Acupuncture

A nice video on Chinese Acupuncture and Chinese TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).

Positive mindset

A holistic medical treatment approach is required for a person to recover from illness. Medicine alone can only go as far as providing the necessary jumpstart to help the body initiate the healing process. A patient who is optimistic about recovery often takes shorter time to fully recover as compare to a person who is less optimistic. Cancer patients who don’t easily gives up and having positive mindset and optimistic of the treatment usually has higher chances of survival and recovery.

One good example is the placebo effects. If a person feels good about medicine they have to take, the more likely they are to be healed by said medication. This occurs even when the medicine is a sugar pill or a scientific formula used to cure or aid illnesses. Our mind and thoughts may impact our body response to disease.

Most of us do not realize or rather underestimate the power of mental and emotional healing has on our health and personal life. Having a positive mindset has tremendous bearing on the outcome in life. It important for us to adopt a positive attitude and discard any negative thoughts that may prevent us from getting what we want in life and this include the ability of our body to repair itself and restoring health.

Always remember to dwell on the happiness and positive side of life and surround yourself with positive thinking and a positive atmosphere. When we are cheerful and optimistic about outlook of life, when we adopt a positive mindset, our body is able to regulate and maintain positive energy balance. What is positive energy balance? Well stay tune for my next article on energy balance.

Low blood pressure

There are a lot of different effects that blood pressure can have on a body. Most think about hypertension otherwise known as high blood pressure. However having low blood pressure can cause problems as well. Hypotension can be serious and it should be taken care of immediately. Having low blood pressure can affect the bran and could as a result cause more problems that can not be fixed or even fatal.

The most known reason for having hypotension is having decreased blood volume that is known as hypovolemia. There are many reasons why this is a problem that can occur in this way. Most of them have to do with problem with the nervous system in the brain. There are other causes that will include some medicines that can have hypovolemia as a side effect. Because low blood pressure has these affects and is a result of problems with such an important part of the body, it makes hypotension even more serious than having high blood pressure.

One type of problem related to hypotension that should be considered is orthostatic hypotension. This is also known as postural hypotension and is one of the more common forms of low blood pressure. It can occur because of a change in the body’s position. An example would be standing up from a sitting or lying down position can briefly lower the blood flow in the body. Because of this, you can become dizzy, and can be noticed on a regular basis by many. Another more serious type of the syndrome can be brought on by medications of the physical and the psychiatric topic.

There is another form of hypotension that is less common than orthostatic hypotension. It is known as postprandial hypotension and will occur 30-75 minutes after you have eaten. Digestion of food can send a large dose of the blood to the digestive system and due to this the autonomic nervous system must compensate to increase the body’s heart rate and find make more blood pump. Orthostatic hypotension can affect the autonomic nervous system, making it even weaker than it already is. It is also a sign of a failing autonomic nervous system maybe because of age or something else completely.

Hypotension is just as severe as hypertension. Even though the two may sound the same, their affects on the body are very different. However they are both cause for concern and should be checked out immediately especially since having low blood pressure could affect the brain and this is the most important part of the body.

Help for anxiety disorder

Anxiety disorder can be very difficult to understand and treat. However, with a bit of help, you can truly overcome any type of anxiety disorder you may have. While it might be impossible for you to fully “cure” anxiety disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or phobias, you can learn how to deal with these medical conditions in order to live a fully normal and productive life. The key to living with anxiety disorders is finding help. There are three main types of help you should get, and luckily this help is readily available to everyone!

First, find help from medical professionals. A doctor will be able to diagnose your problem, suggest treatment options, and help you learn to be safe and happy. You may also work with a therapist to talk about your problems and learn behaviors that can help you through the day. Overall, this is the most important type of help you can get because an anxiety disorder can physically be dangerous. Only a medical professional can make sure you get the best care possible.

Another crucial kind of support can be found in the form of support groups. Hospitals, religious organizations, and community centers often sponsor support groups, which can be led by professionals are self-led. In both cases, this type of support system allows you to be in contact with others dealing with the same disorders, so you can see that you are not alone. Together, you can also help one another learn tips and tricks to dealing with anxiety. A good support group can really become a second family.

However, the third group is your actually family, as well as close friends. When you develop an anxiety disorder, it may be difficult for some people to help you through this rough period of your life. Your true friends will be there, though, to help you through the recovery process and to support your decisions. If you do not find this type of support within your group of friends, they are probably not the friends you should have. When you know someone with an anxiety disorder, your life may be more complicated, but sticking by his or her side can make all the difference when it comes to recovery.

Asking for help is a key step in dealing with anxiety disorder. If a disorder is ruining your life, you truly need to find people who can help you overcome the disease and live a happy and healthy life instead.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone Merry Christmas.
Enjoy and take time to spend quality time with your loved ones and take care

Vitamin D and life expectancy

Checkout the interesting acticle pertaining to Vitamin D on life expectancy. Vitamin D is free!, just go and get some healthy sunshine!

Aging and DHEA hormone

What causes aging?

The effect of aging is quite apparent in human, in particular our physical outlook. Hair loss, increased grey hair, weaken eyes resulting in difficulty in reading, muscle and bone loss and weakened immune system are but some of the symptoms of aging.

There are several theories about what causes aging. Some of the theories make sense whereas some do not. One of the generated accepted theories by all is that aging process and all diseases that comes along with aging is caused by damaged to our body cells.

Cells function properly by communicating with each other through electrons. Electrons could only move in the body with the help of hydrogen. Cells must have oxygen to survive and function properly. The multiplication and growing of cells requires hydrogen. Hydrogen is regarded the fuel of life. The fabric of life namely the DNA of cells is held together through hydrogen bonds.

As we grow older, the hydrogen pool in our body becomes depleted. Free radicals seek out other chemical structure from which they can acquire an electron. Free radicals are a group of compound s with an electron missing from their chemical structure and this makes them unstable. One part of the cell which is most susceptible to free radical damage is its membrane. The cell membrane is composed mainly of fat and proteins. The fats or lipids in the cell membrane easily interact with free radicals to produce a dangerous chemical that harms tissues and damaged the DNA of cells.

As we grow older, chances are that more and more of our cells are damaged by free radicals and this result in chronic inflammation, hormone imbalance and thus accelerate the aging process.

Anti ageing hormone
Hormones in our body undergo changes as we age. One of the major hormones that get affected as we age is DHEA. DHEA stands for ‘De-Hydro-Epi-Androsterone’. As we grew older and aged, our body hormone tends to become imbalance thus this leads to triggering of chain reaction that impact our body metabolism, stress, weaken our immune system and other emotional and psychological health.

What is hormone?
Hormones are chemicals excreted by glands of the endocrine system for instance the thyroid, pancreas, ovaries, testes, adrenal and pituitary to name a few. The hormones are released directly to the blood stream and it affects the way we think and feel.
DHEA hormone is produced by the adrenal glands (small organs smuggled up near the kidneys) and is created by chemical reaction involving cholesterol molecules. Thus cholesterol which we often associates with bad health

What is DHEA ?
This hormone is essential and responsible for triggering the production of other hormones such as the oestrogen (female hormone) and progesterone (the male hormone). DHEA is usually inactive circulates in the blood as DHEA-Sulphate. It is activated and converted into DHEA by the cells in our body.

As we age, DHEA hormone levels in our body drops from as early as the late twenties and continues through middle ages and beyond. By the time we reach 40-50, the DHEA level in our body might just left to 30% level compare to our youthful level.

Facts about DHEA.
Laboratory experiments with animal such as rabbit indicates DHEA increases anti oxidant activity and thus possibly for human as well.

It activates and triggers the process of bone-forming cells, better known as osteoblast.
It reduces heart disease by protecting the body against bad cholesterol (LDL)
DHEA helps to reduce interleukin 6 (IL6), a chemical frequently found in immune diseases. IL6 level increases with age and can be used as a guide to determine how quickly the body ages. As such experiments indicate DHEA helps to keep chronic inflammation under control.

Alzheimer disease patient’s DHEA level is found to be drastically lower compare to normal healthy person (at least by 50%). Some experts believe that damage to the brain nerves occur at faster rate if the DHEA level is low. Laboratory experiments indicate DHEA is able to make nerve cells stronger and able to withstand toxic and chemical assault.
DHEA is also known to help to boost our immune response and fight infections.

Facts and fallacies of organic food

When you head to the grocery store, shopping for products like eggs, meat, fish, milk, and produce can be very tricky. Signs are posted everywhere labeling food as natural, organic, and a number of other things—but what’s the difference, really? Learning what specific names mean can help you decide if you should shell out extra money on a product of it is simply a marketing ploy.

Natural is a turn associated with a number of fruit and vegetable product. Typically, this is simple a marketing ploy to convince you to buy the product. After all, all fruits and vegetables are natural, right? Unless it’s a new kind of food that has been developed and processed, the product is natural. What you really probably want is organic. Organic foods are grown without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. There are two main benefits to organic foods. First, you are helping the environment because those chemicals are not being introduced into nature. Secondly, you are avoiding ingesting chemicals and are therefore healthy more healthy foods. However, organic products are usually more expensive. If you’re on a budget, skip over organic fruits and vegetables that you can peel, like oranges and bananas. After all, once you’ve discarded the peel, you’ve also discarded the chemicals. Instead, opt for organic items like apples, where you eat the peel. No matter what you buy, however, make sure that you rinse off the food when you get home.

Another tricky label you will see is “no hormones.” This is usually in regards to milk or meat products and is false, since all animals naturally produce hormones. Hormones are what helps an animal (even a human) regulate body organs, have young, and otherwise function. All meat products have hormones. What the labels really mean is that no hormones were unnaturally given to the animal, which is sometimes done to increase milk production. Regardless of hormones, however, the milk and meat is safe for a person and not a violation of an animal’s rights.

Lastly, a label on eggs and meat can indicate if the animal was caged or penned. This does not make a difference in the quality or nutritional value of the meat, but is simply a matter of animal rights. These products may be a bit more expensive, but if you want to make human decisions, that is the way to go. Reading the label and making healthy choices can sometimes be difficult, but learning how to do so can help you make the best choices for you diet.

On the other side of the coin, there is always the big question mark as to whether are we really better off with organic food?

Proponents of organic food claim that the world would have lesser problem with mad cow disease if the cows were fed with real organic food. Surprisingly though, it was reported that quite a high number of these cows that contracted mad cow disease were bred in organic farms! Organic food business is big industry and there are signs that what used to be really organic and beneficial to health no longer seems to be the case.
I won’t be surprised if one of these days, those so-called organic foods are found to be in actual fact produced in China’s hazardous chemical and environmental polluted farms.

Organic farming used to be small-localized business that is confined to small markets. Many years way back organic farming is more of a family kind of business whereby residents plant and grow crops and breed domestic animals on their backyard gardens endow with natural futile soils. No dangerous chemical based pesticides or herbicides were ever used on crops. Most of the organic foods were meant for internal or self-consumption.

With demands for organic food on the rise, big food industries are cashing into this lucrative market segment and finding ways to mass-produce organic food on large scale basis. Excessive natural herbicides and insecticides were used on so-called organic crops. Natural herbicides, fungicides and insecticides are usually made from plant extracts and can be quite dangerous and harmful if ingest in large amount. As validated in the lab, artificial herbicides and insecticides biodegrades much faster than its natural counterpart.
Organic crops are usually grown in manure fields. Chemical fertilizers are replaced with urine and animal waste. There have been reported cases whereby the bacteria E-Coli were detected in organic vegetables. Thus organic food does not necessary equates to more safer and hygienic food. So next time if you chance to buy organic food in particular vegetables, make sure you clean and rinse it thoroughly!.

Is There a Difference Between Generic and the Name Brand Drug?

