Tag: Diseases

Learn if You are Predisposed to Anxiety-Related Diseases

Anxiety has been the subject of many studies and researches, scientists are agreed that anxiety is still not fully understood even today. However, as a result of their researches, they have been able to help people effectively manage and avoid anxiety.

The first step to managing or treating anxiety is the recognition that one suffers from such attacks early on. However, it does not suffice to just say that you suffer from such a condition for it to qualify as such. While there are symptoms and signs the point to this ailment, you can also take this quick stress test to see whether you are at risk of suffering from chronic bouts of anxiety.

The Anxiety Stress Test
This stress test will help you find out whether you exhibit the symptoms of an anxiety-prone person. The more questions to you answer yes to, the greater the chance you will suffer from anxiety-related illnesses.

1. Do you feel irritable all of a sudden, even without reason or provocation? Most life experiences evoke differing amounts of anxiety. However, does anxiety becomes for you a chronic and even uncontrollable experience? Also, do you suddenly experience feeling terribly anxious for no reason at all?

2. If you were to describe how often you feel irritated, would you say it was often? Do you wake up grumpy or irritated? Are you always tired even after just waking?

3. Do you feel paranoid all the time? Are you always suspicious that people are talking about you? Do you have a low sense of trust for anyone?

4. Do you exhibit any repetitive, obsessive behavior? Ask yourself if you catch yourself counting tiles, wringing your hands often, biting your lips, washing your hands or uncontrollable mannerism.

5. Do you always feel guilty? Are you weighed down by guilt? Do you fell troubled often either because you had done something you regret or for no reason at all?

6. Do you have low self-esteem? Are you unsatisfied with who you are and find yourself wanting to be like other people instead? Do you feel helpless, unwanted, and useless to other people? Do you often wonder if people like you or if they even know that you exist?

7. Do you have suicidal thoughts? Are you lonely, thinking that life does not matter anymore and that the best way to go is to let go and end it all?

8. Are you sometimes breathless? Do you experience such physical manifestations of anxiety such as palpitations, wet or clammy hands, butterflies in the stomach, and others? Does a particularly stressing situation cause you to be paralyzed with fear and hard of breath?

9. Do you drink or take drugs? Do you smoke, drink alcohol or coffee, take drugs or any other mood altering substance?

10. Have you noticed a change in you diet? Are you able to eat regularly? Have you noticed an increase in the amount of food you eat, a change in the schedule of your eating?

11. Do you overwork yourself? Do you catch yourself working overtime, or working more, and accomplishing less? Do you pull all-nighter after all-nighter?

If you answered yes to most of the questions above, you will want to seek professional help regarding depression and anxiety. You do not have to be ashamed of your situation; it is an illness like most illnesses, with specific causes and cures. A qualified professional will help you find emotional and physical support to combat your anxiety.

What Is Chronic Airways Disease and How Can Physiotherapy Help?

What Is Chronic Airways Disease and How Can Physiotherapy Help?

Chronic airways disease is actually a group of diseases. These diseases are also called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Chronic airways disease can cause a major change in the quality of a patient’s life. However, physiotherapy can help.

Diseases included in chronic airways disease are chronic bronchitis and emphysema, for example. Many other diseases that restrict or limit breathing are included. It is most often caused by cigarette smoking, but also can be caused by inhaling other irritants such as those in the workplace. Chronic airways disease is more common among the elderly.

Along with having shortness of breath, the patient is likely to wheeze and cough frequently. He will produce sputum in copious amounts, and sometimes that will be streaked with blood. The lips and fingers can take on a bluish tint because he is not getting enough oxygen, and heart trouble may follow for the same reason.

Physiotherapy can help with chronic airways disease in many ways. One is in breathing retraining. This is just what it sounds like. A physiotherapist works with the patient to teach him ways to breathe that will draw the most air while eliminating the most wheezing. This can be a great help for those with chronic airways disease.

Another method used by physiotherapists for those with chronic airways disease is called clapping and postural drainage. The postural drainage part is done by positioning the body so that the affected lung is above the trachea.

Many people do this at home by lying on a bed and bending the top half of the body over it. The physiotherapist teaches one how to do this so that the lung will drain. Before long, the patient with chronic airways disease will be doing this procedure on his own.

The other part of the help for chronic airways disease patients is called clapping. This is done by cupping the hand and clapping the back to loosen secretions in the chest. It is also called chest percussion. The physiotherapist will do this procedure, and will teach it to a family member or caregiver.

