Patients with style
Attractive, dignified, sophisticated, comfortable. These are not words normally said in the same breath as hospital gowns. That is, unless you’ve gotten your hands on a new kind of hospital garment designed by Healing Threads, which comes in several colors and styles. These gowns have soft closures, rollup sleeves, stash pockets and breakaway pants and even resist wrinkles and stains.
The gowns were created by Margaret Feodoroff and her sisters after she survived Stage 3 melanoma in 2002, enduring long months dressed in the usual unattractive, paper-thin, too-breezy hospital gowns that left her overexposed. The Healing Threads gowns are dedicated to women with cancer and designed to handle the wear and tear of radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
To see the collection, which ranges in price from $45 to $180, go to spirited-sisters.com.
Hypochondria germ
Have germs and a rise in new kinds of diseases around the world got you in a constant state of panic? You may be among the increasing number of people who are the “worried well” (as opposed to sick), say physicians in a July feature in Vogue. Harvard psychiatrist Arthur J. Barsky says primary-care physicians are seeing an increasing number of hypochondriacs who insist that they’re falling ill from West Nile virus, Lyme disease, bird flu and more.
There are drug-based therapies to treat hypochondriasis, and now a study funded by the National Institutes of Health is looking into which are the most effective treatments. Brian Fallon, associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, uses Prozac and Luvox to help people with “illness obsessions.” He says it helps 70 to 80 percent of those who take them. Barsky treats hypochondriacs with a cognitive-behavioral approach to help them change the way they react to and think about their symptoms.
Improve your walk
Walking is a great way to exercise and shape up your body. It can help you lower blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce stress and lose weight, notes a story in the Aug. 1 issue of Woman’s Day. But to get the maximum benefits, you have to amp up your effort. Here are several ways to improve your walk.
– Walk tall, with your eyes on the horizon.
– Keep your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle.
– Take smaller, more efficient steps.
– Add hills to your route.
For more tips on walking, go to womansday.com/walking.
Pain is a pain
Chronic pain is one of the most undertreated ailments in society, affecting more than 50 million Americans. It’s the nation’s leading cause of disability, says a detailed feature in the July issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal. Finding a solution to pain is highly individual because what works for one person may not for another. The magazine offers these resources for help in finding pain relief:
American Academy of Pain Medicine, painmed.org. This site lists pain-control methods and offers a directory of pain physicians.
American Chronic Pain Association, theacpa.org. This consumer group offers patient guides to pain-management options.
American Pain Foundation, painfoundation.org. This advocacy and education group has a pain-information library, resources for military veterans and online chat rooms.
The National Pain Foundation, painconnection.org. This site offers pain-treatment strategies and links to online support groups.
