Saturday, 31 October 2015

Your guide to alkaline foods

Prevention is the best medicine to diseases. This prevention can be achieved by eating right and living a healthy lifestyle.  There are so many diseases that cannot grow in an alkaline environment. Our body is supposed to be maintained at a slightly alkaline environment. But due to our poor diet and lifestyle, our bodies are sometimes acidic. The foods that make our internal system to be alkaline include fruits and vegetables. Every health care worker will always stress the importance of including fruits and vegetables in our diets.

Alkaline foods
Alkaline foods are able to increase the amount of oxygen that is absorbed by our blood. The amount of oxygen our blood absorbs can be rated on a pH scale from 0 to 14. 0 is acidic while 14 is alkaline.

As a general rule, raw foods (including fruits and green leafy vegetables) are able to increase our alkalinity. However, not all raw foods are alkalizing, and there are some acidic foods that instead increase our pH when digested. Examples of alkaline foods include:

  • Fresh fruits
  • Fresh herbs for example cayenne, ginger
  • Raw green leafy vegetables
  • Sprouts for example broccoli

Acidic foods.
When we consume too much acidic foods, it can lead to acidosis. Majority of the things many people love are acidic. Acidic foods are not harmless unless we leave on it and don’t balance our system by eating alkaline rich foods. Some acidic foods include:

  • Sugar
  • Meat
  • Chicken
  • Egg
  • Bad fats
  • Some fruits
  • Junk and processed foods
  • Alcohol
  • grains
Our body is balanced when we have a pH of about 7.365

Our body is balanced when our pH is about 7.365. When our body becomes too acidic, we develop diseases like candida infections, cancer, diseases of the cardiovascular system, diabetes etc. The things that make us acidic are the food we eat, parasites, stress and toxins.

It is important for everybody to learn how to live right and eat healthy food. Everybody should try to eat at least any vegetable or fruit every day. The trend of diseases like cancer keeps spiking up and a healthy diet and lifestyle may be a cure to so many diseases that plaque us today. 

Sources:
http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/what-causes-cancer-2.html
http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/alkaline-food-list.html
http://phkillscancer.com/protocol/

How to measure your PH. It helps you to know your present state of health


Many people are familiar with some health values that are crucial to staying healthy for example weight, blood pressure and glucose level values. What some people are unaware of is the significance of measuring their pH level.

It is very easy to measure pH level and you need is to buy pH test strips (litmus paper). It cost about 8,000 XAF (about 15 USD).

The blood of a healthy human being is supposed to have a pH of about 7.35.  If your pH level is below 7, it is acidic and it means you are in poor health. You will probably have to eat something that is alkaline to get your pH level up. Furthermore, there are many diseases that thrive in our body when our pH level is low. This low pH level could come as a result of the consumption of the wrong foods and eating less fruits and vegetables.

How to test your pH     

·       Buy pH test strips from a pharmacy. It is also known as litmus paper
·       Get your pH test strip and urinate on it or dip it in urine
·       After the pH strip comes in contact with urine, the colour will change.
·       Compare the colour to that found on the pH container or test strip box

Understanding your results
(image source: brightcore.com)
Your pH value will vary slightly if you measure it more than once in a day. The first reading is usually the lowest. If you get a pH reading of 7.3 to about 8, you are healthy and some diseases cannot grow in your body.

If you get a pH reading of 7 and below, it means that you are not healthy. This means that you don’t have enough minerals like potassium, magnesium, sodium and calcium. Remember that eating foods that are high in potassium help in the prevention of hypertension.  In order to get your pH level up you will have to eat alkaline foods. everything in our body is supposed to be balanced. Unfortunately,the foods and things we love most are making us acidic (for example, sugars, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, processed foods etc). Too much acidity is a fertile ground for diseases and if we are acidic for long, diseases like cancer can develop in our bodies. 

Friday, 30 October 2015

Learning about end-of-life care

The "death panel" frenzy propounded by Sarah Palin and an army of uninformed and ill-intentioned allies when the administration proposed paying physicians for conversations with their patients about end-of-life care has come to a quiet conclusion.

Medicare  has finally authorized payment for advanced care planning "at the discretion of the beneficiary" in both the outpatient and hospital setting. These discussions require sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and time. Medicare will pay $86 for the first 30 minutes and up to $75 more for 30 additional minutes. The fee is far from lucrative when overhead costs for maintaining an office are taken into consideration, but it recognizes and compensates physicians for a core medical responsibility - collaborating with patients at every phase of life.

