What Is Diabetic Eye Disease? - Jacqueline Griffiths, MD 01 February 2012, 00.00

Approximately 20.8 million Americans have diabetes.  More than half of these individuals are at risk for vision loss and other health problems, because they don’t know they have the disease. Diabetic eye disease, a group of eye problems that affects those with diabetes, includes diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and glaucoma. The most common of these is diabetic retinopathy, which affects 5.3 million Americans age eighteen and older. Diabetic retinopathy is a...

5 Ways To Keep Your Skin From Drying Out This Winter - Dima Ali, MD 01 February 2012, 00.00

The main cause of dry skin (xerosis) is exposure to factors that strip away essential, protective lipids from our skin.  There are also medical reasons for dry skin such as certain drugs, hypothyroidism or diabetes, which should be evaluated and treated by your doctor.  But for the 100 million of us that suffer from the other common causes of dry skin, here are some tips to help protect the largest organ of our body: 1. Hydrate daily with at least 8 glasses of water....

Managing Diabetes: Integrating Natural Approaches - Rosemarie D. Rose, MD 01 February 2012, 00.00

Diabetes is a growing epidemic.  Diabetes, defined as high, uncontrolled blood sugar levels, is linked to heart disease, kidney disease, vision loss, nerve damage, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease over time.  While type 2 diabetes in children and young adults was almost unheard of a quarter century ago, the disease is on the rise in alarming proportions.  According to the American Diabetes Association, about one in every 400 children and adolescents has diabetes, and...

Gum Disease – The New Silent Killer? - R.S. Mayberry, DDS 01 February 2012, 00.00

Why Millions of People Who Don’t Know They Have Gum Disease May Be At Risk For More Than Just Losing Teeth It’s been almost eight years since the journal Stroke published findings suggesting that the risk of stroke increased with the progression of periodontal disease and a plethora of other articles suggest a strong connection between heart disease and gum disease as well.  And, even with this pile of research, we still don’t know “for sure” if periodontal...

Diabetic Foot Wounds Need Immediate Attention - Evetta L. Borden, 01 February 2012, 00.00

Small cuts in one’s feet can have big consequences in diabetics. Diabetes decreases your blood flow, so your injuries are slow to heal. When your wound is not healing, it’s at risk for infection. As a diabetic, your infections spread quickly. If it’s really bad your doctor will need to take drastic action, like amputation. This is why it is so important to take care of your feet to prevent the sores and infections. Common to severe foot complications include...

Sleep Deprivation - Sherri Kavazovic, Certified Clinical Thermographer 01 February 2012, 00.00

Maybe your sleeping partner says your snoring sounds like a 747 landing in the next room; maybe you just don’t wake up refreshed after what you thought was a good night’s sleep and feel tired during the day. These are two signs of sleep apnea – brief periods when you stop breathing while sleeping – causing sleep disturbances that usually go unnoticed but can affect your ability to function during the day. Sleep apnea is surprisingly common. According to the...

Treating Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - Mary Babcock, D.O. 01 February 2012, 00.00

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a pain disorder that affects the musculoskeletal and nervous systems in one or more extremities.  This condition almost universally follows trauma to the involved extremity, usually in the wrist, hand, ankle or foot. Potential causes of this condition range from minor injuries such as a sprain to severe injuries such as direct nerve damage or fractures.  The syndrome can occasionally occur following orthopedic surgery,...

Are You Suffering From TMJ Pain? Are You Clenching and Grinding Your Teeth? - Maribel Vann, DDS 01 February 2012, 00.00

Patients who suffer from popping, clicking, crunching noises, lock jaw and difficulty opening the mouth wide are usually experiencing temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ disorder).  While it may seem like the problem comes from a variety of sources, in many cases the real problem is a misaligned upper and lower jaw. As you can see in photograph A, the upper midline is deviated to the right, while the lower is deviated to the left. You might think that the teeth are...