Oriental medicine for spring health boards

It is mid-Spring and according to five element theory, the "Wood" energy is its bottom.

If you read seasonal BIOM health advice, you recognize that the effect of spring on your body has been very strong this year, based on health issues common spring you may be confronted.

Self Checkup

Just as the five element theory indicates that the characteristic energy of spring is "Wood", said also that the color is green, that is the color associated with your liver and gallbladder. Surge energy of spring is considered in the vibrant green color of young leaves, and how you feel energy of spring in your body is determined by the health of your liver and gallbladder. If these bodies are balanced, you feel a mild and pleasant energy that flows through you that stimulates your creativity and a sense that basically all is well in your life.

If your liver and gallbladder are not working properly, emotional problems such as frustration, irritation, anger, or rage are not uncommon. Physically, symptoms such as insomnia, sciatic, arterial hypertension, constipation, migraine headaches, vision and other problems eye, hives, asthma and eczema may be exacerbated by the energy of spring and may be bothering you more than usual right now.

Help you

There are things you can do to help you through this time of year more comfortably if you're experiencing any of the problems mentioned above.

Foods to avoid

Be aware that some foods can have a detrimental effect on the liver and gallbladder. Try to avoid foods rich, fatty, oily, fried, buttery and creamy. For example, when you have the choice between fettuccine alfredo and fettuccine primavera, choose the primavera because fettuccine alfredo a cream and eggs, making it too rich to the gallbladder. In addition, be aware that the liver and gallbladder have an alcohol treatment hard times - including beer and wine. Therefore if you have liver problems avoid or minimize, the amount of food you eat and drink.

Food dining

Foods that enhance health and function of the liver and gallbladder include: shiitake mushrooms, sour citrus fruit (grapefruit, lemon, lime and apple sour) and pickles with a quantity moderate vinegar.

As always, the Chinese medical herbs are extremely useful for building and the balance between the liver and gallbladder. Chinese medical herbal formulae proved among more effective treatments for all degrees of cure liver problems.

Get enough rest

Do your best to get enough rest. Rest is particularly important for your body in spring by the intensity of the energy, we have seen. Do not forget that the imbalances of liver can cause insomnia, which can be attenuated by Oriental Medicine.

Manage your Stress with exercise

Exercise is essential for your physical and emotional health, and methods one year Chi Chi Kung and Tai Chi for gardeners are especially beneficial in the spring to help energy seasonal flow through your body. By combining a program of exercises focused on the Chi with acupuncture and Chinese medical herbs, you can keep your body Chi or energy, become "stagnant."

The summer has arrived.

Summer is the season of the energy of the fire. It remains to be seen how quickly and intensely "Fire" flows in the northern hemisphere this year. Be aware that the drying out of all of the juicy spring growth that you see today, is exactly what happens to you and me in the summer. So think back and remember the health problems and discomfort you typically encounter in summer - now is certainly the time to prepare.

Kitty Bradshaw is an acupuncturist licensed, with a clinical degree in Oriental medicine. Studying and working with Eastern medicine since 1986, Kitty combines traditional with Taoist healing methods eastern medicine of the possibilities of healing beyond the level of standard health care to provide. His deep understanding of Chinese medical herbs, combined with its intuitive capabilities to diagnose and treat the difficult problems, has helped many people to regain and maintain their State of health.

For a phone free consultation to learn how Oriental Medicine can work for you, go to http://www.biom.net to contact Kitty and register for the free newsletter of the BIOM.

Top stories in health and medicine this morning, March 31, 2011

This series is brought to you by MedPage Today, Putting breaking medical news into practice.

1. PSA Screening in Older Men Often Unnecessary. Almost a third of older men with limited life expectancy continue to have unnecessary PSA tests.

2. Stress, Time Asleep Affect Weight-Loss Success. Success at losing weight may depend on how much sleep a patient gets — and how much stress they are under.

3. Telemedicine Cuts Deaths in ICU. Telemedicine in the ICU lowers mortality and length of stay in intensive care, but has no effect on these parameters in the rest of the hospital.

