Category: Health/Traditional Medicine

Consumer-driven health plans -- hailed since their inception in 2000 as a tool to help control costs -- are resulting in members forgoing care and discontinuing drugs to treat chronic medical problems, according to two newly published studies.

Under employer-offered consumer-driven health plans (CDHP), members pay up-front deductibles either out-of-pocket or from a dedicated health-care account before insurance coverage begins. Proponents - including President Bush and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain - argue that consumers in a market-oriented approach will make better health-care choices and drive health-care costs down by doing cost comparisons and accessing information about their conditions. Critics argue that people will instead opt out of important care.

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Jessica Greene, health care policy analyst, of the University of Oregon.

Activated vitamin D protects the heart against avoid overwork and enlargement, two of the hallmarks of heart failure, a University of Michigan study in animals shows. The results, the first to show vitamin D can prevent the damaging effects of heart failure, add heart health to the growing list of vitamin D’s benefits.

Strong bones, a healthy immune system, protection against some types of cancer: Recent studies suggest there’s yet another item for the expanding list of vitamin D benefits. Vitamin D, “the sunshine vitamin,” keeps the heart, the body’s long-distance runner, fit for life’s demands.

Different types of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs appear to be equally effective in lowering the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to "Neurology," the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Different types of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin, appear to be equally effective in lowering the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to the largest study of its kind published in the May 28, 2008, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Experts have debated whether a certain group of NSAIDs that includes ibuprofen may be more beneficial than another group that includes naproxen and aspirin.

Older adults with dementia who receive short-term courses of antipsychotic medications are more likely to be hospitalized or die than those who do not take the drugs.

According to a report in the May 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, older adults with dementia who receive short-term courses of antipsychotic medications are more likely to be hospitalized or die than those who do not take the drugs.

Doctor reports that a patient with symptoms similar to Alzheimer's dementia resolves after discontinuation of Tylenol PM..

A 57 year old patient with complaint of loss of memory, confusion, and difficulty concentrating, for over a year, presented for neurological evaluation to Dr. Amarish Dave', board certified neurologist and author of the audio book, Total Memory Care. Initially the symptoms were suggestive of early onset of dementia. After further review of the medication list, Tylenol PM was being taken as a sleep aid. Due to its anticholinergic side effects, Dr. Dave', eliminated the medication from the patient's regimen, and the symptoms which were suggestive of dementia, resolved after a week. The patient herself described "coming out of a fog" after stopping the Tylenol PM.

Studies show that nearly all sufferers of sinusitis will recover without drugs. Even so, many doctors routinely offer prescriptions for antibiotics, despite the fact that sinusitis is usual a viral infection and antibiotics against which antibiotics are not effective.

When suffering through a sinus infection, many people ask for an antibiotic to speed their recovery. However, a recent review of clinical trials found that while antibiotics can provide minor improvements in uncomplicated sinusitis cases, most patients recover without the drugs within two weeks.

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts' recent Prescription Drug Health Alert reported on new research regarding the reason why grapefruit juice can potentially cause a dangerous interaction with certain of the medications you take.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in muscles, ligaments and tendons, as well as fatigue and multiple tender points.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in muscles, ligaments and tendons, as well as fatigue and multiple tender points.

The results of a new survey indicates that doctors and nurses prefer to store their supplements in the kitchen cabinet.

Where is home for your vitamins, minerals, and other supplements? Is it the kitchen cabinet, maybe with the oatmeal and peanut butter? How about the bathroom cabinet, possibly next to the toothpaste and dental floss? Or, perhaps it's your office desk, amidst your personal items and stash of granola bars and M&Ms for those rainy days when you just don't feel like going out for lunch.

Proposed legislation would require patients to be eighteen years old before undergoing circumcision.

MGMbill.org is again calling on Congress and state lawmakers to enact legislation that would require men to be eighteen years old before undergoing circumcision. On Tuesday, more than 2,500 elected federal and state officials received proposed bills via email, fax, and mail from the group's state offices as part of an ongoing effort to make circumcision laws gender neutral.