The moral of this happy story is that although it took six years, it shows that we are capable of moving beyond disinformation and hysteria and understanding what caring medical practice requires!

(For previous posts about "death panels" see herehere, here and here.)

11 foods that fight against breast cancer

Every year, billions of dollars are spent on research, trying to come up with the best cure for breast cancer. The deaths that have been caused by breast cancer continue to rise every year. In this modern day man continues to search for the best alternative to the treatment and cure of breast cancer. as of now, nutritional science is one of the promising fields in the fight against diseases like breast cancer. The following foods are able to reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.

1 Cabbage


Cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables contain a phytochemical called glucosinolates. When we chop or cut the vegetables, the glucosinates are converted to isothiocyanates (ITCs). ITCs are protective against cancers that grow in the presence of hormones, for example breast cancer. ITCs also prevents the growth of tumours, kills some cancer cells and gets rid of cancer causing agents (carcinogens).

2 mushroom

Mushroom contains antioxidants like L-ergothioneine that is able to fight against cancer. A study that was published in 2010 in Nutrition and Cancer showed that premenopausal women who consumed mushroom were less likely to develop breast cancer. mushroom also fights breast cancer cells that feed on hormones like estrogen.

3 Broccoli
Research has showed that broccoli is able to block tumour growth. Women who eat broccoli regularly are less likely to develop breast cancer than those who do not. Cabbage and broccoli are cruciferous vegetables that help in preventing the growth of tumours. Other cruciferous vegitables include cauliflower, kale and brussel sprouts.  

4 Garlic
Adding garlic to your meal may help in the prevention of breast cancer. people who are on medication should consult their doctor in order to avoid any interactions.

5 Apples
An apple a day, keeps the doctor away… Any variety of apple can be eaten in the fight against breast cancer. Apples are able to fight the spread of cancer cells and should be consumed regularly. Apple is also packed with antioxidants that fight cancer.

6 Pomegranates

Pomegranates may help in the prevention of breast cancer, especially breast cancers that grow in the presence of estrogen.

7 Flax seeds, sesame seeds and chia seeds
bottled sesame seeds sold in Cameroon


Flax seeds, sesame seeds and chia seeds  contains lignans, which may help in decreasing the growth rate of cancer cells

8 Onions

The presence of quercetin in cancer helps in the prevention of cancer. Researchers have found out that quercetin is able to prevent breast, ovarian, endometrial, prostate, colon and long tumours from growing. Red onions have a high amount of quercetin when compared to white onion. Apples also contain quercetin.

9 carrots
Some studies have showed that women who consume carotenoids are less likely to develop breast cancer, and other types of cancer such as colon and prostate cancer.

10 sweet potatoes
Sweet potato has vitamins and anti-oxidants that may help in the prevention of breast cancer.

11 Berries

Adding berries to any diet is able to lower a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

Sources:
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/foods-fight-breast-cancer?page=3

Treatment of Breast Cancer


The treatment of breast cancer will depend on:
  • The patient’s age, general health status
  • The stage of the cancer
  • The presence of inherited cancer genes such as BRCA1 or BRCA2

Breast cancer is treated using the following methods
  1. surgery:surgery is done to remove the lump found in the breast, or it may be done to remove the entire breast. The removal of a breast tumour and the surrounding tissues is known as lumpectomy. if the entire breast is cut of, it is known as a mastectomy. Re-constructive surgery of the breast can be done if a woman has undergone mastectomy. 


2 chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells, or to arrest their growth. Chemotherapy can be given to a patient before surgery. this is known as neoadjuvant chemotherapy. it is given before surgery to shrink a tumour. Chemotherapy can also be given to patients after surgery. When chemotherapy is given after surgery, it is known as adjuvant chemotherapy.


The side effects of chemotherapy will depend on the dose of chemotherapy, its schedule,  the drugs used and the health status of the individual. These side effects include:
  • Hair loss
  • nausea
  • vomiting
  • loss of appetite
  • heart damage
  • secondary cancers.


