Tag: Smoking

Tobacco-Free Awareness Week

For Tobacco-Free Awareness Week, NeedyMeds is taking a look at the costs of a smoking habit.  Smoking certainly has a cost on public health, with nearly half a million deaths attributed to tobacco use every year.  Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as increases risk for tuberculosis, eye disease, and problems with your immune system.  Since the Surgeon General started reporting on smoking and its health impacts in 1964, 20 million people have died from smoking-related illnesses, including 2.5 million nonsmokers who were exposed to secondhand smoke.  There are […]

American Heart Month to Raise Awareness

February is American Heart Month. With over 67 million Americans with high blood pressure, one’s awareness can save lives.  High blood pressure can present with no symptoms, making it important to check regularly and to set a goal with their doctor if they find their BP is too high. People with high blood pressure are four times more likely to die from a stroke and 3 times more likely to die from heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Americans.   In a previous blog post we discussed heart health in young men, but it is equally […]

5 Useful Mobile Apps

With the rise in popularity of smartphones developers have begun creating applications focused on health and medicine. There are now thousands of Apps out there, but which are worth downloading? In today’s blog post we are going to look at some free iPhone and Android apps we believe are worthwhile.  Know of a great healthcare app that we don’t have listed?  Let us know in the comments!   My Diabetes Home mySugars My Diabetes Home has a great app for keeping track of your blood sugar. The mySugars app is simple, just post your blood glucose levels to the app […]

Tips to Prevent Diabetes

According to a study by the American Diabetes Association, 25.8 million Americans had diabetes in 2011. That’s roughly 8.3% of the population. There are two major types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. It occurs when the pancreas looses it’s ability to produce insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to use glucose. Type 2 diabetes is more common. It occurs when the body is not able to use the insulin it makes. Type 2 is also known as insulin resistance or adult-onset diabetes. There is no known way to prevent type 1 […]

Heart Health Risks in Men – Paying Attention in Your 20’s

According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death among Americans with 597,689 deaths attributed to it in 2010. Heart disease kills one in four men in the United States. For many older men this is not news, and young men are becoming more aware of the facts every day – yet very few act upon this information. More and more doctors are saying that heart disease can be prevented, but it is up to us to act before it is too late.   So what can we do to prevent heart disease? First off, stop smoking. […]

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Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.