Ways to Prevent Heart Disease

Approximately 659,000 people in the United States die from heart disease every year. With this in mind, it’s crucial to protect your heart health for long, happy life. 

There are several lifestyle changes that you can make to prevent heart disease. These include:

Eating a Heart-Health Diet

What you eat has a major impact on the health of your heart. But, what exactly constitutes a heart-healthy diet?

A heart-healthy diet should contain a well-balanced selection of foods from different food groups. Specifically, vegetables, grains, lean protein, low-fat dairy, legumes, and vegetable-based oils should constitute the majority of your diet. 

To prevent heart disease, it’s important to limit the following types of foods:

  • Trans fats and saturated fats
  • Added sugars
  • Sodium 

Limit Alcohol Consumption

When you drink alcohol, your blood pressure and heart rate can temporarily rise. As a result, in the long term, excessive alcohol consumption can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, stroke, or heart failure. Additionally, frequent alcohol intake has been linked to obesity, which can play a big role in heart problems. 

The American Heart Association has stated that to avoid excessive alcohol consumption, men should avoid having more than two drinks per day and women should avoid having more than one drink per day. 

Avoid Smoking and Tobacco Products

Quitting smoking and using tobacco products is an important step to protect your heart health. Nicotine causes blood vessel constriction, which limits the flow of nutrients and oxygen to all of the cells in your body. Additionally, the chemicals found in tobacco can harm your cardiovascular system. 

Exercise Daily

Exercising for 30 to 60 minutes per day can reduce your risk of heart disease and help you maintain a healthy weight. In the long run, daily exercise can help lower your risk of conditions including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol, which can compromise your heart health. 

For more tips on preventing heart disease, schedule an appointment with one of the experienced physicians at Florida Wellness Medical Group today.  

The Dangers of Excessive Earwax

The body naturally produces earwax as a protective measure for the ears. It’s antibacterial to fight infection and provides much-needed hydration. However, despite the benefits that earwax provides, you can have too much of a good thing. 

Typically, the body naturally prevents earwax buildup by moving it to the outside of the ear with everyday motions like chewing. Once the old earwax is out of the ear canal, it dries up and falls off.

If old earwax doesn’t move to the outside of the ears and flake off, it can accumulate in the ears. This is called earwax impaction, and it presents a variety of health risks. 

The Complications of Earwax Impaction

Earwax impaction can cause a variety of symptoms and complications, including:

  • Earache
  • Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
  • Temporary hearing loss
  • Ear itching
  • Vertigo/dizziness 
  • Cough

Swimmer’s ear, or otitis externa, is another possible complication of earwax impaction. This bacterial ear infection can cause pain, itchiness, swelling, and ear drainage. Antibiotic ear drops are the typical treatment for earwax impaction.  

How is Impacted Earwax Removed?

To prevent health complications and resolve uncomfortable symptoms, your doctor can remove impacted earwax. Your doctor may use various tools, such as suction or a cerumen spoon, to manually extract the impacted earwax. 

Preventing Earwax Impaction

To prevent earwax impaction, it’s crucial to avoid putting anything in your ears. Whether it be a cotton swab or your finger, putting objects into your ears will press earwax deeper into the ear canal, which increases the risk of impaction. 

There’s no need to clean the ear canal. If you do choose to clean your ears, make sure to only touch the outer portion of your ear. 

If you’re experiencing symptoms of earwax impaction, contact Florida Wellness Medical Group for medical care from one of our trained physicians today!

Ear Ache vs. Ear Infection

Pain in the ear is a common condition that can impact people of all ages, though it’s more common in children. It can often be difficult to tell whether ear pain is an ear infection or another type of earache. Here, we’ll discuss the differences between these conditions and what you can do to resolve ear pain. 

Ear Ache

An earache refers to pain in the ears that may or may not be caused by an infection. There are multiple possible causes of an earache other than an infection, including:

  • Earwax impaction, with which excessive earwax has accumulated and hardened in the ear canal. This blocks the ear canal and may cause pain.
  • TMJ problems, which occur when the TMJ joint becomes inflamed due to grinding or arthritis 
  • Eustachian tube dysfunction, which can cause ear pain with quick changes in pressure
  • An ear injury
  • Dental problems, such as cavities, infected molars, or tooth abscesses

Ear Infection

Ear infections may be bacterial or viral, and develop behind the eardrum. Especially prevalent among children, ear infections typically cause pain and swelling. Oftentimes, ear infections will resolve on their own, but your doctor can prescribe antibiotics to clear up bacterial ear infections quicker. Children under the age of two typically always need antibiotics to eliminate an ear infection. 

 

Colds, allergies, and chronic illnesses can all increase the risk of developing ear infections. Ear infections also often develop after a respiratory infection or cold. In addition to pain and swelling, an ear infection can cause fever, trouble hearing, and drainage from the ear. 

If you experience ear pain that doesn’t go away within a few days, visit your doctor. A medical professional can pinpoint the cause of your pain and provide the appropriate treatment. 

For prompt treatment for ear pain, schedule an appointment at Florida Wellness Medical Group today. 

