Quitting Time: How to Stop Smoking for Good

By Sonya Collins
WebMD Magazine - Feature

Congratulations! You've decided to quit smoking. But how? The answer depends on why you smoke.

"Men smoke more for the effect of the nicotine. Women smoke more to regulate mood and stress," says Kelly P. Cosgrove, PhD. She's an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.

10 Ways to Reduce Stress While You Quit Smoking

Many smokers think that lighting up helps them relax. They’re fooling themselves, experts say. “Nicotine withdrawal makes people feel jittery and anxious, which smokers often confuse with feeling stressed,” says Steven Schroeder, MD, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at the University of California, San Francisco. “Lighting up makes them feel better, not because that cigarette eases stress but because it’s delivering the next dose of nicotine.” Breaking free of nicotine addiction...

Read the 10 Ways to Reduce Stress While You Quit Smoking article > >

So, a good quitting strategy for women includes more than nicotine replacement. That's because the female brain responds to nicotine differently than the male brain. Nicotine-replacement therapy (NRT) -- patches, gum, nasal sprays, and inhalers -- helps more men than women quit long-term. In the first 6 months of quitting, NRT often helps women, but they usually need further aids to kick the habit for good.

Other medications, such as antidepressants, may help. Bupropion helps some people quit whether or not they're depressed. When you start taking it a week or two before your last cigarette, the mood-stabilizing effects can make quitting easier.

Chantix, a nicotine-free medication that helps curb nicotine cravings, also works as well for women as for men.

Tell everyone you know that you're quitting. "It helps to have someone you can talk to about it every day," Cosgrove says. This could be a friend or a counselor.

Quitline coaches in your state can help you make a quit-smoking plan, keep you on track, and point you toward counseling and other resources. Online communities offer great support, too.

If you've decided to quit on Monday, spend the weekend cleaning. Shampoo carpets, upholstery, and drapes. Clean your car's interior. Dry-clean your winter coat. Then resolve to never let smoke in these places again. Get rid of every ashtray, lighter, and cigarette.

New routines also help. Studies show that triggers -- such as having coffee or finishing a meal -- are especially tempting for women. So enjoy your morning coffee in a café or at the office, where you can't smoke. Finish a meal with gum or a sugar-free candy.

You'll still have cravings, but they last only a couple of minutes. Be prepared. Keep your purse stocked with sugar-free gum, a bottle of water, and something to keep your hands busy, like knitting or a deck of cards.

View the original article here

Cancer Doctors Don't Discuss Herbs, Supplements With Patients

Many physicians cite a lack of knowledge as a primary reason, survey finds

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Despite concerns about potentially dangerous interactions between cancer treatments and herbs and other supplements, most cancer doctors don't talk to their patients about these products, new research found.

Fewer than half of cancer doctors -- oncologists -- bring up the subject of herbs or supplements with their patients, the researchers found. Many doctors cited their own lack of information as a major reason why they skip that conversation.

"Lack of knowledge about herbs and supplements, and awareness of that lack of knowledge is probably one of the reasons why oncologists don't initiate the discussion," said the study's author, Dr. Richard Lee, medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

"It's really about getting more research out there and more education so oncologists can feel comfortable having these conversations," Lee said.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

People with cancer often turn to herbs and other dietary supplements in an attempt to improve their health and cope with their symptoms, according to background information in the study.

Although herbs and supplements are often viewed as "natural," they contain active ingredients that might cause harmful interactions with standard cancer treatments. Some supplements can cause skin reactions when taken by patients receiving radiation treatment, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Herbs and supplements can also affect how chemotherapy drugs are absorbed and metabolized by the body, according to the ACS.

St. John's wort, Panax ginseng and green tea supplements are among those that can produce potentially dangerous interactions with chemotherapy, according to the study.

For the current survey, the researchers asked almost 400 oncologists about their views and knowledge of supplements. The average age of those who responded was 48 years. About three-quarters of them were men, and about three-quarters were white, the study noted.

The specialists polled talked about supplements with 41 percent of their patients. However, doctors initiated only 26 percent of these discussions, the researchers found.

View the original article here

About 1 in 7 Older Adults Has Some Form of Lung Disease: CDC

COPD, asthma affect many aging Americans

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 15 percent, or about one out of seven, middle-aged and older U.S. adults suffer from lung disorders such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), health officials said Tuesday.

While 10 percent of those people experience mild breathing problems, more than one-third of them report moderate or severe respiratory symptoms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

"There are a huge number of Americans that experience lung obstruction," said Dr. Norman Edelman, a senior medical advisor to the American Lung Association, who was not involved in the research. "It's a major problem; it's the third leading cause of death in the United States."

People with asthma or COPD -- which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis -- have reduced airflow and shortness of breath.

For the report, CDC researchers analyzed national survey data on adults ages 40 to 79 between 2007 and 2012. The research team looked at results of breathing tests or self-reported oxygen use to determine the prevalence of lung obstruction.

"The number of adults with lung obstruction has remained fairly stable since the last time these data were collected, in 2007 to 2010," said lead author Timothy Tilert, a data analyst with CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

According to the report, the incidence and severity of these lung diseases were similar for men and women, but prevalence increased with age. For example, 17 percent of people 60 to 79 had COPD or asthma compared with about 14 percent of those 40 to 59.

Also, severity of asthma or COPD -- which is usually caused by smoking -- was related to education level, Tilert said. People with some college education had lower rates of moderate or severe disease than those with less schooling.

Among people with either disease, more than half said they had one or more symptom, such as shortness of breath, wheezing, chronic cough or chronic phlegm.

For those with moderate to severe disease, more than 80 percent said they experienced at least one symptom. Shortness of breath was most common.

View the original article here

Diet Rich in Whole Grains Might Extend Your Life, Study Says

Findings held even after researchers accounted for person's weight, age and smoking status

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Over time, regularly eating whole wheat bread, oatmeal or other whole grains may add years to your lifespan, a new Harvard-led study concludes.

Whole grains are so healthy that a person's risk of an early death drops with every serving added to a daily diet, according to findings published online Jan. 5 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"We saw clear evidence that the more whole grain intake, the lower the mortality rate is," said Dr. Qi Sun, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. "When we looked at risk of death from heart disease, there was an even stronger association."

The researchers estimate that every one-ounce serving of whole grains reduced a person's overall risk of an early death by 5 percent, and their risk of death from heart disease by 9 percent.

However, eating whole grains did not appear to affect a person's risk of death from cancer, the study noted.

Sun's team based the findings on data from two long-term health studies dating back to the mid-1980s involving more than 118,000 nurses and health professionals. In the studies, participants were required to fill out food and diet questionnaires every two to four years, which included questions about their whole grain intake.

Freshly harvested grains such as wheat, barley and oatmeal consist of three parts. An outer shell called the bran protects the seed. The germ is the small embryo inside the seed that could sprout into a new plant. And the endosperm -- by far the largest part of the seed -- is the potential food supply for a new plant started from the germ.

In refining grains to make processed flour, manufacturers typically strip away the bran and the germ -- leaving only the calorie-rich endosperm. But whole grain foods such as oatmeal, popcorn, brown rice and whole wheat bread and cereal contain all three parts of the seed.

Over 26 years, there were about 27,000 deaths among the people participating in the two studies, the researchers said.

View the original article here

Rotating Night Shift Work May Raise Risks of Heart Disease, Lung Cancer: Study

Research can't prove cause-and-effect, but does suggest a link

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Working rotating night shifts may pose a threat to your health, a new study suggests.

The study defined rotating shift work as at least three nights spent working each month, in addition to days and evenings worked in the month.

In the new study, researchers led by Dr. Eva Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School tracked 22 years of data from about 75,000 nurses across the United States.

While the study couldn't prove cause-and-effect, it found that people who worked rotating night shifts for more than five years had an 11 percent increased risk of death from all causes.

The risk of death from heart disease was 19 percent higher among those who worked such shifts for six to 14 years, and 23 percent higher for those who worked such shifts for 15 or more years, Schernhammer's group found.

Nurses who worked rotating night shifts for 15 or more years also had a 25 percent higher risk of death from lung cancer, according to the study.

The findings are to be published in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

According to the study authors, prior research has shown that night shift work is linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

"These results add to prior evidence of a potentially detrimental relation of rotating night shift work and health and longevity," Schernhammer, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said in a journal news release.

Further research is needed to learn how individual traits might interact with rotating night shift work to harm health, she added.

View the original article here

Binge Drinking May Weaken Immune System, Study Suggests

But whether this makes you more vulnerable to colds or flu isn't known

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Young adults who engage in just one bout of binge drinking may experience a relatively quick and significant drop in their immune system function, a new small study indicates.

It's well-known that drinking ups injury risk, and this new study suggests that immune system impairment might also hamper recovery from those injuries.

