If your teenager has their iPod headphones glued to their ears most hours of the day, you may want to tell them to give it a rest. In a new study by The Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed data on about 1,771 youngsters ages 12 to 19 had a 30 percent increase in hearing loss, from previous studies. To put that into perspective, one in five teenagers suffer from at least slight hearing loss. A decade ago the rate was only one in seven. For most the hearing loss is slight enough that it could not even be noticed. However, the number of teens with the mild hearing loss has increased from 1 in 30 a decade ago, to 1 and 20 now. Those with mild hearing loss may not be able to hearing someone whispering in their ear.

What’s even more interesting, is that researchers still can’t explain why the increase is occurring, and couldn’t find a significant correlation to exposure to loud noise. This could be because the teenagers surveyed don’t feel their level of music is “loud” while actually, their listening at dangerously high-levels.

U.S. News and World Report’s

The analysis was based on responses from 60,043 physicians in active practice who bhad graduated from medical school between the years 1999 and 2001.

Top-ranked private medical schools like Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Northwestern, and Stanford all were in the survey’s bottom twenty. However, schools with the highest “social mission” scores include three historically black colleges (Morehouse College, Meharry Medical College, and Howard University) as well as public schools like University of Kansas, Michigan State University, and the University of Mississippi.

The Obama Health Care Plan will induct nearly 32 million newly-insured patients into the American health care system, with new, highly-trained physicians needed more than ever in traditionally underserved areas. The new health care plan will also create a much higher demand for primary care physicians and general practitioners rather than specialists alone. Let’s hope that medical schools heed the report to ensure care for all in the U.S.!

An NGO called Health Care Without Harm, based in the U.S. in Arlington, Virginia, is working on doing exactly that.

Health Care Without Harm has sponsored meals in Baltimore hospitals. The advocacy group also continues to work with hospitals to remove  meat from antibiotic-treated livestock from their menus, as well as eliminate deep-friend foods and foods with trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup.

At Health Care Without Harm’s urging, St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, Minnesota and Good Shepherd Hospital in Hermiston, Oregon now offer grass-fed beef (which contains less overall fat than grain-fed beef). And more than 250 hospitals in the U.S. have signed Health Care Without Harm’s pledge to serve more fresh fruits and vegetables (organic and local when possible), reduce processed foods and foods containing trans fats, and offer hormone-free milk.

Health Care Without Harm also works on reducing emissions from incinerated medical waste, keeping mercury out of hospital building supplies, and lowering use of polluting hospital practices.

So fear not: soon enough, hospitals may be where you go to get tasty, quality meals that are good for your body and your tastebuds.

My best friend is having a baby. She lives right around the corner from a hospital–how convenient! Except that she really doesn’t want to have her baby in that particular hospital, whose C-section rates are some of the highest in the city. She’s interested in natural childbirth options. She wants to have her baby in a birthing center, and our city has only two of those. Two. We have 8 million people–quite a few of those making more people–and two options for birthing centers.

One of those options is in a whole other borough where I happen to live, but my Manhattanite friend blanches at the thought of having to make her way to while, oh, IN LABOR. Sometimes I’m a little sensitive about her reluctance to schlep out here, but in this case, I guess I get her point.

So that leaves one. With a wait list. I won’t leave you in suspense–she was accepted, and is looking forward to her experience there (if in an understandably holy-#%*&-this-is-really-happening way).

If the options out there are fewer than we wish, we’re happy that there are resources online connecting women with care providers, midwives and doulas who are striving to improve maternity care. Here’s a hometown favorite: www.choicesinchildbirth.org.

Asktheinternettherapist.com has audiovisual and text chats available for anyone looking for someone to talk to about mental health issues. Although there is a disclaimer at the bottom that the information on the site is meant to complement information from your physician, not replace it, it can still be helpful for many.

Also on the site are free discussion boards where people can connect and network with other individuals who share similar experiences. As far as mediums of communication via the world-wide-web we offer video, telephone, chat, e-mail, and face-to-face in-office therapy. According to their site, “As far as mediums of communication via the world-wide-web we offer video, telephone, chat, e-mail, and face-to-face in-office therapy.The different issues covered by our online counselors and medical staff can range from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Substance Abuse, Alcoholism, Family Issues, Relationship Problems, Marriage Problems, Career Coaching, Grief Help , Life Transition, Spiritual Guidance, Chiropractor Questions, Family Medicine, Massage Therapy, Nutrition Advice, Natural Medicine, Alternative Medicine, among many others.”

Costs range for $40-$120.

