Emotional Side Effects of Cancer

April 27, 2015

Emotional Side Effects of Cancer: Coping with Cancer in Everyday Life

Emotional Side Effects of Cancer can be the reason why your treatment is not progressing effectively

Anything which is affecting the good health of your life qualifies to be called side effects. When dealing with chronic conditions like cancer, it doesn’t matter whether it is emotional side effects of cancer or physical effects. The bottom line is that there is a problem which needs to be fixed. In this article doctor Dalal Akoury is sharing with us more about the types of feelings people with cancer commonly experience while on treatment and even after treatment. The first thing we ask is “how do people cope with cancer in everyday life?”

Emotional Side Effects of Cancer: Coping with your emotions

There are several ways through which you can effectively cope with cancer problems in your daily life. Communication is very important and so telling your family and friends about what you are going through is very necessary. There will also be a time for you to make certain decisions about the condition you are going through. Treatment and wellbeing will greatly depend on how well informed your decision will be.

Emotional complications often make cancer patients feel that the sooner they get rid of the cancer, the better. They may feel like they need to make decisions and start treatment right away. They may worry that extra tests and appointments with other doctors will take time that could be spent treating the cancer. These feelings are mutual and are and this brings us to the second question in management of emotional side effects of cancer, and we ask how long is really too long for commencement of treatment?

In response to this, it is important to appreciate that cancer disease grows at different rates. In many cases various types of cancers do not grow very quickly. This gives the patient an opportunity to gather quality information about the disease. You can talk to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care. Doctor Akoury is also the founder of this facility and talking to her will give you the professional insight you need to make very informed decision about cancer treatment. Most cancer survivors will tell you that taking time to step back and see the big picture is very beneficial. Accumulating information from the relevant professionals will help you address all your concerns and cause you to making the best decision not just for you alone but also for your family. With the right thing done, you will live life beyond your expectations and desires doing things that make you feel much comfortable.

Emotional Side Effects of Cancer: Getting cancer information

When you’re looking for information about any type of cancer, you first need to know exactly what type of cancer you have. Talk with your health care team. Ask them for information about your specific type of cancer, including the cell type and the stage (extent) of your cancer. Your cancer treatment will be planned just for you, and knowing these specifics will help you find the best information for your situation. The stage and type of cancer, along with other factors, will help determine the goal of treatment. In most cases, many types of cancer treatment will have any of the three goals:

Cure the cancer
Control the cancer
Ease symptoms of the cancer and help make the patient comfortable

Even with these three main goals, it is important to note that sometimes the treatment goal may change after treatment commencement of treatment. The journey of cancer treatment will require you to be in very close contact with your doctor all the time. Before you make that very important decision, it is necessary that you understand properly what your treatment options are and what the goals are. This helps you make the best decisions for you and your family.

Due to the nature of the disease we are talking about, your source of information must be above board. The packaging of your information must be helpful in all dimensions. Remember that cancer messages can be very complex and confusing; therefore to find reliable, accurate and up to date information, desire only to use reliable sources, such as journals or websites from well-respected cancer centers, national cancer organizations, health professional organizations, and government agencies like the National Cancer Institute. The information from websites, message boards, and online support groups can be very helpful, but it varies widely in quality and accuracy.

Look for information that has been reviewed by medical experts, is updated often, and states the purpose of the information. When you get information, discuss it with your health care team to find out if and how it applies to you. Remember that general information cannot take the place of medical advice from your doctor or cancer care team says doctor Akoury. The communication in that is that the services of your doctor remain paramount at all times.

