CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES: STROKE

Like heart muscle, brain cells must have a continuous adequate supply of oxygen in order to survive. A stroke (also called a cerebrovascular accident) occurs when the blood supply to the brain is cut off. Strokes may be caused by a thrombus (blood clot), an embolus (a wandering clot), or an aneurysm (a weakening in a blood vessel that causes it to bulge and, in severe cases, burst). Stroke killed more than 159,000 Americans in 1999 and accounted for 1 in 14 of our total deaths, surpassed only by CHD and cancer. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 53 seconds, with someone dying every 3.3 minutes.
When any of these events occurs, the result is the death of brain cells, which do not have the capacity to heal or regenerate. Strokes may cause speech impairments, memory loss, and loss of motor control. Although some strokes affect parts of the brain that regulate heart and lung function and kill within minutes, others are mild and cause only temporary dizziness or slight weakness or numbness. About one in ten major strokes is preceded (days, weeks, or months before) by one of these mild forms of strokes, called transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). These are often indications of an impending major stroke. Knowing the warning signs or symptoms of stroke may help you or a loved one get medical attention earlier, when treatment may be more effective. Among the most common symptoms are the following:
• Sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm, or leg on one side of the body
• Sudden dimness or loss of vision, particularly in only one eye
• Loss of speech, or trouble talking or understanding speech
• Sudden, severe headaches with no known cause
Unexplained dizziness, unsteadiness, or sudden falls, especially along with any of the previously listed symptoms.
One of the greatest medical successes in recent years has been the decline in the fatality rates from strokes, a rate that has dropped by one third in the United States during the 1980s and continues to decline. Improved diagnostic procedures, improved surgical options, clot-busting drugs injected early after a stroke has occurred, and acute care centers specializing in stroke treatment and rehabilitation have all been factors. An increase in awareness of risk factors for stroke, especially high blood pressure, and an emphasis on prevention also has contributed to risk reduction. It is estimated that more than one half of all remaining strokes could be avoided if more people followed the recommended preventive standards.
*10/277/5*

195 | posted at June 23rd, 2011 in Cardio & Blood- Сholesterol

BAD HABIT #4: SERVING FAMILY STYLE

Family-style eating—in which all the food is put in serving dishes on the table so that people can help themselves—is a very nice idea. I happen to have invested a lot of money in the serving pieces that go with my china and I feel terrible whenever I realize that I am not using them. But in a family of overeaters, serving family style is a serious mistake because it encourages people to eat more than they should.
To control calorie intake you must be able to control the size of the portions. You can’t sit at the head of the table with a whip in your hand, so you might as well eliminate temptation. Put the portions on the plates in the kitchen. Calculate the meal so that there are no leftovers. This makes the cleanup easier and keeps waistlines trim.
If you are an adult and still think this way, you probably have a weight problem. It will take a lot of work to convince yourself (or your man) that food is merely a nice way to keep the machinery operating.
*53/243/1*

192 | posted at June 13th, 2011 in Weight Loss

BOTOX – SUBSTANCE WITH DRAMATIC BEAUTIFYING PROPERTIES

For a substance with such dramatic beautifying properties, Botox has a much publicised and controversial background. Botox, or botulinum toxin type A, is a highly purified derivative of a toxin that in much, much larger doses could be hazardous. When used for cosmetic, or wrinkle zapping, purposes the toxin is purified and diluted and injected into the facial muscles. Almost instantly, the toxin blocks the nerve impulses that control muscle movement by restricting the patient’s abilities to contract the facial muscles. No
contraction of the muscle equals no movement of the skin lying over it and no movement equals no wrinkles. A smoothing effect is seen while the patient is still in the exam chair, with improvement continuing over the following couple of days. This result lasts approximately three to six months, at which point most patients gradually return to their original state of wrinkling.
Of the seven different forms of the botulinum toxin that exist, type A is the one that is most studied and used and the only one approved for the cosmetic treatment of frown lines. Neurobloc, manufactured by Elan Pharmaceuticals, is another paralysing ag’ent, this time derived from botulinum type B. It is used very similarly to Botox, but it’s only   j approved for cervical dystonia, which are involuntary contractions of the neck and shoulders. However, the potential of Neurobloc as a cosmetic treatment is starting to emerge, with more information to come within the next couple of years.
*46\82\8*

189 | posted at June 4th, 2011 in Skin Care

AROUSAL IN THE FEMALE: HER PARTNER

Monica, an advertising executive, said to me, ‘Very few Indian men know the art of arousing a female. Most of them fumble, are clumsy, heavy-handed and just want to grab the breasts. They think they are peeling mangoes!’ She hesitated, played with the pin-cushion on my table and ruefully remarked, ‘As for intercourse, most of them are what the Americans call ‘Slam-Bam-Thank-You-Ma’am’ and discharge in a few minutes. There are classes for shorthand, typing, elocution, advanced management, but there is nothing for teaching males how to turn on their partners and for females how
Tito respond sexually.’ Monica is right. ‘The Tragedy of the Bedroom’, as Tolstoy calls it, could be easily avoided with a little knowledge of how to arouse a woman.
Different women look for different attributes in men. Some want intelligence, social status, wealth, power, while others are attracted by an ability to converse, wit, or skill in sports. Sunil Gavaskar makes the heart of many females throb, and so does the handsome Nawab of Pataudi with his polished batting and impeccable behaviour. Being handsome, is, however, low down on the list of most women.
One frequently finds positively ugly-looking men being ardently pursued and loved by very beautiful and attractive females. ‘I don’t know what she sees in him!’ say the jealous onlookers who have lost the race. The answer: a sensuous man.
A sexually knowledgeable and experienced male once told me, ‘Doctor, contrary to whatever you read in the books, an extra inch of male anatomy makes all the difference to some women. A few become orgasmic just looking at a generously endowed male, whilst others reach many orgasms with such males.’ However, with the majority of women, the size of the penis is low down on their list of priorities. Most “women enjoy sex best if they love their partners, rather than have it with someone for whom they have no emotional attachment What they want most is gentleness, tenderness, a man who cares for them and desires them. Many women get aroused quickly not only because their partner wants sex but because he desires them and appreciates them.
SEX AND THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE: Sexual desire is highest just before the onset of the period and for the first two days of the period. The woman is easily aroused and responds more intensely during this time.
*98\262\8*

186 | posted at May 24th, 2011 in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction

HOW TO ASCERTAIN ASTHMA: THE DIAGNOSTIC TESTS- NASAL OR SPUTUM SMEAR TESTS AND BLOOD TESTS

Nasal or Sputum Smear Tests
Common tests include a nasal or a sputum smear in which mucus from the nose or the chest is examined under a microscope for excess amount of white blood cells called eosinophils. High eosinophils count is the hallmark of an ongoing allergic reaction. Eosinophil count increases dramatically in children suffering from hay fever and asthma. The level of eosinophils in the body can be measured by a blood test called the eosinophil count. Eosinophils normally comprise three to four per cent of all white blood cells, but in children with asthma, the eosinophil blood count is frequently elevated. The level of eosinophils often reflects the severity of asthma.
Blood Tests
It is also possible to detect allergies with blood tests. These tests are very helpful when the doctor cannot perform skin tests because of a skin eruption, or a child’s fear of needles, or when there is a chance of inducing an allergic reaction with skin tests.
However allergy blood tests have three major disadvantages:
1. They are not quite as accurate as skin tests.
2. They are many times more expensive than skin tests
3. The results are usually not available until two to three weeks after testing.
Children are naturally scared of blood tests, believing that these would hurt them. Reassurance by parents and a warm, friendly approach by the doctor often removes any fear from the child.
*49\260\8*

183 | posted at May 13th, 2011 in Asthma

PMS: NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES

There is plenty of research to support a link between poor eating habits and PMS. The main problems are thought to be caused by shortages of:
• vitamins, particularly B-group vitamins
• minerals such as magnesium and zinc
• essential fatty adds
LACK of essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids (EFAS) are not fats, like butter, nor adds like those you might have used in school chemistry
lessons. They are more like vitamins (in fad they were called vitamin F when they were first discovered), EFAS are vital for good health and, because our bodies cannot make them, we have to obtain them from our food.
EFAS belong to a group of polyunsaturated fatty adds (PUFAS for short), PUFAS have several roles’ in the body inducting:
• forming part of the membrane that surrounds every cell in the body 15
• providing energy
• maintaining body temperature
• insulating the nerves
In the case of PMS it’s thought that the effect on prostaglandin production is the root of the problem.
There are several types of prostaglandin (scientists believe there are many more that have not yet been discovered). They are involved in a range of processes from blood dotting, lowering blood pressure, causing the womb to contract, and protecting against stomach ulcers.
In the brain a shortage of prostaglandins is thought to lead to low levels of the body’s natural tranquillizers, the endorphins – hence the symptoms of anxiety reported by some women with PMS.
The most important source of EFAS in the diet are meats, dairy products, oily fish, seafoods such as shrimps and prawns, and green leafy vegetables.
The story is further complicated by the fact that there are two forms of linoleic add. One of them – the cis form – is more easily used by the body than the other – the trans form.
The natural state of most PUFAS is in the this form. But during heating or the process of Tiydrogenation’ (as, for example, in the manufacture of low fat’ spreads) the molecule may become changed into the trans form.
For the body, trying to use the trans form is rather like trying to put a left shoe on your right foot. It looks similar but the ‘fif is wrong.
In effect the trans forms are useless as the body cannot convert them and they prevent the body from using cis forms as they block the spaces in the cells where the chemical conversions take place. If s rather like the battle for space between adrenalin and progesterone.
Since some processed foods such as soft margarines and vegetable cooking oils (particularly those that contain hydrogenated oils) may contain up to 50 per cent trans-fatty adds there is real concern that EFA deficiency is widespread.
*15\120\4*

