Blog about healthy lifestyle http://mypharmablog.net Blog is helpful for those, who want to know about herbal supplements. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:17:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 HIV INFECTION IN CHILDREN http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/hiv-infection-in-children/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/hiv-infection-in-children/#comments Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:26:18 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=181
How is HIV infection in children diagnosed?
HIV infection is difficult to diagnose in children. This is mainly because of two reasons. One, infected babies do not have any symptoms in the first few months and two, they have antibodies to HIV acquired from the mothers for up to eighteen months after birth. The tests to detect HIV antibodies cannot differentiate between antibodies passed on by the mother to the baby and those due to infection in the babies. Newer tests such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can detect small quantities of HIV virus in the infant’s blood. Blood culture from a sample of the infant’s blood can also be used to detect the presence of HIV. These two tests can detect about ninety per cent of infections in infants by two months of age and up to ninety-five per cent infection by three months of age.
What are the symptoms of children with HIV infection?
Many children with HIV infection do not gain the desired weight. They also tend to reach their milestones at a later stage as compared to uninfected children. As the disease progresses, the infected children can develop neurological problems such as difficulty in walking, confusion, lack of concentration, etc.
Just like adults, children infected with HIV are also at higher risk of getting opportunistic infections. Chronic diarrhoea and serious bacterial infections are more common among children with HIV infection than infected adults. These bacterial infections can cause fever, seizures, pneumonia, diarrhoea, dehydration and recurrent cold and cough. Most of these infections are serious enough to require hospital admission. Children with HIV infection also have severe candidiasis, a yeast infection. This infection can affect the mouth and throat and result in difficulty in swallowing. Toxoplasmosis is less common in children with HIV as compared to adults with the infection.
Pneumocystis carinii is one of the common causes of death in children with HIV infection. Cytomegalovirus infection is also more severe in children infected with HIV.
What is the progress of HIV infection in children?
About twenty per cent children with HIV infection develop serious disease in the first year of life. Majority of these children die by the age of four years. The remaining eighty per cent children have slower progress of HIV infection. These children may not develop serious symptoms until the age of six to seven years.
Factors that influence progress of HIV infection in children include levels of Vitamin A in the mothers during pregnancy, number of CD4 cells in the mothers during pregnancy and the number of HIV and CD4 cells in the baby during the first six months of life. It is believed that early treatment of babies with HIV infection can decrease the progression of the infection.
A large number of the medicines used to control HIV infection in adults are also recommended for infected children but in lesser doses. Several studies are underway to determine the most effective regimen to treat HIV infections in children with minimum side-effects.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/hiv-infection-in-children/feed/ 0 THE CARBOHYDRATE ADDICT’S DIET PLAN http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/the-carbohydrate-addicts-diet-plan/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/the-carbohydrate-addicts-diet-plan/#comments Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:01:07 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=178
The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet is a dynamic eating plan that will allow you to eat Low-Carbohydrate Meals and daily Reward Meals in combinations that will help you to greatly reduce your hunger for carbohydrates while you lose weight and permanently maintain the weight that you desire.
Each week, you will follow an eating plan that is based on (1) the amount of weight you lost that week and (2) the amount of weight you want to lose in the coming week.
Most diets are one-size-fits-all plans that do not take you, as an individual, into account. Just as no two people can be expected to respond in exactly the same way to a single medical treatment, no two people can be expected to respond in the same way to a single eating plan. One person may lose weight, another may not. You’ve seen it yourself. You starve yourself all week to find that you’ve put on half a pound, while your spouse or a friend eats twice as much and gets away with it.
Different people respond differently to different diets. Even the same person may lose at different rates at different times. The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet takes into account many factors that may influence your body’s response to dieting, factors like your age, gender, metabolic rate, and activity level.
Just as a medication or treatment needs to be adjusted to fit your particular system, each week the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet will help you to choose the correct diet plan that will help you to reduce your hunger and successfully meet your weight-loss goals.
All five plans (Entry Plan and Plans A, B, C, and D) consist of combinations of Low-Carbohydrate and Reward Meals. Each plan will have a different effect on you and on your weight loss.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/the-carbohydrate-addicts-diet-plan/feed/ 0 NEW TREATMENTS FOR BREAST CANCER http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/new-treatments-for-breast-cancer/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/new-treatments-for-breast-cancer/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:41:58 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=175
Despite the controversies swirling around breast cancer treatment, there’s an exciting outlook as the NCI’s Dr. Broder sees it. Researchers are testing new drugs given in new ways.
Dr. Larry Norton, director of breast medical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, has tried giving a one-two punch to breast cancer growths.
“Conventionally we have been giving patients all the drugs at once,” Dr. Norton explains. “Now we give one or two drugs at one time, wait a couple of weeks, and then give another drug – in high doses. These women have fewer relapses than would be expected in patients with conventional treatment. Now there’s a big trial starting, to see if what we saw on a small scale will work in a large trial,” adds Norton. “I think it will.” That could prolong many lives.
Taxol, a drug derived from the bark of the yew tree, is one of the most powerful cancer destroyers known and is being used against advanced breast cancer. The results are promising. However, taxol is in short supply, and environmentalists have been concerned that demand would lead to the loss of entire yew forests. Scientists are working to produce the substance in the lab.
A controversial new treatment for advanced cancer patients is chemotherapy in very high doses, followed by removing the patient’s bone marrow, treating it with drugs to kill cancer cells and transplanting it back into the patient. The treatment is expensive, costing up to 150,000 dollars. The research continues. The effectiveness of this treatment is unknown.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/04/new-treatments-for-breast-cancer/feed/ 0 REMEMBER . . . NOT EVERYBODY’S A CARBOHYDRATE ADDICT http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/remember-not-everybodys-a-carbohydrate-addict/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/remember-not-everybodys-a-carbohydrate-addict/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:18:51 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=173 Not everyone who is addicted to carbohydrates is overweight, and not everyone who is overweight is a carbohydrate addict. If the Carbohydrate Addict’s Test reveals that you are a carbohydrate addict and you are overweight, however, then the chances are better than eight in ten that the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet can help you to lose weight and keep it off.
Please note, as well, that there is no direct relationship between overweight and test scores. The Carbohydrate Addiction Test measures only an exaggerated hunger response created by what appears to be an imbalance in the carbohydrate-insulin-serotonin connection.
We developed the Carbohydrate Addict’s Test because we needed to identify candidates for whom the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet was appropriate. We soon found that the test also helped the carbohydrate addict to recognize more of the signs and symptoms of addiction.
Now, it’s time to learn how the disorder called carbohydrate addiction influences your feelings and your behavior and how the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet helps correct the physical causes of the addiction itself.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/remember-not-everybodys-a-carbohydrate-addict/feed/ 0 REDUCING YOUR RISK OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE: EATING FOR BETTER HEALTH – BASIC EATING GUIDELINES – CHOOSING AND COOKING LEAN RED MEATS http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/reducing-your-risk-of-coronary-artery-disease-eating-for-better-health-%e2%80%93-basic-eating-guidelines-choosing-and-cooking-lean-red-meats/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/reducing-your-risk-of-coronary-artery-disease-eating-for-better-health-%e2%80%93-basic-eating-guidelines-choosing-and-cooking-lean-red-meats/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:17:56 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=171 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) meat grades tell you about the amount of fat in beef: USDA Prime beef has the highest proportion of fat, USDA Choice beef has less fat than Prime, and USDA Select grade has an even lower amount. Even if you closely trim all the fat off the edges of a piece of meat, interspersed particles of fat in the meal (called marbling) contribute to the fat content. The amount of marbling is one factor for determining the grade of beef. For example, Prime top round steak has about 9 grams of fat in a 3-ounce serving, Choice grade has about 6 grams, and Select grade has about 5 grams. The amount of cholesterol is almost the same in all three grades, because cholesterol is found in the muscle portion of the meat.
Leaner grades of meat may be less expensive, but they are often less tender. Tenderize lean cuts of meat by cooking them slowly in liquid or marinating them before cooking in marinades that contain herbs blended with vinegar, juce (such as lemon, tomato, lime), or wine. Pounding, grinding, and slicing across the grain can also help tenderize meats.
Use oven temperatures of 350° or lower to allow some of the fat inside the meat to melt so it can be drained away. Higher temperatures may seal the fat into the meat.
If you have been frying meats in oil or shortening, try using a nonstick pan and nonstick cooking spray to reduce the amount of fat. Better yet, use the broiler instead of a frying pan and oil to brown meat.
Remove fat from stews, soups, and broth by chilling them and peeling the hardened fat from the top. If you do not have time to chill liquids that contain fat, wrap ice cubes in a paper towel and quickly skim the cubes across the top of the liquid. The fat will stick to the cold surface. You can also use a baster to remove the fat.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/reducing-your-risk-of-coronary-artery-disease-eating-for-better-health-%e2%80%93-basic-eating-guidelines-choosing-and-cooking-lean-red-meats/feed/ 0 CAN EXERCISE INDUCE ASTHMA: PREVENTING & REDUCING EIA http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/can-exercise-induce-asthma-preventing-reducing-eia/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/can-exercise-induce-asthma-preventing-reducing-eia/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:17:15 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=169 Several measures can prevent or reduce EIA. Warm-up periods before exercise reduce the severity of EIA. This is demonstrated by the fact that a second exercise within sixty minutes of the first of ten produces less bronchoconstriction. Individuals engaged in intensive competition, such as the Olympics, are encouraged to do light exercises every thirty to forty minutes when there are long intervals between competitions. A warm-down period may also decrease the degree of delayed exercise-induced asthma. Avoiding too quick a return to a warm environment after exercising in the cold, will also lower the degree of EIA.
Another way to reduce EIA in cold weather is to warm and humidify the inside air by wearing a mask or scarf, and breathing through the nose.
The type of exercise is also important. For example, the heat and water loss factor makes swimming less asthmogenic than running. Despite the asthmogenic potential of free running activities, most children can participate when appropriately premedicated. Some children with moderate to severe asthma who wish to participate in athletics may be better off playing sports, with more time-out or rest periods, as for example, hockey or cricket.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/03/can-exercise-induce-asthma-preventing-reducing-eia/feed/ 0 FOODS FOR ARTHRITIS: OIL FROM BUTTER http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/foods-for-arthritis-oil-from-butter/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/foods-for-arthritis-oil-from-butter/#comments Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:16:33 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=167 Butter is a reasonably good weapon in the fight against arthritis. But do not overdo it. Especially if you have a tendency to be overweight. Butter does not contain enough vitamin D to justify having a person indulge in it excessively.
Like milk, butter contains the oil soluble vitamins, A and D. The A vitamin is good for the linings of the eyes and skin, while the D vitamin benefits the linings of the joints. I repeat, if there is a tendency to put on weight, cut butter to a minimum. Milk is far more important.
The best way for a victim of arthritis to use butter is on whole-wheat toast. Or on hot cereals or hot vegetables. If you place butter on cereal, you will nullify and cancel the essential vitamins if you add sugar, honey or molasses. Sugar cheapens oils. When butter is used on wheat cakes, why kill off the good effect of the butter by adding syrup!
Porridge would be an excellent choice of cereal on which to use butter. For sweetening, however, if you must have it, use saccharin or a sugar substitute. Not raw, white, brown or any other kind of true sugar.
Salt, we have found, should be kept low in the diet. But one eats so little butter, it makes no appreciable difference whether one selects the fresh or salted variety.
In choosing between butter and margarine, take butter in every instance. Because of its iodine value. Butter does not ravage the body for iodine, whereas margarine has this tendency. Butter, according to our tests and experiments, gives the skin lustre. While in the case of margarine, the skin may become greasy with the wrong oils. Margarine may have the same food values, but butter does not usurp iodised oil.
Today, many women try to save pennies by using vegetable oils for cooking and baking. In families where there are arthritics, this habit should be minimised.
