Archive for ◊ 2010 ◊

How Good Sex Takes Years Off
Author:
• Saturday, November 20th, 2010

When you feel great, both physically and emotionally, it does something to you on the outside. It changes you such that your “load” looks lighter, you are happier both inside and out, and this effect takes years off of your face. The next time you are out people watching, or at the mall, or running errands, pay attention to what people look like. Look at the people that just seem happier. They look younger, don’t they? When all areas of your life are going well, your overall outlook both physically and emotionally is exuded to the world and you appear younger in person. And who doesn’t want to be around someone that loves life?

The unfortunate thing is that loving life becomes more difficult as we age. We live in a stressful society with daily life taking its toll on us both physically and emotionally. With men being the ones in society that bear most of today’s burdens, they also bear most of the physical and emotional tolls of stress.

For many men, this first appears in their sex lives because sex and romance deal with both the physical and emotional aspects of life. Unfortunately, as men age, their bodies change and their abilities to even have sex begin to decline as well. This creates a catch twenty so to speak, because an unhealthy sex life can add stress to your overall quality of life as well. But this doesn’t mean you should give up hope.

When it comes to sex, you are dealing with both of those needs – emotional and physical. And you know how frustrating life seems when your sex life is in the toilet. When it’s great, you don’t even worry about it, and this shows up on your face. You may not be able to combat the daily stresses of life, but you can improve one area of your life that will lead to greater fulfillment to help you overcome the stress and hassles of the everyday.

When it comes right down to it, stress ages us almost faster than any other physical factor. If you add in elements like the sun, and lifestyle habits such as smoking or drinking, you are adding elements that are going to age you even faster. But when you are feeling great, and are experiencing an overall content with many areas of your life, stress is alleviated and the aging effects of stress are minimized. And there is no better way to take some years off of your face by lightening your load a little bit. You may have a busy life, but making sure you pursue an active and healthy sexual lifestyle is equally important to your health, and to how you look.

If you are concerned about the effects of aging on your sex life and on your overall demeanor, talk to your doctor about rebooting things a little bit with Viagra. Viagra has known to nip this problem right in the bud, it combats not only the biological effects of aging on your sex life, but also helps you perform so that you can get enjoyment out of life again. If you are struggling through the daily hassles of life, struggle no more and add a little Viagra to the mix. The sooner you start feeling good again, the sooner people will start asking just what is it that you are doing different that makes you look so good.

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The causes of bacterial infections
Author:
• Friday, November 19th, 2010

Many people are erroneous in their assumption that all types of bacteria are harmful and dangerous. In fact the body normally contains several types of bacteria that can be found anywhere from skin and mouth to the stomach. The majority of these bacteria aren’t harmful but on the contrary – they aid the proper functioning of specific organs and systems. However, when dealing with bacteria, a delicate balance is always required. And if it gets affected somehow, the activity of bacteria can cause inflammation and infection. When a bacterial infection affects the body, your immune system is activated in order to eliminate the infection. In fact, the symptoms you experience with such infections are actually the response of your body towards them and not their actual activity. And when you are taking a treatment, you are actually aiding your immune system with additional potential to fight against these harmful forms of bacterial activity. A large part of bacterial infection can passed unnoticed by the person experiencing them. It’s only when the body puts a heavy response we start experiencing the unpleasant symptoms usually associated with bacterial infections. In most cases these symptoms will reduce your activity and make you drowsy. Most forms of skin bacterial infections can be easily observed by the affected areas on the surface of the skin. Respiratory tract infections are identified by the discomfort and unpleasant symptoms in the nose or throat. Bacterial infections of the digestive system are manifested trough symptoms such as abdominal discomfort, pain, nausea, vomiting, dehydration and sometimes even ulcers. Bacterial infections are in large part due to the unfavorable environmental conditions or low defense capabilities of the body. Moisture and heat are very beneficial for bacterial development and activity, and when a person enters such an environment the risk of getting a bacterial disease rises quickly. The infection may enter your body in a variety of ways, and depending on the type of the bacteria and how it enters your body the infection will develop in different parts of the organism. For example, you can get an infection through the water you drink and in case your immune system doesn’t manage to eliminate it from start, the infection will develop in the digestive system, causing unpleasant symptoms as the bacteria multiply and increase their activity. The measures you have to take during a bacterial activity depend on the severity of the symptoms and the type of bacteria that have affected your body. If the symptoms are mild you can even use home remedies that vary from country to country. More serious infections are treated with wide-range antibiotics like Doxycycline, which can address various types of infections in different parts of the body. However, if dealing with severe forms of bacterial infections that lead to such serious reactions like sepsis, taking Doxycycline will definitely be insufficient and you will require immediate hospital treatment. So as soon as you start experiencing any symptoms of a bacterial infection it’s best to go to your doctor and consult on the type of treatment you will get. Remember that the sooner you do this, the easier it will be to eliminate the infection and prevent serious symptoms from developing.

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It’s all about the label
Author:
• Monday, November 15th, 2010

Now here’s an exciting question for you. When you receive your order through the mail from an online pharmacy, do you read all the consumer information that comes with it? It’s often on the label or in small print in a neatly folded format that hides most of the text unless you open it out. Why do we ask? Well, there’s a big debate going on about how much you should be told about the drugs before you take them. As it is, the system is mostly passive. The information is there, but it’s left to you to read through it all. How many of you have started reading some of this stuff only to find your eyes glazing over? We’ve all been there. There’s just so much of it and not exactly written in a way we can all take in easily. For example, when you see all those side effects, do you really think about what they are and how big a risk you’re taking? It’s the same on television where you have these ads for drugs. They have about ten seconds of message telling you how great the drugs are, and then thirty seconds listing all the side effects. Like we all take notes during that half minute. Well, let’s get to the beef. There’s been yet another appeal case dealing with our favorite acne drug. This one’s about a girl who started treatment at 13 and then took the drug for two years. Far too long, but we can pass over that. She began to show blood in her stools. Later she had to have a part of her colon removed. This is a very rare side effect and, on the label, there’s a warning of possibly severe problems including inflammatory bowel disease. So, the $10 million question is whether mentioning a problem along with many others is adequate warning. The jury felt there was an information overload and hardly surprising it took a young girl so long to understand she was supposed to stop taking the drug if she had “stomach” problems. One view is we get snowed under with information and give up. There’s actually research evidence testing how much we can remember after reading the consumer information supplied with the drugs we take. Most of those tested did very badly. When any drug like Accutane can be dangerous, the question is who is responsible for communicating the warnings. The manufacturers say they can’t do any more. They openly publish all the relevant information. What they publish is vetted by the FDA. If people don’t read it, that’s not the manufacturer’s problem. At some point, people have to take responsibility for their own safety. This would be particularly the case if they buy Accutane online and avoid talking with a doctor. In the good old days when we all had to get a prescription, the doctor could force us to listen. At present, the young lady’s case claiming $10 million goes on. She was very unlucky to be injured, but it was an avoidable injury if only she had read and understood the label.

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Important Information about Treating Back Pain
Author:
• Sunday, November 14th, 2010

Back pain, known by the technical term dorsalgia, is experienced by just about everyone at one time or another. While some people only suffer when moving house or doing heavy lifting, for others it can be a chronic problem. It can make day to day life feel unbearable.

Fortunately, there are a number of treatments, including physical therapy, chiropractic care, homeopathy, and medicinal painkillers. While physical therapy attempts to end the pain for good, most medicinal options should only be used as temporary relief, not as a daily regimen.

It must be noted that some back pain could be a symptom of some serious, potentially fatal conditions. Contact a doctor immediately if you also experience:

  • Weakness in the legs
  • Incontinence of the bowels and/or bladder
  • Trauma, such as falling or impact (anything that could have caused a bone to break)
  • Osteoporosis
  • Multiple myeloma
  • Known cancer
  • Fever
  • Weight loss

When it comes to treatment, it is crucial to identify exactly what is wrong with your back. It could be a muscle, tendon, joint, or nerve problem. It can be located in one or more of the regions of the back and spine: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, or pelvic. These bits of information and the type of pain will help a doctor isolate the problem and rule out more serious causes (e.g. Cancer, Infection).

Sources of Back Pain

Most back pain can be attributed to only a few sources, but there are dozens. Starting with the most common:

  • Stress
  • Problems with synovial joints in the spine (Also called facet or zygapophysial joints)
  • Trauma
  • Spinal disc herniation
  • Degenerative disc disease
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Spinal Stenosis
  • Cancer
  • Infection
  • Fractures
  • Inflammatory disease

Treatment for these conditions ranges from rest, heating, and stretching to surgery, therapy, and antibiotics, among other drugs. It’s important you and a doctor discover which is causing your back pain. It can be scary thinking it might be a disease, but many of these are very treatable and you may never have to suffer through back pain again.

Knowing When It’s Time

How do you know when it’s time to move on to prescription painkillers and/or muscle relaxants? Your back will tell you. When your doctor has ruled out the large number of serious yet treatable conditions, when you have tried stretching and heating and over-the-counter stuff, when you can’t go to work, exercise, or even get around the house, that’s when it’s time to use prescription drugs to regain your life.

If the pain is severe enough, a doctor may choose to put you on opioid drugs. These are your codeines, morphines, etc. However, these drugs may impair your daily function and are highly addictive. They’re not a long-term solution.

Another option to consider: muscle relaxants. Muscle relaxants act on skeletal muscle tissue to affect muscle tone and relieve spasms, hyperreflexia (twitching), and pain. Among these, Carisoprodol reigns king. Carisoprodol is highly effective at relieving back pain and often comes mixed with the over-the-coutner painkiller acetaminophen. You get to worry less about addiction with Carisoprodol, and worry more about how you will enjoy your mobility.

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What happens as you grow old?
Author:
• Thursday, November 11th, 2010

In popular culture, it’s the women who are supposed to be the most obsessed by the way they look. Such is the pressure for social acceptance, many spend amazingly large sums of money on cosmetic surgery and other treatments to keep the relevant parts of the body trim and all wrinkles away from the face. Yet, on the quiet, men can have equal concerns albeit most do not spend the same amount of treatments. For some reason, men seem to forget they also go through a menopause where their hormone levels change. This causes that unfortunate swelling of the belly, loss of muscle tone and mass, a slowdown in the sex drive and, sometimes, depression. The skin loses some of its elasticity. Fine lines and wrinkles appear. Eyesight and hearing tend to decline.

Some men manage to go through the danger years between 40 and 70 with only the smallest changes. Others find their lives more seriously disrupted. For example, because the hormone level affects the prostate, some men need to urinate more often. Age also brings an increased risk of heart disease, a loss of up to 15% in bone density and changes to the autoimmune system. Unlike women who have been offered hormone replacement therapy for many years, doctors have had little interest in devising a similar treatment for men. Rather they have picked individual symptoms and devised specific remedies to deal with them, e.g. to treat heart disease, erectile dysfunction, and so on. Put into context, however, testosterone levels fall both because of aging and because of weight gain. So, men who are overweight are more likely to show age-related changes earlier. Nevertheless, doctors don’t consider it appropriate to boost the general level of testosterone, so certain clear risks emerge. As bones weaken, the risk of fractures from falls rises, the libido becomes less urgent and some men experience erectile dysfunction, artherosclerosis rises the blood pressure, and mood changes occur with many growing more depressed.

Outside the purely medical problems comes a greying of the hair, then hair loss on the way to inevitable thin cover or actual baldness. This can be very damaging to self-confidence. Hair dyes have been around from the time people started noticing how some plants could change the color of “things”, but it’s only recently that a real remedy for hair loss has emerged. Of course, there have been fake medicines for centuries. Now Propecia brings the promise of a stop to hair loss for male pattern baldness. But, as with everything, there’s a slight catch. To get the best results, you should start taking this drug as soon as the diagnosis is confirmed. If you delay and age continues to thin your hair, the chance of regrowth disappears and the hair loss may not completely stop. The medical evidence from clinical trials is clear. Propecia is most effective when taken by younger men as early in the hair-loss cycle as possible. The other problem, of course, is that, once you start, you should be prepared to continue for many years. Hair loss will resume when you stop.

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Breast Cancer – Second Most Prevalent among Indonesian Women
Author:
• Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Breast cancer is the second most prevalent disease among Indonesian women after cervical cancer, a minister said. “Breast cancer ranks second after cervical cancer among the diseases suffered by  Indonesian women,” said Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amelia Gumilar here Monday  after attending a seminar on Breast Cancer Management Update.

Linda said the seminar was held to increase  women’s  knowledge and awareness about breast cancer and how to detect it at an early stage.  She said to protect more women from breast cancer her ministry would issue a policy whereby regional hospitals would be provided with mammography instruments.

The minister noted that many hospitals in the country lacked the equipment to detect breast cancer in women at an early stage and therefore, she would require hospitals in the country to include mammography tests in their general medical check-up packages. Linda called on all Indonesian women to remain  aware of the risk of breast cancer and the need to detect it as early as possible, if they had it.

