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Diabetes
After attending several medical conferences, I couldn'lt help but notice the concern physicians are expressing with regard to the rising numbers of people developing diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes. From heart and kidney specialists to family doctors, it seems that health care professionals across North America are bracing themselves for an epidemic. In 1999, Health Canada earmarked $115 million for development of a national diabetes surveillance program, and several other diabetes-related initiatives to be implemented over 5 years.
This impending epidemic is not solely attributable to aging baby boomers. While it is true that people over 45 are at greatest risk for developing type 2 diabetes, studies show that we also have an alarmingly high amount of obese children in North America, and obesity is closely related with the development of type 2 diabetes. A completed study of obesity in 688 school children in North Carolina showed that 7% of those children already have 3 of the leading risk factors for heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Experts believe that in subsequent years many of these children, both in Canada and the United States, will join the ranks of adults over the age of 45 who develop type 2 diabetes. And the good news? This rise in diabetes is preventable - we can do something about it.
There are 2 main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2. In type 1 diabetes people don'lt make insulin, whereas in type 2 diabetes people become resistant over time to the action of insulin, so their bodies make too much. Eventually, the elevated levels of insulin are not enough and they develop type 2 diabetes.
One of the biggest problems with type 2 diabetes is the complications associated with it. "People who have type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of having a heart attack. They are also at increased risk for stroke, kidney failure, nerve damage causing numbness, impotence and blindness," said Dr. Sheldon Tobe of Sunnybrook & Women'ls Hospital in Toronto. Very often people with type 2 diabetes have other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high levels of bad cholesterol (high LDL, low HDL) and blood sugar levels that must be brought down.
These complications occur because diabetes causes the small blood vessels to become more rigid and stiff and the large blood vessels to loose their smooth surface. The small blood vessels can no longer deliver blood to their vital organs and tissues that relied on their blood supply starve for oxygen and die. "This happens in the eyes and nerves, leading to blindness and loss of sensation," Dr. Tobe said.
The kidneys can become filled with material and their blood vessels damaged causing the kidneys to age prematurely. A kidney'ls usual lifespan of 120 years is shortened dramatically and once there is detectable protein in the urine - called proteinuria - the kidney lifespan may be less than 10 years, particularly if there is high blood pressure and the patient is not adequately treated.
Addiction
Nobody sets out to get addicted. When it happens it may mimic psychiatric problems, such as depression, anxiety, or stress. Eventually the real problem becomes obvious. Obvious to everyone, that is, except the person with the addiction.
When someone you care for develops a substance use disorder, there is a natural tendency to take responsibility for him or her, to try to fix them. Unfortunately, when you do that, they are less likely to take responsibility for themselves. Only when the addict is allowed to experience the discomfort and the negative consequences of their drug use will they do what only they are able to do - get help to change their behaviour.
What is "intervention"?
The most important thing you can do if someone you care for is addicted is to detach, stop enabling, get healthy yourself, and allow them to feel the consequences of their behaviour. If, however, you do these things and it still doesn'lt work, there is a process called intervention.
A skilled counselor will coach a group of concerned friends, family and, if appropriate, workplace associates in preparing for this procedure. Each person in the group is given the assignment of documenting specific incidents during which the addicted person'ls unacceptable behaviour affected them, and their emotional response to that situation. They are re-assembled and rehearsed in their presentation, in order to avoid anger or inflammatory comments. On the day of the intervention the addicted person is invited to a pre-arranged neutral site and asked to sit and listen as each member of the group goes through their rehearsed confrontation. The session opens with the facilitator explaining the reason for the meeting and the fact that everyone is there simply because they care for the subject and invite him or her to join them in getting better. At the end of a presentation the speaker may warn the addict the likely consequences for them not following through with getting help. Usually the outcome of the intervention is for the subject to undergo thorough assessment and treatment, if it is required.
Common Cold
A cold - also called catarrh, coryza, and infectious rhinitis - is a viral infection of the nose and throat. Doctors call it a "self-limiting" condition, which is one way of saying that it only lasts so long and goes away on its own. Colds are relatively harmless but they have important social and economic impact. It is estimated that 40% of time lost from work and 30% of school absences are due to the common cold. Cold symptoms normally improve within one week, although some may last as long as two weeks.
There are over 200 different viruses responsible for causing colds. The most common type are the rhinoviruses, which cause about 40% of colds in adults. Colds occur most often from fall to early spring when people tend to gather in crowds indoors facilitating easy spread of these viruses.
Causes
Common colds are infectious, and can be passed from one person to another very easily. The average adult gets about one to three colds per year, most often during the winter. Infants can get up to eight in a year because their body'ls defences aren'lt yet developed. Preschool children average five to seven cold episodes each year.
