High Blood Pressure High Blood Pressure For Dummies Cheat Sheet Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-27-2024 The first step to dealing with high blood pressure is understanding your blood pressure measurement — those over and under numbers. When you know what your blood pressure is, you need to know what to do next. The good news is, you may be able to prevent high blood pressure or reduce your blood pressure by making some lifestyle changes. You also need to look for signs of resistant high blood pressure, and if you need high blood pressure medication, consult a physician to find the right medication for you. View Cheat Sheet

Diseases COVID-19 For Dummies Cheat Sheet Cheat Sheet / Updated 10-31-2023 COVID-19 For Dummies gives you great guidance on how to keep yourself and others healthy — from the ins and outs of stopping the virus from spreading, to caring for yourself if you do become infected, and even staying safe at work and other public places. This handy Cheat Sheet contains quick info to help you prevent spreading or catching COVID-19, figure out whether the illness that you have is the flu or COVID-19, and get better when you’re sick. View Cheat Sheet

Cancer Detecting and Living with Breast Cancer For Dummies Cheat Sheet Cheat Sheet / Updated 09-18-2023 Breast cancer is a particularly devastating and intimate disease. Although not as deadly as some other forms of cancer — five-year survival rates in the United States are between 80 percent and 90 percent — the toll that breast cancer takes on the body, mind, and psychology make it an especially difficult disease to contend with. The good news is that it is a relatively easy cancer to detect early, and usually the earlier it is caught, the better the prognosis. Breast cancer survivors have several treatment avenues, including chemotherapy, radiation, therapy, hormonal therapy, and a few different surgery options, including different mastectomies. View Cheat Sheet

