If you’ve ever been treated for severe pain from surgery, an injury, or an illness, you know just how vital pain relief medications can be.

Pain relief treatments come in many forms and potencies, are available by prescription or over-the-counter (OTC), and treat all sorts of physical pain— including that brought on by chronic conditions, sudden trauma, and cancer.

Pain relief medicines (also known as “analgesics” and “painkillers”) are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some analgesics, including opioid analgesics, act on the body’s peripheral and central nervous systems to block or decrease sensitivity to pain. Others act by inhibiting the formation of certain chemicals in the body.

Among the factors health care professionals consider in recommending or prescribing them are the cause and severity of the pain.

TYPES OF PAIN RELIEVERS

OTC Medications
These relieve the minor aches and pains associated with conditions such as headaches, fever, colds, flu, arthritis, toothaches, and menstrual cramps.

There are basically two types of OTC pain relievers: acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Acetaminophen is an active ingredient found in more than 600 OTC and prescription medicines, including pain relievers, cough suppressants, and cold medications.

NSAIDs are common medications used to relieve fever and minor aches and pains. They include aspirin, naproxen, and ibuprofen, as well as many medicines taken for colds, sinus pressure, and allergies. They act by inhibiting an enzyme that helps make a specific chemical.

Prescription Medications
Typical prescription pain relief medicines include opioids and non-opioid medications.

Derived from opium, opioid drugs are very powerful products. They act by attaching to a specific “receptor” in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. Opioids can change the way a person experiences pain.

Types of prescription opioid medications include

• morphine, which is often used before and after surgical procedures to alleviate severe pain
• oxycodone, which is also often prescribed for moderate to severe pain
• codeine, which comes in combination with acetaminophen or other non-opioid pain relief medications and is often prescribed for mild to moderate pain
• hydrocodone, which comes in combination with acetaminophen or other non-opioid pain relief medications and is prescribed for moderate to moderately severe pain

FDA has recently notified makers of certain opioid drugs that these products will need to have a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to ensure that the benefits continue to outweigh the risks.

Affected opioid drugs, which include brand name and generic products, are formulated with the active ingredients fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, and oxymorphone.

FDA has authority to require a REMS under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007.

Types of non-opioid prescription medications include ibuprofen and diclofenac, which treat mild to moderate pain.

USE PAIN RELIEVERS AS DIRECTED

Pain medications are safe and effective when used as directed. However, misuse of these products can be extremely harmful and even deadly.

Consumers who take pain relief medications must follow their health care professional’s instructions carefully. If a measuring tool is provided with your medicine, use it as directed.

Do not change the dose of your pain relief medication without talking to your doctor first.

Also, pain medications should never be shared with anyone else. Only your health care professional can decide if a prescription pain medication is safe for someone.

Here are other key points to remember.

With acetaminophen:

• Taking a higher dose than recommended will not provide more relief and can be dangerous.
• Too much can lead to liver damage and death. Risk for liver damage may be increased in people who drink three or more alcoholic beverages a day while using acetaminophen-containing medicines.
• Be cautious when giving acetaminophen to children. Infant drop medications can be significantly stronger than regular children’s medications. Read and follow the directions on the label every time you use a medicine. Be sure that your infant is getting the infants’ pain formula and your older child is getting the children’s pain formula.

With NSAIDs:

• Too much can cause stomach bleeding. This risk increases in people who are over 60 years of age, are taking prescription blood thinners, are taking steroids, have a history of stomach bleeding or ulcers, and/or have other bleeding problems.
• Use of NSAIDs can also cause reversible kidney damage. This risk may increase in people who are over 60 years of age, are taking a diuretic (a drug that increases the excretion of urine), have high blood pressure, heart disease, or pre-existing kidney disease.

With opioids:

• Use of opioids can lead to drowsiness. Do not drive or use any machinery that may injure you, especially when you first start the medication.
• The dose of an opioid pain medication that is safe for you could be high enough to cause an overdose and death in someone else, especially children.

