While the record-breaking heat the United States is experiencing this summer can stress people to their limits, it can be particularly hard to navigate for those with mental health issues. “All mental illnesses increase with heat because it results in more fatigue, irritability and anxiety, and it can exacerbate depressive episodes,” said Dr. Asim Shah, executive vice chair in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Excessive heat can cause anger, irritability, aggression, discomfort, stress and fatigue. Heat acts on serotonin, the neurotransmitter that regulates mood, leading to lower levels of happiness and increased levels of stress and fatigue, Shah explained. The most vulnerable groups include those with preexisting conditions and people who use abuse substances like alcohol. If people use substances, especially alcohol, they need to be more hydrated because combining substance use with heat requires even more hydration. Heat can make mental health issues worse, including aggressive behavior and mental fogging. In the worst case, confusion and disorientation can occur. What can someone with mental health issues do? Shah recommends hydrating and keeping your head covered outside. Pour water on your head to cool down and try staying in shade. If you usually go for walks outside, move inside by walking in a mall or a large space with air conditioning. If you take medications,…  read on >  read on >

People who carry a gene that’s associated with Alzheimer’s disease may lose their sense of smell long before memory and thinking problems occur, a new study suggests. This early sign of potential dementia is not seen in people who don’t carry this gene, called APOE e4, researchers report July 26 in the journal Neurology. “Testing a person’s ability to detect odors may be a useful way to predict future problems with cognition,” said researcher Dr. Matthew GoodSmith, a resident at the University of Chicago. “While more research is needed to confirm these findings and determine what level of smell loss would predict future risk, these results could be promising, especially in studies aiming to identify people at risk for dementia early in the disease,” GoodSmith added in a journal news release. For the study, the researchers surveyed more than 865 people about their ability to detect an odor and identify what they were smelling. Tests were given over five years. Those with memory or thinking problems were tested twice, five years apart. The investigators also took DNA samples. People who carried the gene variant for Alzheimer’s were 37% less likely to have good odor detection than people without the gene, the researchers found. Those with the gene experienced reduced smell detection from age 65 to 69. At that age, gene carriers could detect an average…  read on >  read on >

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration is seeking new rules to push insurance companies to increase coverage of mental health treatment. The new rules, which still must go through a public comment period, would require insurers to study if customers have the same medical and mental health benefits and fix any disparities if they don’t. “You know, we can all agree mental health care is health care,” Biden said in a White House news release. “It is health care. It’s essential to people’s well-being and their ability to lead a full and productive life, to find joy, to find purpose, to take care of themselves and their loved ones. It’s about dignity. Think about this.” The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, passed in 2008, requires insurers to offer the same mental and physical health care coverage, which isn’t the case now. “Folks, it shouldn’t be this way,” Biden said at a White House event highlighting the announcement. “It doesn’t need to be this way.” “But, right now, for millions of Americans, mental health care and treatment for substance abuse is out of reach,” Biden added. “It’s out of reach. In 2020, less than half — less than half of all adults with mental illness diagnosis received care for it. Less than half.” If finalized, the new rules would change that. “I…  read on >  read on >

Women are more likely to develop endometriosis if they have elevated levels of cadmium in their system, a new study reports. Twice as many women with slightly or moderately elevated levels of the toxic element wound up with endometriosis compared to women with the lowest levels, researchers say. “Although endometriosis is estimated to affect 1 in 10 women, the reason why this condition develops in some women and not in others remains unclear,” said senior researcher Kristen Upson, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Michigan State University. “Our research on environmental contaminants and finding of an association between cadmium exposure and endometriosis is helping to move the needle closer to understanding risk factors for endometriosis,” she added. This newly discovered association between endometriosis and cadmium is “a good starting point for additional studies that look at other environmental factors and how they can perhaps cause endometriosis,” said Dr. Susan Khalil, director of the Division of Sexual Health in the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Mount Sinai. “I think it doesn’t give exact recommendations for action at this time, or things that you can translate into clinical management. So I can’t really make recommendations off of this for patients,” Khalil added. “But I would at the same time say it’s great they’re finding these associations, so they…  read on >  read on >

More than half of all patients with autoimmune diseases also suffer from depression and anxiety — but most are never asked about their mental health, a new study finds. Surveying more than 1,800 patients, British researchers found more than half rarely or never reported their mental health symptoms to their doctor. This could mean the range of mental health and neurological symptoms is much wider than has been reported. “The low level of reporting we identified is a major concern as problems with mental health, fatigue and cognition can be life-changing, and sometimes life-threatening,” said study co-author Dr. Melanie Sloan in a Cambridge news release. She is in the university’s department of public health and primary care. Another author, Dr. Tom Pollak, said the numbers were “startling.” “We have known for some time that having a systemic autoimmune disease can negatively affect one’s mental health, but this study paints a startling picture of the breadth and impact of these symptoms,” said Pollak, who is from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London. “Everyone working in health care with these patients should routinely ask about mental well-being, and patients should be supported to speak up without fear of judgment. No patient should suffer in silence,” Pollak added. For the study, the researchers surveyed 1,853 patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as lupus…  read on >  read on >