Tag Archives: Sterling

From the Health Library of SterlingMedicalAdvice.com: “Does eating yogurt with probiotics help weight loss?”

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According to the available medical literature, if you eat yogurt with probiotics before or after you eat, it will break down all the fat you have ingested. This does retard weight gain!
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) will offer beginning November 1. Until then enjoy some our favorite posts and frequently asked questions as well as a daily note explaining the benefits of SMA membership. Please share our page with your Friends on WordPress, and we can be found on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
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About www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com: How is this different than online libraries?

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When you join SMA, you gain a live personal healthcare consulting team!
Whenever your SMA consultants chat with you, they have your personal health information in front of them. This is the information you give us in our initial questionnaire and which we update during every chat. Every interaction with SMA is customized and personal, which makes all the difference in getting you the best answer to your questions.
With SMA you are not just looking through an encyclopedia, though you do have an extensive resource of health information at your fingertips.
Try us, and experience the difference!
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) will offer beginning November 1. Until then enjoy some our favorite posts and frequently asked questions as well as a daily note explaining the benefits of SMA membership. Please share our page with your Friends on WordPress, and we can be found on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2013 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: Mass Trauma Alert – When Disaster Strikes

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If you’ve become a regular reader of Straight, No Chaser (thank you!), you will note the recurring theme of prevention. There’s often just not enough time to act in the midst of a life-threatening emergency. Today, I’m just asking you to put together a simple contingency, emergency supplies kit for whatever disaster may befall you and your family. Should you ever need it, I suspect you’ll be glad you did. The disaster you’re preparing for could last hours or more than a few days. Depending on where you live, it could be a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, or wildfire. Or maybe you’ve just become trapped inside your home; maybe you’re trapped outside your home, and your children are trapped at home. You might not have access to food, water, or electricity. With preparation of emergency water, food, and a disaster supplies kit, you can provide for and protect your entire family.
Without getting precise or complicated, it’s a very good idea to assemble a basic collection of items in the event of any emergency or disaster. All of this should sound basic and obvious, but, unless assembled and at the ready, you might not be able to access what you need. It would be good to strategically place kits at home, work, and/or car. Also consider any unique health and medical needs of your family, and include these in your kit. Store at least a 3-day supply, and if at all possible, up to a 2-week supply that will cover each member of your family. Don’t forget to consider your pets. Here’s a list of essentials. Use it to customize and develop your kit.

  • Water—one gallon per person, per day. This is a must. Think one half-gallon for drinking and another for food preparation and hygiene. If you are unable to store this much, store as much as you can without making your kit too difficult to maneuver. You can conserve water and energy of water by reducing activity and staying cool.
  • Food—non­perishable, easy to prepare items (Don’t forget the can opener.)
  • First aid kit
  • Medications (7­-day supply) and any supplies needed to administer them
  • Flashlight
  • Battery­ powered radio (will last longer than the charge on your smartphone)
  • Cell phone with chargers
  • Extra batteries for everything
  • Multi­purpose tool
  • Sanitation and personal hygiene items
  • Copies of personal documents (birth certificates, insurance policies, medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, etc.) with family and emergency contact information
  • Extra cash
  • Emergency blankets and towels
  • Area maps
  • Extra house and car keys
  • Protective masks
  • Rain gear
  • Work gloves
  • Tools/supplies for securing your home
  • Extra clothing, hat, and sturdy shoes
  • Duct tape
  • Something to cut with (scissors, pocket knife)
  • Household liquid bleach
  • Entertainment items and other creature comfort items to help maintain your sanity

Pack the items in easy-to-carry containers, label the containers clearly, and store them where they would be easily accessible. Rollable trash containers and backpacks are very good for this purpose. In a disaster situation, you may need access to your disaster supplies kit quickly—whether you are sheltering at home or evacuating.
So there you have it. I’ve tried to be basic. Much more detailed information is available, and I’d suggest you tailor your kit to what types of disasters are most likely in your area. Take an hour and do this. Without a good disaster plan and kit, the disaster itself will only be the first wave of trauma to hit.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) will offer beginning November 1. Until then enjoy some our favorite posts and frequently asked questions as well as a daily note explaining the benefits of SMA membership. Please share our page with your Friends on WordPress, and we can be found on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2013 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

About www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com: How Do I Use It?

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Starting November 1st, www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com will offer three separate options for your use.

  • When you have a healthcare question or concern, log into www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and chat with your SMA expert consultant. Your dynamic and experienced online SMA team, representing over 15 different medical and healthcare specialties, is at your service around the clock.
  • If you have a specific question on a general topic, log into www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and view the thousands of questions in our database, compiled by our expert consultants. You’ll likely find the answer you seek.
  • If you desire more rounded information on a specific topic, log into www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and read the healthcare blog Straight, No Chaser. Hundreds of posts covering a wide variety of topics are available to educate and inform you.

Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) will offer beginning November 1. Until then enjoy some our favorite posts and frequently asked questions as well as a daily note explaining the benefits of SMA membership. Please share our page with your Friends on WordPress, and we can be found on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2013 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: Syphilis Prevention, Treatment and the Tuskegee Experience

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Syphilis should be a word derived from something meaning horrible. In an earlier post, we reviewed the rather horrific progression of the symptoms of syphilis. An additionally horrible consideration is that treatment is so very easy once identified. Of course, that’s not the most horrific aspect of the disease. Read on.
Looking back retrospectively, advanced syphilis is especially disheartening because it is so easily treated and prevented. Prevention is as simple as always wearing condoms, being in a monogamous relationship with someone confirmed not to have it, checking your sexual partner prior to sex and not engaging in sex if any type of sore/ulcer is in the mouth, genitalia or anal region. Regarding treatment, syphilis once upon a time was quite the plague until penicillin was discovered; treating syphilis is how penicillin ‘made a name’ for itself. Treatment with penicillin easily kills syphilis but unfortunately does nothing for damage that has already occurred. However, as discussed in the post discussing the symptoms of syphilis, remember that treating syphilis at any point can prevent the most severe complications that lead to death. Which brings us to Tuskegee – and keep in mind this is Straight, No Chaser.
In the early 1930s, the US Public Health Service working with the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama began a study to evaluate the effectiveness of current treatments for syphilis, which at the time, were thought to be at least as bad as the disease. The study was conducted on 600 Black men, who were convinced to participate in the study with the promise of free medical exams, meals and money for burial, ‘if’ it was necessary.
The study was initially meant to last 6 months, but at some point a governmental decision was made to continue the study and observe the natural progression of syphilis until all subjects died of the disease, with a commitment obtained from the subjects that they would be autopsied ‘if’ they died. There were several problems with this decision.

  • None of the patients participated under informed consent. They believed they were being treated as opposed to being observed and having medicine withheld while they were being allowed to die. In other words, the subjects were not aware of the purpose of the study.
  • Penicillin was established as a true, rapidly effective treatment for syphilis and the standard of care by 1947. The study continued 25 years beyond this treatment option being available.
  • Efforts by concerned individuals failed to end the study for 5 years prior to a whistleblower going to the press in 1972. The study was ended in a day.

The aftermath of the study includes the following:

  • Reparations averaging a mere $15,000 per individual were given ($9M total) as well as a formal apology, delivered by President Clinton. Yep, the victims received the equivalent of $15,000 per person on average for 40 years of carrying syphilis 25 years after there was a known cure, after infecting wives and unborn children in several documented cases.
  • Strict requirements for protocols for human study (i.e. Institutional Review Boards) were implemented for the first time.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that many African-Americans remain distrustful of governmental public health efforts to this day; for many, this study continues to be the reason while vaccination isn’t optimally taken advantage of (e.g. HPV) and why organ donation rates are so relatively low in the African-American community. Even though this posture contributes to the adverse health outcomes that exist in the African-American community, it isn’t hard to see why the fear and distrust exists.
Let’s bring this full circle. When it comes to syphilis, prevention is best, and full treatment is available. At the very least, I certainly can say you’ve been warned. Folks have given their lives to make your warning possible. I welcome your questions and comments.
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Straight, No Chaser: The Week In Review, September 22nd, 2013

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You’ve been after me all week with two questions, so here goes:
1) Have you dropped back to one post a day, and why? 
Not necessarily; it depends on the topic and what else I have going on. As some of you are aware, I’m in the midst of a pretty significant effort to assist with a public health initiative addressing implementation of the Affordable Care Act. As such, my time is limited. That said, please continue to request and suggest topics. If they’re timely and have appeal to a large audience, I’ll get to it!
2) What’s with the commercials?
First of all some of them are hilarious. I particularly like Burt Reynolds and Cap’n Crunch in the bathtub, Neely and the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee, and the little baby (I won’t spoil the punch line.). WordPress recoups the costs of producing this blog by placing commercials. That allows the blog to be produced without additional costs. Thanks for your support, and I’m glad the information seems to be making a difference for many of you.

Now to the Straight, No Chaser Week in Review.

