The Health Advocate
DISCLAIMER: The information provided on this blog is for educational, informational & entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ALWAYS consult with your physician or health care provider for your specific health care needs. Thank you & God bless!
A great educational tool.
(via musclehouse)
I LOVE this chart! This is so great!
(via musclehouse)
An emergency room doctor at New York Presbyterian Hospital has touched the hearts of millions after a personal letter he wrote about the death of a patient went viral on the Internet.
The letter was first published on Reddit by the son of the deceased woman, who reportedly died of breast cancer in December 2012. In the letter, the doctor explains that this is the first such note he has written in 20 years of ER work.
The letter has already been viewed by more than 2 million users on Reddit, with thousands leaving comments. The doctor’s letter:
Dear Mr. (removed),
I am the Emergency Medicine physician who treated your wife Mrs (removed) last Sunday in the Emergency Department at (hospital). I learned only yesterday about her passing away and wanted to write to you to express my sadness. In my twenty years as a doctor in the Emergency Room, I have never written to a patient or a family member, as our encounters are typically hurried and do not always allow for more personal interaction.
However, in your case, I felt a special connection to your wife (removed), who was so engaging and cheerful in spite of her illness and trouble breathing. I was also touched by the fact that you seemed to be a very loving couple. You were highly supportive of her, asking the right questions with calm, care and concern. From my experience as a physician, I find that the love and support of a spouse or a family member is the most soothing gift, bringing peace and serenity to those critically ill.
I am sorry for your loss and I hope you can find comfort in the memory of your wife’s great spirit and of your loving bond. My heartfelt condolences go out to you and your family.
(removed), MD
The 24-year-old man who posted the letter said in an email interview with the Huffington Post that the outpouring of support from Reddit users has helped him cope with the passing of his mother.
“If my mother were alive to see this, she would want readers to reflect on the power of showing compassion toward a total stranger,” he said in the interview. “The support I got from Reddit was amazing—doctors, nurses and other Redditors who have lost their mothers to cancer were all shocked and amazed that the doctor took the time to write such a heartfelt, meaningful letter.”
The power of compassion and words. Wonderful!
This is very heart-warming…..
Emily Whitehead the girl whose cancer was ‘cured’ by HIV virus.
seven-year-old girl has become the first child leukaemia patient to be successfully treated by doctors using a disabled form of the virus that causes Aids to reprogramme the immune system.
When chemotherapy failed to work for Emily Whitehead, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, she underwent a new experimental treatment at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
It involved tricking her immune system into fighting the cancer cells.
Dr Stephan Grupp, Director of the Centre for Childhood Cancer Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told CBS: “We’ve treated the first couple of patients and we’ve been blown away by the results”.
They’ve been very exciting.
“We collect cells of the immune system from a patient, so we use the patient’s own cells. We put in a new gene in those cells that makes the cells go after cancer cells and then we put those cells back in the patient.”
It’s amazing how much we have accomplished in recent years in medical research.
Absolutely amazing!!!
To cut down on errors in medical training, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) set a policy in 2003, which limits the total amount of shift hours a resident can work. Currently, the hour cap is set at no more than 16 hours for first-year residents or interns, and no more than 28 hours in one shift for others.
Recent data shows that despite the rules, this is not being adhered to across the board. To read more, click here.
A national group of leading OB-GYNs are advocating for over-the-counter birth control pills…..no prescriptions necessary. In my honest opinion, this sounds like some very irresponsible medicine.
To read more about it, click here.
Some very brilliant, NIH (National Institutes of Health) funded researchers at the Northwestern University-Evanston, have developed a novel way to inhibit the progression of the debilitating disease called MS or Multiple Sclerosis. This novel method is achieved through a process called “antigen-specific immune suppression.”
MS is an auto-immune disease, that occurs when the body’s T-cells (white blood cells found in the immune system) attack its own myelin or nerve covering. Auto-immune diseases are usually treated with immunosuppression therapy, however this suppresses the entire immune system and leaves the individual open to other infections or diseases.
I read a guest post last week on KevinMD.com’s blog, by family physician Stewart Segal, MD, a major advocate of preventive medicine. As a fellow proponent of preventive medicine, I was very intrigued by the following excerpt and the questions that he raised in regards to preventive medicine and the choices that we make. I want to share them below with my readers because they’re definitely worth pondering.
I am always awed by how precarious life really is and how much people take it for granted! If today is your last day, are you going to enjoy it or are you going to waste it worrying about tomorrow? Do you have an “attitude of gratitude” or are you so involved with life’s stresses that you forget to give thanks for what you have?
If today is your last day, did you contribute to your demise by neglecting your health? Did you waste your time on earth or did you accomplish what you set out to do? Are you proud of what you’ve accomplished? Did you make others smile and bring happiness to those you met?
Did they resonate with you?
(to read the entire guest post on the KevinMD.com blog, click here)
Have you ever noticed how the acronym for the term Standard American Diet, spells the word SAD??? Think about it…..
Water is ESSENTIAL to life!!! Water is nature’s best and greatest solvent. It is healing, rejuvenating, and life-giving.
The Facts….
- water is the body’s primary, most abundant chemical
- a water molecule is composed of 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen
- the body is composed of about 60% water
- water composes about 85% of every cell, tissue, and organ in the body
- about 80% of our daily water intake comes from the water and other beverages that we drink and the remaining 20% comes from the foods that we eat
- water helps the body to eliminate waste and toxins by means of perspiration, urination, and bowel movements
- water helps the joints in the body to better absorb shock
- water serves as a protector of the body tissues and spinal cord
- water helps the body to maintain a balanced temperature
- water helps to prevent dehydration
- water helps to prevent fatigue
- water helps to dissolve the necessary minerals and nutrients for the body to use
- waters carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells in the body
- the body loses a lot of water through perspiration, urination and bowel movements
- the body loses smaller amounts of water when you exhale
- the body loses water when under extreme conditions such a fever, diarrhea, excessive physical activity, living in unusually hot climates, and when you’re experiencing mental distress
- drink about six-eight 8-ounce glasses or bottles of water (purposely carry an eco-friendly water bottle with you while on the go)
- drink fresh fruit drinks (organic if possible)
- eat more fresh fruit and vegetables (organic if possible)
- consume foods like broth that are about 85-95% water
- when eating out, substitute the soda or concentrated juice choices with water (studies show that just replacing one 20 ounce soda with water, will save 240 calories)
Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/water.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2004/Dietary-Reference-Intakes-Water-Potassium-Sodium-Chloride-and-Sulfate.aspx
GIF: jessgettingfit.tumblr.com
