Being an internist, Dr. Parikh is able to work with patients experiencing breathing problems. Both offices in Cary and Raleigh offer onsite PFT (pulmonary function testing) services for quick attention to your problem. Lung function can play a huge role in everyone’s day to day life and is obviously a critical need for each and every patient. If you are experiencing breathing problems that seem out of the ordinary, contact one of our convenient offices today to schedule an appointment.

Learn more about Pulmonary Function and Testing

Exactly what Are Lung Function Tests?

Lung function evaluations, also known as pulmonary (PULL-mun-ary) function tests, measure the performance level of your lungs. These evaluations are employed to look for the cause of breathing difficulties, such as breathlessness, shortness of breath or other types of breathing difficulties.

Lung function evaluations measure:

• How much air you are able to take in to your lungs at one time. This amount is compared with that of other folks with a similar age, height, and gender. This will indicate whether it is in the “normal” range immediately.
• How much air-you can blow from the lungs and how fast you’re able to get it done.
• How well your lungs transfer oxygen to the blood.
• The strength of your breathing muscles.

Physicians use lung function tests (also known as Pulmonary function tests or PFTs) to help diagnose ailments including asthma, pulmonary fibrosis (scarring of the lung tissue), and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary illness).

Lung function evaluations also are used to check the extent of devastation caused by illnesses such as pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis (sar-koy-DOE-sis). Additionally, these evaluations may be used to assess how well treatments, including asthma medications, are working.

What Kind of Breathing Tests are Commonly Used?

Lung function evaluations include breathing evaluations and tests that measure the oxygen level in your blood. The respiration tests most often used are:

• Spirometry (spi-ROM-ehtre). This evaluation measures how much air you’ll be able to breathe in and out. Additionally, it measures how fast you can blow air outside.
• Body plethysmography (pleth iz MOG-ra-fe). This evaluation measures how much air is present in your lungs when you take a deep breath. In addition, it quantifies how much air remains in your lungs after you breathe out fully.
• Lung diffusion capability. This test measures how well oxygen passes from your lungs for your bloodstream.

Unfortunately, these tests may not always end up revealing the specific cause of respiration difficulties. So, you may end up needing to have other evaluations too, like an exercise stress test. This test measures overall how your heart and lungs function while you workout on a treadmill or cycle.

Two evaluations that measure the oxygen level in your blood are pulse oximetry and arterial blood gas evaluations. These evaluations also are called blood oxygen tests.

Pulse oximetry quantifies your blood oxygen level using a specific light. For an arterial blood gas test, your physician takes an example of your blood, generally from an artery in your wrist. The sample is delivered to a laboratory, where its oxygen level is measured.

Does a PFT hurt?

No – lung function evaluations usually are painless and very infrequently cause any unwanted side effects. You may feel some distress during an arterial blood gas test when the blood sample is taken.

High Cholesterol Diagnosis and  Treatment

Being an internal doctor, Dr Parikh is very familiar with cholesterol diagnosis and treatment. Cholesterol is a waxy substance occurring naturally within the body. It is crucial in the manufacture of hormones and vitamin D. But too much cholesterol, particularly when it comes from poor food alternatives, can clog blood vessels and lead to heart attack or stroke.

Kinds of High Cholesterol

There are two types of cholesterol. Here is the kind that builds up in arteries and can lead to a heart attack or stroke. High-density lipoproteins, or HDL, are known as “good” cholesterol. This substance helps return awful cholesterol to the liver for removal.

The Causes Of High Cholesterol

Your liver produces cholesterol naturally. But unhealthy foods, including fried food or foods which contain excessive amounts of animal fat, increase cholesterol levels. Along with an unhealthy diet, genetics and obesity also play major parts in somebody’s inability to remove cholesterol from your blood.

Who Is at An Increased Risk for High Cholesterol?

Anyone whose diet contains an excessive number of saturated fat is at risk of high cholesterol. Saturated fat comes from dairy products and red meat. Nuts and some plant-derived oils also are full of saturated fat. Overweight people and people with a genetic susceptibility to high cholesterol are also at an increased risk.

Do You Know the Indications of High Cholesterol?

High cholesterol will not show any symptoms until a devastating event such as a stroke or heart attack occurs. In rare cases, it may show up as yellow deposits in the eyes or in tendons.

How Is High Cholesterol Diagnosed?

High cholesterol can be diagnosed with a straightforward blood test. Total cholesterol should not exceed 200 milligrams per deciliter, when cholesterol levels are taken after a 12-hour fast. If a reading falls between normal level and high level, it is considered borderline high.

How Is High Cholesterol Treated?

For most people who have high cholesterol, exercise and a healthy diet can decrease amounts to normal–discuss all dietary changes and exercise regimens with your physician or health care provider. Sometimes drugs is needed, particularly with high rates of LDL, or bad cholesterol.

