About half of all people who have pulmonary embolism (PE) display virtually no symptoms, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reports. In fact, many aren’t aware at all of having the condition. (1) The number of people affected by PE and deep vein thrombosis is between 300,000-600,000 people each year in the United States alone. (2) Pulmonary embolism…
Sepsis can be life-threatening, especially for anyone with a weakened immune system or a chronic illness. At a cost of almost $24 billion each year, sepsis has been named the most expensive in-patient cost in American hospitals as of 2014. Another scary statistic — 40 percent of patients diagnosed with severe sepsis die. Sepsis is said to kill 258,000…
Swallowing is a very complex process. Some people lose their ability to swallow. Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, is fairly common among aging adults. It can lead to malnutrition, dehydration, aspiration pneumonia and even death. In the United States, dysphagia affects 300,000 to 600,000 people yearly. Age-related changes in swallowing physiology, as well as age-related diseases, are factors…
If you've ever had a hoarse voice or barking cough, you might have experienced laryngitis symptoms. Laryngitis is an inflammation of the vocal cords. Laryngitis can be an uncomfortable condition, especially when it comes with other illnesses like the common cold or flu. In most cases of laryngitis, home treatment is all that you need. By using soothing and anti-inflammatory…
Strep throat can be a painful and frustrating respiratory condition, making it hard to swallow, eat and sleep. Although the conventional treatment for strep throat is antibiotics, research shows that they only reduce the length of the illness by about half a day. They also don't seem to affect time off from school or work. Because antibiotic-resistant…
Acute throat infections are among the most common infectious diseases seen by family physicians — they are responsible for 2 to 4 percent of all visits to a family doctor. Strep throat is the most common cause of a sore throat among children between the ages of 5 and 15. (1) Be aware of specific strep throat…
Banana bread is one of my favorite things to bake in the kitchen. The recipes are forgiving, so they're difficult to mess up, they're always a crowd favorite and they're a fantastic way of using up ripe, nutrition-rich bananas. But with too many banana bread loaves, you can get fatigued with the same old recipe.…
One of the biggest hassles of at-home cooking is the amount of cleanup involved. Bowls for mixing, cutting boards for prepping and the pots and pans — so many pots and pans! But there's a solution: one-pot meals. Like crockpot recipes, I love these recipes because while you might use a few tools to get the…
With a flavor similar to the sweet potato, chestnut and corn, the flesh of the delicata squash is sweet. This beautiful design of nature consisting of a cylindrical or oblong shape, yellowish, tan or cream in color with green stripes, is a gluten-free, fiber-rich food full of health benefits. What Is A Delicata Squash? Delicata squash…
Considered to be the most common types of illness caused by staph bacteria, cellulitis is a painful, sometimes blistering skin infection that affects hundreds of thousands of adults every year in the United States, leading many to search for cellulitis treatment that actually works. (1) While cellulitis symptoms can usually be managed well with cellulitis…
