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Pain is never fun, but if it’s brief enough, your brain and body tend to move on without any lasting negative effects from the pain itself. “It’s unpleasant, but it goes away,” says Eva M. Szigethy, MD, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and medicine and the founder of the Visceral Inflammation and Pain (VIP) Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. But chronic pain — especially when it originates in your abdomen — can have more complex and lasting effects on your brain, changing how it responds to pain signals....

As a military spouse, mother of two children under 5, and community activist, I felt depleted of energy and time even before the word “coronavirus” became ever-present in our news cycle. And then COVID-19 hit. It’s no secret that the pandemic put even more pressure on so many of us already struggling with mental health, particularly mothers, and I began to feel overwhelmed by anxiety and depression. RELATED: The Mental Health Toll of Parenting During a Pandemic I benefited from therapy, but 50 minutes once a week wasn’t enough....

“Triglycerides are a subgroup, or type, of our total cholesterol,” says Douglas Jacoby, MD, a cardiologist with Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. Basically, there are various lipoproteins in the body that make up your cholesterol, and triglycerides are one. Similar to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides fall under the “bad” cholesterol category, he says. To put it another way, your total cholesterol is calculated by adding your high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good”) cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and 20 percent of your triglycerides, according to the American Heart Association (AHA)....

Cold symptoms tend to develop gradually, while flu symptoms can come on suddenly, without warning. (2) RELATED: Learn More About the Differences Between a Cold and the Flu The signs that you have a cold usually develop slowly. The most common cold symptoms include fatigue, sore or scratchy throat, nasal congestion or stuffiness, and a runny nose, followed by sneezing and coughing. Fever is not typical with a cold, but a low-grade fever isn’t out of the question....

More than 160 foods are known allergens, but only eight foods or food groups account for 90 percent of all serious allergic reactions in the United States. These foods include basics such as milk and eggs, and staples of a healthy diet like seafood. Whether you’re food shopping or eating out, always know your ingredients. Under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA), labels have to identify the food source names of all ingredients that are among the eight “major food allergens....

During holiday seasons when I was in the midst of a flare-up, I’d be torn between eating foods and drinking beverages I knew I’d regret later, or avoiding most of the food and alcohol but risk offending the host. Over the years, I’ve found that a little planning and preparation goes a long way. Here are the top five tips and tricks that have helped me enjoy the holiday season....

— Carlos, Iowa Calling 911 for an ambulance is the first thing to do if you witness someone having a heart attack. Don’t even consider taking the person to the emergency room yourself unless you are in the middle of nowhere and that is your only option. The modern, well-equipped ambulance is like having the emergency room brought to your doorstep, and the person will get faster care than if you were to drive to the ER yourself and have to go through admissions paperwork....

Quitting cold turkey means giving up smoking all at once, without the aid of any nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products or stop-smoking drugs. Many ex-smokers have successfully quit this way — you’re most likely to succeed if you smoke fewer than 10 cigarettes a day and take the following steps to prepare. Because you won’t have the aids of NRT, it’s particularly important that you are mentally ready. Set a quit date: Pick a date two to four weeks in the future when you plan on quitting....

Migraine drugs are generally categorized as acute treatments and preventive treatments. Acute treatments are taken at the first sign of a migraine attack to reduce pain and other symptoms. Some drugs for acute migraine treatment can be taken only once per day, while others can be taken more than once per day if additional symptom relief is needed. Many preventive migraine treatments are pills that are taken daily, although the newer CGRP antibodies are injected once a month or infused intravenously once every three months....

Leave it to me to be in such a small minority. Far more people with MS report anosmia — a lack of or reduction in the sense of smell — and research seems to lend credence to these reports. Artificial Scents Can Be Overwhelming For me, it’s like my sniffer is on overdrive. Particularly when it comes to artificial or “refined” scents, I am overwhelmed to the point of not being able to function....

What’s going on? Was it something you ate? Your sleeping position? Heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, are frequent causes of sleeplessness. As many as one in four people who experience sleep disturbances report that they have nighttime heartburn. For people who have been diagnosed with GERD, the rate is even higher; three people out of four report having nocturnal GERD symptoms. These individuals are more likely to suffer sleep problems such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and daytime sleepiness as a result of their nighttime heartburn....

Medication side effects are quite common, and often they’re minor, but side effects like an increase in your cholesterol level can be serious. To counter medication-related high cholesterol, your doctor can prescribe an alternative medication to treat the original condition, or add a cholesterol-lowering medication to your treatment regimen. Drugs That Cause High Cholesterol Why certain drugs raise cholesterol levels as a side effect isn’t exactly understood. Most of the time, cholesterol elevation is minimal....

Chest Pain? Try Our Symptom Checker When your doctor sends you home from the hospital, you’ll no doubt have some heart medication prescriptions. But you’ll also have strict instructions to change your lifestyle to healthy, or healthier, habits to keep those newly grafted blood vessels clear and free of plaque. Tips for Healthy Living and Clear Blood Vessels A healthy lifestyle is the key to keeping blood vessels clear following coronary artery bypass surgery....

Because of the latter, I’ve been hearing a good few radio adverts from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) about water safety, particularly in cold water, as people head to beaches, lakes, and rivers to escape the heat. These heatwaves don’t hit us often — or for long enough to heat the water — here on our North Atlantic island, so the waters are usually pretty icy even on the hottest of summer days....

In a small study, published in February 2018 in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, 12 obese people followed an adjusted version of the popular ketogenic diet that was very low in calories for about two to three months, and lost about 45 pounds each — and kept the weight off even after increasing their calorie intake one to two months later. The likely reason they were able to keep the weight off, researchers say, is their resting metabolic rate (RMR) was maintained, and they retained their lean muscle mass....

Perry had been sedated in the hospital since last week, according to the entertainment website TMZ. “The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning,” said his publicist, Arnold Robinson, in a statement. No further details were released at this time. Perry was rushed to the hospital on February 27 after an emergency 911 call from his home in Los Angeles....

If you’ve never had a massage from a professional massage therapist, read on for in-depth information about how it works, possible health benefits, how to stay safe, and what to know before you attend your first appointment. In the United States, modern massage developed in the 1800s. During that time, two physicians opened the first two clinics in the states: the Posse Institute in Boston and the Swedish Health Institute in Washington, D....

Most people experience MS as an alternating pattern of flares, or exacerbations, of symptoms followed by symptom-free periods; this is known as relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). Over time, some people who have RRMS develop worsening disease, known as secondary progressive MS. Others may experience a completely different path, where symptoms get steadily worse over time without letting up — known as progressive MS. Whatever the type, MS is a chronic disease, which means there’s no cure for it....

White Button Calories: 31 Protein: 2.9 grams (g) Fat: 0.4 g Carbohydrates: 4.1 g Cremini (Baby Bella) Calories: 30 Protein: 3.1 g Fat: 0.2 g Carbohydrates: 4.0 g Potassium: 380 mg Selenium: 15.3 mcg (an excellent source) Portobello Calories: 32 Protein: 2.8 g Fat: 0.3 g Carbohydrates: 4.7 g Potassium: 349 mg Selenium: 14.7 mcg (an excellent source) Forms of Mushrooms Improved gut health Mushrooms supply prebiotics, which feed probiotics, the beneficial bacteria in your gut, research shows....

While that’s not exactly how most of us found out about our multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis, at the time, it may very well have felt like our doctor’s words were that vague and uncaring. And then what? Find Someone Who’s Walking the Same Path as You Someone asked me the other day, in an interview, for any tips I might have for people living with a new diagnosis of multiple sclerosis....