health
Keeping your mind and body in check - popular topics in health and medicine to maintain a long and healthy life.
Stop Self-diagnosing Yourself on WebMD
Like many, I have resorted to the internet to find out what was wrong with me and, 99% of the time, I was dying of some form of cancer. Now, I don’t have cancer (or not that I am aware of) but trying to figure out what is wrong with yourself via the internet is a rather frightening process.
Anik MarchandPublished 7 years ago in LongevityWhat It's Like Living with Chronic Illness
I'm sitting here in hospital, just writing and waiting. I'm here for my girlfriend today, instead of me for once. Whilst watching all the doctors, nurses and other medical professionals rush past and going on their daily business. I just sit and think about all times I've asked for help and support from these professionals. These professionals or, let's face it, people. I can see how hard they work, too hard. It's really not fair on them and the patients. As I am someone who has pretty much suffered all my life from chronic illness, I have seen and been through the systems and professionals that so many other people who suffer with chronic illness endure. I bet you weren't aware of how bad it is for some people. Bet you didn't realise how hard it is to get support or help in all forms — medical, housing, jobs etc.
Sarah ManleyPublished 7 years ago in LongevitySickle Cell Thalassemia CAN Be Cured
There's always another way! Sickle Cell Thalassemia CAN Be Cured I am from Adana, Turkey and I was born in 1993 with a combination of two different red blood cells disorders called Sickle Cell Anemia and Thalassemia (Sickle-Thal.)
Cemre MavrukPublished 7 years ago in LongevityMy Doctors Told Me I Was Anorexic... Because They Couldn't Find Anything Wrong with Me
I was always a picky eater. I remember because my mom would never let it go. I've always had a hard time eating new foods, but now we know most of it was because of my many food aversions, mostly due to being autistic, but also because ever since I could remember, eating hurt.
Astraia EspritPublished 7 years ago in Longevity5 Ways to Boost Metabolism Rate
As someone who wants to lose a few inches around the muffin tops and is wanting the scales to stop being a thing of nightmares, there's nothing worse than trying the latest fad diet or cutting out all the “right” things and getting nowhere. We then seek comfort food which lands us right back to square one!
Mel WoolvenPublished 7 years ago in LongevityOur Lungs
In this day and age, we are all a lot smarter than we were ten years ago. We know that cigarettes will eventually kill us. Now I expect that there will be people who read this and say that I do not understand because I do not smoke, but I used to. Now this will probably surprise people who know me, but I did. I smoked on and off in college. It was not an everyday thing, only when we would go out. I am from that era where you could smoke on an airplane, and so I did. I worked for many years as a flight attendant, and many of my friends smoked. I worked back when you could smoke on domestic flights. I mean, just imagine being trapped in an airplane with the last eight, nine, sometimes ten rows all smoking. As it is, you do not have good circulated air on an airplane, and then let us add smoking to it.
Lilli AdamsPublished 7 years ago in LongevityEating Healthy: Losing Weight Isn't the Only Thing that Makes You Lighter
We all feel body image pressure, no matter your gender, size, age, or any other category. I have suffered from these issues since I was a child, when I started becoming really aware and self critical of my body. It started off as rejecting any food I saw as 'bad' and wearing clothes that draped my body, hiding as much of myself as possible, and developed into something much more serious. Eating disorders and much more swamped my teenage years. It's an all too familiar story.
Hannah LillyPublished 7 years ago in LongevityThe Monster Behind the Candy Bar
It’s hard being a victim of this. It doesn’t happen every day, but it happens often. You can’t control when it happens or the outbursts behind it only because you are not the one that is angry but the one that is being angered at because of your existence but it happens and it happens quickly. It makes the target like yourself just want to run far away without looking back. Instead of being the puncher, you actually become the punching bag. Moreover, you know why it happens, but the person that is struggling with the high sugar blood level content because they are suffering with diabetes has absolutely no idea what you are talking about, let alone do they actually believe you when you tell them that they have a serious anger problem. And if they do know what you are talking about, they don’t always want to face their angry behavior at all or believe that they are actually hurting someone, whether it’s physically, mentally or verbally.
Kathy LesterPublished 7 years ago in LongevityCigarettes
I live in a family of smokers, one who has heart and lung problems due to smoking for the last 50 years, one who's got gut problems due to smoking more addictively for the last 20 years, and the others in the family are lucky so far, but only because they've stopped before it's too late. Even that puts me off starting because I want to be healthy and try and reach past 100, for which smoking is one of the worst things. So here's a tip for you: try and help yourself by not starting at all, as tempting as it is, because once you start you're trapped and it's so hard to get out because cigarettes contain a highly addictive substance called nicotine, found naturally in tobacco. When you inhale it in, it travels quickly to the brain and can cause a feeling of temporary relaxation and/or stress relief. Nicotine can also elevate your mood and your heart rate. Smokers are more likely to get heart disease, lung cancer, or a stroke than non-smokers, which is what happened to my granddad, and now he's having to carry a cylinder of oxygen around with him to breathe and can't go any further then his local shop. That's why my mum and I have to take him shopping into the town centre because that's how limited smokers can become, and you don't want that happening to you do you. More woman die from lung cancer than breast cancer in the UK and USA. Smoking causes 80 percent of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths. Smoking can make it harder for woman to become pregnant; it can also affect peoples' children, which is why it's been known for so many kids to get ill so early nowadays, because the parents keep doing this around their children. It can also cause lots of different types of cancer around your whole body, including bladder, blood (acute myeloid leukemia), cervix, colon and rectum (colorectal), esophagus, kidney and ureter, larynx, liver, oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils), pancreas, stomach, trachea, bronchus, and lung. Despite the adverts of how bad it is for you on the packets, all they care about is money, because otherwise they wouldn't be selling them, would they? They seem to be making all different drugs illegal but they're doing nothing with cigarettes. I think they should treat cigarettes they same as drugs regardless of how much money the companies will lose, because in the long run people will be saving money because they won't need so many operations and medication in hospital. So, help us defeat the cigarette companies by stopping smoking yourself by Reduce-to-Quit. when you gradually reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke you can manage your nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms with a Nicorette gum or Nicorette Lozenge until you’re ready to quit for good. The gum comes in 2 mg, 4 mg or 6 mg, so you can choose the strength that's right for you depending on how much you've been smoking, and it is available in packets of 25, 105 or 210. The lozenge comes in 2 mg or 4 mg so you can find the right strength to suit you, and comes in packets of 20 or 80. Or, if you want to stop smoking straight away, there are many great benefits you can feel when you quit smoking abruptly; your sense of taste might improve after just two days and after three, you’ll likely have more energy. However, stopping abruptly will test your willpower to the max… which is why it's good to have friends' and family's support as well as using Nicorette. The first week of quitting can be the toughest as your body isn’t used to the lack of nicotine. However, it’s also one of the most important weeks in your quit journey, because if you're successful at staying smoke-free for the first week, then you're more likely to quit for good. Also, get your friends and family to stop too, and then the companies won't get any money.
Kelsea PeetPublished 7 years ago in LongevityMy Breast Cancer Story
April 15th, 2017, I found a lump in my left breast during a self breast exam. I knew it was cancer the moment I felt it, so hard, defined, and different than the other tissue around it. I called my sister and told her that I was going to the ER the next morning. She was surprised but supportive and even planned to go with me.
Chronic Illness Turned to Education and Empowerment
Barby Ingle had it all. She had just been hired by Washington State University as the head coach of their spirit programs, started her own cheer and dance training company, and was living the post-collegiate life and was well on her way to success.
Megan RochePublished 7 years ago in LongevityA Child’s Voice Found Through Intuitive Science
No one really knew what to do for Gracie. The doctors didn’t know what was causing it, so they didn’t know how to treat it. Allergies? At eighteen months old, Gracie couldn’t tell anyone what was going on in her body. She couldn’t explain why her nose ran constantly since she was just a few weeks old. She couldn’t explain why her eyes moved independently of each other, and why the earaches kept coming. Did she need more antibiotics? Special glasses? Tubes in her ears? Different medications?
Paul S. MadarPublished 7 years ago in Longevity