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Posted: January 16th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: HIV | No Comments »
The most common way to be exposed to the blood of another person is through a “needlestick injury”: a health care worker obtaining a blood sample is accidentally injured by the needle used to obtain the person’s blood. The risk of transmission of HIV, even when the person is infected, is not great: about one chance in 250. Nevertheless, health care workers are understandably anxious. Health care workers can also transmit HIV to patients. Transmission is only possible with invasive procedures like dental work or surgery.
Because the blood test is for antibodies, and antibodies will appear only after several weeks, blood must be tested for three to six months after the exposure before it is certain that infection did not take place. During this interval, those who have been exposed must avoid behaviors that transmit the virus, and in particular must practice safer sex.
*259\191\2*
Posted: December 26th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
The elderly are commonly stereotyped as being incapable of or uninterested in sexual relations. Though some physical changes do occur in older men and women, they generally do not cause them to stop enjoying sex. In women, the most significant physical changes follow menopause. Their skin becomes less elastic; most internal sexual organs, including the uterus and cervix, undergo some shrinkage; the vaginal walls become thinner; and vaginal lubrication during sexual arousal may decrease. The resulting increased friction during penetration can be painful. The typical physical change during orgasm is that the duration tends to be shorter. In fact, postmenopausal women experience sexual relations much the same as they did prior to menopause, only less intensely and for shorter periods of time. Women who remain sexually active report fewer problems with age-related changes in sexual functioning. The use of artificial lubricants usually resolves the problem of insufficient lubrication. Taking estrogen, known as estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), may decrease or prevent these physical changes that follow menopause.
Although men do not experience menopause, their bodies also undergo changes as a result of the aging process. They experience a decrease in firmness of erection, and they require more direct and prolonged stimulation in order to achieve an erection. They are slower to obtain a full erection and to reach orgasm, and their refractory periods are longer. Elderly men also experience a decrease in the intensity of ejaculation. Semen seeps out during ejaculation rather than being forcefully expelled as is typical in younger men. However, the majority of healthy elderly men maintain a regular and satisfying sex life, especially if they have an available partner.
*3/277/5*
Posted: December 20th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Pain Relief-Muscle Relaxers | No Comments »
Methysergide (Deseril)
Another very potent inhibitor of 5HT is methysergide, which is an effective anti-migraine prophylactic. Prolonged use may lead to fibrous thickening of certain structures such as the kidneys, so that this therapy should not be prolonged for more than three months at a time, an interval of one month being required before another course can be started.
Clonidine
This drug was first used in the treatment of high blood pressure and it acts both on the brain and on blood vessels. Centers in the brain which control blood pressure are affected in such a way that they cause blood vessels to dilate, while the blood vessels themselves are made less responsive to noradrenalin; both of these effects serve to reduce blood pressure.
In smaller doses, clonidine should prevent many of the chemical changes which spark off a migraine attack; Dixarit, its proprietary name, contains about a quarter of the dose of clonidine used for high blood pressure. When, in this dosage, it prevents migraine, it works well, but people who do not benefit from initial treatment will not benefit with increasing dosage.
Although several trials have found that clonidine confers no benefit when compared to a placebo, some physicians find it useful in certain circumstances, as the almost total lack of side-effects often make it a drug of first choice in prophylaxis, especially in women whose migraine attacks occur at the time of the menstrual periods. Like other preventive drugs, it may take up to two weeks for the effects to become manifest.
A group of medical students were given Dixarit or a placebo prior to a party in which the intake of wine and cheese was excessive. The next morning the Dixarit-treated group developed headache significantly less often than the placebo treated group. This result, although not scientifically reported, is interesting because cheese and red wine are most potent in producing headaches. Tyramine is only one of these factors present in red wine. The ‘hangover’ headache is due to a variety of factors, one of which is that the alcohol dehydrates the brain tissue to give low pressure headache. Some of the chemicals in alcoholic drinks have effects on their own, acting to cause a vascular headache of the migraine type. The part that an excess of tobacco plays in the hangover headache is uncertain but nicotine is a well-known precipitant of headache.
The main compounds to influence platelet activation are called thromboxanes. These are derived from one of the fatty substances which may trigger a migraine attack. These free fatty acids are converted into substances (pro-aggregating agents) which eventually cause the platelets to clump together. These also cause constriction of vessel walls, which react by producing substances with opposite actions (i.e. they convert the free fatty acids into inhibitors of platelet aggregation and into powerful dilators of vessel walls).