Medications

High cholesterol can be treated by many different medications.
They contain:

• Statins are drugs that help your body lower cholesterol levels and even remove cholesterol from clogged arteries.
• Resins absorb bile that contains cholesterol and prevent its re-absorption in the large intestine. Additionally they cause the liver to improve bile production, using up more cholesterol.
• Other cholesterol-lowering drugs function to lower the intestine’s ability to absorb cholesterol.

Natural High Cholesterol Remedies

Take these measures:

• Eat better. Start preparing meals to your high cholesterol in mind. Try lean meats, like fish and chicken. Avoid fried or fatty foods. Eat lots of whole grains, fruits, and also vegetables. A lot of carbs, which can come from booze or sugary foods, can increase triglycerides, which also can lead to high cholesterol.
• Exercise. Participate in moderate aerobic activity at least thirty minutes a day, five days per week. Constantly discuss new exercise regimens with your doctor or health care provider.
• Quit smoking. This can decrease your levels of HDL, or bad cholesterol.
• Nutritional supplements including fiber, soy, and fish oil may all help lower cholesterol. Herbs including hawthorn, garlic, and olive seed extract might also have advantages. Talk to your doctor before starting an herbal regimen.

As an internist, Dr. Parikh has interest in  the treatment and prevention of hypertension. You should have regular appointments with your physician, if you have high blood pressure. It’s important to have your blood pressure checked during your annual check up, particularly if someone in your family has or had high, even if you have not been identified as having high blood pressure.

What is Hypertension?

Hypertension, also known as blood pressure, is a measurement of the force from the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps blood throughout your body. Hypertension is another term used to describe high blood pressure. Blood pressure readings are usually given as two numbers — for example, 120 over 80 (written as 120/80 mmHg). 1 or these two numbers can be overly high. The most notable number is known as the systolic blood pressure. The bottom number is known as the diastolic blood pressure.

Regular blood pressure is when your blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmHg on a consistent basis. High blood pressure (hypertension) is when your blood pressure is 140/90 mmHg or above the majority of the time. In case your blood pressure numbers are 120/80 or higher, but below 140/90, it’s called pre-hypertension. If you have heart or kidney issues, or you had a stroke, your personal doctor may need your blood pressure to be even lower than that of those who don’t have these conditions.

Negative Effects of Hypertension

Most of the time, high blood pressure can be controlled with medicine and lifestyle changes. When blood pressure isn’t well controlled, you may be at risk for:

• Bleeding from your aorta, the large blood vessel that supplies blood to the legs, pelvis, and abdomen
• Chronic kidney disease
• Heart attack and heart failure
• Inferior blood supply to the legs
• Issues with your vision
• Stroke

Causes of High Blood Pressure

Many factors can affect blood pressure, including:

• How much salt and water you have in your body
• The state of your kidneys, nervous system, or blood vessels
• Your hormone amounts
• You are prone to be told your blood pressure is too much as you get older. It is because your blood vessels become stiffer as you age. When that happens, your blood pressure goes up. High blood pressure increases your chance of having a stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney disease, or early death.

There is a greater risk of high blood pressure if:

• You are African American
• You are overweight
• You are often stressed or anxious
• You drink a lot of alcohol (more than one drink per day for women and more than two drinks daily for men)
• You eat a lot of salt in your diet
• You have a family history of high blood pressure
• You’ve got diabetes
• You smoke
• Whenever no cause of high blood pressure is found. It is called essential hypertension.

High blood pressure that is caused by another medical condition or drug is known as secondary hypertension. Secondary hypertension may be due to:

• Chronic kidney disease
• Illnesses of the adrenal gland (like pheochromocytoma or Cushing syndrome)
• Hyperparathyroidism
• Pregnancy or preeclampsia
• Drugs including birth control pills, diet pills, some cold medicines, and migraine medicines
• Narrowed artery that provides blood to the kidney (renal artery stenosis)
• Symptoms
• The majority of the time, there aren’t any symptoms. For many patients, high blood pressure is uncovered when they see their doctor or have it assessed elsewhere.

People can develop cardiovascular disease and kidney troubles without knowing they have high blood pressure, because there are no symptoms. If you have a severe headache, nausea or vomiting, terrible headache, confusion, changes in your vision, or nosebleeds you might have an intense and dangerous form of high blood pressure called malignant hypertension.

Exams and Evaluations

Your health care provider will measure your blood pressure several-times before diagnosing you with high blood pressure. It is standard for your own blood pressure to be different based on the time.