“Breast cancer patients can still be cured, if the disease is detected  in its early stage,” she said.

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Want to Sleep? End Insomnia Permanently!
Author:
• Monday, November 08th, 2010

There are plenty of remedies out there for insomnia. However, we have to recognize that the inability to sleep is a chronic condition, not a temporary state. While it is important to get some rest every night, you can’t stay on sleep medicine forever. It just isn’t good long-term. What you have to do is treat the underlying condition.

While it’s easy to say we need to change our habits or exercise or reduce our stress, it’s much harder to do in practice. So how do you go about ending insomnia for good?

Below you can find solutions to some of the most common causes of insomnia and learn how to get a little extra help, easily and cheaply.

Stress – While it’s not easy to eliminate stressors from our life, we can learn how to cope with stress better. There are various techniques, such as the infamous counting method, that help us manage. Having someone to vent to is probably the best method, but some of the more far out things like Laughter Therapy are proving to be even more effective.

Anxiety – Normal life anxiety, such as dreading a test or meeting the next day, can stop you from getting to sleep, but regular occurrence could really be an anxiety disorder, which medicine and psychology can treat!

Depression – Chemical imbalances in the brain can make it so you can’t sleep or oversleep. Clinical depression is best treated by a psychiatrist, but eating right and exercising for 20 minutes every day has proved to be as effective as drugs.

Side Effects of Medication – A lot of medications, including some antidepressants, allergy, and blood pressure medications, interfere with sleep. Over-the-counter drugs are not excluded. Many painkillers use caffeine as an ingredient.

In some cases, a doctor might supplement your medication with something to help you sleep. Or, you can see if it would be possible to take the medicine earlier in the day so that it won’t affect you at night.

Caffeine and Nicotine – Smoking or drinking tea, soda, and coffee stimulates the body so that it is harder to fall asleep and really difficult to stay asleep. You also won’t be able to reach the deep stages of sleep that you need to feel rested. Try to avoid these stimulants for 6 hours before bedtime.

Alcohol – Drinking alcohol might make you fall asleep initially, but once you are there your quality of sleep is just ruined. Habitual use can develop into a very bad insomnia problem. Don’t use it for sleep.

Habits – Watching TV or looking at a computer screen before bed will keep you awake. Don’t eat late. And for the love of dogs maintain a regular sleep pattern. Hit the hay and wake up at the same time. Every day. No matter what. Oh, and exercise!

If you want to fix your insomnia, you can get some help from Ambien. Make your sleep regular by getting in bed every night, taking Ambien just before, and forcing yourself to stay awake starting the same time every day. You need to fix your circadian rhythms; Ambien can make it easier.

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Internet Addicts Face Double The Depression Risk
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• Saturday, November 06th, 2010

Teenagers who are addicted to the internet are more than twice as likely to suffer depression, scientists claim. For the first time, a study claims that this ‘pathological’ web use causes mental health problems.

Previous research has been unable to work out whether spending hours online was a trigger for depression or merely an activity that depressed people turn to. The study looked at 1,000 teenagers in China with an average age of 15, who were assessed for depression and anxiety.

They also completed a questionnaire to identify if their internet use was pathological, which is seen as a sign of addiction and defined as uncontrolled or unreasonable.

It included questions such as: ‘How often do you feel depressed, moody or nervous when you are offline, which goes away once you are back online?’

Six per cent, or 62 teenagers, were classified as having moderately pathological internet use, while 0.2 per cent, or two teenagers, were deemed severely at risk. Nine months later they were re-assessed for depression and anxiety. More than eight per cent, or 87 teenagers, had developed depression.

The risk for those addicted to the internet was about two-and-a-half times higher than for those who were not, the researchers said.

There was no link between excessive use and anxiety, according to the study published online in the medical journal Archives of Paediatrics And Adolescent Medicine.

It was carried out by Dr Lawrence Lam, of the School of Medicine in Sydney, Australia, and Zi-Wen Peng, of the Ministry of Education and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.

Dr Lam said: ‘This result suggests that young people who are initially free of mental health problems but use the internet pathologically could develop depression as a consequence.

‘Screening for at-risk individuals in the school setting could be considered an effective early prevention strategy.’

