Become Your Own Guardian: Home Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease. There are, however, various treatment options available depending on the patient’s level of suffering and life situation. Many sufferers of Parkinson’s live in assisted care facilities, but many of them live at home without professional care. These patients have to be aware of the increasing dangers of the disease as it progresses. It is important, however, for those with the disease to make an effort to lead a normal life. The list that follows will detail important factors for handling the home treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

  • Change your diet. What you put into your body in terms of food can both keep you healthy and decrease eating difficulties.
  • Create an exercise schedule. Whether you’ve just been diagnosed or had Parkinson’s for a while, exercising and doing physical therapy will be beneficial in the long run.
  • Make adjustments to your home. You may need to change the location of furniture to get around the house. If you aren’t using a walker, having a chair or table available to lean on every couple of feet could save you from falling.
  • Find ways to manage tremors and freezing. Find a technique that works for you. If you feel a freeze coming on, practice focus methods. If you’re experiencing a tremor, having a weighted object close by to clutch might provide you with extra control.
  • Be aware of signs of depression. It’s easy to become frustrated in depressed as the disease advances. If you are feeling depressed, contact your doctor. It’s harder to fight the disease without a positive mindset.
  • Understand and be able to identify signs of dementia. If you are having trouble with memory, don’t hesitate to call your doctor.
Filed Under: Health, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

Treatment Options for the Somber Insomniac

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s 3 a.m. and you’ve been tossing and turning for hours. You can’t fall asleep. Once in a while sleeplessness might affect you, but this is a normal night for people with insomnia. Insomnia sufferers often feel frustrated with their treatment options because there is no easy cure. Insomnia treatments can include medication, but a large element of the disorder is psychological. The following list will describe a number of ways to counter insomnia.

  • Exercises to calm you down before bed. Insomnia can be caused by over-anxiety. If you find that when you lie down in bed for the night that your mind seems to be moving a mile a minute, performing relaxation exercises might help. There are a number of breathing exercises, muscle exercises, mind exercises and meditative practices that serve to soothe the mind and body and allow you to sleep.
  • Cognitive-behavioral therapy. Understanding why you are having trouble falling asleep is often the key to fixing the problem. Is work stressing you out? Are there family issues? Cognitive-behavioral therapy can parse out these stumbling blocks and help you think positively about ways to deal with the stress.
  • Surface-level changes in lifestyle. It may seem too easy to be successful, but changing aspects of your routine, such as when you go to bed or what you eat or drink, prior to settling down at night can be very effective.
  • Medication. Your doctor can prescribe you a number of different sleep aids, but it’s important to be aware of the risks of taking pills to sleep. Many medications cause dependency. If you begin to rely on a sleep aid to sleep every night, you’re not better off than you were before.
Filed Under: Health, Medical Services Tagged With: , ,

Three Targeted Therapies for Breast Cancer Patients

March 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Being diagnosed with breast cancer is cataclysmic. There are treatments available, but most people are only aware of the kind of treatments that cause further grief, such as chemotherapy. While chemo may be a wise choice for some, it is not the only option available for breast cancer patients. Targeted therapies are a type of treatment that singles out cancer cells instead of attacking cells indiscriminately. There are currently three such targeted therapies for breast cancer patients, and they are detailed below.

  1. Herceptin: Herceptin targets a gene called HER2. Every gene in our bodies has a protein associated with it, and that protein can act as a receptor — or signpost — for the gene. Breast cancer cells often have too much of the HER2 gene, which causes multiplication. This targeted therapy seizes the HER2 receptors to impede the receptor from receiving an indication to grow. Herceptin works only in patients with an abundance of HER2 receptors.
  2. Tykerb: Tykerb is given to patients with HER2 breast cancer along with chemo treatments. These patients have not responded to the Herceptin treatment; Tykerb is the next step. The treatment can also be given along with a hormonal therapy. Tykerb works similarly to Herceptin in that it targets proten receptors in HER2 cells. Herceptin, however, is an immune system therapy, which means that it functions like an antibody and can kill off cancer cells. Tykerb simply blocks them.
  3. Avastin: If the patient hasn’t had chemo, Avastin can be prescribed to block blood vessels bringing life to cancer cells. Tumors grow blood vessels to sustain their growth; Avastin blocks the protein — vascular endothelial growth factor — that allow for this growth of vessels in and to the tumor.
Filed Under: Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

Tell Acne to Stay Away with These Anti-Zit Tips

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s hard to get through adolescence without having a few pimples. Acne prevails during those teenage years due to an increase in testosterone, but many suffer with the disease throughout adulthood. Whether you’re a spunky teenage girl or a worrisome middle-aged man, there are preventative measures you can take to reduce the occurrence of unsightly pimples and get on with your life. The following list details seven ways acne can be prevented.