All adults should have their blood pressure checked every 1 to 2 years if their blood pressure was less than 120/80 mmHg at their latest reading. For those who have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, kidney problems, or certain other conditions, have your blood pressure checked more often — at least once each year. Blood pressure readings taken at home may be a better measure of your present blood pressure than those taken at your doctor’s office.

Make sure you get a great quality, well-fitting home blood pressure monitor. It will get the appropriate sized cuff along with a digital readout. Training along with your doctor or nurse to ensure you’re taking your blood pressure accurately.
Bring your property monitor to your appointments so that your health care provider can make sure that it is functioning correctly. Your doctor can do a physical exam to look for hints of heart problems, damage to the eyes, along with other developments in our bodies.

Evaluations may also be carried out to find:

• High cholesterol degrees
• Heart problems, such as an echocardiogram or electrocardiogram
• Kidney disease, for example a fundamental metabolic panel and urinalysis or ultrasound of the kidneys
• Treatment
• The purpose of cure is to reduce your blood pressure so you have a lesser risk of complications. You including your health care provider should decide on a blood pressure target for you.

Blood Pressure Prevention

In case you have pre-hypertension, your physician will recommend lifestyle modifications to bring your blood pressure right down to a normal range. Medicines are rarely used for pre hypertension.

You can do many things to assist control your blood pressure at home, including:

• Eat a heart-healthy diet , including potassium and fiber, and drink lots of
• Exercise regularly — at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day.
• In case you smoke, cease — locate a program that can help you cease.
• Restrict just how much alcohol you drink — one drink a day for women, two a day for men.
• Restrict the amount of sodium (salt) you eat — aim for under 1,500 mg per daydaily
• Reduce stress — attempt to avoid things that cause you anxiety. You can even try meditation or yoga.
• Stay at a healthier body weight — find a weight-loss program to help you, if you want it.
• Your health care provider may help you locate plans for losing weight, stopping smoking, and exercising.

You can also get a referral from your doctor to a dietitian, who can help you plan a diet that is healthy for you.

There are many different medicines to treat high blood pressure. Frequently, one blood pressure drug might not be enough to control your blood pressure, and also you will need to take a few drugs. It’s extremely imperative that you take the medications prescribed to you. Your doctor can substitute a different medicine, when you have side effects.

Contact Dr. Parikh today to schedule a high blood pressure screening or for more information about hypertension treatment.

Dr. Parikh is well versed in weight control. Obesity means an excess fat range in the body. There is always an optimal weight for every age and gender.

Morbid obesity is a condition wherein people are overweight by 45 kilos to what is normal for their age and sex. The prevalence of obesity has grown dramatically because the mid seventies particularly in the developed countries. In fact, obesity has gotten so wild that more kids and teenagers are heavy nowadays than ever before.

Weight Loss For Your Health

Obesity is not just a cosmetic consideration. This is a medical condition that can cause additional health risks. It can lead to: –

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Heart disorders like coronary heart diseases (CHD)
• Sleep apnea plus other respiratory troubles
• Osteoarthritis
• Stroke
• Increased hazards for several cancerous conditions in men and women.

Symptoms and Identification

The world health organization (WHO) has categorized obesity as a metabolic disorder. When other health conditions worsen due to obesity often overweight people approach their doctors.

Indications and symptoms that indicate its time to tackle obesity are:

• Your diabetes doesn’t decrease inspite of medications and you’re overweight.
• You have trouble conceiving. Impotence and infertility are conditions worsened by obesity.
• The menstrual cycles are now irregular. You either have them too often or they seem to be diminishing in flow and appear later than common.
• You have recently developed high blood pressure or your existing high pressures aren’t reacting well to medications.
• Off-late you suffer from increased daytime sleepiness. Possibilities are you may suffer from sleep apnea.
• Obesity raises chances of skin diseases. Fungal infections are normal in skin folds of the abdomen, torso and lower limbs.
• Obesity could result in many chemical changes in the body.
• The weight bearing joints of the body -> back bones, knees, ankles etc. can suffer from joint inflammation (osteoarthritis). Pains in the back and knee are typical disorders associated with obesity.

Dietary Life style changes

Excessive calories consumed end-up being stored as fat. An excellent diet plan must have foods full of nutritive value and low in empty calories. Give up the notion of starving yourself. Crash diets rarely remedy the problem.

Instead, it’s important to strive to eat more of the appropriate foods. The realistic approach is to achieve a “healthier weight” and not what is touted as the “ideal weight”. Do not avoid carbohydrates -> have less of simple carbs (sugars) and consume more of complex carbohydrates. Most naturally occurring complex carbs provide adequate minerals and vitamins for energy creation. Wheatgerm, bran, oats, cornmeal, maize, buckwheat and barley are all excellent sources of complex carbs. These foods are best had as they are that is in their natural states.

Make an appointment with Dr. Parikh for the best professional weight control advice, today!