3 Radiation

Radiation uses high energy x-rays or other particles to kill the cancer cells.  Some of the side effects of radiation include:
  • skin hyper pigmentation
  • burning of the skin which is sometimes accompanied with blisters
  • pneumonitis
  • fatigue
  • swelling of the radiated breast


4 Hormone therapy
This is used for cancer cells that grow in the presence of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone. These drugs block estrogen or progesterone from binding to breast cancer cells that grow in the presence of these hormones. An example of a hormone therapy drug is Tamoxiphen. 

For a detailed reading on the treatment of breast cancer, see the sources below:
Sources:

Wii Fit Games for Children with Coordination Problems

Among the types of development problems of childhood is developmental coordination disorder or DCD.

In DCD, children show delay and subnormal performance in coordinated motor skills.

This may be noted as a general tendency of clumsiness with difficulties in activities such as catching a ball, using scissors, handwriting or riding a bike.

Computer games such as the Nintendo Wii platform provide a method to improve a variety of motor and coordination skills in a fun environment.

A South African team recently published a study comparing children with and without DCD on motor learning using the Wii ski slalom game.

In this study, the Wii ski slalom game was integrated into a school classroom setting. Children with and without DCD engaged in 20 minutes of the ski slalom game twice a week for five weeks. Performance in the game and on a motor assessment battery was assessed at baseline and at the end of the training period.

The key findings from the study were:

  • As expected children with DCD performed more poorly on the Wii ski slalom game at baseline
  • Both groups showed evidence of motor learning throughout the training period. The amount of improvement was not different in the DCD group compared to control children
  • Both groups improved performance on a Yoga balance skill task
  • Skill improvement in the DCD on the Wii game platform transferred to improvement in the standardized motor assessment battery
  • Children in both groups rated the Wii ski slalom game as "super fun" or "fun"

The authors conclude that video games "may have the potential to be a valuable additional tool in intervention" for children with DCD.

Children with DCD show motor and balance learning with computer game interventions. Identifying these children early and intervening with enhanced coordination learning activities may significantly reduce the gap with typically development children.

Readers with more interest in this topic can access the free full-text manuscript by clicking on the PMID link in the citation below.

Photo of downtown Tulsa with impressionism filter is from the author's photo files.

Follow the author on Twitter @WRY999

Smits-Engelsman BC, Jelsma LD, Ferguson GD, & Geuze RH (2015). Motor Learning: An Analysis of 100 Trials of a Ski Slalom Game in Children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder. PloS one, 10 (10) PMID: 26466324

Thursday, 29 October 2015

Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

Diagnosis of breast cancer is an ongoing procedure. The test for the presence of breast cancer usually falls into three categories: screening, diagnostic and monitoring test.
The following test are used to determine whether someone has breast cancer and also to follow up the treatment. The method of diagnosis will depend on the following:
  • Type of cancer suspected
  • Sign and symptoms
  • Age and medical condition
  •  Previous test and results

1.Biopsy
A biopsy is the removal of small amount of tissue for examination under a microscope. Different techniques are used to carry out a biopsy.
  •  Fine needle aspiration: this uses a needle to remove small samples of cells can be used.
fine needle aspiration (photo credit: medicinenet.com)

  • Larger samples of cells can be gotten using a wider needle. This is referred to as core needle biopsy.
  • Image guided biopsy is used when a lump cannot be felt but it can be seen on a mammogram or any other imaging test. The needle that is used to collect the sample is guided to the tumour with the aid of an imaging technique such as ultrasound, MRI or mammography.
  • Biopsy can be gotten through surgery. It could be incisional surgical biopsy (where part of the lump is removed) or excisional (where the entire lump is removed). However, surgical biopsy is not the recommended way to diagnose breast cancer. This is usually done after fine needle aspiration or core needle biopsy and other test have confirmed the presence of a tumour.
Image source: drmathewlubin.com



The examination of a biopsy will reveal the following:
  • The features of the tumour. Analysis of the biopsy will determine if the tumour is invasive or insitu, ductal or lobular and if it has spread to the lymph nodes.

  • The grades of the tumour. The tumour is graded with respect to its difference from normal cells. There are three grades: grade 1 is well differentiated, grade 2 is moderately differentiated and grade 3 is poorly differentiated.


