While no one can stave off stress forever, people with Crohn’s disease can be especially at risk for mental health conditions. According to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, depression rates are higher among people living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) than in people without IBD. Anxiety is also common. A review of 77 studies published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology found that about 32 percent of people with IBD had anxiety and 25 percent experienced symptoms of depression....

While our Southern hemisphere friends are dragging out the barbeques and working on their beach bodies, we up here in the higher latitudes are donning jumpers, stacking firewood, and for some of us, preparing for the effects of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) — now there’s an apt acronym! Fancy-dress Halloween parties give way to stresses about Thanksgiving table settings and then to stuffing stockings and making it all work on shrinking budgets and waning energy reserves....

“We’re learning that pregnancy is a good thing for women with multiple sclerosis,” says Anthony T. Reder, MD, a professor of neurology at the University of Chicago Medicine and the director of its neurology and inflammatory disease infusion center. Up until the 1960s, women with multiple sclerosis were discouraged from becoming pregnant because of the concern that it could make the condition worse. But scientists have since observed that pregnancy reduces the likelihood of an MS relapse, particularly in the second and third trimesters....

“I would have images of bullets going through my head or rage coming through the door,” says Anderson, who explains that six of his close friends were killed during the 33 months he served in combat. “There are times where I find myself more elevated than a person should be at normal, typical, daily stressors. That comes in the form of feeling like I’m being attacked,” he adds. It’s upsetting and shocking events like the deaths Anderson witnessed that can trigger PTSD....

Some types of HPV can cause common skin warts, some can cause genital warts, and some can cause certain types of cancer. Of particular concern for men in the United States is the recent rise in the number of cases of oropharyngeal cancer linked to HPV infection. Oropharyngeal cancer is cancer that develops on the back and sides of the throat, tonsils, and base of the tongue. While it’s not known exactly why the incidence of this type of cancer is increasing, it’s believed to be the result of more people engaging in sexual activity with more partners than in years past, combined with an increase in oral sex practices....

In Louisville, the state’s largest city, several coal-powered industrial plants recently converted to cleaner natural gas. Others installed specialized “scrubbers” to reduce the amount of coal pollution they pumped into the city’s air. For a study published in April 2020 in the journal Nature Energy, researchers looked at the effects these plant conversions had among people with asthma who live in the Louisville area. The study team found that, by the time the last of the power plants had cleaned up their emissions, use of rescue inhalers among the people in the study had dropped by 17 percent....

The initiative brings together nonprofits, businesses, brands, celebrities, and influencers to form the first large-scale commitment to change the way people talk about and address mental health, including destigmatizing mental health conditions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 4 people in the world will be affected by mental health or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. An estimated 450 million currently suffer from these conditions, making mental health disorders among the leading causes of poor health and disabilities worldwide....

That’s because people with high blood pressure or diabetes — two of the main risk factors for heart attack and stroke — are more than twice as likely to die from these cardiovascular events when they sleep less than six hours a night. And once people have already had a heart attack or stroke, they’re more than 3 times as likely to die from cancer when they sleep less than six hours a night....

Smoking is the biggest risk factor of laryngeal cancer, which is most common among men between the ages of 50 and 60. “Although men are much more likely to get laryngeal cancer, women are starting to catch up,” explains Richard Smith, MD, head and neck cancer specialist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. Laryngeal Cancer: Knowing the Symptoms Due to new diagnostic tools and advancements in treatment, laryngeal cancer can be cured if detected in its early stages....

Lung cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage, leading doctors to look for ways to diagnose the disease earlier in high-risk patients, such as smokers or former smokers. In the study, researchers found that almost half of early-stage lung cancers could be identified using a blood test. Liquid biopsies have been under development for several years. Blood tests are already used in lung-cancer patients to assess the genetic characteristics of the tumor and choose targeted treatments, and studies show the tests can detect late-stage lung cancer....

Over half of all people with MS will develop problems with cognition at some point, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Usually, but not always, these changes are mild, and they don’t necessarily correspond to how severe your physical symptoms are. They can occur in anyone who has MS but are more common in people who have had the disease a long time. As you might expect, cognitive changes are associated with the number and location of brain lesions seen on an MRI, as well as brain atrophy (shrinkage)....

Pancreatic enzymes normally break down food as it passes through your small intestine, but without the necessary amount of those enzymes, your body can’t properly digest food. In addition to not being able to extract essential nutrients from your diet, you may also experience digestive symptoms such as fatty stools, abdominal pain, bloating, and diarrhea. Fortunately, such problems can be kept to a minimum with some easy-to-follow EPI management tips....

A study published in February 2020 in the journal Gut suggests another benefit of the Mediterranean diet: improving the gut microbiome of older adults and reducing frailty. “The beneficial effect of a Mediterranean diet appears to be due, at least in part, to its effect on the gut microbiome — the community of organisms that lives in our intestines and that converts many raw food ingredients into beneficial compounds that the body can use,” says a coauthor of the study, Paul O’Toole, PhD....

This type of prostate cancer can be very hard to cure, even when doctors catch it early. “This cancer escapes control,” says oncologist Michael S. Cookson, MD, a professor and the chairman of the department of urology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Oklahoma City. “It’s like a car that keeps moving even though you’re pushing on the brakes in the form of hormone therapy.” It’s common for hormone therapy, known as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), to stop working after a few years....

Researchers examined data pooled from 32 previously published studies representing 715,128 participants. During follow-up periods ranging from 3.5 to 32 years, 113,039 people died, including 16,429 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 22,303 fatalities from cancer. Overall, people who consumed the most total protein were 6 percent less likely to die prematurely than individuals with the lowest amount of protein in their diets. But when researchers looked at different sources of protein separately, they found only plant protein — not animal protein — was linked to a longer life span....

Taking our near-daily constitutional where the elements of air, water, and earth come together is both physically, intellectually, and somehow spiritually invigorating, relaxing, and restorative at the same time. Some weeks the weather and my multiple sclerosis (MS) leave our “intent” and “reality” columns out of balance, but we’ll not tell the accountants. On this particular morning, when the meteorological outcome of the day was far from a sure bet, we took our chances and donned multiweather gear for our walk....

You’d think that a weather forecast during a season like this might be pretty straightforward. But the truth is, no matter the national trends, there are variabilities caused by many factors: Proximity to the sea, elevation, even population size can cause minor changes that might not be reported in the nightly weather report. It’s a lot like living with multiple sclerosis (MS). RELATED: My MS: Predictable Only in Being Chronically Unpredictable...

Allergies, colds, and sinus infections impact millions of us on a daily basis. As someone who suffers from all three, sometimes the average medication just doesn’t cut it for me. After years of taking various over-the-counter decongestants and nasal sprays, I decided to take the nasal irrigation route and try the NeilMed NasaFlo Neti Pot. According to the Federal Drug and Food Administration (FDA), sinus rinsing can help remove debris, break up thick mucus, and alleviate pesky nasal symptoms....

The BA.2 variant is related to the original omicron variant (known as BA.1), but researchers are still learning about its properties and what additional risks, if any, it may pose. The new variant is being closely watched in countries like Denmark and India, where cases of the omicron spin off are on the rise. According to a statement from Denmark’s Statens Serum Institute, BA.2 accounts for almost half of all new COVID-19 cases in the country....

However, the four-time Olympian for Team USA did find herself in a battle when she first started experiencing migraine during training for her first games, in 1996 in Atlanta, as a 14-year-old. The Newport Beach, California–native would go on to become the second-youngest medalist in American history that year, winning a gold and two silvers, and become known worldwide for her beaming smile — and teddy bear — on the podium....