Health

It’s not always easy to get a diagnosis of alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, a rare condition that sometimes leads to serious lung and liver damage. In fact, most people who have this disorder are never diagnosed at all, experts say. Also called alpha-1, this genetic condition means you don’t have enough of the alpha-1 antitrypsin protein… […]

By Tracy Winn, as told to Kara Meyer RobinsonI was a wheezy sort of kid who got tired easily and seemed to catch every passing virus. It ran in my family. I remember one day my pediatrician sat me on his table and said, “Oh, you poor thing. You have asthma.”Asthma might have been part of… […]

Smoking is the leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but it’s not the only cause. Nearly 1 in 3 people with this lung disease have never smoked. Some were exposed to pollution and other irritants in the air. And about 2% inherited a rare condition called alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency. Most people with AAT… […]

May 5, 2023 — Aryn Thirp, a 35-year-old mother and blogger from South Jordan, UT, knew something had to change last year when she saw the numbers in her lab results: her cholesterol and triglycerides, a type of fat found in the blood, were both twice as high as they should have been. Thirp has hormonal imbalances… […]

Alcohol often goes hand in hand with socializing. There’s the tailgate before the big game. Holiday parties. A champagne toast at a wedding. A mimosa at brunch with friends.But there are lots of reasons why you might not drink — at least, not this time. Or maybe ever.Perhaps you’re pregnant or need to avoid alcohol for other health… […]

May 12, 2023 — Student entrepreneurs at Northwestern University outside Chicago invented a pen set that allows Parkinson’s disease patients to write again despite the tremors of the disease.SteadyScrib, a pen designed with these symptoms in mind, seeks to counteract the unsteady tremors of Parkinson’s with pens that have a magnetic core and a pliable grip.… […]

May 9, 2023 – For people with poor vision, waking up in the morning without immediately needing to find your glasses or rushing to insert contact lenses sounds like a dream. That’s why LASIK eye surgery — laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis — is one of the most popular elective surgeries in the U.S. But since the… […]

May 12, 2023 — Mailing do-it-yourself sampling kits to test for cervical cancer doubled the rate of screening in a population of low-income and under-screened women, researchers say. The self-sampling kits, which detect human papilloma virus (HPV), are available only for use in clinical trials, but the researchers hope that eventually these kits will be approved… […]

Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is a rare inherited disorder that can lead to serious chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). While there’s no cure, treatments and lifestyle changes can help you manage your symptoms and protect your lungs from further damage.  COPD is a group of lung conditions that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The most common… […]

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, May 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Medications that treat opioid addiction and prevent overdose deaths are drastically under-prescribed in the United States, particularly for Black patients, a new study has found.Disabled people on Medicare are not likely to be prescribed either buprenorphine – the best medication for treating opioid addiction –… […]