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Archive for the 'General health' Category
• Hot drinks and food are linked to cancers of the gullet. The preventive answer in this case is obvious.
• Early first childbirth and having many children reduces the incidence of breast cancer. Whether breastfeeding does so is still open to debate, even after numerous worldwide studies. Cancer of the ovary is more common in women who have had few children. This could be a cause that continues to become more common worldwide as family size shrinks almost everywhere.
In contrast to cancers of the breasts and ovary, the figures for cancer of the cervix are higher amongst women who have had more children. This effect is almost certainly due to early, promiscuous sexual activity. No one knows what the connection is but smegma and/or sperms might be capable of being carcinogenic, as might herpes virus type 2. Genital cleanliness and barrier methods of contraception (especially the sheath) will help reduce this cancer, as will a smaller number of sexual partners. There is now a rather virulent ‘epidemic’ of cervical cancer in younger women-and this is occurring against a background of general improvement in the cervical cancer picture overall. Even a woman who has never had intercourse before can ‘catch’ cervical cancer from her promiscuous partner. Japanese women, traditionally virgins until marriage, have a high incidence of cervical cancer, perhaps as a result of their males having had premarital sexual experience with prostitutes. If a man’s first wife dies of cervical cancer his second wife stands a greater chance of dying from it. These facts tend to suggest an infective cause. Prevention involves minimal penis-in-vagina sexual activity before the age of 20 and the use of barrier methods of contraception. Clearly neither of these is very realistic for most people so we can expect to see a rise in the number of women suffering from this particular cancer.
• Air pollution is probably not a major contributor to cancers but the prevention of cancer obviously must include the provision of clean air. Drinking water too can have carcinogens in it, according to recent studies.
• Hormones and certain other medications can cause cancer. The contraceptive Pill has now been positively incriminated in cervical cancer (women who have been on the Pill for five years or more have double the risk of getting the disease, according to a massive World Health Organization study), and there are debates over its role in breast cancer. Oestrogens given ante-natally can produce cancers of the vagina and the uterus in the female children of such women. Oestrogens given to relieve menopausal symptoms increase the risk of endometrial cancer about four to eight times. Undoubtedly other drugs will be found to be carcinogenic as our knowledge increases. The answer must be to take only drugs that are absolutely necessary and to keep dosages to the minimum levels.
• Certain viruses seem to cause cancer and the avoidance of those with the viruses could be a sensible preventive measure. Herpes simplex type 2 virus is now thought to play a part in the production of cervical cancer-we saw above how to reduce the chances of contracting this virus. A herpes-type virus, the Epstein-Barr virus, is suspected of being the cause of a tumour called Burkitt’s lymphoma, a cancer which occurs among children in certain areas of Africa. There are suggestions that the same virus is the cause of nasopharyngeal cancer and Hodgkin’s disease.
• Too little dietary fibre has been proposed as a cause of cancer of the large bowel and rectum. The hypothesis is that carcinogens, whether produced by the body or occurring in food itself, are diluted by the bulky stools that a high-fibre diet produces, so reducing their effect. Because such a diet also makes food residues pass quicker through the bowel the hypothesis is that any carcinogens that are present are rushed through the bowel so quickly they do not have time to exert their carcinogenic effect. There is a considerable debate as to how feasible such a hypothesis is and many other theories exist as to how large-bowel cancers come about. None of this detracts from the provable value of a high-fibre diet for other conditions.
• Zinc deficiencies have been found in prostatic cancer patients, and recent work at the Sloane Kettering Cancer Center in New York concluded that ‘zinc is intimately involved in immune function’. Selenium, a trace metal, has been found in many studies to reduce the likelihood of cancers. Studies in one part of the US compared cancer death rates in high- and low-selenium soil areas and found high selenium levels to be protective. To get plenty of selenium you need to eat whole-grain cereals, organ meats and seafood. One study of seventeen countries found that cancer death rates were very clearly linked to selenium lack.
The most reliable way of taking selenium is to take a daily dose of high-selenium yeast. This is probably best because so many dietary sources are unreliable in their selenium content and any way may have been grown in a selenium-poor soil.
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read comments (0)NAILS, GROOVES ACROSS THE
Author: admin
Description and Possible Medical Problems
Out nails reveal a lot about our health. It’s not uncommon for the nail to become affected by a serious disease. In fact, a good medical detective will be able to tell when you become sick and for how long you’ve been suffering just by looking at your nails.
When horizontal grooves appear across your nails, it’s a common sign that a person is recovering from a severe illness. You see, when a person is sick for an extended period of time, the body seems to cut down on the amount of nutrients it sends to nonvital areas such as nails so that it can put its resources into boosting the immune system and/or ridding the body of the illness. And so the growth of the nails slows down, which results in the grooves.
