Treat Menopause Before It Grabs You

If you're a woman in your forties and maybe in your late thirties, you might want to think ahead about menopause. Dr. Karen Deighan, chair of obstetrics/gynecology at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, encourages these patients to be proactive about their health by taking appropriate steps to minimize the side effects of menopause before it arrives.

She suggests:

1. Exercising to prevent the 5-10 pound weight gain.

2. Do your kegels to strengthen the pelvic floor.

3. Do weight-bearing exercises to keep bones strong.

4. Exercise the brain with word puzzles.

5. Get enough sleep to be mentally alert and to keep libido high.

6. Treat vaginal dryness.

7. Get your annual check-up.

8. Protect your teeth.

9. Eat your fruit and veggies and bypass processed food.

10. Take 1,000 - 1,200 milligrams of calcium.

Measure Blood Pressure With Affordable Solar-Powered Device

Research recently published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association announced that a new, accurate, easy-to-use, solar-powered device used to measure blood pressure "may help slow the worldwide increase in cardiovascular disease by providing affordable and reliable blood pressure testing in low income countries."

The device is being tested in Uganda and Zambia, Africa. 97% of the healthcare professionals there favored the device over traditional methods, especially for testing systolic blood pressure (pressure when the heart contracts). They hope that soon the device will be equally as precise for diastolic blood pressure (pressure when the heart relaxes).

Gout, Sugar-Sweetened Soft Drinks and Caffeine

Gout, the most common inflammatory arthritis in the U.S., is a very painful form of arthritis caused by a buildup of uric acid. Uric acid crystals become deposited on the cartilage of joints, tendons and other surrounding tissue, especially the feet.

Gout rates are climbing not only because it is being diagnosed earlier but also because people are living longer and because diuretic therapies are typically prescribed for high blood pressure in postmenopausal women.

There are good medications that can potentially prevent gout attacks. Even so, attacks are common.

Researchers have tied gout attacks to consuming alcohol, red meat, and certain seafoods. Now they are also beginning to link them to sweetened beverages and caffeine.

Risks For Early Dialysis

It used to be that people with 1-2% of kidney function were put on dialysis.

More and more people with up to 15% kidney function are currently receiving dialysis and that number is increasing.

Dr. Steven J. Rosansky, senior research fellow at Dorn Research Institute of the William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina, "found that there is a remarkably higher risk of death in healthy people that are being put on dialysis at higher levels of kidney function". "People who started dialysis early, based on their kidney function were more likely to die in the first year than were those who started dialysis at a later stage of their disease: about 20 percent vs. 5 percent."

A recent study has shown that putting people on dialysis earlier has no beneficial effect and it may be harmful.

Physicians need to reexamine their recommendations.

Asprin and Colorectal Cancer

Dr. Peter Rothwell, a professor of neurology at the University of Oxford (UK), believes that colon cancer high risk patients should take low-dose (75 milligrams) aspirin as a preventative.

A study including 14,000 people over 6 years and conducted by Dr. Rothwell showed that people who "regularly take a low dose of aspirin may be reducing their risk of developing colon cancer (of a certain type and location) by 24 percent."

Also those taking aspirin reduced their risk of dying from this colon cancer by 35%.

The downside to this preventative is that aspirin may induce gastrointestinal bleeding.

Always consult a doctor before taking medication.

Hospice Care Too Late For Many American Men

Hospice care is best known for its work at easing the experience of dying. A recent study showed that most American men with terminal prostate cancer are too late in signing up for hospice care to appreciate its benefits.

According to Dr. Mark Litwin, a professor of urology and public health at UCLA, "it's important that we maximize quality of life when quantity of life cannot be changed."

Doctors often focus on "not giving up" to prolong life so they recommend hospice care too late. Instead, according to a study, physicians need to rethink their focus not on survival "of poor quality" but rather preparation for the next step.

Interactions Cause Seniors to Drop Antidepressants

Over half the Americans who were prescribed antidepressants suffered uncomfortable side effects when the antidepressants and their other medications did not interact well. 45% of them still refilled the prescription. But another quarter stopped taking the antidepressants altogether.

Physicians need to become more aware that older adults often take dangerous combinations of prescription drugs.