Relaxation therapies may help alleviate certain symptoms of cancer, relieve side effects of treatment, and improve your sense of well-being.

Many relaxation methods, such as massage therapy, meditation and guided imagery may be helpful in managing stress and anxiety. In addition, research studies show that relaxation techniques can lower blood pressure, reduce pain, and ease some side effects of chemotherapy.

Having cancer is stressful, so it may not be possible to eliminate all sources of stress. But you should consider the sources of stress that you can reduce. For example, ask for help with household chores, social responsibilities or work demands. Seek out effective strategies for coping with stress or simplify your life by saying "no" to the extra demands as much as possible.

Common relaxation techniques include:

YogaTai chiListening to musicExerciseHypnosisGuided imageryMassage therapy

Relaxation techniques involve refocusing your attention from the stress to something calming.

For me, it's taking a daily hike and being mindful of the changes in nature around me. It might be the sound of the birds chirping, new leaves on the trees, the beauty of the clouds against the blue sky, or a neighbor, cat or dog that welcomes me along the way.

I return refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the day. Choose a relaxation technique that works best for you and incorporate it into your daily routine. Share with others through this blog what has worked for you.

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Music has the ability to change moods, soothe nerves and energize your life. Much research has been done on the physical and emotional effects of music. Some of the benefits that have been noted in research include:

Improves communicationEnhances memoryReduces pain sensationCounteracts depressionPromotes activity (i.e. dancing, exercise)Encourages feelings of relaxationCalms and sedates (promotes sleep)

Explore ways to incorporate music into your life. For energizing ideas, think of ways to use music to promote movement. I have a friend who takes a break every day with music. She turns on the music and just dances for an hour! Dance to the music as much or as little as you can; just let your body move to the rhythm of the music.

For relaxation ideas, find your favorite songs and take time to meditate. Let the music transport you to another place and time. Allow your mind to drift away to positive thoughts and memories. Close your eyes and take in the music around you; it will make you smile inside and out!

I would love to hear from others who use music in their lives. Share ideas and thoughts, and even music titles for others to get inspired.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about terminal cancer and grief. Let's continue the discussion by talking about the idea of a bucket list. The term is based on the 2007 film "The Bucket List," featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men who went off on an adventure to fulfill a list of things they wanted to do before they died.

It's important that we all create a list of the things we'd like to either experience or accomplish in our lives (terminal diagnosis or not). These are the things you've always wanted to do, but for some reason never did. It's a life experience list.

Create your own bucket list and make plans to fulfill them one at a time. Begin with simple items that might be fairly easy to accomplish, and move on to others that might take some time and support to accomplish. It might help to share your list with a close family member or friend. Talking about what you want to accomplish can help you begin to fulfill your dreams and give you a sense of pure joy and happiness.

As a cancer survivor, you may have changed your life priorities, goals and important items on a life experience list such as this. Please share your ideas about a bucket list. If you don't have a bucket list yet, this is your invitation to start one.

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Summer brings out barbecue grills—and bacteria, which multiply in food faster in warm weather and can cause foodborne illness (also known as food poisoning). Following a few simple guidelines can prevent an unpleasant experience.

Wash your hands

Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food. If you're eating where there’s no source of clean water, bring water, soap, and paper towels or have disposable wipes/hand sanitizer available.

Marinate food in the refrigerator

Don’t marinate on the counter—marinate in the refrigerator. If you want to use marinade as a sauce on cooked food, save a separate portion in the refrigerator. Do not reuse marinade that contacted raw meat, poultry, or seafood on cooked food unless you bring it to a boil first.

Keep raw food separate

Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood in a separate cooler or securely wrapped at the bottom of a cooler so their juices won’t contaminate already prepared foods or raw produce. Don't use a plate or utensils that previously held raw meat, poultry, or seafood for anything else unless you wash them first in hot, soapy water. Have a clean platter and utensils ready at grill-side for serving.

Cook food thoroughly

Use a food thermometer to make sure food is cooked thoroughly to destroy harmful bacteria. Refer to the Safe Minimum Temperatures chart for safe internal temperatures for foods. Partial precooking in the microwave oven or on the stove is a good way to reduce grilling time—just make sure the food goes immediately on the preheated grill to finish cooking.

Keep hot food hot and cold food cold

Keep hot food at 140°F or above until served. Keep cooked meats hot by setting them to the side of the grill, or wrap well and place in an insulated container.

Keep cold food at 40°F or below until served. Keep cold perishable food in a cooler until serving time. Keep coolers out of direct sun and avoid opening the lid often.

Cold foods can be placed directly on ice or in a shallow container set in a pan of ice. Drain off water as ice melts and replace ice frequently.

Don’t let hot or cold perishables sit out for longer than two hours, or one hour if the outdoor temperature is above 90°F. When reheating fully cooked meats, grill to 165°F or until steaming hot.