"There's been plenty of research, mainly in animals, that has looked at what happens after alcohol has actually left the system, like the day after drinking," said study lead author Dr. Majid Afshar, an assistant professor in the departments of medicine and public health at Loyola University Health Systems in Maywood, Ill. "And it's been shown that if there is infection or injury, the body will be less well able to defend against it."

The new research, which was conducted while Afshar was at the University of Maryland, found immune system disruption occurs while alcohol is still in the system.

This could mean that if you already have an infection, binge drinking might make it worse, he said. Or it might make you more susceptible to a new infection. "It's hard to say for sure, but our findings suggest both are certainly possible," Afshar added.

The findings appear in the current online issue of Alcohol.

The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration levels to 0.08 g/dL, which is the legal limit for getting behind the wheel. In general, men reach this level after downing five or more drinks within two hours; for women the number is four.

About one in six American adults binge-drinks about four times a month, with higher rates seen among young adults between 18 and 34, figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate.

To assess the impact of just one bout of binge drinking, investigators focused on eight women and seven men who were between 25 and 30 years old.

Although all the volunteers said they had engaged in binge drinking prior to the study, none had a personal or family history of alcoholism, and all were in good health.

View the original article here

Alcohol Poisoning Kills 6 Americans Every Day, CDC Says

Older adults hardest hit by binge-drinking deaths, and long-term effects of alcoholism often play a role

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A new report finds that six people die in the United States each day after consuming far too much alcohol in too short a time -- a condition known as alcohol poisoning.

"Alcohol poisoning deaths are a heartbreaking reminder of the dangers of excessive alcohol use, which is a leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S.," Ileana Arias, principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an agency news release.

According to the new CDC Vital Signs report, alcohol poisoning kills more than 2,200 Americans a year. Adults aged 35 to 64 account for 75 percent of these deaths, and white males are most often the victims.

Alcohol poisoning death rates vary widely across states, ranging from 5.3 per million people in Alabama to 46.5 deaths per million people in Alaska. The states with the highest alcohol poisoning death rates are in the Great Plains, western United States and New England, the CDC said.

According to the agency, consuming very high levels of alcohol can cause areas of the brain that control breathing, heart rate and body temperature to shut down, resulting in death.

Alcohol poisoning can occur when people binge drink, defined as having more than five drinks in one sitting for men and more than four in one sitting for women. According to the CDC, more than 38 million American adults say they binge drink an average of four times per month and have an average of eight drinks per binge.

"We need to implement effective programs and policies to prevent binge drinking and the many health and social harms that are related to it, including deaths from alcohol poisoning," Arias said in the news release.

Alcoholism is a key risk factor in alcohol poisoning deaths. The new report -- based on national data from 2010-2012 -- found that alcoholism was a contributing factor in 30 percent of such deaths, and that other drugs were a factor in about 3 percent of the deaths.

View the original article here

Medicaid’s Western Push Hits Montana

Medicaid’s Western Push Hits MontanaAfter sitting out the first full year of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, lawmakers in Montana have moved on to arguing -- not about whether -- but about how much federal cash to pull down.WebMD News from Kaiser Health News

By Eric Whitney, Montana Public Radio Tue, Jan 06 2015

The Affordable Care Act is on the move in Western states, with the governors of Utah, Wyoming and Montana all working to hammer out deals with the Obama administration to expand Medicaid in ways tailored to each state.

But getting the federal stamp of approval is just the first hurdle — the governors also have to sell it to their legislatures who have their own ideas of how expansion should go.

The latest case-in-point is Montana, where the governor and the legislature have competing proposals about how much federal Medicaid expansion cash the state should try to pull down.

Montana’s GOP-dominated legislature, which meets every other year, rejected Democratic Governor Steve Bullock’s attempts in 2013 to expand Medicaid and set up a state-based insurance exchange. This year Bullock has a different Medicaid expansion proposal aiming to reduce the Treasure State’s 17 percent uninsured rate. It would use federal dollars to contract with a third party administrator to process claims and run a provider network. So far Republican leaders are not embracing it any more than they did his 2013 plan.

Nine Republican state lawmakers last week released an alternative proposal, the “Healthy Montana Family Plan.”  It rejects the approach by Bullock and the White House that Medicaid should be offered to anyone making less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), or $16,105 a year. That would be about 70,000 people in this sparsely populated state with just over 1 million residents.

Instead, the plan would extend Medicaid only to certain categories of people who make less than 100 percent of the federal poverty line, or $11,670. The idea is to “keep it targeted toward what it’s intended to do,” said plan co-author Sen. Fred Thomas, “take care of our most vulnerable citizens … disabled persons, low income seniors, low income parents, children.”

“Able-bodied people should be able to go out and get a job,” incoming Republican House Speaker Austin Knudsen told the Billings Gazette.

Thomas, an insurance agent by trade, says that extending Medicaid to non-disabled adults who don’t have children is “a disincentive to work.”

// Pulling Third Party Info from XMLfunction getPubType() { return "third_party" } var pubSource = 'Kaiser Health News';// init check partners pluginrequirejs(['article/1/checkpartners'],function(){});// init webmdArticle pluginrequirejs(['article/1/article'],function(){$('#dyn-art').webmdArticle({pageData: {title: "Medicaid’s Western Push Hits Montana", imgPath: "", caption: "", description: "After sitting out the first full year of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, lawmakers in Montana have moved on to arguing -- not about whether -- but about how much federal cash to pull down.", type: "article"}, shareTypes:{email: {htmlTemplate: 'Email'}}, shareText: '', expandIcons: {html: {more: 'More', less: 'Less'}, position: 3}});});

Web-based services, retail clinics and more.

Are you making any of these common errors?

View the original article here

Common Breast Biopsy Finding May Be More Dangerous Than Thought

Thirty percent of women with 'atypical hyperplasia' eventually developed breast cancer, study found

By Kathleen Doheny

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 31, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Women who have a pre-cancerous condition known as atypical hyperplasia of the breast are at higher risk of developing breast cancer than experts had believed, a new study finds.

Hyperplasia is an overgrowth of cells. When it occurs in a distorted pattern, it's called atypical hyperplasia. This condition is found in about one-tenth of the more than one million breast biopsies with benign findings done in the United States each year, according to researchers from the Mayo Clinic.

In the new study, the researchers found that about 30 percent of the women with atypical hyperplasia developed breast cancer in the 25 years after the diagnosis.

While experts have always known that atypical hyperplasia increases the risk of breast cancer, the new finding gives women with the condition more solid information about the extent of the risk, said study researcher Dr. Lynn Hartmann, a professor of oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Before the study, experts believed that women with atypical hyperplasia had about a four times higher risk of breast cancer, she said. That doesn't tell women their specific individual risk, however, Hartmann noted.

In the study, Hartmann's team followed nearly 700 women diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia at the Mayo Clinic between 1967 and 2001. After an average follow-up of more than 12 years, 143 women had developed breast cancer.

Hartmann's team validated the findings with a separate group of women with the condition at Vanderbilt University. Both sets of data found that around 30 percent of the women with atypical hyperplasia developed breast cancer.

As the extent of the hyperplasia increased, so did the risk, the investigators found.

The new research gives women some valuable information, according to two experts who reviewed the findings. One strength of the study was the "sizable sample of women followed for a long time," said Robert Smith, director of cancer screening for the American Cancer Society.

"We've always known their risk was higher," Smith said of women with the condition. However, the new study provides long-term data, he said, and shows a risk higher than most experts believed it to be.

View the original article here

FDA Approves Treatment for Acne Scarring

Jan. 7, 2015 -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for acne scarring.

Called Bellafill, the product is an injected gel that adds volume to the skin to lift and smooth out pitted acne scars to the level of the surrounding skin, the agency said.

In the study that led to FDA approval, 64 percent of 87 patients treated Bellafill said their skin had improved six months after treatment, compared with 33 percent of 46 patients treated with a placebo.

Also at six months, 84 percent of those treated with Bellafill said they were "very satisfied," "satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied," compared with 52 percent of those treated with a placebo.

Also at six months, doctors who didn't know which treatment patients had received judged 84 percent of Bellafill patients "improved" or "much improved," compared to 54 percent of placebo patients.

Bellafill, made by San Diego-based Suneva Medical Inc., costs about $1,000 per injection. The cost, like most cosmetic procedures, is not covered by insurance, according to Dr. Jeffrey Salomon, an assistant clinical professor of plastic surgery at Yale University School of Medicine.

View the original article here

Doctor Who? When Men Skimp on Physicals

It's probably time to schedule that checkup. Here's why.By Sonya Collins
WebMD Magazine - Feature

If you're like a lot of guys, you probably haven't had a physical in a while. Men are 24% less likely than women to have seen a doctor in the past year. Yet men are more likely to check into the hospital for congestive heart failure, diabetes -- related problems -- and pneumonia. These are all issues that you might prevent with checkups.

Now, you don't have to go every year, but if it's been more than 2 years since you've seen your primary care doc, it's probably time to make that appointment.

