10 Tips to Reduce Stomach Fat

1. Short of surgery, there is no simple process to quickly remove the fat. Reducing it requires time, patience and work.


2. When you exercise, make sure your movements are smooth and controlled.


3. Do your best to not arch your back during your abdominal workout. Arching your back can strain the muscles in your lower back and increase the length of time it will take to lose the fat.


4. Lots of people think that, in order for exercise to be effective, exercise must be done until the person feels out of breath and physically tapped. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Exercise until it feels uncomfortable and then cool down. As time goes on, you'll find that the time it takes to feel winded or uncomfortable gets longer and longer.


5. Sit ups, when not paired with a full body workout do not actually flatten your stomach. In fact, unless you are working your entire abdominal region (and the rest of your body), sit ups will tone your abdominal muscles, making them more pronounced behind the layer of fat--making your stomach fat even more obvious!


6. Do some crunches when you would normally be lying around and doing something passive (like watching television or listening to music). Crunches are one of the best exercises you can do to work your abdominal muscle area.


7. Keep your workout routine varied. The more you do an exercise, the more your muscles will become used to it and the less effect it will have on your muscle tone and it will make it harder for you to get into shape.


8. Make sure that you are eating a healthy diet. All of the exercise in the world won't do you any good if you aren't eating healthy as well. Healthy foods have fewer calories and are easier for your body to digest.


9. Stay away from saturated fats and foods containing high fructose corn syrup. Saturated fat and high fructose corn syrup are two of the leading reasons why people have problems with belly fat in the first place.


10. Maintain proper posture. By sitting up straight you will be able to reduce the appearance of your stomach fat. Proper posture will also help you when you work out and you'll find that you have less muscle aches!

Managment Of Cardiac Hypertrophy Flow chart

Assessing Pain in Loved Ones with Dementia

Persistent pain is common among older persons, who are more likely to suffer from problems such as arthritis and other chronic conditions. The person with dementia often has trouble communicating his or her feelings or thoughts—and this can mean the inability to tell you if a physical problem, such as pain, exists.
If your loved one has dementia, determining if he or she is experiencing pain may be up to you. Careful observation can reveal important clues to let you know that he or she is experiencing pain.

These clues can include:

• Facial expressions: frowning, looking frightened, grimacing, wrinkling his or her brow, keeping eyes closed tightly, blinking rapidly, or exhibiting any distorted expression.
• Verbalizations/vocalizations: moaning, groaning, sighing, grunting/chanting/calling out, breathing noisily, asking for help or becoming verbally abusive.
• Body movements: rigid or tense posture, fidgeting, pacing or rocking back and forth; restricted movement, gait or mobility changes.
• Behavioral changes: refusing food or showing any appetite change; change in sleep/rest periods; wandering; stopping common routines.
• Mental status changes: crying, showing increased confusion or irritability, acting distressed.

When does the pain occur?

• During movement: Signs could be grimacing or groaning during personal care (such as bathing), walking, or transferring (from bed to chair, for example).
• Without movement: Does your loved one appear agitated or have other behavioral changes, such as trouble sleeping, loss of appetite, or reclusiveness?

If you see any of these signs, talk to your healthcare provider as soon as possible, telling him or her what you have noticed and giving examples. Focus on when the pain occurs, and how it seems to be experienced (burning? aching? stabbing?) and whether it occurs with or without movement. Tell your healthcare provider what, if anything, relieves the pain. It is important to provide your healthcare professional with a history of all prescription and over-the-counter medicines your loved one now takes and has taken in the past, writing down all medications and dosages.

Pain in the Elderly: When Someone You Love Is in Pain

While arthritis is the most common cause of pain for people over age 65, circulatory problems, shingles, certain bowel diseases and cancer are other common reasons for pain in older people. Nerve damage can also cause severe and constant pain.
Some people think that pain is natural with old age or that when older people are not clear in explaining the cause of their pain they are just complaining. Both of these views are wrong. There is almost always a real problem behind the aches and pains.
Pain can lead to other problems. People with pain may lose the ability to move around and do everyday activities. They may have trouble sleeping, experience bad moods and have a poor self-image. People with pain also often have anxiety or depression. They may be at greater risk for falls, weight loss, poor concentration and difficulties with relationships.
Most pain can be controlled, usually through a combination of drug and non-drug strategies, which should be discussed with a healthcare provider.

