|
ARTICLES
Healthy Travel Tips
*Sleep well before you depart
*Eat light, balanced meals with protein before traveling
*Avoid alcohol and carbonated drinks
*Pack any medications and instructions in your hand baggage
*Wear comfortable fiber clothing that covers your arms and legs
*Shoes should be leather, loose and comfortable
*Divers should only begin their journey 12 to 48 hours after their last dive, due to decompression risks
*Passengers with respiratory or heart problems or who have had recent abdominal surgery or any bleeding, should have medical permission to travel
Diabetes and Hearing Loss
The House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles reports on the following:
There are 21 million children and adults in the United States that have diabetes (7% of the population). Diabetes is now the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. Serious complications include stroke, heart disease, kidney failure and blindness. What is not generally known is that hearing loss is also a possible complication. The National Institutes of Health funded a study and found that the incidence of hearing loss in adults with diabetes is about twice as common as that found in people who do not have the disease. Molecular scientists are researching to find out the possible connections. They speculate that because the blood vessels and nerves play important roles in auditory function, any disease capable of damaging cells through these pathways has the potential to adversely affect hearing. Because we know that diabetes can damage eyes and kidneys, we might suspect that these changes would also take
place in the inner ear, an area rich in blood vessels. Nerve cell damage related to diabetes may affect structures farther along the hearing pathway as well. Alterations in the brain cells of some diabetics may result in slower processing of complex sounds such as speech. These results suggest that the hearing of diabetic patients is affected before clinical symptoms can be detected. Experts now recommend that specific tests for hearing loss be included as part of a diabetic's routine care, especially preventive care.
November Events
Fun--Bite
Discharge status: Alive but without permission. |