Emotional Side Effects of Cancer: Getting information from your health care team

Like I have already mentioned that talking to your doctor consistently is very important, therefore when you visit your doctor’s office, the first thing they will do is to run certain test in order to evaluate your condition professionally. The evaluation will consist of carrying out a biopsy and other lab tests, physical exams, and imaging tests will also be done to figure out the stage (extent) of your cancer. From the findings based on these tests, your doctor uses all of this information to narrow down options and recommend treatment. He can also consult with other medical practitioners to assist in the planning of your treatment. In this kind of treatment doctor Akoury says that you have the freedom to seek for a second opinion may be from another doctor or at another treatment center. Getting a second opinion may help you feel more comfortable when deciding on your best treatment option. We have not exhausted the emotional side effects of cancer and so we are doing to continue with the same in the next article. Keep on the link for the full version of information about cancer treatment. However in the meantime, if you have any concerns that you would want to be addressed, you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today to help you in making the right decision for your treatment.

Emotional Side Effects of Cancer: Coping with Cancer in Everyday Life

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration

April 27, 2015

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration: Dealing with the two problems

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration. Prevention is always better than treatment for cure.

To deal with cancer, you also need to deal with stress. And that makes cancer and stress the worse collaboration in human health. If the two conditions are merged in an individual patient, treatment becomes very difficult. And in fact the way you handle stress can have a huge impact on the way you and your health team manage cancer. It is therefore very important that when you have been diagnosed with cancer, you must be on top of stress by all means and avoid those things, situations and places that are likely to trigger stress. The information about stress is also very important for you. Doctor Akoury says that many patients risk their healing process by allowing stress to take over the control of their lives. This is what we want to eliminate so that you can face the disease (cancer) with a lot of sobriety.

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration: What Is Stress?

As we have indicated, the information about stress is very important. So what is stress? It is a normal response to feeling threatened or to facing a challenge you’re not sure you can meet. Stress can be chronic, which means it is long lasting and often gets worse over time. Or it can be acute, coming on quickly with short-lived but often severe symptoms. It is possible that you can have emotional stress, like for instance, the feelings you get when you are faced with financial challenges or the feelings that follow when the reality dons on you that you have a chronic ailment like cancer. Besides the emotional stress, you can also have physical stress. For instance, not getting the adequate sleep you need can make it hard for your body to do what it needs to do during the day causing you to feel tired, fatigue and stressed. An illness can put stress on organs and other parts of your body. And some treatments or medications you take can also cause your body to react in stressful ways.

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration: How Might Stress Affect Me?

Emotional stress can be very overwhelmed in an individual’s life. It can trigger the feelings of being helpless in the things you do and what you think about. It can interfere with your sense of well-being and cause you to lose hope that things will improve, and the state of being hopelessness can be very fatal if not addressed in good time. Stress can also lead to depression.

Some people believe stress can play a role in developing cancer. There is, though, very little evidence to show that stress causes cancer in people who don’t already have it. The few studies that have shown a link looked mainly at severe stress. One found that women who lost a spouse through separation, divorce or death had a higher risk for breast cancer. Another showed that people who lived through the Holocaust as children have a higher risk for developing cancer. Even though a lot more needs to be done to authenticate the direct link of stress to cancer, several studies have actually established that those who are already struggling with cancer are very vulnerable and that stress is likely to play a significant role in the way this disease escalates. It is equally important to note that health conditions like trauma, depression and distress have all been linked to more rapid progression.

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration: How Does Stress Affect the Way Cancer Progresses?

The effects of stress may stem from how your body responds to it. When you’re stressed, your body makes certain so-called “stress” hormones to deal with it. In many cancer patients, these hormones bind with cancer cells. That can make the cells more invasive and help protect them as they move from one part of the body to another. This makes it easier for the tumor to grow and the cancer to spread. Nonetheless being stressful can also trigger negativity to your immune system which is the body basic defender from external and internal aggression. It has been established that, stress can interferes with the way certain cells in your immune system work. In particular, it affects cells that find and that kill emerging cancer cells.

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration: How Can I Protect Myself against the Effects of Stress?

People with better support tend to have better functioning immune systems. They also tend to have lower levels of certain stress hormones. This makes it less likely that stress will cause changes in the way a tumor grows. Some studies also show that people with more support have lower levels of chemicals that promote new cell growth and make tumors more aggressive.