KNOW THE ACTIVE INGREDIENTS

A specific area of concern with OTC pain medicines is when products sold for different uses have the same active ingredient. A cold and cough remedy may have the same active ingredient as a headache remedy or a prescription pain reliever.

To minimize the risks of an accidental overdose, consumers should avoid taking multiple medications with the same active ingredient at the same time.

All OTC medicines must have all of their active ingredients listed on the package. For prescription drugs, the active ingredients are listed on the container label.

Talk with your pharmacist or another health care professional if you have questions about using OTC medicines, and especially before using them in combination with dietary supplements or other OTC or prescription medicines.

MISUSE AND ABUSE
Misuse and abuse of pain medications can be extremely dangerous. This is especially so in regard to opioids. These medications should be stored in a place where they cannot be stolen.

According to the National Institutes of Health, studies have shown that properly managed medical use of opioid analgesic compounds (taken exactly as prescribed) is safe, can manage pain effectively, and rarely causes addiction.

But the abuse of opioids is a significant public safety concern. Abusers ingest these drugs orally, and also crush the pills in order to snort or inject them.

Commonly abused opioid pain medicines include prescription drugs such as codeine, and the brand-name products Oxycontin (oxycodone), Vicodin (hydrocodone with acetaminophen), and Demerol (meperidine).

Addiction is just one serious danger of opioid abuse. A number of overdose deaths have resulted from snorting and injecting opioids, particularly the drug OxyContin, which was designed to be a slow-release formulation.

USE OPIOIDS SAFELY:  3 KEY STEPS

1. Keep your doctor informed. Inform your health care professional about any past history of substance abuse. All patients treated with opioids for pain require careful monitoring by their health care professional for signs of abuse and addiction, and to determine when these analgesics are no longer needed.
2. Follow directions carefully. Opioids are associated with significant side effects, including drowsiness, constipation, and depressed breathing depending on the amount taken. Taking too much could cause severe respiratory depression or death. Do not crush or break pills. This can alter the rate at which the medication is absorbed and lead to overdose and death.
3. Reduce the risk of drug interactions. Don’t mix opioids with alcohol, antihistamines, barbiturates, or benzodiazepines. All of these substances slow breathing and their combined effects could lead to life-threatening respiratory depression.

This article appears on FDA’s Consumer Health Information Web page (www.fda.gov/consumer), which features the latest updates on FDA-regulated products. Sign up for free e-mail subscriptions at www.fda.gov/consumer/consumerenews.html.

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: acetaminophen, aches, allergies, arthritis, brand-name products, cancer, chemical, chemicals, constipation, cough, cramps, dietary supplements, drowsiness, fever, food and drug administration, generic products, headache, headaches, heart disease, high blood pressure, ibuprofen, kidney disease, machinery, OTC, OxyContin, pain, pains, peripheral and central nervous systems, pharmacist, respiratory depression, surgery, toothaches, www.fda.gov/consumer, www.fda.gov/consumer/consumerenews.html

Fitness for their kids is on the top priority list of most parents. However, simply worrying about their kids’ health and fitness is not enough. There are certain steps you need to take to make sure that your kids indeed remain healthy and fit throughout the year.

1. Be a good example yourself: If you ask your kids not to steal, but break open the locker of your house yourself for the purpose of stealing money, what message are you sending to your kids? Kids, as matter of fact, emulate others. When it comes to health, you need to walk the talk or your kids won’t pay heed to your advice.

I know a friend who keeps telling her kids that smoking is injurious for their health, that smoking can cause cancer, infertility, etc. Sound advice, I agree. The only twist in the tale is that the mother herself puffs away happily while giving this advice to her kids. Naturally, the kids look at her with confusion and incomprehension, and regard her advice as superfluous and insincere.

Unless you show yourself to be a good example to your kids, don’t expect your kids to abide by your health advice.

