Last night as I was flipping around the channels I ran across Larry King on CNN talking to Dr Andrew Weil about health and specifically about the Swine Flu.

For anyone that has not seen or heard Dr Weil, he is a very interesting guy. He is not a big fan of drug companies, is really interested in alternative medicines and therapies and has the research to prove his point. And he really has the hippy look to him.

Anyway Dr Weil mentioned that Astragalus is available in health food stores as a capsule and that he would be taking it starting soon to avoid the Swine Flu (H1N1). Also he was very clear that to avoid any flu that you should do the following:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after using it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you do get the flu (or any contagious illness, for that matter), stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: Andrew Weil, Bird flu, CNN, contagious illness, cough, H1N1, health food stores, Larry King, Swine Flu

Most of the exercises making up an abs workout on the exercise ball will strengthen the back as well as the abdominals and other core muscles.

An exercise ball is a piece of equipment that you will find at any gym. You can also buy them for home use. They are not expensive.

Exercise balls work by requiring you to use your muscles to balance or keep stable. Therefore they are also sometimes called stabilizing balls. The exercises may sound easy, like children’s games, but if you try them you will find that a lot is required of your abs. If you do not feel this at once you probably will feel it the next day!

How to pick an exercise ball

It is important to choose an exercise ball that is the right height for you. When you sit on it your feet must be flat on the floor, knees and hips forming right angles, thighs parallel to the ground.

Before you begin your stabilization abs workout on the exercise ball, you should warm up the muscles of the back. This is easily done with a few minutes gentle exercise on a treadmill, exercise bike, elliptical trainer or simply walking or marching on the spot.

Abs Workout Stabilization Exercise

Sit on the ball with feet flat on the floor. Keep your abdomen tight, including the deepest ab muscles that you can feel when you cough. Do the same number of reps for each exercise, starting with 10.

First, lift one heel, keeping toes on the floor, then the other.

Then lift one whole foot off the ground, keeping it flat, then the other (as if you were marching on the spot, but slowly).

Then raise and lower each arm in turn.

Finally, raise and lower each arm in turn while lifting the opposite foot off the floor (slow marching with arm movements).

Abs Workout Stabilization Exercise

Lie with your stomach on the middle of the ball, hands flat on the floor, arms going straight down from the shoulders. Again keep the abdomen tight. Start with 5 reps of each.

First, walk forward on hands until the ball is under the thighs. Walk back to starting position and rest.

Then repeat walking forward on hands until the ball is under the thighs but this time stay there and slowly raise each arm in turn. Do the reps then walk back to starting position and rest.

Finally, repeat walking forward on hands until the ball is under the thighs, stay there and do pushups. Do not go too low at first. Do the reps then walk back to starting position and finish.

Cool down with some stretching, because the abdominal muscles and the muscles of the back will be very tight after this back and abs workout on the exercise ball.

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Tags: cough

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.

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

There are two types of cough and you will need a different cough remedy for each.

Dry Coughs

A dry cough is when you have a tickle in the back of your throat. When you cough, the throat becomes irritated, making you cough more. In this case you need to stop coughing. Remedies that soothe the throat are required.

Honey can be very soothing to an irritated throat. The traditional honey and lemon drink is great for a dry cough. You can also add ginger to warm the body, turmeric to treat the inflamed throat and – strange as it may seem – pepper, which can be a great cough remedy.

You can also gargle with raw spinach juice to relieve the throat. You will need a juicer that can handle leaves, or use a blender and then strain the resulting liquid. You can add turmeric and/or garlic for added effectiveness if you wish. Warm the juice to body temperature before you use it. Gargle a few times and then swallow some of the juice. If you hate the taste, try mixing equal parts spinach and carrot juice.

Almonds can be a good remedy too. Soak whole raw almonds overnight or for at least 6 hours. Peel off the brown skin. Crush, grind or blend them and mix with a little honey. This will form a paste which can be eaten alone or on bread.

Marjoram tea can be good for a dry cough. Marjoram is a relaxing herb that eases tension and stress. It can also ease the irritation in your throat.

Wet Coughs

A wet cough is when you are coughing up mucus from the chest. In this case you should not suppress the cough. You need remedies that loosen the mucus so it will come up more easily.

A wet cough is often associated with a chest infection, cold or flu. Garlic can help to treat the infection. Use raw garlic if you can take it, or add it at the last minute to soups and other hot dishes.

Onion also has anti bacterial properties. Juice or blend one medium size onion, add the juice of one lemon and a couple of tablespoons of hot (not boiling) water. Sip this warm liquid slowly.

Grapes can be very good for a wet cough. If you have a cold or flu, you might try eating only grapes for a couple of days. This mono diet will be very easy for the body to digest, leaving it free to focus all of its resources on fighting the virus.

Staying warm is important for all types of cough. Being in a warm, moist environment is ideal. You can inhale steam with some essential oils – eucalyptus for loosening mucus or juniper for a dry cough. Some people like to take a sauna.

It is possible to find a natural cough remedy that works but if your cough persists you should see your doctor in case it is a sign of a more serious problem.

Tags: chest infection, cough, irritation

Most people have never had a hernia but for those that have had it hernias are very very painful and often some kind of surgery is needed to get any relief. Hernia is an abnormal protrusion of internal organs through an abnormal opening in the wall of the cavity. A combination of increased pressure inside the body with weakness in the wall is responsible for this condition.

In this condition internal organs or parts of organs are protruded out forming a swelling which will increase the size with coughing and lifting weight, and while passing stool and urine. In lying down position the swelling goes inside except in strangulated and irreducible hernia.

Causes of hernia

1) Weakness in the body wall
a) Congenital weakness
b) Acquired weakness due to injuries,wasting of muscles, suppurative lesions in the wall and presence of weak natural openings, obesity, lack of exercise, repeated pregnancy
c) Surgical operation with improper suturing or sepsis of operated site

2) Increased pressure inside the body.
a) Chronic constipation
b) Recurrent cough
c) Weight lifting
d) Stricture of urethra Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: constipation, cough, Epigastric hernia, Femoral hernia, general surgeon for surgical management, hernia Hernia, Homoeopathy, Incisional hernia, Inguinal hernia, Intestinal obstruction, irreducible hernia, Lumbar hernia, obesity, Obturator hernia, pain, peritonitis, sepsis, stainless steel mesh, surgery, surgical management, Surgical treatment, Umbilical hernia

As years pass by, the human brain becomes smarter and more progressive, and we tend to come up with new or better solutions to existing problems. Some of these solutions turn out to be just fads, but a few others usually prove to be useful. In case of weight loss, a new and little known way to burn the fat is Mesotherapy!

If you have never heard of it, I don’t blame you at all! Like I said, it is relatively unknown. Mesotherapy is not only used for weight loss but also for getting rid of wrinkles. This therapy is based on the premise that weight gain and skin problems are both the results of accumulation of toxins in our body; once we flush out those toxins from our body, these maladies would go away!

In this therapy, a combination of several chemical substances such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids as we as other required medicines are injected into the mesoderm of the patient, which is nothing but the skin layer below the surface. This therapy was invented in the 1950’s by none other than the famed French doctor, Michel Pister!

In good old days, these injections were given by hand using syringes but these days it is being done through injection guns as they are more convenient for the doctors! Okay, let me tell you how it can help you lose weight!

Just like weight loss surgery, not everyone is eligible for Mesotherapy. If you want to opt for it, you would need to fix an appointment with your doctor. The doctor would not only tell you whether you are fit for the therapy or not, but also what to expect from it.

Let me assume that the doctor has approved you for the therapy. There are a few rules to be followed here. If you are suffering from cough and cold then you cannot go for it! You should also make sure not to wear any cosmetics or makeup on your skin when going for Mesotherapy! Other than that, there are no more rules for the therapy!

The good thing is that Mesotherapy is quite fast: usually it would get done in fifteen minutes or less. The location where you would receive the injection would generally depend on the remedy you want. If you are doing it for the sake of weight loss, you should receive it at the place where there is the highest concentration of fat or where you want to burn fat! When your body receives the different chemical nutrients through the injection, it would flush out the toxins present inside as well as boost your metabolic rate. Once your metabolic rate is enhanced, you would start burning fat like crazy and lose weight!

Most people tend to have unrealistic expectations from therapies and surgeries, so let me tell you one more thing: if you think that you can sit on your couch and eat whatever you like after going through Mesotherapy, I suggest that you don’t go for it, for you will surely be disappointed.

Mesotherapy would certainly help you lose the initial weight, but after that, it is up to you whether you are able to maintain that lost weight or not. And the only way to maintain your slim body is to eat healthy and start exercising rigorously!

Tags: chemical nutrients, chemical substances, cough, Michel Pister, weight loss surgery

Spring is here and it is a really good time for you to start getting in shape if you haven’t been over the Winter. Here are a series of things to watch and be careful for so that you do not end up with a painful injury right out of the start of your spring exercise.

Here are pointers to keep you out of trouble and allow you the most fun—pointers to help you avoid nuisances and injury. These are tips you otherwise will learn the hard way. Hardened sportsmen and competing athletes know that the best workout can be wrecked by inattention to several small, yet important, details. It will not take you long to discover your own sensitive and tender areas. Experience will soon be your guide. Do be most attentive in the beginning of your workouts outdoors.

Protection For Exposed Areas

In your “exercise infancy” pressure surfaces and exposed areas are subjected to unaccustomed abuse. Lips are very susceptible to chapping and cracking, not only in windy or cold weather, but during almost any activity rigorous enough to cause mouth breathing. Worse yet, there is an unexplained tendency during strenuous exercise to lick the lips, which further aggravates chapping. A thin coat of vaseline or lipsil should be applied over the lips and around the mouth to provide reliable protection. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ankle strain, blisters, cough, coughs, cuts, fitting shoes, foam rubber soles, lacerations, mouth breathing, respiratory tract, running shoes, runny noses, salesman, sports clothes, spring exercise

The Daily Mail in England has this very interesting story that seems to give hope to the millions of people worldwide that suffer from Alzheimers disease.

Doctors are calling for a clinical trial of an experimental drug treatment that it is claimed can reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease “in minutes”.

U.S. researchers say the treatment allowed an 82-year- old sufferer to recognize his wife for the first time in years.

In the UK, specialists believe the claims should be properly tested as only a few patients have been treated so far.
The treatment involves injecting a drug called Enbrel – which is normally used to treat arthritis – into the spine at the neck. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's Research Trust, Alzheimer's Society, ankylosing spondylitis, arthritis, California, chief executive, cough, diabetes, director, Edward Tobinick, Enbrel, experimental therapy, fever, head of research, immune disease, inflammation, Institute for Neurological Research, Institute of Neurological Research, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Los Angeles, Marvin Miller, necrosis, nurse, professor, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Rebecca Wood, rheumatoid arthritis, Serious infections, Susanne Sorensen, TB, tuberculosis, tumor, tumour, United Kingdom, United States, University of California Los Angeles

Vitamins during pregnancy are very important.

If you have ever attempted to go on any kind of diet that involved reading the information on the nutritional labels of your food you are all too familiar with the fact that those little words and symbols can start to look like Greek after a while. If you’re not a doctor or a nutritionist you probably have no idea of what Vitamin B or Folic Acid are, much less why they’re important. The first step to conquering pregnancy nutrition is understanding what you’re eating, how much you should eat, why you’re eating it and how it’s going to help your baby.

A quick note. In the following section you are going to see several mentions made about the negative consequences of overdosing on specific vitamins. You must understand that this overdose very rarely occurs because of the foods you eat. More often it is because mothers have chosen to consume extra supplements in an attempt to “help” their baby or they have forgotten to tell their physician about other vitamins and supplements they take on a regular basis.

Be sure when you go in for your prenatal appointments that your physician knows exactly what vitamins, medications and supplements (including herbal) you take, regardless of how insignificant you may believe them to be. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: anemia, anencephaly, B12 deficiency, B6, beriberi, birth defects, bread products, C, calcium deficiency, center for disease control, cough, dairy products, encephalocele, energy, folic acid, Folic Acid deficiency, food, high blood pressure, morning sickness, neural tube defects, nutritionist, osteoporosis, pernicious anemia, physician, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy nutrition, pregnancy vitamins, pregnant women, Riboflavin deficiency, spina bifida, vegetable oil, vitamin a, Vitamin A deficiency, vitamin a during pregnancy, Vitamin D, Vitamin D deficiency, vitamins and supplements

One thing that seems to confuse a lot of people is the fact that the media shows us slim people with great six pack abs. This would lead most people to believe that if you want to reduce your stomach then you should just do sit-ups and you will lose the stomach. Sadly this is called spot reduction and it is not really possible to lose a bot belly by just doing sit-ups.

What your really need to know is how to do crunches

So to lose your pot belly you really need to do more to lose your overall fat and this can be done using two changes to your body.

To do that, you need to burn more calories than you eat. Abdominal muscles are not large muscles, so working them isn’t going to burn many calories. Walking and jogging are better calorie-burning activities.

The muscles in your abdomen, pelvis, lower back and hips are part of what is known as the core – The area of the body where your center of gravity is located. Developing a strong solid core gives you increased balance, stability and controlled movement that will help you improve performance. You use core muscles when you reach up to get a glass off the top shelf, bend down to tie your shoes, or swing a golf club. Strong core muscles also improve posture and protect you against back injuries.

What are the best abdominal exercises? For the beginner, nothing seems to beat crunches. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: abdominal muscles, back injuries, chair, cough, Golf, pain in your lower back, pot belly, six pack abs, spot reduction