MEDICATIONS FOR CONTROLLING CHOLESTEROL AND TRIGLYCERIDES: BILE SEQUESTRANT DRUGS AND PROBUCOL

The two brands of medication in this category (Questran [cholestyramine] and Colestid [colestipol]) work by binding on to the bile acids your body produces in the digestive tract and shunting them out along with your bowel movement. They are also called the resin drugs. The US National Cholesterol Education Program has also listed these medications as first-choice agents for treating those for whom dietary efforts at lowering cholesterol levels have failed.
Most typically the drugs are prescribed as a powder or in granules] which are mixed with water or juices and gulped down two or three times daily. Unfortunately, the taste is not pleasant, and patient compliance may be low as a result. And there may be some gastro<| intestinal upset.
The resin drugs may also bind on to other medications you may be taking, thus tendering them useless or at least causing them to be absorbed less efficiently. Thus you should take the two drugs with as much time in between as possible.
The combination of niacin with resin drugs has been tested a number of times and has been shown to be particularly effective.
This drug is the only one in the category. Probucol is the generic name, and the brand name is Lurselle. Once used more widely owing to its effectiveness in reducing cholesterol and its low incidence side effects or adverse reactions, probucol has dropped by the wayside because it significantly lowers levels of the protective HDL. As discussed in the chapter on cholesterol, probucol has been shown decrease cholesterol oxidation. As a result of that study, the drug has received some recent attention.
*149\85\2*
Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol

Filed under: Cardio & Blood- Сholesterol Tags: Tags: by admin Date 2 June, 2010
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MEDICATIONS FOR CONTROLLING CHOLESTEROL AND TRIGLYCERIDES: NIACIN/NICOTINIC ACID

Technically niacin is a vitamin, a necessary nutrient in everyone’s diet. But in very high doses, many times the required daily intake (RDI) for the nutrient value, niacin can be a very effective cholesterol fighter. Niacin is available in pharmacies and health food stores, and is also known as nicotinic acid. Note that only niacin, and not the niacinamide form of the vitamin, works to lower cholesterol levels. And although you can purchase niacin without a prescription, at the high doses needed for effectiveness you require medical supervision. Never take niacin without your doctor’s permission.
Niacin decreases the liver’s manufacture of VLDL, a precursor of LDL, thus limiting the production of LDL. At the same time, it raises levels of HDL and lowers triglycerides. It performs that combination of benefits better than any other substance available, with or without a prescription. As such, the US National Cholesterol Education Program has listed it as a first-choice agent in cholesterol control.
Unfortunately, not everyone can take niacin. First there are a number of contraindications including past or present liver dysfunction, diabetes, gout, severe arrhythmias and ulcers. Second, some side effects may occur which would prevent patients from taking the large doses needed. Gastric upset may be overcome by taking niacin with meals. And the flushing which typically follows niacin’s entering the bloodstream can be limited by preceding the dose with a half tablet of aspirin about 20 to 30 minutes before. Moreover, sustained-release tablets have been developed which reduce or even eliminate the flushing for most patients.
One brand of niacin, called Endur-acin, is a sustained-release preparation which has been studied in detail by Dr Joseph Keenan at the University of Minnesota. He reported his work in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1991.
A total of 158 patients, both men and women, completed the study. They began with a diet providing 30 per cent of kilojoules as fat and limiting cholesterol to no more than 300 milligrams daily. And they were given varying dosages of Endur-acin or placebos. Subjects receiving 1500 milligrams (1.5 grams) of Endur-acin had a 19 per cent fall in LDL cholesterol and a 10 per cent rise in HDL. This resulted in a very dramatic improvement of the cholesterol risk ratio. Smaller dosages were not as effective, and doses of 2000 mg (2 grams) produced no greater benefit.
Patients taking standard rather than slow-release niacin typically need more than 1500 mg to achieve the desired effect. In a well-publicised study showing reversal of blockage in the arteries, Dr David Blankenhorn at the University of Southern California gave patients an average of 4.3 grams of niacin along with the prescription drug colestipol. Some doctors have given patients as much as eight or nine grams daily. It will be up to your own physician to determine if you’re a good candidate for niacin therapy and, if so, what kind and how much you should use.
Let me repeat: do not take niacin without medical permission and supervision. Niacin works at the site of the liver where cholesterol is manufactured, and it places an additional burden on that organ as it is metabolised. Some studies have shown that slow-release niacin is harder on the liver than standard niacin. It would appear that while smaller doses of sustained-release niacin can achieve the cholesterol-lowering effects of larger doses of standard niacin, one can also expect the potential liver toxicity of larger doses. Reports have shown that those who switch from standard niacin to an equal dosage of slow-release niacin may have problems. Your doctor will need to study your liver function by way of a simple blood test to determine whether your body is properly handling the niacin. Moreover, your doctor will decide which form of niacin is best for you, and at what dosage.
If you or your physician would like additional information about niacin, I’ve devoted an entire chapter to it in The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure.
*148\85\2*
Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol

Filed under: Cardio & Blood- Сholesterol Tags: Tags: by admin Date 2 June, 2010
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CHILD’S DISORDERS: HALITOSIS (BAD BREATH) AND HEARING AIDS

HALITOSIS (BAD BREATH)

Cause

There are many possible causes for breath which has an unpleasant smell, including throat or mouth infections, blocked nose or sinusitis, gum disease (gingivitis), and tooth decay or abcesses.

Treatment

Treatment of the specific cause should help to alleviate bad breath. Use of an antibacterial mouthwash, and attention to dental hygiene are also important factors.

HEARING AIDS

Children who have moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss are usually fitted with a hearing aid. This is to amplify any hearing capability that still exists.

Hearing aids are available free of charge from Australian Hearing Services (formerly called the National Acoustic Laboratories), administered by the Commonwealth Government. There are centres throughout Australia. In addition to performing hearing tests, they also fit, maintain and service hearing aids. Your specialist will be able to organize the logistics of having a hearing aid fitted, as well as the education and counselling for families which are an important part of the process.

*233\90\8*

Filed under: General health Tags: Tags: by admin Date 21 May, 2009
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NEWBORN’S APPEARANCE: EYES AND NOSE

Eyes

The eye colour that a baby has at birth usually begins to change at around 6 months of age. Children who are going to have dark eyes tend to change a little earlier than this. Some babies are born with a blocked tear duct (see p. 205). The eyelids can look very puffy after birth, due to a build up in pressure as the baby passes down the birth canal. This tends to clear up within several days. Sometimes part of the white of the eye is reddened due to a little minor bleeding; this will also clear up and is no cause for concern.

If the mother has not been given any painkillers or anaesthetic which will influence the baby’s state of alertness, then from the moment of birth he will be able to fix his gaze on objects and follow them for a short distance. He can turn his eyes to where a sound is coming from, and prefers to look at objects which resemble the human face.

Nose

You may be worried that your baby has come out with a boxer’s nose! It is common for the nose to be flattened during the passage down the birth canal, and this corrects itself after a few days.

*66\90\8*

Filed under: General health Tags: Tags: by admin Date 19 May, 2009
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SUPER MARITAL SEX: WHAT CAN CAUSE SEXUAL DISTRESS?

DYSCOMMUNICATION: Breakdown in verbal and emotional communication can also block super marital sex. Dyscommunica-tion is inaccurate communication. Malcommunication is hurtful communication. Discommunication is communication without mutually shared purpose. Acommunication is no communication at all. Hypercommunication is overemphasis on intellectual and verbal communication in the absence of emotional sharing. Vulnerable sharing of feelings is effective Communication, the seventh key to super marital sex.

OUT OF CONTEXT: Sexual interaction out of the context of loving, sharing, and mutual concern for partner, as a negotiation, trade-off, even payback destroys any chance for super marital sex. Loving Context is the eighth key to super marital sex.