John Markoff of the New York Times, wrote a really great article in November of ‘08 profiling Microsoft’s study of Cyberchondria. Cyberchondria is a term that was coined around 2000 that refers to the jumping to conclusions of one’s health conditions after reading health info on the web. If you’ve ever know someone who had a headache, looked it up on WebMD and then promptly determined they had a brain tumor, you’ve met a Cyberchondriac.

Microsoft ended up taking on a study that to survey popular health related web searches on popular search engines. The goal of the the study was to use the results to help shape the features of Microsoft’s search service, so it could be thought of as more of an adviser than a blind information retrieval tool.

From the article:

“They found that Web searches for things like headache and chest pain were just as likely or more likely to lead people to pages describing serious conditions as benign ones, even though the serious illnesses are much more rare.

For example, there were just as many results that linked headaches with brain tumors as with caffeine withdrawal, although the chance of having a brain tumor is infinitesimally small.

The researchers said they had not intended their work to send the message that people should ignore symptoms. But their examination of search records indicated that researching particular symptoms often led quickly to anxiousness.

They found that roughly 2 percent of all Web queries were health-related, and about 250,000 users, or about a quarter of the sample, engaged in a least one medical search during the study.

About a third of the subjects “escalated” their follow-up searches to explore serious illnesses, the researchers said.”

Pretty interesting stuff!

The internet has really united people from all walks of life, and allows you to connect with people much like yourself who you never would have met otherwise. The shaky economy has had a hard impact on health care facilities, prompting many doctors to reach out and expand through networking. DrConnected.com allows medical professionals to link up connect like never before.

Subscription to DrConnected is free and to begin, the user builds a Public Profile that displays the physician’s name, specialization, name of practice, location, profile photo, organizations and hospital affiliations. It is a fantastic tool for practices to gain exposure. It even has a map on your profile of your practice, an instant messaging too, and an option to write a blog.

Each public profile is indexed in major search engines and can be viewed by those conducting the search. In addition, DrConnected alpha v.1.0 has the following features incorporated: Network List of Colleagues, Invite a Colleague, Blog, and Got Feedback Button.

A common sentiment with a lot of people is that if they had someone to hold them accountable, saying no to tobacco would be a lot easier. That’s why a lot of doctors recommend support groups.

When you’re trying to quit, you often feel like no one in the world understands what you’re going through or how hard it is to kick the habit. So it’s a huge relief when you meet someone else who’s struggling with quitting. They’ve tried and failed and tried again– just like you have.

If you need support but don’t have time or are a little shy, online support groups can be a great alternative to in-person groups. Although it’s online, it’s a great platform to share your frustrations and successes among encouraging people.

You can meet people from home, who you can turn to when the temptation starts to creep in.
So if you find yourself backsliding after you vowed to quit, check out online support groups and meet others who will tell you, quitting is possible and to keep up the hard work!

So I checked online and found amidst the multitudes of health plan sites a place where I could go to get checked for HIV and all the other infections that result from promiscuity.  So I went to this clinic, and quickly they found a place for me. I produced a urine sample, and let them prick my finger, and then it was over!

A couple of weeks later, I got the results back. I’m clean! As if I wouldn’t be…and now my girlfriend is happy that I’m safe, and we’re safe, and we can be together safely. But seriously, being healthy and STD free is no joke. I’m glad that I took all the proper precautions, and I will continue to, because it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I had a friend of mine recently joke with me about how after she lost her health insurance; she had to resort to Googling her symptoms when she had a problem. But apparently she isn’t the only patient seeking the internet’s “expertise”.
A recent study done by Scarborough Research found that over half of teens use the internet as the primary way of diagnosing their illnesses. And only 75 percent of people are verifying the credibility of the information they find.
Online, you can find a range of diagnosis services, that allow you type in your symptoms and find possible causes. But with this convenience, comes the need for caution and careful evaluation of the information being given.
Sites like Yahoo and Wiki offer users a platform to post threads, a place where many divulge their health questions, and get answers from other users. Although sometimes it’s beneficial to hear from someone who has experienced the same symptoms as you, only a doctor can accurately assess your ailments. Things like your medical history need to be taken into consideration when diagnosing, something a computer program may overlook.
A big problem with online diagnosing is that a range of symptoms can be caused by a range of health problems. A search for “abdominal pain” or “stomach discomfort” could lead to a range of illnesses such as indigestion to colon cancer.
All in all, neither you nor the internet is a trained and licensed physician. So take the information you find with a grain of salt. Verify its credibility and if the problems are really serious, you should go see a doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment.