Men's Health Blog » General Health

PARKINSON’S DISEASE: RESEARCHES AND TREATMENT

admin — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:15:48 +0000

The latest research indicates that with Parkinson’s disease, cells die in that part of the brain which governs movement (the substantia nigra, literally black area) in the brain stem (base of the brain between the ears); these dying cells form small masses called Lewy bodies – named after the man who discovered them. They are very hard to see under the microscope but are always found in the brain stem in Parkinson’s disease. New techniques now mean that they can be seen more easily and they have been discovered in the main part of the brain (the cortex) in people who have Parkinson’s disease and chronic confusion. The researchers feel this is a new form of dementia and have called it Cortical Lewy Body disease.

The cause of Parkinson’s disease is not known. We do know that all the movement problems, and the tremor, etc., are secondary to the loss of a chemical in one part of the brain and this chemical is used to transmit the messages to the nerve and then the muscle cells. The chemical is called dopamine and is made and stored in a tiny part of the brain called the substantia nigra. We don’t know what causes the chemical to disappear but symptoms don’t start until, at least 90 per cent of it has gone, and this probably takes many years. A picture very similar to Parkinson’s disease can be caused by numerous small strokes, drugs and even Alzheimer’s disease; this condition is called Parkinsonism.

The treatment of Parkinson’s disease involves many different factors. Initially a lot of improvement can be gained from physiotherapy. As the disease progresses, however, it is usual for drug therapy to be used. The most commonly used drug is levodopa (contained in Sinemet and Madopar). This treatment aims to put back the missing chemical. It has revolutionized the treatment of the condition but it does not cure it; it helps control the symptoms but the disease is usually progressing underneath it all.

A comparatively new drug Selegeline (Eldepryl) appears to be valuable in treatment. It appears to enhance and protect existing levels of dopamine and is now being used early in the diagnosis of the condition. Many other drugs are used to try and control the symptoms. They all have side-effects and one of the most important is that all the drugs used to treat the condition can cause confusional states. If a person with Parkinson’s disease develops confusion, the drugs they are on must always be considered as the cause.

There is no doubt that as sufferers live longer they are becoming resistant to drug treatment and physiotherapy alone, and are becoming very handicapped. Recently we have seen the exciting use of brain implantation to treat the condition. In a few centers around the world, including the UK, either foetal cells or a person’s own adrenal tissue are being placed via a thin needle into the brain, hopefully to ‘take’ and begin producing their own dopamine. The results are eagerly awaited by doctors, sufferers and their carers, and the indications are that any benefit may take years but in some cases can be dramatic.

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CHOOSING THE EYE CARE PROFESSIONAL

admin — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:13:37 +0000

When a person seeking eye-care treatment walks into a professional office, he is only concerned about getting the best possible servicing of his problem. But the patient would have to be an astute pupil of politics to understand the forces now at work shaping the future of the eye-care industry.

The truth is that with all of the diagnostic advances the improved quality of eye care, and the many breakthroughs we are describing here, the competition grows among health care professionals administering to patients with vision problems. Consumers may become confused by the lobbying and heated discussions among the three groups of specialists: ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. There is a basic economic conflict on various levels among the three groups, and there tends to be financial pressure from one group to downgrade the others. These various pressures, along with medical and professional concerns, account for much of the competition.

One problem that confuses consumers is choosing an eye care professional to visit regularly. An ophthalmologist (pronounced off/THAL/mol/ogist) is an eye physician and surgeon with an M.D. degree, who also is known as an oculist. This medical doctor specializes in the total care of the eyes. He or she is the only practitioner medically trained and qualified to diagnose and treat all eye and visual system problems as well as general diseases of the body. By looking within your eye, an ophthalmologist can see the signs of many systemic diseases which require immediate treatment, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer.

With an instrument called a tonometer and ophthalmologist can determine a patient’s eye pressure, the force with which the fluids of the eye press against the optic nerve. High eye pressure, like high blood pressure, is a serious matter. It may indicate the presence of glaucoma.

“You have to think of the eyes in terms of the entire body”, said the former president of the American Association of Ophthalmology, Alfonse Cinotti, M.D. “Prescribing corrective glasses and contact lenses is only a part of total eye care. A medical eye examination by an ophthalmologist can reveal subtle changes in your eyes which often signal the beginning of such sight-threatening conditions as glaucoma or cataract. In most cases early treatment of eye disease can prevent impairment of vision and even blindness.”

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TREATMENT OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:57:55 +0000

Although there is no way to prevent or medically treat Alzheimer’s disease, experimental drugs and procedures are feverishly being tried. If an experimental treatment is available to your relative, check the reputability of the procedure and the qualifications of the researchers doing the study with the National Institute on Aging. As I mentioned earlier, the NIA coordinates research on Alzheimer’s disease. Then ask the researchers doing the study to carefully describe any risks of the treatment. While you might think (with some reason) that anything is worth a try, consider the possibility that the treatment might have a side effect that either is life threatening or makes things worse. Hopeless diagnoses such as Alzheimer’s disease render people vulnerable to dangerous or expensive quack remedies. So be on special guard against being victimized. If your relative is enrolled in a legitimate experimental study, be careful not to get your hopes up too far. At most the substances being tested purport to slow up the inexorable course of Alzheimer’s disease or improve the patient’s capacities a bit. No one claims to be able to restore everything that has been lost.

Several classes of drugs are now being tested on humans. The most intensively explored are medications that have the potential to stimulate the brain’s production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. (The controversial drug THA, now undergoing clinical tests, is in this category.) For more than a decade scientists have known that a striking deficiency of this important neurotransmitter is characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

One reason progress in developing a memory-stimulating pill has been slow is that drugs that might be effective have trouble penetrating the blood/brain barrier, the sheath protecting the brain from anything foreign. Another roadblock is that a memory-enhancing drug has the best chance of being effective when the disease is in its beginning stages and the neural destruction is not too far advanced. However, it is precisely at this time that Alzheimer’s disease can be so difficult to diagnose accurately.

The best way to keep informed about medical breakthroughs is to join the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association, an excellent national organization begun and run by families of people with the disease. In addition to sponsoring research, serving as advocates for victims and their families, and setting up most of the support groups for care-giving families, the ADRDA publishes a newsletter that summarizes the most promising recent research. Becoming a member of this organization will also help you keep your feet on the ground. To be newsworthy, those tantalizing newspaper accounts of promising new leads sometimes tend to err on the “important breakthrough” side; the truth is we are not very close to finding a real cure for this tragic disease.

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GENERAL HEALTH

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TESTS TO EXPECT

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:57:11 +0000

Because diagnosing dementia can be so tricky, if you suspect a relative may have Alzheimer’s disease, bypass your family doctor. Visit someone with special training – an internist, a neurologist, a psychiatrist, or a psychologist who is trained in geriatrics. Preferably, get your relative evaluated at a hospital-based geriatric center.

Visiting a center is preferable to seeing any sole practitioner for several reasons: experts from several disciplines will collaborate in making the diagnosis,- procedures and diagnostic tests are more likely to be state of the art; the fee may be less prohibitive (Medicare will pay for most of the cost in any case, because dementia has been reclassified from a psychiatric to a neurological disorder); and if your fears are justified and the problem is dementia, you will be thoroughly briefed on your options and on what to expect.

We would imagine that any humane doctor would sit down with a family and carefully explain the situation after delivering a diagnosis of this magnitude. Not true! In the University of Michigan study of family members most people gave shocking accounts of how they were told the facts. Some said that the curt words, “He will gradually deteriorate, becoming completely helpless,” were delivered in a waiting room or an elevator. Or the same diagnosis might be heedlessly offered while the patient was standing right there. Not only were families understandably bitter about this insensitivity, they were left ill equipped to understand the problems they would eventually have. Of the 289 People in this study, only three said their doctors had called a family conference to thoroughly explain what the diagnosis meant.