  1. Be wary of hair products. Your hair touches your face whether you like it or not. Both men and women wear products in their hair — pomade, gel, spray — and those products can irritate the skin.
  2. Change your sleeping position. This tip sounds ridiculous at first, but sleeping face down can cause acne because of the oils on the linen from your hair and face. If you’re sleeping with your face in those oils, the bacteria can form throughout the night.
  3. Don’t touch! Touching your face smears oils from your fingers onto your face.
  4. Wash objects that often touch your face. Cell phones are dirty. When we put them to our faces, the dirt from the cell phone moves to your face.
  5. Shower off sweat. After the gym or any vigorous activity that causes sweating, make sure you wash immediately to ensure acne cannot form.
  6. Lose the hat. Wearing a hat causes forehead sweat, and the rubbing of fabric against skin can cause irritation.
  7. Don’t sleep with products on. With makeup caked on your face at night, your skin doesn’t get a chance to breathe.

These previous tips are not foolproof. Depending on your genetics, you may be more or less prone to developing acne.

Filed Under: Health, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

Tips for your Tract: 6 Methods for Preventing a UTI

March 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Twenty percent of women will develop a urinary tract infection (UTI) in their lifetime. Of that 20 percent, another 20 percent will experience a second UTI, and 30 percent of those who have a second will also have a third. By the time you reach the last group of woman sufferers — those who get four UTIs in their lifetime — 80 percent of those who had three will have recurrent UTIs throughout their lives. Men do not usually have problems with UTIs, and the reason why women acquire UTIs more frequently than men is unknown. Fortunately, there are a number of precautions and steps women can take to prevent UTIs. Consider the following list for staving off the dreaded infection.

  1. Drink plenty of water. Continuously flushing out your system with water is a good way to both prevent UTIs and keep your body healthy from toxins.
  2. Try not to hold a full bladder. If you feel the need to relieve yourself, don’t wait too long to do so. If there are any bacteria in your tract already, holding in urine for too long can give it more chance to turn into an infection.
  3. Wipe properly after urination. Most women are aware that wiping from front to back is the correct direction. Wiping from back to front fosters the movement of bacteria into your urinary tract through your urethra. This is especially important to adhere to after going number two.
  4. Wash yourself following sexual intercourse. Sex can be a dirty task; it’s important to maintain a cleanly genital area so bacteria don’t have somewhere to grow. Avoid using heavily scented products, however, for they can cause irritation and make a UTI more likely.
  5. Change you diet slightly. Adding cranberry juice and vitamin C to your diet can help combat UTIs.
  6. Consider cotton undergarments. Other fabrics don’t allow the skin to breathe and promote bacterial growth.
Filed Under: Health, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

Information to Put in Your Head Before Treating Lice on You Head

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Anyone who sends their child to public school has had to deal with the possibility of head lice. Head lice is a common — yet misunderstood — condition that affects the scalp, causing itching and irritation. Other symptoms of head lice include neck rashes and swollen lymph nodes caused by an infection. A typical misconception is that head lice only affects unhygienic hosts, causing parents to panic and children to become embarrassed if infested. There is also controversy over how to best treat head lice. The paragraphs below will detail the best practice for removing an infestation as well as crucial elements to consider during the process.

Once you determine you child has lice, the most significant decision you can make is to remain calm. Head lice is not life-threatening, will not last forever and is completely treatable. In order to ensure that you have terminated a life infestation, you have to be focused and thorough in your actions. The first step is to procure a head lice shampoo. Shampoo your child’s hair with the product and remove the individual nits with a lice comb. Nits are lice eggs that hatch within 10 days of being lain. The shampoo will remove the lice living on your child’s head, but it will not remove the nits. If nits are left in, your child will be re-infested by lice in a number of days.

Consider these additional tips when treating your child.

  • Don’t become discouraged if the head lice return after the first shampoo. Try again until you are able to find all the nits.
  • Wash every bit of clothing and linen your child touched.
  • Do not resort to shaving your child’s head if treatments aren’t working. Visit a pediatrician before making rash judgments.
  • Although alternative treatments are an option, be wary of the kooky ones as they can disrupt normal balances and be difficult to remove.
Filed Under: Health, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

Real Viagra is Your Friend

March 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Viagra is a little pill that helps men who have difficulty in achieving and maintaining erections naturally.  The drug interacts with a man’s blood vessels in such a way that they become dilated, which allows more blood to flow into the penis, thus engorging it. Opening up the blood vessels too much or for too long, however, can be a serious health hazard.

Of course, there are going to be dangers to anyone who takes a drug that alters the way the blood flows through the body, and those dangers are going to be even more severe to a man who is already stricken with health problems. Despite this, many men and their doctors feel that it is worth the risk of side effects to take a drug like Viagra.

Many spam websites claim to be selling authentic Viagra, and, unfortunately, some men will purchase the drug from these sites because they don’t want to have a conversation with their doctor about the problem.  If you are planning to buy Viagra online, be cautious of websites that aren’t selling authentic Viagra. Before ordering, research the website to ensure it is not known as a spammy site. A reputable site will advise you to consult with your doctor before buying any type of medication.

