Reading Time: 3 minutes Home tests give you information about your health or medical condition while enabling you to maintain your privacy. Some home tests are commonly used. Think about the blood glucose or sugar tests you use if you have diabetes, or the pregnancy and fertility tests that help you with family planning. The idea is to help […] Read more
Guide Health: What you need to know about home testing
With any home test, check to make sure you know what it actually tests for, and that you are aware of its limitations
Guide Health: Sorting through the alphabet on diabetes drugs
Diabetes treatment is more complex, but the principles are easy to understand
Reading Time: 2 minutes Insulin, at one time, was the only drug available to treat diabetes. Today there are many different classes of drugs which are often used together, although sorting through the different classes can be confusing. Diabetes occurs when your pancreas doesn’t manufacture enough insulin or none at all. In your body, insulin is used to metabolize […] Read more
Guide Health: That dry, hacking cough
No wonder they hurt… coughs can eject air from your lungs at 500 m.p.h.!
Reading Time: 2 minutes A cough is your body’s attempt to rid itself of something that is irritating your airways. You will be familiar with coughs associated with the common cold and the flu, but there are many other reasons for coughs. Other infections including pneumonia, tuberculosis and whooping cough can certainly cause coughs. But so can allergies, gastro-intestinal […] Read more
Guide Health: The cutting edge of biologicals
These newest types of drugs are manufactured by living organisms
Reading Time: 2 minutes Drugs are usually chemical molecules that block or enhance some activity within the body, and most drugs can easily be absorbed through your gastrointestinal tract in order to have their effect within the intended system. However, the newest types of drugs are termed biologicals because they are manufactured by living organisms such as bacteria using […] Read more
Guide Health: For healthier hair, focus on overall health
Hair loss, or even a change in the “healthiness” of your hair should be checked by your doctor
Reading Time: 2 minutes You are born with all your hair follicles, about 100,000 on your scalp, and you are not able to gain any more. There are actually two types of hair on your body. Vellous hair is the fine soft hair that covers the majority of your body, including the longer courser terminal hair that grows on […] Read more
Guide Health: Vital first aid for your first aid kit
Pre-packed first aid kits are convenient, but you should tailor them to your activities
Reading Time: 3 minutes Because most of us never really plan on needing them, it’s very easy not to think about that dusty box behind your workbench or the one tucked away in the trunk of your car. Giving your first aid kits just a bit of attention, however, can help make sure your kit does its job if […] Read more
Guide Health: Antibiotic stewardship – it’s everyone’s job
As many as half of the 25 million prescriptions written for antibiotics in Canada each year are unnecessary
Reading Time: 2 minutes Antibiotic stewardship refers to a bundle of strategies to reduce antibiotic resistance. The aim of this stewardship effort is, yes, to treat infections effectively resulting in better health, but also to use the right antibiotic at the right time for the right infection, since this is a key measure for curbing future resistance. You may […] Read more
Guide Health: The pitfalls of sleep medication
Reading Time: 2 minutes Getting a good night’s sleep may be something you take for granted, or alternatively it may something with which you struggle. From time to time everyone experiences some degree of sleep problems with about 10 to 15 per cent of Canadians experiencing insomnia. Of those about half have chronic difficulty with sleep. Insomnia is simply […] Read more
Guide Health: Are probiotics as good as they claim?
While probiotics are mostly considered safe, some people may need to avoid them
Reading Time: 2 minutes Probiotics seem to be everywhere these days. You find them as capsules on store shelves and as ingredients in food products, and they’re even available through internet shopping. Probiotics are promoted for a wide variety of conditions, but the main use is “good intestinal health.” Your intestines contain more than 100 trillion (yes, trillion!) micro-organisms […] Read more
Guide Health: Hormones for menopause. Yes or no?
Women need to balance the risks versus the benefits of treatment
Reading Time: 2 minutes Menopause symptoms like “hot flashes” and “night sweats” are a big problem for every woman who experiences them. Yes, the symptoms will pass, but in the meantime you’re just miserable. Hormones like estrogen are involved in keeping your body temperature within a normal range, and when their levels decline in menopause, body temperature regulation is […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