A history of the problem. Because a pattern of insidious development is a major clue indicating dementia, a primary diagnostic tool is a careful medical history. When you visit, be prepared to describe exactly what has been going on. How long have you noticed the problems? Have the symptoms gotten progressively worse? What difficulties were there to begin with, and what occur now? Did any event – an illness, a loss such as widowhood, or a fall – predate the problems?

You will be asked about current and past illnesses, depression, the medications your relative is taking. Because chemical toxins can cause memory problems, you may be asked about long-term exposure to chemicals.

A complete physical and neurological examination. A thorough physical examination will be done. Urine will be tested,-blood will be drawn; neurological and memory tests may be administered. Particularly if the impairments are subtle, a psychologist may administer a battery of neuropsychological tests. These tests, winch can be invaluable in the differential diagnosis of dementia, are somewhat like the paper-and-pencil measures of abilities we get in school.

Measures of brain function. An EEG, a CAT scan or a PET scan may also be given. The EEG (electroencephalogram) measures the electrical activity of different areas of the brain Electrodes are attached to the scalp, and a machine traces brain waves.

The CAT scan and PET scan, also safe, painless procedures, provide pictures of the brain. The CAT scan is like an X-ray in three dimensions. A computer generates a picture of the brain’s mass. The PET scan measures the brain’s consumption of glucose. By using this newer, only occasionally available test, doctors can tell which areas of the brain are functioning well (metabolizing glucose normally) and which are not (areas where glucose consumption is abnormally low).

The CAT scan can rule out other reasons for mental changes such as brain tumors. When the PET scan shows extensive areas of low glucose metabolism, it can confirm that dementia is severe, but neither test can prove the existence of a condition such as Alzheimer’s disease. Although both techniques are wonderful for diagnosing other neurological conditions, neither allows the direct examination of the brain cells that is necessary to positively diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.

Luckily, despite the difficulty of absolutely proving a person has dementia, if you do visit a center staffed by knowledgeable professionals, you can have confidence in the diagnosis you get. When researchers followed two hundred patients evaluated at a geriatric clinic specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of dementia for a year, they found very few diagnostic mistakes. If a person had been diagnosed as having dementia, over time that diagnosis was almost always confirmed.

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GENERAL HEALTH

STRESSES IN CHILD’S LIFE: ILLNESS IN PARENTS

admin — Thu, 21 May 2009 06:57:20 +0000

Young children may become distressed by any acute or prolonged illness in one of their parents. Some will entertain a fantasy that the parent may die. Parents need the child to visit. Often the presence of grandparents or other members of the extended family provides important continuity and security for the child during this period.

There are many other family stresses that can influence children at any age. These include any changes in family routine, financial stresses, loss of employment, arguments, a parent who is absent from home for periods of time because of work or any other reason, and so on. If there is tension in the family, children will invariably pick it up, no matter how hard the parents try to keep it from them. It is best to be honest at all times, and explain the circumstances to the child, in terms he can understand. Stresses can also act to bond the family together, so the outcome is not always bad.

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WHIPLASH – SYMPTOMS

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:11:03 +0000

There is no bone damage, but the ligaments around the vertebrae (spinal bones), are stretched or even torn.

Subluxation or partial dislocation of the small joints between the vertebrae bones may occur.

This may cause pressure on the nerves as they leave the spinal cord. Damage to the intervertebral discs may also occur.

The vague symptoms of giddiness and blurred vision are due to involvement of the sympathetic nervous chain which runs in the neck alongside the vertebrae.

This forms part of the autonomic nervous system which governs the involuntary actions of the body, such as control of the blood vessels, the blood pressure, digestion, the action of the heart and the ability of the eye to vary the amount of light entering it.

Doctors differ in their approach to treatment of this condition. Some rely on anti-inflammatory drugs, such as are used for arthritis. Others refer the patient to a physiotherapist.

Manipulation is often employed by both doctors as well as chiropractors.

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FOOD POISONING – CASES

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:01:35 +0000

The bacteria are usually excreted in the faeces and contaminate food by being transferred to the hands after using the toilet and then to the food being handled. Contamination of water supplies from human excreta is the main method of spread of other bowel infections, such a cholera.

