Some fun and informative links for kids of all ages

I found some great web sites that have games and interactive material on all kinds of great health information from protecting yourself from bullies, drug and alcohol information, fire safety and much more.  Check out these great web sites:

The Bully Roundup from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

MyPyramid Blast Off Game: From MyPyramid.gov: An interactive computer game where kids can reach Planet Power by fueling their rocket with food and physical activity. “Fuel” tanks for each food group help students keep track of how their choices fit into MyPyramid.

Discover the power of a healthy smile!

Sara's Quest  Sara's Quest has been developed for use in schools or in the home for children to learn about the effects of drugs on their brain and body.

To Tell the Tooth from the American Dental Association

USFA for Kids from the U.S. Fire Administration: Home fire safety, smoke alarms, escaping from a fire, games and much more.

Breast Cancer Information

I thought I'd do one more breast cancer-related post for the month of October.  I want to share a link with you if you are searching for quality health information.  The National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus database has a great breast cancer health topic page.  That page has links to information on all aspects of breast cancer, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, nutrition and much more.  Check it out for more information.

Links to Calculators, Quizzes and Questionnaires

I have some links to some great resources for all kinds of information.  These are calculators, quizzes and questionnaires for various health-related matters.

Alcohol Calories Calculator (if you drink alcohol, find out how many calories you're consuming)

Are YOU an Aggressive Driver? (from the AAA Foundation)

 Calculate Your Body Mass Index

Heart Disease Risk Questionnaire

Screening for Depression

And for a little fun, check out this site:

Test Your Sense of Pitch

Halloween Safety

Earlier this month I posted some great information on Halloween Safety. Since Halloween is only a week away, I thought I'd post the link to the previous information so you can check it out if you missed it. This way, you won't have to scroll down to find it. If you missed it the first time, here's the link: Halloween Safety

Collards and carrots may ward off breast cancer

Since it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I'm posting some breast cancer-related items throughout the month. I came across another article about breast cancer so I thought I'd share that with you. The article is about a study which found that collards and carrots may ward off breast cancer in black women. There were conflicting results from the study concerning white women. If you want to read the whole article, here is the link: Collards and carrots may ward off breast cancer. (This link will only be good for 90 days from the date of this post.)

Hormone Replacement Therapy

I came across an article about a newly published study with findings that show hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is even riskier than previously thought. The findings apply only to estrogen-plus-progestin, or combined hormone therapy, not estrogen-alone therapy. If you want to read the full story, here's the link: Study Shows HRT Even Riskier Than Thought (this link will only be good for 90 days from today.)

If you want more information on hormone replacement therapy, here are a couple links:

Hormone Therapy: Is It Right for You? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Menopausal Hormone Therapy Information (National Institutes of Health)
(provides links to other great resources on hormone therapy)

New American Heart Association Guidelines for CPR

You may have seen the news stories about the new American Heart Association guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Previously, the guidelines used the letters ABC (A=airway, B=breathing, C=compressions) as the steps involved with CPR. With the new guidelines, they changed things around to CAB, to stress that the compressions are most important in order to circulate the blood that still carries oxygen right after a person's heart stops. It's important to keep the oxygen flowing to the brain so that is why they are stressing the compressions first to get the blood flowing quicker.

I think everyone should take a basic life support class so they can learn proper CPR techniques. The American Heart Association has a web page where you can search for classes by entering your zip code. These classes include CPR, first aid, and other emergency cardiovascular care classes. Check it out here: ECC Class Connector.

If you want to learn more about the new guidelines, a good summary is available from the Executive Summary: 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care

There is also a great section on first aid called First Aid: 2010 American Heart Association and American Red Cross Guidelines for First Aid

If you want to check out the complete guidelines, which are available for free online, check out the table of contents from Volume 122, Issue 18_suppl_3; November 2, 2010 issue of the journal Circulation.

FDA Warns About Unapproved Chelation Products

You may not be familiar with chelation therapy, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a warning for those who purchase chelation products over-the-counter. Chelation involves the use of certain chemicals to remove heavy metals from the body. In medicine, chelation has been used for the treatment of metal poisoning, among other conditions. All FDA-approved chelation therapy products require a prescription because they can only be used safely under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner.

The FDA reports: On October 14, 2010, FDA warned eight companies that market over-the-counter chelation products that these are unapproved drugs and devices and that it is a violation of federal law to make false claims about the products. Chelation products, even when used under medical supervision, can cause serious harm, including dehydration, kidney failure, and death.

