In January 2020, her father was diagnosed with advanced esophageal cancer, so Pong did what she felt she needed to do: She moved back in with her parents and took on a new role as her father’s caregiver. She shared caregiving duties with her mom — Pong handled the daytime, while her mom was on call in the morning and night — and the two cared for him around the clock: feeding him through a feeding tube every few hours, checking his vitals, and giving him massages to make him feel comfortable....

Costco offers a variety of hearing aid styles, including open-fit, behind-the-ear, in-the-ear, canal-fit, and custom-molded devices. The hearing aids can connect wirelessly to smartphones and Bluetooth-compatible devices for hands-free calling and TV streaming. Costco also offers access to accessories, charging systems, remote controls, and mobile applications to complete the hearing aid experience. Below, we’ll provide a snapshot of the four hearing aid brands Costco carries and which models it offers....

– Genita, Delaware First of all, you have taken the most important step in evaluating a chronically sore throat by visiting an ear/nose/throat specialist. His diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) sounds probable since that is a common cause of chronic sore throat, especially on only one side. What happens is the lower esophageal sphincter (the valve between your stomach and esophagus) weakens, which allows stomach contents (acid, bile, and semi-digested food) to leak into the esophagus, often causing heartburn, chest pain, and esophagitis....

But the disease — which includes both Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis (UC) — is still largely misdiagnosed in Hispanic Americans. A review published in July 2022 in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases outlined the disparities in IBD treatment and diagnosis among Black and Hispanic Americans that was previously discussed at a meeting held in December 2021 at Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta. According to Julia Liu, MD, chief of the division of gastroenterology at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, who coauthored the paper, equitable patient care starts with recognizing IBD as a disease that can impact anyone....

To complicate matters, EPI is generally caused by another condition. As many as 8 in 10 adults with chronic pancreatitis — which is inflammation of the pancreas — develop EPI, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Other causes can include diabetes, celiac disease, pancreatic cancer, weight-loss surgery, and inflammatory bowel disease. Staying healthy with EPI can be a challenge, but there are many tips and tricks that gastroenterologists recommend because they work so well for their patients....

Another chief factor is having high cholesterol, particularly when it’s coupled with other issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, and, yes, smoking. Having more than one risk factor acts like a “double whammy” on your body, says Nitin Damle, MD, an internal medicine physician in Wakefield, Rhode Island, and president of the American College of Physicians. “The risk is already significant for smokers who don’t have high cholesterol, and it increases significantly if they have a high lipid [cholesterol and triglycerides] profile, they smoke, are male, or have diabetes,” says Dr....

Scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore have zeroed in on an amino acid called homocysteine, which appears to cause inflammation in people with NASH. In a two-part study published July 8, 2022, in the Journal of Hepatology, researchers looked at whether supplementing the diet with folic acid and vitamin B12 could reverse inflammation. According to Madhulika Tripathi, MD, a senior research fellow with the laboratory of hormonal regulation in Duke-NUS Medical School’s cardiovascular and metabolic program, who co-led the study, inflammation can cause NASH to progress into cirrhosis, which can lead to liver failure or liver cancer....

But some eczema triggers are not so obvious. While reasons for inflammation, itch, and pain will vary from person to person, watch out for the following potential offenders. 1. Candles and Air Fresheners Fragrances and perfumes in cosmetics and personal-care products are notorious for causing skin reactions, notes the National Eczema Association. But fragrances may lurk in unexpected places, such as in candles and air fresheners. “If a product has a scent, there could be some kind of triggering chemical in there,” says Danilo Del Campo, MD, a dermatologist with the Chicago Skin Clinic....

RELATED: Do You Know Your Body Type? In addition, this excess fat often deposits around the waist. “This visceral body fat hangs out around your organs and is related to insulin resistance,” says Marta Montenegro, PhD, a specialist in fitness nutrition based in Miami. Insulin resistance is when your cells have trouble responding to the insulin that your pancreas pumps out, which ultimately affects your blood glucose levels. (3) Insulin resistance affects the way your body processes carbohydrates....

Exercise impacts your blood sugar, so you need to make sure your levels aren’t too high when you start exercising, but also not so low that they’ll plummet during your workout. So while a study published in November 2010 in the Journal of Physiology found that not eating before exercise helped people burn fat, people with diabetes need to maintain blood sugar levels, and should plan to eat before, after, and sometimes even during exercise, Bland says....

