Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The possible side effects of vitamin “D” injection...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The possible side effects of vitamin “D” injection...: So you’ve been told your “D” is too low and a shot will help you elevate/replenish/supplement your level of D. Guess what? That isn’t ex...

The possible side effects of vitamin “D” injections

So you’ve been told your “D” is too low and a shot will help you elevate/replenish/supplement your level of D. Guess what? That isn’t exactly true. Here, is why:

Vitamin D is……

*Collected through the skin’s exposure to sunlight

*Consumed through eating animal products

*Stimulated by exposure to sunlight

However, too much Vitamin D can cause other problems like kidney stones, rendering more undesirable side effects than not having enough. Since the body uses D to assist calcium, too much can lead to the following side effects:

*Excessive calcium deposits in your blood vessels which can eventually lead to narrowing the flow of blood to vital organs such as your heart

*Dizziness, nausea, weight loss

*Kidney stones, forming from excessive calcium

*Bone loss, the result of excessive calcium leaching from your bones into your blood

Most of us wouldn’t know any better if we were told our “D” was low and would automatically look for the easiest way in replenishing our “D” levels. However, before jumping to that conclusion, why not seek the advice of a nutritionist or dietician for a full evaluation. You may find out that there is more going on than just low levels of “D” and you will be seeking the advice of a medical professional in this area of expertise.

If I had a heart problem I’d see a cardiologist, right? If I suffered from allergies I’d consult with an allergist, right? So why not seek the advice of someone who specializes in all matters related to diet and nutrition. Even your primary care physician would suggest you to do so. There are no quick fixes, but, there are answers. Find the solution that not only helps you feel better now but also in the future.

Quick tip for wellness: When it comes to nutrition, seek wise counsel from a nutritionist or dietician to receive sound advice.

Quick Tips for Wellness ™ Copyright © 2012, All Rights Reserved

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Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: A "thankful heart" does the body good!

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: A "thankful heart" does the body good!: Thanksgiving is the one day on the calendar that everyone in the world can celebrate, regardless of your faith, your political views and y...

A "thankful heart" does the body good!

Thanksgiving is the one day on the calendar that everyone in the world can celebrate, regardless of your faith, your political views and your financial status. This one day is more than the food we eat, the fellowship we share and the memories we might capture. This is a day in which we can simply reflect upon the positive things in our lives if we choose to do so.

Even when our lives are out of control and our world attempts to wreak havoc upon us, how we respond is the only thing that remains within our control. Being “thankful” is always our choice. When you look at the bigger picture around you, what do you see? Problems or potential? Desperation or inspiration? Dead ends or new beginnings? Both are there, but the one you choose to "see" makes all the difference in the world. Thankfulness is a choice, just as doubt, fear and negativity are choices, too. Even when we've been stripped of everything in our life, only "we" hold the key that unlocks the door to empowering our ability to move forward when we "choose" to be thankful.

Today, I will choose to be thankful – even when everything in my world may not be as I wish or want.

Today, I will see the world around me from a different perspective - from the eyes of other people who may see the world very differently than I do.

Today, I will intentionally be more compassionate, forgiving and understanding.

Today, I will humble myself and thank God for a glass that is not dry and for the potential that remains inside of it.

Today, I will choose to be thankful!

Quick Tips for Wellness: Thankfulness is a choice. Choose to be thankful and you just might be surprised how quickly the world around you changes.

Happy Thanksgiving and I pray God’s richest blessings upon your life, today!

Pat Ferguson

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The fight against prescription drug abuse through ...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The fight against prescription drug abuse through ...: If you have ever been in pain, then you know the benefits of taking something to help ease your discomfort. Most patients receiving pain ...

The fight against prescription drug abuse through Prescription Monitoring Programs

If you have ever been in pain, then you know the benefits of taking something to help ease your discomfort. Most patients receiving pain medication prefer to be rid of the pain more than they desire to continue taking the drug. However, most will also tell you that breaking free from needing the drug to alter the pain is a difficult process, especially once relief’s received.

The balance between “managing” pain and over medicating pain is delicate, to say the least. For that reason a growing alliance of states are joining hands to help reduce the opportunities of prescribed medications from becoming a drug abuse problem. But for some, the idea of limiting access to pain medication may seem more like a "hinderance" than a help. The concept behind this design isn't to stop access but to monitor abuse.

The Alliance of States with Prescription Monitoring Programs
(http://www.pmpalliance.org/) is an organization concerned with reducing opportunities of prescription drug abuse. Through their drug monitoring initiations, the organization has been able to unite, share and offer insight to states who join their organization within the U.S.

