Thank You Health Business Blog!

Thank you to David E. Williams of Health Business Blog for hosting Grand Rounds this week and including my posting Musings of a Befuddled Pharmacist. Grand Rounds is a compilation of blogs from all across the medical blogosphere that is held once a week. Please pop pver and check out this weeks' spread.

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World Breastfeeding Week

If you've ever given birth to a child (in America at least) or know anyone who has, then you may have heard of La Leche League International. LLLI, a true grass roots group that has flourished into a major international organization, is a formidable force in the movement to get every mother to breastfeed her baby, or babies, as the case may be. So what's my point? August 1st-7th 2007 is World Breastfeeding Week...yes, that's right, WORLD!

Apparently, babies/children are not the only ones who benefit from breastfeeding, so do mothers (the nursing mothers, that is) and society as a whole. This is not just me or even LLLI talking, this comes from such reputable organizations as the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Breastfed kids tend to be healthier (fewer acute and chronic illnesses), and when they do get sick, tend to have fewer symptoms and shorter illnesses. By school age, they tend to score higher on cognitive and IQ tests as well as visual acuity tests.

Okay, for mothers, breastfeeding is work...a lot of work. Imagine not being able to engage in any activities that take you away from the baby for more than two hours...at least in the beginning. Fret not mamas, you're doing something good for yourself as well. Breastfeeding reduces your chances of developing ovarian and pre-menopausal breast cancers, and osteoporosis. You are more likely to return to your pre-pregnancy weight and feel more attached to your child (no pun intended), and this is just to name a few benefits, find more here.

Finally, and maybe of most concern to the vast majority, the benefits to society include a decrease in the need for health services (which we ALL contribute to), fewer sick days (and happier co-workers, in the case of working mothers). For those who are eco-conscious, breastfeeding requires no packaging and the production in no way causes any harm to the environment.

And there you have it! I realize that not everyone can actually participate in World Breastfeeding Week but if you know any lactating mothers you may point them in the direction of this blog to get some good information and encouraging words.

Photo courtesy of jessicafm

Labels: babies, breastfeed, breastfeeding, children, la leche league, mothers, nursing

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Watch Your Eyes!

August is Eye Injury Prevention Month as well as Children's Eye Health and Safety Month.
Prevent Blindness America has a great website with UV Learning Center chock full of helpful hints on ways to protect ourselves and our children from an everyday exposure that can lead to blindness later in life - the sun. We all should wear sunglasses - even kids, but make sure to buy impact resistant lenses that block UV-A and UV-B rays. Wearing a hat with a brim can cut exposure to ultraviolet rays (UV) by 50%.

UV exposure may lead to eye problems over time:

• cataracts
• macular degeneration
• pterygium
• corneal sunburn

Thousands of children under age 5 injure their eyes each year - causing permanent visual damages and even blindness. Common causes? Misuse of toys, falls, misuse of everyday items like forks and knives, contact with household chemicals. Little ones need close supervision and protection from hazards. They are learning about their world by exploring. It is up to the adults in their lives to anticipate things that could harm them!

Prevent Sports Injuries to eyes with proper eye protection. In the US alone, 40,000 suffer eye injuries each year while playing sports. Most of this can be prevented with proper eye gear. Sports-related eye injuries occur most frequently with baseball, basketball and racquet sports. Regular glasses do not provide protection. Today, sports goggles (lensed polycarbonate protectors) are fashion statements. No matter what your age or your game, look good but watch those eyes!

Thank you zanzibar for use of Hello Kitty!

Labels: eyes, kids, prevention, protection, safety

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Musings of a Befuddled Pharmacist

Okay, so that's the last thing you want to hear from the person who may be responsible for giving you some life-saving or life-extending medicine and/or information. Fortunately for us all, I won't be doing any of that today.

This blog is supposed to be about health observances but I feel moved to digress from that today and just ramble. We had an earthquake in the Bay Area today and I wasn't as rattled by the incident as I was by the fact that I was actually awake to have experienced it...it hit at about 4:45am or so. My theory is this, unless you belong to the order of Chiroptera with forelimbs developed as wings a.k.a. a bat, no other mammals (they are mammals right?) should be awake at that hour. However, I decided that since I have a full weekend ahead of me I needed to do my workout at 5am this morning and get it out of the way for the day.

