Tag Archives: Thrombus

Straight, No Chaser: Spotlight on Health Concerns When Traveling – Vaccines and Illnesses

General Health and Wellness, Health Prevention, , , , , , , , , , ,

globalization_intro

Traveling is exciting, but it presents multiple challenges to your health. To best meet these challenges, preparation is everything.

Travel-health-insurance-for-international-travelers

Before you travel and every time you travel, your surest means of protecting yourself is to confirm you are current on routine vaccines.

  • Your basic vaccines include measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, polio vaccine and influenza.
  • Most international travelers will need immunizations to protect you from hepatitis A, polio, and typhoid.
  • Depending on where you’re international travels take you and the duration of your trip, you may need immunizations to protect you from hepatitis B, malaria, rabies and/or yellow fever.

The plane trip itself can be hazardous to your health. I encourage you to review the risks of flying.

international-health-insurance-300x166

Diseases have different patterns in how they spread and their resistance to medications in different countries. It is important to be aware of prominent diseases affecting the countries you plan to visit, because some may be uncommon in your home country. For Americans traveling abroad, such diseases include the following:

  • HIV/AIDS 
  • Malaria: an infectious disease caused by a parasite, which invades the blood cells. It is notable for the presence of high fever, shaking chills, low blood count and a flu-like set of symptoms.
  • Pandemic/avian flu (aka as the bird flu): an infectious disease in birds caused by a virus that can spread to humans
  • Travelers’ diarrhea –  the most common disease acquired by travelers.
  • Tuberculosis: an infectious disease involving the lungs, able to spread throughout the body

I strongly recommend that you develop a habit of checking the CDC travel site every time you prepare to travel internationally, including those of you coming from abroad into the United States. Detailed information on these diseases is available clicking the links, checking the search engine and at www.sterlingmedicaladvice.com.
Feel free to contact your SMA expert consultant with any questions you have on this topic.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2016 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: Spotlight on Health Concerns When Traveling – Vaccines and Illnesses

General Health and Wellness, Health Prevention, , , , , , , , , , ,

globalization_intro

Traveling is exciting, but it presents multiple challenges to your health. To best meet these challenges, preparation is everything.

Travel-health-insurance-for-international-travelers

Before you travel and every time you travel, your surest means of protecting yourself is to confirm you are current on routine vaccines.

  • Your basic vaccines include measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, polio vaccine and influenza.
  • Most international travelers will need immunizations to protect you from hepatitis A, polio, and typhoid.
  • Depending on where you’re international travels take you and the duration of your trip, you may need immunizations to protect you from hepatitis B, malaria, rabies and/or yellow fever.

The plane trip itself can be hazardous to your health. I encourage you to review the risks of flying.

international-health-insurance-300x166

Diseases have different patterns in how they spread and their resistance to medications in different countries. It is important to be aware of prominent diseases affecting the countries you plan to visit, because some may be uncommon in your home country. For Americans traveling abroad, such diseases include the following:

  • HIV/AIDS 
  • Malaria: an infectious disease caused by a parasite, which invades the blood cells. It is notable for the presence of high fever, shaking chills, low blood count and a flu-like set of symptoms.
  • Pandemic/avian flu (aka as the bird flu): an infectious disease in birds caused by a virus that can spread to humans
  • Travelers’ diarrhea –  the most common disease acquired by travelers.
  • Tuberculosis: an infectious disease involving the lungs, able to spread throughout the body

I strongly recommend that you develop a habit of checking the CDC travel site every time you prepare to travel internationally, including those of you coming from abroad into the United States. Detailed information on these diseases is available clicking the links, checking the search engine and at www.sterlingmedicaladvice.com.
Feel free to contact your SMA expert consultant with any questions you have on this topic.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what  http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2014 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: The Medical Issues You Encounter While Flying

General Health and Wellness, , , , , , , , , ,

SAMC logo color 1
I’ve probably been engaged twenty times on airplanes to provide medical assistance. My favorite incident was when four doctors (and a nurse) simultaneously jumped to assistance as if everyone was some type of superhero. Of course, I wouldn’t be telling the story if I didn’t end up being the last man standing (due to my status as the emergency physician among the group – and yes, the patient was ok). Consider this your handy to do and to don’t if and when you’re traveling by air. You never know!
There are four quick considerations I’d like to share:
Blood clots: Flights (and especially the long ones) increase your risk for deep venous thrombosis (DVTs). You can reduce this risk by frequently bending and rotating your ankles, drinking water whenever the opportunity presents and getting up intermittently to walk. Prevention is also important – this is why traveling while in the latter stages of pregnancy is especially problematic and why near-term women aren’t allowed to travel (and you thought it only had to do with early deliveries!).
Headaches and earaches: Air in your body (lungs, intestines, sinuses and eardrums, to name a few) expand when your plane ascends and contracts upon descent. The squeeze on descent is actually more frequent of an issue than gases expanding on ascent, but both situations present problems. In addition to exacerbating migraines, your eardrums can rupture from the squeeze. Of course, adults address this by holding their noses and blowing, thus ‘popping’ their ears (actually this equalizes the pressure on both sides of the eardrum, returning things back to normal). Kids suffer just as much as adults, but the younger ones aren’t able to release the pressure as easily. Thus, it’s true that you should allow them to chew or suck on something during descent. The passenger sitting next to you will thank you.
Fainting: Fainting is a common occurrence on flights for many reasons. Faints and other mental status changes due to hypoglycemia are the most common episodes I’ve personally encountered on flights. My best advice here is to stay hydrated (This will help you prevent faints and problems with DVTs.) and if you’re diabetic, eat during the flight. Low sugar reactions are scary in the air, and the pilots are always wondering if they’ll need to do an emergency landing.
Respiratory disease: This is an important consideration because the potential for bad outcomes are heightened. Those with asthma, blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary emboli) and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease aka chronic bronchitis and emphysema) need to discuss traveling with their physicians. The high altitude of flights results in thinner air, drier air and increasing viscosity of your blood, which can affect patients suffering from the conditions mentioned. A ruptured lung in a patient with bad COPD is a formula for disaster.
In short, fly smart and fly healthy. An airplane is a horrible place to be in harm’s way. And that doesn’t even include snakes on a plane.
snakes-on-a-plane
Copyright © 2013 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: The Medical Issues You Encounter While Flying