Their mission statement is pretty straight forward:

“The Alliance of States with Prescription Monitoring Programs provides a forum for information sharing on prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) among state and federal agencies seeking to curtail drug diversion and abuse while ensuring patient care.”

The real root of the prescription pain medication concern is the over medicating or loop holes within the system. Just recently, Tennessee adopted a PMP program to curtail the overprescribing of pain medication problem they were facing. The number of pain medication prescriptions issued were so outrageously high that something had to be done. Through 37,266 prescriptions, over 5 million doses prescribed to only 3,611 patients. The prescribed medications street value was over $55+/- million based on the assumed average of the street value provided by the Tennessee Drug Diversion Task Force.
The following information is provided on the Alliance website (http://www.pmpalliance.org/)

BY THE NUMBERS
• Prescription opioid overdose is now the second leading cause of accidental death in the United States, killing more people than heroin and cocaine combined.
• In 2009, Tennessee ranked second in the nation, with 17.3 retail prescriptions written per capita, compared with a national average of 12.
• Nationwide, prescription drugs account for the second most commonly abused category of drugs, second only to marijuana.
• 7 million Americans report current nonmedical use of prescription drugs, more than the number using cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined.
• 1,059 Tennesseans died from drug overdoses in 2010, more than doubling over a decade.
• The top prescriber in Tennessee wrote prescriptions for more than 5 million doses of painkillers in 2011.

(Sources: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tennessee Department of Health, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy)

Many of these drugs, when mixed with a minimal amount of alcohol, can stop the patient from breathing, linking directly to death. The urgency to stop overprescription of pain medication while eliminating the accessibility to these types of drugs has proven to be a double edged sword. There is often a distinct line between those who desperately need them versus those who are abusing them or using them with other drugs like alcohol.

PMP monitoring is for the benefit of the patient and a deterrent for those abusing the system (both medical professionals and patients). The problem does not just lie with the patients; many doctors overprescribe and undereducate/monitor their patients when issuing pain medication for long term use. Not all patients respond the same to pain medication. From hallucinations to respiratory complications, pain medications can lead to severe side effects that are not consistent in every patient.

Before agreeing to take any pain medication, consider asking your physician the following questions:
*What should/shouldn’t be taken with the medication (i.e. Food, beverage, other medications, supplements, etc)?
*How long and how often (is there a limit to the number of doses per 24 hours and when will you stop taking the medication)?
*What is the history of drug’s effect on your kidneys, heart, liver, etc?
*Has your physician performed a drug interaction check BEFORE issuing the drug?
*Does your current overall health condition make you a good candidate for the medication (i.e. Do you have any known heart disease or other health condition that may interfere with taking the drug)?
*Have you been totally honest with your doctor about your alcohol and/or other drug consumption? If the answer is NO, then stop and consider the deadly side effects from mixing the two.
*Who will monitor your progress on the pain medication? Will the doctor’s office check in with you within the first 24 – 48 hours from when you consumed the pain medication to verify your side effects/response?

Pain medications can be lethal and have long term side effects while also inducing addictive qualities in some patients. Before agreeing to take a pain medication prescription, consider the alternatives and review the drug thoroughly.

Unfortunately, doctors are not expressly trained to know the entirety of drugs they prescribe and rely heavily upon the pharmaceutical companies to research and provide accurate information to them.

Quick Tips for Wellness: Before agreeing to consume pain medication, know everything (possible) about it! Not everyone responds the same.

Quick Tips for Wellness ™ Copyright © 2012, All Rights Reserved

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Cell phone exposure during pregnancy related to fetal brain development problems in babies

Yale School of Medicine study reveals impact of fetal brain development in babies from expectant moms using cell phones. According to a recent study, cell phone radiation may lead to brain development problems including hyperactivity in children amongst other things.

“This is the first experimental evidence that fetal exposure to radiofrequency radiation from cellular telephones does in fact affect adult behavior,” said senior author Dr. Hugh S. Taylor, professor and chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences.

A control group case study using pregnant mice exposed to an active but muted and silenced cell phone revealed more “hyperactive and had reduced memory capacity” in their offspring. The study measured brain electrical activity in adult mice exposed to the radiation as fetuses against those not exposed. Dr. Taylor’s study reveals that the development of neurons in the fetus prefrontal cortex region is adversely effected, when exposed to cell phone use during pregnancy.

The dangers behind cell phone use are nothing new. Exposure to “radio frequency” (RF) has been a concern for almost 20 years. More concerning is the possible exposure to RF near the fetus. The results of the control study group revealed that even using an active phone around a fetus can be dangerous to the unborn child.

Arguments can be made that the subjects used (mice) against the bombardment of frequency’s received (cell phones) was not in proportion, but the concern still exists. If a muted, silenced cell phone can actively emit RF’s then it can still expose a fetus to the dangers caused through contact.

The concern over whether or not this frequency can cause irreversible brain damage should be enough to eliminate the use of or exposure to cell phones during pregnancy.

Quick Tips for Wellness: The safest way to protect your unborn child is to avoid cell phone exposure during pregnancy.

Quick Tips for Wellness ™ Copyright © 2012, All rights reserved

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Resource: http://medicine.yale.edu/publications/medicineatyale/may2012/news/advances/124799

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The Shopping Gui...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The Shopping Gui...: Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The Shopping Guide to finding hidden GMO’s in your... : Do you know which foods in your grocery story cont...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Take 5! A huge tip to help curb your appetite and...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Take 5! A huge tip to help curb your appetite and...: Most of us will not eat something that does not entice the senses first. However, at what point does the smell of your food stop enticing...

Take 5! A huge tip to help curb your appetite and reduce your waist line

Most of us will not eat something that does not entice the senses first. However, at what point does the smell of your food stop enticing your desire to eat? Can we possibly stop overeating by practicing one small tip each time we eat? Scientists are now saying it is possible to control your overeating and satisfy your satiety by doing one easy thing: Smell your food for five minutes before eating.

According to a recent study the above answer seems quite logical.

*The initial odor of food increases the desire to consume it

*The desire to consume the food decreases throughout the meal as the pallet becomes satisfied

*Taking just say five minutes to smell your food before eating it helps to satisfy your satiety, which in turn helps to lower the over consumption of food

Most of us can push ourselves away from the table once we’re full or satisfied. The results of the study provided one significant outcome: Overeating is reduced the longer food aroma is consumed. A 1984 study revealed what is still true today: Satiety occurs more quickly with foods we’re familiar with and have consumed before. Just taking the time to “smell” the food before consuming it triggers your satiety senses and can reduce over eating. However, other things like food variety throughout the meal have an impact on our overall satiety:

“Satiety level can be specific to a food which has been eaten before. This is shown by a decrease in the pleasantness of foods eaten relative to foods which have not been eaten. The aim of the present experiment was to determine whether this specificity still remained after a meal with a very different food in each of four courses. Forty-eight human subjects were given a four-course lunch with either a different food in each course (varied meal), or the same food in each course (plain meal). Energy intake was elevated by 60% in the varied meal primarily because of the increase food consumption in the third and fourth courses. The pleasantness of the taste of foods eaten decreased rapidly, whereas the pleasantness of foods which had not been eaten remained relatively unchanged. The change in pleasantness of a food correlated well with the subsequent intake of that food. Therefore, sensory-specific satiety is still found after eating four different courses in a meal and general satiety does not result. Some selective interactions between different foods were also found. For example, when a savory food was eaten, the pleasantness of (uneaten) savory foods decreased more than that of (uneaten) sweet foods. The converse was found when sweet foods were eaten. It is concluded that sensory-specific satiety and the effect of variety in enhancing food intake can operate throughout a meal with four very different foods, and that there are interactions between foods similar in savoriness or sweetness.”(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6529260)

A more recent case study provided support for this theory, as well. The experiment used the same flavor on food served at the beginning (main course) and end (dessert) of the meal and found “that aroma pleasantness, but not intensity of familiarity, significantly decreased in the test groups vs. the control groups.” Intensity and familiarity had the lesser impact on how much food was consumed. What (supposedly) did make a difference in consumption was how long the food smell was present prior to consumption(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23079143). End result = the longer the smell the less consumed.

The take away from this study can be two things: Take your time to enjoy the entire experience of your food consumption. Eat slowly and pace yourself throughout the meal. Small portions, healthier choices and slower eating throughout the meal is extremely important when trying to avoid overeating.

Quick Tips for Wellness: Try taking the time to smell your food before consumption. The results may help control your weight while satisfying your hunger.

Quick Tips for Wellness ™ Copyright © 2012, All Rights Reserved

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Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The Shopping Guide to finding hidden GMO’s in your...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The Shopping Guide to finding hidden GMO’s in your...: Do you know which foods in your grocery story contain GMO’s? If you are like most of us, the answer is likely “no”. Unless the FDA mand...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The Shopping Guide to finding hidden GMO’s in your...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: The Shopping Guide to finding hidden GMO’s in your...: Do you know which foods in your grocery story contain GMO’s? If you are like most of us, the answer is likely “no”. Unless the FDA mand...

The Shopping Guide to finding hidden GMO’s in your food

Do you know which foods in your grocery story contain GMO’s? If you are like most of us, the answer is likely “no”. Unless the FDA mandates that all “Genetically Modified Organism” food be labeled, consumers will not likely have a clue to what is in their food. The good news is there’s a “phone app” for that and a downloadable shopping list to help you guard against these products.

