As an alternative, the use of herbal medicine has done wonders for various illnesses such as cancer and heart associated problems. This can be attributed to the fact that the substances and composition that all extracted herbs offer are found to negate and improve the body components.

Weird as they may sound, taste or look, it is the healing effect that holds the truth towards a successful fight against diseases and illnesses. It is not purely a matter of relying on your doctor for advice but also a matter of taking into consideration that herbal plants are existent for a reason, a health reason.

Technorati Tags: herbs, herbal plants, natural healting, alternative medicine

Recently, though, I have been hearing a lot of rumors about Tylenol being dangerous for you. Mass e-mails about the FDA saying that acetaminophen (the active ingredient of Tylenol) can damage your liver beyond repair have been flooding my Inbox(es) – yes, all of my e-mail accounts have been bombarded. Friends and colleagues, who know of my affinity for this pill, have not been slow to inform me either.

Naturally, I had to do research of my own in order to get to the bottom of this issue once and for all. Thank goodness for Paula Kue, MD, who wrote an article about this exact thing in Yahoo. She said the magic words:

Well, STOP! Please, stop your worrying.

Acetaminophen is a truly safe medication for reducing fevers and treating pain. Unless you have a known liver disease like hepatitis, or are on medications that are themselves toxic to the liver or that already contain acetaminophen, the current dosing guidelines for Tylenol are very safe.

YAY! That’s all I can say. I don’t have hepatitis and as far as I know, I am not taking any medication that is toxic to the liver. So there!

But did you know that it can also be used to treat other conditions? I didn’t! I just read a story about how an Australian stroke victim was able to walk again because of Botox. Russell McPhee, 49, has been paralyzed for the past 23 years. He had a stroke that was so severe that his doctors told him that he would never be able to walk again. Or so they thought.

So how did this happen? Botox, or botulinum toxin, actually works by blocking the nerve signals that instruct the muscles to contract. That is why it works well in getting of wrinkles – the facial muscles do not contract as they normally would with age. Apparently, this same mechanism is beneficial to those who are left paralyzed due to brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, spinal injuries, and strokes!

In McPhee’s case, he was paralyzed because his muscles were in a state of perpetual contraction. His muscles were “spasm-ing” all the time, prohibiting him from moving them. With Botox treatment, the spasms stopped, and he was able to stretch his legs.

While this is good news to stroke victims, doctors say that different people respond to the treatment in varying degrees. They say that McPhee’s case is quite remarkable as his muscles have remained strong and intact despite years of not being used.

Men are less likely to suffer from chronic pain due to extreme activities than men due to the hormone testosterone which has been shown to help lessen the damage to muscles and tissue, thus leaving women to suffer more. Statistically, women suffer an average of 15 episodes that can lead to depression due to their biology, having them experience fluctuations in their hormonal levels each menstrual cycle.

Headaches, if they are persistent enough should be consulted to a health professional for it may be a sign of underlying disease, or it may just be you drinking too much coffee through the day to keep you awake at your boring desk job!?!

An article from Spine Health provides insight on this matter:

Half of back pain sufferers reach for Advil or Aleve for relief, according to a poll conducted by Spine-health.com, a leading Web site for those with back problems.

Ibuprofen in general (Advil, Motrin and Nuprin combined) accounted for 39% of the responses. 26% of the respondents said Advil (ibuprofen) is their first choice for OTC pain relief, while 24% selected Aleve (naproxen). Tylenol (acetaminophen) was chosen by 11%, and aspirin was selected by 5%. “Other” accounted for 15% and responses ranged from various prescription drugs to no alternative specified.

It seems that I am part of the minority here. I have tried naproxen before – the generic kind – and from what I recall, it worked well. Perhaps I should try that next time I have a back pain episode.

How about you, what medication works best for your pain?

Photo courtesy of Billie

Of course, constant research and studies come up with new discoveries – like this one about isotretinoin, the active ingredient in Acutane. Based on a report from Reuters:

Use of isotretinoin, the active ingredient in the acne drug Accutane, apparently more than doubles the risk of depression, according to results of a study.

Still, the absolute risk is probably very small, the researchers emphasize.

The study is the first controlled investigation to find a statistically significant link between isotretinoin and depression, Dr. Anick Berard, from CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre in Montreal, and colleagues point out in a report in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

“Depression is likely to be a rare side effect of isotretinoin therapy,” they wrote. Nonetheless, “current guidelines should possibly be modified to include psychiatric assessments of patients prior to and during isotretinoin therapy.”

I suppose that we should not be unnecessarily alarmed with this news, though. As you can read up there, “the absolute risk is probably very small.” Though this means that there is still a risk, it might as well be negligible. I guess that if you are using Acutane and you find yourself with symptoms of depression, then you should consult your doctor. Otherwise, I wouldn’t worry.

What is colon cleansing anyway? It is basically a process wherein your bowels are cleansed thoroughly by ingesting supplements that will loosen and remove build up in your colon. As a result, you would have to do number 2 a lot.

Proponents of colon cleansing believe that the process has a lot of health benefits. These range from removing toxins from the body to boosting energy to lessening the risk of cancer. Yet do doctors have the same view?

Based on my research, it seems that medical doctors have not really found scientific evidence as to the purported health benefits of colon cleansing. According to Michael Picco, M.D., they do not recommend colon cleansing for better health or disease prevention. The rationale behind this is:

• It’s unnecessary. Your colon doesn’t require enemas or special diets or pills to eliminate waste material and bacteria. It does this naturally on its own.
• It may be harmful. Your colon absorbs water and sodium to maintain your body’s fluid and electrolyte balance. Some colon-cleansing programs disrupt this balance, causing dehydration and salt depletion. Long-term or excessive cleansing programs can lead to problems such as anemia, malnutrition and heart failure.

I guess I am not going to try this method for now.

How does the drug work? Reuters reports:

Ketamine restores to normal the orbifrontal cortex, an area of the brain located above the eyes that is overactive in depressed people.

The area is believed to be responsible for feelings of guilt, dread, apprehension and physical reactions such as a racing heart, said Bill Deakin, who led the study.

“The study results have given us a completely novel way of treating depression and a new avenue of understanding depression,” said Deakin, a neuroscientist at the University of Manchester.

I would say that this is heartening news, especially to those who know what depression is all about firsthand. Depression, when not treated properly, can have a debilitating effect – not only on the person who suffers from it but people who are close to the depressed as well. Here is even better news:

Previous research had shown that ketamine improved symptoms in depressed people after just 24 hours — far faster than the month it can take for Prozac to kick in — but until now they did not know exactly how.

The latest findings give researchers a specific target to design new drugs and offer hope for the many people who do not respond to Prozac or other standard medicines, Deakin added.

Let’s hope that this study’s findings can be put into practical use soon.

Talk about scary! Of the drugs in the list – I only have one to worry about – acetaminophen. Tylenol, my painkiller of choice, has this as the main active ingredient. I never really thought about it but as it turns out, it can cause fatal liver damage! You may be thinking that the dosage for this kind of effect would be way beyond the normal dosage – the MSN article says no! The fatal dosage is “not much higher than the effective dose.” Ok, this is starting to concern me. I get really bad migraine headaches and I usually take two extra strength Tylenols. After a couple of hours, if the headache is still there, I take another two. Is this a fatal dose? I sure hope not!

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