Regardless of whether it’s you or a family member who is suffering from an illness or disease, it can be an extremely difficult and trying time, especially when you don’t have support around you. Curative treatments are of course important, but comfort and care are equally vital—both during the illness and as death approaches. With a huge 30% of all Medicare dollars being spent during the last twelve months of a patient’s life[1], it’s time we re-evaluated our approach to illness and put a greater focus on palliative and hospice care.
The terms ‘palliative care’ and ‘hospice care’ are often used interchangeably, but they are in fact different and they’re used at different times during the course of an illness. Understanding the importance of treatments and the differences between the two are vital if you or your loved one want to get the right care at the end of life.
Palliative Care
The term ‘palliative’ comes from the Latin word ‘palliare’, meaning to cloak, and the purpose of palliative care is to provide as much comfort, pain relief, and support as possible. It’s designed to work in tandem with curative treatments and often begins at the point of diagnosis[2]. It is offered to those suffering serious and potentially life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, AIDS, and dementia, and is used to prevent or treat the side effects and symptoms of both the original illness and of the curative treatment itself. As well as offering pain relief and help with any resulting subsidiary illnesses, support
Cancer is a nearly universal health concern in our lives; it would be difficult to find anyone whose life has not been touched by the disease, in all its various and horrifying forms. This year alone, the American Cancer Society reports that 1.6 million people in the U.S. will develop cancer, and nearly 600,000 will die from it.[i] HPV, or the human papillomavirus, causes an estimated 19,000 of those cases in women, and just under half that in men.[ii] HPV is a common disease transmitted through sexual contact, which is usually known for causing genital warts and, once contracted, is incurable.[iii] HPV is best-known for causing cervical cancer, but it is also associated with cancer in the head, neck, anus, and genitals of both sexes. But though it cannot be cured once contracted, the variant of the disease which leads to cancer can very easily and effectively be prevented by readily available vaccines.
Vitamins and other supplements should help your health, not harm it —in fact; the whole idea behind the campaign to “take your vitamins” is to provide your body with essential nutrients it might not be getting through your diet.
However, there are some vitamins and minerals that may have adverse effects on your health if you take them in the form of supplements, these effects can range from transient and unpleasant symptoms, to severe and life-threatening diseases; in the worst cases, certain vitamins may raise your risk of cancer.
You have probably heard that breastfeeding provides a wide range of amazing health benefits for babies, but you may not realize that the act of breastfeeding can also substantially improve a mother’s well being. Read on to discover the five most fascinating and surprising ways in which choosing to breastfeed can boost your health and extend your life
1) It makes you less likely to develop a range of different cancers:
A large number of independent research projects have shown that women who breastfeed are reducing their chances of suffering from cancer. For example, those women who breastfeed for more than three months slightly reduce their risk of developing endometrial, ovarian cancers, and they are more than 10% less likely to develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetimes.
What is Cervical Cancer?
Cervical cancer tends to develop slowly inside the surface cells of the cervix. The cervix has two types of surface cells known as squamous and columnar. Squamous cells are where the majority of cervical cancers originate.
Cervical cancer is caused overwhelmingly by HPV(Human PapilIomavirus). HPV is a commonly spread STD, taking various different forms and causing diverse effects for those afflicted. Some forms of HPV lead to cervical cancer and genital warts, other varieties of the illness prove to be harmless.
Most Americans ingest an amount of sugar equal to their own weight each year. Consumption of such large doses of sugar (also known as maltose, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, molasses, cane sugar, corn sweetener, raw sugar, syrup, honey or fruit juice concentrates) can increase a wide number of diseases.
According to the American Heart Association the average American adult consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, and it's a whopping 68 kg per year. Teens consume even more – on average an American has 34 teaspoons a day.