2. Show instead of telling: If you want your kids to discard junk foods and sugar-rich candies, show them that you really hate this stuff yourself. For example, if someone approaches you offering a candy, politely turn down the offer. Teach your kids by your actions rather than advice. Kids know only too well that it is easier to preach than practice; however if you really can succeed in doing both, your kids will follow whatever health advice you have to offer them.

3. Let your kids experience: If you don’t like your kids’ candy-eating habit but don’t know how to tackle the problem either, here is one piece of advice: let them learn the lesson the hard way. If your kids regularly eat candies, they would soon be down with either stomach ache or tooth ache. At this point of time tell them that they are suffering because of their addiction to candies. They will learn the lesson the hard way for sure, but the lesson would be ingrained in their mind forever.

Remember that teaching someone through experience is better than teaching them through words or visuals. Why else do you think your local car salesman lets you sit in the car and even drive it a little bit even before you have purchased it? It is because once you are convinced of the usefulness of the car through your own experience, you are more likely to buy it than otherwise.

Tags: cancer, infertility, local car salesman

I just saw an official FDA warning about a number of weight loss pills being sold online as well as probably on store shelves.

Here is the list: Fatloss Slimming, 2 Day Diet, 3x Slimming Power, Japan Lingzhi  24 Hours Diet, 5x Imelda Perfect Slimming, 3 Day Diet, 7 Day Herbal Slim, 8, Factor Diet, 7 Diet Day/Night Formula, 999 Fitness Essence, Extrim Plus, GMP, Imelda Perfect Slim, Lida DaiDaihua, Miaozi Slim Capsules, Perfect Slim, Perfect Slim 5x, Phyto Shape, ProSlim Plus, Royal Slimming Formula, Slim 3 in 1, Slim Express 360, Slimtech, Somotrim, Superslim, TripleSlim, Zhen de Shou, Venom Hyperdrive 3.0

I am not sure how aware that people are but all it takes to make a diet pill is to go to a lab and tell them what you want to put in each pill and then bottle, market and sell. This is a very lucrative industry because there are always people trying to lose weight.

The above products were put out in the warning by the FDA becasue the contained one or more of the following ingredients.  sibutramine (a controlled substance), rimonabant (a drug not approved for marketing in the United States), phenytoin (an anti-seizure medication), and phenolphthalein (a solution used in chemical experiments and a suspected cancer causing agent). Some of the amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredients far exceeded the FDA-recommended levels. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: above products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, cancer, chemical experiments, fda, Imelda Perfect Slim, Imelda Perfect Slimming, Lida DaiDaihua, seizure, United States

Recent studies have pointed out that drinking a little red wine keeps your heart healthy and fit. Over time, experts have also discovered that a certain substance called Resveratrol which is found in red wine could help one lose weight.

While Resveratrol indeed helps you get rid of fat by targeting a special protein which is responsible for maintaining the normal blood sugar levels in our body, it too cannot be denied that increasing your wine intake in the hope of quick weight loss could lead to major health complications!

Alcohol shouldn’t be used as a weight loss solution for a number of reasons. Firstly, a high alcohol intake could damage your liver badly. Secondly, it is well known that people who drink alcohol regularly end up adding a lot more extra pounds to their body; so you can see, with this weight loss method you would gain more fat than lose! So is there any other way out?

While you cannot take Resveratrol in the form of red wine, you can certainly consume it in the form of supplements. Believe it or not, most weight loss supplements contain Resveratrol is some form or other, along with other fat burning ingredients!

Make sure that the supplement you are buying contains at least twenty milligrams of Resveratrol, as that is the minimum amount of Resveratrol you need to consume in order to benefit from it.

In order to understand how Resveratrol helps us with weight loss, it is important to understand the role of blood sugar with regards to weight gain. If your blood sugar level is high, your insulin level would also go up in order to lower the blood sugar level. This in turn would make you hungrier. And if you eat fatty and sugary foods in order to fill your stomach, you would soon become hungry as before!

Resveratrol basically reduces our blood sugar level which in turn reduces the insulin level. When this happens, our appetite is also reduced and we eat less than before. With reduced food intake, weight loss is inevitable!

