Stroke - Animation

When blood flow to an area of your brain stops, it's serious. It's called a stroke, and will often cause permanent, debilitating damage to your brain and change your life. Let's talk about strokes. If blood flow to your brain is stopped for longer than a few seconds, your brain can't get blood and oxygen. Brain cells die, causing permanent damage. There are two types, ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic stroke happens when a blood clot forms in a very small artery, or when a blood clot breaks off from another artery and lodges in your brain. Hemorrhagic strokes can happen when a blood vessel in your brain becomes weak and bursts open. High blood pressure is the number one risk factor for strokes. People with atrial fibrillation (when your heart rhythm is fast and irregular), diabetes, a family history of stroke, and high cholesterol are most at risk. You are also at risk for stroke if you are older than age 55. Other risk factors include being overweight, drinking too much alcohol, eating too much salt, and smoking. Symptoms of a stroke usually develop suddenly, without warning. You may have a severe headache that starts suddenly, especially when you are lying flat, often when you awake from sleep. Your alertness may suddenly change. You may notice changes in your hearing, your sense of taste, and your sense of touch. You may feel clumsy or confused or have trouble swallowing or writing. So, how are strokes treated? A stroke is a medical emergency. Immediate treatment might save your life and reduce disability. Call your local emergency number -- or have someone call for you -- at the first sign of a stroke. Most of the time, someone having a stroke should be in the hospital within three hours after symptoms first begin. If a doctor suspects you've had a stroke, the doctor will check for problems with your vision, movement, feeling, reflexes, and your ability to understand and speak. You may have several tests to check for blocked or narrowed arteries. If the stroke is caused by a blood clot, you'll be given a clot-busting drug to dissolve the clot. Treatment depends on how bad your stroke is and what caused it. But you will probably need to stay in the hospital for a few days. Besides clot-busting drugs (called thrombolytics), you may need blood thinners, medicine to control high blood pressure, and surgery to unclog one of your carotid arteries-which carry blood to the brain. After your stroke, treatment will focus on helping you recover as much function as possible, and preventing future strokes. Most people need stroke rehabilitation therapy. If you can return home, you may need help making safety changes in your home and to help you with using the bathroom, cooking, dressing, and moving around your home. After a stroke, some people have trouble speaking or communicating with others, and a speech therapist might help. Depending on the severity of the stroke, you may have trouble with thinking and memory, problems with your muscles, joints, and nerves, trouble going to the bathroom, and difficulty swallowing and eating. Therapies and support for you and your family are available to help with each of these problems. Your treatment will also focus on preventing another stroke. You may need to be on several medications to help prevent this. And, eating healthy and controlling problems like diabetes and high blood pressure can be very important.

Physical exam frequency - Animation

When you feel perfectly fine, the last thing you want to think about is going to the doctor. But that's exactly when you should be thinking about getting a physical exam. Regular physicals, as well as certain tests and vaccinations can be powerful ways to protect health. Let's talk about physical exams. You might feel well on the outside, but it's hard to know exactly what's going on inside your body. Many conditions that threaten your health don't have any symptoms. For example, you might have no idea that you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, until they make you really sick. How often you need to see your doctor and what tests you get depends on your age and gender. Regular physicals are important for keeping tabs on your health. Plan to see your doctor once every 1 to 5 years, depending on what conditions you have. After age 65, you'll visit the doctor at least once a year. At each physical, your height and weight will be checked and your hearing will be tested. Your doctor should ask whether you've experienced depression, and about your use of alcohol and tobacco. Get your blood pressure checked once every two years, once a year if you're over 65. Look for blood pressure screenings at health fairs or drug stores in your area, or visit your doctor. If you have a health condition like diabetes, heart disease, or kidney problems, you may need to check your blood pressure more often. If your blood pressure is high, you should also have your blood sugar levels tested for diabetes. Men who are over 34 and women over 45 need a cholesterol test once every 5 years. People with certain health conditions may need to have their cholesterol checked more often. Everyone between ages 45 and 75 should be screened for colon cancer. You can have a colonoscopy every 10 years, a stool test every year, or a flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years. Women need a Pap smear to check for cervical cancer once every 2 to 3 years. They should also have a mammogram to check for breast cancer every 1 to 2 years, depending on their risks. Because bones can become brittle with age, women over 65 need to have a bone density scan. Younger women and men should talk to their doctor about whether they need this test, based on their risks. To keep your teeth strong and healthy, visit your dentist once a year for a cleaning and exam. Also see an eye doctor for an exam every 2 years, especially if you have glaucoma or another vision problem. One of the best ways to avoid unexpected doctor's visits is to get the vaccines that are right for you. Vaccines aren't just a kids issue. Many adults benefit from a flu vaccine each fall or early winter to protect them for the whole season. Once every 10 years, get a Tdap vaccine, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis. Older adults may also need to get vaccinated against pneumonia and shingles. Getting regular physicals when you aren't sick can help you stay on top of your health. Being proactive will let you and your doctor prevent and find potential problems before you have a chance to get sick.

Cholesterol and triglyceride test - Animation

Maybe you've been eating fast food more often than you should, or you're not getting your recommended two-and-a-half hours of exercise each week. Or, it could be that you smoke, or your blood pressure is too high. Well, for whatever reason, you may be concerned about your risk of getting heart disease. Well, a few tests can help you learn that risk, so you can start making healthy lifestyle changes to reduce it. A coronary risk profile is a group of blood tests that measure your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Why is it important to know these levels? Because if you have too much of these substances in your blood from eating foods like burgers and French fries, they can clog your arteries. Eventually your arteries can become so clogged that you'll have a heart attack or stroke. Men should have their cholesterol tested by the time they're 35. Women should have it checked by age 45. If you have a condition like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, or high blood pressure, have your cholesterol checked now, no matter what your age. To measure your cholesterol, your doctor will give you a blood test. If you're also having your triglyceride level checked, you may be told not to eat or drink anything for 8 to 12 hours before the test. Depending upon your heart risk, the doctor may measure just your total cholesterol level, or your total cholesterol along with your LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, HDL, or "good" cholesterol, and triglycerides. If you're of average risk of getting heart disease, your goal is to have total cholesterol of less than 200 milligrams per deciliter, LDL cholesterol lower than 130 milligrams per deciliter, HDL cholesterol higher than 40 milligrams per deciliter if you're a man, or 50 if you're a woman -- the higher the better, and triglycerides of less than 150 also, the lower the better. Although some illnesses, like arthritis, can raise your cholesterol level, generally having high cholesterol means that you're at increased risk for heart disease and stroke. It's a sign you need to work harder to keep your heart healthy. If your cholesterol levels are normal, that's great! That means that you're eating right, you're exercising, and you're taking good care of your health. You don't need to have another cholesterol test for about five years. But if your cholesterol level is high, or you've already got heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes, you'll need to have your cholesterol levels checked more often. Keeping close tabs on your cholesterol and triglyceride levels is one way that you can take charge of your health, and change it for the better.