On Sunday, we addressed septic shock. It’s difficult to address topics that represent part of the final pathway to death, and I know many of you have lost loved ones as a result of septic shock finishing off whatever the initial illness was. I hope that I addressed this topic in a way that offered you clarity and not any insensitivity for what has to be among your most uncomfortable memories.
On Monday, we addressed a very important part of the future of medicine, and nurses’ various roles in it.  You should be aware of these changes, given how they will affect you.  We also addressed the basics of diabetes. I hope you paid attention. I describe diabetes as the Terminator of common diseases. It is both insidious and relentless. It takes a life-long effort to stay on top of things, lest you end up with a foot or leg amputated, blind, or fighting infections, seemingly indefinitely.
On Tuesday, we looked at hypoglycemia, which often occurs as a result of overmedication of diabetics but also occurs as a result of some potentially fatal diseases. In the emergency room, hypoglycemia is the first thing we assume is occurring and attend to in most patients with any altered mental status.  It’s just that important – and potentially deadly.  We also addressed the initial actions victims should take in the face of a sexual assault. Special thanks to Dorothy Kozakowski, Vice-President of the Illinois Chapter of the International Association of Forensic Nurses for collaborating on this post. Please remember: get away and get to help as quickly as you can without doing anything to yourself. I hope you never have to experience this, but statistically, I know that’s not the case.
On Wednesday, we looked at the most common abdominal cause of surgery in most ages: appendicitis. Symptoms vary significantly, but if you sequentially get abdominal pain, loss of appetite (with possible nausea and vomiting) and a fever, you might want to get to your local emergency department. A ruptured appendix could be fatal. We also reviewed blood clots in your legs (aka deep venous thrombosis, aka DVTs). Please review the risk factors for these and lower your risk. Given that these clots break off, go to the lungs and brain, and lead to strokes or death, it’s worth knowing.
On Thursday, we reviewed the various types of hernias that occur.  As with appendicitis, there are risk factors you should know and potentially deadly consequences for failure to get these addressed. Regarding the variety that occur in your groin, ask your physician to show you how to check yourself. Learn how to lift properly!
On Friday, we addressed medical conditions that tend to have a higher risk of occurring while you’re flying. If you like tips, it’s worth knowing those items suggested that could save a life (be reminded that there are no medical crews on your flights).
On Saturday, we began a week-long series on sexually transmitted infections (aka STIs, aka STDs). I’m ok with you reading in silence. Just read.  Knowledge is power. You’d much rather I answer your questions now as opposed when you’re about to be on the business end of a needle, speculum or swab (gentlemen that last one is especially for you).  We’ll be looking at individual conditions all this upcoming week – but I refuse to call it STD week.  That’s every week.
Thank you for your ongoing readership. Have a great upcoming week.
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Straight, No Chaser: The Tragedy of Septic Shock

Septic Shock
There are bad days and then there are really bad days. In many ways, the occurrence of septic shock is a culmination of a lot of bad things that can happen to you. Septic shock is the condition your body finds itself in as a result, progression and complication of a serious infection (The most common cause is pneumonia, but urinary tract and abdominal infections are also major causes.). This infection overwhelms your body, producing a massive inflammatory reaction, bringing many complications along. These complications include a significant drop in your blood pressure and can also include organ failure, most notably of the heart and lungs. Septic shock doesn’t occur to just anyone. It most often occurs in those with weakened immunity in one form or other (elderly, immunocompromised, diabetics, recent surgery, infection or prolonged hospital stay, burn victims, newborns and the pregnant), and it is the single most common cause of death in intensive care units in the U.S.
Signs and symptoms are routine and include low blood pressure, confusion or other signs of altered mental status, fever, chills and a fast heart rate, weakness, shortness of breath and noticeably diminished urination. Don’t focus on that list, though. Septic shock is a situation where your physician will know it when s/he sees it. If something like this happened at home, you’d recognize that something horrible was wrong, and you’d find yourself in an emergency room.

In terms of treatment, the ‘when’ is just as the important as ‘how’. The earlier this is diagnosed and treatment is started, the better chances of survival are. And let there be no doubt. Life is in the balance with this condition. Treatment simultaneously seeks to hold the patient up and support him/her while the underlying condition is being addressed. This is when the big guns are pulled in, including major antibiotics, intravenous fluids to rehydrate you, medications to support and enhance blood pressure and possible use of a breathing machine (ventilator) to ensure optimal oxygenation. Even surgery may be necessary to remove dead abdominal tissue, burn tissue or an abscess that may be the source of an infection.

The truth is septic shock carries a death (mortality) rate of 50%. It is always a bad situation and is best viewed as a medical miracle when survived as opposed to a treatment failure when death occurs. I can only wish you and your family the best if you find yourselves in this situation. Time is tissue.
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