General Health and Wellness, Health Prevention, , , , , , ,

SAMC logo color 1

I’ve probably been engaged twenty times on airplanes to provide medical assistance. My favorite incident was when four doctors (and a nurse) simultaneously jumped to assistance as if everyone was some type of superhero. Of course, I wouldn’t be telling the story if I didn’t end up being the last man standing (due to my status as the emergency physician among the group – and yes, the patient was ok). Consider this your handy to do and to don’t if and when you’re traveling by air. You never know!
There are four quick considerations I’d like to share:
Blood clots: Flights (and especially the long ones) increase your risk for deep venous thrombosis (DVTs – discussed in detail here). You can reduce this risk by frequently bending and rotating your ankles, drinking water whenever the opportunity presents and getting up intermittently to walk. Prevention is also important – this is why traveling while in the latter stages of pregnancy is especially problematic and why near-term women aren’t allowed to travel (and you thought it only had to do with early deliveries!).
Headaches and earaches: Air in your body (lungs, intestines, sinuses and eardrums, to name a few) expand when your plane ascends and contracts upon descent. The squeeze on descent is actually more frequent of an issue than gases expanding on ascent, but both situations present problems. In addition to exacerbating migraines, your eardrums can rupture from the squeeze. Of course, adults address this by holding their noses and blowing, thus ‘popping’ their ears (actually this equalizes the pressure on both sides of the eardrum, returning things back to normal). Kids suffer just as much as adults, but the younger ones aren’t able to release the pressure as easily. Thus, it’s true that you should allow them to chew or suck on something during descent. The passenger sitting next to you will thank you.
Fainting: Fainting is a common occurrence on flights for many reasons. Faints and other mental status changes due to hypoglycemia are the most common episodes I’ve personally encountered on flights. My best advice here is to stay hydrated (This will help you prevent faints and problems with DVTs.) and if you’re diabetic, eat during the flight. Low sugar reactions are scary in the air, and the pilots are always wondering if they’ll need to do an emergency landing.
Respiratory disease: This is an important consideration because the potential for bad outcomes are heightened. Those with asthma, blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary emboli) and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease aka chronic bronchitis and emphysema) need to discuss traveling with their physicians. The high altitude of flights results in thinner air, drier air and increasing viscosity of your blood, which can affect patients suffering from the conditions mentioned. A ruptured lung in a patient with bad COPD is a formula for disaster.
In short, fly smart and fly healthy. An airplane is a horrible place to be in harm’s way. And that doesn’t even include snakes on a plane.
snakes-on-a-plane
Copyright © 2013 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: Blood Clots in Your Legs – Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT)

Medical Treatment, Musculoskeletal System, Hematology & Oncology/Blood Disorders/Cancer, , , , , , ,

DVT_clot_illustration
When patients talk about blood clots, they’re describing a blockage of a blood vessel somewhere in the body, usually the lower extremities (legs and thighs), the lungs (pulmonary embolus) or the brain. Today we’ll discuss the variety that occurs in the lower extremities, which are generally referred to as deep venous thrombosis (DVTs). In case you’re thinking that a clot in the leg doesn’t sound as bad as a clot in the lungs or the head, you’re correct – until you understand that DVTs break off and travel to other body sites, leading to blockage elsewhere (This is called embolism.).
Your challenge is to appreciate the risks of developing DVTs and the symptoms. Risk factors include the following:

  • Birth control pills or other estrogen use (this combined with cigarette smoking pushes the risk even higher)
  • Cancer
  • Cigarette smoking
  • Family history of blood clots
  • Obesity
  • Prolonged immobilization
  • Recent pelvic or leg fracture
  • Recent surgery (most often the pelvis or lower extremities)
  • Recent travel involving long periods of sitting
  • Certain medical conditions, most notably lupus

Symptoms most commonly are in one leg or the other, and reflect the fact that the vein is being blocked. These include pain, swelling, redness and warmth.
Diagnosis and treatment are relatively straightforward as long as they occur in time (meaning before the clots have broken off). Diagnosis is usually accomplished by an ultrasound of the lower extremities; once discovered, you’ll be placed on blood thinners. It’s important to know that blood thinners prevent the formation of new clots. They do not dissolve existing clots. That’s usually not necessary, as many DVTs simply dissolve. If it doesn’t, DVTs that embolize are life-threatening (more so from the pelvis and thigh than the legs). Unfortunately pulmonary emboli are among the most missed medical diagnoses and causes of death. Try to manage your controllable risk factors, and be aware when you’re dealing with a risk factor that you can’t control (like surgery).
I welcome any questions or comments.
Copyright © 2013 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress