Monthly Archives: May 2017

9 Tips For Safe Travel With Diabetes

Posted on by MaryO

Many of these tips work for Cushing’s patients on Growth Hormone, as well.

 

Traveling, whether it be for business or pleasure can easily take you out of your diabetes care routine. Before hightailing it out of town, make sure you are prepared. A little extra homework will help keep your diabetes from putting any kinks in your long-awaited travel plans.

How you prepare greatly depends on where you’re going and for how long. Ask yourself, how will your lifestyle change while traveling? Will you be able to prepare your own food, or will you be eating out? Will you be able to maintain adequate exercise or will you have more down time?

These helpful tips can help you stay on track with your diabetes treatment plan during your summer vacation getaways.

Read more here: 9 Tips For Safe Travel With Diabetes | MedicAlert Foundation

To improve chronic pain, get more sleep (coffee helps too)

Posted on by MaryO

New research from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston Children’s Hospital shows that chronic sleep loss increases pain sensitivity. It suggests that chronic pain sufferers can get relief by getting more sleep, or, short of that, taking medications to promote wakefulness such as caffeine. Both approaches performed better than standard analgesics in a rigorous study in mice, described in the May 8, 2017 issue of the journal Nature Medicine.

Source: To improve chronic pain, get more sleep (coffee helps too)

May is Melanoma Awareness Month

Posted on by MaryO

 

I’ve posted about our family’s experiences with melanoma before.  We were lucky and caught it in time but a good family friend didn’t.

May is designated as National Melanoma Month.   Included in that designation is National Melanoma Monday, which is the first Monday in May.  The American Academy of Dermatology has set aside this day to raise awareness about skin cancer.

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer, and it is the deadliest of skin cancers.

There will be many events focused on skin health, sun safety, tanning prevention, and skin cancer screenings and resources.

All are asked to join the American Academy of Dermatology in wearing orange and encouraging others to wear orange for skin cancer awareness.

Know the warning signs and check with your doctor if any of them appear.

Early signs of melanoma are changes to the shape or color of existing moles or, in the case of nodular melanoma, the appearance of a new lump anywhere on the skin. At later stages, the mole may itch, ulcerate or bleed. Early signs of melanoma are summarized by the mnemonic “ABCDE”:

  • Asymmetry
  • Borders (irregular with edges and corners)
  • Color (variegated)
  • Diameter (greater than 6 mm (0.24 in), about the size of a pencil eraser)
  • Evolving over time

These classifications do not, however, apply to the most dangerous form of melanoma, nodular melanoma, which has its own classifications:

  • Elevated above the skin surface
  • Firm to the touch
  • Growing

Metastatic melanoma may cause nonspecific paraneoplastic symptoms, including loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. Metastasis of early melanoma is possible, but relatively rare: less than a fifth of melanomas diagnosed early become metastatic. Brain metastases are particularly common in patients with metastatic melanoma. It can also spread to the liver, bones, abdomen or distant lymph nodes.