Smoking & Vaping Getting Seriously Sick from Smoking Article / Updated 08-10-2023 Unfortunately, ingesting poison into your system daily for many years takes a toll. We say that not to shame or scare you. Mercifully, we’re keeping some of the gory details limited. The reason it’s important to know about these issues is that it may help give you additional motivation for quitting. The good news is that quitting smoking confers substantial health benefits no matter when you do it. The bad news is that you actually have to quit to get these benefits. So, exactly what can you expect in the relatively near term when you quit smoking? Here are a few of the benefits: If you’re an exerciser, your lung function starts to improve after just a few weeks of not smoking. Fertility returns to normal quickly after quitting. The risk of babies born with low birth weight is the same as nonsmokers upon quitting. Your smell and taste will gradually return after six months or less. You won’t cough as much in the first year or so. Your heart disease risk reduces after the first year and improves to that of a nonsmoker after 15 years. Cancer risk reduction takes longer but declines after five years. Your risk of a stroke declines substantially after five years. Smoking effects on the vascular system The circulatory system includes the heart, arteries and veins and is responsible for delivering oxygen-rich nutrients and removing waste from all areas in the body. In a healthy body, the process of circulation is effortless. Smoking interferes with that process. Cardiovascular disease Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. About 20 percent of all deaths from heart disease can be directly attributed to smoking. In addition, smokers who have heart disease are more likely to die younger than nonsmokers. Every single cigarette a smoker consumes increases the risk of heart disease. In other words, the more you smoke, the more likely you’ll die of heart disease. What does smoking do to the cardiovascular system? If your health care provider tells you that you suffer from one of the following health issues, you can bet that smoking has contributed to these interrelated diseases: Hypertension (high blood pressure): Smoking increases blood pressure immediately and over the long term. Hypertension causes the heart to pump harder. It damages blood vessels, causing them to narrow, weaken, or rupture. That damage, in turn, can lead to stroke or heart attack. Arteriosclerosis: This disease involves plaque buildup in the arteries which can result in a serious blockage resulting in stroke or heart attack. Heart disease: When the plaque buildup affects the blood supply to the heart or the coronary arteries, it can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, or a heart attack. When a heart is weakened, it can lead to what’s known as heart failure. Heart failure occurs gradually, and symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, wheezing, and retention of fluids, resulting in swollen feet and ankles. Although many pipe and cigar smokers claim that they don’t inhale, some do, and all of them ingest secondhand smoke close up. Smoking cigars and pipes increases both the risk of heart disease and stroke. Cerebrovascular disease Strokes occur when the blood supply to the brain is impeded by a blockage or leakage. The more you smoke, the higher your risk for stroke. In fact, strokes are the top cause of serious long-term disability in the United States. The acronym FAST can help you remember the symptoms of a stroke. Here’s what the acronym stands for: Face: Numbness or weakness as evidenced by a droopy or asymmetrical smile. Arms: Weakness or paralysis on one side of the body, which can be determined by trying to raise both arms at the same time. With a stroke, one arm may not function the way the other one does. Speech: Confusion or difficulty speaking, or understanding may show themselves. Time: If these symptoms appear, call a doctor immediately. Urgent, prompt attention can improve the outcome greatly. Smoking leads to a host of cerebrovascular problems. It also hijacks the mind, body, and soul. Ted’s story, in the nearby sidebar, “Dying for a smoke,” shows how powerfully addiction leads to deterioration in health, but also impedes recovery. Checking for peripheral artery disease With peripheral artery disease (PAD), plaque builds up in the arteries of the outer (or peripheral) part of the body, most commonly the legs. PAD results in pain, cramping, weakness, and numbness in the extremities. If the blood flow is sufficiently restricted, it can also lead to a high risk of infection, which is difficult to treat. Those with severe PAD, can develop gangrene in the affected tissues, which can lead to amputation or even death. Smoking and diabetes are both risk factors for PAD. How smoking affects lungs From the moment a smoker inhales for the first time, the lungs rebel. Most first-timers choke and cough as part of this rebellion. But the lungs adapt after a while and seem just fine again — until they’re not so fine. In addition to lung problems directly caused by smoking, smoking exacerbates preexisting asthma, makes recovery from colds or flu slower, and can increase the risk of pneumonia. See your doctor for any cough that lasts for three weeks or more or immediately if you’re coughing up blood. Confronting coughs Most smokers develop a smokers’ cough. It’s caused by toxins setting up shop in your lungs, which the body tries to eliminate by coughing. In the beginning, it’s a dry, unproductive cough without phlegm. As time passes, it becomes more frequent, gets worse in the morning, and starts producing phlegm. Treatments designed for typical coughs are not particularly effective for smoker’s cough. Eventually, smoker’s cough often leads to more serious conditions. Taking a turn for the worse Many people fear lung cancer as the worst outcome of long-term smoking, and for good reason. However, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) ranks pretty high on the list, too. In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ranks COPD the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. As COPD progresses, the lungs struggle to function properly. The lung tissues thicken, which makes it more difficult to inhale and exhale. More mucus is also produced as the disease progresses. Again, our intention is not to scare you, but people with end-stage COPD have great difficult breathing and become cognitively impaired due to the lack of oxygen. Most experience substantial anxiety because of being unable to catch their breath, which can turn into feelings of drowning. Although there are medications