Sunday, February 15, 2009

Medicines Help in Many Ways


People take medicines to fight illness, to feel better when they're sick, and to keep from getting sick in the first place. When a doctor is deciding which medicine to give a patient, he or she thinks about what is causing the patient's problem. Someone may need to take more than one type of medicine at the same time — one to fight off an infection and one to help the person feel better, for example.

When it comes to fighting illnesses, there are many types of medicines. Antibiotics (say: an-ty-by-ah-tiks) are one type of medicine that a lot of kids have taken. Antibiotics kill germs called bacteria, and different antibiotics can fight different kinds of bacteria. So if your doctor found out that streptococcal bacteria were causing your sore throat, he or she could prescribe just the right antibiotic.

But while the antibiotic is starting to fight the bacteria, you might still feel achy and hot, so the doctor might tell your parent to also give you a pain reliever. Pain relievers can't make you well, but they do help you feel better while you're getting well.

You have taken other medicines that soothe symptoms if you've ever taken cold medicine to dry up your runny nose or sucked on throat drops for a scratchy throat. Cream that helps a bug bite stop itching is another example. Your cold had to go away on its own, just like the bug bite needed to heal on its own, but in the meantime, these medicines helped you feel less sick or itchy.

Many people also take medicines to control illnesses that don't completely go away, such as diabetes, asthma, or high blood pressure. With help from these medicines, people can enjoy life and avoid some of the worst symptoms associated with their illnesses.

Finally, there are important medicines that keep people from getting sick in the first place. Some of these are called immunizations , and they are usually given as a shot. They prevent people from catching serious illnesses like measles and mumps. There is even an immunization that prevents chickenpox, and many people get a flu shot each winter to avoid the flu. Although shots are never fun, they are a very important part of staying healthy.

A Rainbow of Medicine

One medicine might be a pink liquid, another medicine might come in a special mist, another might be a blue pill, and still another might come out of a yellow tube. But they're all used for the same purpose — to make you feel better when you're sick. Some medicines were discovered from substances found in nature. Others are made by scientists in laboratories. Most medicines today are made in laboratories and many are based on substances found in nature.

After a medicine is created, it is tested over and over in many different ways. This allows scientists to make sure the medicine is safe for people to take and that it can fight or prevent a specific illness. A lot of new medicines actually are new versions of old medicines that have been improved to help people feel better quicker.

Sometimes a part of the body can't make enough of a certain substance, and this can make a person sick. When someone has type 1 diabetes (say: dye-uh-be-tees), the pancreas (a body organ that is part of the digestive system) can't make enough of an important chemical called insulin, which the body needs to stay healthy. If your body makes too much of a certain chemical, that can make you sick, too. Luckily, medicines can replace what's missing (like insulin) or they can block production of a chemical when the body is making too much of it.

Most of the time when kids get sick, the illness comes from germs that get into the body. The body's immune system works to fight off these invaders, but the germs and the body's natural way of germ fighting, like getting a fever, can make a person feel ill. In many cases, the right kind of medicine can help kill the germs and help the person feel better.

Acupuncture For Side Effects Of Cancer Treatment


Acupuncture is a common traditional Chinese medicine that has been adapted by the Western countries.

It involves the inserting of needles into specific points on the human body. It makes you wince a little bit at the thought of needles all over your body.

But these are not normal needles that we use when sewing. They use a specific needle for this, called the filform needles.

Acupuncture has been known to treat persistent hiccups, constipation, Arthritis, headaches, Paresthesias and many more. Recent studies have also indicated that this practice can help in curing the side effects of cancer treatment.

Side effects of cancer treatment can vary with the range or scope of the procedure. Anti-inflammatory drugs and exercise are often prescribed to address pain associated with these after effects but these may administer a lot of pain or may actually take even longer for the patient to recover.

Most women are often treated with anti-estrogen tamoxifen after they have been in surgery for breast cancer. You will find these women often suffer from hot flushes as an after effect. Acupuncture relieves hot flushes in these women faster and more effectively than any other antibiotic can.

Acupuncture has no additional side effects as compared to the steroids or antidepressant drugs that patients are given after treatment to cater for these side effects.

These drugs may further complicate your health through nausea, weight gain and constipation. On the other hand acupuncture actually has benefits in store for you. These include an increased sense of well being and a lot more energy. You will certainly not experience this after taking the drugs.

When treating some head or neck cancers, neck dissection or the removal of the lymph nodes and surrounding tissue is common in treating these cancers.

After this procedure you can imagine the pain you feel when you wake up from surgery. Not only may you feel pain, but the dysfunction of the shoulder. Acupuncture provides the necessary treatment without having to take down glasses of antibiotics everyday.

Acupuncture may be the perfect cure for cancer treatment side effects but it’s not exactly painless. It does involve a little pain when they stick the needles in your body.

This often depends however, with where the needles are going to be inserted. If it’s a less sensitive part of your body then you shouldn’t expect much pain.

Don’t experiment this at home though. It requires great expertise to perform acupuncture.

Bates Method To Improve Your Eyesight Naturally!

This method is mainly aimed to improve your eyesight without the use of lenses or any medical surgeries.

This holistic and non-invasive therapy treats astigmatism, short sightedness or myopia, old age blur and long sightedness or presbyopia without any medical intervention.

This method educates your eyes and mind regarding the habits and principles of seeing naturally and clearly.

Eye strain and other eye discomforts due to the misuse of eyes can be eliminated by this method. Bates method has various techniques that help to eliminate the most serious diseases and conditions of your eye like glaucoma, cataract, and others.

Bates method involves the principle of how we see. Good sight is mainly the result of a relaxed state of mind and body, so that an individual feels a direct contact with the surroundings through five senses.

On the other hand, when a person is exposed to tension of a lesser or greater extent, secluded from the outside environment through being locked in a pattern of psychophysical tension, like anxiety, worry, rigidity, boredom, impatience, day-dreaming, confusion, etc experience poor eyesight.

When the relaxation progresses, your mind, body and eyes start to focus together more pleasantly, thus it allows improvement of your eyesight naturally.

Diabetes

DiabetesDiabetes is a condition that has been diagnosed in greater than 10 million Americans, and remains undiagnosed in 5 million more.
Diabetes occurs when a person's body is unable to properly process glucose (a sugar that the body uses for energy.) This inability to process glucose causes it to stay in the blood making glucose levels rise. Consequently, the bodies cells are deprived of glucose.
There are two types of diabetes, simply put, type one and type two. Type one diabetes is known as childhood-onset or insulin dependent diabetes, this occurs when the pancreas doesn't create enough insulin for the body. Type two, or adult-onset diabetes occurs when the pancreas makes enough insulin but the body has a hard time using it (insulin resistance.)
Diabetes can lead to other serious health conditions. Poor wound healing, high risk of infection, atherosclerosis, and heart disease are some of the risks associated with diabetes. Early diagnoses and aggressive treatment can help to prevent these risks