Pittsburgh Healthcare Report

By Ray Parker

Children are always into something, whether it be playing or exploring their surroundings, especially the toddlers. However, there are also possible chances of being injured or getting sick every now and then. No matter, how many care or precautions you take, your kids are never going to enjoy the peace of mind.

Often when kids play they get injured and may get a viral infection when the weather changes. Getting timely treatment is important because it can have an impact on their health in the future as well.

For instance, bruises can develop into hematoma while the cuts can become infected. Moreover, fever can affect sprains and damage to the body that can cause a long-term problem.

Sometimes the injuries or illnesses are not serious but need to be treated right away. For this purpose, you can go to an Urgent Care Walk-in Clinic. They treat most of the illnesses and injuries and if you are interested in knowing those treatments, make sure to read the article completely. [Read more…]

Although the practice of abortion is a legal procedure, there are still a large number of women who will decide to carry out this intervention illegally, in places of dubious origin. These also can be clinics that don’t have permission for doing abortions.

Is there any need to mention all the risks this intervention can bring if it is done in a medically unauthorized way? Especially if you know that places, where these procedures are done, and the expertise of the staff are very suspicious.

Methods Are Not Medically or Legally Approved

Legal abortion is performed at the latest by the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, either by surgery or by the use of abortion pills. Any other method is not legal, and no conscientious doctor will do it to you.

According to PRC Charlotte, the pill is not available in places that do not have a license to perform abortions, and the surgical method is allowed only in early pregnancy. Due to lack of experts and medical knowledge, these “clinics” have their own methods to cause a termination of pregnancy.

One of them is the use of sharp instruments, but also other objects, which will literally wrap the amniotic bag where the fetus is located. You think this is a medieval practice? No, this is what unverified abortionists do in the 21st century. Anesthesia? Sure, if you’re lucky. At the very beginning of the procedure, there is a risk of a toxicological reaction on anesthetics, as the required examinations and blood tests have not been done. [Read more…]

In our busy life, we hardly get time to look after our health. The advancement of technology and industrialization have made good progress around the world, but one thing that has not improved is the health management system. Humans are struggling with high work pressure, headache, cardiac attack, obesity and many other health problems. An average person spends his everyday life doing routine activities. He / She did not get much time to workout or go to the gym to exercise.

As you grow older, your body starts responding to your bad health condition. People who are not taking care of their health gain a serious health problem. No one likes to fall into an unhealthy routine, but our belief system is stopping us to move in the direction which might help to make a positive impact on our health. 

What Stopping us from doing exercise? 

The answer lies in your belief system. When you do not find any motivating factor in the activity you are involved, you lose the interest in it. For getting into routine exercise you need a good amount of motivation to support your interest. If you unable to find the purpose behind doing exercise then it becomes hard to push yourself towards the routine workout.
[Read more…]

By Briana Schreckengost

Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), colloquially deemed the ‘polio-like illness’, has been in the news recently, with over 190 reports under investigation, 72 of which have been confirmed so far in 2018.¹ Pittsburgh alone has seen five confirmed cases of children presenting with this condition and others that are still under investigation.² As word of this illness spreads, parents may be wondering “What is this condition? Does this mean that polio is back?” Information about AFM and this year’s outbreak is still emerging, but there is a fair amount of data available to help people understand what is happening.

What is AFM?

AFM is a rare condition that affects the spinal cord, leading to symptoms that impact the nervous system.³ Cases are most often seen in children. Parents may see sudden and new instances of extremity weakness along with loss of muscle tone and reflexes that may lead to paralysis.  Additional possible symptoms include weakness of the face, drooping eyelids or trouble moving the eyes, or difficulty with speech or swallowing. In severe cases of AFM, patients may experience other symptoms such as numbness, pain, or tingling, and trouble breathing from weakened muscles.^3,4

Confirmation of AFM generally requires an examination of the patient, in addition to supportive evidence from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).⁴ Diagnosis of AFM can be difficult in some cases due to its similarity to other neurological illnesses.³

[Read more…]

When the question about what food classes are essential for the body is raised, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are always given top priority. Why? Because it’s usually believed that getting energy from food is the only thing that matters. Vitamins, on the other hand, hardly get a shot because more often than not, their role in the proper functioning of the body is mostly unknown to people.

On a daily basis, your body produces muscles and bones. In addition, red blood cells are produced, and they carry nutrients and oxygen to all parts of the body. Nerve signals also travel far distances across the body, along various neural pathways delivering messages to different parts of the body. At the root of these bodily functions are vitamins and minerals which enable the processes to run seamlessly. [Read more…]

Studies estimate that over 99% of Americans over 40 years of age have had chickenpox.¹ This means that a significant number of individuals are at risk for developing shingles. Shingrix®, a vaccine indicated to prevent herpes zoster (shingles), was approved by the FDA in October 2017 and was made available to the public shortly thereafter.²

What is shingles?

