When prescription drug prices go up, many people who need them have to figure out other ways to cut costs in their lives to compensate. For this reason, Consumer Reports has released its sixth edition prescription drug guide, Best Drugs for Less so consumers can be more informed about the drugs they choose, where they [...]
It's not unusual to have a hard time getting an accurate diagnosis when health issues or the source of symptoms are not clear cut. It can take months and a lot of out-of-pocket costs to find out what is wrong and what to do about it. After submitting symptoms to the crowdsourcing site CrowdMed, the [...]
When To Suspect An Eating Disorder No one ever sets a goal to develop an eating disorder. Eating disorders are typically the result of attempts to be “healthy” that have gone awry. There is also no clear cut delineation between trying to be healthy and the onset of an eating disorder – that fine line [...]
The new year is almost upon us and, of course, we are being inundated with commercials for diet and weight loss products. ‘Start this program’ or ‘take this pill’ are old and uninspiring messages from companies that survive off of the failure of their products – there is something really messed up with that, isn’t [...]
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) was recognized as a diagnosable eating disorder in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the guide to all psychiatric diagnoses, published in May 2013. Prior to this, BED was frequently referred to as ‘compulsive overeating’ or ‘emotional overeating’ and was not recognized as the clinically significant and [...]
Recovering from an eating disorder is a complicated endeavor because of the interplay between genetic predisposition, symptom severity, environmental/lifestyle factors and often, the patient’s ambivalence about changing behaviors they both ‘want’ and hate. I have attended several presentations by Ovidio Bermudez, MD, the Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Services at Eating Recovery Center in [...]
Prior to the understanding we now have about the genetic influence of eating disorders, the impact of sociocultural factors, such as drive for thinness and dieting behavior, were thought to be primary contributors to the development of anorexia and bulimia. We now have a greater understanding that eating disorders are the result of complex interactions [...]
Most people are aware that there is a connection between stress and heart disease. “Stress” refers to excessive pressures or demands that are placed upon us or that we place upon ourselves. In our fast paced, technology-driven, do-things-to-the-extreme culture, persistently increasing pressures and demands are part of everyday life. Unfortunately, our heart health has taken [...]
Evidence-based treatment (EBT) has become a hot topic in the field of eating disorders as well as healthcare in general. EBT is defined as interventions, treatments or psychotherapeutic techniques that have been shown to produce therapeutic change when studied in controlled research trials. While the purpose of this article is not to be critical of [...]
Most people are familiar with the Type A – intense, overachieving, perfectionistic – and Type B – noncompetitive, relaxed – personalities and the link between Type A personality and heart disease. But now, Type D personality seems to be an even stronger predictor of cardiovascular health. Psychologist Johan Denollet, a professor of medical psychology in [...]
