Doctor HealthHealth Tips

The fact that you have an illness like rheumatoid arthritis is more than enough to handle without having to deal with rheumatoid arthritis medication that has all kind of side effects. It is very frustrating and annoying if you have to deal with these kind of medication and have to go to a long and sometimes painful period of trial and error. Some rheumatoid arthritis medication will work in your situation but sometimes the side effect are worse than the drugs you need to take. There is so much we do not know about this disease that finding the right treatment can take a long time.

There are a series of prescription rheumatoid arthritis medication that doctors and rheumatologist usually prescribe and in this article we will go over a few of of them.

Analgesics painkillers

From this family of painkillers just one, acetaminophen, can be purchased over the counter, the rest of the family needs a prescription. These kind of drugs are stolen on a regularly basis from pharmacies and even hospitals. They have well known names like Oxycodone, Tramadol, Tylenol with codeine and Percoset. All of these drugs can have severe side effects that can range from a blurred vision to even death.

Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)

The fear of every arthritis sufferer is that they are going to need a prescription of this kind of rheumatoid arthritis medication, it is almost never prescribed alone, but almost always in combination with drugs like analgesics. Over the counter are NSAIDs like ibuprofen, naxoproxen and aspirin available and with a prescription you can get Celebrex and Vioxx

Steroids: Glucocorticoids

It is getting harder to pronounce but Glucocorticoids are also known as corticoids, they contain steroids and the most known names in this family are Prednisone, hydrocortisone and cortisone. You can get a little high from these drugs and that is why these medicines are also often the target of pharmacy theft. These medicines can be very expensive what makes the theft more lucrative. These kind of rheumatoid arthritis medication can have very severe side effects and this is why it is very important that you follow the directions very carefully.

Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs)

According to the latest theory rheumatoid arthritis is a disease of the immune system, something alternative medicine like homeopaths are saying for years. DMARDs are drugs that go right to the immune system and will try to reboot this system. Unlike with homeopathic medicine DMARDs are certainly not natural and harmless. They are sort of a last resort in prescription drugs, if noting helps and you are in terrible pain you get DMARDs. Because this drugs mess with the immune system, the complications can be so severe that you need to be in a reasonable condition except from your rheumatoid arthritis to be able to handle DMARDs.

Regular or alternative rheumatoid arthritis medication?

As you see all of these regular rheumatoid arthritis medication have, sometimes severe, side effects and down sides to them, and lets be honest so do natural or alternative medications. But it might be worth it if you need to go on trial and error anyway to include some alternative treatments to the test. It might postpone the need for the above prescription drugs and even replace them completely.
by JONATHAN MITCHELL

High blood pressure appears to be associated with an increased risk for mild cognitive impairment, a condition that involves difficulties with thinking and learning, according to a report in December issues of Archives of Neurology

“Mild cognitive impairment has attracted increasing interest during the past years, particularly as a means of identifying the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease as a target for treatment and prevention,” the authors write as background information in the article. About 9.9 of every 1,000 elderly individuals without dementia develop mild cognitive impairment yearly. Of those, 10 percent to 12 percent progress to Alzheimer’s disease each year, compared with 1 percent to 2 percent of the general population.

Christiane Reitz, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the Columbia University Medical Center, New York, followed 918 Medicare recipients age 65 and older (average age 76.3) without mild cognitive impairment beginning in 1992 through 1994. All participants underwent an initial interview and physical examination, along with tests of cognitive function, and then were examined again approximately every 18 months for an average of 4.7 years. Individuals with mild cognitive impairment had low cognitive scores and a memory complaint, but could still perform daily activities and did not receive a dementia diagnosis.

Over the follow-up period, 334 individuals developed mild cognitive impairment. This included 160 cases of amnestic mild cognitive impairment, which involves low scores on memory portions of the neuropsychological tests, and 174 cases of non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Hypertension (high blood pressure) was associated with an increased risk of all types of mild cognitive impairment that was mostly driven by an increased risk of non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment; hypertension was not associated with amnestic mild cognitive impairment, nor with the change over time in memory and language abilities.

“The mechanisms by which blood pressure affects the risk of cognitive impairment or dementia remain unclear,” the authors write. “Hypertension may cause cognitive impairment through cerebrovascular disease. Hypertension is a risk factor for subcortical white matter lesions found commonly in Alzheimer’s disease. Hypertension may also contribute to a blood-brain barrier dysfunction, which has been suggested to be involved in the cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Other possible explanations for the association are shared risk factors,” including the formation of cell-damaging compounds known as free radicals.

“Our findings support the hypothesis that hypertension increases the risk of incident mild cognitive impairment, especially non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment,” the authors conclude. “Preventing and treating hypertension may have an important impact in lowering the risk of cognitive impairment.”

This study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health; the Charles S. Robertson Memorial Gift for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease; and the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Foundation. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Source: Arch Neurol

Sex education alone is not enough to cut pregnancies and abortions among teenagers in the UK, say experts.
A Medical Research Council study, in the British Medical Journal, examined sex education in 25 secondary schools.
It found pregnancy and abortion rates among girls taught with an enhanced sex education scheme were the same as among girls given conventional sex education.
The authors say other sexual health strategies are urgently needed to cut the UK’s teenage pregnancy rate.
Patchy provision
The rate in the UK is the highest in Western Europe.
All schools in England and Wales have to teach sex education to 11-14-year-olds as part of the science curriculum.
In Scotland, schools are not obliged to provide sex and relationship education, so provision is patchy.
England has also had a strategy for reducing teenage pregnancy rates running since 1999, with a target of halving the under-18 conception rate in England by 2010.
Pregnancy rates among under-18s are currently at their lowest for 20 years in England.
Part of the strategy is improving the provision of sex and relationship education, which has sparked mixed views.
Some believe education will help and recommend children as young as 10 should be taught about contraception.
But others say it fuels the problem, encouraging children to be promiscuous.
Investigators from the Medical Research Council evaluated the impact of an enhanced sex education programme, known as SHARE.
The main difference from conventional sex education is SHARE’s intensive teacher training and focus on developing skills using role-playing, rather than simply providing information and discussing values.
For example, teachers are trained how to teach children skills so they can negotiate sexual encounters, handle condoms and access services.
Economic factors
The study, which focused on 25 Scottish secondary schools, found SHARE did have a positive impact on sexual health knowledge and quality of relationships, and was preferred to conventional sex education by both pupils and teachers.
But it had no impact on the number of pregnancies or abortions among school girls.
Lead researcher Dr Marion Henderson said: “It is clear that economic circumstances still largely determine the likelihood of teenage pregnancy.
“To have a stronger impact, alternative interventions should be considered.”
She suggested parents should be more involved in providing guidance to their children.
Director of the fpa (Family Planning Association) in Scotland, Tim Street, said: “SHARE and other sex education programmes like it are good. But they are just one tiny piece of the jigsaw.
“There are very few areas in the UK that are doing the whole gambit of information, services and education.
“Adults are not setting the best examples for children. There is also a severe lack of funding for sexual health.”
A Department for Education and Skills spokesman said: “Sex education is only part of the story.
“High quality Personal Social Health Education is a vital part of a successful strategy which must also include easy access to advice and contraception for young people.
“Our research shows that areas which deliver their strategies in this way have seen much greater successes in bringing down rates and our latest guidance urges all local authorities and primary care trusts to work in this way.”
By: BBC News

FAST-track testing and treatment for sexual diseases is to be introduced across north Manchester.
A £500,000 cash boost and new testing technology will see patients with concerns about their sexual health dealt with in less than 48 hours.
The rapid treatment will become available to patients across Bury, Heywood, Middleton, Oldham and Rochdale in the New Year, thanks to a centralised booking system for four clinics and new testing procedures.

Unwanted Facial hair Birthmark Acne is a common condition that often goes untreated.Women most often seek treatment, but men may also have concerns about this problem. For laser hair removal and beautiful cosmetic surgery results, you need superior care. Using lasers for everything, removal of birthmarks, smoothing out wrinkles, removing unwanted hair and assisting with acne

Laser Hair Removal
The basis for laser hair removal is the specific targeting of melanin in the hair bulb. Melanin absorbs the light emitted by the laser at a specific wavelength. The energy of the laser converts into heat, causing the selective destruction of the hair bulb. However, melanin in the surrounding epidermis can also be targeted, which may limit the success of the procedure. With too much melanin in the adjacent skin, the laser energy is absorbed into the surrounding epidermis, causing epidermal damage or absorptive interference with less effective hair destruction. Patients with dark hair and light skin have a relatively higher concentration of melanin in the hair compared with the epidermis, allowing for more selective absorption of light within the hair bulb, reducing damage to or interference by the melanin in the epidermis. Conversely, gray or white hair is a poor target for laser energy. The LasermedSpa centers offer the latest equipment and treatment in hair removal

Acne Treatments
Acne is one of the most common skin diseases develop most prevalently during the teenage years and the early 20s. Acne is caused by an excess production of oil in the sebaceous glands. There is a wide variety of acne treatments now available. There is not a single product that will work for everyone. Your search may involve trial and error, whatever you choose as your acne treatment, keep in mind that it takes time for results consult a dermatologist for more aggressive treatment. The LasermedSpa centers have the latest acne treatment equipment.

Skin Tightening
Skin Tightening reverses the signs of aging. The procedure treats lax and redundant skin throughout the body including the abdomen, thighs and underarms and is also used to tone, lift and tighten skin on the face and neck.

Botox
The answer for those who want to get rid of forehead lines, crows feet, line between the eyes and lip line

Microdermabrasion
A non-surgical exfoliating treatment, helpful for those unhappy with acne scars, enlarged pores, sun damaged skin, aged spots, freckles, fine lines and scares. You will end up with a more youthful appearance and a renewal of fresh skin tone.

by Manisha