Fruit salad and blood sugar meters don't mix
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/hOOp3B Diabetes Care, online January 31, 2011.
Published February 09, 2011
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Listen up, diabetics: invisible bits of fruit on your hands can mess up your finger-prick blood tests, making your blood sugar level look higher than it really is.
That's because sugars from fruit will stay on your fingers until you wash them with tap water, a new study shows.
Even alcohol swabs don't solve the problem.
The researchers say that peeling fruit right before you use a blood sugar meter, or eating some juicy fruit with your hands, could lead to an inaccurate reading even if you rub your finger with alcohol first.
Blood sugar meters work by taking a drop of blood from the tip of the finger and testing the sample for how much sugar is in the blood. Many people with diabetes have to use these meters a few times a day to monitor their blood sugar levels and determine how much insulin to take.
Getting an inaccurate reading from sugar on the outside of the finger "could lead somebody to take insulin when they don't need it," Cohen said. "They could run the risk of running a low sugar from having misleading data."
The message, the authors say, is to wash your hands before using a blood sugar meter and not rely on alcohol swabs, especially if you've been handling any fruit.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/hOOp3B Diabetes Care, online January 31, 2011.
MY THOUGHTS
this is very important information. if you want confirmation, check the website. the research is described in the full article.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
WHAT CAUSES FEVER?
WHAT CAUSES FEVER?
from the article 'Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms'
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
Causes of Fever
Once you have decided that you don't need to see a doctor, you may want to know what could be causing the fever. First, you should check your other symptoms.
Do you have a cough, chills, congestion and exhaustion?
Do you have a severe sore throat?
* It May be Strep Throat
* It Could be Tonsillitis
Have you had a cough for a few weeks that is painful?
* It May be Bronchitis
* It Could be Pneumonia
Do you have ear pain or is your child tugging on his or her ears and not sleeping well?
* It Could be an Ear Infection
Do you have pain and pressure around your eyes, congestion and a headache?
* It May be Sinusitis
It is important to note that if you think you have any of these illnesses, you should contact your doctor and see if you need to be seen. This is information is not intended to diagnose any disease or condition.
MY THOUGHTS
that's clear enough! and convincing enough. some fevers cannot be treated at home. bronchitis? pneumonia? ear infection? i wouldn't risk it. i will make that trip to the doctor no matter how much i hate doing it.
from the article 'Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms'
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
Causes of Fever
Once you have decided that you don't need to see a doctor, you may want to know what could be causing the fever. First, you should check your other symptoms.
Do you have a cough, chills, congestion and exhaustion?
Do you have a severe sore throat?
* It May be Strep Throat
* It Could be Tonsillitis
Have you had a cough for a few weeks that is painful?
* It May be Bronchitis
* It Could be Pneumonia
Do you have ear pain or is your child tugging on his or her ears and not sleeping well?
* It Could be an Ear Infection
Do you have pain and pressure around your eyes, congestion and a headache?
* It May be Sinusitis
It is important to note that if you think you have any of these illnesses, you should contact your doctor and see if you need to be seen. This is information is not intended to diagnose any disease or condition.
MY THOUGHTS
that's clear enough! and convincing enough. some fevers cannot be treated at home. bronchitis? pneumonia? ear infection? i wouldn't risk it. i will make that trip to the doctor no matter how much i hate doing it.
Friday, February 18, 2011
WHEN DO YOU GO TO THE DOCTOR FOR FEVER?
WHEN DO YOU GO TO YOUR DOCTOR FOR FEVER
from the article "Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms"
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board
When Should You Go to a Doctor For Your Fever?
# In general, adults should go to a doctor for a fever if your temperature goes above 103 F and will not come down with medication or stays that high for more than 24 hours.
# If a child over 6 months old has a temperature over 101 degrees F that lasts for three days, you should call the pediatrician.
# A child between 3 and 6 months old that has a temperature over 101 F should be taken to the doctor.
# A child under 3 months old with a temperature over 100.4 F should be taken to the doctor.
MY THOUGHTS
i've never gone to the doctor for fever. because i hate going top the doctor.
from the article "Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms"
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board
When Should You Go to a Doctor For Your Fever?
# In general, adults should go to a doctor for a fever if your temperature goes above 103 F and will not come down with medication or stays that high for more than 24 hours.
