American Health Options

Mental health experts ask: Will anyone be normal?

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:11:15 +0000

An updated edition of a mental health bible for doctors may include diagnoses for “disorders” such as toddler tantrums and binge eating, experts say, and could mean that soon no-one will be classed as normal. Leading mental health experts gave a briefing on Tuesday to warn that a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual [...]

Americans Seem More Prone to Depression Than Russians

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:11:16 +0000

Despite what many social observers have described as a generally dark and brooding take on life, a new report suggests that Russians are actually less likely than Americans to be depressed. In fact, researchers have uncovered indications that the Russian cultural tendency to dwell on the negative may ultimately insulate them from feelings of distress when [...]

Asthma may be misdiagnosed in some obese adults

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:05:34 +0000

Some obese adults may be at increased risk of having their breathing difficulties misdiagnosed as asthma, a new study suggests. Researchers found that among nearly 500 Canadian adults who said a doctor had diagnosed them with asthma, objective lung-function testing ruled out the lung disease in 150, or 30 percent. When the investigators looked at risk factors [...]

Is Rage a Mental Disorder?

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:14:03 +0000

A mental disorder whose symptoms include lashing out in aggressively verbal or violent ways has recently been found to be nearly twice as common as previously thought. The research has sparked debate within the psychological community about the diagnosing of a mental illness whose symptoms overlap with normal, if undesirable, human behaviors, as well with [...]

Medicare drug benefit boosts use of heart failure meds

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:27:44 +0000

The Medicare drug benefit may be helping more older Americans with heart failure get the medications recommended for controlling the disease, a new study finds. The study, of nearly 7,000 older heart failure patients in one large insurance plan, found that the number of filled prescriptions for standard heart failure medications increased after the Medicare drug [...]

High-stakes U.S. vote nears on Glaxo diabetes drug

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:15:32 +0000

The fate of a GlaxoSmithKline Plc diabetes drug may become clearer on Wednesday when U.S. advisers vote on whether the widely used pill carries too much heart risk to stay on the market. The high-stakes decision by a panel of outside experts is designed to help the Food and Drug Administration settle a three-year safety dispute [...]

FDA review spotlights heart risk of diabetes pill

admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 09:15:51 +0000

Federal health scientists have panned a GlaxoSmithKline study that the company used to defend the safety of its embattled diabetes drug Avandia, a once blockbuster-seller that has fallen out of favor because of potential ties to heart attacks. The Food and Drug Administration posted an exhaustive 700-page review of Avandia on Friday ahead of a meeting [...]

Experts urge reform of global drug policy

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:34:47 +0000

Policies that criminalize drug users fuel the spread of AIDS and should be reformed, experts preparing for an international conference said Monday. Instead, governments, international organizations and the U.N. should promote policies that include opiate substitution therapy and needle and syringe programs that have been shown to reduce HIV rates without increasing rates of drug use, [...]

Health Tip: Packing Prescriptions for Travel

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:29:39 +0000

If you’re planning to pack prescription drugs when traveling by air, there are steps you can take to avoid trouble taking them on board. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control offers this advice: Put your prescription medications in your carry-on bag, rather than in checked luggage. Bring along a copy of each prescription, which should include the drug’s [...]

Americans get most radiation from medical scans

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:28:07 +0000

We fret about airport scanners, power lines, cell phones and even microwaves. It’s true that we get too much radiation. But it’s not from those sources — it’s from too many medical tests. Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, even more than folks in other rich countries. The U.S. accounts for half of [...]