Arthritics definitely should limit themselves when eating biscuits, cakes, pies and starches made with any kind of oil. Sweets defeat our purpose. Sugar cheapens the value of the best lubricating oils.
Butter makes a baked potato taste delicious, but eat the mineral-laden jacket, too. Although potato is starchy—it is of “superior” starch-quality. Cake, pie, sweets and refined foods are of the “cheap-inferior” starch-quality and “ravage” tissues of the body.
Potatoes, whole-grain breads and cereals are approved. If you tend to obesity, keep even approved starch-like foods to a minimum.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/foods-for-arthritis-oil-from-butter/feed/ 0 COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR BDD: COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING (COGNITIVE THERAPY) – THE BASIC STEPS TO DO EXPOSURE, DON’T USE CAMOUFLAGE DURING EXPOSURE http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-bdd-cognitive-restructuring-cognitive-therapy-the-basic-steps-to-do-exposure-dont-use-camouflage-during-exposure/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-bdd-cognitive-restructuring-cognitive-therapy-the-basic-steps-to-do-exposure-dont-use-camouflage-during-exposure/#comments Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:15:52 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=165 The rationale for this is the same as for not doing rituals. If, for example, you cover your mouth, turn away from people, or use heavy makeup, you won’t learn to tolerate situations without doing these things. So it’s important to stop using camouflage in the exposure situations, unless it allows you to enter the avoided situation early in treatment. Stop wearing covering makeup, a hat or wig, bulky clothing, and sunglasses. Shave off your mustache or beard if it’s hiding a defect, and avoid covering the defect with your hands or hair. If it’s too hard to stop using camouflage right away, you can stop using it more gradually. For example, you could inch your hat back a little more each time you go out, gradually exposing more of your hairline. Or you could use a little less makeup each time you go to class.
It’s also important to refrain from doing other things that might minimize the anxiety yeu experience during the exposure. Don’t engage in avoidance behaviors. For example, when you’re with other people, it’s better not to hide in the dark part of the room. It’s important to experience some anxiety during the exposure, which should gradually diminish with time.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-bdd-cognitive-restructuring-cognitive-therapy-the-basic-steps-to-do-exposure-dont-use-camouflage-during-exposure/feed/ 0 ALLERGIES, CANDIDA AND ASTHMA: ANTI-FUNGALS http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/allergies-candida-and-asthma-anti-fungals/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/allergies-candida-and-asthma-anti-fungals/#comments Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:15:11 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=163 Nystatin
The medication most commonly used to treat candida-related problems is nystatin, which is not absorbed into the body at all but kills Candida on contact on the gut walls. Millions of women have used it, over some decades, with no serious side effects. It can also be taken during pregnancy and does not interact with other medications or vitamins.
Ketoconazole
Sometimes people are told to use this drug, in the form of Nizoral, straight away, but please be aware that, while sometimes useful and even necessary, this anti-fungal is not without some danger of side effects.
The MIMS manual, which all doctors and trained nutritionists use to look up possible side effects, contraindications and interactions with other drugs as well as foods, vitamins or minerals, has this to say about Nizoral.
SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS
Liver disorders which may not be symptomatic but which may be potentially serious and possibly fatal may occur, hence liver function tests before and during treatment are desirable. If tests or other signs and symptoms suggest hepatocellular dysfunction, discontinue. Patients should be instructed to report any signs and symptoms suggestive of liver dysfunction.
Along with many other drugs, especially those used for the treatment of ulcers, ketoconazole has a disturbing effect on the liver detox system (cytochrome P 450) and as such may slow down the body’s ability to process other drugs and any toxic chemicals. Before using it, I recommend that a liver detoxification profile test should be carried out.
In addition this drug cannot be taken during pregnancy and a woman may well be pregnant for several weeks without knowing it. Nizoral, in other words, is the kind of medication that should be used only as a last resort. One such last resort is when Candida is causing chronic cystitis. If no organism can be cultured from the urine, doctors may be tempted to prescribe antibiotics. If there are foci of Candida albicans in the kidneys or urinary tract, the antibiotics will destroy any competing bacteria and Candida will live on happily ever after. So will the cystitis! Nystatin, anti-fungals and other preparations are unable to reach the kidneys in a form that will be effective. Ketoconazole will. I have seen this particular anti-fungal medication cure cases of cystitis that had been going on for years.
