Month: January 2021

Dr. Dre survived a brain aneurysm. Here’s what you need to know about it.

Music mogul and hip hop legend Dr. Dre was treated for a brain aneurysm on Tuesday, later posting he was “doing great” on Instagram. Doctors said they have yet to determine what caused his aneurysm but he is stable for now, TMZ reported.

“I’m doing great and getting excellent care from my medical team,” he wrote. “I will be out of the hospital and back home soon.”

Here is everything you need to know about the condition. 

What is a brain aneurysm? 

A cerebral aneurysm (better known as a brain aneurysm) is a condition in which a blood vessel in the brain expands, causing a balloon of blood to develop. The balloon can rupture or leak, which can be life-threatening for 40% of cases. 

While an estimated 50% to 80% of aneurysms never rupture, those that do can have devastating consequences. 

When an aneurysm bursts, people may experience symptoms like sudden head pain, vomiting, a stiff neck, double vision, and confusion, according to the Mayo Clinic. These types of ruptures can lead to permanent brain damage and death. 

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the total number of people in the US living with the condition is unclear because “they don’t always cause symptoms.” Approximately 30,000 Americans suffer brain aneurysm ruptures each year.

There aren’t always tell-tale signs that someone will experience a brain aneurysm. Instead, there are risk categories to look out for. 

Genetics and family history oftentimes play a large role in determining whether or not you will experience aneurysms in your lifetime, so experts recommend knowing your family’s history with the condition and consulting your doctor accordingly. 

Pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol could also be warning signs, as both are associated with weakening arterial walls, which can lead to blood vessels ballooning. 

Smoking, heavy drinking, and drug use can also weaken your arteries and make you more vulnerable to aneurysms. 

Other risk factors include age and sex, as brain aneurysms usually rupture between the ages of 30 to 60 and are more commonly experienced by women. 

Source: insider@insider.com (Canela López) 

Photo credit: Mike Coppola / Getty Images

What Does Hypoallergenic Really Mean?

Have you ever seen the word “hypoallergenic” in front of a product or animal, and wondered what it really meant? For example: Does the label mean it’s safe to put on your skin, come in contact with or be able to pet?

Let’s take a deeper dive and find out what this word means and why it’s important to your health.

If we break down the word, we first get the prefix “hypo,” which means under, beneath or less than normal. The word “allergenic” means “other, different, strange.” This word was coined by the Austrian pediatrician Clemens Von Pirquet to describe what we now know as an immunologic reaction that can include hives, swelling of the skin, sneezing, asthma and life-threatening anaphylaxis. Putting the prefix “hypo” with “allergenic” implies a less-than-normal (or below average) allergic reaction.

Does this imply that objects labeled “hypoallergenic” are safe and less likely to trigger a reaction? One of the most common products for which we see the term “hypoallergenic” on the label is cosmetics. The implication is that these beauty aids will produce fewer allergic reactions in people with hypersensitive or even normal skin. The label makes it sound like these are “gentler” for your skin. Is this absolutely true? In one word, no.

In the U.S., there is no standard from the Food and Drug Administration that requires a cosmetic to prove it’s hypoallergenic. It’s up to the manufacturer to use the term if they want to, but they don’t have to perform any clinical studies to validate their claim. In the 1970s, there was a court case initiated by manufacturers to reverse an FDA regulation mandating companies that make cosmetics to prove their claim of “hypoallergenic” on the label. The FDA lost the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia. The ruling, which still stands today, allows manufacturers to continue to advertise their cosmetics as being hypoallergenic. But we as consumers have no way of knowing if that’s true. If you purchase one of these products, you need to carefully read the label to make sure there’s no ingredient to which you’re allergic before buying.

This isn’t just an issue with cosmetics. You may see “hypoallergenic” applied to other items such as toys, baby products and clothing. Just like cosmetics, there is no federal government standard for the term when applied to these items. Buyer beware!

