Support at Home Another Tool for Pain Sufferers

Acetaminophen is a common over-the-counter pain killer as well as a component used in some prescription pain killers. Now there is new research out about this popular pain killer. Researchers studying acetaminophen found it has a previously unknown side effect: It blunts positive emotions.

Previous research had shown that acetaminophen works not only on physical pain, but also on psychological pain. This study takes those results one step further by showing that it also reduces how much users actually feel positive emotions, said Geoffrey Durso, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in social psychology at Ohio State University.

“Rather than just being a pain reliever, acetaminophen can be seen as an all-purpose emotion reliever,” he said.

Research revealed that people who took acetaminophen didn’t feel the same highs or lows as did the people who took placebos.

Be sure to give your doctor a clear picture of how you’re feeling, physically, mentally and emotionally. And discuss ways that you could better manage your pain, such as with the help of a physical therapist, until you can have the surgery on your hand.

In the meantime, why not contact your local Home Instead Senior Care^® office to learn how a CAREGiver^SM could assist with personal care as well as with tasks around the house and transportation. CAREGivers – both men and women – are screened, trained, bonded and insured to offer the best in companionship services for seniors like you. Support at home could help you feel less overwhelmed.

To learn more about this study, visit http://news.osu.edu/news/2015/04/13/emotion-reliever/. 

Each Home Instead Senior Care^® franchise office is independently owned and operated

Vegan Diet Could Help Reduce Risk of Colon Cancer

Do you like fruits and vegetables? A good way for seniors to avoid colorectal cancer – the number two cancer killer in the U.S. among cancers – is to eat a vegetarian diet, says a study of Seventh-day Adventist published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Colon cancer incidence rates have dropped 30 percent in the U.S. in the last 10 years among adults 50 and older due to the widespread increase of colonoscopy, with the largest decrease being in senior citizens over age 65.

Although great attention has been paid to screening, primary prevention through lowering risk factors is also an important objective.

Dietary factors have previously been identified as a way to lower the risk factor for colorectal cancer. Eating red meat, for example, is linked to increased risk. On the other hand, food rich in dietary fiber is linked to reduced risk, according to the study’s background information.

The researchers measured the incidence of colorectal cancer among those who eat some form of vegetarian diet and or vegan diet and those that were nonvegetarians or nonvegans.

The risk for colorectal cancer for vegans compared with nonvegetarians was 16 percent lower.

Vegetarians compared with nonvegetarians had a:

·         22 percent lower risk for all colorectal cancers,

·         19 percent lower risk for colon cancer and

·         29 percent lower risk for rectal cancer.

To learn more about this study, visit http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2174939&resultClick=3. 

Each Home Instead Senior Care^® franchise office is independently owned and operated.

At-Home Assistance Could Help Support Recovery

Researchers have found significant benefit from surgical treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis with and without degenerative spondylolisthesis – debilitating spinal conditions which, as you may know, can cause leg and back pain, numbness and weakness. Researchers also found no higher overall complication rate and no higher mortality for patients age 80 and older when compared with patients younger than age 80.

“This study demonstrates that surgery for the treatment of lumbar stenosis and degenerative spondylolisthesis provides significant benefit compared to non-operative treatment in those patients over the age of 80,” said lead study author Jeffrey A. Rihn, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon at the Rothman Institute and associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa.

“Patients in this age group had significant improvement in their function after surgery and complication rates comparable to the younger demographic. Based on the results of this study, surgery should be considered a viable treatment option for these lumbar conditions in patients older than age 80.”

To learn more about the report, visit http://jbjs.org/content/97/3/177.