Causes of Obesity in Men

The prevalence of obesity among American men has doubled in only 25 years, and it’s killing us. A 2004 survey published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 71% of men 20 years old and over were overweight and 31% were obese. The same survey conducted in the late 1970s had found 47% of men were overweight and 15% were obese. Science is searching for the causes of obesity and exploring the role of genes, the diets of pregnant women, and the feeding habits of babies....

Read the Causes of Obesity in Men article > >

What happens at a physical and how often you need one depend on your health and your age. The physical itself is a head-to-toe exam, and men over 50 can expect a rectal exam to check for prostate problems, intestinal bleeding, and early signs of prostate and colorectal cancers.

A typical visit also includes a blood pressure check, which you should have at least every 2 years, and giving blood samples. Doctors use blood tests to check for diabetes and cholesterol level. Adults older than 20 who don't have risk factors for heart disease should have their cholesterol checked every 4 to 6 years. Adults who are overweight or have high blood pressure should get a diabetes screening test.

Chronic diseases and cancers may not show any symptoms at first, but you stand the best chance of curing or managing them when your doctor catches them early.

"Somebody may have severe diabetes and not have any symptoms, so certainly there's opportunity to turn some of those things around if they're detected early," says Clark T. Eddy, DO, of ProPartnersMD. That's a medical group in the Kansas City area that specializes in men's health.

During your checkup, you'll answer questions that can help your doctor see signs of depression or habits that might be a risk to your health. Depending on your lifestyle and personal and family history, your doctor might suggest more tests. The doctor will also recommend vaccines based on your age and lifestyle.

"Even if you haven't been to a doctor in 20 years," Eddy says, "coming in for a physical is the first step to being a more active participant in your health."

Find more articles, browse back issues, and read the current issue of "WebMD Magazine." 

View the original article here

Am I Obese? How Experts Define What Obesity Is

By Amanda MacMillan
WebMD Feature

Obesity means having far too much body fat. It's about much more than your clothing size or how you look. It can seriously affect your health.

Your whole body feels it, from your joints to your heart, blood pressure, blood sugar, and other systems. The extra fat cells produce inflammation and various hormones, which boosts your odds of chronic medical conditions.

If it seems like those odds are stacked against you, remember that it's possible to beat them. The first step is to know where you stand.

You step on the scale and your doctor or nurse notes your weight. They might also measure your waist, since it's especially risky to have too much belly fat.

If your doctor says you're overweight, that means "you're slightly over what's considered healthy," says Y. Claire Wang, MD. She's co-director of the Obesity Prevention Initiative at Columbia University.

Obesity is beyond being simply overweight. It's very common -- more than 1 in 3 U.S. adults are obese. If you're one of them, you can work to lose weight. Although it's not easy, dropping some of those extra pounds -- maybe fewer than you think -- starts to turn things around for you.

For adults, experts usually define obesity based on body mass index, or BMI. This formula relates your weight to your height.

For instance, if two people weigh the same amount but one is taller than the other, the taller person will have a lower BMI. To find your body mass index, plug your height and weight into a BMI calculator.

If your BMI is:

Below 18.5: underweight18.5-24.9: normal25-29.9: overweight30 or higher: obese

If you're obese, your doctor might talk about the categories of obesity:

Obesity level l: BMI of 30-34.9Obesity level ll: BMI of 35-39.9Obesity level lll: BMI of 40 or higher, which some also call "morbid" obesity

View the original article here

The Link Between Binge Eating and Depression

By Barbara Brody
WebMD FeatureReviewed by Joseph Goldberg, MD

If you binge eat, you might feel depressed about your food habits. Or perhaps those feelings make you eat more. Either way, you can get better.

“People do fully recover – and stay well,” says Timothy Brewerton, MD. He is the executive medical director at The Hearth Center for Eating Disorders in Columbia, S.C.

When someone's depressed and they binge eat, it can be hard to know if one condition causes the other or if they're unrelated. It's common for people to get depressed after a binge. 

The good news is that there are treatments for both conditions. Sometimes, therapy for depression helps someone stop overeating.

About half of the people who binge eat have a mood disorder such as depression.Some people binge in an attempt to numb sad, hopeless feelings.Many of those who binge eat and aren't currently depressed have a history of depression.

Also, you might be born with a risk for both conditions. The same genes involved in depression may play a role in eating and anxiety disorders, says Cynthia Bulik, PhD. She's a distinguished professor of eating disorders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Binge eating disorder might be linked to changes in the same brain chemicals that affect depression, too.

If you have depression, seek treatment. If you don’t get help, it's harder to recover from binge eating disorder. It might also make you more likely to have a setback.

"At the very least, you need a good professional evaluation," says Russell Marx, MD. He's the chief science officer for the National Eating Disorder Association.

Your primary care doctor is a good place to start, although she might not have a lot of experience treating depression or eating disorders.You'll likely also need to see a psychiatrist, a psychologist, or a clinical social worker.Working with a dietitian might also help.

Not every mental health professional has experience treating eating disorders. All who are well-trained, though, should at least be able to diagnose you and, if necessary, refer you elsewhere, says Marx.

Visit the National Eating Disorders Association online or call 800-931-2237 to find an expert in your area.

View the original article here

Binge Eating Disorder and Body Image

Reviewed by Joseph Goldberg, MD

Everyone has looked in the mirror at one time or another and not liked the way they looked or how their clothes fit. If you have binge eating disorder, research says you likely have these thoughts a lot. This type of thinking, called poor body image, can trigger binges and affect your recovery. Know that you can learn to change these feelings and get better.

“You aren’t born hating your body,” says Samantha DeCaro, PsyD. She is the assistant clinical director at The Renfrew Center, which specializes in treating eating disorders. She says poor body image is “something you learn” from the way people around you talk about themselves and others. This can create long-lasting effects -- good or bad -- on the way you see yourself.

“A healthy body image is acceptance of one’s self, period,” says Michelle May, MD, founder of the Am I Hungry? mindful eating program.

A healthy body image means:

You do not obsess about your appearance.You do not avoid activities, such as going to the beach, because you hate the way you look.You feel comfortable in your body as it is right now.You don’t confuse your value as a person with how you feel about your looks.

There are ways to know if your body image needs a boost. Some warning signs are:

Always comparing your body to othersConstant criticism of yourselfNegative self-talk

If you will not date, buy new clothes, go to the doctor, or take a vacation until you lose weight, you likely have a body image problem.

“People create rules about what they can and cannot do,” DeCaro says. This can prevent taking part in events, like hanging out with friends, that help you recover from binge eating disorder.

Improving your body image is important, but it’s a shift that can be tough to make. “Body image isn’t a quick fix. People have longstanding, firmly held beliefs,” DeCaro says. Even with those challenges, it is certainly possible.

View the original article here

Fertility Treatments Have Low Complication Rates, Study Finds

Improvements through the years have made these procedures safer, researchers say

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Assisted reproductive technology -- or fertility treatments -- to help conceive a baby is growing safer in the United States and is now a low-risk procedure, according to a new study.

The researchers found the risk of complications was low for both "autologous procedures" -- where women use their own eggs -- as well as donor-assisted procedures.

As the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the United States increases, efforts have been made to improve patient safety. These safety measures include using less aggressive medication regimens to stimulate ovulation. And egg retrieval before ovulation is no longer done through laparoscopic surgery, but through a less invasive vaginal procedure, according to background information with the study.

To gain a better understanding of how these changes have improved ART complication rates, the researchers examined statistics and trends in reported complications from both patients and donors involved in fresh (not frozen) assisted reproductive technology.

The findings were published in the Jan. 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The decade-long review, led by Dr. Jennifer Kawwass of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, spanned the years 2000 to 2011. It was based on a surveillance system established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the study authors noted in a journal news release.

The researchers said reported complications had to be directly related to assisted reproductive technology and take place within 12 weeks of the procedure. Possible problems included infection, bleeding, complications related to anesthesia, hospitalization, and death.

Among nearly 1.2 million ART cycles where women used their own eggs, the most commonly reported patient complications were ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) -- an overreaction to ovarian stimulation -- and hospitalization.

"Increased awareness of the most common complication, OHSS, may prompt additional study to characterize predictors of this and other adverse events to inform the development of effective approaches necessary to decrease complication occurrence," the study authors wrote.

The researchers noted that rates of all other complications remained below 10 per 10,000 cycles.

The study authors said they identified 58 deaths associated with ART during the study period. Of these, 18 deaths were related to ovarian stimulation and 40 others occurred before delivery. Overall, the death rates for women who had an ART-conceived live birth ranged from 14.2 per 100,000 in 2004 to 1.6 per 100,000 in 2008.

View the original article here

Flu: Bad Season Getting Worse

By Ashley Hayes
WebMD Health News

Jan. 5, 2015 -- The flu is increasing in intensity and spreading throughout much of the country, the CDC said in its weekly flu update.

And it will get worse before it gets better.

