Recent Blog Articles
How — and why — to fit more fiber and fermented food into your meals
Tick season is expanding: Protect yourself against Lyme disease
What? Another medical form to fill out?
How do trees and green spaces enhance our health?
A muscle-building obsession in boys: What to know and do
Harvard Health Ad Watch: New drug, old song, clever tagline
Concussion in children: What to know and do
What color is your tongue? What's healthy, what's not?
Your amazing parathyroid glands
When — and how — should you be screened for colon cancer?
Men's Health Archive
Articles
When You Visit Your Doctor - Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), or Enlarged Prostate
Questions to Discuss With Your Doctor:
- Over the past month, how often have you had a sensation of not emptying your bladder completely after you finished urinating?
- Over the past month, how often have you had to urinate again less than two hours after you finished urinating?
- Over the past month, how often have you found you stopped and started again several times when you urinated?
- Over the past month, how often have you found it difficult to postpone urination?
- Over the past month, how often have you had a weak urinary stream?
- Over the past month, how often have you had to push or strain to begin urination?
- Over the past month, how many times did you most typically get up to urinate from the time you went to bed at night until the time you got up in the morning?
- If you were to spend the rest of your life with your urinary condition just the way it is now, how would you feel about that?
- Have you had blood in your urine, or urinary tract infections?
- Have you ever had surgery on your prostate, bladder, or kidneys?
- Do you have gastrointestinal problems such as diverticulitis or constipation?
- Do you have diabetes?
- Does anyone in your family have diabetes?
- Have you been unusually thirsty or had unintentional weight loss?
- Have you ever had a stroke or nervous system disease?
- Have you ever had a back injury or back surgery?
- What medications are you taking (prescription and over-the-counter)?
- What do you know about medical and surgical treatment options used in the treatment of benign prostatic enlargement?
- Do you know the side effects that can occur with medications?
- Do you know the complications associated with surgery?
- Do you know how much benefit you can expect from each type of treatment?
- Do you know the risks of waiting, and doing nothing at all?
Your Doctor Might Examine the Following Body Structures or Functions:
- Abdominal examination
- Neurological examination
- Digital rectal examination
- Genital examination
Your Doctor Might Order the Following Lab Test or Studies:
- Urinalysis (for glucose, red blood cells, white blood cells, and bacteria)
- Blood tests (for kidney function and prostate-specific antigen or PSA)
- Cystoscopy
- Ultrasound of the bladder after you urinate (post void residual)
- Ultrasound of the kidneys
- Pelvic CT scan
When You Visit Your Doctor - Erectile Dysfunction or Impotence
Erectile Dysfunction or Impotence
Questions to Discuss with Your Doctor:
- Do you smoke cigarettes?
- Have you been screened for other medical problems such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes?
- Do you exercise regularly? How much? How often?
- Do you have a neurologic disease or sickle-cell disease?
- Are you taking any medications (prescription or over-the-counter)?
- Has your erectile dysfunction worsened since starting any new medications?
- What effect is your erectile dysfunction having on your relationship? Your self-esteem?
- How long have you had erectile problems?
- Do you have erectile problems sometimes or all of the time?
- Have you ever had any psychologically stressful sexual experiences?
- Are you less interested in sex (diminished libido)?
- Are you having difficulty achieving an erection or sustaining it?
- Do you ever awaken with early morning or nocturnal erections?
- Do you have pain with erections?
- Penile bumps or lumps?
- History of penile trauma?
- History of pelvic surgery?
- What are your goals in receiving treatment?
- What therapies have you tried?
- Do you know how much benefit you can expect from medical therapies?
- Do you know the side effects and important drug interactions?
Your Doctor Might Examine the Following Body Structures or Functions:
- Genital examination
- Rectal examination
- Pulses in the groin and feet
- Neurologic examination
Your Doctor Might Order the Following Lab Tests or Studies:
- Blood tests (complete blood count or CBC, glucose, cholesterol panels, thyroid function tests, prolactin level)
- Blood testosterone level (if libido is decreased)
- Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT)
- Neurologic testing (nerve condition studies)
- Your doctor may decide to do some vascular tests to establish whether the arteries that supply blood to the penis during erections are narrowed.
Air travel health tips
With summer's approach come plans for travel, including flying long distances. But the prospect of a long flight often raises health concerns. Especially in passengers who are older or have certain conditions, air travel and the related stress can have an impact on health. Here are a few trouble areas and some precautions you can take.
Deep-vein thrombosis (DVT). Not all experts agree on an association between DVT (blood clots in the legs) and air travel. Symptoms may not occur for several days, so it's difficult to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. If there is one, it's likely due to prolonged inactivity. Limited airline space can discourage moving about. Dry cabin air may also increase the risk of DVT.
Emergencies and First Aid - Birth of the Placenta
Birth of the Placenta
The placenta, which has provided the fetus with nourishment, is attached to the umbilical cord and is delivered about 20 minutes after the baby. Do not pull on the cord; delivery of the placenta occurs on its own. You can help by gently massaging the womans lower abdomen. The uterus will feel like a hard round mass.
Massaging the abdomen helps the uterus contract, which also helps stop bleeding. After the placenta is delivered, place it in a plastic bag to take with the woman and baby to the hospital. It is normal for more bleeding to occur after delivery of the placenta. Continue gently massaging the womans lower abdomen.
Emergencies and First Aid - Butterfly Bandage
Butterfly Bandage
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Emergencies and First Aid - Direct Pressure to Stop Bleeding
Direct Pressure to Stop Bleeding
A wound that is deep, bleeding heavily, or has blood spurting from it (caused by bleeding from an artery), may not clot and may not stop bleeding.
Immediate care
Call out for someone to get help, or call 911 yourself. Elevate the wound and apply direct pressure.
Emergencies and First Aid - How to Make a Sling
How to Make a Sling
1. To make a sling, cut a piece of cloth, such as a pillowcase, about 40 inches square. Then cut or fold the square diagonally to make a triangle. Slip one end of the bandage under the arm and over the shoulder. Bring the other end of the bandage over the other shoulder, cradling the arm. | 2. Tie the ends of the bandage behind the neck. Fasten the edge of the bandage, near the elbow, with a safety pin. |
Collar and Cuff Sling |
Use a collar and cuff sling for a suspected fracture of the collarbone or elbow when a triangular sling is not available. Wrap a strip of sheet, a pants leg, or pantyhose around the wrist and tie the ends behind the neck. |
Emergencies and First Aid - How to Splint a Fracture
How to Splint a Fracture
For a lower arm or wrist fracture (left), carefully place a folded newspaper, magazine, or heavy piece of clothing under the arm. Tie it in place with pieces of cloth. A lower leg or ankle fracture (right) can be splinted similarly, with a bulky garment or blanket wrapped and secured around the limb. A person with a hip or pelvis fracture should not be moved. If the person must be moved, the legs should be strapped together (with a towel or blanket in between them) and the person gently placed on a board, as for a back injury. |
Emergencies and First Aid - Heimlich Maneuver on an Adult
Heimlich Maneuver on an Adult
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Emergencies and First Aid - Heimlich Maneuver on a Child
Heimlich Maneuver on a Child
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Recent Blog Articles
How — and why — to fit more fiber and fermented food into your meals
Tick season is expanding: Protect yourself against Lyme disease
What? Another medical form to fill out?
How do trees and green spaces enhance our health?
A muscle-building obsession in boys: What to know and do
Harvard Health Ad Watch: New drug, old song, clever tagline
Concussion in children: What to know and do
What color is your tongue? What's healthy, what's not?
Your amazing parathyroid glands
When — and how — should you be screened for colon cancer?
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