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration: How Does Support Work?

Support makes it easier to develop qualities you need to deal with stress. For example, it can help you develop more active coping skills. A strong support network can reduce the effects of stress in several ways including the following:

It can lessen the magnitude of the problem and help you see that event as less stressful. That will lessen your body’s response to it.
It can improve your management levels and how you cope by providing advice, problem solving techniques and resources for help when you need it.
It can help enhance positive health behaviors such as exercise and proper nutrition.
It can provide support that makes it easier to adhere to your medical treatment plan.

A number of recent studies have also shown that, in addition to a support network, there are potential benefits from programs that help you learn how to manage stress. Such programs include:

Cognitive behavioral therapy
Mindfulness
Yoga
Alternative therapies such as Healing Touch
Medication

It is important to appreciate that such programs can not only help you in dealing with the stress that comes from having cancer, but the stress that can come from treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation as well. Therefore cancer and stress must not be allowed to ruin your health. There is always something you can do to be safe. You can talk to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of Doctor Akoury’s care for professional assistance today by scheduling for an appointment with her.

Cancer and Stress the worse collaboration: Dealing with the two problems

Understanding of Bullying and Obesity in Children

April 26, 2015

Understanding of Bullying and Obesity in Children: The Growing Prevalence of Obesity in Children

Understanding of Bullying and Obesity in Children is very important for all parents if they have to protect their children from being bullied.

The prevalence of obesity is at alarming level and everyone is either affected directly or indirectly. The most worrying part of it all is that children are equally in danger of the overweight scourge. The problem of obesity in children is closely associated with several elements that negatively affect the child’s normal upbringing. It is the duty of every parent to ensure that their children are safe from all kinds of danger whether health wise or otherwise. The focus of this article is therefore going to help you in understanding of bullying and obesity in children by all means. The available statistics indicate that three times as many children are actually overweight or obese compared to a few decades ago. And as a matter of fact many states today are a host of over 20% obese children thereby adding to the number of children suffering from many complications including psychological problems like bullying, poor self-esteem and isolation.

Besides such short-time problems, doctor Akoury says that there are so many long-term physical problems which can affects the heart, bones, hormones and reproductive organs of overweight and obese children. Most concerning are the links to early onset of type 2 diabetes and heart diseases which are leading causes of death in globally. Children who are overweight or obese are also more likely to be of poorer socio-economic status in future as adults. Research findings have also established that being overweight as a child is a strong predictor of obesity in adulthood. Listening to these life threatening conditions, we all need to collectively and individually be on top of everything to keep our children and the future generation form these sufferings. If you know of anybody whose child is suffering from the problems of weight related complications, you can talk to doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center a facility whose primary focus is to restore life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to find their own inner healing power. Therefore this is the place to be, schedule for that appointment and start your journey to health and safety with the experts.

Understanding of Bullying and Obesity in Children: What is the link between bullying and obesity?

Being overweight or obese is in itself a factor of being bullied and molestation of obese children by the peers. This has been established by several studies across the globe. Overweight or obese children are more likely to be teased by other children either verbally by name-calling, physically bullied in boys or have difficulty because other children stopping an associating with them or begin spreading rumors about them. Other children often judge overweight kids with a negative stereotype and associate them with being lazy, careless, and selfish and mean because of the way that they look. Both boys and girls who are overweight or obese are more likely to be bullied at primary school because they do not fit into the normal physical stereotype. Obese children are also more likely to be the perpetrators of verbal bullying to other children. By bullying other kids however, overweight or obese children can divert attention away from being bullied themselves. In boys particularly it is presumed this is because they are physically bigger than other children, and therefore can be physically dominant (i.e. pushing). In girls however, there is no advantage in being physically bigger than other children because most bullying is by name-calling (verbal) and relationship bullying.

Understanding of Bullying and Obesity in Children: What should parents know?