“Flu activity is expected to continue in the coming weeks, with increases occurring especially in those states that have not yet had significant activity,” according to the CDC.

“Nationally, the country is likely to continue to experience several more weeks of flu activity. … Most of the northeast and west of the country has yet to experience the full brunt of the flu season.”

Only one state, Hawaii, reported “sporadic” flu activity through Dec. 27, according to the agency. Six more -- California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, and Maine -- reported significant activity, along with Puerto Rico. The flu was at “widespread” levels in the other 43 states, an increase from 36 the previous week.

Another six flu-associated deaths of children were reported, bringing the total to 21 this season. With the exception of the 2009 flu pandemic, deaths of children from the flu have ranged from 37 to 171 since 2004-2005, when they began to be reported, the CDC said.

The CDC doesn't track adult deaths from the flu. But the number of deaths in which pneumonia or influenza was listed -- which was at an “epidemic threshold” for the week ending Dec. 20 -- has declined this week. It's “once again below the epidemic threshold,” the agency says. The flu season is said to have reached epidemic levels when the proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and the flu reaches a certain level. That threshold changes week to week.

This year’s dominant flu strain is H3N2, a type of the flu virus that tends to be more serious, officials have said. It’s also “drifted” from the strains included in the flu vaccine, meaning the vaccine is not as effective as hoped.

Seasons dominated by H3 viruses tend to have more hospitalizations and deaths, CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, said last year.

So far, H3N2 viruses account for more than 95% of all flu cases reported to the CDC this season.

View the original article here

Can Pets Help Boost Social Skills for Kids With Autism?

Study finds slight evidence that family pets boost social skills in children with the disorder

By Tara Haelle

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Owning a pet may play a role in social skills development for some children with autism, a new study suggests.

The findings are among the first to investigate possible links between pets and social skills in kids with an autism spectrum disorder -- a group of developmental disorders that affect a child's ability to communicate and socialize.

"Research in the area of pets for children with autism is very new and limited. But it may be that the animals helped to act as a type of communication bridge, giving children with autism something to talk about with others," said study author Gretchen Carlisle, a researcher at the University of Missouri's College of Veterinary Medicine and Thompson Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders. "We know this happens with adults and typically developing children."

She said the study showed a difference in social skills that was significantly greater for children with autism living with any pet.

But, the associations are weak, according to autism expert Dr. Glen Elliott, chief psychiatrist and medical director of Children's Health Council in Palo Alto, Calif.

"One absolutely cannot assume that dog ownership is going to improve an autistic child's social skills, certainly not from this study," he said.

It's also important to note that while this study found a difference in social skills in children with autism who had pets at home, the study wasn't designed to prove whether or not pet ownership was the actual cause of those differences.

A large body of research, described in the study's background, has found dog owners share close bonds with their pets. Past research also shows that pets can provide typically developing children with emotional support.

Pets have also been shown to help facilitate social interaction. And, pets have been linked to greater empathy and social confidence in typically developing children. Past research in children with autism has focused only on service dogs, therapy dogs, equine-assisted therapy and dolphins, Carlisle said.

Carlisle wanted to see if having a family pet might make a difference in children with autism. To do so, she conducted a telephone survey with 70 parents of children diagnosed with any autism spectrum disorder. The parents answered questions about their child's attachment to their dog and their child's social skills, such as communication, responsibility, assertiveness, empathy, engagement and self-control.

View the original article here

Living With Hep C: What to Expect

By Suzanne Verity
WebMD FeatureReviewed by Jennifer Robinson, MD

If you’ve just found out you have hepatitis C, you have a lot of questions. If you’re like most people with this condition, you probably never knew you had it until now.

You’re not alone. Hepatitis C isn’t rare in the U.S., especially among baby boomers -- people born between 1945 and 1965. People this age are five times more likely than others to get the virus, which causes swelling and scarring of the liver. 

Hepatitis C: Diet and Exercise

Contrary to the claims of many books and web sites, there's no such thing as a proven hepatitis C diet or exercise regimen. But while you have to be wary of any programs promising cures, you should eat right and get exercise. "There's no hard data about exercise or eating right with hepatitis C, but I always tell people to do it," says David Thomas, MD, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. "Exercise can make them feel better, especially with depression caused by...

Read the Hepatitis C: Diet and Exercise article > >

Even though it was surely a shock to get your test results, it’s your first step toward a cure.

And hepatitis C can be cured. It happens when your doctor finds no trace of the virus in your body 6 months after you finished the medication.

In 1990, strong drugs called interferons were approved to treat the disease. But they had severe side effects, and a low cure rate. “Now, we are curing more than 90% with pills,” says David L. Thomas, MD, MPH. He's the director of the division of infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Fear looms large when people find out they have hepatitis C, Thomas says. “Most want to know if they will have to be on interferon or have a liver biopsy.” He says some of his patients have avoided getting care or being tested because they're afraid of these things.

“The beauty of current therapy is that interferon is no longer required in the vast majority of patients,” says Paul Gaglio, MD. He's the medical director of liver transplantation in the division of hepatology at Montefiore Medical Center. “Most can be cured with one tablet, taken once a day for 8, 12, or 24 weeks.”

One of the first things to do is find a specialist to take over your care. Doctors trained to treat organs of the digestive tract (gastroenterologists), liver doctors (hepatologists), and infectious disease specialists all stay up to date on how to treat and cure hepatitis C.

Now, get ready for a few tests. Your doctor will want to find out which of six kinds (genotypes) of hepatitis C you have. 

View the original article here

Type 1 Diabetes Linked to Lower Life Expectancy in Study

But, second study suggests that intensive blood sugar management can make a difference

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- People with type 1 diabetes today lose more than a decade of life to the chronic disease, despite improved treatment of both diabetes and its complications, a new Scottish study reports.

Men with type 1 diabetes lose about 11 years of life expectancy compared to men without the disease. And, women with type 1 diabetes have their lives cut short by about 13 years, according to a report published in the Jan. 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings "provide a more up-to-date quantification of how much type 1 diabetes cuts your life span now, in our contemporary era," said senior author Dr. Helen Colhoun, a clinical professor in the diabetes epidemiology unit of the University of Dundee School of Medicine in Scotland.

Diabetes' impact on heart health appeared to be the largest single cause of lost years, according to the study. But, the researchers also found that type 1 diabetics younger than 50 are dying in large numbers from conditions caused by issues in management of the disease -- diabetic coma caused by critically low blood sugar, and ketoacidosis caused by a lack of insulin in the body.

"These conditions really reflect the day-to-day challenge that people with type 1 diabetes continue to face, how to get the right amount of insulin delivered at the right time to deal with your blood sugar levels," Colhoun said.

A second study, also in JAMA, suggested that some of these early deaths might be avoided with intensive blood sugar management.

In that paper, researchers reduced patients' overall risk of premature death by about a third, compared with diabetics receiving standard care, by conducting multiple blood glucose tests throughout the day and constantly adjusting insulin levels to hit very specific blood sugar levels.

"Across the board, individuals who had better glucose control due to intensive therapy had increased survival," said co-author Dr. Samuel Dagogo-Jack, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

View the original article here

About 1 in 7 Older Adults Has Some Form of Lung Disease: CDC

COPD, asthma affect many aging Americans

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 15 percent, or about one out of seven, middle-aged and older U.S. adults suffer from lung disorders such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), health officials said Tuesday.

While 10 percent of those people experience mild breathing problems, more than one-third of them report moderate or severe respiratory symptoms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

"There are a huge number of Americans that experience lung obstruction," said Dr. Norman Edelman, a senior medical advisor to the American Lung Association, who was not involved in the research. "It's a major problem; it's the third leading cause of death in the United States."

People with asthma or COPD -- which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis -- have reduced airflow and shortness of breath.

For the report, CDC researchers analyzed national survey data on adults ages 40 to 79 between 2007 and 2012. The research team looked at results of breathing tests or self-reported oxygen use to determine the prevalence of lung obstruction.

"The number of adults with lung obstruction has remained fairly stable since the last time these data were collected, in 2007 to 2010," said lead author Timothy Tilert, a data analyst with CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

According to the report, the incidence and severity of these lung diseases were similar for men and women, but prevalence increased with age. For example, 17 percent of people 60 to 79 had COPD or asthma compared with about 14 percent of those 40 to 59.

Also, severity of asthma or COPD -- which is usually caused by smoking -- was related to education level, Tilert said. People with some college education had lower rates of moderate or severe disease than those with less schooling.

Among people with either disease, more than half said they had one or more symptom, such as shortness of breath, wheezing, chronic cough or chronic phlegm.

For those with moderate to severe disease, more than 80 percent said they experienced at least one symptom. Shortness of breath was most common.

View the original article here

Ankylosing Spondylitis: How to Get Support at Work and Home

Most people with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) know about back pain. But other areas of your body can swell and hurt, too.

That’s what happened to 23-year-old Stefanie Gomez. When she was 15 -- before she ever had back pain -- the joints in her toe, ankle, and knee swelled up. They became red, warm, and painful.

Understanding Arthritis Painkillers

When you have arthritis pain, you need relief. But with so many warnings in the news about painkillers, it's hard to know the best choice. Many medications that ease arthritis pain have the potential for health risks, including increased risk for heart attack, stomach problems, or infections. You have difficult decisions to make, whether you're fighting pain from osteoarthritis that comes with age -- or pain from rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating immune disorder. Do you somehow tough out...

Read the Understanding Arthritis Painkillers article > >

It’s pretty common for AS to first show up in places other than your spine. That’s especially true for people who are younger than 16.

It wasn’t long before Gomez, now a social worker in San Francisco, had problems in her sacroiliac (SI) joints. Those are the places where your spine meets your pelvis. Everyone with AS has inflammation in at least one of their SI joints.

Since then, Gomez has had painful flares in her hip about twice a month. “Sometimes I’m late for work because of a flare-up, or I avoid seeing friends because I know I’ll be in pain,” she says.

Gomez’s main triggers are cold weather, stress, and poor eating.

“At the first sign of stiffness, I get in the shower and the pressure of the water helps me get back to moving,” she says.

“This is a systemic disease that affects the whole body,” says Lianne Gensler, MD. She's the director of the Ankylosing Spondylitis Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco. So don’t be surprised when other areas of your body become affected, she says.

Here’s how many people with AS get symptoms beyond their SI joint:

Middle to upper back: 50%-70%Neck: 75%Eyes: 40%Heel or shoulders: 30%Knees: 20%Wrist, toes, or fingers: 5%

Having symptoms in places other than your back can mean that you have a more serious form of the disease. Knowing how to spot the signs can help you get treatment sooner and hopefully prevent further damage.

View the original article here

Random Mutations Responsible for About Two-Thirds of Cancer Risk: Study

Cancer often linked to 'bad luck,' Hopkins researchers say

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Although about one-third of cancers can be linked to environmental factors or inherited genes, new research suggests the remaining two-thirds may be caused by random mutations.

These mutations take place when stem cells divide, according to the study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Stem cells regenerate and replace cells that die off. If stem cells make random mistakes and mutate during this cell division, cancer can develop. The more of these mistakes that happen, the greater a person's risk that cells will grow out of control and develop into cancer, the study authors explained in a Hopkins news release.

Although unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as smoking, are a contributing factor, the researchers concluded that the "bad luck" of random mutations plays a key role in the development of many forms of cancer.

"All cancers are caused by a combination of bad luck, the environment and heredity, and we've created a model that may help quantify how much of these three factors contribute to cancer development," said Dr. Bert Vogelstein, professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"Cancer-free longevity in people exposed to cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco, is often attributed to their 'good genes,' but the truth is that most of them simply had good luck," added Vogelstein, who is also co-director of the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The researchers said their findings might not only change the way people perceive their risk for cancer, but also funding for cancer research.

Cristian Tomasetti is a biomathematician and assistant professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. "If two-thirds of cancer incidence across tissues is explained by random DNA mutations that occur when stem cells divide, then changing our lifestyle and habits will be a huge help in preventing certain cancers, but this may not be as effective for a variety of others," Tomasetti said in the news release.

View the original article here

Defective Hormone Linked to Chronic Obesity in Baby

Researchers say the condition might explain weight problem for limited number of people

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 31, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A small number of extremely obese people may be fat because their bodies produce a malfunctioning form of the appetite-controlling hormone leptin.

That's the conclusion of a case study that appears in the Jan. 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers base this new theory on a 2-year-old boy of Turkish descent with an insatiable appetite. He was chronically obese for much of his short life.

At first doctors were puzzled by the case, since the boy appeared to have high blood levels of leptin, the hormone the body releases when a person has eaten enough, said Dr. Martin Wabitsch, a researcher in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at the University of Ulm in Germany.

A genetic sequencing test revealed that the boy produces a mutated form of leptin that can't effectively signal to the central nervous system that no more food is needed, Wabitsch said.

"The leptin is produced and secreted in a normal way, but it does not bind and does not activate the satiety receptor in the central nervous system, due to the mutation," he said.

When doctors treated the boy with injections of synthetic leptin, he started eating less and experienced substantial weight loss, the study authors reported.

Wabitsch said this condition likely is very rare, but added that he already has identified a second and third case that he will write about in another upcoming article.

"I am sure there are many other patients who have this disease with biologically inactive leptin, and they are not detected because doctors test the leptin in their blood and find there is no deficiency," he said.

Doctors have known about the role that leptin plays in appetite since the 1990s, Wabitsch said, but studies aimed at treating obesity through leptin injections have tended to fail.

That's because some people who have leptin-associated obesity have receptors that don't receive the hormone's signal properly, he said. It doesn't matter how much healthy leptin is circulating in their system -- their nervous system can't receive the message that the person is full.

View the original article here

Researchers Probe Why Colds Are More Likely in Winter

Animal study suggests body's defense system doesn't seem to work as well at cooler temperatures

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Though it's never been scientifically confirmed, conventional wisdom has it that winter is the season of sniffles.

Now, new animal research seems to back up that idea. It suggests that as internal body temperatures fall after exposure to cold air, so too does the immune system's ability to beat back the rhinovirus that causes the common cold.

"It has been long known that the rhinovirus replicates better at the cooler temperature, around 33 Celsius (91 Fahrenheit), compared to the core body temperature of 37 Celsius (99 Fahrenheit)," said study co-author Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine.

"[But] the reason for this cold temperature preference for virus replication was unknown. Much of the focus on this question has been on the virus itself. However, virus replication machinery itself works well at both temperatures, leaving the question unanswered," Iwasaki said.

"We used mouse airway cells as a model to study this question [and found that] at the cooler temperature found in the nose, the host immune system was unable to induce defense signals to block virus replication," Iwasaki explained.

The researchers discuss their findings in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

To explore the potential relationship between internal body temperatures and the ability to fend off a virus, the research team incubated mouse cells in two different temperature settings. One group of cells was incubated at 37 C (99 F) to mimic the core temperature found in the lungs, and the other at 33 C (91 F) to mimic the temperature of the nose.

Then they watched how cells raised in each environment reacted following exposure to the rhinovirus.

The result? Fluctuations in internal body temperatures had no direct impact on the virus itself. Rather, it was the body's indirect immune response to the virus that differed, with a stronger response observed among the warmer lung cells and a weaker response observed among the colder nasal cells.

And how might outdoor temperatures affect this dynamic?

View the original article here

Little Change in Fast Food Calorie Counts, Salt Content

Researchers tracked popular items from 3 major chains from 1996-2013

By EJ Mundell

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 31, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- An investigation into the nutrition offered in meals from three major fast food chains finds little change in calories, salt or saturated fat from 1996 to 2013.

A team led by Alice Lichtenstein, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory, looked at the nutrition of four popular fast food menu items -- fries, cheeseburgers, grilled chicken sandwiches and regular cola. Overall, the researchers focused on 27 items, including small, medium and large fries and cola beverages, a grilled chicken sandwich, and 2-ounce and 4-ounce cheeseburgers.

According to the researchers, the average calorie content, salt content and saturated fat content of these items stayed more or less the same over the 17-year period.

Two positive trends were noted, however. First, levels of unhealthy trans fats in French fries declined over time, the team found. That was probably due to changes in frying fat, and "the decline in trans fat we saw between 2005 and 2009 appears to be related to legislative efforts," Lichtenstein said.

Second, "there is a perception that restaurants have significantly expanded their portion sizes over the years, but the fast food we assessed does not appear to be part of that trend," Lichtenstein, who is also a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Boston, said in a Tufts news release.

According to Lichtenstein, the real danger in terms of obesity and other health issues comes when fast food items are ordered together.

Levels of calories, salt and saturated fat "are high for most of the individual menu items assessed, particularly for items frequently sold together as a meal," she said, and this is "pushing the limits of what we should be eating to maintain a healthy weight and sodium intake."

Nutritionists recommend that most people eat around 2,000 calories a day. "Among the three chains, calories in a large cheeseburger meal, with fries and a regular cola beverage, ranged from 1,144 to 1,757 over the years," Lichtenstein said.

View the original article here

Health Worker Exposed to Ebola; in NE Hospital

Jan. 5, 2015 -- A U.S. health care worker who was exposed to Ebola in Sierra Leone is under observation after arriving at the Nebraska Medical Center on Sunday afternoon.

The patient was flown to Omaha and then driven to the medical center by paramedics in full-body protective gear, the Associated Press reported.

The patient -- who has not tested positive for Ebola and is not ill or contagious -- will be monitored for signs of Ebola throughout the virus' 21-day incubation period, according to Dr. Phil Smith, head of the biocontainment unit at the medical center.