Altering these compounds in the body should in theory have a marked effect on migraine, especially if platelet activation could be prevented without changing the size of blood vessels. Constriction of the vessel wall is the first part of the migraine cycle and breaking this pattern would be therapeutically helpful. Most substances which inhibit the production of thromboxanes in the platelets also inhibit the production of anti-aggregating substances in the vessel walls as both have similar initial production stages. Preventing dilatation – the cause of the pain – will produce relief by the same mechanism as the many vasoconstrictor medicines which are effective during an acute attack of migraine.
*65/152/5*
Posted: December 13th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Weight Loss | No Comments »
You’ve all heard the story: “I eat like a bird, but I can’t lose weight.” Should you believe the person who says this? Probably not, according to a recent study analyzing the self-reported and actual caloric intakes and amounts of exercise among a group of overweight adults. The researchers carefully followed obese people who had been unsuccessful following as many as 20 diets, though they claimed that they consumed fewer than 1,200 calories per day. They blamed their failure on “metabolism.” It turned out that their metabolism levels were normal, but that they were actually eating nearly twice as much as they thought they were and exercising only three quarters as much as they reported.
Does this mean that obesity is simply the result of gluttony and sloth? Are obese people the only ones who underestimate their caloric intake and overestimate the amount of exercise they do? No. In fact, many studies have shown that obese individuals do not eat much more than their normal-weight counterparts. However, it should be noted that they do exercise less. The majority of overweight individuals are less active than non-obese people. Of course, it could be argued that it is their obesity that leads to their sedentary lifestyle. Much more research is necessary before scientists really have a clear profile of both the obese and non-obese.
*13/277/5*
Posted: September 20th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: General health | Tags: General health | No Comments »
Expectorants
No product on the market today has the capacity to remove mucus from the airways any better than the means that nature intended. As a group of medications they don’t work. They are a complete waste of time.
Home Remedies
If a moist cough is present why drown in mucopus? It is better to cough than use cough suppressants. If a dry cough is the problem use a codeine linctus as a cough suppressant and drink plenty of water. It is hard to have a dry cough if the body is over hydrated. Do not use cough suppressants in infants or children. They depress the brains respiratory centre and raise the specter of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Eyestrain
The appearance of blurred vision and headaches whilst reading, driving or watching TV suggests the development of eyestrain. The condition arises because the eyes focal point moves forward a few millimeters every year. When the age of 40 arrives, people run out of enough arm to hold reading material further away. The eye’s focal point is brought forward by a pair of appropriately prescribed corrective spectacles. Modern technology in the form of laser beams scars the cornea, changing the shape of the lens without the need for corrective lenses.
Home Remedies
The first port of call with a case of eyestrain is the optometrist. Not the general practitioner or the ophthalmologist. Accepting that optometrists have a vested interest in supplying clients with expensive spectacles, it is hoped that ophthalmologists have better things to do with their time than writing out formulae for prescription lenses.
*55/131/5*
FDA Approved Prescription Drugs.
Posted: September 20th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: General health | Tags: General health | No Comments »
Old people’s homes (also called residential homes) are the responsibility of the Social Services department. Up until recently they were really the only provider of care for the frail elderly, unless the person had money and could afford a private rest home in the country or on the south coast. All this has now changed with government encouragement to social services to use private rest homes. This has led to many local authorities closing down their old people’s homes, either through lack of demand (in areas with fairly affluent old people and lots of private homes) or because they are too expensive to run and it proves cheaper to place people in private homes inside or outside the area. Inevitably, this allows choice in affluent neighborhoods and none in poorer ones.
The original concept of old people’s homes was to provide the level of care that a relative could reasonably be expected to provide. This was fine until the numbers of very old and frail people began to rise. The homes were not designed for or staffed in sufficient numbers to cope with the increasing disability levels. Add to that the problems of mobility and mental confusion, as well as the lack of staff training, and there was a recipe for disaster. Many homes became feared and hated places, akin to the old workhouses – they became part of the retirement nightmare. After some scandals and much despair and unhappiness, things are beginning to change; for example, homes are being redesigned, moving away from large impersonal buildings to smaller areas of group living.
Most local authorities use a panel system for admission to their old people’s homes. In many ways it implies a needs tested approach, but it does also mean that a social worker has to be allocated to the case and present their client’s problems to a multidisciplinary panel. In this way those at risk of entering the home due to undetected illness will hopefully be picked up, and for others some way of caring for them at home will be arrived at by the panel. Specific questions on mobility and continence are asked of the social worker: a person must be independently mobile (using a frame is fine) and not incontinent (apart from the rare accident). They must also not be so confused as to be disruptive. This screening of prospective clients, allied with staff training on aspects of old age, means that the quality of life for all residents is increased.
Ideally the person should visit a home before any decisions (on either side) are made, and many homes like a probationary 24-4 8-hour visit before the place is offered permanently. There then usually follows a month’s trial to make sure the person settles in and that both sides are happy. It is vital that in this interim period neither carers nor social workers get rid of the person’s original home. Some old people find that the advantages of living in residential homes do not measure up to their expectations, and the disadvantages of their old home suddenly don’t seem so bad – in short, they want to go home.
*55/128/5*
Purchase generic Cialis online
Posted: June 2nd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Cardio & Blood- Сholesterol | Tags: Cardio & Blood | No Comments »
Well, if cigarettes are so bad, what about pipes and cigars? For cigarette smokers, especially, switching is just fooling yourself. You’ll inhale the smoke to get the nicotine effect. Besides, pipe and cigar smokers have their own health problems, including cancer of the lip, tongue, throat and oesophagus.
How about smokeless tobacco such as snuff or chewing tobacco? These provide “satisfaction” by giving a shot of nicotine. It just takes a bit longer to get the hit, but then if one keeps the stuff in the mouth, there’s a constant flow to the brain. And the nicotine, regardless of the source, still has the effects on the cardiovascular system that can kill. Moreover, smokeless tobacco has been well established as a deadly cause of cancer of the mouth, and it also leads to gum disease that can mean tooth loss.
There are other things that can substitute for the oral satisfaction you’ll crave, and for the fiddling around that you do with the cigarette in your hand. I’ll detail a number of options.
*92\85\2*
Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol
Posted: June 2nd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Cardio & Blood- Сholesterol | Tags: Cardio & Blood | No Comments »
COMMENT- THE SECOND HISTORY
Case History: RC, (Male – upper middle age) My first heart attack must have occurred when I was on holiday staying in France in 1987. I kept getting this severe pain in the upper back. Thought I’d slipped a disc. But I would wake up in the night with it and any exertion like packing up the car made it worse. I discussed with my wife whether the coffee and French pastries might be contributing to the pain and I stopped them and through cutting out tea, coffee and pastries I did improve but not much.
On my return to England I had to go to the bank -I wanted a business loan so I had to have a medical checkup. The doctor there discovered I had high blood pressure, 190/90 but apart from that he said I was fine. I decided to cut out fats and transform my diet and my blood pressure dropped to 130/70 and has stayed there ever since.
But I still had angina. I decided to have a checkup with a cardiologist associated with a leading London hospital. In October 1988 I had a treadmill test and was told ‘there is nothing you can do really’. I asked about diet and was told ‘eat what you like’. I was mad about this because I knew diet had helped me before. He [the specialist] also told me I didn’t need to exercise – a warm bath was all I needed.
I began to have more problems. I spoke to a friend who worked in another London hospital, she arranged for me to see the Professor of Cardiology there. That was June 1989. He diagnosed a 90 per cent blockage in my coronary arteries and suggested angioplasty. I went in on Wednesday, was done on Thursday, came out Saturday with drug treatment.
In the following year, I was carrying a bag of waste to the dustbin when I felt queer. I went to my GP who confirmed I was having a heart attack and must be conducted urgently to hospital. It had to be the original London hospital in my area. Once there, a doctor looked at me and said I could go home: ‘you look perfectly all right to me’. My wife refused. If she had not been so adamant I would not be here now because I had a severe heart attack that night.
It was a horrendous experience. I was put in a room with three other patients on life support machines, two of which died, one had his family screaming around him. There they were, screaming and shouting right next to the intensive care unit for heart patients.
My attack started at 9.00 p.m. and I was in agony. They tried to find the registrar. At midnight they got hold of him and he gave me a streptokinase injection and immediately the pain started to ease. Apparently that dissolves blood clots.
The next day the original consultant cardiologist turned up. He said, ‘that shot we gave you cost 750. We only had two in the hospital and you got one.’
I later found out that up in Scotland doctors carry this around normally. I was truly shocked that a major hospital in London only had two shots.
After three sleepless nights, following transferral to a general ward through which ambulance crews were trundling people all night with doors crashing, and the TV on all night, I started another heart attack. I insisted my wife help move me out and I did move to a second hospital. They gave me another balloon angioplasty at 3.00 a.m. As I was being wheeled out of the theatre the surgeon said, ‘It was a great success.’
Great success? I thought. I am still lying here in such terrible pain I can’t move and you tell me that?
After I was discharged on three drugs, I felt better for about two months. Then I started to feel unwell again, so unwell I was spending two to three days in bed each week.
One day my wife said, ‘Get out of bed, you are fading away. I won’t let this happen. We have heard about this treatment [chelation] and you are having it.’
In April ’91 I went to see Wayne [Dr Perry]. It was the best day’s work I ever did. I had a Doppler. One carotid artery [leading to the head] was 70 per cent blocked. On one artery they couldn’t get a reading because there was too much disturbance.
After 20 treatments I felt great. I had bought a complete kitchen which I was going to fit, but I delayed when I started feeling ill. After the treatment my wife said you couldn’t knock me down. I laid the ceramic tiled floor, my wife mixed the cement. I was so fit I dug the garden over. The difference was unbelievable. My carotid blockage was reduced by 30 per cent.
Through all this I kept my GP informed. He was in accord with my trying the treatment. When I later had a checkup with the senior cardiologist at the hospital (he has some post in Europe too), I asked him about chelation to see what he’d say and he said, ‘Don’t touch it, it doesn’t work.’
I have now had 30 treatments and, after meeting a patient in the clinic who was having the treatment on the National Health [a pioneering step], I asked my doctor to write to the heart specialist to see if I could have it too. When I next saw him I knew he’d received the letter but he had six senior doctors around him and he never raised it and neither did I, to spare his feelings.
He did tell me I was down for a triple bypass and I asked him what protection it gave me from further heart attacks. ‘Oh it won’t stop you from having another heart attack,’ he said. ‘How reassuring,’ I thought. ‘Here I am about to have another heart operation and I’m told it mightn’t work.’
It reminded me of a remark I’d heard in the arterial clinic. Three farmers had come in from Kenya. They did have a chelation clinic in Kenya, but local medicos got it closed down. One very fit man had gone to his doctor and the doctor had said, ‘Why don’t you have a bypass?’ ‘Do I need it?’ he had asked. ‘No,’ the doctor said, ‘but it would give you another ten years of life.’ He said he then decided to hot foot it to the UK to have chelation therapy instead.
RC is now fit and active. His wife and he both follow a carefully controlled diet low in fat, meat and dairy foods and high in fibre and fresh fruit and vegetable content. His wife once followed a diet consisting entirely of grapes for a month. She had so much energy she used to spring out of bed singing in the mornings, to such an extent her husband begged her to ‘tone it down’.
What seems disturbing about this case history is the picture it paints about lack of peace and quiet in intensive care in a leading London teaching hospital. As RC says: ‘How do they expect patients to get better if they can’t sleep for noise and commotion?’ Also disrupting to patient welfare were the battles RC and his wife had to fight on his account to get the treatment he wanted at the very time when he should have been surrendering to recovery.
The general criticism of chelation therapy – it doesn’t work was again in evidence.
*91\104\2*
Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol
Posted: May 21st, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: General health | Tags: General health | No Comments »
Parents will often be worried that their baby is not well. The most common cause of a baby being ‘off colour’ is a cold or simple viral infection. These are very common in childhood, and in most cases no specific treatment is necessary. Your child may be a little irritable and clingy. A slight fever may be present on and off, and he may be snuffly. It is often difficult for parents to see their child not wanting to eat or drink very much but in the majority of cases all these symptoms will pass after a few days. Young children have viral infections frequently during the winter months, especially when they begin to attend daycare or kindergarten where they are in regular contact with other children.
While most simple viral infections are mild and a full recovery is assured with no treatment, a baby or young child can sometimes have a more serious illness. Sometimes, especially during the early stages of an illness, it is difficult even for doctors to pick up the signs of something more serious. Yet it is important to realise that the earlier the signs of a serious illness are detected, the sooner treatment can be started. This is particularly important for babies and very young children. Younger children can go downhill quite quickly, and early detection of serious illness is vital.
How do parents know when an illness is minor and when it might be more serious? Recent research has pointed to signs which might indicate that the baby or young child should be seen immediately by a doctor. You should watch out for:
• drowsiness
• decreased activity/lethargy
• breathing difficulty
• poor circulation
• poor feeding
• poor urine output.
*200\90\8*
Posted: May 19th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: General health | Tags: General health | No Comments »
SWEAT TEST
This is a test which is used to confirm the diagnosis of a genetically inherited disorder called cystic fibrosis (see p. 200). The concentration of salts in the sweat is measured. In children with cystic fibrosis, the level is much higher than normal.
THROAT SWAB
If your child has a sore throat, your doctor may suggest doing a throat swab. This is a brushing of the back of the throat with a sterile long cotton bud, which is then placed in a special container and sent to the laboratory. The sample is checked under a microscope and some is brushed onto a special culture medium and incubated for 48 hours, in an attempt to grow the germ causing the infection. Many throat infections are due to viruses but certain germs, such as Streptococcus, can also be the cause. It is definitely advisable to do a throat swab if your child has pus on his tonsils. The procedure also helps to determine which antibiotic will be effective against the specific germ found.
*33\90\8*