Health & Wellness

NOVEMBER IS NATIONAL DIABETES MONTH

Every 24 hours more than 4,000 adults are diagnosed with diabetes and approximately 200 people die from diabetes. Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke and a leading cause of leg and foot amputations unrelated to injury, kidney failure, and new cases of blindness in adults. However, people with diabetes can lower their risk of complications by following important steps to control the disease:

Talk to your healthcare provider about how to manage your blood glucose (A1C), blood pressure, and cholesterol.

Get both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines as soon as they are available. For those with diabetes, it is important to ask for the "shot" version of both vaccines. In addition, talk to your health care provider about pneumonia (pneumococcal) shot. People with diabetes are more likely to die from pneumonia or influenza than people who do not have diabetes.

Stay at a healthy weight and engage in moderate physical activity for 2 hours and 30 minutes each week or vigorous physical activity for 1 hour and 15 minutes each week. Be sure to add muscle strengthening activities on 2 or more days each week. Physical activity can help you control your weight, blood glucose, and blood pressure, as well as raise your "good" cholesterol and lower your "bad" cholesterol.

During the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States, and this is a major factor – but not the only factor -- in the increasing rate of newly diagnosed cases of diabetes. Population increases in diabetes have coincided with increases in obesity, and the type 2 diabetes epidemic is believed to be largely a result of the increase in obesity levels. Diagnosed diabetes has increased, particularly in overweight and obese individuals, and improvements in diabetes awareness and enhanced detection are occurring among the most obese (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m2).

Ways You Can Help Prevent Diabetes

Prediabetes is a condition in which individuals have blood glucose levels higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. In 2007, at least 57 million American adults were estimated to have prediabetes. People with prediabetes have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. However, progression to diabetes among those with prediabetes is not inevitable. Recent studies have shown that people at high risk for type 2 diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of the disease by losing 5 to 7 percent of their body weight. You can do that by eating healthier and getting moderate physical activity for 150 minutes each week or vigorous physical activity for 75 minutes each week. The development and delivery of lifestyle interventions to people at risk for diabetes are needed to stop the rise in new cases of diabetes.

H1N1 and Seasonal Influenza

With schools & colleges now in session, many new cases of seasonal and H1N1 influenza are occurring. Prevention is the best weapon against seasonal and H1N1 influenza. Practice basic hygiene. Whether you are at home, work or out in public, you should practice basic hygiene, including:

Frequent hand washing;

Using hand sanitizer;

Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth;

Covering nose & mouth with tissue when coughing or sneezing, and throwing tissue in the garbage;

Avoid close contact with sick people (6 foot rule);

Stay away from work if flu symptoms exist;

Using disinfectant wipes on work surfaces (workstations, copiers, fax machines, kitchens, employee kiosks, etc.).

Get vaccinated. Medical experts are stressing the importance of getting a seasonal influenza vaccination soon along with the H1N1 vaccination when it becomes available. Information on seasonal flu vaccinations at work locations will be issued soon. Many pharmacies and physicians are starting to offer the seasonal influenza vaccinations, so you may want to get your vaccination now. Stay informed. See the following web sites for the latest information on seasonal and H1N1 influenza

NYS Health Dept. www.health.state.ny.us
Center for Disease Control www.CDC.gov
World Health Organization www.who.int

Relaxation to the Rescue

Are you trying to eat better, quit smoking, or foster other good-for-you habits? It's not that hard to make healthy changes for a day or two. However, it's much harder to stick with the changes for weeks and months. Stress and tension can interfere with your best intentions and cause you to give in to food cravings, smoking urges, or other familiar habits.

The Road to Relaxation
Relaxation can rescue you from stress so that you don't backtrack on your healthy behaviors. To help you relax on a deeper level, these techniques may help:
- Breathing exercises
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Progressive muscle relaxation

Taming Tension
You can learn yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and other relaxation methods from a class or book. Here's one exercise to try now:
- Sit or lie compfortably in a quiet place. Close your eyes.
- Imagine you are in a peaceful place, perhaps lying on a warm beach or grassy hilltop watching the clouds float by.
- Put one hand on your stomach and focus on your breathing.
- Breathe slowly and deeply. As you inhale, feel your stomach rise. As you exhale, feel it sink.
- Continue breathing slowly for 10 minutes.

How Patients are Diagnosed with Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma diagnosis typically begins with a sufferer’s visit to the doctor complaining of chronic chest pain. The pain is caused as a result of a buildup of fluid inside the pleural space; this is called pleural effusion and is the most common presenting symptom of malignant mesothelioma.

Preliminary mesothelioma detection can be achieved through a chest imagery scan (CT scan, x-ray); however, mesothelioma is often misdiagnosed as viral pneumonia at this stage because of certain symptomatic similarities between the two. The only way to definitely verify a suspected case is through a biopsy.