Caring for someone in pain or at risk for pain is often an ongoing process. As various strategies are tried, it may help to keep in mind two basic principles:

• Believe the person you are caring for. People with pain are the only ones who know how much pain they are feeling. Pain is whatever the older person says it is and exists whenever he or she says it does. If people with pain feel that others do not believe them, they become upset and may stop reporting their pain accurately. This makes controlling the pain more difficult.
• Every person has the right to good pain control. Your job as a caregiver is to make sure that good pain control is provided. Tell health professionals if pain does not improve with treatment and ask them to try new treatments until the pain is controlled. Your goals are to help evaluate and relieve pain and to keep health professionals informed about pain levels and responses to pain treatments.

What You Can Do to Help
Evaluate pain:

• Ask about the pain. No medical test can tell you whether or not a person is in pain. The best way to find out if a person is in pain is to ask. A good way of asking is to say, “How bad is your pain right now on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain you ever had?” Don't contradict or argue about these ratings.
• Listen for words other than "pain." Older people may use different words to describe their pain, such as “discomfort,” “soreness” or “ache.”
• Look for behavior or body language that could be a response to pain. The older person may be unwilling to report pain or be unable to communicate about pain in words. Behaviors to look for include facial expressions or groaning when moved

Sinusitis: Acute or Chronic?

What is Sinusitis?
If you've never given your sinuses much thought, a bout of sinusitis can make you think about nothing else. Sinusitis is used to describe any condition where the sinuses become inflamed. Sinuses are the four pairs of air-filled pockets located around the nose and eyes. They are designed to strengthen your skull, filter the air that comes through your nose, add resonance to your voice and help remove mucus from the body. If they become blocked, mucus can't drain properly and air pressure can build up in the sinuses, resulting in the familiar headache and congestion.
Although "sinusitis" and "sinus infection" are often used interchangeably, an infection is only one of many possible causes. The sinuses can also become inflamed by allergens or other environmental irritants, or if you have structural abnormalities in your nose that interfere with sinus functioning.
Your doctor might suspect sinusitis if you show up complaining of a headache, especially one that gets worse when you lower your head, tenderness around the eyes and nose, and thick greenish-yellow nasal discharge. However, not all cases of sinusitis are created equal. One of the major distinctions that physicians use when diagnosing sinusitis is whether it's an acute or a chronic problem.
Acute Sinusitis
An acute infection is one that crops up seemingly out of nowhere. You could be breathing free and easy one day and then struck with an unbearable sinus headache the next.
In most cases, acute sinusitis occurs after a particularly nasty cold. The cold virus causes the mucous membranes in your sinuses to swell and become less effective at draining mucus. The mucus and other material sitting around in your sinuses becomes perfect food for bacteria, leading to a bacterial infection in the sinuses.

Although a bacterial infection following the cold is the most common cause of acute sinusitis, it can also be caused by allergies or viral and fungal infections.
If you have symptoms of sinusitis, your doctor will probably examine you and use a long swab to take samples from your nasal passages and sinuses. These samples can then be analyzed for signs of bacterial or fungal infection. Nasal swabbing doesn't usually hurt, but it can be uncomfortable, especially if you have structural abnormalities like a deviated septum.
Acute sinusitis is usually easy to treat. In some cases, it clears up on its own, but anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen and aspirin can help alleviate most symptoms. Your physician might also prescribe antibiotics or allergy medication, depending on the cause of your sinusitis. Washing the sinuses out with saline solution (using a saline nasal spray, a sinus cleansing kit or neti-pot) can also help to alleviate the symptoms of acute sinusitis.
Chronic Sinusitis
If you have sinus headaches and congestion that never seem to go away, or that go away and come back repeatedly, you could be experiencing chronic sinusitis. You have sinus passages that are constantly inflamed, and this causes chronic headaches, difficulty breathing and postnasal drip into the throat.
Unfortunately, in many cases the cause of chronic sinusitis is unknown. Allergies may be a factor, in addition to tiny nasal polyps that can aggravate the sinuses and cause chronic sinusitis.
Chronic sinusitis can be tough to treat because it can be difficult to figure out what's causing it. Acute flare-ups can usually be treated with painkillers, although this won't fix the underlying problem. Your physician might suggest that you wash your sinuses out regularly with saline solution to remove some of the mucus and keep your sinuses from drying out. In extreme circumstances, surgery to remove polyps or enlarge the sinus passages may be recommended.
Whichever type of sinusitis you have, do your best to treat it. A nasty little sinus infection can quickly turn into a more severe one that can spread throughout your body. So, if you find yourself complaining of a sinus headache and congestion for more than a couple of days, visit your doctor to discuss treatment options.

