Articles Tagged: Dugs and Medication
As part of a growing health and cost conscious public, we now take more responsibility for our health. More concerned about what we eat, drink and how we exercise, we also bring a questioning approach to health care. We are now forging new relationships with our doctors and we are less likely to sit passively and accept unquestioningly our doctor’s directions. We want second opinions, alternative treatments or medications.
As a person with SCI, you know you will spend more time with doctors and other health care professionals than most people. It is a good idea to know your rights and responsibilities as a patient as well as your doctors rights and responsibilities. Continue Reading »
One of the first questions out of your doctor’s mouth is often something like, “How are you feeling?” More than just a conversation starter, your answer to this question can often be one of the best predictors of how healthy you actually are and will be. You see, nobody knows your health better than you and nobody can have a bigger impact on your health than you.
It turns out that many different researchers in many different papers have come to a similar conclusion: people’s self-rated health has a strong relationship to their actual physical health. Most people, it appears, feel healthy. Continue Reading »
If you are newly injured and need information about Disability benefits, or if you’re approaching age 65, and looking at retirement, then it might be time to check out Medicare and its many options.
What is Medicare?
Medicare is a federal health insurance program for persons who are disabled and have received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for at least 24 months, and for persons 65 years of age or older. Medicare has two parts:
Part A covers inpatient hospitalization, skilled nursing facility care, and hospice care. It covers all but the first three pints of blood per year. Medicare will also pay for some home health care services. However, to get these services you must need skilled care and you must be homebound. Continue Reading »
We’re hearing more and more about fatigue these days. Who cares? Isn’t fatigue just part of getting older? Well, the truth is, new data indicate that fatigue may be a bigger deal than any of us thought.
Longitudinal researchresearch which studies the same individuals over a number of years to see how they’ve changedis suggesting that fatigue is somewhat predictable among people with spinal cord injury. A study of nearly three hundred British survivors who have been living with spinal cord injuries for over 23 years has found that more than half of those interviewed reported exhaustion and other fatigue-related symptoms. Continue Reading »
Some of these may sound familiar. Are you …
- taking more than one prescription drug?
- getting prescriptions from more than one doctor or pharmacy?
- taking one or several over-the-counter drugs with prescriptions?
- having trouble keeping track of all your medications?
- having liver or kidney problems?
- confused, disoriented or “spacey” some of the time?
You may take prescriptions for bladder management or to keep spasms under control. Then there are the antibiotics for the urinary tract infections and possibly something for pain. There are always risks with medications, and the risks rise as you age with your SCI and as the number of medications you take increases. Continue Reading »
Everywhere you look these days there is health information – in Readers Digest, in Good Housekeeping, in Men’s Health, in the magazine that comes with the Sunday newspaper, even in those sleazy newspapers you see in the grocery store checkout line. Even radio and TV commercials have celebrities talking about “studies at leading universities” as they show you data and diagrams telling how each new over-the-counter medicine works.
Places like these are where you’re liable to hear stories like, “caffeine causes bladder cancer.” Or, “new drug to cure spinal cord injury discovered.” When you hear stories like these, you should: Continue Reading »
What Is It and How to Get It
You are over your rehab and are reaching a level of health that you feel good about. How do you keep healthy? What does being healthy mean, considering your spinal cord injury? Here are some ideas about what optimal health means and what you can do to keep healthy for a long, long time.
What Is Optimal Health? Continue Reading »
Everywhere you look these days there is health information – in Readers Digest, in Good Housekeeping, in Men’s Health, in the magazine that comes with the Sunday newspaper, even in those sleazy newspapers you see in the grocery store checkout line. Even radio and TV commercials have celebrities talking about “studies at leading universities” as they show you data and diagrams telling how each new over-the-counter medicine works.
Places like these are where you’re liable to hear stories like, “caffeine causes bladder cancer.” Or, “new drug to cure spinal cord injury discovered.” When you hear stories like these, you should: Continue Reading »
Rick was getting dressed one morning just sliding on his pants and pulling up a sock. He heard a loud “SNAP.” Broken hip, just like that. He was under 40, very active for his C6 injury, and hadn’t had a lot of other injuries. So what went wrong? Read on…
What Is Osteoporosis?
Throughout our lives our bones continually break themselves down and rebuild themselves. In the process, several vital minerals – especially calcium – are lost and then replaced. For Rick and others with osteoporosis, the breaking-down process happens faster than the rebuilding, and the net loss of minerals causes bones to become brittle. Fractures can happen for almost no reason during Range of Motion, after a minor fall, even after a bad spasm. Hip bones (femurs) are often affected, but so are the back bones (Vertebrae) and wrist bones. Osteoporosis can limit your function, and if your sitting posture is affected, it can increase your risk for skin and respiratory problems. Continue Reading »
Published: August 6, 2005 | Category:
News 
Like hundreds of other people, Frankie Gogol will be a spectator at the annual Little Great Race in Charleroi on Saturday, Sept. 10. But Gogol, of North Charleroi, will have more than just a passing interest in the runners and walkers in the event.
Gogol, 27, suffered a severe life-changing spinal cord injury last year when he fell from a tree stand while deer hunting with a neighbor, Gary DeUnger, at North Charleroi Recreation Park.
Proceeds from the Little Great Race will go to Gogol and his family to help with mounting medical expenses that have climbed well into six figures in the past nine months. Continue Reading »
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