Five Tips for Helping a Family Member in the Hospital

Family members, long relegated to visiting hours and waiting rooms, are increasingly getting to see behind the curtain at hospitals.

Many facilities are giving patients’ families better access to the patient’s room, and some are even involving family members by having nurses ask for their observations and give them end-of-shift updates, the WSJ reports.

Here are a few tips for taking care of a loved one in the hospital:

• Ask everyone if they’ve washed their hands.
• Ask nurses to read drug orders out loud and confirm that they match the patient’s ID bracelet. If it’s a new medication, ask what it’s for and what to expect.
• During long stays, be alert for bedsores. Make sure the patient is moved often, and lifted rather than slid.
• Don’t try and help the patient into or out of bed by yourself.
• Don’t give the patient medications on your own.

In general, try to take a balanced approach. On the one hand, it’s good to stay informed about what’s happening and speak up if you think something is wrong. On the other hand, as WSJ columnist Dr. Ben Brewer recently noted, overly confrontational family members can wind up goading staff into unnecessary treatments, which can mean “extra doses of radiation from scans, the extra medication [the patient] might be allergic to, and the extra procedures the specialist is likely to recommend.”

Weight Gain Not Associated With Hysterectomy

According to an Australian website, ABC News in Science, researchers have found that women who have had a hysterectomy do not experience weight gain. However, overweight women have an increased risk for hysterectomy. I don't know about other women, but it seemed that I gained 40 pounds almost instantly following my hysterectomy. I've always attributed this weight gain to the conjugated estrogens my doctor prescribed immediately after my hysterectomy.

What is Diverticulitis

Diverticulitis is a condition that affects many Canadians as they get older. It generally occurs in people over 40 and becomes more common as they age. Diverticulitis is the condition of having one or more diverticula (sacs that form by a fold in the lining of the intestinal wall). These sacs can trap feces that move through the intestine. It is quite common for Canadians to already have diverticula and be unaware of the condition as there are usually no symptoms until inflammation and/or bleeding occurs. Diverticulitis can also appear in the gastrointestinal tract above the stomach which can trap food. Esophageal diverticula do not cause any serious health problems, but trapped food can cause the food to back up when a person bends over and/or lies down.

Once the diverticula have become inflamed the condition is then known as diverticulitis which can become a serious health problem. It is believed that diverticula are usually caused by muscle spasms, or by pairs of muscles that do not contract in a synchronized manner. This puts pressure around the blood vessels that pass through the inside of the wall of the large intestine (colon). The most common symptom of inflammation is abdominal pain which usually occurs in the lower left side of the abdomen. Cramping, nausea, vomiting, bloating, fever, chills and sudden change in bowel habits can also signal diverticulitis.

Bleeding can occur when feces get lodged in a diverticulum and the bowel draws fluid out of feces before ejecting it. If the feces stays lodged for a long time it can become hard and dry, which can erode the blood vessels. This can cause a large amount of blood to be released from the rectum, as well as small amounts of blood being released on a continual basis. Any bleeding that does not stop always requires medical attention. A colonoscopy can be used to identify the site of the bleeding as well as to stop the bleeding. For people with chronic bleeding surgery may be necessary to remove the affected part of the colon.

Diverticulitis can cause infections that are easily treated with antibiotics. If an infection is left untreated, an abscess (localized collection of pus) can form in the wall of the colon. An abscess can cause swelling as well as destroy the surrounding tissue. If the abscess remains small and in the wall of the colon it usually can be treated with a course of antibiotics. If the abscess does not respond to antibiotics a doctor may need to insert a catheter through the skin in order to help drain the abscess.

Peritonitis can occur when large parts of the abdominal cavity become inflamed. It always causes a fever and the belly very often is bloated and feels very hard. As well, a person may feel extremely ill with nausea and vomiting. Peritonitis can cause death within a few hours if it is not treated. This can be caused by perforations that leak pus out of the colon and in turn form a large abscess in the abdominal cavity.

Diverticulitis is more common in North America, Australia and England where diets typically are not high in fiber. Industrialized countries that have diets that are high in processed foods have higher cases of diverticulitis than countries in Asia or Africa, where these food products are not as common in people's daily diets. If you have been diagnosed with diverticulitis, changing your diet as well as regular exercise can be very beneficial. Talk to your health care professional about the best way to manage your condition, as well as possible medical procedures that may be required.

3 Tips to Avoid the Gaining Weight

Now that we're in October, most first-year college students have had a month to settle into their new routines. For many, that routine involves late-night snacking, sleeping until the afternoon and gulping down several cans of Red Bull prior to exams. And, of course, there's the beer.

As you can see, these aren't exactly the healthiest of habits. So it's no surprise that a lot of kids put on weight during their first semesters of collegiate life. But if you're worried that your son or daughter will return home for Christmas a little wider, well, there's good news and bad news.