for easing symptoms for a while, there is no cure for COPD. Smoking causes at least 75 percent of all cases of COPD. COPD is often used as an umbrella term encompassing both chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Chronic bronchitis is bronchitis that persists for months, often recurring over years. Symptoms of chronic bronchitis include Shortness of breath Unusually low energy Cough Overproduction of mucus or phlegm Sometimes fever The most severe symptom of emphysema is shortness of breath. That shortness of breath may appear when going for a long walk at first. However, as the disease progresses, shortness of breath becomes much worse and can be evoked by almost doing nothing, even when sitting. Also, people with advanced emphysema suffer chronic fatigue, poor alertness, and blue or gray fingernails. Confronting lung cancer Eighty percent to 90 percent of all lung cancers appear to be caused by smoking. Most lung cancers are not diagnosed in the early stages, which is why about half of all patients die in the first year following diagnosis. The five-year survival rate is just under 20 percent. We should note that a few new, targeted medications and immunotherapy hold some promise for future improvements in these outcomes. Smoking light or menthol cigarettes does not reduce a smoker’s risk of lung cancer compared to regular cigarettes. However, smoking unfiltered cigarettes doubles the risk of lung cancer for smokers. Filters do not make cigarettes safe in any way, shape, or form. But if you’re going to smoke something, come hell or high water, at least consider avoiding unfiltered cigarettes. Early detection greatly improves survival rates. If you’re a smoker, consider going to www.lung.org for a free quiz that you can use to determine if you’re eligible for a low-dose CT screening exam that could save your life. Normally, the first sign of lung cancer is a cough that doesn’t go away. Hoarseness, shortness of breath, chest pain, coughing up blood, weight loss, and frequent lung infections represent more concerning symptoms. Don’t wait; if you think you’re at high risk or you have some of these symptoms, see your healthcare professional right away. When it comes to your risk of heart disease, stroke, and especially COPD and lung cancer, you may think you’ve succeeded at dodging the bullet if you use smokeless tobacco. Although your risk of lung cancer and COPD may be lower as a smokeless tobacco user, that’s not necessarily the case for many other forms of cancer. In the next section, we look at some of the health risks faced by smokeless tobacco users. HTPs have not yet been linked to lung cancer. And tobacco companies claim that they’re safer than cigarettes. We have two problems with this claim: There have not been any long-term studies of the safety of HTPs compared to cigarettes. You’re inhaling the vapor of the entire tobacco product. Indeed, HTPs don’t involve the range of carcinogenic materials and chemicals of burned tobacco, but they do contain some of the same toxins. Other cancers caused by smoking Smoking not only devastates the lungs and circulatory system but also is responsible for many otherwise preventable cancers. Cancer involves cells going wild dividing and invading healthy tissue. Cancer cells move stealthily through the blood and lymphatic system. Toxic chemicals from tobacco make emerging cancer cells more likely and stopping cancer cells more difficult. Warning signs of cancer include Unexplained weight loss Persistent cough or hoarseness Sores that take too long to heal Unexplained lumps that appear anywhere on the body Bleeding or discharge Fatigue If you have any of the troubling signs above, or significant changes in appetite, bowel or bladder routine, or unexplained pain, see your healthcare provider for a checkup. The more cigarettes you smoke and the more years you smoke them, the greater your risk of cancer of most types. Sending toxic chemicals throughout your body has consequences including a higher risk of the following: Mouth and throat cancer Esophageal cancer Cancer of the larynx Cancer of the trachea Pancreatic cancer Stomach cancer Bladder cancer Kidney cancer Liver cancer Cervical cancer Colon and rectum cancer Leukemia Whether smoky or smokeless, using tobacco causes cancer. For those who smoke pipes or cigars, chew tobacco, or use snuff, the resulting cancer is mainly found in areas that have been directly exposed to the tobacco, such as the mouth, throat, nose, and sinuses. In addition, smokeless tobacco is associated with a higher risk of pancreatic cancer. How smoking erodes overall health Ingesting poison into your body day after day, not only causes cancer, heart disease, and stroke, but a whole lot of other heartache. Smoking negatively impacts every part of your body. Smoking increases the risk for a variety of disorders, from loss of hearing to loss of bone mass. The following problems have been linked to smoking: Hearing loss: Smoking decreases oxygen levels, which negatively effects the blood vessels that keep the critical hair cells in the inner ear healthy. Cataracts and macular degeneration: Smoking tobacco substantially increases the risk of eye problems. Some studies have found that smokeless tobacco also increases risk. Crohn’s disease: Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that causes pain, diarrhea, weight loss, and malnutrition. Smoking is a risk factor, and it can lead to more disease. Periodontal disease: This disease involves chronic infections of the gums around the teeth. Tobacco use makes it worse, and chewing tobacco is a particular risk. Type 2 diabetes: This chronic disease impacts health negatively across a variety of domains and is 30 percent to 40 percent more likely to occur for smokers as compared to nonsmokers. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA): RA is a chronic, autoimmune disease, and smoking has been shown to increase its risk and severity. Osteoarthritis: It’s unknown exactly why, but smoking actually seems to confer some small benefit for reducing this disease of the cartilage that protects the ends of bones. Given all the other problems smoking causes, it hardly seems worth going for this mild benefit. Osteoporosis: This disease involves a deterioration of bone density. The more cigarettes you smoke, the more likely you’ll have osteoporosis and break bones. And if you do break a few bones, they’ll heal more slowly. Ulcers: Evidence suggests that ingesting tobacco increases the risk of stomach ulcers and slows healing. You could almost get the impression that the human body just isn’t designed to handle cigarette smoke or tobacco products. View Article

