Medical Directory

WHEELING — It’s the “catch-22” of contemporary medicine: As access to legal opioids is restricted, drug users turn to dangerous illegal substances, such as heroin, with potential deadly results. To reduce misuse of narcotics, prescription painkillers have been reformulated and hospitals and doctors have adopted restrictive prescribing guidelines for opioids. Improper “pill mills” have been shuttered across the country, cutting off addicts from a supply of legal opioids. A side effect of these efforts, though, is that people have turned to heroin, and bad batches of ...

Ask an Audiologist: Why Was I Unaware That I Was Losing My Hearing?

If you’re in generally good health and are the type of person who doesn’t like to think of yourself as less capable than anyone else, you might have found that you started blaming other people for frequent miscommunication. This is very common. You may think others are not speaking clearly or loud enough, or they “mumble” their words. It’s only when sufficient numbers of people close to you suggest that it’s you and not them, that you might have gotten your first inkling of something within your personal communication system has gone awry. Some people never come to ...

Officials Monitoring Spread of Zika Virus

WHEELING — Anxiety over mosquito-borne Zika virus shows major public health concerns can come in very small packages. Although the local area is at low risk for mosquito-borne Zika infection, according to Howard Gamble, administrator of the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department, that doesn’t mean it requires any less vigilance on the part of local health officials, he said. The virus spread very quickly across the southern portion of the Americas, Gamble said, noting Zika-carrying mosquitoes have been trapped as far north as southern Florida. “There is a geographic ...

Local Experts Offer Nutrition, Exercise Advice

Dietary and exercise advice is plentiful these days, and trends can seem to trump well-established standards. For example, “Is it healthy to eat coconut and palm oils?” and “Are burst cardio workouts right for me?” are among the new considerations. Experts from The Howard Long Wellness Center of Wheeling Hospital, and CentreTown Fitness of OVMC-EORH offer some answers. “The new trend is that coconut and palm oil are becoming more popular,” said Jill Spangler, registered dietician with the wellness center. However, the 2015-220 Dietary Guidelines for Americans “still ...

Knowing the Signs Of A Stroke — FAST

In the United States, nearly 800,000 people a year will suffer a stroke. About 690,000 of these strokes occur when a clot cuts off blood flow to a part of the brain. Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death in the country, killing about 130,000 people in the U.S. each year. However, education, fast-working drugs and surgical treatments are combining to reduce those numbers. The American Stroke Association has a simple but sure way to determine if someone is experiencing a stroke. It’s called F.A.S.T. and it’s an easy way to remember the sudden signs of stroke. When you can spot the ...

Steps to Achieve A Better Work-Life Balance

Many people face the challenge of balancing work and family. Workloads may be hefty on both fronts, and the pursuit of a healthy balance between home and career may seem like an unattainable goal. Stress can build from feelings of being pulled in too many directions. According to Mental Health America, stress can compromise a person’s ability to concentrate, lead to feelings of irritability or depression, negatively affect personal relationships, and weaken immune systems, increasing a person’s susceptibility to a variety of ailments. Research even indicates chronic stress may ...