For more information on chelation therapy, check out these links:

FDA Warns Marketers of Unapproved ‘Chelation’ Drugs

Questions and Answers on Unapproved Chelation Products

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

I don't know about you, but I was glued to my television as I watched the Chilean mine rescue earlier this week. It is totally amazing that they could rescue all those miners buried a half a mile below the earth's surface and to have everything run so smoothly. That was indeed a miracle. During the coverage, I heard many doctors interviewed about what the miners will go through as they readjust to life on the surface. Their lives will never be the same again. Many mentioned the possibility of post-traumatic stress disorder, so I thought I'd post some information on that topic. The disorder can follow any traumatic event in one's life.

Here is some information from the National Institute of Mental Health:

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a real illness. You can get PTSD after living through or seeing a traumatic event, such as war, a hurricane, rape, physical abuse or a bad accident. PTSD makes you feel stressed and afraid after the danger is over. It affects your life and the people around you.

PTSD can cause problems like:

- Flashbacks, or feeling like the event is happening again
- Trouble sleeping or nightmares
- Feeling alone
- Angry outbursts
- Feeling worried, guilty or sad

PTSD starts at different times for different people. Signs of PTSD may start soon after a frightening event and then continue. Other people develop new or more severe signs months or even years later. PTSD can happen to anyone, even children.

Medicines can help you feel less afraid and tense. It might take a few weeks for them to work. Talking to a specially trained doctor or counselor also helps many people with PTSD. This is called talk therapy.

If you want to read more about PTSD, here are some great links to check out:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (National Institute of Mental Health)

What Can I Do If I Think I Have PTSD? (National Center for PTSD)

Effects of Disasters: Risk and Resilience Factors (National Center for PTSD)

Managing Traumatic Stress: Tips for Recovering from Disasters and Other Traumatic Events (American Psychological Association)

Halloween Safety

Although Halloween is still a few weeks away, I thought it would be a good time to share some information on Halloween safety. I found some great web sites with Halloween safety tips of all kinds that you should definitely check out before Halloween gets here.

Halloween Health and Safety Tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Halloween Safety Tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics

Halloween Safety: Safety Alert from the Consumer Product Safety Commission

I found a great Halloween Safety Guide that covers all these aspects of Halloween safety: Safety Tips for Kids, Safety Tips for Adults, Halloween Party Safety, Costume Safety Tips, Trick or Treat Safety, Useful Safety Products, Halloween Driving Tips, Yard Haunt Safety, Halloween Pet Safety, Halloween Resources, Halloween Safety Home

Breast Cancer Screening

It is important to catch breast cancer at an early stage in order to increase the chances of successful treatment. Earlier this month I posted some information on mammograms so I thought that I would share some links to some other useful information on screening and testing. The American Association for Clinical Chemistry has a very informative page on the types of tests for breast cancer. The goals of breast cancer testing are to identify genetic risk in high risk patients, detect and diagnose breast cancer in its earliest stages, determine how far it has spread, evaluate the cancer’s characteristics in order to guide treatment, monitor the effectiveness of treatment, and monitor the woman over time to detect and address any cancer recurrences. Check out this link for more information: Breast Cancer: Testing.

Here are some other useful links for more information on various aspects of breast cancer risk and screening:

Breast Exam (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Understanding Breast Changes: A Health Guide for Women (National Cancer Institute)

Environmental Factors and Breast Cancer Risk (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) – PDF

Atlas of Human Body: Breast -- Disorders (American Medical Association)

Binge Drinking (CDC Study)

I came across a news story about a rather alarming study on binge drinking that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published. I will share the press release with you and then at the end, I provided some links to information on alcohol that will provide you with more detailed information on the effects of alcohol. If you ever wondered what is considered "a drink," check out the first link from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism that compares drink sizes for the various types of alcoholic beverages.

Here is the press release from the CDC:

1 in 4 High School Students and Young Adults Report Binge Drinking
60 percent of high school students who drink, binge drink

More than 1 in 4 high school students and adults ages 18 to 34 engaged in a dangerous behavior known as binge drinking during the past month, according to the findings from a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report shows that each year more than 33 million adults have reported binge drinking, defined as having four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men over a short period of time, usually a couple of hours. And the report said levels of binge drinking have not declined during the past 15 years.

The CDC report found men are more than twice as likely to binge drink than women (21 percent compared to 10 percent). It said binge drinking is more common among non-Hispanic whites (16 percent of whom binge drink) than among non-Hispanic blacks, (10 percent of whom binge drink).

"Binge drinking, increases many health risks, including fatal car crashes, contracting a sexually transmitted disease, dating violence, and drug overdoses," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "Excessive alcohol use remains the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States and leads to a wide range of health and social problems."
In this report, CDC scientists analyzed data on self reports of binge drinking within the past 30 days for about 412,000 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and for approximately 16,000 U.S. high school students from the 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).