Understanding the link between bullying and long-term psychological problems in children is important. It is very important that parents needs to learn more about childhood bullying says doctor Akoury. Like for instance when a child is overweight or obese, parents should understand that these boys and girls are at increased risk of being bullied. When a boy is overweight he is more likely to bully other children also. This is important to recognize because there are negative social outcomes for bullies too. They tend to grow up with difficulty forming adult relationships and also suffer from an increased risk of depression.

Information is power and therefore recognizing the signs of bullying in a child is an important step in breaking the chain of negative outcomes. Doctor Dalal Akoury an expert in weight loss is sharing with us some of the signs we should be aware if we have to keep our children safe from being overweight. The signs may include the following:

Increased stress
Depression
Unexplained bruising
Recurrent abdominal pain
Vomiting
Frequent or repeated accidents
Hyperventilation
Submissive behavior and
School refusal

It is important that if you have any concerns about bullying seek advice from the local school or a doctor/pediatricians. Many schools have anti-bullying campaigns in place and will be able to help you have this problem properly addressed for the safety of your children. Studies prove that school-based interventions to reduce bullying are effective. Nonetheless, the best way to approach this growing problem of bullying in overweight children remains an area of future research. And as we get into further studies to unlock the misery, I want to put emphasis on the need to have weight gain put in control. I had given you the back ground of doctor Dalal Akoury and her team of experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. Talking to as expert who has vast experience will be very important for a start. This is because if we can prevent overweight and obesity, we will be able to protect our children from this psychological frustration in the name of bullying. Remember that doctor Akoury’s practice focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. You may have not known this, but now you know. You can now schedule for that appointment for commencement of treatment today.

Understanding of Bullying and Obesity in Children: The Growing Prevalence of Obesity in Children

Effects of Inflammation on the body organs

April 25, 2015

Effects of Inflammation on the body organs: Obesity and Depression are Symptoms of a Common Cause

Effects of Inflammation on the body organs can be very dangerous especially when the victim is also obese or overweight

Some of the health conditions affecting our life are known to us yet we often don’t notice them easily. Take for instance a problem of inflammation; many of us do not take notice of this until we experience an injury either by way of swellings, redness and pain flood that affects the area. But even with this indication, when we opted for treatment our focus is always on the pain and not the internal healing process. Inflammation can damage organs and cause disease, but its interference in the brain causes two common disorders. We are therefore going to be discussing the effects of inflammation on the body organs for better understanding of the body’s vulnerability to this complication. Doctor Dalal Akoury explains that ordinarily your body’s defense mechanism kicks in, and you don’t have to think too much about inflammation because it is always there when you need it.

However even though this is so, inflammation might also occur when you don’t need it, and if it does, it can cause problems. In some people, inflammation is present at very low levels. It is no wonder that many experts now believe that this type of low-grade, chronic inflammation is responsible for a litany of chronic conditions. Therefore when inflammation extents to the pancreas the affected person is at risk of getting diabetes. When it spreads to the immune system, you get cancer. And like cancer, this type of inflammation grows and spreads, damaging organs and causing all kinds of trouble.

Effects of Inflammation on the body organs: Weakened Signals

The speed with which inflammation spreads does not only cause damages to your organs, but also interferes with your brain’s signals and to the rest of your body systems. With such many conditions the trouble starts in the hypothalamus which is the command center of the brain. The command center then receives all these hormonal inputs that inform you when you’re tired or when to eat and what to do with those calories.

When you have inflammation, a protein called pro-inflammatory cytokines distorts those hormonal signals. As a result, inflammation might be causing conditions such as depression and obesity, which were correlated through research long before inflammation became a suspected culprit. Nonetheless when it comes to depression, those cytokines communicate with the brain to induce different depressive symptoms, such as sad mood, fatigue, altered sleep and social-behavioral withdrawal. Inflammation also drives obesity in a similar manner.

