Ways to Avoid Getting Sick this Cold & Flu Season!!

Since cold and flu season is upon us I thought I would share an article I received from ehealthyforum.com. 

With the onset of winter weather, the cold and flu season also begins. Spending more time inside increases germ exposure and person-to-person transmission of common winter illnesses.

There are many factors that weaken your body's natural defense or immune system. It is important to work at keeping your immune system functioning at its optimum level. While preventing illness is not a guarantee, here a few ways to avoid some germ exposure in the fight to keep yourself healthy this winter:

Ways to Stay Healthy

• First and foremost, avoid being around sick people.

• Get vaccinated against the flu. Early in the season is optimum because it takes three weeks to establish immunity, but anytime is helpful.

• Wash your hands frequently; soap and water with a full 15 seconds of friction is the best way. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer is effective and an easy defense to carry along with you.

• Get enough sleep, at least six hours but preferably closer to eight hours a night.

• Eat a balanced diet, rich in vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables. Vitamin supplements are a good back-up, but natural vitamins in your diet are the best choice.

• Stay hydrated by drinking six to eight glasses of water a day, everyday.

• Get enough exercise, go for a walk, or workout at the gym at least three times a week.

• Keep your stress level under control. Take a deep breath and think things through before reacting to them. Sign up for a yoga class if you need help controlling your stress level.

• Sneeze or cough into the crook of your bent elbow. This keeps germs off of your hands and also avoids spreading them through the air. Ask others around you to do the same.

• Clean contaminated surfaces, especially in the bathroom and food preparation surfaces in the kitchen, regularly with a disinfecting wipe. 

Be proactive about your preventive health. A little extra caution and awareness can help you to avoid getting sick this winter.

For more information about staying healthy, visit our Cold, Flu and Viral Infections forum.

Pressure Ulcers: How to Care for Them...

I found this article on www.howtocare.com a great resource for home healthcare professionals or family and friends taking on the care of a loved one. 

Pressure Ulcers or bed sores are painful skin ulcers that form when constant pressure on a part of the body shuts down the blood vessels feeding that area of skin. The resulting damage first appears on the skin surface as a red or dark patch. As the pressure sore progresses, the skin will break down to form blisters, dead skin, and ultimately infect underlying tissues, bones and joints. As little as two hours of sustained pressure will trigger skin damage. Skin damage can also be exacerbated by friction and moisture. The surface damage is just the tip of the iceberg; the real damage lies beneath the skin.

In the early stages, pressure sores can be treated at home by relieving the pressure, cleaning the sores and applying the appropriate dressing. In the later stages of severity, professional medical treatment, possibly, surgery, will be necessary. Pressure sores are especially prevalent on the lower back and buttocks, and on bony protruding areas, such as shoulders, hips, knees, heels and ankles. People who are bed-bound or in wheelchairs are particularly susceptible.

Things You Should Know

Pressure ulcers

• are caused by pressure, friction and moisture
• prolong the amount of time a person spends in the hospital
• increase risk of infection
• increase mortality
• represent an extra $10,000 a year in medical and nursing care costs, per person

Risk Factors for Pressure Sores

• age
• immobility
• incontinence
• malnutrition and dehydration
• diseases and disorders that slow healing or lessen mental awareness
• diseases and disorders such as confusion or dementia that lessen mental awareness and may prevent a person from feeling the discomfort of a harmful body position
• medications, particularly sedatives

Things to Look For

Warning signs of pressure ulcers

• discoloured, torn or swollen skin, especially over bony areas
• signs of infection — skin warmth, swelling, odour, pus
• Seek professional care & treatment immediately for sores that are getting worse, not

healing or showing signs of infection.

Four stages of severity of pressure ulcers  

1. reddened or darkened skin that will not turn white when firmly pressed
2. partial skin loss that may appear as an abrasion, blister or shallow crater
3. full skin loss extending to underlying tissue
4. full skin loss extending beyond the underlying tissue to muscle and bone

If a stage 2 -4 ulcer develops there is a product on the market that will heal the wound quickly without painful debridement.  Check out www.newmedisolutions.com DermaWound is an amazing product.  It works! 

Arsenic found in infant formula, cereal bars, 'energy shots'...

I found this very interesting article in Healthcare Purchasing News.  Sometimes I think we feel if a label reads 'Organic' nothing can be wrong with it...

Arsenic found in infant formula, cereal bars, 'energy shots' Last month, tests by Consumer Reports revealed significant levels of inorganic arsenic - a carcinogen - in about 10 percent of test samples of apple and grape juices commonly given to young children. Dartmouth College researchers are reporting similarly worrisome levels of arsenic in infant formula and cereal bars, as well as energy bars and "energy shots" marketed for adults. The apparent culprit: organic brown rice syrup, commonly used as a sweetener in place of high-fructose corn syrup. The study's authors stressed that babies "are especially vulnerable to arsenic's toxic effects," and urged them to check formula ingredients. Citing an article by the Dartmouth researchers published in the peer-reviewed Environmental Health Perspectives, Consumer Reports says: Two of 17 infant formulas tested listed organic brown rice syrup as the primary ingredient. One had a total arsenic concentration that was six times the federal limit of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for total arsenic in bottled or public drinking water. This is particularly worrisome for babies because they are especially vulnerable to arsenic's toxic effects due to their small size and the corresponding arsenic consumption per pound of body weight. Twenty-two of 29 cereal bars or energy bars tested listed at least one of these four rice products-organic brown rice syrup, rice flour, rice grain or rice flakes - among the top five ingredients. The seven other bars were among the lowest in total arsenic, ranging from 8 to 27 ppb, while those containing syrup or other forms of rice ranged from 23 to 128 ppb. Tests of high-energy products known as "energy shots" that are used by endurance athletes and others showed that one of the three gel-like blocks contained 84 ppb of total arsenic, while the other two contained 171 ppb. Previous Dartmouth studies, as well as other research, have suggested "that many people in the U.S. may be exposed to potentially harmful levels of arsenic through consumption of rice," Consumer Reports says. "Rice is among the plants that are unusually efficient at taking up arsenic from the soil, and much of the rice produced in the U.S. is grown on land formerly used to grow cotton, where arsenical pesticides were widely used for many years, just as they were in orchards and vineyards." In an email, CR quoted advice from Brian Jackson, lead author of the new study and a member of Dartmouth's Superfund Research Program: "In the absence of regulations for levels of arsenic in food, I would certainly advise parents who are concerned about their children's exposure to arsenic not to feed them formula where brown rice syrup is the main ingredient." It says Jackson noted "that infant formulas containing added rice starch did not appear to be a concern in terms of elevated arsenic." CR says organic-farming methods offer no protection if the soil bears natural arsenic or arsenic from earlier contamination.  "That's because the rice takes up natural arsenic from the soil and when the rice is used to make brown rice syrup, much of that arsenic ends up there," Jackson told CR, published by Consumers Union. Visit the Philadelphia Inquirer for the article.

Are you suffering from Radiation Burns???

We recevied this testimonial from a very happy cancer patient undergoing radiation therapy.  We hope you will read their story...

"As a person living with cancer, I have been amazed with the results given me by Burn B Gone. I have undergone 43 days of radiation, 5 exposures each day, with very little skin irritation thanks to your product. Prior to being told by a friend of Burn B Gone I had been using a variety of skin creams recommended by the oncology staff to lessen my skin burn. They did little to relieve the burning and associated discomfort from the radiation. Burn B Gone changed all of that. It gave me overnight relief and the burning did not return during the continuing radiation. I used Burn B Gone every day after treatment and was overjoyed by the results. I have also used Burn B Gone for relief of sunburn both at the beach and snow skiing this past year. The results have been just as remarkable. My skin does not peel or blister and while this should not take the place of sunblock it sure is refreshing to know if I mess up Burn B Gone will bail me out. Thanks again for this product". -W.D. Sorber, Springfield, Virginia

You can read more about Burn-B Gone at www.newmedisolutions.com

Pressure Ulcer Testimonial

This testimonial was forward to us today and we wanted to share it with everyone.  If you have a wound that will not heal or have a love one with this issue DermaWound will make them much better!!

DermaWound for hard to heal wounds

I have been caring for my elderly Mother for years now.  Around May of last year, not long after her 90th birthday, she became completely bed bound, unable to even sit up in a chair.  She had to be put in the home Hospice program. 

 She was already thin, but began losing more and more weight with each passing day.  Her body had begun to not be able to process nutrients, even though she ate really well.  With this change, her skin began to break down and she started to develop bedsores at the base of her spine and both of the sides of her hipbone areas.  Of course, I turned her frequently, but it wasn’t enough.

My Mother has had sensitive skin all of her life, and just recently became allergic to any product containing zinc, which is the base to very many skin healing products.  I tried Aloe, A & D Ointment, and various concoctions trying to heal her wounds.  They would help, minimally, but would not ever completely heal the wounds.

When she developed a small hole in her tailbone area that was, on a daily basis, getting larger, I panicked and went online to see what I could do.  I am a very proactive caregiver, and would not accept the shrugged shoulders of the nurses and staff of Hospice who said, “Oh, well... this is what happens.  That’s just the way it is.”  I was NOT about to LET it happen to MY Mother!  So, in desperation, I began an intensive search to see what could be done.  That is when I found your website, and the product, DermaWound.  The testimonials were encouraging, to say the least, and I felt that we had nothing to lose, so why not give it a try? 

 Well, let me tell you... this product far exceeded my hopes or my expectations!  I followed the directions, and within a week, the hole that had begun growing on her tailbone closed completely, and you couldn’t even tell where it had previously been.  The open blisters and sores that were on her hips have long since been healed completely, leaving smooth, silver scars where once open, oozing and horribly painful sores used to be.  She is, once again, bedsore free!

 Of course, I turn my Mother even more frequently now, and we do get the occasional start of a wound.  But, I don’t panic anymore, I just grab my trusty tube of DermaWound, and know that all will be healed again soon! 

I cannot thank the makers of DermaWound enough for this product, and for the relief it has given my Mother and me.  So much for the shrugged shoulders of the nurses and doctors... my Mom and I and DermaWound showed them how tenacious and how effective NOT giving up can be.

So much for “that’s the way it is!”  My Mother will soon be celebrating her 91st birthday!

Thank you!

K. Kelley