The downloadable Non-GMO Shopping Guide, (http://nongmoshoppingguide.com) specifically details the currently known food products containing GMO’s. If you are unaware of which foods contain these detrimental GMO’s, then use the downloadble app or the list provided at this site to help make it easier for you to avoid them.

Consumers are becoming more aware of the damaging effects, linked to food treated with “Genetically Modified Organism’s” (GMO) and their potential negative effect on your health for years to come. Chemicals (aka pesticides) injected into plants and animal (from cultivation to production), used as a method of preserving and producing food, have become very common in America. The side effects from GMO’s had been widely controversial and mostly hidden from the public’s view. In recent years, illness and disease have been directly link to these products.

The following top 10 most highly consumed foods containing “GMO’s” as listed below:

*Corn (many food products contain high fructose corn syrup, etc.)

*Soy (including Tofu)

*Aspartame (sweetener)

*Sugar (sugar beets)

*Cotton (cotton oil)

*Papayas (mostly grown in Hawaii and banned in other countries)

*Dairy (20% of dairy cows in America receive growth hormones, while 27 other countries ban them)

*Canola oil (obtained from rapeseed)

*Zucchini and Yellow squash (the Bt toxin used in corn has recently been detected in both of these)

Before your make another trip to the grocery story, write a shopping list with the healthier GMO-free choices and discipline yourself to read the labels. Once you form this new “habit” your health will greatly thank you for it in the end!

Quick Tips for Wellness: Organic is the only alternative to GMO food. Knowledge is power. Both are for your wellness.

Quick Tips for Wellness ™ Copyright © 2012, All Rights Reserved

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Senior “in-home” care: Navigating through the PAC...

Quick Tips for Everyday Wellness: Senior “in-home” care: Navigating through the PAC...: Provisions in Medicare now allow aging seniors to “age-in” at home, unless their health condition dictates otherwise. There are two progr...

Senior “in-home” care: Navigating through the PACE process

Provisions in Medicare now allow aging seniors to “age-in” at home, unless their health condition dictates otherwise. There are two programs designed to help seniors make the choice that is best for them: PACE (Program for all inclusive care for the elderly) and Social Managed care plan. For seniors wanting and able to stay in their homes, PACE is the program worth considering.

PACE is designed to help seniors meet their health needs in their community instead of going into a nursing home or other care facility. Most seniors like the idea of “PACE” but not all are able to receive the care they need through it. The program works to build a team of PACE-preferred doctors along with a team of health care professionals who work with the senior and their family/community to coordinate the care needed.

The following link is the website for PACE (http://www.npaonline.org/website/article.asp?id=4). The site allows you to find the local PACE provider in your area where you can inquire about the program and eligibility requirements (http://www.npaonline.org/custom/programsearch.asp?id=209).

To qualify, you must be:
*55 years or older
*Live in the service area of a PACE organization
*Need a nursing home-level of care (as certified by your state)
*Be able to live safely in the community with help from PACE

Participants are able to leave the PACE program at any time. All of the typical care and services provided by Medicare and Medicaid are recognized through the PACE program, with the possibility some “uncovered” services may be covered with PACE.

Typical coverage includes:
*Adult day primary care (doctor/recreational/therapy nursing services)
*Denistry
*Emergency services
*Home care services
*Hospital care
*Laboratory/x-ray services
*Meals
*Medical specialty services
*Nursing home
*Nutritional counseling
*Occupational therapy
*Physical therapy
*Prescription drugs

According to the program: “If you join a PACE program, you’ll get your Part D-covered drugs and all other necessary medication from the PACE program. You don’t need to join a separate Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. If you do, you’ll be dis-enrolled from your PACE health and prescription drug benefits.”

Other plan benefits include:
*Preventive care
*Social services, including caregiver training, support groups and respite care
*Social work counseling
*Transportation to PACE center for activities or medical appointments, if medically necessary, including possible transportation to some medical appointments in your community.

To apply, contact your state’s Medical Assistance (Medicaid) program. What you “pay” for PACE is based upon your eligibility. According to the program, “If you have Medicaid, you won’t pay a monthly premium for the long-term care portion of the PACE benefit.” Otherwise, you would be charged a monthly premium to cover the long-term care portion of the PACE benefit and a premium for Medicare Part D drugs. If you fall into the category of not having Medicare or Medicaid, then you would pay for PACE privately.

Quick Tips for Wellness: With so many seniors wanting to age gracefully at home, PACE may be a very welcome alternative to other options. Check with your local PACE representative to learn more about this program.

Quick Tips for Wellness ™ Copyright © 2012, All Rights Reserved
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