Effects of Inflammation on the body organs: Metabolic Syndrome

Inflammation has recently been linked with metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of symptoms that raise your risk for chronic conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Those symptoms include hypertension, low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, above-normal blood glucose and triglyceride levels, and a large waist. Most people with metabolic syndrome are obese and inactive, so these symptoms have become associated with obesity. However, many obese people don’t have those symptoms. They fall into a category called metabolically healthy obese. It means they don’t look very good in a swimsuit, but if you look at their blood, they’re in pretty good shape. This is probably because they don’t have chronic inflammation. Therefore we can’t say that obesity causes inflammation, but we can comfortably say that inflammation drives obesity.

Effects of Inflammation on the body organs: Depression is No Simpler

Doctor Akoury says that inflammation may drive depression in a similar fashion. The links between inflammation and depression are complex and we are just beginning to understand how they affect each other. Though it is possible that depression may lead to changes that cause inflammation, experimental studies have shown that increases in inflammation can promote depression.

According to Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health findings, it was established that people suffering from depression had 30 percent higher levels of inflammation in the brain. This was one of the first studies to show concretely that inflammation is present in depression even when other conditions are absent. Moreover depression is still complex and unlikely to be caused by inflammation alone just like obesity.

When I started my career in the medical profession, and like many of my colleagues, I generally thought about depression as a psychiatric disorder or a mental health problem and I believe that many people still think of it that way. But nevertheless what I have come to realize is that depression is also a disorder with deep biological roots. It is as much of a physical issue as a mental one, and we should start talking about it that way. Like for instance, if you were to compare depression to a more physical illness. When you have the flu, your body’s immune system springs into action to fight it off, including increasing inflammation. In addition to the nausea and fever, you also have symptoms of depression: fatigue, aches, mental fog and an unwillingness to leave the house. In a contagious illness, those symptoms help us rest and avoid spreading the disease, but in depression they’re nothing but trouble.

Effects of Inflammation on the body organs: Reducing Inflammation

Tests that indicate your levels of inflammation are available, but they can be expensive and aren’t always conclusive. They almost certainly aren’t covered by insurance unless you have an autoimmune disorder. It therefore means that you may never know your true levels of inflammation; however you can still do your part to control it. Controlling inflammation is a balancing act. You need some, but not too much. By far, the best drug we have for this is diet.

Certain staples of the recent American diet promote high levels of inflammation. The two largest culprits are omega-6 fatty acids and insulin spikes brought on by consuming starchy carbs. The combination of insulin and omega-6 fatty acids is like a match and gasoline you get an explosion of this low-level inflammation.

To reduce it, the best foods are those with omega-3 fatty acids and high levels of polyphenols, the compounds in fruits and vegetables that give them color. These good fats and colorful fruits and vegetables, along with lean protein, make up the majority of his anti-inflammatory meal plan. Along with diet, a healthy lifestyle and stress reduction techniques help reduce levels of inflammation, especially in the brain. It is also important to maintain a healthy diet, stay active, keep a regular sleep schedule and limit the psychological stress we experience. And in all these ensure to consult with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center for professional advices from time to time.

Effects of Inflammation on the body organs: Effects of Inflammation

How does heroin use affect pregnant women

April 24, 2015

How does heroin use affect pregnant women: Protecting the Unborn Babies from Drug Abuse?

How does heroin use affect pregnant women. It increase in premature delivery, low birth weight and death around the time of delivery.

Life begins at conception and protection of that life begins even before conception. That is why getting it is important that when one is planning to get a baby they must make sure that they are free from any kind of drug. Just like the young children should be brought up in a drug free environment, the unborn babies should also find the environment where they are going to dwell in on conception to be free from drugs. One may be wondering how heroin or any other drug can affect the child in the womb, if this concerns you, then you are at the right place because that is what we are going to discuss under the topic “how does heroin use affect pregnant women.” Experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care are explaining certain points for our understanding as follows.