Sneezing or coughing can easily transmit cold virus in droplets from an infected person'ls mouth or nose. Hand-to-hand contact is another way the virus is passed around. Since cold viruses can live for several hours on hard surfaces, you can even get infected by picking up an object, turning a door handle, or answering a phone recently touched by a person with a cold. It then takes hold by being rubbed into the eyes or nose.
Cold weather does not make you more prone to catching a cold. Constantly moving in and out from warm places to the cold outdoors can cause a runny nose, making it easier for a cold virus to take hold.
Symptoms and Complications
Cold viruses invade the tissues that line the inside of the mouth, throat and nose. This infected membrane becomes swollen or inflamed, and cold symptoms begin.
It usually takes anywhere from one to three days for symptoms to develop. The cold runs its course in about seven days. Symptoms follow a typical pattern:
· dry, scratchy, or sore throat
· runny nose or congestion
· sneezing triggered by nasal congestion
· headache as a result of congestion
· earaches, also brought on by the congestion (especially in children)
· slight fever and chills (more common in children than adults)
· coughing, usually dry at first but later can be accompanied by sputum and phlegm
Cold Sores
The Facts
Cold sores - also known as fever blisters - are caused by a virus. They usually appear on the lips. They are highly contagious but not dangerous. About 60% of the population have suffered cold sores at some point in their lives. On average, people who get cold sores have two or three episodes a year, but this figure can vary significantly from person to person.
Causes
The virus that causes cold sores is herpes simplex 1, a cousin of herpes simplex 2, which causes the well-known sexual disease. About 80% of the people in North America have dormant (inactive) herpes 1 virus living permanently in their body. The virus typically resides in a dormant state within the nerve cells of your spinal cord. The body'ls immune system is normally able to keep the virus in its inactive state. When an infected person is exposed to a "trigger", or if the immune system is weakened, then the virus quickly multiplies, and spreads down the nerve cell and out onto the skin, usually on the lips. This produces the characteristic tingling sensation and subsequent clusters of blisters.
Specific triggers include:
· cold weather
· fever, such as from stomach flu or other infections
· menstrual periods
· mental or physical stress
· physical irritation of the lips (e.g., following a visit to the dentist)
· sunlight or sunburn
You can catch the virus if you come into direct contact with the cold sore blisters or the fluid inside them, which contains a high number of the viruses. This can easily happen through touching the hands of someone who has touched their blisters. Once the blisters have stopped oozing or have crusted over, the person is no longer contagious.
After attending several medical conferences, I couldn'lt help but notice the concern physicians are expressing with regard to the rising numbers of people developing diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes. From heart and kidney specialists to family doctors, it seems that health care professionals across North America are bracing themselves for an epidemic. In 1999, Health Canada earmarked $115 million for development of a national diabetes surveillance program, and several other diabetes-related initiatives to be implemented over 5 years.
This impending epidemic is not solely attributable to aging baby boomers. While it is true that people over 45 are at greatest risk for developing type 2 diabetes, studies show that we also have an alarmingly high amount of obese children in North America, and obesity is closely related with the development of type 2 diabetes. A completed study of obesity in 688 school children in North Carolina showed that 7% of those children already have 3 of the leading risk factors for heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Experts believe that in subsequent years many of these children, both in Canada and the United States, will join the ranks of adults over the age of 45 who develop type 2 diabetes. And the good news? This rise in diabetes is preventable - we can do something about it.
There are 2 main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2. In type 1 diabetes people don'lt make insulin, whereas in type 2 diabetes people become resistant over time to the action of insulin, so their bodies make too much. Eventually, the elevated levels of insulin are not enough and they develop type 2 diabetes.
One of the biggest problems with type 2 diabetes is the complications associated with it. "People who have type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of having a heart attack. They are also at increased risk for stroke, kidney failure, nerve damage causing numbness, impotence and blindness," said Dr. Sheldon Tobe of Sunnybrook & Women'ls Hospital in Toronto. Very often people with type 2 diabetes have other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high levels of bad cholesterol (high LDL, low HDL) and blood sugar levels that must be brought down.
These complications occur because diabetes causes the small blood vessels to become more rigid and stiff and the large blood vessels to loose their smooth surface. The small blood vessels can no longer deliver blood to their vital organs and tissues that relied on their blood supply starve for oxygen and die. "This happens in the eyes and nerves, leading to blindness and loss of sensation," Dr. Tobe said.
The kidneys can become filled with material and their blood vessels damaged causing the kidneys to age prematurely. A kidney'ls usual lifespan of 120 years is shortened dramatically and once there is detectable protein in the urine - called proteinuria - the kidney lifespan may be less than 10 years, particularly if there is high blood pressure and the patient is not adequately treated.
