eDocAmerica Health Tips

We spend approximately one-third of our lives asleep, but sometimes sleep can be elusive. Almost everyone has experienced transient insomnia–the occasional inability to fall asleep, or waking up feeling unrefreshed. Thankfully, it’s usually short-lived, lasting only a few days. Chronic insomnia, however, lasts much longer. A common condition, it may be…

Stomach “growling” is typically associated with hunger or an absence of food in the stomach.  The medical term for intestinal rumbling is borborygmus (bor-boh-RIG-mus).  If you say this out loud, you may find that pronouncing the word mimics the sound produced when your stomach growls.  In fact, the word borborygmus…

The electrocardiogram, also called an EKG or ECG, is a test that records electrical activity within the heart.  With each heartbeat, an electrical signal is conducted through specialized nerves from the upper to lower chambers of the heart.  This causes the heart muscle to contract in a synchronized manner and…

As hot summer temperatures approach, outdoor activities can become more challenging. When the body’s cooling system is fully engaged, some interesting things happen: Our sweat glands can produce up to 2-4 Liters of fluid per hour! As the sweat evaporates (turns from a liquid to a gas) energy is dissipated,…

I received an interesting question about whether or not a particular diet should be recommended in hot environments. I must confess that because I’m accustomed to air conditioning, I hadn’t given it much thought recently. Significant research has been done on the eating habits of military personnel stationed in both…

I received an interesting question about whether or not a particular diet should be recommended in hot environments. I must confess that because I’m accustomed to air conditioning, I hadn’t given it much thought recently. Significant research has been done on the eating habits of military personnel stationed in both…

If you’re interested in minimizing facial wrinkles, limiting “age spots” and discolorations, and avoiding skin cancer, then you must take steps to protect yourself from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. After a long, dark winter, we all yearn to shed the sweatpants and sweaters and get outside into the sunshine….

Whether called fibrocystic breast “changes” or fibrocystic breast “disease”, it’s a problem that affects up to half of all women at some point during their lives.  Currently, most doctors just refer to women as having fibrocystic breasts, since it really isn’t a disease at all.  Fibrocystic breasts are lumpy, thick,…

Around six million people go to the emergency department each year with chest pain.  In many cases, the determination has to be made as to whether the chest pain is due to a relatively minor condition or to a life-threatening process.  Often this means making the distinction between heartburn (a…

Your grandma may have told you to put hydrogen peroxide or alcohol on a wound, but that is actually not a good idea. The instinct to kill germs with a strong antiseptic is understandable (how many times have we used alcohol-based, hand sanitizers -like Purell- as an alternative to hand…