who has fibromyalgia can do to help themselves feel better. It’s a painful disease but there are things that can really help.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: Fibromyalgia

Tips for Winter Health

Winter is one of the times of year when a lot of people are prone to getting sick. But there are things that can be done to prevent sickness or reduce the chances of becoming sick during the winter. Here are some of the best ways that you can keep yourself healthy during the winter months.

Get a flu shot each year
Wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer, and encourage others in the household to do the same
Avoid infections with a newborn or young infant by staying in with him or her and not exposing the baby to a lot of people until the baby is older
Encourage children to stay away from the people who are sick with either the flu or a cold
Teach kids to use etiquette when sneezing or coughing, and to use a tissue or their inner part of the elbow if there’s no tissue available. Make sure that you are setting a good example by doing the same.
Having kids carry reusable water bottles with them to school instead of using water fountains which are harbinger of germs at any time but especially during the winter.
Stay home from work or school if you are sick to keep other people from getting sick and to allow your body to get well.

When you use the tips above and encourage everyone in the family to do the same, you are going to discover that you are lowering your family’s chances of getting sick during the winter. With so many different strains of the flu going around anymore, people are finding that they need to take any and all precautions to stop from getting sick. Taking the precautions can really make a difference when this time of year rolls round. There is no need to get sick during the winter when you use these tips.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: Winter Health

Federal Health Reform Requires Health Insurance for All Americans

With the implementation of the USfederal health care reform in March 2010, a $960 billion dollar project was set into motion to change the face of American health care over the course of four years. The most wide-sweeping changes are still yet to come in 2014, but already the world of prescription drugshas been altered in many ways.

Medicaid’s prescription drug program in particular has been revised, with changes including revision of the definition of average manufacturer price, establishment of a new Federal upper limit formula and an increase in rebate percentages for covered outpatients’ drugs. The revised health laws also require that drug makers’ rebates offered to state Medicaid programs must increase in percentage from 15.1 to 23.1 for most brand name drugs. What this means for the average American is that if they are using Medicaid, their prescription drugs’ prices will go down.

Out of all personal bankruptcies declared in 2007, 67 percent were due to inability to pay off medical bills–and the people involved had medical insurance. The health care form looks to correct the insurance caps and other mechanics that cause such staggering bills despite being insured. However, many Americans don’t believe that they can pay for the health care reform. A large part of what makes the health care reform controversial is that in order for it to work, all Americans will eventually be required by law to have some form of health insurance. Having health insurance is encouraged, but has never been required by law and many Americans don’t have the income to pay for an insurance bill — and by 2014 there will be a penalty tax for being uninsured.

Since health insurance looks to be a permanent part of Americans’ futures, it’s important that people select their insurance companies carefully; researching and comparing an online insurance quote from each company might be a good tactic to use to avoid being the next to declare bankruptcy.

Filed Under: Exercise, Health

Tips for Healthy Skin

The skin is the largest organ in the body and it’smade of three layers: the epidermis, the dermis, and the subcutaneous,. The epidermis is a tissue that is ephitelial and multi layer. It’s keratinized and it’s located in the area known as the basement membrane. Dermis is conjuctive tissue that is dense and it’s got derm papillae. The last kind of tissue, the subcutaneous, is known as some conjunctive tissues that has fat cells and lax. It’s the fat store that is subcutaneous in the body.

Everyone uses cosmetics of some type but how many of us know that they can be damaging to the skin? The lotions that we use on our body contain lots of substances which cause skin irritation and can also cause cancer. It’s important for us to read the ingredients and learn all we can about them.

When you have a healthy skin, you have a lifestyle that’s balanced and you are careful about what you do and what you eat. It’s the most sensitive part of our body and it’s very foolish for us to think it’s only influenced by cosmetics. Caring for our skin means cleansing, hydration, toning, and eating lots of food that’s natural.

The beauty of our skin can be affected by sports by toning it. We should include things in our diet that have important vitamins for our skin’s health, such as magnesium, iron, phosphorus, B2, E, zinc, B1 vitamin, and A vitamin.

The skin on our body is a very important, and therefore it’s important to be attentive. When your skin’s healthy, you are going to feel healthy as well as beautiful.

