Blog about medicines and adverse drug reactions.
April 29th, 2009 admin
This is the condition in which the man comes to a climax too soon. It is disturbing to the husband and even more disturbing to his wife. It is a complaint which women often make about their husbands to a psychiatrist, but rarely tell the husband himself for fear of hurting his feelings. And this is very wise too, as many men are extremely sensitive about such matters.
Premature ejaculation is a common symptom of anxiety. In fact, when we are anxious all our responses come too quickly—we rush at things, we move too quickly. If someone calls us, we turn immediately. There is no leisure about our reactions. It is the same in our sports. In tennis and golf we swing too quickly; when skiing we turn too quickly and the natural rhythm has gone from us. So it is in the sexual response. It is too quick. It is all over in a minute. There is no time for the easy flow of emotion; and both husband and wife are left unsatisfied. From talking with those who visit me, I believe that minor degrees of this condition must be very common.
The relaxing exercises reduce our anxiety. The special exercises concern the relaxing of the deep muscles of the parts. These muscles are basically similar in both men and women. In the women they have to relax to allow free and easy penetration; and the feeling of this relaxation helps the proper emotional response. In the man, a similar relaxation of these muscles holds off the climax, and allows time for both his emotional fulfilment and the biologically slower response of his wife.
*90\57\2*
Posted in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid | No Comments »
April 29th, 2009 admin
At the risk of disappointing many steak lovers, I must state that there is no scientific truth in the high-protein-for-health theory. If you are really concerned with your health and long life, you must unlearn everything you have learned previously concerning proteins.
It is true that our bodies are built mostly of proteins. Twenty per cent, and more in some vital organs, of a cell’s composition is made up of protein. Since our body is renewing and repairing its cells constantly, we need lots of protein in our diet to supply needed nutrients for these repairs and for the building of new cells.
But how much is “lots”? Seventy, 100, or 150 grams a day, as advocated by many American “experts”? Due to the frame of this work we cannot, unfortunately, go into great detail in presenting this most interesting subject. Suffice here to say that the majority of responsible nutritionists in various parts of the world agree that our present beliefs on the protein question are outdated and that the actual need for protein in the human diet is far below that which has long been considered necessary. The famous nutritionists Dr. Ragnar Berg, Dr. R. Chittenden, Dr. M. Hindhede, Dr. M. Hegsted, Dr. William C. Rose, and others are reported to have shown in extensive experiments that our actual need for protein is somewhere around 30 grams a day, or even less. Many leading contemporary scientists and nutritionists in Europe, such as Dr. Ralph Bircher, Dr. Otto Buchinger, Jr., Dr. H. Karstrom, Prof. H. A. Schweigart, Dr. Karl-Otto Aly, and many others are in full agreement with the findings of Drs. Berg, Chittenden, Rose, et al., and are recommending a low-protein diet as the diet most conducive to good health.
Empirical experience and observation proves the correctness of the above fact. The healthiest people in the world—the famous Hunza people in India, the Semitic tribes of Yemen, Bulgarians and Russians, certain tribes of Central America and Africa—which are known for their good health, long fife, and resistance to disease, all five on a low animal protein, high natural carbohydrate diet. Even in the United States, some religious groups, like the Seventh-Day Adventists and Mormons, who advocate a low animal protein diet, have 50 to 70 per cent lower death rates than those of average Americans; this is shown by statistics. They also are reported to have a much lower incidence of cancer, tuberculosis, coronary diseases, blood and kidney diseases, and diseases of the digestive and respiratory organs.
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Posted in Arthritis | No Comments »
April 28th, 2009 admin
The Regulations are careful to state ‘attacks whilst asleep’ rather than nocturnal attacks, to take account of those who are on night shift and sleep during the day. The concession to those who have only had attacks whilst asleep is in fact a generous one, insofar as a follow-up study by one neurologist of those who had only had nocturnal seizures showed that about one third had a seizure whilst awake within the next five years. Of course a single seizure of any type whilst awake immediately renders the person who until then has only had seizures whilst asleep ineligible to drive. Likewise a single seizure whilst awake earlier in life prevents the application of this concession even if all subsequent seizures are whilst asleep.
The Regulations state nothing about anti-epileptic medication. The law is, as it were, interested in seizures and not in drugs. This means that there is no need to withdraw medication after a seizure-free interval so that the patient can resume driving. On common-sense grounds it is probably marginally safer to be a passenger with someone who has had seizures in the past, who remains on anti-epileptic medication, rather than travel with someone who had his last seizure three years ago and stopped his drugs yesterday.