So what about pets? You might have heard someone say, “I’m allergic to dogs, but I got a hypoallergenic one, so I won’t have a reaction.” You see advertisements boasting that a particular breed of cat or dog is hypoallergenic. You may have heard that if a dog doesn’t shed, it’s hypoallergenic.

However, the bottom line is that there is no such thing as a hypoallergenic cat or dog. According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the proteins from pets that cause people to develop allergies are found not only on the hair, but also in the animal’s saliva and urine. Even though you may think an Egyptian hairless cat can’t trigger allergies, that’s not true.

Depending on the seriousness of the person’s allergy to an animal, they could suffer a life-threatening reaction around a “hypoallergenic” pet. It’s very important to know this if you have cat or dog allergy, as there is no truly safe cat or dog. An allergist can test you to find out what your level of allergy is, and offer advice on what you should do to avoid symptoms.

Of course, there are many wonderful products that have the label “hypoallergenic.” But it doesn’t mean that they’ve met rigorous scientific studies to prove their claim. Remember the famous quote from the movie “The Princess Bride.”

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Copyright By Michael Blaiss, M.D.  for U.S. News©2021 U.S. News & World Report

What Is Soda Bread, and Do the Irish Actually Eat It?

According to Darina Allen, the grande dame of Irish cooking and author of multiple books on the subject, “From earliest times, breadmaking was an integral part of daily life in almost every home…even in the poorest country cabin, fresh soda bread would have been mixed on a wooden baking board and baked on the griddle, or…over the ember of the turf fire.” Those loaves featured Irish wheat and buttermilk—either the by-product of butter making, or in the days before refrigeration, sour milk that needed to be used up. The lactic acid in the buttermilk reacts with the alkali baking soda to create carbon dioxide, which in turn causes the bread to rise. Baking soda was introduced to Ireland (where it’s known as bread soda) in the 1830s. Since then, it’s been a staple in Irish home (and restaurant) kitchens. Incidentally, historians trace the development of baking soda to Native Americans, who first used pearl ash as a way to leaven bread.

One this side of the Atlantic, what we call “Irish soda bread” is more rich and sweet, usually studded with raisins and caraway seeds. These cakey, scone-like loaves often include eggs and butter for tenderness and more flavor. It’s nearly impossible to find an accurate date when it became known as the definitive soda bread in the United States. Nevertheless, it’s been on the menu in Irish restaurants and bars on St. Patrick’s Day and sold in bakeries throughout Irish-American strongholds all year long for as long as anyone can remember. Though its overall shape and structure derive from those early Irish loaves, it bears more of a resemblance to a cake known as Spotted Dog (or Spotted Dick, not to be mistaken for the British steamed pudding of the same name). To further confuse matters, Spotted Dog is known as Railway Cake when it’s baked in a loaf pan. Good luck keeping all those names straight!

If you’re new to bread making, you might want to start with soda bread. Martha’s take on the authentic Irish loaf—with a combination of graham and all-purpose flours filling in for the Irish whole grain, and butter added for richness—and this rye version are both heavenly served with smoked trout, strong cheeses like Cashel blue, warm bowls of hearty soup, or simply slathered with salted Irish butter. From there, you can try one of the sweeter, cakier versions.

The last step in making any loaf of soda bread is to cut a cross in the top of the dome of dough. According to Irish legend, this is to “let the devil out,” but the technique actually serves a practical purpose. The deep slash allows the dough to cook evenly from crust to inner crumb, creating the inimitable texture that American culinary icon James Beard described as “velvety.”

As for the name, the easiest way to clear up the confusion may be to simply refer to the raisin- and caraway-studded version as Irish American Soda Bread. In that most American of American cookbooks, the bread is aptly described as “richer, sweeter and more cake-like than authentic Irish soda bread, which we are assured never made the acquaintance of a raisin or caraway seed either.” Perhaps adding the “American” qualifier between “Irish” and “soda” makes saying it too much of a mouthful.

The one caveat about making soda bread from scratch is that it is best eaten on the day that it’s baked. It doesn’t keep nearly as well as yeast-risen breads. As long as you have enough good-quality butter, some nice fruit jam, and some Irish smoked salmon, however, that shouldn’t be a problem.