Transport food in the passenger compartment of the car where it’s cooler—not in the trunk.

Put these items on your list

These non-food items are indispensable for a safe barbecue.

food thermometerseveral coolers: one for beverages (which will be opened frequently), one for raw meats, poultry, and seafood, and another for cooked foods and raw produceice or frozen gel packs for coolersjug of water, soap, and paper towels for washing handsenough plates and utensils to keep raw and cooked foods separatefoil or other wrap for leftovers

This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

 

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection official inspects an imported shipment.

 

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Six months after President Obama signed the landmark FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law, the Food and Drug Administration continues to move forward in its efforts to protect the nation’s food supply.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48 million Americans get sick each year from foodborne diseases each year and 3,000 die. A recent outbreak of a virulent strain of E.coli in Europe, which killed dozens of people and made thousands sick, has raised new concerns about food safety here.

But the food safety act gave FDA a mandate to implement a system that is based on science and addresses food safety hazards from farm to table. The agency has already strengthened a number of protections, including making it easier for consumers to learn about recalled foods and providing safety guidelines for commercial fisherman and fish processors.

After the legislation became law, FDA had 180 days—on or before July 3—to meet other specific goals. And, in accordance with that deadline, the agency has taken two new actions, one to prevent the smuggling of food into this country, and another to make sure that all new ingredients in dietary supplements are safe for consumers.

The law “requires the agency to build a new food safety system,” says Michael R. Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods. “This new system will better leverage the resources of federal agencies and it will make industry a major partner in safeguarding the health of U.S. consumers.”

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The new anti-smuggling strategy was developed by FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Within DHS, FDA is working with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The goal is to better identify and prevent the entry of smuggled foods that could be dangerous to both national security and consumer safety. Food may be smuggled for many reasons, including for economic gain, to evade import taxes, evade routine inspection that could raise safety concerns, or for more dangerous reasons, including plots to intentionally harm the American public. 

FDA will be working closely with CBP to identify import shipments that could conceal undeclared foods.

The law defines smuggled food as “any food that a person introduces into the United States through fraudulent means or with the intent to defraud or mislead.”  And while this could be interpreted to apply to a food item concealed in someone’s luggage, the agencies will be focusing on imported foods that pose a significant public health risk.

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FDA has a history of taking legal action against supplement makers who include hidden or deceptively labeled ingredients in their products. These could potentially be dangerous to consumers, especially those using medications or with a health condition.

This time the agency is issuing a draft of a guidance document for the dietary supplements industry stipulating that manufacturers must notify the agency in advance when adding a new ingredient with an unknown safety profile to their products. The manufacturers must also provide evidence that the ingredient is safe for consumers.

If the notice from a supplement firm is deemed inadequate because the new ingredient is an anabolic steroid or a material with the same chemical qualities, FDA is required to alert the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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In addition to the actions listed above, FDA now has the authority to prevent the distribution of unsafe food by suspending the registration of the processing facility. Food producing firms must be registered with FDA to market their products in the U.S.

The registration could be suspended if the food processor not only fails to produce safe foods, but also takes no measures to keep those foods from reaching consumers. In addition to preventing their distribution, the processor of unsafe foods would be expected to investigate what went wrong and take steps to prevent a recurrence. If this is not done, FDA will step in.

One of the food-safety law’s major provisions is a requirement that food facilities have a written preventive controls plan that spells out potential safety problems and the steps that would be taken to prevent or minimize the likelihood of these hazards occurring.

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Also now in effect is a rule, issued on May 4, that allows FDA to detain for up to 30 days food products it believes may be adulterated or misbranded. Such foods would be kept out of the marketplace until the agency determines whether there is a need for further enforcement actions, such as seizure or an injunction to prevent the suspect products from being distributed.

The food safety law set another goal that was to be met by July 3: the issuance of the Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Control Guidance, This document, popularly known as The Hazards Guide, was issued in April, well ahead of the deadline. The guide provides commercial fisherman and processors the latest scientific information on contaminants and the controls needed to eliminate them.

FDA delivered the first tangible product of the historic food safety reform legislation on April 4: a new web-based search engine that makes it easier and quicker to learn about product recalls. At the same time, the agency redesigned its web page dedicated to the food safety act: www.fda.gov/FSMA.

This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

 

Federal regulators unveiled nine graphic warnings that must be on cigarette packaging and advertisements by September 2012. The warning above shows healthy lungs (left) and the diseased lungs of a smoker. View the Warning Labels on Flickr.

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Consumers are getting a glimpse of warnings images that will be alternating on all cigarette packages and advertisements within 15 months—an effort by health officials to discourage smoking by bringing Americans face to face with tobacco-related disease.

The Food and Drug Administration unveiled the nine, color images—including some of  bodies ravaged by disease—at a news conference. The images, which are paired with text health warnings, are required under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. They must appear on every cigarette pack, carton, and advertisement by September 2012.