When you take Resveratrol in the form of supplements as I suggested above, you not only keep the fat away but also protect yourself against harmful diseases such as cancer. Not many people know that there are special supplements which contain both Resveratrol and turmeric as ingredients, and turmeric’s job is to protect you from cancer and other harmful diseases!

Tags: cancer, reduced food intake, weight loss solution

A new study seems to give us one of those “I knew that” kind of feelings. As bad as cancer is to those affected, often they are preventable. A new study out today shows that things like smoking, bad diet, lack of exercise, dangerous environment can all lead to cancers that are preventable

About 80 percent of all cancers are diagnosed in the elderly, and more than 80 percent of known risk factors are potentially preventable, U.S. researchers say.

Igor Akushevich of Duke University in Durham, N.C., said the primary purpose of the study was to develop an approach to estimate the contributions of measurable risk factors to cancer risk among the elderly.

“So far, we have not come to the stage where we are able to make specific recommendations regarding risk factors,” Akushevich said in a statement. “However, we can confirm several of them which are known. As expected, we see associations of cigarette smoking with lung cancer.”

The researchers said they were surprised at some of the findings. Cancer risk was not associated with alcohol consumption, as reported in other studies. A possible explanation may be that those age 65 or older tend to drink moderately. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: American Association for Cancer Research, breast cancer, breast cancers, cancer, cancer prevention, Cancer Research, cancers, Duke University in Durham, Durham, Igor Akushevich, lung cancer, lung cancers, North Carolina, United States

Exercise is good for more than just your waistline. A recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research suggests that regular physical activity can lower a woman’s overall risk of cancer – but only if she gets a good night’s sleep. Otherwise, lack of sleep can undermine exercise’s cancer prevention benefits.

“Greater participation in physical activity has consistently been associated with reduced risk of cancer incidence at several sites, including breast and colon cancers,” said James McClain, Ph.D., cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. “Short duration sleep appears to have opposing effects of physical activity on several key hormonal and metabolic parameters, which is why we looked at how it affected the exercise/cancer risk relationship.”

Even though the exact mechanism of how exercise reduces cancer risk isn’t known, researchers believe that physical activity’s effects on factors including hormone levels, immune function, and body weight may play an important role. The study examined the link between exercise and cancer risk, paying special attention to whether or not getting adequate sleep further affected a women’s cancer risk. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: American Association for Cancer Research, breast cancer, breast cancers, cancer, cancer prevention, Cancer Research, colon cancer, colon cancers, James McClain, lead author, National Cancer Institute, physical activity energy expenditure

Did you know that you could stop acid reflux today? Will you choose antacids, prescription drugs or a piece of fruit?

Most people choose antacids and if their reflux gets bad enough they may opt to prescription drugs. Unfortunately, these are the same people who will suffer from reflux the rest of their lives. And this is also the reason why thousands of reflux sufferers are choosing simple home treatments and tossing their antacids.

If you are continuously struggling with acid reflux (also called heartburn), you may wish to treat your problem with a delicious, red fruit. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: acid reflux, Barton Published, body systems, cancer, chemicals, food, food/acid, Joe Barton, reflux heartburn

I just saw an article on CNN about a woman that lost 160 pounds on the Raw Food Diet. Many people ask me about this because the Raw Food Diet seems like a natural and safe way ot lose weight.

Raw food diets can be a great way to not only lose weight but also led a much healthier, natural lifestyle in general. Most raw food diets are plant-based, with at least 75% of the diet composed of raw food.

Food examples include living and raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, rolled or flaked grains, and seaweeds. Some adherents may also eat cooked grains and legumes, fresh fish and poultry. For the strict raw food diet, however, nothing should be heated over 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: cancer, chemical reactions, CNN, dairy products, digestive disorders, energy, food, Food additives, food diets, food enzymes, Food examples, food variety, raw food, raw food diet, raw food dieters, raw food diets, raw fruits, strict raw food diet

The very capable guys and gals at the Mayo Clinic have an article today about Bisphenol A health risks. This is something very new to most of us but it involves plastic containers that we store food in.