The concept of using an exfoliating glove to slough off dead skin isn’t new — Korean spas have been offering the service for many years. Yet the oddly satisfying images of dead skin cells shedding from users’ bodies on social media are causing the technique to have a moment. On TikTok the search term “exfoliating gloves” yields a whopping 128.7 million views, while #exfoliatingglove has racked up more than 62 million views, with thousands of users sharing their own video evidence that the budget-friendly beauty item is more effective at sloughing unwanted dead skin off the body than other physical or chemical exfoliators....

But on the home and economic fronts, it is women who are shouldering the bulk of the burden. Between work, childcare, and running a home everyone is spending more time in, many are finding it challenging to cope with new stressors. RELATED: Why Are More Men Than Women Dying From COVID-19? Men have changed a bit in what they’re doing for their home and family, but old-fashioned gender norms mean much of the added tasks during a pandemic have fallen to women, says Jaime Zuckerman, PsyD, a psychologist in private practice in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, whose female clients report feeling overwhelmed and exhausted these past few months....

New research presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions November 16–18 in Philadelphia indicates that young people who are frequent marijuana users are nearly three times more likely to have a stroke than nonusers. The research, which will be published in the journal Stroke, also found that people with cannabis-use disorder have a 50 percent greater risk of being hospitalized for heart arrhythmias. “There’s more and more data raising concern for the negative cardiovascular effects of cannabis, whether it’s stroke, arrhythmias or myocardial infarction,” says Christine Tompkins, MD, an acting associate professor of cardiology at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, who was not involved in the research....

For me, other than writing a blog post for GWG and partaking in closed group chats on Facebook, I hadn’t had too much exposure to GWG prior to the Newbie Retreat. So this weekend was not only my first time attending, it was also my first time meeting the board members and many women from all over the United States and Canada who, like myself, are living with a chronic condition....

If reading updates about COVID-19 often has you searching for an (online!) dictionary, here’s a quick rundown of all the most common terms and what they mean in relation to the virus. Antibodies An antibody is a blood protein that the immune system makes as a response to an invader (pathogen), such as a virus. Antibodies are unique to a particular pathogen; when a person has antibodies for the infection caused by the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, called SARS-CoV-2, it means that the person has been exposed to the virus and the body has mounted an immune response....

For example, a study published in BioMedical Engineering OnLine in 2016 showed that eight weeks of moderate-intensity swimming had beneficial effects on systolic blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and body-fat percentage — all indicators of heart disease risk. Swimming is also great for joint health. A study published in The Journal of Rheumatology in 2016 found that swimming for 45 minutes three days a week for 12 weeks drastically reduced stiffness and joint pain in older adults with osteoarthritis....

“Lifestyle habits are one of the most important factors that can contribute to and modify outcomes in people with inflammatory disorders like ankylosing spondylitis,” says Susan Goodman, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and a rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. A lot of what you do — or don’t do — can affect the course of your disease. For instance, these seven lifestyle habits can actually make AS symptoms worse....

While poll participants were confident in their ability to help someone in a non-life-threatening emergency, like fainting, 41 percent felt unprepared to administer hands-only CPR, a technique that can double or even triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). “With or without giving mouth-to-mouth, the most important thing is to perform chest compressions,” says Jose Torradas, MD, an emergency physician at St....

Most of the recommendations aren’t drastic. They’re simple adjustments or additions to your routine that not only help you better manage your condition, but also improve your overall health and quality of life. Here are eight healthy habits to adopt to help you control psoriatic arthritis, along with expert advice on how to implement each one. 1. Manage Stress Stress can trigger a psoriatic arthritis flare, so taking steps to relieve the stress in your life can help keep symptoms at bay....

People with chronic hepatitis C aren’t just at risk for liver problems like cirrhosis. Forty to 70 percent may also have “extrahepatic” conditions — ones that occur outside the liver — like kidney disease and diabetes, according to Hepatitis C Online, a web resource produced by clinicians at the University of Washington and the University of Alabama-Birmingham. “There are different reasons why people with hepatitis C also get [other] diseases,” says Kenneth E....