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Following her own COVID-19 infection and lingering symptoms, New York–based writer and producer Fiona Lowenstein founded The Body Politic COVID-19 Support Group, which is helping thousands of people who continue to suffer from lasting effects of COVID. Also in this episode is Nikki Brueggeman, a writer and historian who shares her experience as a Black woman navigating COVID-19 symptoms, and how she was unable to get a confirmed diagnosis, and how she looked to her close-knit community for the support she couldn’t find in the medical community....

The study’s investigators used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Medicare database, which includes more than 12,000 patients 18 or older who died following a lethal brain tumor diagnosis between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2012. In analyzing the data, they found that while 63 percent of these patients did enroll in hospice care, almost a quarter of them enrolled within a week of death — too late to benefit from what it offered, including comfort care, symptom management, and emotional support for patients and their caregivers near the end of life....

Coughs are a common symptom of respiratory infections like a cold or the flu — your body’s way of naturally clearing irritants out of your air passages to help prevent infection. (1) But a cough that won’t go away even after your sore throat, fever, and other symptoms have gotten better, and that’s accompanied by wheezing or shortness of breath, may indicate that you’re dealing with something more serious, like bronchitis or pneumonia....

This simple, effective ingredient is gaining traction in the beauty world, thanks to its popularity on TikTok and to celebrity endorsers who say caffeine-infused skin-care products are a quick, affordable way to give your face a little pick-me-up. Why Caffeine Is Added to Skin-Care Products While it may sound too good to be true, those caffeine skin-care devotees may be onto something. Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, meaning it makes your blood vessels smaller and tighter, says Jeffrey Hsu, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and the codirector of Oak Dermatology in Chicago....

The ketogenic diet — or the “keto” diet for short — has been around for decades. Most popularly, doctors have assigned the keto diet to help control seizures in people with epilepsy, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. But in recent years, people have begun turning to the diet in hopes of losing weight and, in some cases, better managing type 2 diabetes. Studies show that metabolic processes are altered when people consume a diet high in fat, such as meat, and low in carbohydrates, such as bread and pasta....

First Study to Look at Methotrexate Effect on Hand Osteoarthritis (HOA) Methotrexate is usually used to treat diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis; researchers wanted to see if the drug had any applications for treating symptomatic erosive hand osteoarthritis (EHOA) as well. (EHOA means the hand joints are degenerating.) The one-year randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study looked at 64 EHOA patients who were randomly sorted into two groups: 10 milligrams of methotrexate per week or placebo....

Why Type 2 Diabetes Might Be Linked to Chronic Stress Researchers are exploring other connections between the body’s response to chronic stress and the development of insulin resistance, along with why some people’s environment, or co-occurring conditions like obesity, may raise their risk for this particular chronic condition. “We think that environmental stress, and the effect that it has on your biology and behavior, is a key factor or determinant in some of the differences in disease rates that we see,” Dr....

Symptoms of cellulitis can start suddenly, with an area of skin rapidly going from normal looking to red and swollen. (1) Antibiotics are needed to treat cellulitis. Because the infection can worsen quickly, possibly spreading to the lymph nodes and bloodstream, it’s important to seek medical help if you develop signs and symptoms of cellulitis. Here’s what you need to know if you suspect that you might have cellulitis. When cellulitis develops in a leg or foot, it often occurs on only one side of the body....

But his death, say experts, highlights two key issues in oncology that warrant loud and frequent discussion: data that shows that the risk of developing the disease earlier in life is increasing, and racial disparities in colorectal cancer incidence and deaths, with Black Americans being the most vulnerable. RELATED: Colorectal Cancer Screening: Family History Key to Determining Age to Start “I’ve been in oncology for 40 years now,” says Dr....

Results from a new study reveal surgeons are performing fewer minimally invasive procedures to treat early-stage cervical cancer. The treatment shift comes after a previous study, known as the LACC trial, found that women with early-stage cervical cancer who underwent less-invasive procedures had worse outcomes. “Our work revealed that the use of minimally invasive surgery decreased after this study was published, which is encouraging,” says Patrick Lewicki, MD, the coauthor of the study and a resident physician in the department of urology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City....