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Prednisone treats rheumatoid arthritis
Author:
• Friday, November 05th, 2010

It’s curious to look back in time and see how attitudes have changed. As the Boomers enter their golden years, they can look back on a revolutionary period. When they were young, everything was big and clunky. Now with electronic gizmos so small, most have trouble seeing how work them without their eyeglasses, and those touch screens and big fingers. Well, there’s a whole new way of torturing people for growing old. Sadly, old age also brings health problems, one of the more common being arthritis as the cartilage inside joints slowly breaks down. During the latter years of the nineteenth century, there were interesting drinks around like coca wine. Yes, people really did drink wine topped up with a little opium extract for medicinal purposes. Hence, the modern coca cola which keeps the name but is no longer “medicinal”. We all used to know aging aunts who took the occasional shot of Thunderbird or Wild Irish Rose as a tonic to keep them going. Today, even though we have put the spirit of Prohibition behind us, the market for tonic wines in the US has died away. It’s still going strong in Britain and the Commonwealth countries. But alcohol has lost its reputation as a healer. Except for the Mediterranean countries, of course, where they still promote red wine as good for the heart.

Well, that’s why we all love science. As if we needed an excuse to drink alcohol anyway. But having science on our side makes the excuse more respectable. In 2008, those Scandinavian folk who are all known and loved as sober people, published a major study with almost 3,000 participants. They discovered that people having up to four drinks a week reduced the risk of rheumatism by 20%. This year sees a new study published in Rheumatology. This had almost 2,000 participants. Roughly half were already diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The study showed those who drank alcohol had less inflammation and swelling around the joints. Those who did not drink were more likely to have pain and lose mobility. The research produces the slightly surprising result that those who abstain are four times more likely to develop arthritis than those who drink.

So that’s the good news. The bad news is that the drinkers were more likely to have stomach and liver problems. That’s understandable. The other issue is that those who drink cannot use the more powerful painkillers or the anti-inflammatory drugs like Prednisone. Indeed, this combination is more likely to make the damage to the stomach and liver more severe. This creates a major problem. If you are already using one of the NSAIDs, a stronger painkiller or Prednisone, you should not start to drink alcohol. But, if there’s a medical history of rheumatism in your family, you should consider following your long-lost aunt’s approach. A glass of wine every other day will help prevent rheumatism or slow down its approach. If the pain appears and Prednisone is indicated to relieve the inflammation, you will have to stop drinking. This may speed up the rheumatism but, once you start on medication, alcohol is out.

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Sexual Positions for Conceiving
Author:
• Tuesday, November 02nd, 2010

When it comes to conception there is a lot of discussion about successful positions for ‘making babies’. Unfortunately there is no widely-accepted ‘best position’ but here are some answers to common questions surrounding the act of conceiving.

Are some sexual positions better than others for conception?

Whilst there has been little research in this area, MRI imaging has been conducted which shows researchers exactly what is happening internally during sex.

Rest assured you don’t need to have the flexibility of a contortionist to achieve the best results! Logic prevails and suggests that the “missionary position” is most likely to be successful as it allows for deep penetration with the sperm being released at the opening of your womb.

Having said that, MRI studies have shown that entry from behind also allows for optimal positioning of the sperm at the back (posterior) section of the cervix, whereas missionary placed it at the front (anterior) position.

So in answer to your question, no there isn’t necessarily a best position for conception!

Should I lie down?

Some scientists say to avoid positions where the sperm has to defy gravity and swim ‘up’ – such as positions where the woman is sitting on top of the male or standing up. Although strong healthy sperm should swim, eliminating this obstacle may increase your chances.

Some people also suggest lying down after sex to assist the sperm in reaching their ‘target’. Once again, healthy sperm should have no problem reaching the womb within minutes but it can’t hurt to lie down!

How important is it to orgasm?

Whilst sperm can leak out prior to ejaculation, clearly it is important for the man to reach orgasm in the act of ‘baby-making’! Research however has recently shown that the female orgasm also plays an important role, as contractions associated with orgasm can carry the sperm further into the womb. This process however involves orgasming at a similar time.

If I want a boy or girl are some positions better than others?

While there are plenty of rumours and wives’ tales there doesn’t seem to be any conclusive evidence that positions affect gender. Timing and frequency however may play a more important role. Why not head to our gender swayers forum and discuss this with other Essential Baby members interested in influencing their gender of their next bub!

How often should I have sex?

Timing is paramount to conceiving, and more focus should be given to it than positioning. To increase your chances, ideally have sex one to two days before you expect ovulation to occur, and then again on the day of ovulation.

Charting your cycle will help confirm your ovulation date and you can also buy ovulation prediction kits to assist with this.

Sydney morning herald

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