Well, after sweatin' to the oldies, walking away the pounds and squeezing in some standing firm pilates I was ready to go and pick back up on my slumber where I left off. Alas, my more rational responsible self took control of the situation and instead I got ready to journey in to the office to put in a good days' work ...and that's exactly what I am doing now :) While on my morning commute I got to chatting with my "commuter buddies" about the earthquake and realized how unprepared for a major disaster I am. Oh to be sure I have all my treasured photographs in 3 readily grab-able forms (SD card, computer hard drive and physical photos in albums) and of course in an online repository (just in case I forget to grab any one of the three aforementioned items as I flee for dear life). So naturally if I am ever the victim of a natural disaster I will always have pictures to remind me of the way things were!

On a more serious note though, any practical tips on disaster preparedness would be greatly appreciated. Note the keyword "practical". I have seen some kits that, once put together, look like one is going to climb Mt.Everest and camp out there for a week...I am just one girl and I will need to be able to run like the wind (or Forrest Gump at least) when that "act of God" occurs.

I could ramble on but for now I have to turn my attention to other tasks that I get paid to do around here.







Photos courtesy of cipher, Joe Shlabotnik, and The Consumerist

Labels: earthquake, emergency preparedness

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TBI Patients: Todd, Hate Crime Victim

Todd never made it out of Neuro ICU to Rehab, but I can never forget him and all of his friends. Todd was minding his own business on the streets of Philadelphia one night, when a gang of thugs beat him into a coma. Why? He was gay.

Todd never regained consciousness but his beautiful blue-grey eyes with long dark lashes were open and gentle. Fellow RN Joann and I got quite attached to him and his band of friends, especially his partner, Greg. Todd was a designer for a famous clothing design house in Philadelphia and his coworkers came in regularly and often to see him for the three weeks he was alive after the beating. I still have a gorgeous woodblock print that one of them gave me.


Our neurosurgeons at The Graduate were top flight. We measured Todd's intracranial pressure (ICP)via a bolt or screw placed (drilled) directly into the patient's skull. Normal ranges are 1-15 mm Hg. If the pressure goes up too high, the head of the bed is elevated, cerebrospinal fluid is drained, ventilator settings are adjused and medications are given to bring it down to safe levels. This is to prevent further damage to the delicate brain and vascular tissue.

In addition to the constant, careful monitoring - one or two nurses to every patient -Joann, Todd's friends and I did everything we could to try to stimulate any brain function - we talked to him, sang, played the radio, massaged him, gave him range of motion exercises. Despite our best efforts, the love, prayer and support of many people and the best care money could buy, Todd died. The police had no suspects, no leads on the perpetrators of this awful crime. A young artist, deprived of his life, for nothing - except hate.

Print courtesy of Google Images.

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Thyroid Questions from Our Readers: Communicating with Your Doctor

None of our blog posts have generated as much interest or as many comments as Some Symptoms of Functional Thyroid Disease. Let's start out by stating that I am not a thyroid disease expert and that blog posts are not exactly the right forum for getting detailed personal health questions answered. I am sorry that so many of you are having difficulty either understanding your thyroid problems or communicating them adequately with you health care providers. From reviewing the comments posted and mulling them over, I want to advocate that those of you with concerns about your thyroid and its impact on your health condition do the following:

Take the time to write and organize your own medical history. Take the time to go back over your personal health history and record every diagnosis you have ever been given and every surgery you ever had - succinctly. I can not stress enough that most doctors want to hear just the medical facts and sorry, not your emotional or psychological reaction to them. Save that for a therapist. I am going to give you the cold, hard truth here to help you navigate your way through the health care system and get what you want - better care.

Write it in this format:

Diagnoses
1983: migraine HA Dr. xxzzy Crossroads, WY
1995: High Blood pressure Dr. Pttss Crossroads, WY
1996: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Dr.Ssdst Sevenrivers, WY
Work Comp
2003: Hypothyroid Dr. Ptss Crossroads, WY


Surgeries:

1988: C-Section Dr. bbbby Sevenrivers, WY
1997: Carpal Tunnel Release Dr. Ssdst Sevenrivers, WY


Accidents:

1977: MVA Fractured right rib, mild concussion


Medications: Include every vitamin and herbal supplement you take in this list. Over! My! Med! Body! features a place where you can do this on his website for free & he claims it is private. You could use any database program at home like Access.

Print two copies - one for you and one for your doctor. Keep it updated regularly. Many of you have questions about your lab studies. So if you are having lab studies done regularly, chart the results along with any changes in your medications and the changes in your weight as you are describing.

An excellent resource for thyroid disease is American Thyroid Association.
They have Patient Thyroid Brochures in English and Espanol. For those of you who still have questions and feel you are receiving inadequate teaching, please check out their Find A Thyroid Specialist interactive Map.
Best of luck to all of you, and keep writing! We are sorry we can not help you individually with your questions about your particular medical situation, but sure hope this helps!

Labels: Patient doctor communications, thyroid

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