People with chronic airways disease often have a problem with weakening legs. This is because, as they have trouble breathing, they avoid walking or doing physical exercise of any sort. The goal of physiotherapy in this case is to strengthen the legs through treadmill-walking or stationary-cycling. This can only be done, however, if the patient is well enough to start out.

Conditioning the arms of chronic airways disease patients is just as important. Most daily jobs rely heavily on the arms to do the work. Exercises which focus on the arms not only strengthen the muscles of the arms. They also help the patient start breathing better.

Chronic airways disease is a condition that can benefit from physiotherapy. The physiotherapist treating the patient must have specialized knowledge for this type of treatment. Simple methods can be overlooked as modern treatments come to the forefront. Yet, physiotherapy personnel who know this technique can make a big difference in patients’ lives.

What You Should Know About IBS

Irritable bowel syndrome is a disorder in the body that affects the digestive system, particularly the large intestine or the colon, which is assigned to regulate and man over the excretion of solid wastes of the body.

Although it may not seem true, irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common diagnosed functional problems in the body. In the country alone, one out of five people are afflicted with the problem. This translates to about 20 percent of Americans. Still, little is known about the problem. Unlike other disorders that have already had awareness campaigns, irritable bowel syndrome still remain under the shadows. There is a lot of confusion as to how it starts and if a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome is appropriate.

What is doubly hard for this problem is the fact that there are no laboratory tests that can confirm the presence of irritable bowel syndrome. Diagnosis as mentioned before is solely dependent on the examination and study of the symptoms based on the account of the patient as well as on the medical history. Unlike other diseases that are directly caused by bacteria, virus and other organisms, irritable bowel syndrome has no known organic cause. Indirect causes or factors that may trigger the problem include stress, food items that may serve as irritant in the colon as well as milk products.

The numbers of cases of irritable bowel syndrome can actually even grow further as most people who have the problem do not even know that they have the problem. This is perhaps because of the fact that most of its symptoms are similar to symptoms of other body disorders. There is actually no distinctive symptom. This also the reason why it is classified under the term syndrome. Because there is a clear lack of a symptom that will differentiate it from other problems, diagnosis will depend on a set of symptoms that must be present. But what are the symptoms?

One of the main symptoms that doctors often watch out for in irritable bowel syndrome is the abdominal pain. This is actually one of the differentiating factors that doctors use to make a conclusion or final diagnosis. According to the Rome II Diagnostic Criteria, which is often used in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal disorders, irritable bowel syndrome symptoms include abdominal pain and discomfort episodes that may last for about 12 months.

Truths about IBS

Despite being one of the most commonly diagnosed problems in the country, there are still a lot of misinformation about irritable bowel syndrome, or what doctors call succinctly as IBS.

It may come as a surprise but irritable bowel syndrome actually affects one out of five people in the United States. These statistics translate to about 20 percent of the population. That is a pretty high prevalence considering that not much is known about the disease and misdiagnosis or even under diagnosis is possible.

Experts agree that numbers can still go up if people are made aware about the problem. Because the symptoms are quite common, and nothing much is known about irritable bowel syndrome, most people will mistake IBS for another problem.

Unlike other diseases that may be caused by an organism, bacteria or virus, irritable bowel syndrome is not caused by anything and if it caused by something. medical experts have no discovered that fact. In truth, doctors are stumped on what exactly starts off irritable bowel syndrome. One theory is that the large intestines of patients suffering from the illness are overly sensitive, as to what made it extra sensitive no one knows. Because of the extreme sensitiveness, the smallest and most minor of changes are recorded. The body will then react to these changes in the form of problems in the bowel movements.

There are some factors that trigger the exacerbation of the problem but are not considered as direct cause. One of them is stress. Stress changes a lot in the body system because the body compensates for the change. Stress is already known to wreak havoc to the systems of the body. Another suspected culprit is milk and milk products that are known to cause problems in the digestive track especially if one is lactose intolerant. There are also some food items that are said to trigger the problem.

Remember though that these three are not causes but rather factors that can trigger an already existing condition. There is a vast difference between these two.

Perhaps because there is no known cause, there is also no prescribed treatment for the problem. Rather doctors are free to recommend any course of treatment that they feel will benefit the patient. Most often, doctors will prescribed a medicine that contains fibers to help ease the constipation. Some doctors however will stick to the natural way by prescribing a diet that contains food items that have natural fibers.