Sickle Cell Anemia

Sickle cell anemia is a painful, inherited condition in which the red blood cells become abnormally shaped. It may lead to pain or a number of other serious complications including stroke, life–threatening infection or end-organ damage.

Red blood cells transport vital oxygen to the limbs and organs. These cells are normally disc–shaped. In people with sickle cell anemia, a large number of these red blood cells become sickle- or crescent–shaped.
Hemoglobin, a protein molecule present in all red blood cells, is responsible for transporting oxygen from the lungs to the tissues around the body. However, in people with sickle cell anemia, a sickle–shaped red blood cell develops as a result of the presence of an abnormal hemoglobin called hemoglobin S. Normally red blood cells contain hemoglobin A. But with hemoglobin S, there is a reduction in the amount of oxygen transported in the red blood cells.
As a result of this reduced oxygen, the cells change shape. These sickle-shaped cells are harmful because they often get stuck in small blood vessels, obstructing the flow of blood. This can lead to a number of complications, including recurrent episodes of pain known as asvaso-occlusive sickle cell crises.

These structurally abnormal cells also become very fragile and begin to be broken down prematurely, at a rate faster than the body can replace them. As a result, patients with sickle cell anemia often have a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells in their blood, condition called anemia. This can lead to a number of symptoms including fatigue, jaundice (yellowing of skin and eyes) and shortness of breath.
Sickle cell anemia can affect only someone who has inherited hemoglobin S from both parents. A person who inherits hemoglobin S from only one parent can have sickle cell trait (AS). Known as carriers, these people with sickle cell trait usually have no symptoms. They can, however, pass the trait onto their children.
To determine if a person has sickle cell anemia or sickle cell trait, physicians may order a number of blood tests (e.g., hemoglobin electrophoresis, sickle cell test). Newborns are routinely screened for the abnormal gene in many states. Adults, older children and fetuses can also be screened.
According to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, there are approximately 70,000 people living with the sickle cell anemia in the United States. Most of these patients are African American and Hispanic.
Currently, bone marrow transplant is the only cure for sickle cell anemia. The procedure, however, is risky, and it is often difficult to find a suitable donor. When a bone marrow transplant is not an option, the focus of treatment is on relieving pain and preventing crises and other complications

Scoliosis

Scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine that is usually painless, but can result in chronic back pain if left untreated. Severe cases in young children can cause deformities, impair development and be life-threatening.

Scoliosis is most often found in patients between 10 and 14 years old, though the condition can also affect infants. In infancy, boys are at higher risk for scoliosis than girls, but girls are at much higher risk for developing scoliosis after age 3. Regular checkups by the primary care physician are necessary to notice this problem at an early phase, with early treatment intervention.
In most people, the spine appears straight when viewed from behind. However, patients with scoliosis have one or more side–to–side spinal curvatures. Scoliosis is diagnosed when a patient has a spinal curvature greater than 10 degrees.
Scoliosis patients who wear a back brace over an extended period of time can usually prevent further curvature of the spine. Left untreated, scoliosis can become more severe, resulting in ongoing back pain and breathing difficulties. In severe cases of scoliosis, surgery may be necessary to restore the spine.

About scoliosis

Scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine that is typically found in children and adolescents. In most cases, scoliosis is painless. However, it can become gradually more severe if left untreated, resulting in chronic back pain. In young children, severe cases can cause deformities, impair development and be life-threatening.
In most people, the spine appears straight when viewed from behind, with the lower back bending slightly inward and the upper back bowing a little outward. However, scoliosis patients have one or more side–to–side spinal curvatures that can appear in the shape of an “s” or a “c.” Though this curve is not always visible, it can be seen from behind in many patients. This is especially true in severe cases.
Scoliosis, which comes from the Greek word for “crooked,” is usually diagnosed when a patient has a spinal curvature greater than 10 degrees. It is most often found in patients between 10 and 14 years old, although it can be present in infancy. Infant boys are at higher risk for scoliosis than girls, but girls are at much higher risk for developing scoliosis after age 3.
The cause of about 80 to 85 percent of all scoliosis cases is unknown (idiopathic), according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. The most common form of scoliosis is known as adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, which occurs when a patient is 10 years old or older. Other forms of scoliosis include infantile idiopathic scoliosis (birth to 3 years) and juvenile idiopathic scoliosis (ages 3 to 10 years). Scoliosis is less common in adults.