2 imaging test
Imaging test can be used to further confirm the diagnosis of cancer. The imaging test that are commonly used are:
  • Ultrasound. It uses high frequency sound waves to create an image of the entire breast. It can distinguish between a solid mass and a fluid filled mass.  this is because solid masses are usually tumours while fluid filled masses are usually cysts.
  • Mammography: Diagnostic  mammography is used when a woman is experiencing the signs of breast cancer, such as a lump in the breast or if the breast is swollen and painful. Diagnostic mammography is also used if there is an abnormality in the breast after screening mammography has taken place. 
(image source: ladycarehealth.com)

  • MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). It uses magnetic fields to produce images of the breast or body. It is used for screening, and it is also used to check the size of a breast tumour.


3 Blood test
A pathologist may order blood test to learn more about the cancer. The following blood test are usually ordered.
  • Complete blood count
  • Serum test: this test examines minerals in blood (for example calcium and potassium) and enzymes. If cancer is present, they will be abnormal. For example blood calcium levels can be high if cancer has spread to the bone.  Total bilirubin count is able to test the functioning of the liver. A high level of bilirubin can mean that the liver is damaged and signify that cancer may have spread to the liver. It important to note that other diseases can make these values go up.
4 supplementary imaging test
These additional test are done for women who are at a later stage of breast cancer. it is not used for people at early stages of breast cancer. Majority of this test will be done after surgery to determine if cancer has spread.
  • Computerized tomography (CT scan)
This is used to determine if tumours have spread to other organs such as the bone, liver, brain and lymph nodes. It can also be used to measure tumour size and if the tumour is responding to treatment.
  • X-rays: x-rays use radiation to get a picture of structures inside the body
  • Bone scan: this is done to determine if cancer has bread to the bones.






Types and stages of Breast cancer


Breast cancer can either be invasive or noninvasive.

Invasive breast cancer: as the name implies, invasive breast cancer is capable of spreading to the surrounding tissues. Invasive breast cancer is further divided into two types: infiltrating ductal carcinoma and infiltrating lobular carcinoma. Infiltrating ductal carcinoma penetrates the wall of the ducts of the breast and continues to spread to areas outside the walls of the ducts. 

Infiltrating lobular carcinoma on the other hand spreads through the walls of the lobules of the breast and continues to spread outside the lobules.

Noninvasive breast cancer
These are cancers that are found in situ.Noninvasive breast cancer has two types:  ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS). DCIS are found only within the ducts while LCIS are found only within the lobules.

anatomy of the female breast showing the ducts and lobules of the breast


Depending on whether cancer is invasive or noninvasive, breast cancer is divided into stages using a scale from 0 to IV. the classification of breast cancer into stages depends on the following:
  • The size of the tumour within the breast
  • The number of lymph nodes affected
  • Whether or not the breast cancer has invaded other body organs

Stage 0
This is for cancer cells that are in situ and have not spread to the surrounding breast tissue. Lobular Carcinoma in situ (LCIS) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are of stage 0

Stage I
Stage I refers to cancer cells that have not spread beyond the breast and are less than 2 cm in size

Stage II
Stage II is used to describe:
  • Tumours that have spread to the lymph nodes under a woman’s arm and the tumour is  less than 2 cm in size
  • Tumours that has not spread to the lymph nodes under the arms of a woman, but the tumour is greater than 5 cm
  • Tumours that are between 2 and 5 cm and may have spread to the lymph nodes
  • Tumours that are between 2 and 5 cm and have not spread to the lymph nodes

Stage III
Stage III is used to describe tumours that are greater than 5cm in size and has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm.

Stage IV
Stage IV is also known as metastatic cancer. this is because the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. 

For a detailed further reading on the stages of breast cancer and sub stages, see the sources below
Sources:

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Symptoms of Breast cancer

 Symptoms of breast cancer
From the beginning, the symptoms of breast cancer may not be visible. Some lumps may be too small to be felt. It is very important for a doctor to check any lump found in the breast, because it may or may not be cancerous. According to the American Cancer Society, the following may be a symptom of breast cancer:
·       A lump in the breast
·       A thick area of breast tissue
·       A discharge from any of the nipple especially if blood is present
·       Any abnormality in the appearance of the nipple for example if it sinks into the breast.
·       A Rash on your nipple or around the nipple
·       Dimpling of the skin of the breast
·       A change in the shape or size of one or both breast


It is very important for women to always know how their breast look like, so that they will be able to spot any abnormality as soon as possible.
Sources: 

Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Improving Diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia

This month I have been focusing on research advances in neuropsychology in neuroscience medicine.

My daily feed screener picked up a report of a screening tool for Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) today.

LBD is often confused with Alzheimer's disease. Distinguishing the two is important for management and selection of appropriate drug treatment.

This research is not published in a free full-text manuscript format but there is a link to the scale for readers with more interest.

The research study examined the validity of a newly developed scale called the Lewy Body Composite Risk Score or LBCRS.

This score is calculated from a ten-item yes-no questionnaire that includes questions on the presence or absence of:

  • Movement initiation difficulty
  • Muscular rigidity
  • Postural instability with frequent falls
  • Tremor at rest
  • Excessive daytime sleepiness
  • Illogical, incoherent thought
  • Staring or blank look spells
  • Visual hallucinations
  • Acting out dreams
  • Orthostatic hypotension/autonomic insufficiency


Using a cutoff score of 3 positive responses yielded a high discrimination of LBD from Alzheimer's disease in a group of 256 patients.

The link to the scale and administration directions can be found here.

Accurate tools for identifying LBD are needed and this scale may be helpful for clinicians. It will be interesting to follow to see if this study can be replicated in another sample.

Figure of brain basal ganglia commonly affected in LBD is an iPad screenshot from the app 3D Brain from the author's files.

Follow the author on Twitter WRY999
Galvin JE (2015). IMPROVING THE CLINICAL DETECTION OF LEWY BODY DEMENTIA WITH THE LEWY BODY COMPOSITE RISK SCORE. Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1 (3), 316-324 PMID: 26405688

Monday, 26 October 2015

Anna Stubblefield: Victim and Perpetrator

An article in  yesterday's New York Times told a remarkable story about Anna Stubblefield, former chair of the philosophy department at Rutgers University, who was convicted on two counts of aggravated sexual assault for having sex with a 31 year old man who the jury concluded was so severely disabled he could not consent to a sexual relationship.

The story hinges on "facilitated communication," a scientifically discredited practice that claims to achieve access to the hidden thoughts of persons with autism and other conditions that have hitherto precluded communication. In the technique, the "facilitator" claims to reach the "communication partner" by assisting the partner to type responses to questions.


I'd somehow never heard the fascinating history of facilitated communication until I read the NYT article. Imagine how moving it is to parents when they are told that their supposedly disabled offspring tells them that he is now overjoyed to be able to communicate and that he loves them very much. And imagine how horrified families are when the facilitated message accuses them of incest and other forms of violence.

I encourage readers who want to learn more about the scientific debunking of facilitated communication to follow the link above and to do a Google search for more. The phenomenon is reminiscent of the "Ouija Board," an occult practice that claimed to communicate with the dead. I remember my parents talking about Ouija Boards when I was a child. I believe they were joking about them, but many believed then that the board allowed spirits to speak to us, and it's still possible to purchase a board even now.



 But in this post I want to discuss the Anna Stubblefield case in connection to my many (21) posts on "doctor-patient sex." Here are my speculations, based solely on the New York Times article and the links it provided:
  1. I read excerpts from Professor Stubblefield's writings. They reflected intelligence, thoughtfulness, and passionate commitment to social justice.
  2. Reaching the hitherto unreachable is a noble aspiration, shared by physicians, educators and other  professionals.
  3. Facilitated communication involves intimate connection - including physical contact - between what I will here call "doctor" and "patient."
  4. As a result, it's a living Rorschach that allows the "facilitator" to project beliefs (as about the prevalence of abuse) and desires (as about sex) onto the "communication partner"/"patient".
  5. Professor Stubblefield and her supporters believe that her "communication partner"/"patient" was competent to consent to a mutually agreed upon sexual relationship.
  6. The family, the prosecutor, and the jury concluded that the "communication partner"/"patient" was not able to consent, and that the relationship was criminally exploitative.
  7. However, even on Professor Stubblefield's hypothesis that her "communication partner"/"patient" had the capacity for competent consent for a sexual relationship, in her role as "facilitator"/"educator"/"therapist," it was unethical for her to enter into the relationship.
  8. My guess is that Professor Stubblefield's treating the family as if they were harming their son & brother by opposing her relationship with him was especially provocative to them. They had been caring for their family member for 31 years and were now being told they were undermining his well being.
Professor Stubblefield will be sentenced next month, and could receive as much as 40 years in prison! Physicians who have sex with their patients may be sued for malpractice and may lose their licenses, but they are not subject to lengthy prison terms. My guess is that gender (female clinician/male patient) and race (white clinician/black patient) are major factors explaining why Professor Stubblefield could be punished so much more severely than male physicians who have sex with female patients. "Boys will be boys" is a deeply held societal perspective!

