(HealthDay News) – After six weeks of in-patient treatment at Walter Reed National MIlitary Medical Center, Sen. John Fetterman is back home in western Pennsylvania and in remission from depression. Fetterman will return to the Senate when Congress reconvenes April 17 after a recess. The Pennsylvania senator had been hospitalized since Feb. 15. “I am so happy to be home. I’m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs,” Fetterman said in a statement on Twitter. The 53-year-old senator has a wife and three school-age children. Fetterman suffered a stroke that almost killed him while campaigning last May, followed by surgery to implant a pacemaker to manage the heart conditions atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy. Depression is a common post-stroke symptom. Since then, he has also been dealing with an auditory processing disorder, which can affect a person’s ability to speak fluidly and quickly process spoken conversation. He uses devices to transcribe words in real time, the Associated Press reported. Fetterman was supplied with hearing aids while at Walter Reed. Fetterman spoke on Sunday about the symptoms he had been experiencing prior to being admitted to the hospital. During a “CBS Sunday Morning” interview, Fetterman said that “[I] had stopped leaving my bed, I’d stopped eating,…  read on >  read on >

A cancer diagnosis can be tough to take, and not just for the patient. Caregivers are a vital part of a cancer patient’s care team, but the role can be exhausting. Plenty of caregivers struggle with the challenges of helping their loved one navigate treatment and, hopefully, survival. Research published in the journal Medicine measured the scope of the problem. “The prevalence of anxiety and depression in cancer patient caregivers, as measured with validated instruments, is approximately 47% and 42%, respectively,” the researchers, led by Hai Mei Geng from Beijing Shijitan Hospital in China, said when the study was released. “This high prevalence of anxiety and depression affects the quality of life of the caregiver.” Here are some tips to help you navigate caregiving for someone with cancer and provide the best care you can for your loved one. Communication is key Take the time to listen to the patient. They may have strong feelings about what they want to do for themselves and where they need help. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) suggests reassuring the patient they will be a central part of all decisions and discussions. Remain open to the patient’s feelings and opinions. Still, you should acknowledge your feelings when speaking with the patient. When communicating with the care team, use a notebook. Writing down your questions and keeping them…  read on >  read on >

Some patients with early testicular cancer may not need chemotherapy and radiation, researchers report. Instead, surgery to remove lymph nodes in an area behind the abdomen lining called the retroperitoneum may be enough, according to their new study. “We found that the majority of participants in the study were cured with surgery alone, avoiding the toxicities associated with traditional therapies. We are confident that surgery for this disease state will be included into treatment guidelines in the near future,” said lead investigator Dr. Sia Daneshmand, a urologic oncologist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California and a member of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Testicular cancer is typically treatable and most commonly affects younger men, ages 15 to 35. When it only spreads to the retroperitoneum, it is classified as early metastatic or stage 2 seminoma. Seminoma is a slow-growing type of testicular cancer. Standard treatment is chemotherapy and radiation to shrink and kill the cancer in the lymph nodes, though when that fails, surgery is often done. But surgery has not historically been used as a standalone treatment for this metastatic cancer. However, chemotherapy and radiation are associated with long-term side effects that include heart disease and secondary cancers. To study the issue, the researchers enrolled 55 patients from 12 institutions. Patients had previously undergone surgery to remove the testicle or testicles…  read on >  read on >

Women who are heavier or older may take longer to heal after surgery to reduce the size of their breasts, new research indicates. Body weight and age can affect complication risk after breast reduction, according to a report in the April 2023 edition of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. “While reduction mammaplasty is a safe procedure, our study suggests that patients in higher BMI categories may take longer to heal, with increased risk of wound healing times longer than two months,” lead author Dr. Jesse Payton said in a journal news release. Payton is a researcher at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple, Texas. Reduction mammaplasty is used to reduce back and neck pain and to improve body image and low self-esteem in women with breasts considered overlarge. For the study, researchers reviewed data on 277 patients who underwent reduction mammaplasty between 2014 and 2018. Patients’ average age was 36. Average BMI (body mass index) was 30 — the low end of obesity. Despite being at this high-BMI cutoff point, the patients were generally healthy, with low rates of other health problems, according to the study. About 49% of patients whose cases were reviewed had minor complications, such as superficial wound-healing problems. Major complications were uncommon, occurring in a little more than 4% of patients. On initial analysis, BMI was unrelated to the risk…  read on >  read on >

