Problems with warfarin (Coumadin) are often due to human error. Ask your doctor to verify the strength before calling in your prescription. Make sure the refill is the correct dose.
Step out into the sunshine and you'll get more than just a tan. When the ultraviolet B rays from the sun contact your skin, they activate a series of reactions that produce a hormone called 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3, commonly known as vitamin D. In addition to sunlight, vitamin D is found naturally in some food sources such as egg yolks, herring, and cod liver oil, and is added to other foods such as milk.
A new study found that giving clot-busting drugs within 90 minutes of a mild to moderate stroke prevents or greatly reduces the chances of disability. Current guidelines recommend giving a clot-busting drug within 4.5 hours of symptoms. A large European study looked at the outcomes of 6,856 people diagnosed with ischemic stroke. Ischemic strokes are the most common type of stroke. They occur when a clot blocks blood flow to the brain. All of the patients received an intravenous (IV) clot-busting drug, called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), within 4.5 hours. Doctors call this procedure thrombolysis. But patients who got the drug within 90 minutes of symptoms had little or no disability 3 months later, compared with patients who got thrombolysis after 90 minutes. The journal Stroke published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it August 22.
NSAIDs can help relieve pain and reduce inflammation from arthritis and other chronic aches and pains. However, you want to use the lowest dose for the shortest time.
What causes one to see flashing lights that other people don’t see?
A new study offers clues to early symptoms of a brain disease linked with head trauma that has affected football players and other athletes. The study focused on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This disease causes brain damage that gets worse over time. People with CTE often are depressed and may show impulsive or erratic behavior. The new study included 36 male athletes who had been diagnosed with CTE after death. Their ages when they died ranged from 17 to 98. Most of them had played football as professionals or amateurs. The rest had been involved in hockey, wrestling or boxing. Researchers interviewed their relatives and asked about early symptoms related to thinking or behavior. They found that 22 of the athletes had behavior or mood problems as their first symptoms of CTE. Eleven had memory or thinking problems first. Three had no symptoms up to their time of death.
The United States has 10 times as many Lyme disease cases each year as the official numbers report. That’s the conclusion of new research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to the CDC each year. But 3 new studies suggest that doctors actually diagnose and treat about 300,000 cases a year. One study is based on medical insurance claims. One uses a survey of clinical laboratories that test for Lyme disease. The third study looks at self-reported Lyme disease, based on a survey of the public. CDC officials were not surprised that their official numbers had been low. They presented their early estimates, based on the 3 studies, at a conference on tick-borne diseases. Final estimates will be published when the studies are completed. HealthDay News wrote about the research August 19.