Health Pedia

Depression isn’t the saddest person in the room. Quite contrary actually, depression sometimes is the person you would have never expected. Along with trying to convince you they’re happy, they’re trying to convince themselves.  Depression isn’t that melancholy person, you don’t want to be around. Oftentimes, it’s the person everyone loves because of the light they bring to a room is so bright but that’s only because they know darkness. Depression isn’t the person screaming out for help. It’s the silent person dealing with battles they’re still trying to understand themselves. Depression is doing everything you can to hide it. Because there’s nothing glorified about it. There’s nothing beautiful about a bad night as you fall you your knees, in a silent scream, that no one hears because you’re alone and you need to be until you get through it. It’s the sleepless nights as you lay awake at 2 am staring at the ceiling. It’s that time of year, you just get a lit...

The Hearty Soul is pleased to offer our readers a FREE jar of coconut oil through Thrive Market, an online grocery store that delivers organic, healthy, non-GMO foods right to your doorstep! Take advantage of this great offer today.  Humans have cultivated and used the flowering tops of the female cannabis plant, known colloquially as marijuana since history was recorded. Archaeologists in Central Asia even found over 2 pounds of cannabis in a 2,700-year-old grave of a shaman. Written and pictorial evidence of cannabis use is scattered throughout numerous cultures indicating a wide acceptance and use of the plant for thousands of years. Federal prohibitions outlawing the therapeutic and recreational use of cannabis were first imposed by Congress with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Later, the plant’s organic compounds (cannabinoids) were classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. This classification puts the plant in ...

At any given time, about   5% of Americans are reporting   symptoms of moderate or severe depression. Major depressive disorder is so common that it's estimated   one in six Americans   will have it at some point in their lives. The prevalence of depression presents economic problems as well — it's one of the most common causes of disability, it has effects in the workplace, and it's responsible for a host of suicide-related costs. The economic burden of depression in the US was   estimated to be $210.5 billion   in 2010. So why does such a debilitating condition affect so many people? The traditional understanding is that depression is a breakdown in the way things are supposed to work in the brain — chemical imbalances that can be righted through a combination of medication and behavioral shifts. But there's also a theory that instead of being purely a disorder, depression might be a specific behavioral strategy that we've evolved ...

When I started my medical practice over two decades ago, fibromyalgia was so commonly missed that by the time the average person was finally diagnosed, they’d been seeing various physicians for nine or ten years. Today, the pendulum seems to have swung the other way, and it’s likely that a lot of people are being misdiagnosed with this condition. It has unfortunately become a convenient catch-all for a variety of complaints. However, there’s no doubt that fibromyalgia is a very real, painful, and sometimes debilitating health condition. It’s estimated that 2 to 4 percent of the U.S. population has fibromyalgia, and nine out of 10 are women. Unfortunately, there is still no specific diagnostic test that is conventionally appreciated to diagnose someone with this condition. Rather you will have to meet certain clinical criteria — the most common one being hypersensitivity to pain. Signs and Symptoms of Fibromyalgia One of the most important criteria to determine whether o...

Young and middle-aged fibromyalgia patients report worse symptoms and a poorer quality of life than older patients, according to a new Mayo Clinic studythat suggests the disorder plays out differently among different age groups. The research is being presented at the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting in San Diego. Fibromyalgia most often strikes women, and is characterized by deep tissue pain, fatigue, insomnia, memory and mood issues. About 5 million Americans suffer from the disorder. Researchers studied nearly 1,000 fibromyalgia patients and divided them into three age groups: those 39 or younger, those 40 to 59, and those 60 or older. “Among the three age groups of young, middle-aged and older, symptom severity and quality of life differs,” says senior author Terry Oh, MD, a physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Although the younger and middle-aged patients had a shorter duration of fibromyalgia symptom...

There are definitely a number of different treatments that people may see as “out of the ordinary” when it comes to fibromyalgia treatment. This is likely because the pain can be such a difficult thing to deal with, and as a result, we’re willing to try almost anything in order to try and feel better. One of the more unique types of therapy that is out there for fibromyalgia symptoms is known as cupping therapy. But what is this therapy and what can it do for your symptoms and your pain? Let’s take a look. Exploring Cupping Therapy and its Roots This form of therapy has been used since the days of early Chinese medicine, meaning that it’s definitely something that has been around a good long time. That being said, the age of it shouldn’t worry you – honestly, it should make you feel a bit more confident in the possibility that it can help you, because it continues to be used and people continue to state that it has made a significant difference in their lives. Th...

Three years ago, my doctor said the F-word… that’s right, fibromyalgia. I ignored her. But for the last year I have been in constant pain and I find it really hard to focus on anything other than finding pain relief or finding a new treatment that might actually make a difference.  I haven’t really been writing about the pain. Everyone in my life knows that I have neck pain and headaches. Some people think it’s my back that hurts. Even though we have all had pain and sore body parts, the fact is that anyone who hasn’t experienced non-stop widespread pain for weeks or months or years really has no idea what this experience has been like.  I have felt that writing about it would end up being a whiny piece of writing about boo hoo, poor me, I hurt. Or that the intention behind writing it would be to seek sympathy. I also worry that I don’t know how to fully explain my experience in a short and concise way. I worried that it would get boring and repetitive and too long t...

While doctors prescribe a lot of different medications for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS or ME/CFS), none of them is FDA-approved for the condition. Just as this condition affects everyone differently, so do the medications used to treat it. It’s essential that you work closely with your doctor to find what’s right for you. You should be familiar with the possible side effects and let your doctor know about any you may develop. If you’re on more than one medication (prescription or over-the-counter), let your doctor and pharmacist know so you can avoid negative interactions. Classes of Drugs Several categories of drugs are used to treat ME/CFS. They include: Antimicrobial drugs (includes antiviral, antibiotic) Antidepressants (SSRIs/SNRIs and tricyclic) Anxiety or anxiolytic agents Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) Blood-pressure medications Experimental treatments Because all of these medications are used for off-label purposes (mea...