Who Are Asthma Specialists and What Do They Do? Allergist-Immunologist It’s common for people with asthma to also have allergies; the same allergens that can set off your hay fever — such as pollen, dust mites, and pet dander — can trigger asthma symptoms. An allergist-immunologist is a physician who is specially trained to identify asthma and allergy triggers, and can diagnose asthma and other allergy-related diseases. Your allergist-immunologist may conduct allergy and breathing tests to find the cause of your asthma....

It’s estimated that more than two million people in the United States have hepatitis C. Yet many people are unaware of their infection because they don’t have any symptoms, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2) “Hepatitis C can go undiagnosed for years and generally remain silent until liver damage has accumulated, a process that can take a decade or more,” warns Amesh Adalja, MD, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security who is based in Pittsburgh....

In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, governors around the United States urged everyone (with the exception of essential workers) to stay home if at all possible. Most states, along with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), banned nonessential medical, surgical, and dental procedures until the outbreak was contained. Unfortunately, those orders had unintended consequences. Emergency department visits from March through May dropped 23 percent for heart attacks, 20 percent for strokes, and 10 percent for uncontrolled blood sugar, according to an analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)....

Now a perspective piece published in June 2020 in the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopyreveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated CRC screening disparities, threatening to undo progress made toward addressing these inequities. Because of the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which to date has resulted in more than 16 million infections and 660,000 deaths worldwide, the U.S. surgeon general advised a suspension of nonurgent medical procedures and surgeries, such as CRC screenings, which have dropped by an estimated 86 percent....

Enter the omicron sore throat, which is now among the chief complaints of people diagnosed with COVID-19. With omicron (and specifically its most most contagious version, BA.5) having displaced delta as the predominant variant, “it’s important for us to update our thinking about the most common symptoms,” says Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, an assistant professor of medicine and a pulmonary and critical care doctor at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. What have experts learned about omicron sore throat, and what does it mean for people who are vaccinated and those who aren’t?...

If you’re an American flying to another country, you no longer need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test (or documentation of recent recovery from COVID-19) before you can board a plane back to the United States. Still, you might need or want to get tested for COVID-19 once or multiple times while you’re away. This will depend on where you’re going, what you’re doing, whom you’ll be spending time with, and how you feel day to day....

But Crohn’s disease — and possibly certain treatments for it — can also lead to complications in other areas of the body, which may be related either to inflammation or to malnutrition caused by the disease. Different Types of Intestinal Complications The following complications in the intestines can develop because of Crohn’s disease: Bowel Obstruction (Blockage) Inflammation from the disease can build up areas of scar tissue — known as strictures — that constrict an area of the intestines and block normal digestion....

Now, propelled in part by the health craze for fermented foods, this lightly effervescent tea is really gaining a following. Data from The Food Institute indicates that kombucha sales exploded from $1 million in 2014 to $1.8 billion in 2019, and the number of brands has increased around 30 percent each year for several years. Kombucha, affectionately referred to by fans as “booch,” may never be as popular here as it is abroad — in fact, its taste is somewhat polarizing, and it is often compared to vinegar — but it does have a lot of nutritional credibility....

It is difficult to say whether your pain is related to your history of lymphoma. Patients with lymphoma can develop deep vein thrombosis and are particularly at risk when enlarged lymph nodes in the abdomen or pelvis compress the veins draining the legs. However, your symptoms are not typical of either lymphoma or complications of prior lymphoma treatment. The symptoms of deep vein thrombosis typically also include swelling, not just pain....

Endometrial hyperplasia describes a condition in which the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium, becomes too thick. The condition itself is not cancerous; however, it sometimes can lead to uterine cancer. What Causes Endometrial Hyperplasia? If your body has too much of the hormone estrogen without the hormone progesterone, you may develop endometrial hyperplasia. To understand how endometrial hyperplasia develops, it may help to first understand how hormonal changes during a typical menstrual cycle affect your uterine lining....