Generic drugs are usually identical to its brand successor. Generic drugs are carefully regulated in the same way so that they can contain the same amount of active ingredient as well as be suitable in the way they are produced. Generic drugs are expected to perform just like the original drugs.

The generic drug must be proven to be bioequivalent to the branded alternative i.e. releases the same amount of active ingredient over the same amount of time.

Differences if any between generic drug and its branded counterpart are normally with regards to the presentation for instance in terms of color or taste. It is not unusual for generic version to contain slightly more of the active ingredient.

There is little difference to the patient between the name brand and the generic. Both have to get through the same regulators and pass the same tests. Generics have a few advantages over the name brand pricier drugs. Firstly, the ingredients in the generic drugs could be fine tune based on the origonal branded drugs reactions and effectiveness. Sometimes the branded version side effects could be drastically reduce in the generic drugs based on known data.

The name brand is often the first of it’s type to be made and this is why the company spends a lot of money on making, testing and patenting the new drug and this is why they are more costly.

Generic drugs will have a patent once that has expired or in some cases are different enough from the original but still do the same type of job.

Generic drugs have a smaller manufacture and costs are usually less expensive so that we are able to afford them easier. This means that they are going to be more available to those in other countries.

Problems with Generic Drugs

Some people have concerns about the safety and the effectiveness of Generic drugs and they certainly deserve every right to be cautious. Some people are worry that generic drugs might not have through the tough clinical trials that the original drug does.

The FDA states that the active ingredient for both original drug and for that matter its corresponding generic drug has already been subjected through exhaustive clinical trials and thus would not be necessary to subject the generic versions do the same thing because they are made from the same exact ingredients. It is also because of the critical trial exemption granted to generic drugs that make it cost effective and cheap compare to the original drug.

Bioequivalence tests are enough to make sure that the drug is effective and safe just like the original drug. In most instances there is nothing to worry about because the generic drugs are regulated. Generic drugs are found to have the same problems as the originals just like the same side effects.

Some of the comparing studies say that there are generic drugs that are performed in the same way as the original but something different. If you are moved from a brand name drug to the generic and you notice a change in the symptoms that you have especially if you get worse, you need to go to your GP and get some advice.

The research on drugs that you find out about has been well thought out. Researchers do their job and make sure that drugs are safe for the public to use first. Information about generic drugs will allow you to make a good decision about the medication that you use.

You need to exercise extreme caution though if you order generic drugs through the Internet. This is due to the fact that some of the generic drugs are faked drugs and might be contaminated with dangerous substances that are detrimental to health. If in doubt, take time to check out the Internet site which you order the drugs.

Facts about Generic Drugs

What is a generic drug?
A generic drug is made one the patent of a new drug has expired. It is the same as the original in just about every way.

How are generic drugs regulated?
Generic drugs are regulated by the FDA and must be tested and then approved by them before it goes into production.


Are your generic drugs made by the same company as the brand name version? I
t just may be about 50% of all generic drugs are made by the company that developed the original drug.

Are generic drugs made in the same standard facilities as the name brand ones?
Yes al facilities have to meet the FDA standards.


Why do all the brand name and generic drugs look different?
The trademark laws do not allow the generic versions to look just like the originals that are on the market. The colouring, size and shape might be different but they are still going to act the same way and do the same thing.

What is bioequivalence?
If a generic drug is bioequivalent to the original it may mean that the generic drugs will work in the exact same way. It will release the same amount of the active ingredient in to the blood stream over the same amount of time.

Why are generic drugs so much cheaper?
Because of the increased competition between the pharmaceutical companies once a patent has been lifted on a patent has been lifted on a certain drug they will be cheaper in price. Take for instance, prescribed HIV drugs in Singapore may cost up to S$1500/- per month while it cost only S$200/300 per month over in Thailand because of generic drug lower cost.
 

Why are generic drugs made?
The same company produces Fifty percent of all the generic drugs. Some are made by the developing countries in cases where the drug is exempt in the country from an existing patent in the West.