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Health

Health Myths

Popular Old Wives Tales From My Childhood

Growing up in West Virginia, I spent a lot of time with older people and I've heard a lot of old wives tales. Some of them are funny, some of them are just plain wrong, but surprisingly some of them actually have some truth to them. Here are just a few of the things I've heard.   1. Put a bar of soap in your bed sheets to prevent leg cramps. If that isn't the weirdest and silliest thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is. Despite the fact that there have been no scientific studies to explain…
Score: 1.43
Digestive System

Signs And Symptoms Of Gallstones

For several years I had gallbladder attacks quite often because I had gallstones but unfortunately, I didn't have any health insurance so I couldn't afford the surgery to have my gallbladder removed. After suffering for about 5 years I was finally able to get the surgery and I've been doing well ever since. But needless to say, I became very familiar with all the signs and symptoms of a gallbladder attack. Here are some things you should know about them.      Your gallbladder is a tiny organ that…
Score: 1.01
Addiction

Technology has made us into insomniacs

by Dominus

Technology has gained in popularity over the last decade and has secured a fairly central place in our life. While the advantages of using it are obvious and praised more often than the Second Coming, the downsides are not mentioned as often. People have used to stay up late for any number of reasons. This is not something new. Before the internet era, watching television until the late hours of the night was responsible for a good portion of grumpy employees and students in the morning. Things…
Score: 1.13

Tips For Helping Someone In Addiction Recovery

I live in an area of WV that has an extremely high opioid addiction rate. Many people are addicted to other substances as well (like alcohol or cocaine). I have several friends and family members that are in recovery. When someone you love decides to go into recovery it's important to show them support. Here are some things you can do to help someone if they're in recovery from addiction.   1. Remember that addiction is a "family disease".    An addict isn't the only person that suffers from their…
Score: 1.02
Metabolism Health

Warrior Dash - Philanthropic 5k Mud Runs for a Thrill Seeker

Dancing Through The Mud                What comes to mind when you think of the term “thrill seeker”? Some people envision a person who finds solace skydiving and whirling through the atmosphere at a rate of -9.8 meters per square second. Enjoyable activities definitely cultivate the human nervous system and release norepinephrine and dopamine, and some of us are more prone to seek out these behaviors due to these neurotransmitter releases. For myself, I have lived to partake in 5k Mud Runs like…
Score: 1.23

Is It Hashimoto's Disease Or Hypothyroidism?

Photo of a woman with a goiter. (Photo by By Drahreg01 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2688708).    I've recently been feeling pretty bad so I went to a family doctor and she did a lot of tests to see if anything might be wrong with me. As it turns out, I have hypothyroidism. I looked up the symptoms later when I got home and it definitely seemed to match what I had been experiencing. In fact, I've been having many of these symptoms for years. Some of them…
Score: 1.01
Medication

What is Gene Therapy? How helpful is it?

According to the research, Gene therapy is an exploratory procedure that uses genes to treat or anticipate disease. It was conceptualized in 1972. Basically, it is designed to acquaint hereditary material into cells to make a beneficial protein or to compensate for abnormal genes.      Gene therapy is the restorative delivery of nucleic acid into a patient's cells as a medication to treat illness. It is the addition of new genes to a patient's cells to supplant absent or breaking down genes…
Score: 1.52

My Experience With Antidepressants

Antidepressants are most commonly used to treat depression in people with major depression or depression caused by other illnesses (such as bipolar disorder). My experience began when I was about 19. I had been depressed for a long time and decided to see a psychiatrist. At first I was diagnosed with major depression but later on, another doctor realized I actually had bipolar disorder II.      The first antidepressant I was given was Paxil. It didn't help me at all. In fact, the only thing it did…
Score: 1.21

Produce vs. Prescriptions: Natural Alternatives to Synthetic Drugs from my Real Experience

Milestones in Medicine   Over the past century, and more recently, in the past ten years, we found ways to fight back many infectious diseases and illnesses. For precautions, there have also been many vaccinations distributed, in order to prevent any more illness outbreaks. You practically need a physical before joining anything sports or work-related. However, despite all of the prescriptions, treatments, and medical procedures, a lot of people still experience health complications.    It doesn’t…
Score: 1.09
Vitamins

Should You Take A Multivitamin?

    There's a lot of controversy over multivitamins. Some people think everyone should take them. Others think only certain people should. And many people say they are a complete waste of money. But what's the truth? Well for starters, let's define what a multivitamin is.  A multivitamin is a supplement that has more than one vitamin. So technically, something containing vitamin A and vitamin C could be considered a multivitamin. But generally speaking, it's a supplement with a lot more vitamins than…
Score: 1.07
Nicotine

Why You Should Stop Smoking

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, if you're a smoker, stopping smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health. It's one of the best ways to help you live longer and have a better quality of life.      It can be extremely hard to stop smoking though. Author Mark Twain once said, "Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it a thousand times." Perhaps you've tried to quit before and couldn't or maybe you stopped for a while but ended up smoking again. What exactly makes smoking so…
Score: 1.42
Beauty and Skincare

Beauty Bakerie Claps Back

The beauty world is about as cutthroat as an industry can be. From failed product launches, to anti-fans on social media, beauty brands and influencers have to be five steps ahead not only to avoid controversy but to remain in a positive light in the public eye.  However, the breadth that this industry covers also allows for crazy amounts of exposure not just for large scale brands but also for bright up and coming brands (also known as “indi” brands) that 20 years ago never would have seen the…
Score: 3.31

How K-Beauty is Changing Skincare

Whether you were first entranced by the glowing, flawless skin of an Asian-American celebrity here in the States; or more recently with the introduction of K-Pop and the influx of Korean culture into our media culture, one of the first things many people think of when they first hear Korean culture is beauty. Now there is no shortage of beauty, skin, hair and other product groups based here in the U.S., so why has K-Beauty sweeped in and become the next big thing? When you look at the…
Score: 1.11
nutrition

How To Avoid Eating Excess Sugar

I have a health condition called PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). I won't go into all the details about it but it puts me at a very high risk for developing type 2 diabetes later on in life. So recently I decided to start eating healthier and to cut out excess sugar from my diet. And from that point on, I've noticed that food companies put sugar in everything. Obviously, if you really want to know exactly what's in your food you should probably cook it yourself from scratch, but…
Score: 1.2
Blood Donation

Why I Had A Bad Reaction While Donating Blood

  I donated blood for the first time about a year ago. Fortunately, everything went well. I didn't have a bad reaction or anything. So naturally, when I went to donate again recently I assumed everything would go okay this time too. But people can and do have negative reactions. It isn't a big deal though but it can be very unpleasant and even a little scary. I've worked in the medical field so I knew these reactions could happen and I wasn't too freaked out when it happened to me. I was a little…
Score: 1.12