180 | posted at May 10th, 2011 in Women's Health

STRESS AND MARRIAGE BREAKDOWN: HOW HUSBANDS AND WIVES VIEW EACH OTHER’S FAULTS

I have observed differences in the way men and women react to discovering faults in each other. Perhaps I may be just expressing a view based on experience in Australian society; perhaps I may even be wrong. Perhaps there are men who hold what I would see as a female view, and women who hold what I would term a male view.
It seems to me that men don’t like to think of their girlfriends and wives as having any faults. It is as though they prefer to see them through the soft-focus lens of rose-coloured glasses, because if they had in mind their wives’ faults, their wives might be less desirable in their eyes. A man may not be able to say what colour his wife’s eyes are, or what dress she was wearing when he last saw her, but this failure to perceive basic facts about his wife’s external appearance is not due to lack of interest or ‘taking his wife for granted’. Far from taking their wives for granted, as some women wrongly suspect, men tend to see their wives in a sort of dream image of beauty. If they are pressed to acknowledge some unpleasant fact about their wives, they will resist accepting it as long as possible.
Women, on the other hand, tend to be well aware of the failings of the men they love. It is as though they have a list of the faults and weaknesses of their boyfriends and husbands which they are willing to overlook. ‘He may not be all I ever wanted in a man,’ she says, ‘but he’s still my Jack!’ She sees his faults, she accepts them, perhaps secretly intends to work on them after they’re married, and loves him in spite of them. She needs, therefore, to be able to ignore significant things about his behaviour, things that would otherwise bother or irritate her.
From what the reader has already learned about the symptoms of severe stress breakdown in the third stage, it will be apparent that an over-stressed wife may not be able to overlook, or forgive, or not respond to, the little faults and failings of dear Jack, and she may begin responding angrily to them.
‘Jack,’ she says, ‘I have put up with your mess in the bathroom without saying anything for the last fifteen years. The very next time I have to go into that bathroom after you and wipe up the water from where you left the shower curtain open, so help me mate, you’ll die!’
Jack’s response, of course, is utter bewilderment. Thinking like a male who never sees his wife’s bad points if he can get out of it, he has assumed all these years that the water just evaporated very quickly, and that nobody seemed to care if there was a bit of water lying around the floor. He feels guilty, and a little betrayed, because Beryl had never told him how this made her angry.
A male response to being unable to tolerate things previously tolerated might be exemplified by the following situation. Jack has met up with an old friend who used to take his wife Beryl out before they were married. Perhaps the relationship between the wife and her previous beau became too intimate, and she had confessed this to her present husband before they were married. Now, after ten years, they all meet up again. This time, it happens that Jack, the husband, is suffering from stage three stress breakdown symptoms.
A few days after their group outing, Jack finds he is unable to block out the thought of his wife and the previous boyfriend becoming intimate. He refuses to sleep with his wife – ‘I can’t get the picture out of my mind of you and that creep being together!’ he says. She is hurt and humiliated at the thought that her husband could be such a hypocrite. She told him about the previous boyfriend in good faith. He has now revealed himself as a person who is unforgiving and unreliable!
*58/129/5*

177 | posted at April 29th, 2011 in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid

PROSTATE CANCER: IMPORTANCE OF EARLY DIAGNOSIS

Scientists are working hard to identify the cancer in younger men while it is still confined to the prostate. It is no trivial issue. This year doctors will find 317,000 cases of prostate cancer in the United States, and 41,000 will die of it. The only cancer that kills more American men is lung cancer.
“We are diagnosing the disease much earlier than before,” said Dr.  Patrick Craig Walsh, urology chairman at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore and author of The Prostate: A Guide for Men and the Women Who Love Them. “Up ’til 10 years ago,” Dr. Walsh says, “we could detect it only by feeling the gland.” His reference is to the digital rectal examination (DRE), in which a doctor inserts a gloved and lubricated finger through the patient’s rectum to feel the prostate gland. If the prostate seems enlarged, hard, or bumpy, the DRE usually is followed by a biopsy, a microscopic examination of a tissue sample.
“Now,” says Dr. Walsh, “we also have a blood test that alerts doctors to cases that are suspicious. To follow them up, we do a simple biopsy to rule out or identify the cancer. And if it is cancer and it has not spread, then we cut it out.”
That blood test measures prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a chemical produced in the prostate gland. If cancer attacks the gland, the antigen is emitted in large amounts. A high level of PSA in such a test alerts doctors to the chance that the cancer might be growing.
Dr. Joseph E. Oesterling, formerly of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and now chief urologist at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, helped develop a new test with two Scandinavian doctors. It showed that PSA exists in the blood in two forms: free, or attached to a protein molecule. If the prostate is enlarged but not cancerous, more of the free PSA is found; if cancer is present, more of the attached form is found. Dr. Oesterling recommends a yearly blood test for PSA, because a rapid rise in its level can indicate cancer growth.
Testing for PSA has doctors at odds. Some complain that the tests don’t find early cancer but do trigger a sequence of expensive medical steps without prolonging lives. Others urge watchful waiting for aging patients, to spare them the risks and trauma of major surgery.
*15/266/5*

174 | posted at April 16th, 2011 in Cancer

SYMPTOMS OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA): VOCAL CORDS AND HEART

Vocal Cords
Another rare complication of RA is involvement of the joints of the vocal cords (cricoarytenoid joints). Usually there are no symptoms when this occurs, although some persons experience hoarseness, difficulty swallowing, a feeling of fullness in the throat, or pain radiating toward the ear. This complication is usually evaluated and treated by an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor.
The Heart
The heart is infrequently involved in RA, and when the heart is affected, most people experience no symptoms. When inflammation involves the membranous sac enclosing the heart (the pericardium), however, the person may experience symptoms similar to those of pleurisy. This condition is called pericarditis. In rare situations, a significant amount of fluid accumulates around the heart, in a condition called pericardial effusion. This condition usually responds to medications (corticosteroids) and only rarely requires drainage of the fluid. Other parts of the heart are rarely involved in RA.
*31/209/5*

171 | posted at April 10th, 2011 in Arthritis

FOODS FOR ARTHRITIS: EGG YOLK HAS THE RIGHT OIL

Eggs are enjoyed by most people every day. It will be helpful for arthritics to know that the value of eggs is not affected by the colour of the shells. The most important part of the egg is the yolk. And it doesn’t matter whether the yolk is light or medium yellow.
Farmers everywhere realise that the colour of the yolk is determined by the chicken’s environment. Many farmers confine their flocks to keep the yolks a true yellow. Roaming chickens, it seems, yield darker yolks. Actually, the colour is not important, but the vitamin assay is.
If you let your imagination create ways to prepare eggs, you could compile an almost endless list. For arthritics, however, the best methods of preparing eggs are these:
Three-minute boiled eggs.
Poached eggs.
Coddled eggs.
Raw egg nog (no sugar).
To gain the maximum vitamin D from an egg, serve a three-minute boiled egg on whole-wheat toast. Scrambling an egg—or combining it in other forms of cooking—is throwing away many benefits. As for a hard-boiled egg, the only advantage it offers is that it is harder to digest.
If, as we grow older, we are unfortunate enough to develop heart or gall-bladder trouble, we are told to restrict our consumption of eggs. Children eat eggs every day and never suffer any ill effects. Yet adults who do the same thing often get into health difficulties. Why?
The explanation is not due to just “growing older.” The damage is caused by the difference in the dietary habits of the two age groups. Children generally follow their eggs with milk, a liquid with low tension on oil. Adults, on the other hand, drink coffee, a high-tension liquid. Since coffee and eggs do not mix well, a lifelong habit of using the two together causes trouble later in life.
Let’s not forget that coffee is essentially water. When taken with coffee, egg yolk then turns into a rubbery material which taxes the gall-bladder and heart. Respect the egg yolk. It can offer health, or, when not used wisely, can be a detriment.
*15\146\2*

169 | posted at March 30th, 2011 in Arthritis

« Older Entries

Random Posts