View the original article here

Top stories in health and medicine this morning, April 1, 2011

This series is brought to you by MedPage Today, Putting breaking medical news into practice.

1. Ca Risk Lower After Liver Transplant if Smokers Quit. Liver transplant patients who quit smoking significantly lower their risk of subsequently developing a smoking-related malignancy.

2. Panel Digests Data Linking Food Coloring, Hyperactivity. Judging from the data and the discussion during the first day of an FDA panel meeting on food dyes, it appears likely that juices, candies, cereals, yogurts, and hundreds of other everyday foods will maintain their brighter-than-bright hues.

3. Nine Dead, Tainted IV Nutrition Solution Implicated. Nine patients have died and 10 others have been sickened after being treated in six Alabama hospitals with contaminated total parenteral nutrition solution.

View the original article here

Quality of Care in Medicine – Is It Improving?

By Dr Cary Presant MD

Everyone wants the best quality of medical care. Is our American health system quality of care high or low, and is it getting better or worse? We know that lack of insurance is associated with a reduction in amount of health care given and the quality of care that is received. But what is the quality of medical care for patients who are actively going to physicians?

In an article by Kevin O’Reilly in American Medical News (Volume 51, August 2008), the author reviewed data originally published in the July/August issue of Health Affairs. The results of over 150 Massachusetts physician groups were compared in the years 2001 and 2003 against quality care measurements. Interestingly, they also looked at their quality of care grades according to whether or not those physicians were paid extra fees for meeting quality care guidelines. The results were impressive.

Quality of care was generally high. In 2001 over 80% of female patients were getting breast cancer screenings. This continued to be high in 2003. Patients with diabetes were getting eye examinations (over 50% in 2001, and increased by 3% in 2003), testing for hemoglobin A1c (a measure of how well the blood sugar is being controlled) with 81% having such testing in 2001, and an increase of 4 to 6% in 2003, and screening for LDL cholesterol (a sign of higher risk of heart attack) with 80% of patients being screened in 2001 and an increase of 9% in 2003. Well child visits occurred in over 80% in 2001 with an increase of 5% in 2003.

This indicates that physicians are anxious to improve their quality of care, and that patients generally receive good quality care. When the authors looked to see if incentives to have increased guideline compliance resulted in increased quality of care, physician bonuses for performance-based improvements did not improve performance any better than groups who did not receive bonuses. This tells us that doctors just want to do a better job with their patients, and paying them a small amount extra does not seem to improve the care itself.

Also, it is important to recognize that even though quality of care was generally fairly high, 10% to 20% of patients did not receive adequate screening for disease (breast cancer), and in the evaluation of eye examinations for diabetic patients and monitoring of kidney function in diabetics, only 50% of patients received adequate screening and evaluation.

We need to recognize that in order to monitor doctor performance, it is necessary to have a system in place that actually checks each and every patient to determine if they are getting the high quality care that is necessary. This usually requires an Electronic Health Record, also called Electronic Medical Record, in order to make certain that each patient can be reviewed to make certain that each and every one of these screening tests, and that each and every appropriate treatment is given when it is needed. This sometimes requires payments for the process of measuring the process and the outcomes. Thus, there is continuing need for improvement in the quality of care.

What can you do now to make certain that your quality of care is high? First, ask your physicians if they routinely monitor their patients for compliance with quality guidelines? How do they do it and how often do they do it? Ask them if they have an Electronic Health Record, and if they do, how often do they use it to monitor patients and will you be monitored to know that your quality of care is high? Also, if your doctor does not have an Electronic Health Record, ask how they monitor the quality of care.

Even more importantly, get to know what screening tests are needed to maintain your health (through this column and through other health information resources such as brochures and books) and if you have a chronic illness, know exactly what is required for optimal treatment of that condition. We will have future columns that deal with where you can get information on certain quality issues, but you may always go to the National Institute of Health websites to obtain information about certain illnesses (but beware there is an awful lot of information and it is slow and is often very tedious to dig through it!)