"Alarmingly, almost 1 in 3 adults and 2 in 3 high school students who drink alcohol also binge drink, which usually leads to intoxication," said Dr. Robert Brewer, M.D., M.P.H., alcohol program leader at CDC and one of the authors of the report. "Although most binge drinkers are not alcohol-dependent or alcoholics, they often engage in this high risk behavior without realizing the health and social problems of their drinking. States and communities need to consider further strategies to create an environment that discourages binge drinking."

Drinking too much, including binge drinking, causes more than 79,000 deaths in the United States each year. Binge drinkers also put themselves and others at risk of car crashes, violence, the risk of HIV transmission and sexually transmitted diseases, and unplanned pregnancy. Over time, drinking too much can lead to liver disease, certain cancers, heart disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases. Binge drinking can also cause harm to a developing fetus, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, if a woman drinks while pregnant.

Binge drinking varies widely from state to state, with estimates of binge drinking for adults ranging from 6.8 percent in Tennessee to 23.9 percent in Wisconsin. It is most common in the Midwest, North Central Plains, lower New England, Delaware, Alaska, Nevada, and the District of Columbia.

For more information on binge drinking, visit www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns or www.cdc.gov/alcohol. Members of the public who are concerned about their own or someone else's binge drinking can call 1-800-662-HELP to receive assistance from the national Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral Routing Service. For state-specific estimates of alcohol-related deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) by condition, visit the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) system at https://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/ardi/HomePage.aspx.

Links to further information on alcohol:

What's a Standard Drink? (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)

Alcohol Poisoning (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Alcohol Use: If You Drink, Keep It Moderate (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Rethinking Drinking: Alcohol and Your Health (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)

Child Nutrition

There have been a lot of news stories lately about nutrition and obesity. For those who have kids, or who are taking care of grandkids, it's important to get your children on the right track early when it comes to proper nutrition so they will grow up strong and healthy. I found some really great web sites on child nutrition that I want to share. My favorite is the one on how to please fussy eaters from the American Academy of Pediatrics. (That should have been around for my mom when I was little!)

Check out these links:

Nutrition for Kids: Guidelines for a Healthy Diet (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

MyPyramid Food Guide (National Women's Health Information Center)

Children's Snacks: 10 Tips for Healthier Snacking (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

How to Please Fussy Eaters (American Academy of Pediatrics)

Bronchitis

Since I haven’t covered too many lung-related topics, I thought I’d share some information I found from the NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute:

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the main air passages (bronchi) to your lungs. It causes a cough, shortness of breath and chest tightness. Coughing often brings up yellow or greenish mucus. There are two main types of bronchitis: acute and chronic.

Acute bronchitis is often caused by the same viruses that cause colds. It usually starts as a sore throat, runny nose or sinus infection, then spreads to your airways. It can cause a lingering dry cough, but it usually goes away on its own.

Chronic bronchitis is one type of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The inflamed bronchi produce a lot of mucus. This leads to cough and difficulty getting air in and out of the lungs. Cigarette smoking is the most common cause. Breathing in other fumes and dusts over a long period of time may also cause chronic bronchitis. Treatment will help your symptoms, but chronic bronchitis is a long-term condition that keeps coming back or never goes away completely.

Here’s some information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the causes and symptoms of bronchitis:

Causes of Bronchitis

Several types of viruses, most often:
- Respiratory syncytial (sin-SIH-shull) virus (RSV)
- Adenovirus
- Influenza
- Parainfluenza
Bacteria, in rare cases
Pollutants (airborne chemicals or irritants)

Signs and Symptoms of Bronchitis

Cough that produces mucus (may be without mucus the first few days)
Soreness in the chest
Fatigue
Mild headache
Mild body aches
Low-grade fever (less than 102°F)
Watery eyes
Sore throat

See a Healthcare Provider if You or Your Child has:

Temperature higher than 100.4° F
A fever and cough with thick or bloody mucus
A chronic heart or lung problem
Shortness of breath or trouble breathing
Symptoms that last more than 3 weeks
Repeated episodes of bronchitis/bronchiolitis
If your child is younger than three months of age and has a fever, it’s important to always call your healthcare provider right away.

Here are a few links to more information on bronchitis:

Bronchitis (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Bronchitis and Pneumonia (California Childcare Health Program)

Bronchitis, Acute Bronchitis (Children's Hospital Boston)

Mammograms

Since it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I will be posting information periodically on various aspects of breast cancer. Since early detection is important for a positive outcome, I am posting a couple links to information on mammograms. These links will provide information concerning recommendations for getting mammograms, the different types of mammograms and other very useful information.

Mammograms (National Cancer Institute)

Mammograms: Frequently Asked Questions (National Women's Health Information Center)