YOUR HEALTH

What is that dizzy, floating feeling?

A balance disorder is a condition that makes you feel unsteady or dizzy, as if you are moving, spinning, or floating even though you are standing still or lying down. According to the National Institutes of Health, balance disorders can be caused by a health condition, medications, or the inner ear.

It could be a viral or bacterial infection in the inner ear, a head injury, or a blood circulation disorder that is affecting the inner ear or the brain. In some cases, there is confusion, disorientation, blurred vision, nausea, fear and panic. Even more puzzling, symptoms may come and go.

The first thing a doctor will do is determine if your dizziness is caused by a medical condition or medication. If it is, your doctor will treat the condition or change the medication.

To help evaluate a balance problem your doctor may suggest you see an otolaryngologist, a physician or surgeon who specializes in the ear, nose, and throat, and who may request tests to further assess the problem.

The doctor may also recommend changes in your diet, such as reducing the use of salt in your food and limiting alcohol and caffeine. Not smoking also may help.
Some anti-vertigo or anti-nausea medications may relieve your symptoms, but they can make you drowsy. Other medications, such as the antibiotic gentamicin or corticosteroids, may be injected behind the eardrum to reach the inner ear.

Mold facts

Where there is moisture, there is mold, a problem that can make you sick and even prevent you from selling your house.

Mold spores are present everywhere, growing on foods, plants and even foods. These microscopic organisms produce spores which act like seeds. Each spore can produce mold growth needing only sufficient moisture.

To prevent dangerous mold growth you must be prevent moisture buildup. Leaky plumbing, bad drainage, wet crawl spaces and damp basements are all likely suspects. But, there are less obvious causes of mold growth, too, such as steamy bathrooms, wet carpets, even wet clothes drying in a home.

That humidifier you use in the winter could become a serious source of mold. Indications of a moisture problem may include discoloration of the ceiling or walls, warping of the floor, or condensation on the walls or windows.

Exposure to mold can cause health problems in some people. The most common are allergic responses from breathing mold spores. These include symptoms of hay fever or asthma and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat or lungs.

Allergic responses can come from exposure to dead as well as to living mold spores. Therefore, killing mold with bleach and or other disinfectants may not prevent allergic responses.

How to clean it up

1. You must find the source of the moisture. Once you find the source, seal off the area so mold spores don't relocate to another room.
   
   
2. Put on long sleeve shirt, long pants, cover your head and use a mask.
   
   
3. Make the repairs needed to stop the moisture, for example, leaky pipes or ceiling.
   
   
4. Remove the mold with a bucket of soap and water, a solution of one cup household bleach in one gallon of water, or a commercial mold removal products and a rag. Rinse the cleaned area with water. Ventilate with a fan and open windows so it dries. It may take up to 48 hours to dry completely.

Health in the News:

Mediterranean diet demystified

Tufts University's large clinical trial concludes that the Mediterranean style diet cuts heart risks almost 30 percent. In case you only have a vague idea of what it consists of, they say here's how to eat like a Mediterranean.

• At least two daily servings of vegetables, including a salad.
  
  
• At least three servings of fresh fruit.
  
  
• At least three weekly servings of legumes, such as beans, lentils, garbanzo beans, soybeans and peas.
  
  
• At least three weekly servings of fatty fish such as salmon, tuna or sardines.
  
  
• A "sofrito": tomatoes, onion, garlic and aromatic herbs simmered in olive oil at least twice a week.
  
  
• Wine with dinner if you drink.
  
  
• Cut down on fatty red meat and processed meat, commercial baked goods, fatty spreads and soda drinks.
  
  
• Also, eat four tablespoons of olive oil each day in salads and vegetables or an ounce of walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts.

Here's how to settle a sleep debt, or bank a few hours for a late day

About 50 million Americans report getting an insufficient amount of sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seven to nine hours of sleep are
recommended but many people get closer to six. As the week wears on, they build up a sleep debt.

Recovery sleep

New research shows, contrary to previous information, sleeping later on Saturday morning can count as recovery sleep. It works best for owls who normally stay up late.
If you're a lark who wakens early, a nap later in afternoon would work better. Larks tend to wake at dawn. People generally rank somewhere between an owl and a lark.

Recovery sleep works in the short term, says the American Academy of Sleep, but it will only pay a sleep debt created over two to four days. Sleep you lost two weeks ago is gone forever.