Asthma Asthma For Dummies Cheat Sheet Cheat Sheet / Updated 07-03-2023 At least 330 million people in the world have asthma, which is a life-long lung disease characterized by respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Although there is no cure for asthma, it can be well managed and controlled with new and innovative medications and treatments. You and your doctor can design a step-by-step plan for living with your condition and preventing asthma attacks. View Cheat Sheet

Crohn's & Colitis 8 Things That Can Worsen Crohn’s & Colitis Symptoms Article / Updated 06-06-2023 Taking your medications as prescribed is one way to keep your Crohn’s and colitis under control. However, the disease can become active despite taking medications. Certain things are known to trigger Crohn’s and colitis flares or increase your symptoms. But if you know about these triggers ahead of time — and avoid them — you can help yourself stay in remission and avoid flares. Here are the common triggers for Crohn’s and colitis: Smoking: Smoking not only increases your risk of having Crohn’s disease, but also makes the disease worse, causing you to have more flares. Studies have also shown that smoking brings Crohn’s disease back after surgery. Drugs: A variety of drugs can trigger Crohn’s and colitis symptoms, including frequent use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Motrin, Advil, or Aleve. Certain antibiotics (such as ciprofloxacin and penicillin) increase your risk of having infection of your intestines, which can mimic acute flare. Talk with your doctor if you have any concerns about medications you’ve been prescribed. Don’t stop taking a prescribed antibiotic without consulting with your doctor first. Diet: Certain foods may give you more problems than others, but everyone reacts differently to different foods — so what your sibling with Crohn’s or colitis can tolerate and what you can tolerate may be different. Pay attention to which foods are giving you trouble and avoid them in the future. Here are some common culprits: Artificial sweeteners Fatty foods High-fiber food Gas-producing food (lentils, beans, legumes, broccoli) Caffeine Spicy foods Nuts and seeds Dairy products (if you’re lactose intolerant) Wheat and other products (if you’re sensitive to gluten) Alcohol: Studies have not shown that drinking adversely affects the inflammation in Crohn’s and colitis patients. Alcohol does, however, irritate the intestines and can worsen symptoms of diarrhea in some patients. It can also interact with certain medications you may take for your disease, such as metronidazole and methotrexate. Dehydration: Active disease makes you go to the restroom frequently, causing you to lose water and salt and putting you at risk for dehydration. Dehydration itself can cause stress to your body functions and cause more weakness and inability to cope with illness. And a vicious cycle starts. . . . Bottom line: Stay hydrated by drinking at least eight 8-ounce glasses of clean water a day. The amount of water you need may vary depending on your age, weight, activity level, and body fluid losses (such as water lost during diarrhea). Talk with your doctor and dietitian about your total daily water requirement. Depression: Studies have shown that depression can cause disease flare. You can have more symptoms and an increase in inflammation of the intestines when you’re depressed. Your doctor may prescribe an antidepressant to treat depression and, thus, reduce the symptoms of your Crohn’s or colitis. Be sure to talk with your doctor if you’re feeling depressed. Lack of sleep: Sleep can affect the immune system, and poor sleep or sleep deprivation can activate inflammation. Poor sleepers tend to have more inflammation of their intestines and are at risk for future flares. Getting an uninterrupted seven to eight hours of sleep can keep your symptoms at a bay. Stress: Stress has a negative impact on the immune system. Physical and emotional stress has been shown to cause disease flare and an increase in symptoms. Nobody has a stress-free life, but do what you can to keep your stress at a minimum, even if that means taking a yoga class or dropping the kids off at your health club’s daycare center while you sit in the sauna for 30 minutes. (Just make sure to stay hydrated if you’re sweating out your stress.) View Article

General Addiction Addiction and Recovery For Dummies Cheat Sheet Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-15-2023 To overcome an addiction, first you need to recognize addiction in yourself or a loved one. Then, explore addiction recovery programs and treatment methods and decide how to deal with your addictive behavior, or that of a family member or friend. View Cheat Sheet