Approximately 1 million Americans are affected by shingles each year and approximately 1 in every 3 people will develop shingles during their lifetime.³ Shingles occur as a result of a person having previously been infected with chickenpox. The virus that causes chickenpox (the varicella zoster virus) lays dormant in the body after an episode of chickenpox. The virus may be reactivated at any time to produce shingles. Several factors may influence whether or when this reactivation occurs, including increasing age, a weakened immune system from conditions such as cancer or HIV/AIDS, or immunosuppressive drugs (such as those used after transplant, or for autoimmune diseases).³

Children in the US receive vaccination for chickenpox as a part of the recommended Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) childhood vaccination series. Shingles can result in individuals who have had chickenpox infection, or in those who were vaccinated for chickenpox, although the risk for shingles is thought to be reduced in the latter group.⁴

Shingles generally presents as a painful rash on one side of the face or body. The rash commonly consists of blisters which may take several weeks to fully clear. It may also be preceded by tingling, pain, or itching in the area of the rash. Fever, headache, chills, and upset stomach may also occur during an episode of shingles. The most common long-term complication that can arise after an episode of shingles is postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), a type of severe pain that persists at the site of the rash.³ [Read more…]

Up until recently, the first thing that would come to mind after hearing the word “cannabis” would be a beautiful – or perhaps notorious! – greenish flower with a pungent, and often fruity aroma. Fast forward to 2018 and while cannabis flower remains immensely popular in the recreational industry, the medicinal and wellness industries have embraced a range of products which maximize the remarkable therapeutic potential of the herb. Walk into a dispensary or visit an online store, and you’ll be met with cannabis oils, e-liquids, massage gels, concentrates, and even chocolate bars!

Furthermore, there are now two distinct types of cannabis: that which gets you high, and that which doesn’t. Or, to go by the scientific terminology, high-THC products and high-CBD products. The latter is not psychoactive because of how it affects the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS), and this discovery has spawned a multi-million-dollar industry centered around CBD. The compound is also to thank for the slew of feel-good stories about medical cannabis in the media – CBD-rich cannabis oil is being used to treat children worldwide for intractable epilepsy, and in some cases has eliminated their seizures entirely!

Altogether, cannabis consists of at least 113 cannabinoids, with CBD and THC just two of them. However, cannabinoid research is in its infancy, and there are only a handful of cannabinoids we know very much about. This is an exciting prospect for the future, as researchers will be able to make specialized cannabinoid products to treat various conditions with no downsides. An example of this already happening is with anxiety – while the entire cannabis plant can have an unpredictable effect due to the THC, CBD is only beneficial for the mental disorder. [Read more…]

We know the fact that enough and quality sleep is one of the basics of a healthy life. Sleeping is a physiological action that is needed to reestablish the balance that we disturb while we’re awake.

It can happen to all of us to sometimes doze off during the day. If night rest doesn’t provide us with enough energy, a short nap can help. When such behavior becomes too frequent, and if a daily need for sleep gets out of hand, this condition is diagnosed as a sleep disorder or narcolepsy.

On page https://www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/sleep-needs-get-the-sleep-you-need.htm, find out more about problems due to lack of night sleep.

Narcolepsy – Torturing Sleeping Issues

Narcolepsy is a disease that usually occurs in childhood but can happen at any age. With small variations, it lasts a lifetime. If you suddenly fall asleep, that doesn’t mean you’re sick. But if this continues to happen day after day, it’s a health alert. This condition hinders social life, but it can also lead to risky situations, especially for those who are engaged in jobs requiring complete alertness and concentration, such as drivers, workers at height, etc.

Medicine didn’t find the cure for narcolepsy yet; there are treatments that can relieve symptoms, but there are still no solutions for the prevention of sudden sleep attacks. The bad news is that this disease is conditioned by genetics. If someone in your family has suffered from narcolepsy, the odds for not getting it are not on your side. [Read more…]

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Your family physician will tell you this quaint, time-honored expression has a lot of merit.  And that’s why your doctor would love to see you develop the simple daily health habits that help prevent the sort of maladies he’ll have to treat if you don’t.

Eat right… exercise regularly… drink your water and take your vitamins.  These are simple things anyone can (and everyone should) do.

But don’t forget to make sure you’re getting enough sleep, too.

In the past, the medical profession often ignored the power of a good night’s sleep in helping prevent disease, and in creating better health in patients of all ages.  But these days, your family health practitioner is “wide awake” to the benefits of good sleep habits for his patients.

Most experts agree: you need about eight hours of good sleep, every night.  You may have heard that before… and maybe since you were a kid.  It turns out to be true!

Studies have shown that people who get less than 6-7 hours of sleep every night are much more vulnerable to disease and poorer overall health.

Are you getting enough sleep? [Read more…]