“President Obama is committed to protecting our nation’s children and the American people from the dangers of tobacco use. These labels are frank, honest and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking and they will help encourage smokers to quit, and prevent children from smoking,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

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In November, FDA officials posted 36 images on the Internet and gave the public 90 days to comment. The agency received more than 1,700 comments from the public, retailers, health professionals, advocacy groups, the tobacco industry, state and local public health agencies, and others.

Regulators used the comments, scientific literature, and the results of an 18,000-person study to narrow the images to nine. Each of the images—a mix of illustrations and photos depicting the negative health consequences of smoking—will be paired with one of these nine printed warnings:

WARNING: Cigarettes are addictive—with an image of a man smoking through a hole in his throat WARNING: Tobacco smoke can harm your children—with an image of a parent holding a baby as smoke drifts towards themWARNING: Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease—with an image of a disease-riddled lung and a healthy lung WARNING: Cigarettes cause cancer—with an image of an open sore and stained teeth on the lips and mouth of a smoker with mouth cancerWARNING: Cigarettes cause strokes and heart disease—with an image of a man who needs an oxygen mask to breatheWARNING: Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby—with an illustration of a crying newborn in an incubator and hooked-up to a monitorWARNING: Smoking can kill you—with the image of a dead man with a surgery-scarred chest  WARNING: Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in nonsmokers—with an image of a grieving family memberWARNING: Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health—with an image of a man wearing an “I Quit” T-shirt

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FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., says she’s hopeful the graphic images will give smokers the incentive to quit and prevent potential smokers from ever starting. In fact, the phone number for the smoking cessation hotline—1-800-QUIT-NOW—will accompany each warning.

“The Tobacco Control Act requires FDA to provide current and potential smokers with clear and truthful information about the risks of smoking—these warnings do that,” she says. 

The bold health warnings will cover the top 50 percent of the front and rear panels of all cigarette packages and at least 20 percent of each advertisement. They are expected to decrease the number of smokers, which will save lives and increase life expectancy.

For more information, visit www.fda.gov/cigarettewarnings.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the United States, responsible for 443,000 deaths each year. Tobacco addiction costs the U.S. economy nearly $200 billion every year in medical costs and lost productivity.

This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

June 21, 2011

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Want to know how a medication might affect your breast milk? Got a question about a disability, aging, mental health?

There’s an app for all that—and a whole lot more.

The variety and availability of smartphone applications—or apps—have exploded in recent years as multi-tasking consumers increasingly use their phones to keep up with the latest on news, finance, and health. Apple says its iPhone App Store has more than 350,000 apps, and Android, BlackBerry, Windows, and other smartphones account for tens of thousands more. With so many apps on the market, it’s no wonder the number of health care related apps has also spiraled.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now proposing guidelines that outline the small number of mobile apps the agency plans to oversee—medical apps that could present a risk to patients if the apps don’t work as intended.  The proposed guidelines were posted on the Federal Register website Thursday.

Consumers may weigh-in on the guidelines during a public comment period that ends Oct. 19.

For more information, visit FDA's Mobile Medical Apps page.

FDA policy advisor Bakul Patel says some of the new mobile apps are designed to help consumers manage their own health and wellness—like the National Institutes of Health’s LactMed app, which gives nursing mothers information about the effects of medicines on breast milk and nursing infants.

Other apps are aimed at helping health care providers improve and facilitate patient care—like the Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) app, which gives health care providers guidance on diagnosing and treating radiation injuries. There are even apps to aid diagnosis of rashes and heart irregularities.

FDA has already cleared a handful of mobile medical apps used by health care professionals, such as a smartphone-based ultrasound and an application for iPhones and iPads that allows doctors to view medical images and X-rays. 

There's an app for that!

“There are advantages to using medical apps, but consumers and health care professionals should have a balanced awareness of the benefits and risks,” Patel says.

Apps can give consumers valuable health information in seconds and are opening innovative ways for technology to improve health care, Patel says. However, the small group of mobile medical apps FDA proposes to oversee present a potential risk—these apps may impact how a currently regulated medical device (such as an ultrasound) performs, he adds.

FDA is proposing to oversee mobile medical apps that: 

Are used as an accessory to an FDA-regulated medical device. For example, an app could enable a health care professional to view medical images on an iPad and make a diagnosis;Transform a mobile platform into a regulated medical device. For example, an app that turns a smartphone into an electrocardiography, or ECG, machine to detect abnormal heart rhythms or determine if a patient is experiencing a heart attack.

If you want to provide input on FDA’s proposal, you can submit your comment online at http://www.regulations.gov/ or in writing to: Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD  20852.

“We want to hear from as many consumers, advocacy groups, health care professionals, and software creators and distributors as possible to help us finalize the proposed guidelines,” Patel says.

This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.