General Addiction The Three Phases of Compulsive Gambling Article / Updated 05-03-2023 Gambling involves the betting or wagering of valuables on uncertain outcomes and takes many forms — from games of chance to skill-based activities. People have many motivations for gambling, but all involve the hope of gaining more. Gambling is sometimes a rite of passage by which people discover more about themselves and how to compete with others. It is sometimes a way of life (for people such as casino pros and escape gamblers). It can be, in its healthiest form, a way of socializing and having fun. Pathological gambling is a progressive disorder that involves impulse-control problems. The consequences of pathological gambling are severe and may be devastating to the addicted person's family and career, but the disorder can be treated. As with all addictions, pathological gambling has personal, familial, and neurochemical aspects. Pathological gamblers may even have a genetic vulnerability, although such complex behaviors are unlikely to be traced to one specific gene in the same way some medical conditions, like cystic fibrosis, have been. Problem gambling pioneer Dr. Robert Custer identified three phases to a progressive gambling problem: a winning phase, a losing phase, and a desperation phase. Winning phase In the winning phase, you may experience a "big win" or a series of smaller wins that result in excess optimism. You may feel an unrealistic sense of power and control and you're excited by the prospect of more wins. ("Hey Doc, this is a sure thing. I'm betting the farm.") At the same time, you can't maintain the excitement unless you're continually involved in high-risk bets. Your bets increase, and ultimately, the increased risk puts you in a vulnerable situation where you can't afford to lose . . . and then, sure as the sun rises, you do lose. Losing phase In the losing phase, you may brag about past wins; how you had the casino or track or bookie on the ropes. But in the immediate situation, you're losing more than winning. You're more likely to gamble alone, and when not gambling, you're more likely to spend time thinking about how and when you'll gamble next. Most importantly, you're concerned with how you'll raise more money, legally or illegally. You may have a few wins that fuel the size of your bets. But the dominant pattern is that of losing. Moreover, making the next bet becomes more important than the winning of any previous bet. As the losing continues, you start lying to family and friends and feeling more irritable, restless, and emotionally isolated. You start borrowing money that you're unsure about being able to repay. As your life becomes unmanageable, you may be developing some serious financial problems. Your denial of the huge financial pressures that are building may seem unbelievable to some people: You're also likely to start chasing your losses, trying to win back what you lost. ("Doc, I'll stop, but first I've got to get back to even.") If you don't change your pattern, however, you'll be engaging in more and more self-destructive behavior. Desperation phase The next phase, the desperation phase, involves still another marked change in your gambling behavior. You may now make bets more often than is normal, in more desperate attempts to catch up and "get even." The behavior that's now out of control is associated with deep remorse, with blaming others, and with the alienation of family and friends. You may engage in illegal activities to finance your gambling. You may experience a sense of hopelessness and think about suicide and divorce. Other addictions and emotional problems may also intensify during this phase and drag you down. View Article

Diabetes Screening Guidelines for Diabetes Article / Updated 04-27-2023 The American Diabetes Association (ADA) updates its guidelines for standards of medical care annually. These are the 2022 guidelines for screening: People with symptoms of thirst, frequent urination, and weight loss are tested immediately. Starting at age 35, all people without risk factors should be tested for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes every three years if tests are normal. (The ADA changed this from the previously recommended age of 45.) Women planning to become pregnant should be screened with a fasting glucose test, especially if they have risk factors. People should be tested at a younger age and more often if: They are obese. They have a parent or sibling with diabetes. They are from a high-risk group, such as African American, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. They have delivered a baby more than 9 pounds or had gestational diabetes. They have high blood pressure. They have low HDL cholesterol or high triglycerides. View Article

Diabetes Diabetes For Dummies Cheat Sheet Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-18-2023 Diabetes, which is excessive glucose in your blood, leads to serious health problems if left untreated. You should follow the American Diabetes Association screening guidelines to get tested for diabetes at the earliest possible time. If you have diabetes, this Cheat Sheet is a handy reference to screening guidelines, rules for living with diabetes, and continuing your diabetes care to better control the disease. View Cheat Sheet