Health Survey Topics and Research

Very specifically, I would like to learn as much as I can about the diseases that have affected my family. I would like to learn more about them. Of current importance, my grandmother (mother’s mother) has Type I Diabetes. I know very little about diabetes. I realize that it deals with a lack of insulin in the body. I understand what kind of treatment accompanies the diagnosis: checking blood sugar levels each day to ingest sugar via a piece of candy, if low; taking a series of medications to treat related side effects; and keeping her anxiety to a minimum while experiencing the condition. I would like to learn more about what other symptoms do come with diabetes. I would like to know the types of medications that most diabetics take.

I would like to know the facts about insulin. I know that most diabetics are required to take it every day in order to maintain healthy, normal lives. Although it may be unrelated, my grandmother is suffering from stress-related or anxiety-related problems. She has been treated for hypertension for many years. Whether her high anxiety is related to that, I do not know. I’d like to also know how to try control or reduce the large amount of stress that she carries around with her, everyday.

Lung cancer had taken my grandfather’s (mother’s father) life when I was very young. From my perspective, lung cancer is caused by the inhalation of toxic fumes as a result of causes such as cigarette smoking (which he did not do), or long exposure to coal dust or air that contain dangerous toxins.

Alcoholism was a problem of one of my late uncles. He constantly drank beer, apparently, to forget or ignore the difficulties in his life. He had many responsibilities. As children, we noticed that he drank even when family members came to visit.

I have lived with both ADD and seizures for most of my lifetime. The former continues from my younger years, but I was precluded from taking medication to treat the condition.  I have suffered from the general symptoms: constant motion; low level of concentration; and, a preference or focus on objects around me rather than people. However, seizures, now controlled by medication, came in my teenage years, triggered mainly because of sleep deprivation from having to work very hard to complete the extensive amount of homework.

 Although prescription drug addiction does not affect my family, it is still an interesting issue, from both a psychological and physical point of view. So many people take so many medications at one time either to get through the day or to fall asleep at night. Improper use and combinations of these medications can even cause death as in the case of celebrities such as Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson.

The research process was most interesting. Researching websites resulted in finding more about these conditions than I am able to understand or appreciate. In tracking down the health issues, the search engines, “Hakia” and “Bing”, organize and manage the available information in terms of “Symptoms” or “Prevention.” If I need to locate a report quickly including the latest statistics, it is tracked easily. For printed, reliable and researched medical information, "PubMed" is a website that gives the visitor immediate access to recently published medical journal articles. To the contrary, "WebMD" thoroughly researches health issues directly, by medical professionals and their direct hands-on experience. The sources are well known institutions issuing credible and documented research guaranteed to be accurate and complete. Among the institutions issuing these reports are those such as the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

In short, I have found the websites that produce the information I need to successfully complete the research of my chosen health topics. From these resources, I have learned more about the diseases that have had a lengthy reign on my family’s overall medical history, as well as the highly-vocalized medical issue of prescription drug addiction.