Adult Primary Care of Acadiana-North Lafayette Location

NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS!
15 years and older
Call 337-806-9913 to set up an appointment!

PGOA is excited to welcome our new Family Nurse Practitioner to Adult Primary Care of Acadiana in our North Lafayette location! She will be seeing patients ages 15 and up beginning May 15th. Call us at 337-806-9913 to schedule your appointment! Walkins also accepted!

About Mrs. Crystal:

Crystal Hancox MSN, APRN, FNP-C is from Youngsville and currently lives in the Lafayette area. Crystal attended University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL) where she earned her undergraduate degree in Nursing in 2004. She returned to University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2013, where she obtained her Master's of Science in Nursing-Family Nurse Practitioner degree in December 2015. Crystal is a current member and is certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). She has practiced nursing for 12 plus years and has been a Nurse Practitioner for 8 years. Her nursing experience includes Pediatric ICU, Pediatric ER, and ER. She brings with her experience in both Primary Care and Urgent Care as a Nurse Practitioner. She is very excited to join PGOA in our North Lafayette clinic, and looks forward to providing services and building relationships with the community in North Lafayette. She is married to her husband, Jeremy Hancox, and together they have two amazing children, Emery and Daxton. In her spare time, she enjoys being outdoors, spending time with her family and friends, and watching her children play sports.

Adult Primary Care of Acadiana-North Lafayette Location 🩺⚕️Specializing in preventative health, acute & chronic care disease management, & Women’s Health.

Family of missing Alabama woman say they ‘heard her scream’ through the phone before she disappeared Officials in Alabama are searching for a 25-year-old woman who went missing after calling 911 to report seeing a child walking alone along the interstate.

Happy 4th of July. Our clinic will be closed today. Clinic will resume July 5th. Stay safe 🙂

Antibiotics for sore throat.
Del Mar CB, et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006. PMID: 17054126

Updated. ReviewReviewers' conclusions: Antibiotics confer relative benefits in the treatment of sore throat. However, the absolute benefits are modest. Protecting sore throat sufferers against suppurative and non-suppurative complications in modern Western society can be achieved only by treating with antibiotics many who will derive no benefit. In emerging economies where rates of for example acute rheumatic fever are high, the number needed to treat may be much lower. Antibiotics shorten the duration of symptoms by a mean of one day about half way through the illness (the time of maximal effect), and by about sixteen hours overall.

The Dark Side of Antibiotics: Adverse Effects on the Infant Immune Defense Against Infection

Abstract
Although antibiotics confer significant health benefits in treating or preventing bacterial infections, an accumulating wealth of evidence illustrates their detrimental effect on host-microbiota homeostasis, posing a serious menace to the global public health. In recent years, it is becoming evident that infants, who are subjected to frequent antibiotic exposures due to their vulnerability to infection, reflect increased susceptibility to a wide spectrum of diseases, including infection, in later life. Antibiotics induce perturbations of the microbiota or dysbiosis, which in turn alters the host immune responses against pathogens. In comparison with adults, antibiotic treatments in infants have disproportionate consequences because the infant microbiota represents an evolving system that is unstable and immature until 2–3 years of age.

Having a robost patient-centered conversation with your health care provider helps to ensure an evidence-based plan of care.

Nutritional Status as a Mediator of Fatigue and Its Underlying Mechanisms in Older People

Despite its clinical relevance, fatigue is typically underestimated by healthcare professionals, mainly because reduced stamina is considered to be an unavoidable corollary of aging. The incomplete knowledge of pathophysiological mechanisms of fatigue and the lack of a gold standard tool for its assessment contribute to the poor appreciation of fatigue in clinical practice. Inadequate nutrition is invoked as one of the mechanisms underlying fatigue. Modifications in food intake and body composition changes seem to influence the perception of fatigue, probably through the mechanisms of inflammation and/or mitochondrial dysfunction.

Nutrients. 2020 Feb; 12(2): 444. Published online 2020 Feb 10. doi: 10.3390/nu12020444

Nutritional Counseling is provided to every patient at our clinic based on the Mediterranean meal plan.

Mediterranean diet is effective in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and overall mortality. [3, 4] A study of nearly 26,000 women found that those who followed this type of diet had 25% less risk of developing cardiovascular disease over the course of 12 years. [5] The study examined a range of underlying mechanisms that might account for this reduction, and found that changes in inflammation, blood sugar, and body mass index were the biggest drivers. Similar benefits were found in a meta-analysis of 16 prospective cohort studies following more than 22,000 women for a median of 12.5 years. [6] Those who had the highest adherence to a Mediterranean diet showed a 24% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and 23% lower risk of premature death compared with those who had the lowest adherence. Healthy eating is not as difficult as it may seem.

Our clinic underscores the benefits of cooking, and will help guide you to achieve a healthy meal plan.