By Ellen Morrissey for Martha Stewart©

Why We all need human touch

 

Why we touch

Touch has a wide range of functions for us, including conveying emotion. Hugs and kisses, anyone?

It’s all over us

The skin is the biggest organ in the human body. In an adult, it covers an average of 22 square feet (2 square meters)!

Why we all need human touch

“I just want someone to talk to, and a little of that human touch. Just a little of that human touch.” It looks like Bruce Springsteen was onto something. We really do need human touch, and not just a little–we actually need it a lot. We’ve needed it since the day we are born and throughout our lives.

A world without touch is hard to imagine, but as we live more isolated lives and interact less, this can indeed become a problem. Browse through the following gallery and learn why human touch is so important and why we all need it.

Before we see or hear

Touch is the first sense we use to send information to our brains before we’re born.

Why we touch

Touch can help us calm down from stress arousal, for instance. It can have a pacifying effect that words can’t match.  It calms us down.

In fact, touch is so powerful that it can actually reduce blood pressure and decrease your heart rate.  Touch boosts the immune system.

Research shows that hugs can boost our immune system and decrease disease.

Photo credit: © Shutterstock

This Is How to Tell if Your Sore Throat Is COVID, Doctors Say

Waking up during a pandemic isn’t always easy. Some of the most common experiences—such as a minor, dry throat in the morning—can make you scared that you contracted the virus. As it turns out, there are quite a number of things that can cause a sore throat, which is both fortunate in that it may not be COVID, but also unfortunate as it can be hard to be sure you’re coronavirus-free. According to experts, however, there are a few ways to tell if your sore throat is COVID or something else entirely. Keep reading to find out the signs your sore throat is not COVID.

You feel like you have to clear your throat often.

Marc Goldstein, MD, a board-certified allergist and chief medical advisor at Curist, says it’s possible that your sore throat may just be allergies. In an article for Curist, Goldstein wrote that allergies often induce a postnasal drip, “which triggers throat clearing.” So if you find yourself having to clear your throat often, you could actually be dealing with a sore throat from allergies, not coronavirus.

Taking an antihistamine makes your sore throat feel better.

If you do have allergies, you’re likely to experience other symptoms such as an itchy throat, watery eyes, sneezing, congestion, and a runny nose, says Goldstein. However, these symptoms (including your sore throat) should significantly improve if you take an antihistamine like Claritin or Benadryl. If you don’t feel your symptoms improve at all, you could be dealing with something else, including COVID.

You have a metallic taste in your mouth.

If you’re experiencing a metallic taste in your mouth, it could point to another sore throat cause. According to Sheneen Lalani, DO, a board-certified internal medicine doctor working with COVID patients, this is typically present when you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

The Mayo Clinic says GERD patients usually experience acid reflux at least twice a week, which can be aggravated by smoking, eating large meals, eating late at night, eating fatty or fried foods, drinking alcohol or coffee, and taking certain medications like aspirin.

Your lymph nodes feel swollen and tender.

Your sore throat could also be the result of a strep throat infection. According to Goldstein, a strep throat will often leave your lymph nodes swollen and tender, causing pain when you swallow. You may also see redness, white patches, or pus on the back of your throat or tonsils

You don’t have any other coronavirus symptoms.

Since there are so many things that can cause a sore throat, it can be a challenge to know if yours is COVID-related. Fortunately, you can rest assured that a sore throat alone is not actually that common a coronavirus symptom. A joint report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese researchers found that only 13.9 percent of COVID patients experience a sore throat.

According to Leann Poston, MD, a licensed physician and medical advisor for Invigor Medical, if your sore throat is COVID, you’re likely to experience more common symptoms such as fever, dry cough, fatigue, sputum production, and shortness of breath. However, since there is no way to fully differentiate, you should get a COVID test to make absolutely sure your sore throat is not the virus. 

Source: By Kali Coleman for BestLife©

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