Doctors and nurses are wearing full protective equipment and taking the same precautions used when three patients with Ebola were treated at the medical center last fall, hospital spokesman Taylor Wilson told the AP.

About 8,000 people have died from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that began about a year ago, according to the World Health Organization.

View the original article here

Weight-Loss Surgery May Extend Lives, Study Finds

Results applied to older men and women, even with other health problems

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Weight-loss surgery appears to prolong life for severely obese adults, a new study of U.S. veterans finds.

Among 2,500 obese adults who underwent so-called bariatric surgery, the death rate was about 14 percent after 10 years compared with almost 24 percent for obese patients who didn't have weight-loss surgery, researchers found.

"Patients with severe obesity can have greater confidence that bariatric surgical procedures are associated with better long-term survival than not having surgery," said lead researcher Dr. David Arterburn, an associate investigator with the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle.

Earlier studies have shown better survival among younger obese women who had weight-loss surgery, but this study confirms this finding in older men and women who suffer from other health problems, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, he said.

The findings were published Jan. 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We were not able to determine in our study the reasons why veterans lived longer after surgery than they did without surgery," Arterburn said. "However, other research suggests that bariatric surgery reduces the risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer, which may be the main ways that surgery prolongs life."

Dr. John Lipham, chief of upper gastrointestinal and general surgery at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, said that patients who have weight-loss surgery usually see their diabetes disappear.

"This by itself is going to provide a survival benefit," he said. Shedding excess weight also lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels and reduces the odds of developing heart disease, he said.

"If you are obese and unable to lose weight on your own, bariatric surgery should be considered," Lipham said.

Arterburn said most insurance plans including Medicare cover bariatric surgery.

As with any surgery, however, weight-loss surgery carries some risks. "The main risk from surgery is the risk of dying from a major complication such as bleeding or infection, which typically occurs in less than 0.3 percent of patients," Arterburn said.

View the original article here

Study Debunks Notion of 'Healthy Obesity'

Very heavy people slip into poor health over time, researchers find

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- The notion of potentially healthy obesity is a myth, with most obese people slipping into poor health and chronic illness over time, a new British study claims.

The "obesity paradox" is a theory that argues obesity might improve some people's chances of survival over illnesses such as heart failure, said lead researcher Joshua Bell, a doctoral student in University College London's department of epidemiology and public health.

But research tracking the health of more than 2,500 British men and women for two decades found that half the people initially considered "healthy obese" wound up sliding into poor health as years passed.

"Healthy obesity is something that's a phase rather than something that's enduring over time," Bell said. "It's important to have a long-term view of healthy obesity, and to bear in mind the long-term tendencies. As long as obesity persists, health tends to decline. It does seem to be a high-risk state."

The obesity paradox springs from research involving people who are overweight but do not suffer from obesity-related problems such as high blood pressure, bad cholesterol and elevated blood sugar, said Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of clinical cardiology for National Jewish Health in Denver.

Some studies have found that people in this category seem to be less likely to die from heart disease and chronic kidney disease compared with folks with a lower body mass index, Freeman said -- even though science also has proven that obesity increases overall risk for heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.

No one can say how the obesity paradox works, but some have speculated that people with extra weight might have extra energy stores they can draw upon if they become acutely ill, Freeman said.

To test this theory, University College London researchers tracked the health of 2,521 men and women between the ages of 39 and 62. They measured each participant's body mass index (a calculation based on height and weight), cholesterol, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar and insulin resistance, and ranked them as either healthy or unhealthy and obese or non-obese.

View the original article here

How I Lost Half My Body Weight

Weight loss surgery, exercise, and determination helped a WebMD user shape up.By William Streetman
WebMD Magazine - Feature

Four years ago I was 54 years old and weighed 404 pounds. Being overweight was something that sort of crept up on me. In my early 20s, I wasn’t fat -- I played softball and soccer with pickup teams and rode my bicycle.

Then I got married, had kids, and started a career. I was traveling, building my career, and overeating, over-drinking, not sleeping enough, and not taking care of myself. I didn’t exercise because I felt too heavy to do it, and those destructive cycles just took over.

Weight Loss Surgery for Obesity

The first weight loss surgery Garrick Pedersen underwent nearly killed him. Doctors placed an elastic band around Pedersen's stomach just below the esophagus to restrict how much food he could eat. Pedersen, who weighed close to 300 pounds, began to lose weight almost immediately after the surgery. "I was overjoyed," says Pedersen, 52, a lawyer in the San Francisco Bay area. "I felt better. I looked better." What's more, very small portions of food left him feeling full. Then came trouble...

Read the Weight Loss Surgery for Obesity article > >

I was so big that I couldn’t fit in theater seats, and I couldn’t attend sporting events. I was deathly afraid of asking for a seatbelt extender on an airplane, or going to a restaurant and getting stuck sitting at a booth. My cholesterol was high.

One Saturday, I talked to my business partner about how we needed to take better care of ourselves. We were both out of shape and overweight -- and I realized this was the 20th weekend in a row we were saying this. I thought to myself, "You either mean it or you don’t. Which is it?"

I had tried to lose weight for about 20 years. My sister had suggested gastric bypass, and I had a cousin who had the surgery. So I researched the different kinds of surgeries, met with a doctor at a weight-loss center, and everything just fell into place.

I had gastric bypass surgery on Oct. 4, 2010, a procedure called Roux-en-Y, where the doctor cut the top part of my stomach to make a small pouch and rerouted part of my small intestine.

I couldn’t eat like I did before. If I ate too fast or 1 ounce too much, I would throw up. I looked at gastric bypass as a tool that allowed me to eat to fuel my body and not for pleasure. I couldn’t eat six Big Macs anymore -- nor did I want to. Instead, I ate a lot of little meals throughout the day, focusing on the vitamins, minerals, and protein my body needed.

View the original article here

Many Insurers Do Not Cover Drugs Approved To Help People Lose Weight

Many Insurers Do Not Cover Weight Loss DrugsDespite the increasing efforts to fight the obesity epidemic and the approval of four new weight-loss medications, Medicare and many private plans are reluctant to pay for the medicines because of serious safety problems with other drugs in the past.WebMD News from Kaiser Health News

By Michelle Andrews

Tue, Jan 6 2015

In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new anti-obesity drug, Saxenda, the fourth prescription drug the agency has given the green light to fight obesity since 2012. But even though two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese — and many may need help sticking to New Year’s weight-loss resolutions — there’s a good chance their insurer won’t cover Saxenda or other anti-obesity drugs.

The health benefits of using anti-obesity drugs to lose weight—improvements in blood sugar and risk factors for heart disease, among other things—may not be immediately apparent. “For things that are preventive in the long term, it makes plan sponsors think about their strategy,” says Dr. Steve Miller, the chief medical officer at Express Scripts, which manages the prescription drug benefits for thousands of companies. Companies with high turnover, for example, are less likely to cover the drugs, he says.

“Most health plans will cover things that have an immediate impact in that plan year,” Miller says.

Miller estimates that about a third of companies don’t cover anti-obesity drugs at all, a third cover all FDA-approved weight-loss drugs, and a third cover approved drugs, but with restrictions to limit their use. The Medicare prescription drug program specifically excludes coverage of anti-obesity drugs.

Part of the reluctance by Medicare and private insurers to cover weight-loss drugs stems from serious safety problems with diet drugs in the past, including the withdrawal in 1997 of fenfluramine, part of the fen-phen diet drug combination that was found to damage heart valves.

Back then, weight-loss drugs were often dismissed as cosmetic treatments. But as the link between obesity and increased risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other serious medical problems has become clearer, prescription drugs are seen as having a role to play in addressing the obesity epidemic. Obesity accounts for 21 percent of annual medical costs in the United States, or $190 billion, according to a 2012 study published in the Journal of Health Economics.

The new approved drugs — Belviq, Qsymia, Contrave and Saxenda — work by suppressing appetite, among other things. Saxenda is a subcutaneous injection, the other three drugs are in pill form. They’re generally safer and have fewer side effects than older drugs. In conjunction with diet and exercise, people typically lose between 5 and 10 percent of their body weight, research shows, modest weight loss but sufficient to meaningfully improve health.

// Pulling Third Party Info from XMLfunction getPubType() { return "third_party" } var pubSource = 'Kaiser Health News';// init check partners pluginrequirejs(['article/1/checkpartners'],function(){});// init webmdArticle pluginrequirejs(['article/1/article'],function(){$('#dyn-art').webmdArticle({pageData: {title: "Many Insurers Do Not Cover Weight Loss Drugs", imgPath: "", caption: "", description: "Despite the increasing efforts to fight the obesity epidemic and the approval of four new weight-loss medications, Medicare and many private plans are reluctant to pay for the medicines because of serious safety problems with other drugs in the past.", type: "article"}, shareTypes:{email: {htmlTemplate: 'Email'}}, shareText: '', expandIcons: {html: {more: 'More', less: 'Less'}, position: 3}});});

Web-based services, retail clinics and more.

