WARM UP:

One Joke: 

• Secretary: “Doctor, there’s a patient on line one who says he’s invisible.”

• Doctor: “Well, tell him I can’t see him right now.”

One Fact: 

About 5 percent of adults in the U.S. experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  SAD typically lasts about 40 percent of the year. It is more common among women than men.  SAD has been linked to a biochemical imbalance in the brain prompted by shorter daylight hours and less sunlight in winter.

One Quote:

"What we are teaches the child far more than what we say, so we must be what we want our children to become."

Source: Teaching Children to Love ​

One Guess…Name That Disease: (Answer at bottom)

• Description:  Inflammatory bowel disease leading to ulcers and inflammation of the digestive tract.  Typically affects the large intestine and rectum. 

• Signs and Symptoms:  Diarrhea (often with blood/pus), abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, weight loss, fatigue, joint pain. 

• Diagnosis:  Colonoscopy with biopsy used to make the diagnosis.  Imaging, blood work, barium enema may play a role as well.

• Treatment:  First line treatment may include steroids or sulfasalazine to decrease inflammation.  Second line treatment may include immunosuppressive agents (azathioprine) and biological agents (infliximab or adalimumab).  Third line treatment is colectomy.  

• Prognosis:  Symptoms are mild in about half of patients.  With treatment, patients typically have intermittent exacerbations with periods of complete symptomatic remission.  Surgery required for severe cases.   Associated with increased risk of colon cancer.

HEALTHCARE HEADLINES:

** Check out this new release of the fastest growing health care jobs in America.  Nurse practitioner clocked in at #1.  Did your job make the list?

** Following last week’s election results, marijuana is now legal in more than half of states.

TOGETHER WITH VERB:

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WATER COOLER WONDERS…the stuff we found interesting this week:

** Stat: Child care now costs more than $700/month, up 32% from 2019 and raising affordability concerns for many struggling young families.

** News: China says it will mass-produce "advanced level" humanoid robots by 2025.

** Learn: Check out these 10 amazing facts about our home sweet home, planet Earth.  Did you know the earth isn’t really round after all?  

** Picture: Check out U.S. News’s list of the most popular dog names across the US.

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS:

As mentioned above, 5% of Americicans may suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  

As the days become shorter, darker, and colder, it’s common to feel the “winter blues.”  However, subclinical SAD may affect another 10% of Americans who don’t quite meet the definition of depression, making this a widespread problem in the winter months.

Symptoms may include feelings of sadness, tiredness, and weight gain resulting from cravings for certain foods such as carbs.  SAD can occur in the late fall or winter months and is related to reduced sunlight exposure and resulting disruption of circadian rhythms.  

So what can you do if you suffer from SAD?  For simple cases, light treatment can be quite effective.  This involves using a light box of 10,000 lux first thing in the morning, ideally before 8am and at the same time each morning.  Patients should position the light about a foot away for 15-30 minutes, seven days a week.  The improvement can take several weeks but can be significant.  Other treatments include proper sleep hygiene, physical activity ideally outdoors with natural light first thing in the morning, and vitamin D supplementation if indicated. For more severe cases, patients may need to see their doctor and medications such as antidepressants may be indicated.

To see a helpful list of light boxes, check out this helpful website from Yale.

THANKS FOR READING!

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Disease Answer: Ulcerative Colitis