Gastro-enteritis, where there is usually nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and sometimes fever, may be due either to bacteria or viruses.

Most cases in babies and small children are believed to be due to the Rota virus, discovered only in recent years.

Most stomach and bowel infections are shortlived and spontaneously settle within a couple of days. Antibiotics are widely prescribed for these but, in most cases, are unnecessary and may even be dangerous.

Those cases which are severe or do not rapidly settle should be investigated usually by examination of a stool sample so the specific agent causing the disease may be identified and proper treatment used.

The old name of “ptomaine poisoning” came from the belief that food poisoning was due to the action of ptomaines, toxic substances produced by bacterial decomposition of protein.

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DYSMENORRHOEA – INTRODUCTION

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:05:06 +0000

Pain with periods is called dysmenorrhoea.

tbe commonest form is primary dysmenorrhoea wmeh occurs in the absence of any abnormality of the pelvic organs.

Occasionally pain can be the result of some inflammatory process and then the treatment is directed to that cause.

We are not certain why women suffer from pain with periods, but it is certainly a common symptom and affects at least 50 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 24. Pain does tend to get less and to disappear as they get older.

For some time we thought that the cause was somehow associated with ovulation or due to a tight neck of the womb or cervix.

For some years the contraceptive pill has been prescribed for severe dysmenorrhoea or painful periods.

This works in a large number of women but the older higher dose pills appear to be more effective than the new lower-dose pills.

Sometimes this pain is associated with fluid retention and women note that for several days prior to their period they feel bloated and may gain several pounds in weight.

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HEALTH, LONG LIFE AND SEXUAL VIRILITY: MILK

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:21:01 +0000

Milk, especially goat milk, has been held in high repute, especially in Hindu countries, as a potent virility food. The exceptional property of milk is explained by the fact that protein is an extremely important nutrient for normal sex functions. Milk protein, casein, is the highest grade of protein known to man. Furthermore, milk proteins are very easily digested and more fully utilized than any other form of protein. The combination of “milk and honey” is a simple but powerful evening drink to combat “bedroom fatigue.” Note that milk also contains vitamin B12. Adelle Davis relates in her excellent book Let’s Gel Well the case of a couple who had lost all interest in sex, but recaptured it again after eating a diet she prescribed for their son; the diet specified increased milk intake and the addition of wheat germ and yeast. The woman told Adelle Davis that this diet had saved her marriage and was largely responsible for their revitalized sex life.

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H-PANTOTEN TABLETS FOR HAIR GROWTH

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:15:08 +0000

As a consequence of these experiments in Sweden and England,

the Swedish Pharmaceutical Company AB Carls-Bergh has put out a vitamin-miiieral-trace-element-ainino-acid preparation for hair in a tablet form called H-Pantolen. The active ingredients in H-Pantoten are: vitamin H (biotin), pantothenic acid, nicotinic acid, folic acid, para-amino-benzoic acid, inositol—all vitamins from B-complex—plus iron, iodine and other trace elements, and some vital amino acids. I have heard several remarkable testimonies by users of this preparation. Here is what Mrs. N. C, 73, from Helsingfors, Finland, writes:

A couple of years ago I bought a bottle of H-Pantoten in a health food store and also some wheat germ. I take two dessert spoons of wheat germ each morning with buttermilk and one Pantoten tablet. This treatment has helped me so much that now I have no use for the wig I was using before. My hair has grown fast and I have long hair now. But you have to keep with it every day . . .

I also had cramps in both legs and even that trouble disappeared. Needless to say, I am very happy. I’d like to add that my hair also got a much better color.

An actor, who tried H-Pantoten writes:

I had my hair tinted and in order to get back the natural color, I shaved my head. But the re-growth was very slow and uneven. Various treatments I tried did not seem to help. A good friend told me about H-Pantoten and I have been using it for over 2 months. My hair is growing fast and vigorously now and it has the original color.

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