The Dangers of Excessive Earwax

Earwax is a substance that the body creates to keep your ears healthy. Also called cerumen, earwax is lubricating and has antibacterial properties. Typically, when earwax moves to the outside of the ear, it simply flakes away on its own. However, if earwax becomes impacted, meaning that it has excessively accumulated in the ear canal, it can cause problems. 

Earwax Impaction

Generally, earwax becomes impacted if people try to clean their ears with thin objects such as cotton swabs, pencils, bobby pins, or even their fingers. These objects push the earwax deeper into the ears, making impaction more likely. Trying to clean the ears in this way can also injure your ears. 

Symptoms

When left untreated, excessive earwax can lead to impaction that gets worse over time. Symptoms of an earwax blockage include:

  • Trouble hearing/hearing loss
  • Ear irritation  
  • Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
  • Dizziness/vertigo
  • Ear pain
  • Itchiness in the ear
  • Ear odor/discharge

Older adults who use hearing aids are at a higher risk for earwax impaction. If earwax continues to build up, it can lead to significant hearing loss, making prompt treatment for this condition crucial. 

Care For Earwax Impaction

To check if you’re experiencing earwax impaction, your doctor can look deep into the ear with an otoscope. Impacted earwax can then be softened with water, saline, or ear drops and removed. 

Generally, leaving your earwax alone is the best way to avoid impaction. The body should be able to clear away old earwax on its own. Using a cloth to wipe the outside of the ear can also help remove earwax, but you should never push the cloth into your ear. 

If you’re struggling with excessive earwax, schedule an appointment with one of the skilled physicians at Florida Wellness Medical Group for prompt treatment today. 

4 Symptoms of Cardiovascular Disease

Suddenly you clutch your chest, sweat profusely, and feel restless – you realize it is a cardiac arrest. This is one of the most common and ultimate symptoms that indicate you have a heart disease. But, it is not always possible to identify. For years, you tend to avoid small signs and finally, these manifest as a major heart attack. Before it is too late, try to understand your health and visit a cardio specialist. In this blog, we will discuss four symptoms that clearly project that you have cardiac trouble.

Chest Discomfort

The feeling of chest pain varies from person to person. Some explain this as pressure and some feel this as a burning or pinching sensation. What actually happens is a blockage in the artery that expresses itself as a chest pain. This usually happens when you are at rest or are working hard; and the pain lasts longer than a minute. If you ignore this chest discomfort and consider it as a minor issue, then you are making a mistake. Even if the case is not serious, visit a doctor and do a thorough check-up. This can clearly explain whether the issue is related to heart or not.

Dizziness

You can feel lightheaded if you have low pressure. If the dizziness continues then you may even become senseless. May be you are drinking or eating too less and that is causing this trouble. But, if the feeling is sudden along with chest pain or breathing problem, then it is a cardiac issue. Do not overlook it, rather see a doctor right away.

Exhaustion

Running out of breath after doing physical work is natural. But if you find this exhaustion is affecting you continuously, even after performing a simple task, then you should see a doctor. Restlessness of this type gradually makes you weak and with time, this can be a symptom of a heart attack, especially for women.

Snoring

Do you think snoring is normal while sleeping? Well, light snooze can be due to nose blockage; but if the sound grows like gasping or choking, this can be a sign of sleep apnea. This is when you stop breathing for a while which puts extra stress on your heart. Never ignore this condition, see a doctor, and on recommendation, use a CPAP machine to ease out your breathing while you sleep.

There are many such symptoms that you need to understand before these turn into something critical like a cardiac arrest. So, do not ignore them; rather visit a doctor for proper treatment.

Is Vaccination for Everyone

As the level of pollution increases, the society is exposed to a large number of diseases, many of which are yet unknown to the doctors. Even though the process of immunization has been successful in eradicating some of the most dangerous illnesses from the world, still a lot needs to be done. While children are the most vulnerable, even adults are not disease-proof. Thankfully, many of these diseases can be prevented with the use of proper vaccination. While it builds immunity on one hand, it also prevents the spread of it. Here are a few things that you need to know.

Adult Vaccination

It doesn’t matter even if you were vaccinated at a younger age; adult vaccination is important because with age many of that immunization abilities wear off. Several factors including your lifestyle and career affect your immunity. Many adults even develop complicated and chronic health conditions from certain vaccine-preventable diseases. For instance, an asthma patient runs the risk of complications from influenza, even if the symptoms are mild. So, it is better to get influenza vaccine every year to control the possible resurgence.

Adults are one of the main sources of infection for the children. It is better to take vaccines against all those infectious germs as early as possible and minimize the risk of spreading it.

Children Vaccination

Children usually have low immunity power. While adults can fight back a number of diseases, kids do not have that capacity. Vaccination, hence, protects the children and helps to develop a system that can keep them safe from such viruses and bacteria. Polio used to be a fearful disease in America causing death and paralysis across the country. Due to the successful vaccination, children are now free from this deadly disease. Nowadays, schools and childcare facilities do not admit children who are not vaccinated. Parents should never ignore this responsibility because apart from safeguarding their little ones, immunization can also save them the unnecessary medical bills.

Vaccination is important and you should always consult with your physician to stay updated on the latest findings. Consult our primary care division to know about all the vaccinations that you need.