The whole area is fraught with difficulties. For example, young adults who have successfully come through a few petit mal and grand mal attacks in childhood may have a few morning myoclonic jerks on rare occasions. Such patients often tell us that there is no detectable disturbances of their consciousness during such jerks. Many patients certainly do not regard such occasional jerks as fits, and yet, as they are the product of a paroxysmal discharge of brain cells, they are, technically, seizures. It is to help in advising on such borderline cases as this that the Department of Transport has available an Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Epilepsy. It is open to any applicant for a licence who disagrees with the Department’s refusal to grant him a licence, on the grounds that he has epilepsy and does not satisfy the requirements of the Regulations, to appeal to the Advisory Panel. From a compilation of the advice given by members of the Panel, a set of guidelines has been drawn up by the Medical Officers of the Department of Transport. If there is doubt in their minds, the matter is referred to the appropriate specialist, and we know that that happens several times each week.
The relapse rate in the first five years after achieving a remission of five years was 8 per cent. A study organized by the Medical Research Council in the UK has found that about a third of those who stop treatment on medical advice will have a further attack at some time, and of those about a half will have the recurrence within a year. Many will therefore consider it an additional safeguard to continue anti-epileptic medication, if driving, even if they are free from attacks. However, in the same study a number of people had attacks even though they were continuing anti-epileptic drugs so that they could be compared with those who stopped them.
It should also be noted that the 1988 Road Traffic Act prescribes as a relevant disability a liability (sic) to seizures. It follows therefore that on occasion a patient who has never had a fit may be ineligible to hold a licence because he is considered liable to have a seizure. A patient with a frontal tumour, or one who has had an intracranial operation, may fall into this category.
Regulations on those who wish to drive heavy good vehicles are even more strict. The current regulations state all of the following criteria must be met. The person must have been free from epileptic attacks for 10 years, have not taken anti-epileptic medication during this 10-year period, and does not have a continuing liability to an epileptic seizure.
Finally, before leaving this vexed question of driving, we should add two further points. So far we have written exclusively about the practice in the UK. The requirements for eligibility vary from country to country, and, in the USA, from state to state. Enquiry must be made of the licensing authority in each country or state in which patients wish to drive. Secondly, we are fully aware that many patients who are ineligible to drive do in fact do so. In one survey of people with epilepsy in Greater London, 12 out of 62 currently ineligible to drive were in fact doing so. This is not always wilful recklessness. Only 3 of the 12 both were aware of the diagnosis, and admitted that they had been told not to drive. Some of the remainder did not realize, so they said, that they had epilepsy, or they felt that they had received explicit or implicit consent to drive from their doctors.
Those who knowingly drive when ineligible must realize that their insurance policies would almost certainly be void if they had an accident. But the terrible risk of killing or maiming another road user or pedestrian should be sufficient discouragement.
There are no restrictions—other than those of common-sense—on riding a pedal bicycle. Even if a rider has a seizure, they are likely to damage only themselves.
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April 28th, 2009 admin
Carotene is the natural yellowish-red pigment in carrots and tomatoes that is also present in many other vegetables, such as broccoli and squash, which do not look yellow at all. Excessive intake of these vegetables results in deposition of the pigment throughout the body and yellowish discoloration of the skin. This is particularly noticeable on the palms and soles and on the cheeks beside the nose. Unlike jaundice (which occurs in liver disease), the whites of the eyes are not affected.
Most cases of carotenemia, the Journal of the American Medical Association (247:926) reports, occur in women who do not eat red meat and consume large quantities of raw vegetables instead. Some such women gradually stop having periods long before the menopause and may become sterile, an effect thought to be due to carotene’ s chemical influence on a part of the brain that controls the ovaries.
Otherwise healthy young women with this problem can expect to start having periods again within about four months, the Journal reports, if they alter their diets to decrease the blood level of carotene.
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April 28th, 2009 admin
Symptom: Breathing rate higher than normal
Home care: None, except for shortness of breath caused by anxiety. Ask your doctor for advice.
Precautions
- Do not be concerned if your child breathes more rapidly during a fever; fever increases the breathing rate.
- High doses of aspirin increase the breathing rate.
- Contact your doctor if your healthy child breathes rapidly while at rest.
Breathing is the process by which the body is supplied with oxygen and relieved of the waste product carbon dioxide. When the body’s demand for oxygen is not met or it retains too much carbon dioxide, shortness of breath results. Shortness of breath usually follows prolonged physical exertion, but it also may accompany fever because the elevated temperature speeds up the body’s chemical reactions which, in turn, increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the body and the demand for oxygen.
Shortness of breath also may be a sign of disease. It indicates that something is interfering with the intake and transport of oxygen. It may be due to croup; inflammation of the bronchial tubes or the epiglottis in the throat; asthma; pneumonia; inhalation of a foreign body; or spontaneous collapse of a lung (pneumothorax).
Inadequate transport of oxygen causing shortness of breath may signal the presence of heart disease, severe anaeimia, or carbon monoxide poisoning from automobile exhaust fumes or a defective heater.