Treatment
If grooves appear across your nails, you don’t have to do a thing. When you recover from your illness and your nails begin to grow again, the grooves will disappear, though it may take several months for the nail to grow out.
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HEEL, PAIN IN WHILE STANDING OR WALKING
Author: admin
Description and Possible Medical Problems
Of the countless medical conditions throughout the years, some can be of the foot problems I see won’t occur if you wear shoes that fit properly.
This includes heel pain. The tough pad that comprises your heel serves as a shock absorber for your entire foot as well as the rest of your body. If you feel a pain in your heel every time you take a step, the pad of your heel is probably inflamed, which may be caused by absorbing too much shock. Though some people may call your condition a heel spur, this is a misnomer, since a heel spur is a problem with the bone of the heel, in which part of it becomes calcified. A heel spur is excruciatingly painful, since a bone is digging directly into your skin.
Heel pain is usually due—again!—to wearing shoes that don’t fit properly or pounding on your heel while walking or running. Women are also prone to heel pain when they switch from high heels to flat shoes. High heels force you to walk on your toes, whereas if you start to wear flats, there will be more weight on your heel than it’s accustomed to.
Treatment
If you think you have an inflamed heel pad, try changing the shoes you wear to comfortable, flat shoes that have a lot of padding in the heel. While the pain remains, however, you can take aspirin and apply ice to reduce the swelling. This is all most people need. Others, however, will need to see their doctor, who may decide to inject corticosteroids into the heel for instant relief.
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There have been hundreds of books written on this topic, and it’s likely that hundreds more will be written in the years to come. Then why is the public still generally confused about cholesterol and what— if anything—should be done to bring down an elevated cholesterol level?
These are the facts: A normal cholesterol reading will be 200 milligrams or less. If your cholesterol tests above 200, it’s necessary to check all of your blood lipid levels with a series of blood tests, taken after fasting at least six hours.
I feel a cholesterol test should be performed by a reputable lab and interpreted by your physician. The result of a test done with a finger prick at work or at home should be used only as a screening. If the number is elevated, you should then make an appointment with your doctor.
The spotlight has turned on cholesterol because even in people of normal weight, an elevated cholesterol level increases the risk for devel-oping premature aging of the blood vessels, which leads to heart and kidney disease, cerebral stroke, and other vascular diseases. Diabetes, some forms of liver disease, and some of the medications that are used to treat acne and high blood pressure can also cause your cholesterol levels to go up. Elevated cholesterol levels may also be due to genetics, but most often it’s due to the high amounts of cholesterol and saturated fat people include in their diets.
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As I’ve mentioned, the major problem with high blood pressure is that most of the time you won’t have any symptoms. Unfortunately, once you start taking medication to treat your condition, you may experience adverse reactions such as headaches and dizziness, until your doctor finds the medication right for you. At this point, many people stop taking the medication before it even has a chance to work. Or else, you may want to start taking other medications to treat your side effects, which in turn can cause more side effects. Before you know it, you can spend a significant part of your day opening bottles and swallowing pills. That’s why when I first start a person on blood pressure medication, I strongly recommend that in the beginning she visit me in my office at least once a week so I can assess the effectiveness of the medication and her adverse reactions, if any. It’s important for you, as a patient, to feel like an integral part of the medical treatment team with whom you are working.
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TOES WITH HARD AND PAINFUL NODULES
Author: admin
Description and Possible Medical Problems
When I was a kid and my aunts used to sit around complaining about their corns, I always thought of that old Bugs Bunny cartoon where an ear of corn sprang full blown from somebody’s foot. I looked at my aunts’ clunky orthopedic shoes, but they didn’t look as though they could hold something that big.
After 4 years of medical school and 20 years of practice, I know a little bit more about corns. A corn usually appears on a toe where the skin has become thickened, usually by the pressure and/or friction of shoes that don’t fit right. A callus is a close, thick-skinned relative of a corn— except that it usually appears on the sole of the foot and over a wider area.
Treatment
If you get a corn or callus, you should first soak it in warm water for about 10 minutes. Then you can rub it away with a pumice stone or use a special over-the-counter cream that softens the skin. There are also special corn pads you can buy that will reduce the friction between your shoe and your foot.
But the best way to treat a corn as well as to prevent it in the future is wearing shoes that fit properly. It might also help to choose shoes with a leather upper that will easily mold to your feet instead of fighting against them.