IATROGENIC PROBLEMS: Physician-caused problems, through misinformation, fear, or refusal or inability to raise and answer sex questions can remain a lifelong handicap to sexual fulfillment for the patient encountering such a physician. Responsive, comfortable, knowledgeable professionals are the ninth key to super marital sex.

POOR GENERAL HEALTH: Running too hot (hostile-competitive-impatient) or too cold (depressed-inadequate-passive) or having untreated health problems can prevent sexual fulfillment. Good overall holistic health is the tenth key to super marital sex.

SEXISM: Relating any element of the sexual-response system to preassigned sex roles for either gender imposes artificial and destructive limits on sexual intimacy. Androgynous, nonsexist life orientation is the eleventh key to super marital sex.

SEXUAL ANESTHESIA: Closing ourselves to incoming stimulation from multiple sources, including sensory, extrasensory, physical, emotional, and cognitive stimuli, limits sexual sensitivity. Sensuality is openness to the sending and receiving of a wide range of stimulation. Broad, holistic sensuality is the twelfth key to super marital sex.

All marriages experience some of these problems sometimes. Being aware of the potential for such problems and of the difficulty in achieving and maintaining super marital sex is one major step to mobilizing marital strength to solve these problems. I will present a very special “thirteenth key” to super marital sex in Chapter Twelve, but for now, use the twelve keys above to open the door to your own super sex.

*257\97\8*

Filed under: General health Tags: Tags: by admin Date 18 May, 2009
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TRUE HEALING – PRACTICAL ADVICE /DIET – MINIMISING THE INTAKE OF TOXINS: TRADITION

Some may argue, that the diet proposed below is quite different from the traditional diet we learned from our parents, friends and neighbours. So many people have followed-”traditional” diet for generations !

Maybe that’s exactly why we live on average only 72 years, most of this time getting sick or expecting disease, and by the age of 65 or earlier having major health problems.

We simply follow bad habits.

Many people follow their habits and tradition without any criticism, just because they do not want any change or they do not want to be different from others.

Sometimes it is quite difficult to find any logic at all. For example some women, who seem to be quite health conscious, are ready to put almost anything on their faces just to look better (?) for a few hours. On the other hand, they would not even consider giving up their dinners, steaks, alcohol or perfumes to truly improve their health.

In the ancient literature we can find evidence, that many thousands of years ago people lived in good health for at least several hundred years.

Modern science is still looking for reasons why our lifespan is so short.

*47\96\8*

Filed under: General health Tags: Tags: by admin Date 18 May, 2009
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IRIDOLOGY – DESCRIPTION

Iridology is an analysis of health based on an examination of the iris or colored portion of the eye.

It has been in use for over 100 years, and is called iris analysis or iris diagnosis.

Orthodox medicine is well aware that generalised disease can affect the eye and that proper medical examination of the whole eye may show some of these changes, even when there is no evidence elsewhere.

Tuberculosis, diabetes, atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, sarcoidosis, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis (a bowel inflammation), syphilis and herpes zoster or shingles, all produce changes in the iris.

In iridology, the circular iris is divided into zones, and changes said to be in these areas are supposed to indicate disease in distant organs.

There is no scientific explanation for this and so orthodox medicine has tended to ignore it and regard it as “hocus-pocus”.

While iridology has been criticised, it has not been scientifically studied.

*462/71/1*

Filed under: General health Tags: Tags: by admin Date 15 May, 2009
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APPENDICITIS – CHRONIC APPENDICITIS

There is really no such condition as chronic appendicitis where the inflammation continues on for months or years.

Rapidly progressing acute appendicitis may go on to rupture of the organ where the infected contents are spilled into the general abdominal cavity and this causes peritonitis.

Even in this modern age, the mortality for ruptured appendix may be as high as five per cent, whereas the mortality for operation before rupture is so low as to be negligible. This is the main reason why early operation is advocated.

Sometimes the diagnosis is in doubt but appendicitis is the most likely cause of the trouble. If the condition appears to be progressing, the surgeon may decide to go ahead and operate, as there is no other way of confirming the diagnosis.

If he delays until he is certain, the appendix may rupture and the patient face greater risks.

Analysing appendices removed at operation and finding that a large number show no evidence of inflammation is not necessarily a reflection on the poor judgment of the surgeon. This is what makes invalid some criticism of doctors for performing “unnecessary” operations.

If the doctor is certain of the diagnosis, it is usual to make an incision in the right lower portion of the abdomen, directly over the appendix.

*207/71/1*

Filed under: General health Tags: Tags: by admin Date 15 May, 2009
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CAN AN ABORTION TRIGGER ENDOMETRIOSIS?

Abortion is a delicate situation for even the most sophisticated of women. A universe of conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings are connected with it. There often is an accompanying sense of fear (associated with the medical procedure itself) and a measure of sadness or guilt (United to one’s personal view of abortion). Although everyone differs in response, any woman who has had an abortion wonders how her health might be affected by the procedure: Will she be infection-free? Will abortion influence her ability to have children? Could it bring on some other as-yet-unnamed disease sometime in the future?

In evaluating my own work on the subject as well as the research of others, my scientific conclusion is this; endometriosis—as a consequence of abortion—is not an absolute biological inevitability. In fact, cases of abortion causing the disease are rare. When they do occur, it could directly involve an abortion technique, now out of favor, called hysterotomy.

Perhaps the best way to understand hysterotomy is to think of it as a mini-cesarean section. In this type of abortion, a small incision is made in the abdomen; then an internal incision is made in the womb and its contents arc removed. Surgeons make a transverse (horizontal) or classical (vertical) incision in the lower portion or lower flap of the uterus—the same choice of incisions used for full-term deliveries by cesarean section. It is this type of surgical procedure, made during the late first trimester or early second trimester of pregnancy, that could be most responsible for the onset of endometriosis.

Why is this so? In the early months of pregnancy, there are still living endometrioric cells lining the uterus that have the potential to implant themselves on abdominal organs, and on the scar, given the chance. We know that pregnancy halts menstruation, which is the usual time of transport of these cells from the uterus. Therefore, another avenue into the abdominal cavity is required before any invasive endometriotic cells can run wild. Hysterotomy supplies the route. (Full-term cesarean deliveries differ entirely. At term, the placenta is fully formed and no endometriotic tissue remains in the uterus. Therefore, there is no way for random tissue to implant itself, or spread to an abdominal incision and implant itself there.)

immediately following hysterotomy, surgeons wilt routinely cleanse the internal abdominal area of cells and blood clots with saline solution. However, in some cases, the cleansing is not effective enough; random cells that have been sprayed outward when the incision was made find a host organ. If the patient has a tendency toward endometriosis, the disease could take hold. (It is also possible that she already had endometriosis before the abortion, and the operation released other live cells.)

*31\43\4*

Filed under: Women's Health Tags: Tags: by admin Date 8 May, 2009
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SKIN INFECTIONS: TREATMENT OF TINEA

The treatment of these fungal infections is basically similar. Initially local applications should be tried, as they are usually adequate for most cases except for infections of the scalp and nails. Traditional preparations such as Whitfield’s ointment or Castellanis paint still have their place, although they are somewhat messy. More recently, tolnaftate cream or lotion has been used, and either clotrimazole or miconazole creams. These are all most effective. Preparations containing nystatin, and amphotericin-B are active against yeast infections such as Candida, but not tinea.

Oral therapy must be resorted to for the treatment of hair and nails, and for many people with chronic tinea elsewhere. The drug used is Griseofulvin, which is specific for tinea, although poorly absorbed by mouth. Six weeks of treatment is usually sufficient for most infections, but tinea of the nails requires continuous treatment until the nail has grown out normally. This may take from six months to two years.

*58\44\4*

Filed under: Skin Care Tags: Tags: by admin Date 8 May, 2009
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