Tips to Alleviate Migraines

Migraines aren’t typical headaches or even a severe one. It’s a serious neurological condition that can trigger symptoms like vomiting, nausea, dizziness, numbness, and sensitivity to light and sound. When a migraine strikes, you’ll do almost anything to make it go away.

Based upon your severity, there are different approaches I recommend you use to help alleviate, treat and prevent migraines.

Some non-medication approaches include:

  • Following a healthy lifestyle, staying well hydrated, getting regular exercise, and getting adequate sleep.
  • Avoiding certain foods that can be migraine triggers. Common triggers can be alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, canned foods, cured or processed meats, aged cheeses, cultured dairy, MSG and aspartame.
  • Acupuncture, biofeedback, massage, spinal manipulation, relaxation techniques and reducing your stress.

Even if you avoid your triggers and practice healthy habits, you may still experience migraines. Some patients who suffer with frequent migraines—greater than 14 headache days a month—can find relief from preventative medications that are taken daily.

Abortive medications, ones that are taken at the first sign of the migraine, include anti-inflammatory medications, triptans and a newer class of medications called CGRP antagonists.

    • Anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen along with other over the counter medications like Excedrin and acetaminophen need to be used cautiously as taking these medications too often for headaches can result in rebound headaches.
    • Triptans are a class of medications that are available in multiple preparations and can be given by mouth, nasal spray or subcutaneous injection.  These should be used with caution in anyone with cardiovascular disease.
    • Calcitonin-gene related peptide (CGRP) antagonists have shown benefit for individuals who get insufficient response to other abortive medications or have contraindications to them.

It is important to remember that migraines affect and present in different ways for each individual and not all treatments are suitable for everyone. Please make sure to talk to your doctor to come up with the best treatment approach for you.

Ticks & Lyme Disease

With the warm summer weather, comes tick season and the chances of getting Lyme disease. Lyme disease is an illness caused by a bacteria that is carried by the blacklegged tick, most commonly know as a deer tick. When an infected tick bites you, it can transfer the bacteria under the skin, leading to an infection. If not diagnosed and treated early, Lyme disease can develop into a chronic illness, causing long-term health problems. However, if caught and treated early, most people can recover without any problems. Luckily, there are many ways to prevent Lyme disease and monitor ticks while being able to enjoy the outdoors.

  • If you are hiking or camping in the woods, wear clothing that will cover your arms and legs, and tuck your pants into socks to limit tick access.
  • Wear light-colored clothing to easily identify ticks.
  • As soon as you are home or indoors, check yourself or have someone help look for ticks. Use a fine-tooth comb to check your hair and check your entire body.
  • Shower and wash any clothes at a high heat to kill any ticks.

To remove ticks:

  • Use sterilized forceps such as tweezers to grab and pull the entire tick out. Avoid twisting or squeezing the tick and be careful not to leave any remains in the skin.
  • Wash your hands and the tweezers after removal.

If you missed a tick on yourself or family member, here are some signs of an infection:

  • Fever/chills
  • Aches and pains. Tickborne diseases may cause headaches, fatigue, and muscle aches. With Lyme disease, you may also experience joint pain.
  • In Lyme disease, a rash may appear within 3-30 days of infection and typically before a fever. The rash will appear circular, also appearing as a ‘bullseye’ rash. It may be warm to the touch but not painful.

Reduce tick populations in your own habitat:

  • Ticks like tall grasses and brush. Try removing these form areas near your house or the edges of your lawn.
  • Keep the lawn mowed and raked free of grasses and leaves.
  • If your lawn or play area backs up to the woods, consider creating a 3-foot wide buffer using wood chips or gravel to reduce migration of ticks.
  • High fencing can discourage tick-carrying deer from entering your yard.
  • Help reduce the rodent population that ticks often feed on (chipmunks, mice, etc.) by neatly stacking wood piles in a dry area and keeping your yard free of debris.
  • Place tick tubes around your yard. Damminix and Thermacell are two commercially available tick tubes, or you can also make your own. Here is a video explaining how to make your own tick tubes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj-0l9KpUaw

Contact your doctor immediately if you have been bitten by a tick and develop any of these symptoms.

Allergies or Something Else?

April showers don’t just bring spring showers but also spring allergies. Allergies are caused by our immune system overreacting to an increased output of pollen from trees, grass, and weeds being released into the air. When people inhale this pollen, it can trigger allergies. While allergies are very common, severe allergies can make it hard to determine whether it is seasonal allergies or something more serious. 