The good news? The term "freshman 15," which refers to the 15 pounds that college students supposedly gain their first year, is inaccurate; students don't typically gain that much. The bad news? They do tend to gain some weight.

According to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers from the University of Guelph, Canada, found that the average weight gain among 116 freshman girls was about 5 pounds. Two other studies, both published in 2006, also noted a weight gain between 5 to 7 pounds among freshmen.

Debbie Pino-Saballett, director of health education at University of California, San Diego's Student Health Services, says several factors contribute to a college student's extra baggage.

Among them are lower activity levels and the stresses of academia.

"Very often, high school students are involved in sports and other physical activities. But when they get to college, they're no longer as active as they used to be," Pino-Saballett says. "Also, the anxiety from classes and homesickness can cause them to eat more."

The new-found freedom of university living also plays a role. With Mom and Dad no longer looking over their shoulders, students can eat whatever they want whenever they want -- and that includes some unhealthy (yet budget-friendly) choices like pizza, Chinese takeout and the all-too-common cup of instant noodles.

"This is the first opportunity many students have to actually eat without parental control or input," says Terri Dowie, director of wellness programs at UC San Diego. "[In terms of] eating in the dorms, there are usually some healthful selections, but often the less healthy food choices are cheaper."

While "freshman 15" is a term typically reserved for first-year students, that doesn't mean everyone else is off the hook; sophomores, juniors, seniors and grad students all face the same weighty issues -- the dining hall buffet, parties and a busy class schedule.

But even if your child is hundreds or thousands of miles away, there are still some things you can do to help your child develop healthy habits. Here are three tips to help budding scholars expand their mind and not their girth:

      1. Encourage them to take advantage of the school's gym. Many universities have on-campus fitness centers and other recreational facilities like tennis and basketball courts; any usage fees are usually included with the semester bill. Exercise classes such as yoga, Zumba and cycling may also be offered, depending on the school. Check the university's Web site for a list of available resources.

      2. Do a little research before buying the campus meal plan. If your child's dining hall fare is loaded with carbs and fat, then you should probably think twice about purchasing the all-you-can-eat plan. If the other available options aren't much better, make sure to stress proper portions.

      "When more food is served, people tend to eat more," Pino-Saballett says. "Portion control is necessary."

      3. Practice what you preach. Class schedules change every semester. And with them, eating schedules change. So when your child comes home for the holidays, get them back in the routine of eating at a set time. Also remember to keep healthy snacks around the house.

And if you have any youngsters who haven't left the nest yet, having them develop good habits early on is ideal. This increases the likelihood that the habits will stick once they've flown the coop.

"People like things that they're used to," says Pino-Saballett. "So if they're accustomed to eating an apple as a snack, they're likelier to eat that than something unhealthy."

Doctor Says Executive Physicals Are Bad Medicine

The Health Blog sure aren’t executives, and we don’t expect to join the ranks of top businessmen anytime soon. Maybe that’s why we’re so curious about those expensive executive physicals that go on behind medicine’s velvet rope.

From what we’ve heard, you get the amenities of a spa and the fanciest work-up imaginable, often including a CT scan looking for signs of heart trouble. The battery of tests promises early detection and prevention of problems. But are the exams worth the thousands of dollars they cost? Brian Rank (pictured), medical director of HealthPartners Medical Group and Clinic, says no way.

In the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Rank writes executive physicals are “one of modern medicine’s most expensive and least proven approaches to care.” The way he sees it, VIP exams fail on three counts:

Efficacy: More testing isn’t necessarily better, with research piling up that shows inappropriate testing can cause more harm than good. Take CT scans looking for heart calcifications, a staple of the top-shelf physicals. The scores may be interesting but are “rarely meaningful as a predictor of disease,” Rank writes.

Cost: The pricey exams reinforce the misperception that “costlier is better.” In fact, Rank writes, the exams “are almost a parody of the high-cost, low-return procedures” that companies want to eliminate for other employees.

Equity: And that brings us to fairness, one of Rank’s biggest beefs. The mystique of executive physicals makes it appear that folks with lots of money or the backing of a company “are more worthy of effective, respectful and personalized treatment than others.”

We gave Rank a call to find out what drove him to give VIP exams such a beatdown. He told us that on trips to Florida he kept seeing ads in the Orlando airport for executive physicals at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. “It bugged me,” he told the Health Blog. If the exams were “just repackaging and selling evidenced-based preventive services, that would be one thing,” he said. But the battery of tests can lead to harm–from radiation exposure from CT scans to false alarms that lead to worry and more testing.

Rank just about flipped when another member of the board at HealthPartners said he was considering getting one of the physicals. “Are you nuts?” he asked him. “Why would you expose your company to excess costs and yourself to tests that could hurt you?”