HealthCare

Medication can help treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The most common medication is a combination of levodopa and carbidopa, otherwise known as Sinemet, which works by providing dopamine to the brain. There are other medications that are available, such as dopamine agonists, which stimulate dopamine receptors in the brain, but they have potential side effects. Other medications can also be used to treat non-motor symptoms of the disease.
 
Transcript: "There's not a medication that reverses Parkinson's disease, but there are some medications that help treat the symptoms. The most common way we do that is to give back dopamine by the way of giving a precursor to dopamine called levodopa. It's combined with a medication called carbidopa, which helps get it into the central nervous system and reduce some of the side effects of giving just levodopa itself. And there are various forms of carbidopa levodopa otherwise known as Sinemet that we can give. Typically in a pill form, which can be immediate release or sustained release. There is an inhaled form and also a form that's given directly into the intestinal tract. Carbidopa levodopa works well in people who are what we call dopamine responsive. There's another class of medications called dopamine agonists that when we give them, they stimulate the dopamine receptors in the brain, just like they would be stimulated if the chemical dopamine was actually available. And dopamine agonists can affect mobility and improve symptoms, but it has a few potential side effects, not well tolerated in older people and can cause sleep attacks and impulse control problems. So we don't always use dopamine agonists. There also are a slew of other medications that we can give to treat what we call the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease."

Swelling on the hand is caused by inflammation, which can be due to infection or injury. To reduce swelling, anti-inflammatory agents such as ibuprofen and naproxen can be taken, and ice or heat may also help. It is important to see a physician if you have any swelling on your hand.
 
Transcript: "Hey there. So the question is how do you reduce swelling on the hand? And let me start by saying if you do have swelling on your hand, it's really important that you actually get seen by a physician because swelling is also known as inflammation. And inflammation is the body's response to either infection or injury. It's the body's way of recruiting the necessary cells in the body to help fight an infection or respond to an injury. And it causes pain. And so swelling or inflammation can lead to pain. And things that can actually help reduce the swelling and therefore reduce the pain are things like anti-inflammatory agents such as non-steroidals, ibuprofen, naproxen are two over-the-counter anti-inflammatory agents. Ice also is a natural anti-inflammatory. So when you have an injured hand or an injured body part, we tell people to ice it. Heat as well can also reduce inflammation. So whether you feel better with heat or ice applied to an injury, it's up to you. But swelling is inflammation and inflammation can be caused by infection or an injury. So we worry about infections on the hand. So if you've been bitten by a cat or if you scraped your hand, we do want those injuries to be attended to by physicians. So if you're having some swelling in your hand, please see a physician. Hopefully this answers your question. Have a great day."

There are a lot of books written on this topic that can be easily purchased online but it's important to make sure the source is reputable. Myself and a team created a guide that is written in simple language so that families can better understand the language used in the medical ICU and I encourage them to ask me further questions.
 
Transcript: "So the question is what resources do you provide to families to help them understand their loved ones condition and prognosis? And there are actually a lot of books written on this topic that are easily purchasable online. The problem is that easily purchasable doesn't necessarily always mean easily accessible. There are a lot of resources that can also be found for free online but it's important to make sure that the source is reputable. That's why myself and a different intensivist as well as a book author who writes on the patient experience came together to make a guide online that covers basic terminology within the medical ICU. The guide is written to be in simple language so that families can better understand the language that we use and I always encourage them to come back to me in meetings to ask any further questions."
 critical care glossary

I schedule my days around exercise, biking to the ICU and taking 10-15 minute breaks for bodyweight exercises with my team. Doing this helps me fit in exercise, build teamwork and stay motivated.
 
Transcript: "As a doctor, fitting exercise into my schedule is incredibly difficult. In fact, it's almost impossible. But, building my schedule around exercise is a lot easier to make sure that I'm getting it in. I also think it's important to recognize when I'm so busy that I might not be able to do much and acknowledge that a little bit of exercise still goes a long way in those times. So, an example of how to build my schedule around exercising is, for example, when I'm in the ICU, I bike to the unit. It's about 5 miles, it takes about 30 minutes each way. And, by biking here, I'm sort of committing to biking back, too. So, that's been really good for me, is a really good way to just ensure that I'm getting an hour of cardio every day that I'm in the unit. Now, I'm also lucky because, especially in the ICU, I've got a fantastic team where we will take a break for maybe 10 minutes after rounds. It's busy in the ICU, there's a lot going on, but we find a time to get everyone together for like 10 minutes, 10, 15 minutes, and we do a bunch of bodyweight exercises together. So, that's a really nice way to kind of fit it in and make it happen by relying and building kind of teamwork with other people, too. So, building my schedule around exercise and then finding people to make it happen together, both at work and with my wife at home, is a way to make sure it really happens, and that keeps me feeling good and wanting to do it more."

The severity of illness impacts the selection of a COVID-19 treatment plan by dictating whether or not an individual requires hospitalization and which type of medications are indicated. Oral medications, antivirals, steroids, and medications that modulate the immune system may all be part of the treatment regimen depending on the severity of the disease.
 
Transcript: "How does the severity of illness impact the selection of a COVID-19 treatment plan? So really the treatment for COVID-19 depend on, A, are you even someone that needs treatment or do you just need supportive care, typically young people without other medical problems? If you have mild symptoms and are out in the community, the treatment in that case is different from patients that are sick enough to be in the hospital or sick enough to be in the hospital on oxygen. So if you're well enough to stay out of the hospital, often oral medications like Pax Lovid are the most pertinent treatments. If you're sick enough to be admitted, we use different antivirals, often intravenous medications, and particularly if you require oxygen or are getting sicker and sicker, steroids and other medications that work on modulating your immune system may be indicated. So really it comes down to the severity of your disease, the type of treatment regimen, and of course any interactions with other meds or allergies, contraindications, or whatnot."

Parents should look out for signs of biomechanical issues, such as falls, injuries, balance problems, pain in various parts of the body, and difficulty sleeping. They should also keep an eye out for more internal issues like constipation, torticollis, asthma, ADHD, and sensory processing issues, as these can all be helped with chiropractic care.
 
Transcript: "Hey, it's Dr. Lisa Goodman. Are there any specific signs or symptoms parents should look out for in their toddler that may indicate a need for chiropractic care? Yes, definitely. So, a lot of them are biomechanical. Do we have balance issues, falling issues, any sort of injury? They jumped off a bed and rolled their ankle. They're not sleeping very well at night. They're waking up really easily. Let's move into some of the visceral. Well, the biomechanical things too, like if they complain of pain, if they complain of headaches, back pain, neck pain, wrist, ankle, shoulder, knee, hip, foot, always bring them in. But there's some more visceral or internal things that you may want to bring your child to a chiropractor for. And those things might include things like constipation is probably the main one that we see. Any kind of torticollis or asymmetry with how they're moving their neck is another one that we see. That's more musculoskeletal, again. But then if they have asthma, if they have some of these diagnosed conditions, including ADHD or sensory processing issues, chiropractic care can really help balance the nervous system and so make them feel a lot better just overall. Not necessarily a treatment for, but helps a lot with management, helps kids understand how their body is supposed to move and how their body is supposed to feel. There's a lot more examples. I will throw a link down here of other things that you should bring your child in for."
 chiro kid recommendations