“Friday April 19th is a date that has been permanently engraved in my brain… I…recall awakening in the early morning hours, my sheets drenched and wet clothes sticking to every inch of my shaking body…I pulled off my wet and cold shirt, and it seemed tighter…Slowly at first and then more quickly, my hands scoured my neck....
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It is the end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere; people have been outdoors in the sun. Over the summer we’ve been promoting our short survey on tanning. We had 101 respondents and thought we’d share some results. Beliefs about tanning Do you consider yourself to be more attractive when you have a tan? “I am sunburnt; I may sit in a...
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On average we take 16 breaths in a minute. According to the EPA, that means we take between 17,280 and 23,040 breaths a day. That’s a lot. Unconscious breathing is taken care of by our brainstem, so we never have to think about it. If we do think about controlling our breath, we are using our cerebral cortex. When we’re laughing, singing or...
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephomyelitis What’s the difference between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fatigue? A huge difference according to an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that focused on a cutting edge research study conducted at Stanford University. Researchers found that inflammation is the driver of...
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You may not know this but you can get warnings from the FDA on problems with prescription medications and over-the-counter drugs. For example, on August 11, a FDA News Release issued this warning about over-the-counter liquid vitamins that are given to young children and those who cannot swallow pills. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is...
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Your normal temperature is around 98.6ºF (37ºC). When your body gets hotter than this temperature, the hypothalamus (a part of your brain) tells your body to lower that temperature and tells your sweat glands to perspire. Sweat is primarily water but does contain small amounts of salt, ammonia, urea and sugars. Released through pores all over you body,...
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“Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.” ~ Shakespeare “Eyes that do not cry, do not see.” ~Proverb Great poetry has been written about the eyes. Yet do you know much about them? Let’s follow light as it goes into your eye, take a look at the inside of your eyes and learn some facts you probably didn’t...
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Marathons are grueling 26.2 mile treks. The Boston Marathon is the oldest (started in 1897) and is one of the Marathon Majors (along with London, New York, Tokyo, Berlin and Chicago). Marathon Man Raising Money For LLS In 2001, at age 48, family practitioner, Larry Saltzman ran his first marathon in Chicago. That started a 13 marathon odyssey to...
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This summer has been a challenge after a family member with celiac disease had a gluten exposure (Click here to read more about celiac disease). Gluten damages the small intestine villi (see 5 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Your Small Intestines), which are essential for nutrition absorption. For over a month, gastrointestinal pain, vomiting...
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Here’s dinner! Open your mouth and say, “Yum!” Digestion starts in your mouth. Teeth, tongue and salivary glands are instrumental in the first step in digestion: tearing food into smaller pieces and providing moisture to move those pieces down the esophagus. But what happens next? Let’s find out. Digestion: The Big Picture Think...
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Last summer we provided a series of posts on oncology basics. Oncology Basics: Preparing for ASCO covered some of the history of oncology. In Understanding Cells, we reviewed what is newly understood about cells–it’s way beyond what you learned in high school biology. DNA with lots of animated videos also explained some of the basics...
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Asking for help has been really bothering me lately… Before writing this post, I read a lot about the topic. It seems that the experts agree that it is a strength to ask for help. They actively promote asking for help. But that just felt wrong to me. I’d been advocating for months for a loved one and getting absolutely nowhere. Maybe it was...
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