Hopefully this information is going to let you know what you should do to take care of your skin and make sure that it’s helping it to stay healthy. Then you’ll have that outward glow that makes you look and feel great.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: Healthy

Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

A lot of people love chocolate, but there are things that are great about chocolate other than the taste that make it easy to love. Here are some of the things that dark chocolate can do for you that you may not even know about.

It’s good for your heart. When you eat a small amount of dark chocolate each day, it can help your cardiovascular system and your heart running very well. Two of the health benefits for the heart from dark chocolate are:

Decrease in blood pressure – It’s been shown in studies that when you eat a small dark chocolate bar each day it can lower your blood pressure if you have high blood pressure.
Lower Cholesterol Amounts – It has also been shown by studies that dark chocolate can reduce the amount of LDL, which is the bad kind of cholesterol, by as much as 10%.

Besides helping your heart, there are other things that dark chocolate can do for you.

Stimulates the production of endorphins, which give you a pleasurable feeling.
Contains serotonin, which is something that is going to act like an anti-depressant.
Contains caffeine, theobromine, and other stimulating substances.

There aren’t too many things that do everything that dark chocolate does and still tastes good. Remember, dark chocolate isn’t illegal to eat while you are driving. It’s not a controlled substance, and it is heart healthy. Plus, it tastes good. How many other things can say that they do all this and still taste good? Not too many things.

If you want to do something good for your heart and you want to help yourself feel better without using drugs, just eat some dark chocolate. It’s tasty and it’s good for you, dispelling the myth that everything that is good for you tastes gross.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: Health

5 Good Kidney Tips

Not a lot of people think about their kidneys until it’s too late and they are stuck on dialysis or waiting for a donor. But there are things that people can do to help keep their kidneys healthy. Here are some of the tips for kidney health.

Drink Lots of Water – One of the things that you should do is to drink a lot of water. It’s going to help your kidneys with flushing your body out and helps to prevent kidney infections and stones. Drink the water in measured amounts throughout the day.
Don’t Smoke – A second thing to do is to stop smoking. It increases kidney disease risk and also contributes to complications from heart attacks and strokes in those who have chronic kidney disease.
Don’t drink – The third thing that you should do is not drink alcohol. When you drink too much it makes your kidneys work harder to remove those toxins. No more than two small for a man and one small for a woman per day.
Caffeine Reduction – The fourth thing that you should do is to reduce the amount of caffeine. It acts like a diuretic, and this means your body is going to lose a lot of fluids. When you’re dehydrated your kidneys work a lot harder to get out toxins and fluids.
Reduce Salt – The last thing that you should remember is to cut down on your salt. When you take in a lot of salt, you are at greater risk for kidney stones. It also raises blood pressure. If you want to use salt, use sea salt instead of table salt.

These are five things that you can do to help your kidneys be happy and healthy, and for you to have a better life. They are also going to help you to feel a lot better overall.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: Kidney

4 Foot Care Tips for Diabetics

A lot of diabetics know that they have to check their sugar on a regular basis, but do they know that there is something else that they should pay attention to? That’s their feet. Here are some of the things that diabetics should do when it comes to their feet.

Check Them Each Day – The first thing that diabetics should do is check their feet each day. Look at them and see if there is anything different about them from the day before. If you see anything that shouldn’t be there, like swelling, sores, cuts, or blisters, give the doctor a call.
Wash Them Each Day – The second thing that diabetics should do is to make sure that their feet are cleaned each day. This will get rid of irritants and debris that may be on them. Dry them softly with a soft towel and use some talcum powder between each of the toes.
Trim the Toenails – The third thing that you should do is to cut the toenails with safety clippers or get a professional to do it for you. They should be cut straight across and not too close – there should be lots of space from the bed of the nail. Soaking your feet in warm water can help them to soften up.
Avoid Self Surgery – The final thing that you should do is to make sure that you’re leaving surgery to the doctors. If you find that you have a corn or something else on your feet, call the doctor. Don’t use anything over the counter.

These are four things that diabetics can do to make sure that their feet are getting the best of care. Feet are a big concern in diabetes and they should be watched to make sure that there aren’t any problems.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: Diabetics