Migraine, Chronic Back Pain Tied to Higher Suicide Risk

Hopelessness, disability may play a role in feelings of despair, study finds

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, May 22 (HealthDay News) -- People who endure chronic migraines or back pain are more likely to attempt suicide, whether or not they also suffer from depression or another psychiatric condition, according to a new study.

"Clinicians who are seeing patients with certain pain conditions should be aware they are at increased risk of suicide," said study co-author Mark Ilgen, of the Veterans Affairs Serious Mental Illness Treatment Resource and Evaluation Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.

"Although undoubtedly psychiatric factors are important, there might be aspects of the pain that in and of themselves increase a person's risk," Ilgen said. "There might be something about someone with significant pain that puts them at increased risk."

The wide-ranging study, published online May 22 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, involved more than 4.8 million people who received care from the U.S. Veterans Health Administration during fiscal year 2005. Researchers identified those suffering from chronic pain and tracked them for the next three years to see if any died from suicide.

The research team then looked for associations between suicide death -- the 10th most common cause of death in the United States -- and clinical diagnoses of chronic pain conditions, such as arthritis, back pain, migraines, neuropathy, headaches or tension headaches, fibromyalgia and psychogenic pain.

They found that all pain conditions except arthritis and neuropathy were associated with elevated suicide risk. But when they took into account the mental-health problems that chronic pain patients also had, the associations reduced for all but three types of chronic pain: back pain, migraines and psychogenic pain, which stems from psychological factors.

Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a retired Army colonel and psychiatrist living in Washington, D.C., said the study clearly reinforces the anecdotal link between pain and suicide.

"It makes sense that pain is a risk factor for suicide," she said. "Often, suicide has several different things going on, but pain can be the straw that breaks the camel's back in terms of a person's decision not to go on."

Therapists performing a suicide-risk evaluation should consider adding a question regarding pain to the standard questions aimed at suicidal thoughts and planning, she said.

"It's not a standard question: 'Are you in pain?'" Ritchie said. "I would ask, 'Are you in pain?,' or 'Is pain an issue for you?'"

Psychogenic pain increased people's risk of suicide the most, followed by migraines and back pain. Psychogenic pain is chronic pain caused or exacerbated by mental or emotional problems, and Ilgen said it is a rare and not well understood condition.

"We think that's not so much about psychogenic pain per se, but the fact that the pain itself is poorly understood and may be poorly managed," Ilgen said. "There's not a clear treatment plan for that type of pain. It's likely that patients with this type of pain may be frustrated with their care and more hopeless and more at risk for suicide."

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Pets a Boon for the Human Heart, Cardiologists Say

American Heart Association cites stress-busting, dog-walking benefits of companion animals

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- That four-legged friend of yours may be more than a companion -- he also may be boosting your heart health, experts say.

An official statement released Thursday by the American Heart Association says there is evidence that having a pet, particularly a dog, may lower your risk of heart disease.

Cardiology specialists weren't all that surprised.

"Pets really might be man's best friend," said Barbara George, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Lifestyle Medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.

"Studies have shown people who own pets, particularly dogs, have lower blood pressure, increased mood-related brain chemicals, better cholesterol numbers, lower weight and improved stress response," George said.

Members of the American Heart Association (AHA) committee that wrote the statement reviewed data from an array of relevant studies. They found that pet ownership appears to be associated with a reduction in heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol levels and obesity -- and improved survival among people with heart disease.

Dog ownership in particular may help reduce heart risk, the statement said. People with dogs may get more exercise because they take their dogs for walks. A study of more than 5,200 adults found that dog owners did more walking and physical activity than those who didn't own dogs, and that dog owners were 54 percent more likely to get the recommended level of physical activity.

"Walking your dog is a healthy chore; it is a great way to exercise without thinking about it," said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, clinical associate professor in the department of medicine at the Tisch Center for Women's Health at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. "Pet owners increase their physical activity simply by walking their dogs."

Pets can also have a positive effect on the body's reactions to stress, according to the AHA. George agreed, saying pets can be "a tool for weight loss, socialization, calming our nerves and easing anxiety and depression."

The AHA stressed, however, that the studies they reviewed cannot prove that owning a pet directly reduces heart disease risk.

"It may be simply that healthier people are the ones that have pets, not that having a pet actually leads to or causes reduction in cardiovascular risk," statement committee chairman Dr. Glenn Levine, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in an AHA news release.

"There probably is an association between pet ownership and decreased cardiovascular risk," he said. "What's less clear is whether the act of adopting or acquiring a pet could lead to a reduction in cardiovascular risk in those with pre-existing disease. Further research, including better quality studies, is needed to more definitively answer this question."

In the meantime, George said, humans can benefit from the mental and physical rewards of furry companions. "Pets tug at our heartstrings," she said. "But they also improve our health -- both mental and physical -- helping us to live longer and happier lives."

The AHA statement was published online May 9 in the journal Circulation.

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Tali Lennox at the Dior at Harrods launch

Tali Lennox wears a tuxedo suit jacket and lace underpinning at the Dior at Harrods launch - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’ts

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Paleo Diet

I am starting on the Paleo Diet and looking for meal ideas or anyone who else is giving it a try.Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Wagon Jumpers May 20th - 26th

This thread is designed to encourage long term commitment to our goals by publicly declaring them and asking the other members of this thread to hold us accountable. The primary focus of Wagon Jumpers is not how much weight you have lost, or need to lose, but what you need to do on a daily basis to meet your long term goals.

The idea of Wagon Jumpers was to create a close community where participants could get to know each other, creating a virtual support network as they attempt long term weight management.

This is impossible with an 'always open' group as there would be too many people coming and going. For this reason we have capped group membership numbers to 20 participants.

** If you would like to be a member of this group please contact our wait list manager: the_dragon

There are two rules for Wagon Jumpers:

1. All members must post once per week between Monday and Sunday.

2. All members must check the thread for members who have not posted by Saturday (a short list is posted at the end of the week) or are on the MIA list on Sunday and send them a polite and positive message to stay involved in the group and on track with their goals.

Wagon Jumpers Participants: 17

CURRENT GOALS

By Sunday, May 19th I will...

Bleedtoblue (Blue) - NEW: Exercise 3/week for 9 of 12 weeks. 
Defrog3 (Denise) - Maintenance: Workout 3x week for 9 of the 12 weeks. New: Avoid grain-based carbohydrates 6 of 7 days/week for each of the 12 weeks.Feljones (Debbie) - NEW: log my food 3/days a week, keeping below 2,000 cal; 200 minutes of exercise every week, which includes a minimum of two walks during office hours each week.Figurethefat (Laura) - NEW: Exercise for 1500 minutes every 4 weeks. Eat 5 fruit and veg daily. gertie1birdy (Gertie) - NEW: log each day, stay under, 1300 or 1400 calories.
healthmd (Monica) - NEW: Logging foodevery day and working out 3 times a weekkasbpeace - Kellyonthecoast (Co-moderator) - NEW: I will exercise for 3 of 7 days for 10 out of 12 weeks; I shall take my vitamins 5 of 7 days each week.    
Kyashiis (Kathy) - NEW:  Practice yoga 30 - 45 minutes a day five days a week; maintenance - Veggie starter before meals. 
lisaann7878 New Member!matayas  Welcome Stephanie!mhNYC (Mari) - NEW: Anaerobic exercise (weights, calisthetics) 40 minutes 4 days a week. Maintenance: Get everything done!newdock (Donna, Co-Moderator) - NEW: exercise for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week for 10 of the 12 weeks.   I will drink 8 glasses of water a day  orchid84 (Lara) - Exercise at least one hour every day.runyourlife (Carmela) - NEW:  To stop munching while preparing dinner. I have a hard time not grazing when I’m cooking. Exercise:  run 3x per week + HIIT, leg and upper body workout 2x per weekthe_dragon (Hilary, Co-Moderator) - NEW: Drink 4 pints of water daily; 6 portions of F&V daily.
timermom (Beth)- NEW: will continue logging calories daily; work out 3 times per week indoors, walk one day on the weekend for half an hour.x-lawrence (Lawrence, Co-Moderator) - NEW: I will count calories daily; For exercise row 20 times a month and do 100-200 pushups a day. 

MIA one week:

MIA two weeks:

 MIA three weeks & will be removed from the list if there is no contact by the end of this week:

Wagon Jumpers on Hiatus

Waiting List: 

Wagon Jumper threads now have a separate host for each week, as listed below:

Mid-Week Reminders: x-lawrence (Lawrence)Waitlist Management: the_dragonThread Issues: If there are any issues with a thread, first contact should be the thread host for that week. 

Previous Threads

Wagon Jumpers May 13-19

Wagon Jumpers May 6-12

Wagon Jumpers April 29- May 5th

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Mila Kunis attends Gemfields launch with Ketel One Vodka

Mila Kunis wears a black suit attends Gemfields launch with Ketel One Vodka - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’ts

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Pippa Middleton at Cheltenham Festival

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Agent Orange Tied to Lethal Prostate Cancer

Findings from U.S. veterans should raise awareness of chemical warfare's hazards, researcher says

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- A link exists between exposure to Agent Orange and deadly forms of prostate cancer in U.S. veterans, according to a new study.

Agent Orange was a chemical spray that was heavily used during the Vietnam War era. It was often contaminated with dioxin, a potentially cancer-causing chemical. Previous research suggests that exposure to Agent Orange increases the risk of prostate cancer, but it wasn't known if it specifically increases the risk of more dangerous forms of the disease.

In this study, researchers looked at more than 2,700 U.S. veterans who underwent a prostate biopsy. Prostate cancer was diagnosed in 33 percent of the veterans, including 17 percent with high-grade disease, according to the study, which was published online May 13 in the journal Cancer.

Exposure to Agent Orange was linked with a 52 percent increase in overall prostate cancer risk, a 75 percent increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer and a more than doubled risk of the deadliest forms of the disease.

The findings suggest that determining veterans' exposure to Agent Orange can help identify those who may be at increased risk for prostate cancer, leading to earlier detection and treatment, said Dr. Mark Garzotto, of the Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University, and colleagues.

"It also should raise awareness about potential harms of chemical contaminants in biologic agents used in warfare and the risks associated with waste handling and other chemical processes that generate dioxin or dioxin-related compounds," Garzotto said in a journal news release.

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Type 2 Diabetes Progresses Faster in Kids, Study Finds

High blood pressure, other complications seen in adolescence

By Serena Gordon

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 23 (HealthDay News) -- Type 2 diabetes is more aggressive in children than adults, with signs of serious complications seen just a few years after diagnosis, new research finds.

"Based on the latest results, it seems like type 2 is progressing more rapidly in children," said Dr. Jane Chiang, senior vice president of medical affairs and community information for the American Diabetes Association. "Complications are appearing faster, and it appears to be at a more significant rate than we see in adults."

The results are alarming, Chiang and other experts said. "If these children continue to progress this rapidly, we could see many of the consequences of type 2 diabetes at a much younger age, like kidney disease and heart disease," she said.

The findings are from an ongoing study of treatment options for type 2 diabetes in children and teens. Researchers are using data from the same study group to assess factors related to the disease in youth, such as complications.

People with type 2 diabetes have higher than normal blood sugar levels because their body doesn't make or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to convert food into energy. Being overweight is the most significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. The number of U.S. children with type 2 disease -- usually seen in adults over 40 -- is sizable and growing, experts say.

The study included nearly 700 children with type 2 diabetes who were between 10 and 17 years old at the outset and had had the disease for eight months on average. Type 2 diabetes is rarely seen in children younger than 10, Chiang said. All the participants had a body-mass index (an estimate of body fat based on a ratio of weight to height) at or above the 85th percentile, which is considered overweight.

The children received diabetes education and were randomized to receive one of three treatments: the drug metformin, metformin plus intensive lifestyle changes or metformin plus rosiglitazone (brand name Avandia).

At the start of the study, about 12 percent of participants had high blood pressure (hypertension). Four years later, about 34 percent had high blood pressure, and the risk was highest for males and those who were heavier, according to the report, which was published online May 23 in a special issue of the journal Diabetes Care.

Initial signs of kidney disease, called microalbuminuria, almost tripled in four years -- from 6.3 percent of the children to almost 17 percent, the study found.

Other highlights:

Destruction of beta cells -- the cells that produce insulin -- in children and teens occurred at a rate almost four times higher than in adults.Metformin and rosiglitazone improved insulin sensitivity for the first six months of treatment. There was no change in insulin sensitivity for the patients who took metformin and made lifestyle changes, and there was a decrease in insulin sensitivity for youth on metformin alone. In adults, metformin generally improves insulin sensitivity.Children and teens with higher blood sugar levels had the poorest outcomes on oral medications, and needed to begin using insulin sooner.Over three years, the percentage of youth who needed medication to lower their LDL cholesterol (the bad type of cholesterol) increased from 4.5 percent to 10.7 percent. Lifestyle interventions didn't appear to help lower LDL cholesterol, although they did help lower the levels of triglycerides, another type of blood fat.Eye damage occurred at a rate similar to adults. About five years after diagnosis, 13.7 percent of the youths had nonproliferative retinopathy, a condition that blocks blood vessels in the eyes.

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intermittent fasting or 1 meal a day?

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Matthew Goode attends a Dior launch at Harrods

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Ashley Tisdale hits Hollywood with her mum

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Daily Gene Rhythms May Be Off in Depressed People

Study found 'clock' in brain was disrupted in autopsies of those who suffered mental disorder at time of death

By Amy Norton

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- Just like you, the genes in your brain follow a daily routine. But that natural rhythm may be thrown off in people with depression, a new study suggests.