In 1992, Dr. Margaret Bean-Bayog, who I had the privilege of supervising when she did her residency in psychiatry, was the subject of sensationalistic press coverage and two books when she was accused of having had sex with a male patient who subsequently killed himself. She argued that the intense attention she received derived from public fascination with the concept of a rapacious female sexual predator. 

I believe Dr. Bean-Bayog was correct, and that similar forces are in the background of the public attention to Professor Stubblefield.  I agree with Professor Stubblefield's attorney that "...this has been a very unusual case. She fell in love. She has no prior history of sexual misconduct whatsoever. She has no criminal record." Professor Stubblefield acted unethically, but she should not be facing the possibility of a prolonged incarceration.





Saturday, 24 October 2015

RANSBIZ: 20 Advantages-Benefits Drinking of KANGEN WATER ...

RANSBIZ: 20 Advantages-Benefits Drinking of KANGEN WATER ...:              Why you should drink Kangen water This post is brought to you buy Global E-Commerce Network   Cameroon.   Our clients...

Friday, 23 October 2015

Fighting Bed Bugs and Their Bites

Eileen K. Carpenter, MD
Eileen K. Carpenter, MD
Eileen K. Carpenter, MD, an internal medicine physician at Penn Medicine Washington Square, discusses how to win the battle against bed bugs.

Aaaack! Insects that fly into your house to suck your blood in the night, leaving itchy red skin bumps, and carrying multiple potentially deadly diseases!

Actually, that paragraph was describing mosquitoes. Bed bugs don't carry diseases, only fly via commercial airlines, and can be successfully eradicated from your home.

You've been living with mosquitoes your whole life and have learned to cope with them, and bed bugs aren't nearly as bad. One of the reasons bed bug infestations cause so much difficulty is that people panic, take unnecessary steps to get rid of them, and end up making things worse.

Know your enemies

Bed bugs are here to stay, and most people are going to make their acquaintance from time to time. Take a few deep breaths, get to know their habits and weaknesses, and you will have more success avoiding, containing and eliminating them. Most mistakes are made within the first 24 hours after people first see a bed bug, so have a response plan ready in advance.

Basic facts about bed bugs: They start as eggs, glued tightly to a surface near where their moms have been feeding. They hatch as tiny transparent critters and get their characteristic brown color after they've had a meal of blood. They grow by shedding their skins until they reach adult size. They never go through a pupa (cocoon-like) stage the way mosquitoes do, and they never develop wings.

Bed bugs can live for several years, looking for a meal the whole time. They commonly bite three times before getting full for the night, leaving three itchy, red bumps in a group on the skin. But they can also live long periods without feeding - maybe even an entire year - in a cool place.

Don't create a bed bug migration!

Bed bugs may not fly, but those suckers can run like ants. You can't get away from them by moving out of the room where you saw them. They'll follow you, and then you'll have them in two rooms. Exterminators charge by the room, so changing bedrooms or sleeping on the couch is a newbie mistake.

Click to enlarge
But because bed bugs will always try to find a human (or pet) at night, you can contain the infestation by continuing to sleep in the same room. Bed bugs are attracted by the carbon dioxide in your breath. They will find you if you move, but they'll stay where there’s food. Bed bugs also don't like light and will run for cover when lights are on. If the infested room is dark, and the uninfested rooms are lighted all night, it discourages them from wandering. They tend to bite exposed areas of the body, permitting a quick get-away when lights come on. They are also less likely to bite the head – they're good at not waking sleeping people.

There is no bug spray or bug bomb you can buy without a license that will cure a bed bug problem. You're just going to annoy them, drive them into new hiding places, and end up paying the exterminator to treat more rooms. However, it is safe to use diatomaceous earth, a dust composed of dried, microscopic, spiny sea creatures, which is available in home and garden stores. It kills insects without repelling them, and it isn't poisonous. Use it around the legs of the bed and around the edges of rooms to kill bugs that are moving back and forth from their daytime hiding places. You probably won't completely eliminate your bed bug problem, but if your finances don't permit hiring a professional exterminator immediately, it will help keep the problem from exploding.