# If a child over 6 months old has a temperature over 101 degrees F that lasts for three days, you should call the pediatrician.
# A child between 3 and 6 months old that has a temperature over 101 F should be taken to the doctor.
# A child under 3 months old with a temperature over 100.4 F should be taken to the doctor.
MY THOUGHTS
i've never gone to the doctor for fever. because i hate going top the doctor.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
HOW TO REDUCE FEVER WITHOUT MEDICATION
HOW TO REDUCE FEVER WITHOUT MEDICATION
from the article: Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
How to Reduce a Fever Without Medication
There are a few options if you would prefer to try to reduce a fever without medication. These may also help if medication is not reducing the fever quickly enough.
* Taking a bath in lukewarm water -- be sure the water is not cold, if it causes shivering, that may cause the body temperature to increase.
* Cool packs or cool rags under the arms, on the forehead and in the groin area -- be sure the packs are not too cold.
* Be sure not to wrap the person with a fever in blankets or warm clothes. Although they may feel cold, added layers will only prevent the body temperature from dropping like it should. Dress the person in one layer of comfortable clothes, provided the environmental temperature is comfortable.
MY THOUGHTS
funny how we used to do exactly the opposite. windows closed, no ventilation. wearing the thickest of clothes. with socks. wrapped in layers and layers of the heaviest blanket. now, we know better, don't we? i hope so.
from the article: Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
How to Reduce a Fever Without Medication
There are a few options if you would prefer to try to reduce a fever without medication. These may also help if medication is not reducing the fever quickly enough.
* Taking a bath in lukewarm water -- be sure the water is not cold, if it causes shivering, that may cause the body temperature to increase.
* Cool packs or cool rags under the arms, on the forehead and in the groin area -- be sure the packs are not too cold.
* Be sure not to wrap the person with a fever in blankets or warm clothes. Although they may feel cold, added layers will only prevent the body temperature from dropping like it should. Dress the person in one layer of comfortable clothes, provided the environmental temperature is comfortable.
MY THOUGHTS
funny how we used to do exactly the opposite. windows closed, no ventilation. wearing the thickest of clothes. with socks. wrapped in layers and layers of the heaviest blanket. now, we know better, don't we? i hope so.
Friday, February 11, 2011
MEDICATION FOR FEVER
Medication for Fever
Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
How Often Should You Take Medication for Your Fever?
Acetaminophen
* Adults - every 4 hours as needed
* Children - every 4 hours as needed
Ibuprofen
* Adults - every 4 to 6 hours as needed
* Children - every 6 to 8 hours as needed
Aspirin
* Adults - every 4 hours as needed
* Children - should not be given to children unless instructed to do so by the child's doctor
MY THOUGHTS
fever seems to be such a common illness. but with all the health issues right now, we worry a lot when body temperature is beyond normal. hope this helps.
Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
How Often Should You Take Medication for Your Fever?
Acetaminophen
* Adults - every 4 hours as needed
* Children - every 4 hours as needed
Ibuprofen
* Adults - every 4 to 6 hours as needed
* Children - every 6 to 8 hours as needed
Aspirin
* Adults - every 4 hours as needed
* Children - should not be given to children unless instructed to do so by the child's doctor
MY THOUGHTS
fever seems to be such a common illness. but with all the health issues right now, we worry a lot when body temperature is beyond normal. hope this helps.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
How Can You Tell if you Have FEVER?
When Do You Have Fever?
from the article - Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board
The most important step when determining what to do about fever symptoms, is to check your temperature with an accurate thermometer. Several types of thermometers are available and they work in different ways.
1. Oral (digital or manual)
2. Axillary (digital or manual)
3. Rectal (digital or manual)
4. Tympanic (digital) - scans ear temperature
5. Temporal (digital) - scans skin on forehead
* Check Your Temperature the Right Way
Once you have accurately taken your temperature, evaluate whether or not you need to take action to bring it down.
* In adults, a temperature over about 100 F is considered a fever.
* In children over 6 months old, a temperature over 101 F generally needs treatment. It is important to consider how your child is acting when deciding the course of action for a fever. If the child is lethargic and eating or drinking poorly, you should treat the fever more aggressively than if the child is playful and active.
* In children 3 to 6 months old, a temperature over 101 degrees F requires a call to the pediatrician.
* In children 0 to 3 months old, a rectal temperature over 100.4 F requires a call to the pediatrician.
