Before antibiotic medicines became widely used, rheumatic fever was the largest cause of valve disease. Rheumatic fever is a condition that is a complication of untreated strep throat. Strep throat is caused by a group A streptococcal infection found in the throat.

Rheumatic fever can damage body tissues by causing them to swell, but its greatest danger lies in the damage it can do to your heart. More than half of the time, rheumatic fever leads to scarring of the heart’s valves. This scarring can narrow the valve and make it harder for the valve to open properly or to close completely. In turn, your heart has to work harder to pump blood to the rest of your body. This valve damage can lead to a condition called rheumatic heart disease, which, in time, can lead to congestive heart failure.

Rheumatic fever is not an infection itself, rather the result of an untreated strep infection. When the body senses the strep infection, it sends antibodies to fight it. Sometimes, these antibodies attack the tissues of joints or the heart instead. If the antibodies attack the heart they can cause the heart valves to swell, which can lead to scarring of the valve “doors.” (The doors are called leaflets.) The scarred leaflets make it harder for the valve to either open or close properly, or both.

The symptoms of rheumatic fever usually begin 1 to 6 weeks after a strep infection. The symptoms are fever, joint pain or swelling in your wrists, elbows, knees, or ankles. Small bumps under the skin over elbows or knees (called nodules). Maybe a small raised red rash on the chest, back, or stomach, experience stomach pain or feeling less hungry. Weakness, shortness of breath, or feeling very tired

Please remember that Rheumatic Fever needs immediate medical attention!

Bad habits plague many people in one form or another. We want to know what causes us to fall into bad habits. Questions arise about how are the best ways to quit. New research gives new answers and confirms some of the old ones.

Some research has been done to find out what motivates people to quit bad habits. It turns out that the emotional reasons seem to be the most telling of all. If a person does not have the desire to change, then that person is likely not to have any success with quitting.

Knowledge is only helpful if you use it to influence your emotional well-being. For example, if you work to set up a social network to help you when you quit smoking, you have used your mind to influence your emotions. Penalties help drive people to quit bad habits by playing on their emotions and their intelligence together.

Other research inquires into the effects of habitual activities on the brain. Researchers studied the brain responses in rats. The rats were sent through mazes at the end of which was chocolate. Their basal ganglia (where habitual behavior is learned in the brain) responded to all the information in the maze when they were learning the maze.

After awhile, this area of the brain only responded to the beginning and end of the maze. This would be like the response you have when you have developed bad habits. You are focused on the reward.

Then, the chocolate was removed. At that point, the basal ganglia again began to respond to every part of the maze again. When this happens, it is like quitting bad habits and living moment to moment.

When the chocolate was reintroduced, the area in the brain came alive during the beginning and the end, as before. Finally, the brain is cued to become alert to your addiction again when the desired object or bad habits resurface.

Another study evaluated the ability of people to replace old habits with new ones. This was done by testing using memorization and word tests. The researchers tried to see if subjects could learn new associations after learning similar ones first.

The conclusions of the test were interesting. First of all, the habits learned first were more automatic and below the conscious level. Second, stress caused people to revert to old habits.

Third, aging that affected the memory seemed to leave the subjects with more susceptibility to older habits. All this information can be used by people who struggle against bad habits.

One study took a look at the way people think about risky behavior. Surveys were given out in two different parts of Canada to find out what these people thought were the most dangerous. In the majority of cases, people thought that bad habits like smoking, overeating, and other health habits were more risky than non-habitual behaviors.

It is important to study how we think and feel about, and react to bad habits. The more we know, the better chance people have of learning how to overcome them. With good research being done, bad habits may be easier to break in the long run.

It is not expected of you to eat at home for your entire pregnancy but you are going to

have to exercise caution when you are dining out in a restaurant or even at a friend’s

house for that matter. Many foods are not prepared as healthily as they could be but you

can make choices and requests that will make eating out less stressful for you and easy on

your blood sugar.

Many restaurants today make different eating requirements easy for their clients by

designating food choices as “light” or “heart-healthy” these are the ones that should be

the first choices on your list. But don’t worry; you are not bound to just these choices.

Speak up, let your server know of your special dietary requirements and ask if they take

special requests or substitutions (very few restaurants will say no).

Here are some ideas of items that can be changed on the menu:

* If you are unsure how a dish is made or with what – ask

* Find out how big the meal is. If you know that is a very large portion ask that

they box up half before bringing it to you and you will be less tempted to eat more

than you should.

* When ordering salad, baked potato, or another item that comes with toppings ask

for them on the side if at all.

If you are going to a fast food restaurant it can be even trickier to find something on the

menu that is appropriate. But there are some choices available. Steer clear of the fries

and look for menu items that include the words broiled or baked. A grilled chicken

burger or deli sandwiches are smart choices. Try to stick to your regular eating time, if

you arrive at the restaurant early enough you can hope to be served around the same time

you would have eaten at home.