Addiction
Nobody sets out to get addicted. When it happens it may mimic psychiatric problems, such as depression, anxiety, or stress. Eventually the real problem becomes obvious. Obvious to everyone, that is, except the person with the addiction.
When someone you care for develops a substance use disorder, there is a natural tendency to take responsibility for him or her, to try to fix them. Unfortunately, when you do that, they are less likely to take responsibility for themselves. Only when the addict is allowed to experience the discomfort and the negative consequences of their drug use will they do what only they are able to do - get help to change their behaviour.
What is "intervention"?
The most important thing you can do if someone you care for is addicted is to detach, stop enabling, get healthy yourself, and allow them to feel the consequences of their behaviour. If, however, you do these things and it still doesn'lt work, there is a process called intervention.
A skilled counselor will coach a group of concerned friends, family and, if appropriate, workplace associates in preparing for this procedure. Each person in the group is given the assignment of documenting specific incidents during which the addicted person'ls unacceptable behaviour affected them, and their emotional response to that situation. They are re-assembled and rehearsed in their presentation, in order to avoid anger or inflammatory comments. On the day of the intervention the addicted person is invited to a pre-arranged neutral site and asked to sit and listen as each member of the group goes through their rehearsed confrontation. The session opens with the facilitator explaining the reason for the meeting and the fact that everyone is there simply because they care for the subject and invite him or her to join them in getting better. At the end of a presentation the speaker may warn the addict the likely consequences for them not following through with getting help. Usually the outcome of the intervention is for the subject to undergo thorough assessment and treatment, if it is required.
Common Cold
A cold - also called catarrh, coryza, and infectious rhinitis - is a viral infection of the nose and throat. Doctors call it a "self-limiting" condition, which is one way of saying that it only lasts so long and goes away on its own. Colds are relatively harmless but they have important social and economic impact. It is estimated that 40% of time lost from work and 30% of school absences are due to the common cold. Cold symptoms normally improve within one week, although some may last as long as two weeks.
There are over 200 different viruses responsible for causing colds. The most common type are the rhinoviruses, which cause about 40% of colds in adults. Colds occur most often from fall to early spring when people tend to gather in crowds indoors facilitating easy spread of these viruses.
Causes
Common colds are infectious, and can be passed from one person to another very easily. The average adult gets about one to three colds per year, most often during the winter. Infants can get up to eight in a year because their body'ls defences aren'lt yet developed. Preschool children average five to seven cold episodes each year.
Sneezing or coughing can easily transmit cold virus in droplets from an infected person'ls mouth or nose. Hand-to-hand contact is another way the virus is passed around. Since cold viruses can live for several hours on hard surfaces, you can even get infected by picking up an object, turning a door handle, or answering a phone recently touched by a person with a cold. It then takes hold by being rubbed into the eyes or nose.
Cold weather does not make you more prone to catching a cold. Constantly moving in and out from warm places to the cold outdoors can cause a runny nose, making it easier for a cold virus to take hold.
Symptoms and Complications
Cold viruses invade the tissues that line the inside of the mouth, throat and nose. This infected membrane becomes swollen or inflamed, and cold symptoms begin.
It usually takes anywhere from one to three days for symptoms to develop. The cold runs its course in about seven days. Symptoms follow a typical pattern:
· dry, scratchy, or sore throat
· runny nose or congestion
· sneezing triggered by nasal congestion
· headache as a result of congestion
· earaches, also brought on by the congestion (especially in children)
· slight fever and chills (more common in children than adults)
· coughing, usually dry at first but later can be accompanied by sputum and phlegm
Cold Sores
The Facts
Cold sores - also known as fever blisters - are caused by a virus. They usually appear on the lips. They are highly contagious but not dangerous. About 60% of the population have suffered cold sores at some point in their lives. On average, people who get cold sores have two or three episodes a year, but this figure can vary significantly from person to person.
Causes
The virus that causes cold sores is herpes simplex 1, a cousin of herpes simplex 2, which causes the well-known sexual disease. About 80% of the people in North America have dormant (inactive) herpes 1 virus living permanently in their body. The virus typically resides in a dormant state within the nerve cells of your spinal cord. The body'ls immune system is normally able to keep the virus in its inactive state. When an infected person is exposed to a "trigger", or if the immune system is weakened, then the virus quickly multiplies, and spreads down the nerve cell and out onto the skin, usually on the lips. This produces the characteristic tingling sensation and subsequent clusters of blisters.
Specific triggers include:
· cold weather
· fever, such as from stomach flu or other infections
· menstrual periods
· mental or physical stress
· physical irritation of the lips (e.g., following a visit to the dentist)
· sunlight or sunburn