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To address the impact of this heartbreaking epidemic, the editors at Everyday Health are offering “Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One,” a companion guide to the book Life After Suicide: Finding Courage, Comfort, and Community After Unthinkable Loss (HarperCollins, May 2019), for people who order the book here. The guide is available to download here. In the memoir Life After Suicide, ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Jennifer Ashton, MD, offers firsthand knowledge and advice to people who have lost a loved one to suicide....

Humans are very visual creatures, and, as the saying goes, we “eat with our eyes” before any food touches our lips. For years, upscale restaurants have played into this psychological premise by carefully plating food in beautiful arrangements that appeal to patrons. Indeed, past research found that participants enjoyed a dish more and were willing to pay more for it (even for the exact same ingredients) if it was arranged artistically on the plate....

According to data in the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS) registry, about one-third (31 percent) of people living with MS have tried using cannabis as a treatment for their symptoms. Twenty-one percent of survey respondents had used cannabis within the previous 30 days, making them “current users.” Legality a Concern for Many The drug is legal for medical use in only 36 of the 50 states, 4 out of 5 U....

These findings add to the accumulating evidence that diet is important in MS, says the lead author, Ilana Katz Sand, MD, an associate professor of neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine and a neurologist at Mount Sinai in New York City. “After rigorously controlling for demographic and health-related factors, we noted a significant association between Mediterranean diet score and objectively captured disability in people with MS,” she says. “This study does help confirm what we’ve suspected from previous literature — that a person’s particular level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet seems to matter for outcomes of MS,” says Mary Rensel, MD, an assistant professor of medicine and the director of pediatric multiple sclerosis and wellness at the Mellen Center of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who was not part of the research....

Now, a new brain imaging study published online in September 2020 in the Journal of Neurotrauma offers fresh evidence that melatonin may help improve brain function related to sleep quality in kids who have sustained concussions. Researchers studied the effects of melatonin on 62 children ranging in age from 8 to 18 years old. Starting four to six weeks after the children sustained concussions, the researchers randomly assigned the participants to receive one month of treatment with melatonin in either 3 milligram (mg) or 10 mg doses or to get a placebo....

Several recent reports — including a December 2021 advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General and a joint statement issued in October 2021 by several major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics — have deemed the state of youth mental health in the United States either a crisis or emergency. Those reports cited high rates among young people of hospital visits due to mental health issues and suicide attempts....

According to the study, which was recently presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference, stroke patients treated in mobile stroke units received a lifesaving clot-busting medication called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), or alteplase, more frequently and sooner than patients who received emergency care from a standard ambulance. “The whole idea of the mobile stroke unit is to take the emergency room to the patient. It’s essentially a stroke center on wheels,” says James C....

A cross-sectional study published November 13 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology reported that 93 percent of participants with type 2 diabetes were at high or very high risk of a fatal cardiovascular event within 10 years. Researchers looked at a database containing health records for about 375,000 adults with type 2 diabetes in Catalonia, Spain, and used guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) to calculate each person’s risk of having a fatal heart attack or stroke within 10 years....

As many of you know, I was classically trained as a chef. Food was and still (to a lesser extent) is very much an important part of my life. Thought things take me significantly longer to plan and prepare, though my ancillary skills (such as my abilities with a knife or to stand at the range) are compromised, even though I cannot financially afford the ingredients I once lavished on dinner guests; I still love to cook and eat....

The drug is approved to mitigate allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, that may occur with accidental exposure to peanuts. The drug is approved for people ages 4 through 17 with a diagnosis of peanut allergy. Palforzia can be life-changing for people willing to commit to taking the therapy as directed, says Sandra Hong, MD, director of the Food Allergy Center at Strongsville Family Health Center in Ohio, part of the Cleveland Clinic Health System....

According to the Florida Department of Health, the influenza-associated death was reported during the week ended October 6, 2018. The unvaccinated child had no known underlying medical condition. The CDC recommends routine annual influenza vaccination for all persons ages 6 months and older who do not have contraindications. Meanwhile, two CDC reports dated October 12, 2018, found an increase in the number of children who were missing some or all vaccinations for potentially serious illnesses among kindergartners as well as kids between 19 and 35 months of age....

That didn’t happen, though, and once she got over the shock of the diagnosis, her response was to become more physically active than she’d been before. Eventually she decided to enter a figure competition, in part to serve as a role model for others with multiple sclerosis and to communicate that the effects of MS are highly variable. I have kept in touch with Dyan, who now has a doctorate in nursing, since we first connected....

Although the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis often start with swelling and pain in the hands, they can occur in any area of the body, says Francis C. Luk, MD, a rheumatologist at AdventHealth in Hendersonville, North Carolina. “Feet, knees, or ankles — pretty much any joint can be involved in psoriatic arthritis,” he says. Not only can psoriatic arthritis symptoms themselves get in the way of doing the things you love , but so can the fear of overdoing it and triggering a flare....

Understanding Gluten and Where It Is Found As the Celiac Disease Foundation notes, gluten is present in many types of food — some of which you would never expect. It is found in other products, too, which you would never expect (such as lipstick and lip balm). RELATED: 5 Foods People with Rheumatoid Arthritis Should Avoid The Controversial Popularity of the Gluten-Free Diet The gluten-free diet has become quite popular within the last few years....

But some lifestyle changes and home remedies may help your recovery while undergoing conventional treatment. Alternative and complementary therapies that fall outside of conventional Western medicine may provide additional relief. If you have RA, it’s important to remain active; if you don’t, you may experience increased joint instability as your muscles around your joints become weak and your tendons and other soft tissues become inflamed. In fact, exercise is considered an essential aspect of RA treatment, and typically consists of stretching, range-of-motion exercises, and aerobic strength training....

The most common type of scalp eczema is known as seborrheic dermatitis, and its most unwelcome symptom is dandruff. When a baby’s scalp gets this scaly, flaky skin, it’s often called cradle cap. (1) Red and scalyFlakyGreasy or waxyVery itchy or feel like it’s burningOozing or have “weeping” lesionsCausing a discharge from the ear if eczema continues from the scalp into the ear canalCausing changes in skin color after healing (2,3)...

Although the drug has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a recently completed phase 2B trial, published in the September 2021 issue of The Lancet Neurology, revealed that it effectively reduces new, active brain lesions in people with RMS — either relapsing-remitting MS or active secondary-progressive MS — particularly at a dose of 60 milligrams (mg) per day. The trial also found that the drug is safe and has minimal side effects, the researchers say....

Preliminary research presented at the American Stroke Association (ASA) International Stroke Conference 2021 on March 17, 2021, found that symptomless heart attacks increase a person’s risk of stroke, but not quite as much as symptomatic heart attacks. Researchers retroactively analyzed data from 4,200 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study, which took place from 1989 to 1999. All the patients included in the preliminary research were at least 65 years old, and the majority were white men....

Physicians consider a number of different options, depending on the type of cancer, its location, and its severity. Since treatment generally includes surgically excising (removing) the tumor, doctors will also consider the risk of scarring. A patient’s age and general health are also important factors. Some experts, for instance, question the practice of aggressively screening and treating frail, elderly patients for basal cell carcinomas that aren’t causing uncomfortable symptoms. Their reasoning is that basal cell cancer is unlikely to be dangerous....

“Studies show about one-third of individuals treated for cancer experience anxiety that impacts their quality of life,” says Dr. Walsh. “Worrying about health, the emotional impact of your cancer on your family, financial costs of treatment, and whether your life will be shortened are all very common concerns among individuals with cancer.” And that anxiety can lead to prolonged tossing and turning. Research published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network in 2020 found that more than 60 percent of cancer patients reported sleep disturbances after diagnosis....