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Most patients with mild to moderate hypertension can continue to drink moderately. But excessive amounts of alcohol can result in elevated blood pressure. Heavy drinking also lessens inhibitions and may lead to behaviours including overeating that impede blood pressure control.
If you enjoy a drink now and then, do so in moderation. Don’t drink more than the equivalent of 30 ml of ethanol, pure alcohol, daily. That comes out to 55 ml of 100-proof whisky or other distilled spirits, 225 ml of standard table wine, or 680 ml of beer.
Alcohol also provides a lot of empty kilojoules. A 340 ml bottle of beer packs about 630 kilojoules; a 115 ml glass of wine has about 336 kilojoules. And 55 ml of gin, whisky or scotch contains about 715 kilojoules. That really adds up over the course of the week, and makes weight control much more difficult.
Life is often a matter of give and take. If you enjoy that glass of wine with dinner, or that bottle of beer during the football game on TV, just remember that you are consuming kilojoules. Compensate for that intake by cutting back on other non-essential kilojoules.
Of course, your own program of hypertension control may call for even more stringent alcohol restriction. By all means discuss this with your doctor. He may suggest abstinence for a while. Then you might be able to add back a drink now and then and see whether you can maintain control.
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Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol

Comments (0) Jun 02 2010

A large number of studies, both in America and around the world, have shown that obesity and hypertension are closely linked. The more weight one gains, the higher the blood pressure goes. Conversely, by losing that extra weight one can achieve a significant reduction in pressure. Try to get as close to your ideal body weight as possible. Yes, it’s hard to do at first, but it’s really worth the effort.
A recent study at the University of Mississippi has demonstrated that weight loss can be as effective as drugs in controlling mild hypertension. The 800 patients involved had diastolic pressures of 90 to 100. Some received a weight-reduction diet while others were given antihypertensive drugs. After six months, weight loss exceeding 4.5 kg equalled the benefits of the medication, with patients exhibiting a 12.1 drop in diastolic blood pressure. According to Dr Herbert Langford, the threshold of benefit appears to be 4.5 kg of weight loss. Of course the more the better, down to ideal body weight.
Dr Langford also found that weight loss boosted the effectiveness of drugs given to patients. Those losing more than 4.5 kg while on medications saw a fall of 18.6 in diastolic pressure.
Interestingly, the benefit of weight loss was found even in those patients who did not significantly restrict their alcohol or sodium consumption. This demonstrates that weight loss alone can be responsible for impressive hypertension control.
What’s the best way to achieve weight loss? Reducing the total fat intake, which is also the best way to control cholesterol, is the most effective path to permanent weight control. Fat represents the richest source of kilojoules in the diet. Simply put, if you don’t eat fat, you won’t be fat. An excellent way to both limit fat intake and cut total kilojoules for the day is through a sound program of meal replacement.
Weight reduction provides a number of benefits beyond hypertension control. You’ll see an automatic reduction in cholesterol levels. Diabetes is more easily controlled, and in many cases the need for medication is greatly lessened or even eliminated. And, very importantly, you’ll feel a lot better about yourself. Since self-esteem is such a vital part of recovery from heart disease, that element cannot be overemphasised.
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Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol

Comments (0) Jun 02 2010

Smart drugs promote maximum mental performance in four basic ways. First, they supercharge the brain with an optimal supply of oxygen and the raw materials it needs to energize its neurons and store and recall memories. Second, they shield the brain against free-radical damage and other toxic substances that can lead to permanent brain damage. Third, they help remove cellular debris, called lipofuscin pigment (the same aging pigment that causes "liver spots" on the skin), from the brain, which has been linked to neuron damage and decreased mental performance. Fourth, they supply the brain with raw materials to replenish its supply of neurotransmitters.

Oxygen plays a Jekyll-Hyde role in the brain: It energizes the brain to think and remember more clearly while it ironically promotes free-radical damage that can lead to a host of neurological disorders, such as senility and stroke. Nootropic drugs play a unique role among all drugs in that they both optimize the delivery and use of oxygen to the brain and protect the brain from the hazards of oxygen-induced free radicals.

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Weight Loss

Comments (0) May 12 2010

Investigations

No investigations are necessary. Croup is a clinical diagnosis.

Treatment

The majority of children with croup do not need any specific treatment. You can manage the symptoms in exactly the same way as for a cold. Antibiotics are not necessary because the condition is caused by a virus. Some children seem to benefit from steam, and you may want to take the child into the bathroom with a hot water tap running in the shower. Be very careful to avoid scalding the child if you decide to try this treatment. There is little information available to suggest it makes any significant difference.

A small minority of children with croup will need admission to hospital for observation, to ensure that the breathing tube does not become blocked to the point where they are unable to breathe.

When to see your doctor

• if your child has difficulty breathing;

• if the stridor is easily heard even when he is resting quietly;

• if you are worried.

Prevention

There is no way we can prevent children from getting croup.

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Comments (0) May 21 2009

The most common form of multiple birth is twins. Twins occur in approximately 1 in 80 births. There is a greater chance of a couple having twins if there is a family history of multiple pregnancies on either the mother or the father’s side (or both).

Twins may be identical (homozygous) if they come from the same egg, or non-identical (heterozygous) if they come from separate eggs.

If you are pregnant with twins, you will notice a rapid weight gain early on in your pregnancy, and your final weight will be greater than if you had only had one baby. Careful monitoring of blood pressure, weight and urine are important because of the increased risk of hypertensive disease of pregnancy. It is important to get adequate amounts of rest. Most twins are delivered at 38 weeks, and labour is generally no longer than it is with a single baby. Complications may arise if the babies are in an unnatural position, and in this case Caesarian section may be advised. In addition twins are usually smaller than single babies, and the incidence of prematurity is higher, so they may need special care.

Triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets and so on are uncommon, and usually occur after use of certain fertility drugs and in-vitro fertilisation techniques. In the same way as twins, these babies can be identical or non-identical, or both types may occur in one set (for example, in triplets one baby may develop independently from an adjacent pair of identical babies).

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Comments (0) May 19 2009

“Why does she talk like that in sex? She says things that just send chills through me. It’s not her talking. She seems possessed or something. It’s dirty talk. It’s a turn-off.”

ANSWER: One of my other patients once asked why her husband yawned so loudly. The answer to that question is the same as the answer to this one. We all express ourselves differently. The words that bother you so much are just expressive sounds. They mean nothing about you or her; they are reflexes just like any other. Such expression is arousing or exciting to some people, but if these words bother you, suggest the words you might like to hear. It will take some time, but such words might work their way into her’ ‘reflexive vocabulary.” Remember that the words are reflexes, not messages, and maybe you won’t be so bothered. It’s a compliment to you, really, that she feels comfortable and safe enough to let loose, to be free in her sexual reflex vocabulary.

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Comments (0) May 18 2009

Even if we could reliably locate every cancer cell, it would still not be possible to cure every cancer by radiation treatment. This is basically because the reactions of the normal tissues force us to limit doses to a level which cannot cure some cancers. Whether or not a cancer can be cured depends on its location, size, and type, and the general conditions of the patient.

The location is important for two reasons. Firstly, a cancer located in or near tissues which give rise to dangerous or otherwise severe radiation reactions cannot safely be given the same dose as one in a less critical location. Secondly, cancers whose cells look exactly the same under the microscope have different chances of being cured by radiation depending on where in the body they started. The reasons for this are not really understood but it is a fact that should be taken into account by your radiotherapist when planning a treatment. For example, a cancer starting just above the voice-box is less likely to be cured by radiation than exactly the same type of cancer starting in the vocal cords.

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Comments (0) May 18 2009

When we look at these cases, we tend always to think of malingering; and our own values and ideas of morality lead us to make judgments about this behavior.

Let me give you an example which proved to be what we all might regard as a suitable solution to a difficult problem.

A husband came home and found his wife in bed with another man. Following an angry scene, he developed a paralysis of his right arm. The paralysis was a symptom of hysteria.

Psychotherapy revealed that it served two purposes. The man’s cultural background led him to believe that he should, as a man wronged, kill both his wife and her lover, but his own ethical standards would not accept this.

The paralysed arm prevented him from carrying out this unacceptable act and, at the same time, led his wife to feel guilty for having caused his paralysis.

In treating such a case it is important not to overcome his paralysis without giving him time to accept some other solution, otherwise he could have been forced into a corner where he had to carry out that action.

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Comments (0) May 15 2009

There are many other types of anaemia where the red blood cells are reduced in number and these may be due to deficiency of other essential factors, or it may be due to an excessive breakdown of red blood cells due to chemicals or hereditary factors.

But iron deficient anaemia remains the commonest of the anaemias, and fortunately it is the easiest to treat.

A woman, during her reproductive life, is always potentially anaemic because the blood lost with each period not only represents the blood lost from the body, but also a loss of iron and therefore her intake of iron has to be adequate to make good this loss.

With a man, there is usually no loss of iron from the body except where he also may be losing blood, such as with bleeding haemorrhoids or a peptic ulcer which is slowly bleeding.

Iron is a fairly common constituent of many foods and it is rare for an inadequacy of intake to occur except where there may be poor absorption, or illness, leading to a reduced intake of food, poverty or the development of certain food fads.

All these factors may lead to a deficient intake.

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Comments (0) May 15 2009

Endometriosis affected regularly menstruating women before Homo sapiens discovered how to control tire or chip a block of stone into a working wheel. Though we have no way of knowing how earliest woman coped with menstrually related distress. We might guess that she believed the cause was cosmologies and out of her control. The early Egyptians, who created one of the most advanced cultures four and five thousand years ago, were diligent recorders of history, astronomy, and science. It was they who for the first time made reference to a “painful disorder of her menstruation,” duly noted on the Papyrus Ebers from the year 1600 B.C.

We are without further medical identification of the disorder until 1696, when the French surgeon Saviard noted the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus. Then in 1835 another French doctor, Jean Cruveilhier, described uterine cysts. Twenty-five years later. Dr. K. von Rokitansky, a German doctor, published the first paper on the disease, referring to it as an “adenomyoma,” now called adenomyosis, or endometriosis confined entirely to the muscle wall of the uterus. At the turn of the century, two American doctors further described degrees of the disease, but it was not until 1921 that Dr. Sampson, as noted earlier, recorded his theory of how endometrial tissue implants on internal organs.

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Comments (0) May 08 2009