Have you ever asked this question?

Have you ever taken a look at the things in your life and ask the following question:


Does this improve the quality of my life?


Right now, think of three things you could add to your life that would improve your quality of life.


Perhaps something like:

1. Exercising 
2. Meditating / praying 
3. Spending meaningful time with family or friends 
4. Journaling 
5. Reading more 

Got three things? Good.


Now think of three things you could remove from your life that would improve your quality of life.


Got 'em? Excellent!


Why not pick one in each category and try it for a week? It doesn't have to be a permanent change - just do it for a week and notice the difference.

How serious is Hepatitus C?

It is the deadliest infectious disease in the U.S. This virus accounts for more deaths than all other similar illnesses (including HIV) combined. Worse, the disease is on the rise, and experts say there are probably many more cases than we know about.

Officially, hepatitis C accounted for nearly 20,000 deaths in 2013, the latest year available. That’s more than twice as many as HIV. And data from a large hepatitis study found that only a fraction of people with serious liver disease had HCV listed on their death certificates. On a national scale, this could mean that HCV was actually linked to between 75,000 and 100,000 deaths that year.

HCV Cases In the ER Are Also On the Rise

A 2015 study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine reveals that urban ER physicians are seeing more and more cases of HCV in their emergency rooms – with high rates coming among baby boomers. The research shows that of the of the ER patients tested, 10% of them had the disease, and only about one-fourth of those knew they were infected. And that’s the scary part. Hepatitis C usually shows no symptoms, meaning that many aren’t aware that they’re infected

Who Should Get Screened

You or a loved one may be at risk for Hepatitis C – and not even know it. Consider getting tested if you have one or more of the following risk factors.

1.  You’re 50 or older. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that baby boomers account for 75% of cases. So if you were born between the ages of 1945 to 1965, it’s important to get screened.

2.  You have certain symptoms. While HCV symptoms are usually silent, there are two times symptoms may show up: soon after infection, and once the disease has damaged the liver. See a physician if you experience the following: nausea, jaundice, weight loss and loss of appetite, fatigue, itchy skin, brownish urine and discomfort in the upper right abdomen.

3.  You’ve ever shared needles. Whether it’s sharing drugs or getting a tattoo with dirty equipment, exposure to blood is the main transmitter of the disease. Additional risk factors: a blood transfusion or an organ transplant before 1992 or having many sexual partners.

Headache or?

When you get a headache, you probably take aspirin and try to shrug it off. But sometimes headaches are warning signs of something much more serious — a stroke, a condition that’s similar to a heart attack but affects the brain.  More than 795,000 people in the US suffer from a stroke every year, and of those, about 130,000 die from it. According to one survey, while 60% of people knew that severe headache with no known cause could signal stroke, only 38% of people could recognize all the major symptoms and knew to call 9-1-1 right away.

Unfortunately, knowing when your headache spells trouble can be difficult. There are generally two types of stroke

Type One: Ischemic (Blockage-Type Brain Attack) 

What it is: About 85% of strokes are ischemic, which occur when a blockage prevents a blood vessel from providing blood to the brain.

Headache symptoms: Most ischemic strokes don’t cause headaches. But some types, such as arterial dissections (blockage in an artery supplying the brain) and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (blockage in veins draining blood from the brain), can produce a splitting headache. Sometimes people with headaches due to arterial dissections also have teary eyes on one side, as well as weakness or numbness on the side of their body opposite the headache,

People with headaches due to venous sinus thrombosis may also have blurry vision and/or seizures.  

 Type Two: Hemorrhagic (a.k.a. Bleeding-Type Brain Attack, or Brain Bleed):   There are two types of hemorrhagic strokes: subarachnoid and intracerebral.

An intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke, which accounts for around 12% of all brain attacks, occurs when a weakened blood vessel or aneurysm bursts, causing a brain bleed. Hypertension is the most common risk factor for an intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke.

A subarachnoid hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a bulge in a blood vessel (a.k.a aneurysm) within the covering layers of the brain ruptures, causing bleeding in the space surrounding the brain. While subarachnoid hemorrhagic strokes are less common, accounting for around 3% of all brain attacks, their results are often devastating. Janardhan says about 10% of people suffering from a brain bleed die immediately, and of the remaining 90% who make it to the ER, about half will die within 30 days.

Headache symptoms: An intracerebral hemorrhage, which most often occurs in people with high blood pressure or less frequently from an underlying vascular malformation (AVM), causes sudden, severe headaches. People with subarachnoid hemorrhagic strokes often complain of suddenly experiencing the worst headache of their lives. “I’ve had patients say that the headache associated with a ruptured brain aneurysm feels like something is erupting in their head and is a headache unlike anything they’ve ever experienced,”

Divorce

Boomers are not staying married and divorce is common amongst my age group. Not only is divorce bad for you financially, it also takes an emotional toll. Perhaps more than most of us think about. Ending a marriage can take more than an emotional toll. 

In a 2015 study, researchers found that divorced women were more likely to have a heart attack than married women; after two divorces, their risk nearly doubled. Men who had one divorce were just as likely to have a heart attack as married men, but their risk increased after two or more divorces.  One of the largest forms of stress is loss of a loved one or divorce or a major life event,. Over time, the release of stress hormones … can create injury to the wall of the blood vessel,” potentially causing a heart attack.