Once you have decided that you actually have a fever and need to treat it, you should consider your medication options. The most common medications to treat fever are:
* Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
* Ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin)
* Aspirin
If your child is younger than 2 months old and has a fever, you should call your pediatrician before giving him or her any medication.
Tylenol is safe for children over 2 months old.
Advil and Motrin are safe for children over 6 months old.
Aspirin should not be given to children under 18 years old unless instructed to by a doctor. It should never be given to a child with cold or flu symptoms because it can cause a serious disease called Reye's Syndrome.
MY THOUGHTS
in case you've forgotten, 100F is 37.7 centigrade. take note that aspirin should not be given to kids below 18 months. According to health.yahoo.com, "Reye's syndrome is a disorder principally affecting the liver and brain, marked by rapid development of life-threatening neurological symptoms".
from the article - Check Your Symptoms - What to do for Fever Symptoms
By Kristina Duda, R.N., About.com Guide
Updated October 19, 2009
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board
The most important step when determining what to do about fever symptoms, is to check your temperature with an accurate thermometer. Several types of thermometers are available and they work in different ways.
1. Oral (digital or manual)
2. Axillary (digital or manual)
3. Rectal (digital or manual)
4. Tympanic (digital) - scans ear temperature
5. Temporal (digital) - scans skin on forehead
* Check Your Temperature the Right Way
Once you have accurately taken your temperature, evaluate whether or not you need to take action to bring it down.
* In adults, a temperature over about 100 F is considered a fever.
* In children over 6 months old, a temperature over 101 F generally needs treatment. It is important to consider how your child is acting when deciding the course of action for a fever. If the child is lethargic and eating or drinking poorly, you should treat the fever more aggressively than if the child is playful and active.
* In children 3 to 6 months old, a temperature over 101 degrees F requires a call to the pediatrician.
* In children 0 to 3 months old, a rectal temperature over 100.4 F requires a call to the pediatrician.
Once you have decided that you actually have a fever and need to treat it, you should consider your medication options. The most common medications to treat fever are:
* Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
* Ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin)
* Aspirin
If your child is younger than 2 months old and has a fever, you should call your pediatrician before giving him or her any medication.
Tylenol is safe for children over 2 months old.
Advil and Motrin are safe for children over 6 months old.
Aspirin should not be given to children under 18 years old unless instructed to by a doctor. It should never be given to a child with cold or flu symptoms because it can cause a serious disease called Reye's Syndrome.
MY THOUGHTS
in case you've forgotten, 100F is 37.7 centigrade. take note that aspirin should not be given to kids below 18 months. According to health.yahoo.com, "Reye's syndrome is a disorder principally affecting the liver and brain, marked by rapid development of life-threatening neurological symptoms".
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
SIMPLE LIFE CHANGES COULD PREVENT CANCER
Simple life changes could stop millions of cancers
Published February 04, 2011
http://www.lifescript.com/Health/News/Reuters/2011/02/04/Simple_life_changes_could_stop_millions_of_cancers.aspx
LONDON (Reuters) - About a third of all common cancers in the United States, China and Britain could be prevented each year if people ate healthier food, drank less alcohol and exercised more, health experts said on Friday.
Estimates from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) suggest that making simple lifestyle changes could prevent some 40 percent of breast cancers alone in Britain and the United States, as well as tens of thousands of colon, stomach and prostate cancers.
"It is distressing that even in 2011, people are dying unnecessarily from cancers that could be prevented through maintaining a healthy weight, diet, physical activity and other lifestyle factors," Martin Wiseman, a WCRF medical and scientific adviser, said in statement.
In China, 620,000 cases, or 27 percent are preventable, the WCRF said, as are about 35 percent, or 340,000, in the United States and 37 percent in Britain. Healthier lifestyles could prevent 61,000 cancers in Brazil and 79,000 in Britain.
The WCRF findings are backed by World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, which say regular exercise can prevent many diseases such as cancers, heart diseases and diabetes.
Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world and its incidence is rising. Each year around 12.7 million people discover they have cancer and 7.6 million people die from some form of the disease. There are about 200 known types of cancer.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), cancer will kill more than 13.2 million people a year by 2030, almost double the number it killed in 2008 -- and the vast majority of deaths will be in poorer countries.
