BED SORE

Bed sore What is a bed sore and how is it contracted? A bed sore, also called a pressure sore, decubitus ulcer or skin ulcer, is a pressure induced ulceration suffered by persons who are confined to their bed for long periods of time. When an illness forces a person to be bed ridden for days, weeks and sometimes even months, the skin becomes very fragile and thin, especially in older people. When the skin becomes so paper thin and fragile, the entire area where the person touches the sheets of the bed, from the weight of the body itself, can cause the skin to rupture and cause an open bed sore.

How can a bed sore be prevented?

When a person is confined to their bed for a longer period of time , they need careful attention and care either by family members who have been instructed by a nurse or doctor on how to take care of the patient's needs. The caretaker needs to carefully obverse and be aware of the potential forming of bed sores and take immediate action, if they do occur. It is crucial to keep turning the patient every couple of hours, to help prevent pressure sores from occurring.

1. Turn and reposition the bedridden person at least once every two hours. Prolonged pressure   to the skin causes bedsores. Place a pillow between his knees when his legs are pressed together.

2. Inspect the parts of the body where bedsores are most apt to occur: the heels, sacrum, knees, ears, shoulders and hips. Any sign of redness should be cause for concern. Keep weight off of any reddened spots, until all signs of redness are gone.

3. Keep the head of the person's bed flat, as much as possible. Raising the head causes the body to slump down deeper into the bed, which increases shearing force on the skin.

4. Use pressure-reducing aids in a bed or wheelchair. Mattresses and seat cushions containing sheepskin, foam, gel or air reduce pressure on the skin.

5. Clean skin as soon as it becomes moist from perspiration, excrement or wound drainage. Dampness that is allowed to linger on the skin increases the chance of breakdown.

6. Change sheets frequently. Choose sheets that are wrinkle-free and softened.

7. Massage the skin two to three times a day to increase circulation. Apply lotion liberally (Dermawound from Progressive Doctors Used in Wound Treatment Facilities Around the World | 6 oz). Avoid massaging bony prominences.

8. Maintain adequate hydration. For optimal skin health, the body needs at least eight glasses of water a day.

How to manage Bedsores

1. Clean the bedsores and the skin with antibacterial cleanser. This is imperative to preventing serious infections from developing in the open wound.

2. Give the patient the required vitamins and minerals, which improve hydration and energy levels. Malnutrition contributes to the body not being able to fight against bedsores.

3. Inspect the skin and existing lesions to be sure there are no new bedsores, and that the existing sores are not deteriorating further.

4. Use padded materials such as foam, fiber or gels to relieve the pressure on the areas where bedsores are most probable or need to heal.

Tips 

1. For a person on prolonged bed rest, consider renting a special rotation-type bed, such as the Roto Rest bed. This bed automatically turns and repositions the occupant, and it is loaded with pressure-reducing devices.

2. Keep a written turn schedule at the bedside. Every two hours, when you turn your patient, mark down whether you left him positioned on his back, right side or left side.

3. Stage-one bedsores can often heal themselves without intervention so long as the pressure is relieved from the area regularly. Once bedsores blister and open, seek proper medical attention to develop the proper course of treatment.

Warnings

1. Any sign of redness should be considered a potential bedsore.

2. Don't massage reddened areas. This encourages further breakdown.

3. Never use a doughnut-cushion under the buttocks, because it decreases blood flow where the cushion sets against the skin.

4. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

BRAIN CANCER

Brain cancer symptoms: Do I have a brain cancer?

Brain cancer symptoms vary from patient to patient, and most of these symptoms can also be found in people who do NOT have brain cancers. Therefore, the only sure way to tell if you have a brain cancer or not is to see your doctor and get a brain scan. We did a survey of over 400 brain cancer patients to learn what symptoms they had that caused them to seek medical care. 

The symptoms

Headaches

 

Headaches: This was the most common symptom, with 46% of the patients reporting having headaches. They described the headaches in many different ways, with no one pattern being a sure sign of brain cancer. Many - perhaps most - people get headaches at some point in their life, so this is not a definite sign of brain cancers. You should mention it to your doctors if the headaches are: different from those you ever had before, are accompanied by nausea / vomiting, are made worse by bending over or straining when going to the bathroom. 

Seizures

Seizures: This was the second most common symptom reported, with 33% of the patients reporting a seizure before the diagnosis was made. Seizures can also be caused by other things, like epilepsy, high fevers, stroke, trauma, and other disorders. This is a symptom that should never be ignored, whatever the cause. In a person who never had a seizure before, it usually indicates something serious and you must get a brain scan. 

