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Diabetes: Controlar el azúcar en la sangre

Tips to Eating Well

Download the Tips to Eating Well Checklist PDF The foods you eat can affect your health, so it’s important to make smart food choices. Healthy eating will help you control: Weight Blood pressure Blood sugar (if you have diabetes)

Differences Can Make a Big Difference

People from different racial and ethnic groups have different biological responses to both diseases and their treatment. Whether we are talking about liver cancer in Asians, asthma and stroke in African-Americans, or diabetes in Hispanics, these are just a few of the devastating chronic diseases that affect different groups at different rates. Scientists and doctors argue about "cause and effect" here — how much is genetic and how much is a result of diet and other factors. One thing is for sure...

Is it Sore Joints—or RA?

We often think of arthritis as general joint pain or loss of mobility that comes along as we get older. Arthritis is an umbrella term for more than 100 different diseases and can impact young people as well as old. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common types. Read on to learn more. What is RA? RA is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease that can be painful and disabling. An estimated 1.5 million people in the United States have RA, and nearly three times as many women as men...

Finding Quality Health Information Online

The Internet puts a large amount of health and wellness information at your fingertips. But if that information is outdated, incorrect or downright dangerous, it could cause more harm than good. So which websites should you trust? Follow these basic rules for evaluating health information websites and start feeling better about finding health information online: 1. Know who sponsors the site. If the website doesn’t disclose who sponsors the site, ignore it. Most credible sites — like those...

What’s Your Risk? The Five People Who Need Vaccines Most

Some people are more likely than others to develop infectious diseases. Want to know if you or someone you care for is at an increased risk of getting the flu or another vaccine-preventable disease? Check to see if you or the person you care for fits into any of the following five groups of higher risk individuals. People who are at higher risk should speak with their doctor about any needed immunizations to help keep their immunizations up-to-date. Children Infants and young children do not...

Breast Self-Exams: Should You Do Them?

For many years, we women were told to examine our breasts at least monthly to check for signs of breast cancer. In medical school, my fellow students and I learned how to teach our patients to examine their breasts. It’s a multi-step process that takes several minutes – checking your breasts in the shower, in the mirror, lying on your back (maybe you’ve seen diagram-heavy brochures -- still a staple in many college and community health centers). But in recent years, some medical organizations...

Taking Prescription Pain Medicine Safely

Prescription opioid pain medications such as oxycodone and codeine are some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs. And there has certainly been a lot of talk in the media about the very real problem of pain medicine addiction. Unfortunately, all of that news coverage can sometimes overshadow the fact that these medicines are important tools in treating pain. For many people, opioid medicines—which work by reducing pain signals that are sent to your brain—can be extremely helpful. When...

How to Safely Buy Medicine Online

There’s no limit to the types of products you can purchase online. You can even purchase prescription medicine over the Internet. Ordering your prescription online does provide some degree of ease because the medicine is delivered to your home. However, this convenience can come at a cost. In the United States, it is believed that the majority of counterfeit medicines are purchased online. Counterfeit—or fake—drugs can be dangerous because they can have the wrong ingredients, no active...

Exploring the Manufacturing and Testing Processes of Pharmaceuticals

When a doctor prescribes you a medicine, how does she know it could be helpful? Your doctor relies on experience, medical knowledge and training, but also on information and conclusions drawn from clinical trials. Clinical trials are research studies that test a medical intervention aimed at treating, diagnosing, or preventing a disease or health condition in human volunteers. The intervention could be a drug, a medical procedure or device, or a behavioral therapy, such as diet or exercise. Some...

Managing Sickle Cell Disease as an Adult

People with sickle cell disease (SCD) are now living longer than they did in previous decades. Doctors have a better understanding of the disease, are able to diagnose it earlier, and can more readily treat and prevent the infections the disease can cause. And thanks to new ways to treat and manage the condition, patients are now more aware of what they can do to live healthier, for longer. Still, there is currently no widely available or acceptable cure for the inherited blood disorder...

Sickle Cell Trait vs. Sickle Cell Disease

Millions of people worldwide are affected by the sickle cell blood disorder. About 100,000 people in the U.S. have sickle cell disease. It mostly affects African Americans, but it can also affect people from Hispanic, southern European, Middle Eastern and Asian Indian backgrounds.Another 2.5 million people in the U.S. have sickle cell trait (SCT). But having sickle cell trait (SCT) is not the same as having sickle cell disease (SCD).What is the difference between having sickle cell trait and...