According to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit healthcare research group, about one in three Americans said their family has had problems paying medical bills in the past year. Almost half of those surveyed said someone in their family was postponing or cutting back on medical care they needed. That’s alarming to say the least.

If you are forced to make these kinds of difficult economic decisions, here are three areas of healthcare that you can’t afford to ignore, since disregarding them may cost you more down the road.

Medicine. More than a third of the people in the Kaiser survey said they were splitting pills, skipping doses of medicine or not filling prescriptions at all. The danger with this is that even seemingly minor illnesses like an ear infection can turn into an emergency room visit if left untreated.

Symptoms. Skipping tests and treatments when you have symptoms or feel that something is wrong can be risky. If your doctor thinks you need an expensive diagnostic test, like a CT scan or MRI, ask about free or low-cost screening programs or clinics that can provide an affordable test. If (more…)

What to do in your 20s

Arrange for a complete physical every five years, which should include:

- Cholesterol profile

- Blood pressure check

- Testicular cancer screening (Young men should also perform monthly self-exams.)

- Waist measurement and height and weight measurements to calculate your body mass index, or BMI

- Most physicians also recommend a complete blood count, a blood sugar test and a urinalysis.

- Get an adult-type tetanus-pertussis-diphtheria booster (and follow up every 10 years).

- See your dentist every six to 12 months.

What to do in your 30s

Sign up for complete physicals, which should repeat the tests conducted in your 20s, but every three years instead of every five. At 35, you can stop testicular exams.

What to do in your 40s

- Get a (more…)

Yes, I have heard this one quite often! Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with “feeling healthy!” However, feeling healthy and actually being healthy may be two very, very different things.

Have you ever heard about some of the basketball players and marathon runners who looked to be in the peak of health and dropped down dead? Do you remember Michael Landon? He played the part of ‘Little Joe’ in Little House on the Prairie.

When he was diagnosed with cancer, he said in a television interview “I have never felt better in my life”. Six months later he died.

Have you ever thought about the fact that people degenerate over time and may not be aware of severe health issues?

That they just seem to accept that illness is a consequence of getting old?

The reality is that our bodies are very forgiving and adapt to so many stresses. Yet, sometimes, there’s no warning before sudden death or critical illness.

Let’s just take a hard look at the facts and what you are facing in today’s world:

· A man’s chances of getting cancer during his lifetime are now 48% (almost half) and a woman’s chances are now

. 38%. The Canadian Cancer Society is now saying 50% of the Canadian population will have been diagnosed with some from of cancer by the year 2010.

· In 1900, 5% of the US population died of heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. Today, 95% of us will (more…)

We know smoking is dangerous, but for women, there are also other health risks due to physiological and lifestyle differences, which puts women in a more dangerous position.

A CAR pulled up next to me as I was waiting at the traffic light last week. A slim hand reached out from the car window, a cigarette dangling from the fingers. When I looked over, I saw that the driver was a young woman, maybe in her early 20s.

More and more women, especially teenage girls, are picking up the filthy habit of smoking. This is despite decades of medical and public health campaigns about the dangers of cigarettes.

Unfortunately, the voices of scientists and health authorities are often drowned out by powerful advertising and marketing by tobacco manufacturers.

The dangers of smoking are well-known. It not only causes various types of cancer, but it also increases the risk of respiratory disease and heart disease, such as heart attacks.

It is widely rumoured that the iconic Marlboro Man, whose image sold the world on the idea of smoking as a rugged, masculine lifestyle, died of lung cancer (or rather, the actor who portrayed Marlboro Man in the advertisements).

But the idea that only cowboys die of smoking-related cancer is a myth. It is ordinary people who are suffering the consequences of smoking – fathers, mothers, young men and women.

In the United States, 140,000 women die each year from smoking-related causes. In Peninsular Malaysia, lung cancer is the most common cancer among men, and the eighth most common cancer among women.

Because of the glamour associated with smoking, many women are (more…)

Don’t take for granted that brushing your teeth would suffice in ensuring good oral hygiene as the teeth only covers 23 percent of the oral cavity.

Even for those brushing their teeth at least twice daily, the regime only helps to clean one fourth of the oral cavity excluding the tight gaps between the teeth and the difficult to reach spots.

Thus, it is evident that brushing your teeth alone will not help in preventing the formation of bacterial plaques on the teeth and gums that contributes to tooth decay and gum diseases.

That is why flossing to remove food residues between the teeth and disinfecting the whole oral cavity with an antiseptic mouthwash are highly recommended.

The floss helps to clean between teeth where the toothbrush cannot reach while the antiseptic mouthwash helps disinfect the teeth and the whole oral cavity, and prevents bad breath.

DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY

According to the Malaysian Dental Association President Dr S. Sivanesan, a number of studies conducted in several developed nations confirmed that most individuals failed to (more…)