An important article in the Sept. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association discusses the health effects of the chemical Bisphenol A. What is this compound and what are its effects? What might happen as a result of this study?

Bisphenol A is a chemical in plastics. It is widely found in the lining of food containers, plastic bottles, compact discs, carbonless paper, and many medical devices. It also is used to coat metal products (food cans and bottle tops), and even water supply lines. Some dental sealants also contain this ingredient.

Now for the Bisphenol A health risks. Animal studies done in the 1980s and ’90s identified that low doses of Bisphenol A have adverse effects on the brain, reproductive system, and metabolic processes related to insulin balance and liver function. It may also be related to cancer or even obesity and heart disease. Although it is not immediately lethal, studies show that greatest sensitivity to Bisphenol A occurs during periods of early development and that the substance accumulates over time in the body and environment. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: American Medical Association, cancer, dishwasher, Environmental Protection Agency, food cans, food containers, food in., heart disease, Mayo Clinic, medical devices, metal products, National Institute, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, obesity, plastic food containers, plastic sports bottles, plastics, the Journal of the American Medical Association, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

You have tried eating like a baby in the name of ‘dieting’, spent hours in your local gym in the name of ‘workouts’, wasted hundreds of dollars on weight loss pills and supplements, and have even gone to the extent of procuring those attractive but useless exercise gadgets that claim to burn your fat effortlessly; yet, you are unable to lose a single pound of fat.

If this is you then weight loss surgery is the only way to go. While there are many types of weight loss surgeries available out there, most people seem to go for the gastric bypass. The gastric bypass surgery, even though it helps you lose weight, is risky. In this article I will tell you about the complications you can possibly encounter after undergoing the surgery.

Celebrities and Gastric Bypass

Gastric bypass has always been more or less popular, but it was made even more popular with celebrities such as Al Roker and Carnie Wilson going for it and losing weight successfully with its help. Now it is your turn to try it out.

It is a known fact that the key to successful weight loss lies in reducing your food intake. If you eat less than your normal diet, you would get rid of the extra pounds. However, it is easier said than done. Try as you might, you would never be able to reduce your food intake to the desired level because the constant hunger pangs won’t let you do so.

The only solution available to you is that of reducing the size of your stomach so that you don’t feel hungry even after reducing your food intake drastically. This is exactly what the gastric bypass surgery does for you, and this is the reason why it is so popular among the masses and celebrities alike.

Gastric Bypass Risks

Now let’s talk about the possible risks associated with the surgery. While weight gain can trigger a host of diseases such as heart strokes, kidney problems, digestion problems, sleep apnea, cancer, gout, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, psychological problems, etc., weight loss achieved through gastric bypass can also cripple you.

Known complications associated with gastric bypass surgery are stones in gall bladder (or gallstones), anemia, hair loss or thinning of hair, osteoporosis, blood clotting, infections, ulcers, stomach stenosis, incisional hernia, and even possible death.

Your decision on Gastric Bypass

Now the ball is in your court. You have to take the decision about whether to go for the gastric bypass or not. Weigh the risks of obesity with those of the gastric bypass surgery, and then take the decision. You may also want to consult with your doctor or a health specialist, preferably someone specializing in bariatric surgery.

If you ask me though, I would suggest that you try losing weight with diet and exercise once again. Lots of people have lost weight this way, so there is no reason why you cannot. Both of them are not only risk-free, you would also gain a lot of extra weight loss benefits that are not available to those losing weight through gastric bypass. In short, you should consider gastric bypass only as your last resort.

Tags: Al Roker, anemia, Asthma, bariatric surgery, cancer, Carnie Wilson, diabetes, food intake, gallstones, Gastric bypass, Gastric Bypass Gastric bypass, gastric bypass surgery, gout, health specialist, high blood pressure, hypertension, Incisional hernia, obesity, osteoporosis, sleep apnea, strokes, surgery, weight loss surgeries, weight loss surgery