Closed for the Easter Holidays. We will reopen Tuesday

Walk-ins Welcome! No wait
431 East Evergreen Street
337-806-9913

Sinus Infections
Acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) is defined as symptomatic inflammation of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses lasting less than four weeks. The term "rhinosinusitis" is preferred to "sinusitis" since inflammation of the sinuses rarely occurs without concurrent inflammation of the nasal mucosa. The most common cause of sinus problems is a viral infection. Treatment of the majority of Sinus infections stems on treating the symptoms such as constant coughing or post nasal drip. Symptoms typically resolves in 7-10 days. The need for Antibiotics is required for less than 2% of all Sinus Infections. In addition bacterial infections are typically self limiting.
If you are suffering from Sinus problems, Post nasal drip, or Cough. Call 337- 806- 9913 to make an appointment so your symptoms can be addressed. Walk ins welcomed!!

Gout is known to be associated with cardiovascular disease; however, the temporal association of cardiovascular events after an acute gout flare had not previously been studied. In a case-control study that included over 62,500 patients with gout in a longitudinal primary care database, of whom nearly 10,500 experienced a cardiovascular event (ie, stroke or myocardial infarction), acute gout flare was associated with increased risk of a cardiovascular event in the next 0 to 60 days and 61 to 120 days. These findings highlight the importance of managing cardiovascular risk factors among patients with gout. Follow up with your Primary Care Provider for screening. UpToDate

One common complaint in Primary Care is Muscle cramps. Although often associated with Low Potassium. Low Potassium is not the primary cause. I suggest following up with your healthcare provider if you are suffering from cramps.

Etiology of Muscle Cramps
The most common types of leg cramps are

Benign idiopathic leg cramps (leg cramps in the absence of a causative disorder, typically at night)

Exercise-associated muscle cramping (cramps during or immediately after exercise)

Although almost everyone has muscle cramps at some time, certain factors increase the risk and severity of cramps. They include the following:

Tight calf muscles (eg, due to lack of stretching, inactivity, or sometimes chronic lower leg edema)

Dehydration

Electrolyte abnormalities (eg, low body levels of potassium or magnesium)

Neurologic or metabolic disorders

Removal of a large volume of fluid during dialysis in patients with end-stage kidney disease

Drugs

The research article : Nitrate Derived From Beetroot Juice Lowers Blood Pressure in Patients With Arterial Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis discussed the benefits of Beet Root juice in reducing moderately elevated blood pressure. Below is an excerpt from the article.

The increase in NO concentration promotes vascular smooth muscle relaxation by different cellular mechanisms [e.g., activation of K+ channels; cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG)] and then promotes blood pressure decrease through muscle relaxation in the endothelium via increased activity of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) . NO also appears to modify neural control of the cardiovascular system by reducing the flow of sympathetic modulation. Through nitrate/nitrite salivary and blood tests, the studies included in this review confirmed that the decrease in SBP was due to the increase in nitrate and nitrite mediating the augment in NO production (12–18).

Happy New Year from Internal Medicine Group of Acadiana - North Lafayette

Weight Loss with a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet
A study by the New England Journal of Medicine assigned 322 moderately obese subjects to one of three diets: low-fat, restricted-calorie; Mediterranean, restricted-calorie; or low-carbohydrate, non–restricted-calorie. The Mediterranean-diet group consumed the largest amounts of dietary fiber and had the highest ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fat (P

About 80% of US consumers report using dietary supplements. Many of them help improve people’s health, but some contain dangerous or unexpected ingredients or may be used in unsafe ways. Between 2004 and 2013, the FDA received more than 15 000 reports of health problems linked to dietary supplements, including nearly 4000 hospitalizations. A recent survey found that people overestimate the scope and strength of the FDA’s regulation of supplements, mistakenly believing that the FDA reviews or tests products before they reach the market.2 No such requirements currently exist; and manufacturers often do not disclose the ingredients of new products to regulators and consumers.
We take a patient - centered approach to discuss which vitamins are safe and discuss if any are needed . Call for an appointment!

JAMA Health Forum. 2022;3(10):e224449. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2022.4449

Recommendation for Breast Cancer screening vary among health scientist. According to the American Cancer Society women ages 40 to 44 should have the choice to start annual breast cancer screening with mammograms if they wish to do so.
Women age 45 to 54 should get mammograms every year.
Women 55 and older should switch to mammograms every 2 years, or can continue yearly screening.
Screening should continue as long as a woman is in good health and is expected to live 10 more years or longer.
All women should be familiar with the known benefits, limitations, and potential harms linked to breast cancer screening. Talk to your health care provider to discuss what is best for you. Recommendation should be made through shared decision-making
after appropriate counseling.

What Are the Symptoms?
There are different symptoms of breast cancer, and some people have no symptoms at all. Symptoms can include—

Any change in the size or the shape of the breast.
Pain in any area of the breast.
Ni**le discharge other than breast milk (including blood).
A new lump in the breast or underarm.
If you have any signs that worry you, see your doctor right away. CDC.

Hours of Operation
Monday Tuesday and Thursday 8AM-5PM
Wednesday 1PM-5PM
Friday 8AM-12PM

NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS!
18 years and older
Call 337-806-9913 to set up an appointment!