Fluconazole
This drug is similar to ketoconazole but more specific, more efficient and far less dangerous to the liver. It is the anti-fungal of choice when nystatin and other measures have not succeeded or when the infection is very serious. Pre-treatment and after-treatment tests for liver function appear quite normal, suggesting it does not affect the liver as much as ketoconazole does. In spite of this, I only use it as a last resort and, whenever possible, perform a liver detox profile test (cytochrome P-450) beforehand.
Other Anti-fungal Agents
Pau d’arco tea, also known as Ipe Roxo; caprilic acid; tea-tree oil; essential fatty acids; and special odourless garlic potions have also been used with some success, as have homeopathic remedies. Their usefulness depends greatly on the degree to which the infection has spread. Nystatin, to be really useful, has to be taken in large quantities, up to three teaspoons of the powder daily for many weeks, and the male partner is required to take a short course as well. During this period sexual contacts should be avoided. The pure nystatin powder is preferable, because it does not contain as many fillers that may cause allergic reactions. Natural resistance can be increased with proper supplements, especially vitamins A, E and C, pantothenic acid and zinc, and it is essential to replace the friendly bacteria (acidophilus/probiotics). Acidophilus is the same bacteria that turns milk into yoghurt and if you take some when undergoing antibiotic treatment the yeast Candida does not get a chance to crowd out the friendly bacilli. Freeze-dried forms are available and they work best. Ideally one should take five to ten tablets (or one teaspoon of powder) on awakening, before any food, for a couple of days after the nystatin treatment. A maintenance dose of one-third of a teaspoon a day after that helps to prevent recurrences.
Adaptogenic tonics, such as Siberian ginseng, and the elimination of other allergic foods also help to increase natural resistance.
Starving out the yeast albicans means simply no yeast foods and no sugars or else, when large starch molecules are not broken down properly, they feed the yeast fungus. Therefore an important part of the treatment should be the establishment of successful digestion.
Special digestive enzymes can help here. At this point one should undergo a full allergy screening to find out if there are any foods to which one has become hypersensitive. As we have seen, some of the old tests for food allergies, such as the cytotoxic, are notoriously inaccurate as well as expensive. Others, like the scratch test, are usually invalid for foods. The new techniques of capillography and avoidance followed by challenge are the best ways to assess food allergies when properly conducted by an experienced therapist.
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]]> http://mypharmablog.net/2011/02/allergies-candida-and-asthma-anti-fungals/feed/ 0 DIET THERAPY FOR FOOD ALLERGIES: PATIENT COUNSELING http://mypharmablog.net/2011/01/diet-therapy-for-food-allergies-patient-counseling/ http://mypharmablog.net/2011/01/diet-therapy-for-food-allergies-patient-counseling/#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:14:30 +0000 admin http://mypharmablog.net/?p=161 Many foods contain minute amounts of substances to which some people react. The patient must have detailed lists of foods to use, and foods to avoid.
The meal pattern should fit in with the family’s pattern, and must be one that assures nutritional adequacy. An allergy to milk means that another source of calcium, usually a calcium supplement, must be provided. Soybean substitutes for milk are sometimes fortified with calcium. Allergy to citrus fruits means that other foods that are good sources of ascorbid acid must be emphasized. When there is allergy to wheat it is sometimes necessary to emphasize adequate caloric intake.
A number of recipe booklets are available for patients who are allergic to milk, eggs, or wheat. Rye, corn, rice, soy, or potato flours may be used instead of wheat flour; however, they do not contain the gluten in wheat and the textures of products made with these flours are quite different from those to which people are accustomed.
Reading labels on food packages and cans, and interpreting the information is absolutely essential. The foods that contain milk have been listed for the lactose-free diet.
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