Are you making any of these common errors?

View the original article here

Some Blind People Use Echolocation to 'See'

Soundwaves help to judge position of objects in surrounding area, study shows

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Some people who are blind develop an alternate sense -- called echolocation -- to help them "see," a new study indicates.

In addition to relying on their other senses, people who are blind may also use echoes to detect the position of surrounding objects, the international researchers reported in Psychological Science.

"Some blind people use echolocation to assess their environment and find their way around," study author Gavin Buckingham, a psychological scientist at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, said in a journal news release.

"They will either snap their fingers or click their tongue to bounce sound waves off objects, a skill often associated with bats, which use echolocation when flying. However, we don't yet understand how much echolocation in humans has in common with how a sighted individual would use their vision," Buckingham said.

To investigate the use of echolocation among blind people, the researchers divided participants into three groups: blind echolocators, blind people who didn't use echolocation, and control subjects that had no problems with their vision.

All of the groups were told to estimate the weight of three cubes that were the same weight, but different sizes.

The study showed that people who use echolocation misjudged the weight of the cubes. Meanwhile, the blind people who did not use echolocation were able to correctly assess the weight of the boxes because they had no idea how big each one was, the researchers explained.

"The sighted group, where each member was able to see how big each box was, overwhelmingly succumbed to the 'size-weight illusion' and experienced the smaller box as feeling a lot heavier than the largest one," Buckingham said.

"We were interested to discover that echolocators, who only experienced the size of the box through echolocation, also experienced this illusion," Buckingham said. "This showed that echolocation was able to influence their sense of how heavy something felt. This resembles how visual assessment influenced how heavy the boxes felt in the sighted group."

The researchers noted that these findings are consistent with other research that suggests that blind people who use echolocation rely on the visual areas of the brain to process echolocation information.

View the original article here

How to Choose the Right Shampoo

How to Choose the Right ShampooWhat's in a shampoo? We break it down and help you find the right one for your hair type.http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/article_thumbnails/video/how_to_treat_dandruff_video/69x75_how_to_treat_dandruff_video.jpgWebMD Magazine - Feature

Staring at an aisle of shampoo bottles is enough to get anyone into a lather. But the words on the labels are backed up by science. The bottom line is that "most shampoos are basically cleansing agents, thickeners, preservatives, and humectants," says Ni'Kita Wilson. She's the CEO of Catalyst Cosmetic Development in Union, N.J.

You need the right combination to make a formula that's precisely right for your hair. We asked shampoo chemists for a guide to the best options depending on your hair type.

Some people have the Goldilocks of locks -- a just-right balance of oiliness and dryness that isn't too fine or frizzy. If that's you, you need a fairly even ratio of conditioning agents and detergents, Wilson says.

You may have to hunt a bit. "You won't find a lot of 'normal' shampoos these days, because brands create versions for specific hair types," says Perry Romanowski, an independent cosmetic chemist in Chicago.

An excess of sebum or heavy, waxy styling products can leave a greasy residue that requires a clarifying formula to remove.

"These tend to have salicylic acid to break down gunk left on the hair and scalp," Wilson says.

The ingredients list should be shorter (because you don't want to deposit anything else on your hair), and you want detergents like sulfates to remove dirt and oils.

The key to fattening up skinny strands is to look for polymers like the "quats" (polyquaternium 7 or 10), which can make hair look and feel thicker, Romanowski says.

Wilson says fine hair will feel bulkier with shampoos that have film-formers, such as hydrolyzed wheat protein and PG-propyl silanetriol. These increase the diameter of the hair shaft.

"You also want to avoid silicones, which can feel heavy on fine textures," Romanowski says.

To tame an unruly mane, you need high levels of conditioning agents for smoothness and moisture. In this case, new products called cleansing conditioners offer that blend of benefits.

"A cleansing conditioner is basically a conditioner with a little bit of mild surfactants to help lift dirt," Wilson says. These offer high levels of moisture and gently cleanse to keep the hair cuticle smooth and fight fly-aways.

// Pulling Third Party Info from XMLfunction getPubType() { return "editorial" } var pubSource = 'WebMD Magazine - Feature';// init check partners pluginrequirejs(['article/1/checkpartners'],function(){});// init webmdArticle pluginrequirejs(['article/1/article'],function(){$('#dyn-art').webmdArticle({pageData: {title: "How to Choose the Right Shampoo", imgPath: "http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/article_thumbnails/video/how_to_treat_dandruff_video/69x75_how_to_treat_dandruff_video.jpg", caption: "What's in a shampoo? We break it down and help you find the right one for your hair type.", description: "What's in a shampoo? We break it down and help you find the right one for your hair type.", type: "article"}});});Are you happy with your skin?

Great! There are always new tips that can make your skin look better.

Get Started

Get the skin you want with our personal skin evaluator.

Get Started // self executing function for scope (function(){ // grabs pageview id out of global scope and makes sure it exists as we need to pass it to ads in that case var pageviewId = window.s_pageview_id || ''; var iframeURLOutOfPB = '//as.webmd.com/html.ng/transactionID=966864155&tile=1955388036&tug=&pug=__&site=2&affiliate=20&hcent=13953&scent=1013&pos=121&xpg=3617&sec=&au1=&au2=&uri=%2fbeauty%2fhair-nails%2fchoose-right-shampoo&artid=091e9c5e810992a0&inst=0&leaf=&segm=0&cc=10&tmg=&bc=__&mcent=µ=&pvid=' + pageviewId; var cleanIframeURL = iframeURLOutOfPB.replace(/&/g, '&'); var ad = { adLocation:'right', adURL:cleanIframeURL, trans:'966864155', tile:'1955388036', pos:'121' }; // check to make sure this seed call functionality exists, if it does, dooo it if(webmd.object.exists('webmd.ads.handleAdSeedCall')) { webmd.ads.handleAdSeedCall(ad); } })();

What you need to know about fake nails.

Take the sting out of dye, shampoo, and relaxers.

5 signs you're using the wrong one.

Smooth snarled hair into submission.

Does your nail polish contain harmful chemicals?

Is hair coloring safe?

View the original article here

High Blood Sugar in Heart Failure Patients May Point to Risk of Early Death

Even normal but slightly elevated levels can signal trouble, study notes

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Checking the blood sugar levels of emergency department patients with heart failure can identify those at risk of diabetes, hospitalization and early death, a new study suggests.

This increased risk was true even if patients had blood sugar (glucose) levels within what is considered normal limits, the researchers said.

"Our findings suggest that the measurement of blood sugar levels in all patients arriving at emergency departments with acute heart failure could provide doctors with useful prognostic information and could help to improve outcomes in these patients," study leader Dr. Douglas Lee, said in a journal news release. Lee is a senior scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.

Researchers reviewed data on more than 16,500 seniors treated for acute heart failure. The seniors -- aged 70 to 85 -- were treated at hospital emergency departments in Ontario, Canada, between 2004 and 2007.

"Among patients without pre-existing diabetes, the majority (51 percent) had blood glucose levels on arrival at hospital that were within 'normal' limits but greater than 6.1 millimoles per liter (mmol/L)," Lee said. In the United States, that reading is equivalent to about 110 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).

Among patients with no prior diagnosis of diabetes, the risk of death within a month was 26 percent higher among patients with slightly elevated blood sugar levels compared to those with normal blood sugar levels. People whose blood sugar levels were nearly high enough to meet the criteria for a diabetes diagnosis had a 50 percent higher risk of death within a month compared to those with normal blood sugar levels, the researchers reported.

The risk of death from cardiovascular disease was also higher among those who had raised blood sugar readings, even if they were just slightly raised above normal, the study found.

Anyone whose blood sugar levels were above normal had an increased risk of developing diabetes later. And, the higher someone's hospital blood sugar reading was, the greater the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

View the original article here

Ankylosing Spondylitis: How to Get Support at Work and Home

Most people with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) know about back pain. But other areas of your body can swell and hurt, too.

That’s what happened to 23-year-old Stefanie Gomez. When she was 15 -- before she ever had back pain -- the joints in her toe, ankle, and knee swelled up. They became red, warm, and painful.

Understanding Arthritis Painkillers

When you have arthritis pain, you need relief. But with so many warnings in the news about painkillers, it's hard to know the best choice. Many medications that ease arthritis pain have the potential for health risks, including increased risk for heart attack, stomach problems, or infections. You have difficult decisions to make, whether you're fighting pain from osteoarthritis that comes with age -- or pain from rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating immune disorder. Do you somehow tough out...

Read the Understanding Arthritis Painkillers article > >

It’s pretty common for AS to first show up in places other than your spine. That’s especially true for people who are younger than 16.

It wasn’t long before Gomez, now a social worker in San Francisco, had problems in her sacroiliac (SI) joints. Those are the places where your spine meets your pelvis. Everyone with AS has inflammation in at least one of their SI joints.

Since then, Gomez has had painful flares in her hip about twice a month. “Sometimes I’m late for work because of a flare-up, or I avoid seeing friends because I know I’ll be in pain,” she says.

Gomez’s main triggers are cold weather, stress, and poor eating.

“At the first sign of stiffness, I get in the shower and the pressure of the water helps me get back to moving,” she says.

“This is a systemic disease that affects the whole body,” says Lianne Gensler, MD. She's the director of the Ankylosing Spondylitis Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco. So don’t be surprised when other areas of your body become affected, she says.

Here’s how many people with AS get symptoms beyond their SI joint:

Middle to upper back: 50%-70%Neck: 75%Eyes: 40%Heel or shoulders: 30%Knees: 20%Wrist, toes, or fingers: 5%

Having symptoms in places other than your back can mean that you have a more serious form of the disease. Knowing how to spot the signs can help you get treatment sooner and hopefully prevent further damage.

View the original article here

Which Eye Cream Do You Need?

A dermatologist's top picks for products that care for the delicate skin around the eyes.http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/article_thumbnails/news/2012/07_2012/lying_eyes/69x75_lying_eyes.jpgWebMD Magazine - Feature

A top skin doc -- Rebecca Kazin, MD, of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery – dishes on products that protect against puffiness, crow’s feet, and more:

1. Once Removed

Avène Gentle Eye Makeup Remover ($18). "Since eyelid skin is so thin, airborne allergens that do not affect the rest of the face may bother the eyelids. When eyelids are sensitive or sting-y to the touch, avoid using facial washes or creams with potential irritants such as retinol, glycolic, or salicylic acid. If you wear eye makeup, use a gentle, noncomedogenic makeup remover like this, and avoid scrubbing."

2. Moist Wanted

CeraVe Eye Repair Cream ($13.99). "Eyelid skin is thin and delicate and can become dry and flaky in cold weather, when skin is exposed to wind, dry climates, and indoor heating that zaps moisture from the air. Look for an eye cream infused with hyaluronic acid, jojoba, argan oil, almond oil, shea butter, and/or glycerin -- powerhouse ingredients that trap and hold water on the skin while creating a protective barrier to keep water from evaporating."

3. Out of Line

Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Eye Cream ($20.99). "Crow’s feet, those fine lines around the eyes, are a result of cumulative sun damage, muscle contraction -- think squinting, laughing, smiling -- and skin thinning that comes with age. Eye creams with antioxidants such as vitamin E, C, idebenone, coffee berry extract, grapeseed extract, plus peptides or retinol -- the active ingredient in this eye cream -- work wonders to smooth and firm delicate eyelid skin."

4. Shrink Rap

100% Pure Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream ($21). "Puffiness under the eyes can be caused by several issues, including fatigue, fluid retention, seasonal allergies, excess salt intake, and genetics. I recommend an eye cream that contains caffeine that will help tighten the skin, reducing the puffiness, and also help stimulate lymphatic drainage of fluid away from the under-eye area."

5. Block and Tackle

Clinique Superdefense Age Defense Eye Cream Broad Spectrum ($39.50). "The skin around the eyelids is the thinnest on the body, and therefore more delicate and subject to daily damage from UV exposure. I recommend starting with a light, SPF-infused eye cream like this one early -- in your 20s -- to delay the visible signs of aging."

// Pulling Third Party Info from XMLfunction getPubType() { return "editorial" } var pubSource = 'WebMD Magazine - Feature';// init check partners pluginrequirejs(['article/1/checkpartners'],function(){});// init webmdArticle pluginrequirejs(['article/1/article'],function(){$('#dyn-art').webmdArticle({pageData: {title: "Which Eye Cream Do You Need?", imgPath: "http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/article_thumbnails/news/2012/07_2012/lying_eyes/69x75_lying_eyes.jpg", caption: "A dermatologist's top picks for products that care for the delicate skin around the eyes.", description: "A dermatologist's top picks for products that care for the delicate skin around the eyes.", type: "article"}});});Are you happy with your skin?

Great! There are always new tips that can make your skin look better.

Get Started

Get the skin you want with our personal skin evaluator.

Get Started // self executing function for scope (function(){ // grabs pageview id out of global scope and makes sure it exists as we need to pass it to ads in that case var pageviewId = window.s_pageview_id || ''; var iframeURLOutOfPB = '//as.webmd.com/html.ng/transactionID=553733640&tile=18187503&tug=&pug=__&site=2&affiliate=20&hcent=13879&scent=1013&pos=121&xpg=3615&sec=&au1=&au2=&uri=%2fbeauty%2feyes%2fwhich-eye-cream&artid=091e9c5e8109929f&inst=0&leaf=&segm=0&cc=10&tmg=&bc=_c2_h_&mcent=13888µ=13893&pvid=' + pageviewId; var cleanIframeURL = iframeURLOutOfPB.replace(/&/g, '&'); var ad = { adLocation:'right', adURL:cleanIframeURL, trans:'553733640', tile:'18187503', pos:'121' }; // check to make sure this seed call functionality exists, if it does, dooo it if(webmd.object.exists('webmd.ads.handleAdSeedCall')) { webmd.ads.handleAdSeedCall(ad); } })();

Facial hair fixes and 17 other embarrassing beauty q's.

Exfoliate and calm irritated skin.

What you can do to wake up beautiful.

Simple fixes for bags and dark circles

Eyelids, noses, necks: before and after.

What you need to know about wrinkle fillers.

View the original article here

PTSD May Raise Women's Risk for Diabetes

Obesity, antidepressants could play a role in the connection, study suggests

By Randy Dotinga

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Women with post-traumatic stress disorder seem more likely than others to develop type 2 diabetes, with severe PTSD almost doubling the risk, a new study suggests.

The research "brings to attention an unrecognized problem," said Dr. Alexander Neumeister, director of the molecular imaging program for anxiety and mood disorders at New York University School of Medicine. It's crucial to treat both PTSD and diabetes when they're interconnected in women, he said. Otherwise, "you can try to treat diabetes as much as you want, but you'll never be fully successful," he added.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that develops after living through or witnessing a dangerous event. People with the disorder may feel intense stress, suffer from flashbacks or experience a "fight or flight" response when there's no apparent danger.

It's estimated that one in 10 U.S. women will develop PTSD in their lifetime, with potentially severe effects, according to the study.

"In the past few years, there has been an increasing attention to PTSD as not only a mental disorder but one that also has very profound effects on brain and body function," said Neumeister, who wasn't involved in the new study. Among other things, PTSD sufferers gain more weight and have an increased risk of cardiac disease compared to other people, he said.

The new study followed 49,739 female nurses from 1989 to 2008 -- aged 24 to 42 at the beginning -- and tracked weight, smoking, exposure to trauma, PTSD symptoms and type 2 diabetes.

People with type 2 diabetes have higher than normal blood sugar levels. Untreated, the disease can cause serious problems such as blindness or kidney damage.

Over the course of the study, more than 3,000 of the nurses, or 6 percent, developed type 2 diabetes, which is linked to being overweight and sedentary. Those with the most PTSD symptoms were almost twice as likely to develop diabetes as those without PTSD, said study co-author Karestan Koenen, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

View the original article here

FDA Shares Advice to Avoid Colds and Flu

Influenza virus is spread by sneezing, talking and touching contaminated surfaces

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Viral infections can happen at any time, but they're more common during winter when people spend more time in close contact with others indoors.

Although most respiratory viruses clear up within a few days, some can lead to dangerous complications, particularly for smokers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports. Signs of complications include: a cough that interrupts sleep; persistent, high fever; chest pain; or shortness of breath.

Unlike colds, the flu comes on suddenly and lasts more than a few days. Each year, more than 200,000 people in the United States are hospitalized from flu complications, and thousands die from flu, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the United States, flu season peaks between December and February.

Although colds and the flu share some signs, the flu can lead to more serious symptoms, including fever, headache, chills, dry cough, body aches and fatigue. Influenza can also cause nausea and vomiting among young children, the FDA said in a news release.

The flu virus is spread through droplets from coughing, sneezing and talking. It can also infect surfaces.

The best way to protect yourself from the flu is to get vaccinated every year, the FDA said. Flu viruses are constantly changing so the vaccines must be updated annually. The flu vaccine is available as an injection or a nasal spray.

Although it's best to get the flu vaccine in October, getting it later can still help protect you from the virus, the agency said.

With rare exceptions, everyone 6 months of age and older should be vaccinated against flu, federal health officials say. Vaccination is especially important for those at greater risk for flu-related complications, including seniors, pregnant women and children younger than 5 years, people with chronic health conditions, health care providers and caregivers for young children and the elderly.

There is no vaccine for colds. But measures to prevent the spread of viruses include the following:

Wash your hands frequently. Use soap and water when possible. If necessary, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer can help.Avoid exposure to infected people.Eat a healthy well-balanced diet.Get enough sleep.Exercise regularly.Ease stress.

View the original article here