Sleep banking

Here's a new idea. Recent data suggest that banking sleep in advance of a long night can prevent upcoming sleep deprivation. If you know you'll be up until the wee hours of the morning on one or more days you can prevent sleep deprivation by sleeping longer on a few nights before the event.

Scheduled naps

Doctors at Stanford University Sleep Clinic say scheduling naps during the day would be better than disrupting your usual sleep pattern by sleeping late on weekends. The best naps are about 25 minutes long. The effects of changing sleep patterns from weekdays to weekends can confuse the body and result in grogginess. Still, those who do it are better at tasks than the sleep deprived.

Nap time

Naps increase creativity, memory and alertness, says Sara Mednick, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and author of Take a Nap! Change your Life!

A six year study of 23,500 healthy adults by Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Athens Medical School showed that taking naps at least three days per week reduced coronary mortality by 37 percent. Some workplaces have designated sleep areas. If people need a 15 or 20 minute nap in order to finish the work day with a clear mind, they can take one.

Mednick recommends 20 minutes to increase alertness and motor performance but 30 minutes will put a person into deeper sleep which may leave the person feeling groggy. You don't need a designated sleep area. Have a nap at a desk, a quiet spot in the gym, or in your car. Get comfortable and snooze but not too long. You might consider setting a watch alarm.

Hot weather tips for respiratory patients

Doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine remind you to be sure to stay out of the heat and take prescribed drugs for respiratory problems, like colds, asthma, allergies or COPD. Doing the little things can keep you stay cooler on hot days:

• Don't cook on the stove or oven if you can help it.
  
  
• Take a cool or tepid shower in the hottest part of the day for a quick refresher.
  
  
• Do errands, exercise, and outside activities early in the day.
  
  
• Stay inside when both the temperature and pollen counts are high.
  
  
• Get hydrated. Drink plenty of cool fluids. Avoid alcoholic beverages, coffee and sugary beverages which can be dehydrating.
  
  
• Wear lightweight, light colored and loose fitting clothing that "breathes."
  
  
• Park in a shady area so you won't have to get into a hot car.
  

Reducing abdominal fat

A recent Canadian American study done at Penn State University has found that canola and high oleic canola oil helps lower abdominal fat, a marker of metabolic syndrome. The study included participants who were fed a daily smoothie containing 1.42 ounces of one of five oils in a 2,000 calorie a day diet over four weeks. Those who used canola or high oleic canola oil lowered belly fat by 1.6 percent.

Staying Well: Know the signs of heat exhaustion, heat stroke

Exposure to excessive heat can cause the body to lose its ability to cool down. Your temperature can reach levels of 104 degrees or higher in 10 to 15 minutes. The symptoms of heat exhaustion include profuse sweating, muscle cramps, intense thirst, dizziness, nausea, fatigue and headache. If you experience any of these drink plenty of water or other cool nonalcoholic fluids, and get to a cool or shady place. If symptoms don't improve, or if you have any of these heat stroke symptoms, seek immediate emergency medical attention:

• Hot dry skin, often with no sweat

• A rapid pulse

• Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea

• A throbbing headache

• Trouble breathing

Heat stroke affects the brain, so the person may be confused, or agitated. If not treated promptly, heat stroke can lead to seizures, coma and death.

Is your low carb bread really low carb?

Bread and pasta, the Big No Nos of the low carb diet world are also the items that often make people fall off the wagon. Luckily there are low carb versions. Right? Or wrong?

According to Andreas Eenfeldt, MD, that's sometimes wrong. Some low carb breads and pastas are not low carbohydrate at all, he says.

Eenfeldt cautions dieters on his website, dietdoctor.com, to look closely at the nutrition statement. If the bread claims a net carb count of 1, check to see how many carbs are listed as fiber.

"If it looks like bread, feels like bread and tastes like bread, that means it IS bread," Eenfeldt says. "Bread made from grains turns into glucose in your gut, raises your blood sugar and can lead to weight gain."

MD or DO, what's the difference?

Medical doctors (MDs) and Osteopathic physicians (DOs) seem to do the same things so you could be wondering what the difference is.

An MD is a physician trained at a standard four year medical school. DOs receive the same four year medical school education but with osteopathic philosophies tied into the basic principles of medicine. They take special training for treatment of musculoskeletal disorders.

Some specialize in rehabilitation and sports medicine and may work as team doctors. As with MDs, DOs take residency training in any of the medical specialties, from family medicine to surgery.

© 2013 TLC Magazine Online, Inc.