Researchers say the findings shed new light on what goes wrong in the brain when depression strikes. And they hope the results, published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could spur new therapies down the road.

It has long been known that your body processes follow daily circadian rhythms, and that the "master clock" orchestrating it all exists in the brain. That clock mainly responds to light and darkness in your surroundings.

Scientists have also thought that gene activity in animals' brains follows a daily ebb and flow. But seeing whether that's true in the human brain is a lot tougher, said researcher Huda Akil.

If you want to look for daily rhythms in hormone activity, Akil said, you can take multiple blood samples from the same people over the course of 24 hours. You cannot, however, investigate the brain that way.

To get around the problem, Akil's team studied autopsied brain tissue from 89 people who had died at different times of day. That way, they could look at each person's gene activity at the time of death and search for differences from one individual to the next.

"Hundreds of genes emerged as having a rhythm based on the time of day," said Akil, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

That rhythm was clear in brain tissue from the 55 people with no history of psychiatric disorders. Akil said her team was able to look at an individual's gene activity and correctly guess that person's time of death within an hour.

They could not, however, do that for the 34 individuals who were suffering from major depression at the time of death. Their gene activity patterns were too varied.

"This is very clear evidence that the 'clock' in the brain is disrupted in depression," Akil said.

That makes sense, since doctors and researchers have long seen signs of a disturbed circadian rhythm in people with depression, said Eva Redei, a professor of psychiatry at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Those signs, Redei said, include sleep problems -- like sleeping too much or too little -- and abnormal activity in the "stress hormone" cortisol, which follows a daily rhythm. There also is a form of depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in which people suffer symptoms during the short days of winter but feel better during the sunnier seasons.

Experts do not know the precise cause of SAD, but Redei said it involves problems with the circadian rhythms.

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Jim Carrey wearing big feet on David Letterman

Jim Carrey was spotted heading into the Late Show with David Letterman in some rather unusual footwear

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one of those posts: I don't know what to do!

Argh! I'm at this awful phase where I'm really NOT thin anymore, which is great. But. I find that whenever I EAT properly, and don't restrict, I have this most enormous appetite, and I'm never full.. and then it kind of sinks in HOW much I'm eating these days, and I freak out in an irrational way, and then I always purge, or always go and swim in freezing water for ages. Then I think the other alternative, to avoid the freaking out about quantity, would be to... not eat all over again. I'm going to see a psychologist some time - I've been going to my dietician for a year, and I've got to that phase where I really do know exactly what to eat when, and I always DO when I'm in the right frame of mind, but when I'm not, there's nothing she can do to change that. 

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Sarah Jessica Parker with her twin daughters

Tabitha and Marion were dressed up to the nines in colourful garb as they attended school - Get the latest in celebrity style and fashion from Glamour.com. Visit Glamour.com to get all the latest celebrity styles, fashion and gossip.

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Benedict Cumberbatch reveals Twitter stalking incident

Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed that one of his neighbours live-tweeted his every move earlier this week

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Gene Variations May Explain Weight Gain Among Men, Women

People with specific 'polymorphisms' were more likely to put on pounds in 10-year study

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- Weight gain in men and women is predicted by two different genetic variations -- so-called polymorphisms, according to a new study from the Netherlands.

Men with a certain mutation of the FTO gene had an 87 percent greater risk for gaining weight over 10 years. Meanwhile, women with a different variation on the MMP2 gene had a two and a half times increased risk for weight gain over the course of a decade, the researchers found.

The research involved two groups of people: The first group, which consisted of 259 people, maintained a stable weight; the second group consisted of 237 people who were considered weight gainers. These participants gained about 17 pounds over 10 years.

Starting body-mass index -- a measurement of body fat based on a person's ratio of height to weight -- for the participants ranged from normal to obese. Participants were between 20 and 45 years old when the study began.

The research, led by Freek Bouwman, from Maastricht University, and Dr. Jolanda Boer, from the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, focused on several different polymorphisms associated with weight gain in previous studies.

The genetic distribution of a particular FTO polymorphism in men was consistently different between the weight-stable group and the weigh-gainer group, the study revealed, according to a news release from the European Congress on Obesity.

Similarly, among the women, the genetic distribution of the MMP2 polymorphism varied between those considered weight stable and those in the weight-gainer group.

"We found that FTO in men and MMP2 in women are predictors for weight gain over a 10-year follow-up period," the study authors wrote.

They suggested that more research into these polymorphisms could help determine who is at greatest risk for weight gain and improve weight-control strategies. They said differences in male and female hormone levels also could play a role in weight regulation.

The study was presented Tuesday at the European Congress on Obesity in Liverpool, England. Findings presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

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