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If you have COPD, you might want to consider boosting your intake of foods containing certain antioxidant vitamins, including vitamins A, C, and E – there’s some evidence that doing so may well benefit your health. In fact, recent medical research indicates that antioxidants eventually could represent a promising therapy for COPD. However, you shouldn’t run out just yet to stock up on over-the-counter supplements, since clinicians haven’t figured out exactly what works and what doesn’t in COPD....

Whiplash is a condition caused by injury to the soft-tissue structures of the neck. Usually, whiplash is a strain of the tendons or a sprain of the ligaments that move and support the head and neck. Often whiplash occurs after a sudden, unexpected extension and flexion of the neck, such as during a car crash. While different from whiplash, neck muscle strains can result from having your neck in an awkward position, such as sleeping in a chair....

When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020, it was hard to imagine that we would have access to FDA-approved vaccines nine months later. Understanding how Medicare COVID-19 vaccine coverage works and how much it costs is important so you can protect yourself. Medicare Population and COVID-19 Risk To be eligible for Medicare, you must be 65 years or older or you must have a qualifying disability....

Over a year after the onset of the pandemic, remdesivir remains the only drug approved for treating severe cases of COVID-19. Now preliminary research finds remdesivir’s effectiveness may be dramatically improved by combining it with drugs used to treat hepatitis C. Key Takeaways Combining drugs used to treat hepatitis C with remdesivir boosted the effectiveness of remdesivir tenfold in cells.If found to be effective in human clinical trials, this combination therapy may help patients hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19....

U.S. health officials are working quickly to add a warning about rare cases of heart inflammation to the fact sheets for COVID-19 vaccines. Key Takeaways In rare cases, Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines have triggered myocarditis, or heart inflammation, typically in males under 30. Most reported cases have been mild and people have recovered from the condition.The FDA will update the COVID-19 vaccine fact sheets to include a warning about risk of heart inflammation....

Evans Syndrome is a combination of two or more immune hematological disorders where your immune system attacks your white blood cells, red blood cells and/or platelets. These include immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), and/or autoimmune neutropenia (AIN). These diagnoses might occur at the same time but can also occur in the same patient at two different times. For example, if you are diagnosed with ITP and then two years later are diagnosed with AIHA, you would have Evans Syndrome....

Chest pain should always be taken seriously, and that is especially true if you have recently had surgery. However, there’s the chest pain that can mean you’re having a heart attack and then there’s pain that happens to be located in the chest. Knowing the difference is key to protecting your health and having a full recovery. The good news is that chest pain after surgery isn’t always a life-threatening emergency....

In fact, in Ecuador, locals have long sipped guayusa in order to increase their alertness, especially while working. Certain native tribes refer to guayusa as “the night watchman,” since the drink is sometimes used to help people stay awake through evening hours. Some believe that guayusa also provides other benefits. It is touted as a top source of antioxidants, vitamins, and amino acids. In addition, it contains such chemicals as theobromine, a substance also found in cocoa and thought to offer mood-enhancing effects....

How long you can go without food varies, but it’s estimated that one can live for 43 to 70 days before dying from starvation. In this time, the body survives by using fat stores for energy. When fat stores are depleted, it begins to break down muscle. You can survive without food far longer than you can survive without water (which is only a few days). The timeframe for survival without food is not exact, however....

In meibomian gland dysfunction, there either isn’t enough oil produced by the tiny meibomian glands located on the edges of the eyelid or it isn’t of good enough quality. The result is dry eyes and inflamed eyelids. This can also produce blurry vision that comes and goes. Treatments may initially involve common home remedies, including warm compresses and massage. Prescription drops may be needed by some. In other cases, in-office procedures to help treat your meibomian glands may be recommended....

Although the age of onset of lupus is typically between 15 and 44 years old, up to 25% of people diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have late-onset lupus. Lupus is most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 16 and 55, and is more common in women and in African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. However, lupus can strike women and men of all ages and races. Even if you’re older, you can still develop lupus....

Nail fungus remedies are sometimes used to treat fungal infections in the toenails or fingernails. Also referred to as onychomycosis, nail fungus is often difficult to treat with conventional medicine. But while natural nail fungus remedies are widely used, there is very little scientific support for their effectiveness. To date, very few studies have tested the use of natural nail fungus remedies. Here’s a look at some natural substances often recommended in the treatment of nail fungus....

A blood clot may not seem like a big deal to someone who hasn’t experienced one, or to someone who has had a minor blood clot in their leg that was easily treated with medication. In fact, a tiny blood clot may seem like a minor inconvenience compared to the other issues a patient experiences after surgery, such as pain at the site of the incision or needing a wheelchair for a few weeks....

The kidney is essentially a filter that functions to remove certain waste products from the blood. In its simplest form, the kidney functions much like a simple kitchen strainer. Blood passes over a series of holes in the kidney blood vessels, and a small amount of it is allowed to flow through the more complicated regions of the kidney, where more detailed filtering occurs. Though later filtering steps are more complex, this initial filtering functions to exclude certain blood components based solely on size....

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), sometimes called “alk phos” for short, is an enzyme naturally produced by our bodies. Everyone produces a baseline amount of this enzyme regardless of their state of health, gender, or age; however, certain tissues within the body produce alkaline phosphatase in higher amounts than others. The bones and liver are two parts of the body that can make a great deal of alkaline phosphatase. Because of this relationship, alkaline phosphatase can help your healthcare provider determine whether or not your cancer has spread....

After you adjust the height of your office chair, the seat depth is next. Getting the right height adjustment will set your hips and low back in as healthy a position as possible for the activity of sitting. (Did you know sitting is one of the worst things for your back? It is. How sad for our spines that so many of us spend most of our days this way.) The hip position you establish when you get the height adjustment right provides a starting point for all the other chair adjustments....

A slit lamp is one of the devices that your healthcare provider may use for checking the health of your eyes. Getting regular eye examinations can help identify serious eye problems at an early stage when you might not have any symptoms and your vision isn’t affected. When diagnosed early, eye diseases are usually more treatable. A slit lamp exam can be used to help in diagnosing conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, a detached retina, and more....

If you have been to a physical therapist for treatment, you may have noticed a few different letters after your therapist’s name. What are those initials after your physical therapist’s name and what do they mean? Your physical therapist is a credentialed healthcare professional, and there are certain requirements that he or she needs to do to identify themselves as such. The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) requires that physical therapists follow specific guidelines when identifying their credentials....

Musculoskeletal is a general term which, as its name suggests, relates to the muscles and the skeleton of the body. More specifically, the musculoskeletal system includes bones, muscles, joints, cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and bursae. The musculoskeletal system provides stability and also allows for movement of the body. Anatomy of the Musculoskeletal System Bones - There are 206 bones in the adult human body. The structure of bone consists of a hard outer part made of proteins (mostly collagen) and hydroxyapatite (mostly calcium and other minerals)....

A torn meniscus can happen due to injury or a degenerative process as in aging. The meniscus is a type of cartilage in your knee joint. The meniscus sits between the cartilage surfaces of the bone to distribute weight and to improve the stability of the joint. This is important as the knee joint is used in most activities. Learn what happens when you tear your meniscus and how these tears are treated....