Typically, a key indicator that it is seasonal allergies is that your symptoms tend to be more long-lasting than those that are viral. Plus, most people with allergies have a history of seasonal allergies that occur around the same time every year.  

The most common and bothersome allergy symptoms are:  

  • Nasal congestion 
  • Sneezing 
  • Itchy eyes, nose, ears, and mouth 
  • Watery eyes 
  • Runny nose 

Some less common allergy symptoms include: 

  • Headache 
  • Shortness of breath 
  • Wheezing 
  • Coughing 

For most people, avoiding allergens and taking over-the-counter medications is enough to ease symptoms. But if your symptoms are not improving and appear to be getting worsereach out to your personal R-Health doctor. Your doctor will be able to determine if you have allergies and may provide you with strategies to help keep them under control. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NJWELL

Over the past few weeks, many of you have reached out with NJWELL questions and/or updates. Here is a comprehensive breakdown of everything you need to know about NJWELL.

Let’s start with an overview of NJWELL for those who may not be familiar with the program. NJWELL is a voluntary employee wellness program designed to help eligible members of the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP) and School Employees’ Health Benefits Program (SEHBP) live a healthy lifestyle.

NJWELL offers various wellness incentive levels, anywhere from $250 – $500, to active SHBP and SEHBP members and their covered spouses or partners who participate in the state’s Direct Primary Care Medical Home program.

How It Works and What You Need To Do

R-Health and NJWELL have partnered to make it easier for active SHBP and SEHBP members to earn their NJWELL reward. Despite the present circumstances with COVID-19, you can still earn your reward by engaging with us virtually.

R-Health members automatically earn between $250 – $500 by completing the following between November 1 and October 31.

  • Complete a health assessment through your health plan’s online portal. You can sign into your portal, here
  • Complete a comprehensive physical examination and at least one follow up appointment with your R-Health doctor or complete two virtual visits (with one focused on prevention and wellness)

If you have questions regarding your NJWELL reward, please contact Horizon’s support staff directly at 1.800.414.7427.

Getting Your Mental Health in Check

We all sometimes get tired or overwhelmed by how we feel when things don’t go according to plan. How we handle stress could be related to our mental health, which plays a huge role in how we think, feel, and act.

Like so many, talking about mental health can be hard—however it’s more common than you may think. Nearly 1 in 5 American adults will have a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year according to Mental Health America.

But did you know that your primary doctor, like me, can help you identify triggers as well as develop specific goals and strategies to help get your mental health in check? In doing so, I like to start by having an honest conversation with my patients. You can do a quick mental check in at home by asking yourself the 4 questions below.

  1. How are you feeling today, both physically and mentally?
  2. How have you been sleeping?
  3. Have you been isolating yourself from others?
  4. Are you always worrying about the worst-case scenarios?

If you’re concerned about your responses, reach out to me. Getting help starts with talking to your doctor. We can work together to create a plan that will teach you how to cope. The most important thing is that you get help.

Reducing Exposure to Environmental Toxins

Environmental toxins can be found all over our homes – in our furniture, food, clothes, personal care items, and household cleaners. Exposure to these toxins may be contributing to diseases like obesity, diabetes, allergies, and asthma. By breathing in and being exposed to toxins, there are several ways they are affecting our health:

  • Interfere with glucose and cholesterol metabolism and induce insulin resistance
  • Disrupt cell function
  • Cause stress on the body
  • Promote inflammation
  • Alter thyroid health
  • Impair appetite regulation

Fortunately, there are ways to recognize and reduce our exposure to environmental toxins:

  • Remove food toxins. Stay away from processed and refined foods and try to stick to the EWG Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists to choose where you spend your money when purchasing organic since it is not necessary to purchase everything organic.
  • Reduce the amount of toxic exposures at home. Choose non-toxic household cleaners, beauty, and bath products. Look for plant-based cleaners or even make your own.
  • Minimize exposure to pesticides. Remove your shoes when you enter your home to limit tracking lawn pesticides throughout your home.
  • Keep mold at bay. Mold, mildew, and fungal toxins can also cause a range of health problems. Keep air filters clean, try to keep humidity below 60% to reduce mold growth, and regularly clean and dry any areas where water may build up like showers and sinks.
  • Avoid products that contain phthalates. This is a compound that is often found in plastics. Check the labels of products to ensure they are phthalate-free, avoid storing food in plastic containers, and look for natural fibers such as cotton, linen, wood, and bamboo when buying drapery, window blinds and shades.

We can’t control every environmental toxin from entering our home so it’s important to regularly clean, dust, sweep/vacuum, and invest in an air-purifier to keep our homes as toxin-free as possible to keep us healthy.