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HERPES IN HOT TUBS
Author: admin
Several health spas were recently closed down for a short time when some of their patrons complained about developing genital herpes after using their facilities. Public health workers investigated those spas but failed to demonstrate any herpes virus in the water of their hot tubs, on benches, or elsewhere, the Journal of the American Medical Association (250:3081) reports.
Nevertheless, the report continues, they were able to show that live herpes virus can survive on plastic and tiled surfaces that are kept warm and moist. Conceivably, then, scantily clad or nude patrons who have genital herpes could contaminate surfaces in a steam room, hot tub, or pool area, thereby infecting others who sit in the same place soon afterwards. Since the hot tubs and pools of spas are known to be responsible for the spread of other infections, such as conjunctivitis and boils, there is some reason to be concerned. Nevertheless, the Journal report concludes, it is unlikely that genital herpes spreads in the same way since the virus probably needs to be frictionally rubbed into the skin or onto a mucosal surface before it can take hold sufficiently to produce an infection, if that is any comfort.
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IMPOTENCE FROM EYE DROPS
Author: admin
Since they can be counted upon to reduce the ocular pressure, eyedrops that contain the beta-blocker drug timolol (trade name Timoptic in the U.S.A.) have become one of the most popular drugs for glaucoma, a letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (253:3092) states. Not surprisingly, therefore, there have been many reports of side effects with timolol eyedrops, 63 percent of which have occurred after the drug has been absorbed into the general circulation. Among these, there have been cases of impotence, some of which have lasted (while the patient continued using the eyedrops) for over four years. Almost invariably, the impotence promptly disappears if the drops are discontinued, only to occur again when they are reinstated. The moral of this story is that anyone who becomes impotent should suspect that a medication could be responsible, even if eyedrops are the only one they are taking.
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CHOLESTEROL: DIETS
Author: admin
High Fiber Diet
Despite their number and variety, all high fiber products have one thing in common: they are plant cell remnants that cannot be digested, the U.S. Pharmacist (12#7:42) reports. Without providing calories, they take up space in the stomach and intestines and thereby help to satisfy hunger.
Some, like wheat bran, increase the bulk of the stools but are sometimes constipating. Others, like oat bran, also tend to make the stools softer and more easily passed. Oat bran has a very useful cholesterol-lowering effect as well. For many, a mixture of these brans may be ideal. Salad, vegetables, and fruit (especially if unpeeled) also provide some dietary fiber.
Dietary fiber tends to bind onto other substances in the intestine and thereby prevents them (at least, in part) from being absorbed. This is one of the ways in which they help us to lose weight. However, fiber can also interfere with the absorption of some medications and essential nutrients (i.e., calcium). Accordingly, people who depend upon medicines for blood pressure, heart failure, or epilepsy, etc., or who are taking calcium for their bones should consult their doctors before starting a high fiber diet.
Pritikin Diet
Dr. Nathan Pritikin founded an institution named after him that champions both a diet that is high in fiber and low in fat and cholesterol, and a lifestyle that includes a lot of exercise. He died in 1985 from cancer. At autopsy, his heart and coronary arteries showed no trace of atherosclerosis (“hardening” from fat and cholesterol deposits), the New England Journal of Medicine (313:52) reports. This is remarkable because, 30 years earlier, before he started dieting and exercising, he had severe coronary disease, with dangerously high blood levels of cholesterol. By practicing what he preached, Dr. Pritikin rid himself completely of arterial disease and set a good example for us all.
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Whenever your blood pressure (BP) is to be taken, whether you are doing it yourself or someone is doing it for you, you should keep several factors in mind so that you can get the most accurate reading.
The U.S. Pharmacist (11 #7:15) reports that one should rest for at least 15 minutes before a blood pressure reading is taken. This is important because the BP rises to compensate for the increased amount of blood that pools in the legs by gravity as when one is moving about. Without this compensatory increase of BP, the amount of blood flow to the brain would become inadequate during periods of physical activity. The height of one’s BP, furthermore, depends upon how active one has been just before it is taken.
In addition, Geriatrics (37#3:38) suggests that whenever possible blood pressure readings be taken with the patient standing. They stress that the decision to change antihypertensive medication dosage should never be based solely upon sitting pressures. This is because when elderly people get up onto their feet, the blood pressure tends to fall, and this drop is especially profound in people taking treatment for hypertension.
Because an abnormal artery in one arm can give mislead-ingly high blood pressure readings on that side, the pressure should be taken from both arms. The arms, furthermore, should be supported on a table, etc., since a dangling arm gives falsely high blood pressure readings.
Since your BP will also rise if you inhale tobacco smoke or consume caffeine, do not smoke (or even sit near any smokers) or drink coffee, etc., for at least an hour before your pressure is taken.
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