Filed Under: General, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

Pink Isn’t Cute When It’s in Your Eye

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Pinkeye

Image via Wikipedia

The name conjunctivitis isn’t recognizable to most people, but if you mention pinkeye, everyone knows what you mean. Pinkeye is common and can suggest one of three things: a viral infection, a bacterial infection or allergies. Most are familiar with the symptoms, and the nickname makes the main feature pretty obvious. In addition to color, watery and itchy eyes can often be precursors to conjunctivitis. Because there are three variants of pinkeye, knowing exactly how to treat it isn’t always clear. The list below details a number of methods of treating pinkeye based on which type afflicts you.

  • Bacterial
    • You can usually spot a bacterial case of pinkeye by the discharge. If you’re experiencing green or yellow discharge from one of your eyes, and after multiple days the symptoms have not spread to your other eye, you most likely are suffering from bacterial conjunctivitis. This form is easily treatable with antibiotics usually administered in the form of eye drops.
  • Viral
    • Viral infections are much more difficult to treat than bacterial infections. You can tell if you have viral pinkeye if the symptoms linger for a week or more and spread from one eye to the other quickly. Viral infections are more contagious than bacterial infections, which is what account for the rapid growth. Antibiotics will not help viral conjunctivitis, but a steroid regimen can ease symptoms.
  • Allergic
    • This type is not contagious, but it can be the biggest nuisance if it’s recurrent. In the case of allergy-related pinkeye, treatment usually involves symptom reduction strategies such as a cold, wet washcloth over the affected eye or creams to soothe itching.

If you suspect pinkeye, be careful not to rub your eyes. If it is a viral infection, this action will spread the infection. You should also make sure to wash your sheets, towels and clothing once the infection has passed to avoid contracting it again.

Filed Under: Health, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

New Research Finds Heat Therapy Beneficial to Skin Disease Sufferers

February 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There aren’t many sandflies populating the United States, but they are regularly found in tropical environments such as countries in the Middle East. So while cutaneous leishmaniasis, a parasitic skin infection spread through the bite of a sandfly, isn’t a likely condition for an American, it’s a recurrent threat elsewhere in the world. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are about 1.5 million new cases of the infection every year.

The common treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis involves a 20-part injection regimen that doesn’t always work due to patients’ disliking of the side effects and consumption of time. Researchers found that two patients with immune system deficiencies were unable to accept daily injections, so they tried a new treatment: heat therapy. The therapy included treating the standard skin sores of the cutaneous form of leishmaniasis with 60 seconds of radio-frequency heat followed by antibiotic cream for the site. The frequencies stimulate the infected tissue, which causes heat, and that heat is able to eliminate the infection by burning it away.

The heat therapy worked on both patients. Nearly a year after being treated with heat therapy, both no longer have the disease. The appeal of such a treatment is obvious. Proven long-term effects coupled with the convenience of a single treatment make for a very promising future for those suffering with cutaneous leishmaniasis. This type of heat therapy would not be beneficial for patients with other forms of leishmaniasis, however, because other variants are internal.

The real breakthrough of these cases was the fact that the patients had immune system deficiencies. Heat therapy has been known to be effective on otherwise healthy patients with skin diseases, but these cases were the first inklings that heat therapy could replace the traditional manner of treating cutaneous leishmaniasis. Because the treatment is new with limited availability, the cost of heat therapy costs around $14,000.

Filed Under: Health, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

How Does the Canadian Healthcare System and the United States Healthcare System Differ?

February 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Canadian healthcare system has many differences, but it also has a few similarities to the United States healthcare system. A few of them are listed here; however, this should not be considered as an all-inclusive list. You can find out more information by utilizing Canada 411 resources.

Here are some of the more pertinent differences:

  • Canada’s health care system receives the bulk of its funding from the government. Most of the services, however, are provided by private enterprises.
  • Waiting times for major surgery that is not considered to be of an emergency nature are usually longer in Canada than they are in the United States.
  • In the past, Canada has been slower to adopt medical and pharmacological technology that is more expensive. This reluctance has resulted in a greater number of deaths from conditions such as heart attacks. However, health administrators in Canada are saying that improvements are being made in these areas.
  • The survival rate for breast cancer in Canada is lower than that of the United States.
  • All Canadians are covered by health insurance, and it does not require co-pays or deductibles. Canadians do pay a small monthly fee to the province in which they live. However, some employers and businesses often pay the fee for their workers. How much is picked up by employers or businesses differs between provinces, so you want to use Canada 411 resources to learn about those.

Some of the similarities between Canada and U. S. health care are listed below. Again, this is not a complete list, but you can learn more about these and other similarities by using Canada 411 resources.

  • Canada offers VA services
  • The majority of medical services are provided by private enterprises, although in the U. S., there are some government-provided medical services, such as VA. Canada has VA services, but again, it is private; the doctors do not work for the government.
Filed Under: Health, Medical Services Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »