November 8-14, 2011 - Original Health Articles

Can you control whether you get Alzheimer's disease? The answer is...maybe. In some cases, there is nothing a person can do to stop the illness. In other instances, lifestyle and environment may play a part. Here's what you need to know about the factors that increase your Alzheimer's risk.

It can be difficult to see someone you care about suffering from pain. You want to help, but you're not sure how. So you cast about for something to say...and you end up making your loved one more upset than before. How did your comment get taken so wrongly? And what should you have said instead? "It can't be that bad.

When you tell a doctor you're having pain, he or she will typically ask you to rank it on a scale of one to ten. But if you say "five," does the doctor really know what you're feeling? Is your five the same as someone else's five? And what if you aren't able to verbally communicate? How will your physician know what you're feeling without your saying anything? New research has uncovered a tool that lets doctors accurately assess your pain without needing your input.

Too many people ignore subtle signs and symptoms of dementia and, as a result, are diagnosed when the disease is already advanced—or, in most cases, never diagnosed at all. That's right. According to a new report by the U.K.-based Alzheimer's Disease International, a consortium of international Alzheimer's federations, as many as 75 percent of approximately 36 million people around the globe who have dementia are never diagnosed.

It's especially important to keep up with vaccinations when you're older because certain infections and diseases hit seniors more heavily than they do on younger people. The flu is one example. While normally influenza is not fatal, it does take a number of lives every year, and 90 percent of those it kills are 65 years old or older.

Arthritis is a condition you need to manage in order to live your best life. Whether you have osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or another form of the disease, there are definite steps you need to take. The good news is that a long, active life is possible if you work at controlling the arthritis itself.

One of the biggest worries for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers, aside from the joint pain and deformity they can experience, is the heightened risk of cancer—specifically lymphoma, a blood cancer that develops in the lymphatic system. What do these two conditions have in common, and what causes the increased risk? According to experts, what the two diseases have in common is a faulty immune system.

Want to stave off cognitive problems as you get older? Consider making a special effort to get enough Vitamin B12. A recent study showed that a lack of B12 can not only result in lower scores on tests of cognitive ability; it actually can correlate with smaller total brain volume.

If you want to avoid gout (and who doesn't?), look for ways to increase your intake of Vitamin C. One study of nearly 47,000 men found that for every 500 mg daily increase of vitamin C consumption, the risk of gout declined by 17 percent. Men who took more than 1,500 milligrams of C each day had a 45 percent lower risk of having gout than men who never managed to get the vitamin into their diets.