A seizure is a sudden, involuntary change in behavior, muscle control, consciousness, and/or sensation. Symptoms of a seizure can range from sudden, violent shaking and total loss of consciousness to muscle twitching or slight shaking of a limb. Staring into space, altered vision, and difficulty in speaking are some of the other behaviors that a person may exhibit while having a seizure. Approximately 10% of the U.S. population will experience a single seizure in their lifetime. 

Nausea and Vomiting: As with headaches, these are non-specific symptoms - which means that most people who have nausea and vomiting do NOT have a brain cancer. Twenty-two percent of the people in our survey reported that they had nausea and /or vomiting as a symptom. 

Nausea and / or vomiting is more likely to point towards a brain cancer if it is accompanied by the other symptoms mentioned here. 

Vision or hearing problems: Twenty-five percent reported vision problems. This one is easy - if you notice any problem with your hearing or vision, it must be checked out. I commonly hear that the eye doctor is the first one to make the diagnosis - because when they look in your eyes, they can sometimes see signs of increased intracranial pressure. This must be investigated. 

Problems with weakness of the arms, legs or face muscles, and strange sensations in your head or hands. Twenty-five percent reported weakness of the arms and/or legs. Sixteen percent reported strange feelings in the head, and 9% reported strange feelings in the hands. This may result in an altered gait, dropping objects, falling, or an asymmetric facial expression. These could also be symptoms of a stroke. Sudden onset of these symptoms is an emergency - you should go to the emergency room. If you notice a gradual change over time, you must report it to your doctor. 

Behavioral and cognitive problems: Many reported behavioral and cognitive changes, such as: problems with recent memory, inability to concentrate or finding the right words, acting out - no patience or tolerance, and loss of inhibitions - saying or doing things that are not appropriate for the situation. 

IF you think something is wrong, go see your doctor. Explain that you are worried it is a brain cancer. Keep in mind that brain cancers are relatively rare compared to most other disorders, so the primary care doctor is not usually going to be thinking it is a brain cancer. They first think of more common causes of the symptoms. Sixty-four percent of the time, the doctor thought it was NOT a brain cancer when respondents first went to the doctor. More than half of the people reported that they had the symptoms for more than a month before the correct diagnosis of brain cancer was made. With the malignant brain cancers, a delay of a month in starting treatment can make a major impact on the outcome. 

Get more info at https://www.virtualtrials.com/brain-cancer-symptoms.cfm?gclid=CKKe_eqr7akCFUka6wod5mHEXw

3 Ways to Heal Fungal Infections in the Armpit

Armpit Fungal Infections

1. Get a Prescription Topical Ointment

While fungal infections in the armpit are rare, they can become quite severe given the right conditions. Your doctor will need to assess the extent of your condition to prescribe the most effective course of treatment action, but relatively mild fungal infections of the armpit are normally treated using a topical antifungal cream or ointment. Nystatin (Candidate for Candidiasis, Candida and Yeast Infections), tolnaftate (Tolnaftate Antifungal Powder - 45 G), imidazole and naftidine are the most commonly prescribed antifungal creams. Your treatment regimen will likely last about 3 weeks, and you'll need to apply ointment two or three times per day (or as directed). Make sure to follow the application directions closely and continue treatment as long as you're directed. Fungal infections can quickly recur, even when they appear to have cleared up, if you cease treatment too soon.

2. Use Systemic Antifungal Drugs

If your skin infection is more serious in nature or particularly widespread, you may need to take systemic drugs to cure it. These drugs are taken orally and will gradually reduce the spread of the infection on your skin. Should your skin infection include the appearance of white spots, you should be aware that these spots will probably remain on your skin even after the fungal infection has cleared. This is true of both topical and systemic antifungal drugs. Over time, the white spots will heal themselves and disappear. Permanent marks are rare.

3. Apply a Special Body Shampoo

You can prevent white spots and stop a fungal infection from getting a hold on your skin by washing daily with antifungal shampoo or fungal soap liquid (PediFix FungaSoapLiquid with Tea Tree oil, 6 oz.). Usable on both your hair and your body, antifungal shampoos are applied to affected areas and left to sit for a period of 15 to 30 minutes. They can also be used in tandem with topical or systemic medications to heal and cure infections that have already begun.



Credit to http://www.livestrong.com/article/13264-heal-fungal-infections-armpit/#ixzz1QyBqid6K