Parents who harshly discipline their young children may be putting them on a path toward lasting mental health symptoms, a new study suggests. Researchers found that among 7,500 children followed from age 3 to 9, about 10% fell into a “high risk” group where mental health symptoms — ranging from persistent sadness to acting out — worsened over the years. And children whose parents often used harsh discipline, including yelling or physical punishment, were about 50% more likely than their peers to end up in that group. Experts said the findings, published March 30 in the journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, underscore an important reality: Some parents need to learn better strategies for managing young children’s behavior. That might mean a “timeout” to nip a tantrum in the bud, according to study leader Ioannis Katsantonis, a doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. But it also means setting up clear and consistent behavior rules that young kids can understand. In this study, “consistent” parenting styles seemed to have benefits for children’s mental well-being. For those families, kids’ early-childhood behavior and emotional issues typically improved over time. “This could be because consistent parenting provides children with a sense of predictability and security, which can act as a buffer against worsening mental health,” Katsantonis said. When parents are consistent, he said, it suggests…  read on >  read on >

Children should feel safe at school, but learning of a mass shooting — like this week’s tragedy at Covenant School in Nashville — can threaten their sense of security. For parents, it can be challenging to know what to tell them. Two children’s mental health experts from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas offer some advice. Just as important as what’s said is what not to say, according to Dr. Beth (Betsy) Kennard, a professor of psychiatry and member of the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute, and Dr. James Norcross, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry. “The first thing to consider is the developmental level of the children so that you can provide answers and information at their level of understanding,” Norcross said in a medical center news release. “All children, regardless of their age, should be encouraged to express their reactions to the event, and parents should feel free to talk about their emotions.” Kids are typically worried about their personal safety after experiencing a traumatic event, Norcross continued. “As parents, you should provide reassurance that they are safe and that you are there to protect them from harm,” he said. The Nashville shooting on Monday took the lives of three children and three adults. Police killed the shooter at the scene and are trying to piece together a motive for the attack. Gun…  read on >  read on >

Drug overdose deaths — both accidental and intentional — have quadrupled over the past 20 years among older adults in the United States, a new study finds. This increase in people ages 65 and older suggests the need for greater mental health and substance use policies, the authors said. “The dramatic rise in overdose fatalities among adults over 65 years of age in the past two decades underscores how important it is for clinicians and policymakers to think of overdose as a problem across the life span,” said co-author Chelsea Shover, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine. “Updating Medicare to cover evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders is crucial, as is providing harm reduction supplies such as naloxone to older adults,” Shover said in a school news release. About three-fourths of those who died accidentally were using illicit drugs, including synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. In 67% of intentional overdoses, seniors used prescription medication, including opioids, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, antiepileptics and sedatives. The researchers calculated overdose deaths among seniors from 2002 to 2021, using a database from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The investigators compared demographics, specific drugs, and whether the deaths were intentional, unintentional or undetermined. They found that fatal overdoses quadrupled from 1,060 in 2002, which…  read on >  read on >

Living with a lot of transportation noise can increase your risk of suicide, new research suggests. A study from Switzerland found that with every 10-decibel increase of average road traffic noise at home, risk for suicides rose by 4%. An association between railway noise and suicide was less pronounced. “We used suicides as an indicator for mental health disorders as we do not have robust Swiss data on mental health diagnoses such as depression or anxiety,” said study co-author Benedikt Wicki, a PhD student at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. “Noise increases the mental load, contributing to the development of mental disorders or worsening of preexisting conditions,” he said in an institute news release. Mental health disorders affect nearly 1 billion people worldwide, including about 1.4 million people in Switzerland. They are a leading cause of suicide, the authors noted. In Switzerland, about 1,000 people die by suicide each year. Past research has linked environmental factors like air pollution or noise to adverse health effects such as cardiovascular diseases and general well-being, but robust evidence on the effects of transportation noise on mental health disorders remains scarce, according to the study. Biological mechanisms explaining why noise impacts mental health include sleep disturbance, increased levels of stress hormones, changes in brain function or a sense of loss of control. “Our brain registers noise as…  read on >  read on >

A new report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reveals deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning are increasing in the United States. The report looked at carbon monoxide (CO) deaths from 2009 to 2019, finding 250 consumer product-related CO deaths in 2019, more than any other year. Generators and other engine-driven tools accounted for the largest percentage of deaths. Since 2009, portable generators alone have been associated with 765 CO-poisoning deaths not related to fires. That’s 40% of all CO deaths related to consumer products, a CPSC news release noted. Heating systems were associated with the second largest percentage of CO poisoning deaths not involving fires for 2019, with 69 deaths, or 28% of the total associated with products in this category. More than half of all CO deaths occur in the colder months of November, December, January and February. CO is an invisible killer because it is colorless and odorless. It can kill in minutes. Someone exposed to it may become unconscious before recognizing the symptoms of nausea, dizziness or weakness. The CPSC warns that portable generators should only be used outside. They should be at least 20 feet from the home with exhaust pointed away from any nearby building. The commission also offers these other safety precautions: Never operate a portable generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed, the commission…  read on >  read on >