Improving Your Eating Habits

There are many reasons why people want to start eating healthier. Whether itto help you reach and maintain a healthy weight or reduce your chances of getting a chronic disease—getting control of your eating habits is all about managing your nutrition. Nutrition management is where we understand good nutrition and pay closer attention to what we eat to help maintain or improve our health.  

However, you may be wondering, “where do I even start?”  

As an expert, I have found that taking a whole-body approach and partnering with my patients to create a complete plan helps manage nutritional goals on a more consistent basis. You can easily start making healthier food choices now by trying my top 4 tips: 

  1. Read the label before buying food. Many of the foods we consume have a lot of sodium which doesn’t bode well on the heart. 
  1. Stay away from saturated fats and try to increase baked and grilled foods.  
  1. If vegetarian, incorporate 2 tablespoons of flaxseed every day or enjoy fatty fish 2 times a week to increase the omega three in your diet.  
  1. Eat small frequent meals as opposed to large meals a day. This keeps your metabolism going and maintain a steady insulin level in the blood. 

If you’re interested in nutrition management, contact your primary care doctor to get started on a plan to better support you with your overall goals. 

Healing Your Gut

Not only does a healthy gut reduce risk of chronic diseases like diabetes but 70% of our immune system is also in the gut so it is critical to heal and focus on our gut health. There are many ways to help start healing your gut.

  • Remove processed and sugary foods from your diet. Transition to a whole foods-based diet by adding in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to your meals.
  • Incorporate prebiotic foods into your diet. Artichokes, onions, garlic, and asparagus are just a few of many foods that help the growth of beneficial gut bacteria.
  • Try fermented foods. These are rich in probiotics which help restore the gut and intestinal barrier. Add in sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, yogurt, and kefir to your daily meals.
  • Create healthy sleep habits. Aim for 7-8 hours of high quality sleep every night and try to maintain the same sleep schedule every day.
  • Regular exercise. Not only is regular exercise great for overall health, it also helps keep your gut microbiome in shape.
  • Manage stress. Try meditating or practicing yoga every day to keep your stress levels down.

What Is Gut Health?

“All disease begins in the gut” – Hippocrates

Even though Hippocrates made this statement over 2,000 years ago, we are just now understanding how correct he was. Gut health is critical to overall health and an unhealthy gut may contribute to chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, depression, and anxiety.

The human gut is home to 100 trillion microorganisms – these microorganisms have a profound impact on our health. They promote the movement of food through the intestines, protect against infection, produce vitamins, and maintain a healthy gastrointestinal mucus layer, all contributing to our overall health. However, modern lifestyles may disturb the gut and overall health.

  • Processed foods. The Standard American Diet is packed with processed foods which causes inflammation in the gut and contributing to many adverse health effects.
  • Low fiber diets. Fiber helps fuel our gut microbes and a lack of fiber is common in many peoples’ diets.
  • Added sugar. Sugar feeds the harmful gut bacteria and can contribute to yeast overgrowth, all which can make the gut inflamed.
  • Chronic stress also may lead to inflammation in the gut, making it harder for the microorganisms to do their job.
  • Chronic infections and antibiotics. Bacterial, fungal, and viral infections alter the composition of the gut, and repeated rounds of antibiotics to treat such infections also alter the gut microbiome.
  • Circadian rhythm disruption. Abnormal wake/sleep schedules and poor-quality sleep also causes an imbalance in the gut microbiome.

When the gut is inflamed and compromised, it may lead to ‘leaky gut’ which is when substances from the gut leak into your bloodstream and could be playing a role in many health conditions.

How the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine is Different

With news of a third COVID-19 vaccine getting emergency use authorization from the FDA, we wanted to explain some of the differences between the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and how all 3 are safe and effective at protecting against COVID-19. 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine does not use mRNA technology like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine, rather it uses a more traditional virus-based technology. This means that it delivers a harmless virus to our bodies that prods our cells to produce a spike protein and once our immune system detects that protein, it starts making the antibodies that will protect against COVID-19.  

Trials showed that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was more than 66% effective when it came to preventing illness and 85% effective in preventing hospitalizations and death.  

One of the main benefits of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is that it is a single shot, while the mRNA vaccines require two. It can also be kept at refrigerator temperatures and will remain stable for months, making it easier to distribute and maintain.  

Side effects from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can typically last a day or two, varying from person to person, and can include fever, fatigue, muscle aches, chills or nausea shortly after being vaccinated.