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Get to know your microbiome: It can improve gut health and more

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Resolutions to improve health typically include measures such as more exercise, a healthier diet and stopping smoking. But what about your gut microbiome? Taking steps to protect and improve it can benefit digestive health and more, says Purna Kashyap, M.B.B.S., a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic who specializes in the gut ...Read more

Jeremy Wade Shockley/KFF Health News/TNS

Bill of the month: Scorpion peppers caused him 'crippling' pain. Two years later, the ER bill stung him again

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Maxwell Kruzic said he was in such “crippling” stomach pain on Oct. 5, 2023, that he had to pull off the road twice as he drove himself to the emergency room at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango, Colorado. “It was the worst pain of my life,” he said.

Kruzic was seen immediately because hospital staff members were pretty sure he ...Read more

Defining What It Means To Be A 'healthy' Person Nowadays

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I read your column daily in my local newspaper. The people who write in often describe themselves as "healthy" or "in good health." Then they always add that they are taking some sort of medication for some sort of ailment. Can you please clarify which attributes make a person healthy as opposed to unhealthy? -- L.S.

ANSWER: I...Read more

Of all the nerve

Around 180 million Americans contend with tension and migraine headaches, making them the top two nervous system disorders, according to a new study that looked at 36 unique neurological health conditions that affect more than half the U.S. population.

If you are battling tension headaches, you may be surprised to learn that stress isn't the ...Read more

Angela Palermo/Idaho Statesman/TNS

Rural health is a 'real concern,' Gov. Little says. Idaho to get millions to help

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Idaho is set to receive over $900 million in federal money over the next five years to improve the state’s provision of healthcare in rural areas, Gov. Brad Little’s office announced. The funds were allocated as part of the Rural Health Transformation Program under House Resolution 1, also called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“For many ...Read more

Stephanie Breijo/The Los Angeles Times/TNS

Salmonella outbreak update: Maryland cases, hospitalizations increase

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BALTIMORE — Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its initial report on a recent outbreak of a strain of Salmonella linked to raw oysters, cases and hospitalizations in Maryland have seen a slight increase.

On Dec. 23, the CDC reported one Maryland resident as having fallen ill after being infected with the strain. In ...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

Health care fight returns in January with affordability at center

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — Health care policy will be top of mind when Congress returns to Washington in January, with lawmakers acknowledging that escalating insurance premiums are hitting millions of Americans.

That’s about where the agreement ends. The parties and even the factions within them are sharply divided on the path forward — with several ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Texas gets largest share of reconciliation law's rural health fund

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Trump administration on Monday announced that all 50 states will receive proceeds from a $50 billion rural health fund, the creation of which helped secure the support for President Trump’s tax cuts law from Republican senators worried about the impact of Medicaid cuts in their states.

In 2026, the first year of the program, states will ...Read more

RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post/TNS

Coloradans snap up over-the-counter naloxone while hospitals offer the overdose-reversal drug to more patients

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DENVER — Colorado is coming closer to universal access to overdose-reversing medication as residents snap up an over-the-counter version and hospitals offer it to more patients.

Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, counters the effect of opioids so that a person who is overdosing doesn’t stop breathing. For the last decade, Colorado ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

On Nutrition: Out with the old

Health Advice / Nutrition /

I enjoy watching what people put in their grocery carts this time of year. Up to Jan. 1: butter, eggnog, chocolate, booze. After Jan. 1: salad, chicken, fruit, yogurt.

That stroke of midnight that begins each new year seems to ignite something in us. For me, it’s a desire to start fresh. Clean my house. Finish that writing project I put off ...Read more

A Case Of Clostridioides Difficile Has Become Difficult To Treat

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 76-year-old male who is in relatively good health. For the past six months, I have been experiencing diarrhea on and off. I initially spoke to my general physician, and he thought it could be lactose intolerance. I reduced my dairy intake, drank lactose-free milk, and took Lactaid pills before eating dairy.

After about ...Read more

Sleep more to move more

Less is more -- and more is less -- when it comes to physical activity and sleep. A new study in Communications Medicine looked at 28 million days' worth of health data from more than 70,000 folks and found that:

1. Less sleep makes it more difficult to exercise.

2. More exercise doesn't make it more likely that you'll sleep soundly.

The ...Read more

Thomas Hengge/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

A couple told patients they'd created a breakthrough medical device. In a Philadelphia courtroom, they admitted it was all a lie.

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

She went by Dr. Mary, and her promise was a tantalizing medical breakthrough.

At clinics operated in Arizona and several other states, Mary Blakley and her husband, Fred, told patients that for just $300, they could provide a full-body scan that utilized a proprietary "smart chip" to detect a variety of potential illnesses, including cancer.

...Read more

Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Kentucky to receive $212.9M from feds to strengthen rural healthcare

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Kentucky will receive $212.9 million from President Donald Trump’s administration over the next five years to improve rural health care, state officials said Monday.

The money will be used to address stubborn, long-term rural health care problems including maternity care deserts, limited access to mental health professionals and gaps in oral ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump rural health grants come with clawback threat to states

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Trump administration is announcing awards to states from a rural healthcare fund, with the threat that some of that money can be clawed back if jurisdictions fail to embrace policy initiatives backed by the president.

The discretionary grants for 2026 range from $145 million to $281 million for states, according to Mehmet Oz, the head of ...Read more

Samuel Corum/Getty Images North America/TNS

Feds to award Illinois $193M next year for rural health care as part of big beautiful bill

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The federal government is awarding Illinois $193 million next year to support rural healthcare — money that’s part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but not enough to make up for Medicaid cuts from the measure, state health leaders say.

Illinois asked the federal government for $200 million a year for each of the next five years in its ...Read more

Samuel Corum/Getty Images North America/TNS

Maryland receives $168M to boost rural healthcare

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — Maryland will receive $168 million to bolster its rural healthcare services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on Monday.

The money will be allocated from CMS’ Rural Health Transformation Program. The program is a five-year, $50 billion health care fund that was included in the One Big, Beautiful Bill to ...Read more

Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Health insurance costs spike for businesses, workers after pandemic

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance in California rose at twice the pace of inflation over the past three years, squeezing workers’ paychecks and small businesses alike.

More than 17 million Californians have health insurance through their job, according to a survey released in November by the health information group KFF. The ...Read more

Peter Nelson/Dreamstime.com/TNS

Ask the Pediatrician: Why bullying hurts all children and what parents can do about it

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Every day, thousands of kids suffer the fear, shame and frustration of being bullied. More than 19% of children aged 12 to 18 say they have been targeted by peers, with a frightening number of cases happening online. Here's what every parent needs to know about bullying and the actions that can help stop it.

Kids can be cruel, as the old saying...Read more

Skyrocketing Affordable Care Act premiums are pushing some to extreme measures

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Mary Jo Armstrong and her ex-husband, William, didn't exactly remarry for love. They remarried for health insurance.

After 18 years of marriage and a divorce, finalized in 2014, the Upper Burrell, Pennsylvania, couple found themselves side-by-side again Dec. 18. Joining them — not in a church or courthouse, but over a Microsoft Teams call —...Read more

 

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