HOW THE HANDS AND FEET AGE
April 9th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
The effects the aging process has on your hands are usually a giveaway to your age. Other parts of the body that show maturity can easily be altered with a face-lift or tummy tuck, but the telltale signs of age are always right there in your hands, not only in appearance but in their capabilities. Hands that are nimble in youth eventually become hands that may be unable to perform even simple tasks. However, arthritis is not necessarily a part of growing older, and I’ve seen many aging artisans who can still use their hands with great precision and skill.
Typically, as the hand ages, the skin becomes thinner and the muscles on the back of the hand begin to lose some of their tone. The veins and bones become more prominent, and the area between the thumb and first finger is especially prone to losing muscle. On the whole, muscular strength in the hand may decrease, but the decrease is gradual enough that, for most of us, our hands can function effectively well into our 80s and 90s.
Like the hand, the nails are a part of the body that provides a clue to the general health of the rest of your body. Many times, the first signs of an underlying medical illness, such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, show up in the nails. For instance, the nails of lung cancer patients begin to spoon, while the nails of people who have vascular disease frequently thicken or turn blue underneath. Many women use nail polish and other adornments as a cosmetic and a form of expression. Unfortunately, nail polish can mask possible medical problems that are evident in the nails and even create new ones.
Starting in your 50s, the aging nail may start to become brittle and gray. Polishes and nail treatments made with alcohol and formaldehyde can cause the nails to dry out even more. And artificial nails and many layers of polish can lead to a fungal infection in the real nails.
Even though your nails become drier and more brittle, you can preserve them by keeping them clean and well groomed. I’ve also seen many cases where nails have become stronger with intake of gelatin and vitamins, especially the B vitamins.
Feet don’t normally show the signs of aging as hands do, since they spend most of their time covered up and protected from the elements and sun. As a result, many of us tend to take our feet for granted. Indeed, the foot is often the part of the body that is least examined in the course of a regular medical exam. As a result, many people suffer from foot problems that are never diagnosed, such as warts and corns. Foot care is especially important for diabetics, because their poor circulation leaves them more prone to infections that can develop into a serious skin infection called cellulitis. It is also important for elderly people, since proper foot care can help prevent falls.
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VAGINAL BLEEDING, PREMENOPAUSAL: TREATMENT
April 9th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
If you are bleeding from the vagina, your gynecologist will perform a complete gynecological exam during which she will look for lesions or cancers of the gynecological tract. If your doctor suspects you have a cervical lesion, she will perform a culposcopy, a test that will allow her to view the cervix directly to check for lesions that might be cancerous. If you’re premenopausal and not currently on ERT and are experiencing vaginal bleeding, your gynecologist may recommend that you start taking estrogen and/or progesterone. This will usually stop the bleeding.
If a fibroid tumor is causing your bleeding, your gynecologist may recommend that only the tumor be removed, especially if you want to have children. However, in many cases, you may be advised to have a hysterectomy since a complicated surgical procedure is required to remove just the tumor. The hysterectomy can be total, in which both ovaries and the uterus are removed, or it can be partial in which one ovary is left in place. The latter is often done when the patient is premenopausal in order to conserve her natural hormone supply.
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BELCHING AFTER A MEAL
April 9th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
Description and Possible Medical Problems
If you’ve spent any amount of time around kids, you’ve probably noticed that children, especially young boys, take great pleasure in learning how to belch and then showing others what they’ve accomplished. Though our society frowns on public belching, whether it comes from someone who’s 9 years old or 90, there are societies that consider a belch to be a sign of appreciation of a good meal.
Treatment
When belching occurs during and after eating with no other symptoms, it’s a totally harmless activity. If you belch a lot and it bothers you and the people around you, you may want to try to eat less food at one sitting. Some people also find that if they eat more slowly or try to keep their conversation to a minimum, their problem with belching will disappear.
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COUGH, NONPRODUCTIVE, PERSISTENT, UNRELATED TO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS
April 9th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
Sometimes you develop a hacking cough that wants to stay around for a while. You should first determine if it’s due to a new item that’s recently been introduced into your home. This could be a new piece of furniture, a different brand of floor wax, or a new pet. It’s not unusual for adults to develop a new sensitivity to a substance or chemical. In the presence of a new irritant, the only symptom will likely be a nonproductive, persistent cough.
If, however, you can’t trace your cough to a likely irritant, there are a number of other possibilities. If you’re under fifty, a nonproductive persistent cough can be caused by a scratchy throat or by an infection of the trachea; many times, this type of infection is caused by a virus. If this is the case, you might also have a low-grade fever, swollen glands, or a sinus infection. I have seen a chronic cough develop in people who tend to be very anxious; occasionally, they can develop a cough that can last for many months.
This type of cough can also occur in people who are taking the class of medications known as ACE inhibitors, such as Capoten, Accupril, or Zestril, for high blood pressure or heart failure.
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LIVER OR AGE SPOTS
April 9th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
Description and Possible Medical Problems
You may think of your grandmother when you hear the term “liver spots,” and you may be alarmed when you begin to see these flat, reddish-brown patches on the backs of your hands and other parts of your body that have been exposed to the sun. Don’t worry … it happens to the best of us!
Liver or age spots, also known as senile lentigines, begin to appear after the age of 50 and are a normal sign of aging.
Some people decide to treat their liver spots by bleaching them or by using cover-up creams to hide them. Others choose to have them removed with cryotherapy, in which the spot is frozen with liquid nitrogen, then removed.
Many people choose to leave liver spots alone, because they don’t grow larger or darker with time. After all, they do serve as a badge of all the experiences you’ve had in your life.
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