In a separate statement, the Geneva-based WHO said low levels of physical inactivity are the main cause of an estimated 21 to 25 percent of breast and colon cancers, 27 percent of diabetes cases and 30 percent of heart disease cases worldwide.
Rachel Thompson, the WCRF's deputy head of science, said that while the message was simple -- that not smoking, eating good food and being a healthy weight can help ward off many cancers -- it was still a difficult one to get across.
"It's all very well us saying 'this is what you need to eat and this is how much physical activity you need to do', but we need to make it easier for people to make those changes," she said. "Everybody has a role in that -- from international organizations, to governments, to people themselves."
The WHO says adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. This could be done by walking for 30 minutes five times per week or by cycling to work every day.
Peter Baldini, head of the World Lung Foundation, also called on all governments to introduce smoke-free laws and raise the price of cigarettes.
Tobacco kills millions of smokers every year, and tobacco-related lung cancers also kill hundreds of thousands of people who don't smoke but have been exposed to it second-hand.
"There isn't a magic bullet to cure all forms of cancer, but we have the opportunity and the obligation to protect people from developing cancer wherever possible," Baldini said.
MY THOUGHTS
30 minutes of walking 5 times a week. that doesn't seem very hard. the harder part would be the change in eating and other habits. our busy lifestyles makes it difficult to avoid processed foods, oily take-outs and dinners from a can. but something has to give. it's not even an issue of living longer. it's an issue of what cancer can do to us and our loved ones.
Published February 04, 2011
http://www.lifescript.com/Health/News/Reuters/2011/02/04/Simple_life_changes_could_stop_millions_of_cancers.aspx
LONDON (Reuters) - About a third of all common cancers in the United States, China and Britain could be prevented each year if people ate healthier food, drank less alcohol and exercised more, health experts said on Friday.
Estimates from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) suggest that making simple lifestyle changes could prevent some 40 percent of breast cancers alone in Britain and the United States, as well as tens of thousands of colon, stomach and prostate cancers.
"It is distressing that even in 2011, people are dying unnecessarily from cancers that could be prevented through maintaining a healthy weight, diet, physical activity and other lifestyle factors," Martin Wiseman, a WCRF medical and scientific adviser, said in statement.
In China, 620,000 cases, or 27 percent are preventable, the WCRF said, as are about 35 percent, or 340,000, in the United States and 37 percent in Britain. Healthier lifestyles could prevent 61,000 cancers in Brazil and 79,000 in Britain.
The WCRF findings are backed by World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, which say regular exercise can prevent many diseases such as cancers, heart diseases and diabetes.
Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world and its incidence is rising. Each year around 12.7 million people discover they have cancer and 7.6 million people die from some form of the disease. There are about 200 known types of cancer.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), cancer will kill more than 13.2 million people a year by 2030, almost double the number it killed in 2008 -- and the vast majority of deaths will be in poorer countries.
In a separate statement, the Geneva-based WHO said low levels of physical inactivity are the main cause of an estimated 21 to 25 percent of breast and colon cancers, 27 percent of diabetes cases and 30 percent of heart disease cases worldwide.
Rachel Thompson, the WCRF's deputy head of science, said that while the message was simple -- that not smoking, eating good food and being a healthy weight can help ward off many cancers -- it was still a difficult one to get across.
"It's all very well us saying 'this is what you need to eat and this is how much physical activity you need to do', but we need to make it easier for people to make those changes," she said. "Everybody has a role in that -- from international organizations, to governments, to people themselves."
The WHO says adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. This could be done by walking for 30 minutes five times per week or by cycling to work every day.
Peter Baldini, head of the World Lung Foundation, also called on all governments to introduce smoke-free laws and raise the price of cigarettes.
Tobacco kills millions of smokers every year, and tobacco-related lung cancers also kill hundreds of thousands of people who don't smoke but have been exposed to it second-hand.
"There isn't a magic bullet to cure all forms of cancer, but we have the opportunity and the obligation to protect people from developing cancer wherever possible," Baldini said.
MY THOUGHTS
30 minutes of walking 5 times a week. that doesn't seem very hard. the harder part would be the change in eating and other habits. our busy lifestyles makes it difficult to avoid processed foods, oily take-outs and dinners from a can. but something has to give. it's not even an issue of living longer. it's an issue of what cancer can do to us and our loved ones.
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