Doctor Akoury who is also the founder of the facility states that parental drug misuse can have an effect on the development of the fetus and long-term consequences for growing children. Some effects may be physical, but the most important ones will occur during the development of the mind and brain of the child. It is important to appreciate that some of these effects may not be visible, and, in some cases, the impact on the child´s development and behavior may not be noticeable for some years.

Although damage to the fetus can occur at any stage of the pregnancy, the first three months are the most vulnerable period for congenital malformations, while brain growth is most rapid late in pregnancy. The effects on the unborn child include:

Chromosomal abnormalities
Structural malformations (e.g. cleft palate)
Intrauterine growth retardation
Functional impairment (e.g. deafness)
Behavioral abnormalities (e.g. hyperactivity) and
Learning difficulties.

In addition, a high proportion of newborn babies, especially those whose mother used heroin before conception, will suffer withdrawal symptoms which may last up to several months and which will include:

Tremors
High muscle tone
Irritability
Diarrhea
Vomiting and
Abnormal feeding and sleep patterns

How does heroin use affect pregnant women: Heroin?

Experts carrying out studies in various have not established any clear evidence that heroin causes malformations to the fetus, nonetheless there is an increase in premature delivery, low birth weight and death around the time of delivery. Forty to eighty per cent of babies will develop a withdrawal syndrome lasting from several days to several months. The children tend to grow normally afterwards, although small head circumference may persist. There is no clear evidence of abnormal brain development in most of the children studied. Although methadone can be substituted for heroin, it may be more beneficial for the mother, and more toxic for the newborn.

How does heroin use affect pregnant women: Cocaine, crack cocaine (coke, snow)

There is considerable disagreement amongst medical experts as to whether cocaine or crack causes congenital malformations, but small head size, intrauterine growth retardation, prematurity, stillbirths, heart defects, abnormal bone development and neonatal withdrawal syndrome have been noted. Some studies have reported learning disorders and attention deficit at three years of age; however, longer-term follow up is needed to establish the importance of these effects.

How does heroin use affect pregnant women: Amphetamines?

They include methamphetamine, speed and Ecstasy, and are known to cause maternal anorexia, hypertension and reduced blood flow to the placenta. There is no conclusive evidence so far that amphetamines cause congenital malformations, but there is a risk of intrauterine growth retardation and premature delivery. It is thought that withdrawal symptoms may develop. There is no clear evidence that prenatal amphetamine exposure causes long-term effects on growth and development.

How does heroin use affect pregnant women: Cannabis (marijuana, Indian hemp, hashish?)

Cannabis is one of the most commonly used drugs in pregnant women, but little is known about its effects during pregnancy. There is conflicting data about the association of cannabis with congenital malformations and neonatal withdrawal syndrome. One long-term study found that the speech and memory performance among four-year olds whose mothers had consumed cannabis daily or several times a week during pregnancy was affected significantly

How does heroin use affect pregnant women: Looking forward for Diagnosis

Diagnosing babies and young children as affected by parental drug misuse and predicting likely outcomes is very hard to establish. This is partly due to the lack of conclusive research to date and to the fact that it is nearly impossible to accurately determine the type, amount and timing in pregnancy for each substance used especially as users often combine different drugs together, sometimes with alcohol.

Substance misuse is also frequently associated with poverty, physical or mental health issues, poor medical care and diet, which makes it even more difficult to clearly establish correlations between cause and effect. The most important thing to remember is that, by providing a stable, loving home for children affected by drugs and offering them good parenting, optimal nutrition, and appropriate stimulation, health care and educational opportunities, you can help them to reach their full potential.

Finally the innocent babies must not be subjected to such harsh toxic environment when there is something we can do to prevent this and be free from the harms of addiction. Doctor Akoury and her team of experts have been offering addiction solutions to many people and your condition will be handled professionally on if you can make that very important decision of scheduling for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today.

How does heroin use affect pregnant women: Protecting the Unborn Babies from Drug Abuse?

Tag Archives: AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center