It’s important to remember that bed bugs will travel from house to house by hiding in objects like clothing, purses, backpacks or luggage. When those objects are left in dimly lit places, the bed bugs will come out to look for a new place to hide. They then ride in that new object to another home. Movie theaters, kids' sleepovers, booths in diners, the space under the seats in buses, or shared storage lockers/drawers for purses and coats are all good places for bed bug transfer to occur. When you or your belongings have been someplace dark, think about the possibility of bed bugs when you return to your home.

Bed bugs are absolutely ecstatic when you drag your mattress out to the street, by the way. Please don't do it! They and their eggs will just drop off in your living room and infest your couch and chairs, and they'll go home with the sanitation workers – except your town's sanitation workers probably no longer pick up mattresses without covers, so the bugs will just walk back into you and your neighbors' homes when it gets dark.

Avoid getting bitten

So you're thinking, “This crazy doctor is telling me to keep sleeping with the bed bugs?” Here's where knowing bed bug habits will help during the time between finding the first bug and getting the exterminator in. By taking advantage of their predictable behavior, you can continue to sleep peacefully.

avoid bed bugs
Bed bugs love rough surfaces and skinny crevices. Cloth, wood, paper and plaster are good surfaces for them to climb. But they don't do well on smooth surfaces like plastic, tile, chrome or glass. You can keep them from climbing into uninfested/disinfected beds by putting the legs of the beds in empty plastic food containers (like Tupperware®) or by rubber-banding plastic bags around the legs. Just make sure the sheets and blankets don't drag on the ground. And pull the bed away from the walls. They'll spend the night walking 'round and round, trying to figure out how to get to you. Look around the next morning and kill any that haven't gone into hiding.

Bed bugs spend their days as close to where you sleep as they can get away with. They love the little folds on the edges of mattresses, between the mattress and box spring, inside the stuffing of the box spring, under the plastic guard at the edge of the box spring, or between the box spring and the metal frame. The bed frame and headboard can be scrubbed and vacuumed, but you'll never get them out of the stuffing of the box spring. Once they're in there, you can only seal them inside with a zippered cover. You'd much rather keep them out in the first place, right? Get bed bug covers for all your mattresses and box springs before you get an infestation, and your life will be much easier once it happens. Be sure to get the kind made of zippered fabric; plastic tears too easily. You're going to want the covers to stay in place for years.

Once you see evidence of bed bugs, nothing should leave any room except in a plastic bag. Run all clothes and bedding through the washer and a long, hot tumble in the dryer (at least 30 minutes at high heat). Then leave the clothes in plastic bags until the exterminator has declared your home bed-bug-free. Clean out all bedroom drawers and closets.

Bed bug elimination involves repeatedly scrubbing and vacuuming every couple days to eliminate the eggs and hatchlings as they appear. Alcohol only works if you really get things wet, so it's really not practical for large areas. Vacuum cleaner bags have to be thrown away outside every day, sealed in a plastic bag or trash container. Even with a professional exterminator coming, you will have to do these types of environmental controls yourself.

Also, be sure to keep all pets out of your bedrooms while in the process of controlling bed bugs.

How do you know a rash is due to bed bugs?

If you're waking up with itchy red bumps, particularly in groups of three, suspect bed bugs. The only sure way to know is to find evidence of the bugs, droppings or eggs. But don't assume that you don't have bed bugs just because you can't find any in your bed. They can crawl into the other furniture, into the cracks at the edges of your walls, into your electrical outlets, or occasionally into appliances like clock radios. Even professional exterminators with bed-bug-sniffing dogs don't find the bugs 100% of the time. And don't assume you can't have bed bugs if only one person is getting bites. The bites themselves are painless, and not everyone is allergic to the chemical they inject to numb you while they are biting. A tiny red dot may be the only sign.

Finally, do your best to avoid scratching the bites, as it can lead to scarring. Try pressing on each one with an ice pack until the itch stops. Hot showers make the itching worse, and alcohol can dry your skin and cause more itching, too. Over-the-counter antihistamine pills, like cetirizine or diphenhydramine, help itching.

Hopefully you can get started on effective control measures the first day you see a bug, so you don't actually have to deal with many bites.

Interested in learning more helpful health tips?