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Family Medicine Stories and Local Doctors
Depression
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Worried Sick? There Might Be Some Truth There
A recent report by health provider BUPA has found that people's worries are damaging their health by causing sleepless nights, loss of sex drive, and erratic eating habits. The 2007 Worry Report demonstrates that almost one in five people constantly worry about numerous things, and more than half feel they worry more now than five years ago. Half of the people surveyed this year, which is 6% more than in 2006, claimed they were more worried about their health and their family's health than about other concerning issues such as climate change or terrorist attacks. The survey finds that almost three quarters of people worry, but around 19% admit to worrying all the time or about a number of things. (Read more about Worried Sick? There Might Be Some Truth There)
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Yogurt Consumption Linked to Healthier Body Weights for Women
Research conducted by The General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition finds that women who eat yogurt frequently are less likely to be overweight and more likely to meet the recommended daily intake of important nutrients, like calcium and vitamin D. The fourteen day study followed the diets of approximately 3,000 women ages 19 and older. Thirteen percent of these women ate three or more servings of yogurt over a two week period. In this group, the women on average had a 15% lower body mass index compared with women who consumed no yogurt. (Read more about Yogurt Consumption Linked to Healthier Body Weights for Women)
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Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems
A Review in The Lancet reveals the importance of healthy lifestyle choices to reduce stressors related to cardiovascular risk factors. Researchers from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore examined records between 1990 to 2006. They observed how stress affects the sympathetic nervous system, impacts physiology, and the effect it has on the cardiovascular system. Lead author, Daniel Brotman, claims "Acute physical stressors such as sugery, trauma, and intense physical exertion are well known triggers of cardiovascular events. Emotional stressors are increasingly recognized as precipitants of such events." (Read more about Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems)
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Yoga Is a Possible Treatment For Depression
Yoga may offer solutions for depression, anxiety and epilepsy.
Reports from the World Health Organization and elsewhere estimate that mental illness comprises fifteen percent of the global disease burden. Depression and anxiety disorders contribute heavily to these numbers. One treatment approach is offered by various medications designed to stimulate the brain's primary inhibitory neuro transmitter, gamma-aminobutyric (or GABA) levels. Findings released by Boston University School of Medicine report that yoga may elevate these GABA levels in the brain and may provide a way to treat these disorders. (Read more about Yoga Is a Possible Treatment For Depression)
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Postpartum Depression and Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding can counter the effects of depression in new mothers.
Studies published in the International Breastfeeding Journal, conducted by University of New Hampshire researcher Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, has found evidence supporting a connection between breast feeding and mental health for mothers. (Read more about Postpartum Depression and Breastfeeding)
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Antidepressants and Suicide
It’s the center of a huge ongoing debate in the medical world: how significant a risk are antidepressants in terms of suicide risk, particularly among adolescents?
And are adults at risk?
It is perhaps a cruel twist of fate that medications intended to help treat those suffering from depression would, in a rare few, pose an increased risk for the greatest complication of depression itself: suicide.
That is the concern, and the reason for black box warnings on antidepressants, that they can increase the risk of suicidal behavior or thoughts in children and adolescents.
But do they truly cause completed suicides, and in whom is the risk the greatest?
The latest research in the Archives of General Psychiatry shows severely depressed children and adolescents ages 6 to 18 years were 1.5 times as likely to attempt suicide and also significantly more likely to complete suicide if they were treated with an antidepressant medication than if they were not treated with an antidepressant. (Read more about Antidepressants and Suicide)
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Health Wrap: Reports on Snoring, Fetuses and Pain, Forgetfulness and Baseball
A new study finds that habitual snoring in women is strongly tied to body mass index—a marker of fatness-- and age.
Overall, 7.6 percent of women snore.
The frequency of snoring reaches its peak in women ages 50 to 59.
Frequent snoring was found to increase with alcohol dependence, smoking and physical inactivity.
-- (Read more about Health Wrap: Reports on Snoring, Fetuses and Pain, Forgetfulness and Baseball)
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Family History
How well do you know your family medical history?
We mean, really know –in the sense of knowing what each parent, brother, sister, grandparent, and great-grandparent, aunt, uncle, and cousin has or has had in terms of medical conditions. (Read more about Family History)
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Depression and Medication
“I actually used to think the best thing that could happen to me, I would just die, it would be great to just get hit by a car because it would put me out of my misery, I thought living was the worst thing,” says Karen Gormandy.
47 year old Karen has been battling depression since she was a teenager. As she felt her life spiraling out of control, Karen turned to anti-depressants to help her cope. She says the medication gave her a renewed sense of hope. In fact, she felt so confident with her state of mind that she stopped taking her medicine. (Read more about Depression and Medication)
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CHOOSING AN ANTIDEPRESSANT
With so many antidepressants on the market, choosing an antidepressant can often be a confusing task. Choosing an antidepressant becomes a pressing issue when you consider that there is a good chance you or someone you know and care about suffers from, or has suffered from depression. Significant depression affects 16 percent of the U.S. population at some point in their lives.
There are so many new medications out there now to help. They all work on one or another brain chemical, whether it’s serotonin, norepinephrine, or dopamine.
They are marketed with fierceness, all fighting for a piece of the lucrative depression pie. The competition only serves to make the task of choosing an antidepressant all the more confusing. Is one antidepressant really better than the others? (Read more about CHOOSING AN ANTIDEPRESSANT)
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