In the United States today, reports of measles — a virus-borne respiratory illness — are a lot less common than they were in the past because of the development of the measles vaccine in 1963. In fact, the measles vaccine has led to a greater than 99 percent reduction in U.S. measles cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, it is still common in some other countries, affecting about 20 million people each year, the CDC notes....

— G.R., Arkansas Depression is associated with an increase in the amount and intensity of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is the physiological state in which most dreams occur. There is some tendency for depressed people to experience more-distressing dreams than people who are not depressed; these usually reflect themes that are consistent with the worries and difficulties that accompany the depressive state. Although most depressed people do not report experiencing recurring nightmares or bad dreams, what you’re describing does not sound out of the ordinary; a sense of entrapment and powerlessness to solve problems is very common in depression....

“It is mainly a medication for the treatment of diabetes,” says Marcio Griebeler, MD, an endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “There are several studies that showed that metformin can decrease the long-term complications of diabetes, including cardiovascular events and cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction, heart failure, arterial revascularization, stroke, and death.” In fact, a study published in May 2020 in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene suggested that metformin may also help reduce the risk of dying from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, in people with type 2 diabetes....

But some migraine attacks also cause numbness, weakness, trouble speaking, confusion, visual changes, and vertigo. And some strokes cause a sudden, severe headache. Given the sometimes overlapping symptoms of migraine and stroke, it can be difficult to tell which you’re having and whether you should go lie down in a dark, quiet room or go immediately to the emergency room. To complicate matters further, it’s possible for a person to have both a migraine attack and a stroke at the same time....

Along with this increase in the numbers of people living with MS comes a rise in those who want to use fitness and good nutrition to help manage it. And researchers, such as the authors of a paper published in BMC Neurology in September 2017, have found that exercise, nutrition, and attitude can make a difference in your quality of life with MS. One person who has committed to exercising and eating right is the MS fitness warrior Rachel Haddad, 29, who is currently a middle school math teacher in Detroit....

This isn’t the first or only time that false beliefs about multiple sclerosis have held powerful sway, says Nicholas LaRocca, PhD, a psychologist and consultant for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “In the 1920s, it was thought that MS was a vascular disease or that it was caused by some sort of psychological or emotional weakness,” Dr. LaRocca says. But just as research has shown those ideas to be incorrect, large, well-run studies have shown that Black people definitely do develop MS, perhaps as frequently as or even more frequently than white people....

It’s an ongoing lesson of this life with a progressive, debilitating neurological disease. The me of before — both physically and figuratively — has lost his grip. My inability to attain, hold, and manipulate objects to my intention is due to progressive demyelination of the nerves in my central nervous system. It’s also caused by the weakening of muscles that receive signals from those nerves over time. My fine motor skills make it difficult to get things, and my loss of strength makes it difficult hold onto and do anything useful with them....

The early-stage study included 248 people with what’s known as treatment-resistant hypertension, who had unhealthy blood pressure levels despite taking at least three different medications to manage the condition. Participants were randomly assigned to take either a placebo or a 0.5-, 1-, or 2-milligram (mg) dose of the experimental drug baxdrostat. After 12 weeks of treatment, patients on the highest baxdrostat dose saw their systolic blood pressure — the “top number” that shows how much pressure blood exerts against artery walls when the heart beats — drop by an average of 20 points, according to study results published in the The New England Journal of Medicine....

“Up to 60 percent of cancer patients and survivors try at least one type of integrative medical approach for cancer care, whether they tell their doctors or not,” says Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, MPH, an associate professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, and co-chair of the SIO Clinical Practice Guideline Committee. “Having this report now presents clear guidelines for them.” The practice guidelines, issued by the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), were published in the September 19, 2022, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology....

Similarly, people with secondary-progressive MS, which is generally considered a later stage of relapsing-remitting MS, are no doubt eager for treatments to slow or halt the disease progression that they typically experience after relapses mostly or completely stop. Good news: The wait for new options may be getting shorter. Researchers in Britain announced on Monday that by fall 2021, they plan to begin recruiting participants for the world’s first clinical trial designed to assess whether drugs already on the market can help slow MS progression and, perhaps, reverse some of the disability caused by the condition....

So it’s no surprise that this eating approach has gained popularity since the publication in 2010 of the hit book The Paleo Diet, authored by Loren Cordain, PhD, a professor emeritus at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins and the founder of the paleo diet movement. It’s important to note that there is still very little research confirming the diet’s many claimed benefits, and the studies on it that currently exist have small sample sizes....

Davis was ultimately diagnosed with three separate but often co-occurring gastrointestinal disorders: celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). Her first diagnosis, celiac disease, came in 2004. Celiac disease is marked by the inability to digest and absorb gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Symptoms may include abdominal bloating, pain, and diarrhea, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation. Treatment typically involves eating a gluten-free diet....

There are also, in the wonderful world of our stupid commonality, symptoms that can be even more frustrating to explain: phantom symptoms. We’ve chatted before in this column about one example of the phantom symptom: “the cold hand of MS.” A new one woke me recently in the early hours before the rooster down the lane made his morning announcements, and so I thought we’d talk about them again....

Taking precautions — both to avoid accidents and the spread of COVID-19 — can help keep you and your loved ones safe and out of the urgent care. Keep reading for expert tips on how to avoid Halloween hazards this year. Pumpkin Carving Tips Children should always be closely supervised for any activity that involves sharp tools, says Daniel Bachmann, MD, emergency medicine physician at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center in Columbus....

Because people with polio shed the virus in their stool, sewage indicates increasing spread of the disease, which can cause irreversible paralysis. “On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” said State Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett, MD, in a press release. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real. I urge New Yorkers to not accept any risk at all....

Those tart arils can help keep your body healthy and disease free. Plus, they may be just what you need to add a punch of flavor to everything from your salad to your seltzer. Let’s explore the pomegranate — its history, what makes it so healthy, and how to add it to your diet. A few centuries ago, the fruit was brought over to North America, and it’s now grown in California and Arizona....

What my unpredictable psoriasis will do next is never far from my thoughts. My wish is for it to get better on its own, but it never does. I dread my next flare, checking my skin often for signs of one coming. I’m also continually on the lookout for tips on how to manage my psoriasis better, scouring the internet for news on psoriasis therapies or advice from fellow patients....

“The changing of the season marks something new and something to look forward to,” says Amy Jane Griffiths, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and researcher at Chapman University in Irvine, California. Of course that doesn’t mean we all crave pumpkin spice per se. Whether your fall favorite is picking pumpkins, sipping coffee, or cozying up with a blanket by a fire, the exact thing you’re craving right now will be specific to you, says Marni Amsellem, PhD, a clinical psychologist in private practice in New York....

The phenomenon has been raising concern among doctors, because these individuals typically need emergency medical attention to survive. “The level of oxygen that these people are reaching can be so low that it’s amazing to me not only that they’re alive, but that they’re often not in distress,” says Richard Levitan, MD, an emergency physician in Littleton, New Hampshire, and the president of Airway Cam Technologies, a company that teaches courses in intubation and airway management....

“When I began thinking about retiring, I knew I would not want to stop doing something I loved,” Ellis says, “so I began volunteering and teaching memoir-writing classes at the Harlem Vet Center.” She figured that writing would be therapeutic for the veterans in her class, just as it may have helped her former college students. Ellis will soon start teaching another class, too, at Inspīr, a senior living community in New York City where she now lives....