A rapid rate of respiration may be a consequence of aspirin poisoning, which stimulates the breathing centers in the brain, or uncontrolled diabetes and dehydration (loss of body fluids). Anxiety sometimes causes the false sensation of shortness of breath.
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April 23rd, 2009 admin
Allergy to Fruits and Vegetables
The citrus group (oranges, lemons, grapefruit, limes, and tangerines) usually causes allergies in the nose and chest; berries (strawberries and raspberries) usually cause hives; peaches, cantaloupes, bananas, apples, grapes, pears, pineapples, cherries, and watermelon usually cause throat irritation and abdominal discomfort.
Allergy to any one of the members of the citrus group entails the removal of all the members of the group from the diet. However, allergy to the other fruits should be considered on an individual basis.
Sometimes one species of a particular fruit may cause allergies, while the other species may not; for example, the American strawberry may cause hives, while the European strawberry may not. The peels of peaches and oranges may cause allergies, while the fruit itself may not. Unripe fruit may cause allergies, while the ripe fruit may not. Cooking, canning, or freezing a fruit also alters its allergenic powers.
Vegetables rarely cause allergies and will not be considered here.
Allergy to Poultry, Meat, Fish
Chicken, duck, goose, hen, squab, and turkey should be avoided as a group in the case of allergy to any one of them. Furthermore, fowl may contain eggs in their insides which may cause egg allergy. (In order to avoid this, an egg-sensitive person should eat only capons or roosters.) Antibiotics and sex hormones which are frequently added to the food of fowl may cause allergy.
Pork, ham, and bacon may be allergenic and may be contacted unknowingly in the lard used as shortening for cakes, in the bacon drippings used to fry foods, and in the insulin used in the treatment of diabetes. Likewise, beef and veal may be contained in gelatin, in the diced veal which is used to flavor chicken salads, and in the extracts of organs of cows and calves. Lamb and mutton are hypoallergenic meats which may substitute for pork and veal.
Fish is a highly allergenic food. However, canned tuna or salmon is usually better tolerated than fresh fish. Products of the fish industry (such as caviar, glue, cod liver oil, and halibut oil) should also be avoided by the child who is allergic to fish.
Shellfish (such as crab, lobster, oyster, shrimp, scallops, mussel, abalone, clams, squid, and crayfish) are all extremely allergenic foods which should be avoided by all atopic children as a matter of principle.
An allergist does not dare test for shellfish because the patient is usually already aware of his allergy from a previous bad experience and testing for them may cause violent allergic reactions.
*10/99/5*
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April 23rd, 2009 admin
Drugs for Inducing Ovulation
This is usually the first line of treatment if it is discovered that you are not ovulating but your fallopian tubes and your partner s sperm are normal. A number of drug treatments are available, designed to stimulate ovulation, correct the hormone balance and ensure the release of an egg. These drugs do not actually make you more fertile: they only work during the month they are being taken.
Clomiphene Citrate
Clomiphene citrate stimulates ovulation if you are not ovulating and it is also used if you have infrequent periods and long cycles. It is taken for five days early on in the cycle.
This drug should not be used for more than six cycles, as there is an increased risk of ovarian cancer with 12 or more cycles of clomiphene treatment.
One of the side-effects of clomiphene can be multiple births. Although this drug is easy to administer, since it is taken by mouth and could be given by a GP, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that it should only be given where ultrasound monitoring can be done at the same time. Monitoring also means that the dose can be altered, depending on your response to the drug. You may suffer other side-effects from clomiphene, such as bowel upsets, bloating, headache, dizziness, breast discomfort, blurred vision, hot flushes and depression. Unfortunately clomiphene also increases the miscarriage rate.
Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG)
This hormone should be produced naturally in the early stages of pregnancy. It works in the same way as luteinising hormone (LH) by causing the dominant follicle to release its egg. It can be used in conjunction with clomiphene. This is given as an injection and there are no known side-effects.
Human Menopausal Gonadotrophin (hMG)
This is one of the most potent ovulation drugs in use, and is derived from the urine of post-menopausal women. It combines both FSH and LH and is given by injection. This drug is often used for women who have not had any success with clomiphene. It is also used for women who have amenorrhea (no periods). There is an increased risk of multiple births so careful monitoring is needed.
As with clomiphene, there can be a higher miscarriage risk and also premature labour. Mood swings, depression and breast tenderness may also be experienced. There are dangers of hyper-stimulation, where the ovaries can become enlarged and cause abdominal pain. Extreme hyper-stimulation can be life-threatening and fluid accumulates in the chest and abdominal cavity. You should be monitored closely, and doctors will withhold treatment if there are too many follicles present or if your oestrogen level is too high. In this case, the cycle will be abandoned.
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Posted in Women's Health | No Comments »
April 23rd, 2009 admin
What are they?
Engorgements and enlargements of ‘cushions’ of tissue that line the anus (opening of the back passage). They are very common in the West and were until recently thought to be a sort of varicose vein in the back passage. This theory is no longer tenable in the light of recent research which shows that we all have anal cushions of tissue that close off the back passage so as to keep stools in until we choose to release them.
What causes them?
Studies from around the world show that piles are mainly a disease of the western world. Monthly returns from seventy-seven rural hospitals in sub-Saharal Africa showed that fewer than three people with bleeding or prolapsed piles were found each year in each hospital. These figures are extremely low compared with the West where the disease is said to affect half the entire population over the age of 50!
It is now thought that as hard, sticky masses of stools are forced down the back passage, substantial shearing stresses are put on the anal cushions which, as a result, become pushed down as they part company with the underlying muscles. Both the straining and the hard faecal matter are caused by a low-fibre diet.
Prevention
• Drink more water. This tends to make the stools less hard and easier to pass.
• Eat more fibre in all its forms. This alone will make the stools easier to pass and so reduce the shearing stresses on the anal cushions.
• Lubricate the back passage before opening the bowels (with a little Vaseline or KY jelly).
*206/72/5*
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April 23rd, 2009 admin
Endometriosis and miscarriage
Until recently it was thought that women with endometriosis were more likely to have a miscarriage than other women. But the results of recent studies indicate that endometriosis is not a cause of miscarriage and that infertile women with endometriosis are no more likely to have a miscarriage than infertile women in general.
Treatments available for infertility due to endometriosis
Less than a decade ago those who were infertile due to endometriosis may have been destined to never become pregnant. Due to the advancement of drug therapies and programmes such as in-vitro fertilisation (TVT), gamete intra fallopian transfer (GIFT) and related programmes, infertility does not necessarily mean that you will never conceive.
Establishing infertility
Usually the first thing is to try to conceive for a year without using contraception. A Melbourne IVF specialist says that approximately 10% to 15% of couples will not conceive in that time. ‘At that stage we feel that it is time to start investigations and try to pinpoint any problem’, he said.
The first step is to get a referral to a gynecologist. Most women with endometriosis will already be under a specialist who may also manage their infertility investigation but they may be referred to an infertility specialist.
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April 23rd, 2009 admin
Although we all live against the backcloth of western civilization we are able now, at least to some extent, to manipulate our environment so as to reduce some of the hazards. There are three reasons for linking health and lifestyle.
1. The major causes of death, serious illness and disability in the West today are the c1 ironic diseases and violence. Chronic disease accounts for about 80 per cent of all deaths, and violence in the form of accidents, suicide and homicide for about 8 per cent.
2. Behind most of these deaths are behavioural and environmental factors, many of which can be prevented. About 80 per cent of all cancers in men, and 75 per cent in women, for example, are attributable to environmental or behavioural factors or a combination of both.
3. A few individual and societal lifestyle changes could make an enormous difference to rates of death and disease and levels of suffering in any westernized society.
Smoking
Nearly 20 per cent of all western mortality is smoking related. Lethal diseases associated with smoking are: heart disease, lung cancer; chronic bronchitis and emphysema; and cancer of the kidney, stomach and pancreas. It also plays a part in the forming of peptic ulcers and has adverse effects on the fetus. In spite of this being well known and widely publicized 36 per cent of the UK population and 41 per cent of adults in the US, still smoke.
Alcohol
The extent to which alcohol contributes to disease, disability and premature death is not always appreciated. Many authorities agree that ‘alcoholism’ is the most devastating socio-medical problem faced by human society apart from war and malnutrition. It plays a major part in liver disease, peptic ulcer, many digestive disorders, nervous system damage, nutritional disorders, and metabolic changes. It contributes to half of all deaths in car accidents, half of all murders, and a quarter of all suicides. The true alcoholic’s lifespan is shortened by 10-12 years and even that of the heavy social drinker is shortened.
Drug abuse
This is now increasingly common in the form both of legal and illegal drugs. People living in the industrialized world are increasingly dependent upon readily available drugs as aids to coping with the stresses of modern life. These range from prescribed tranquillizers such as Valium and Librium to alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, cannabis, cocaine and heroin. Six out of ten of all prescriptions in the US are for mood-altering drugs. Legally prescribed drugs in the form of tranquillizers and sleeping tablets are used in suicide attempts-successful and otherwise-and the number of narcotic addicts is rising all over the western world. Narcotic drugs are now the second biggest killer under the age of 40 in New York (violence and accidents are the main cause). The withdrawal of both legal and illegal drugs can cause real suffering (as millions of tranquillizer patients know to their cost).
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