Monday, January 30, 2012

Prescription Drugs That Do More Harm Than Good

By Pamela Weintraub, Experience Life


Pamela Weintraub is features editor at Discover and author of Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic (St. Martin’s Press, 2008).


Experience Life magazine is an award-winning health and fitness publication that aims to empower people to live their best, most authentic lives, and challenges the conventions of hype, gimmicks and superficiality in favor of a discerning, whole-person perspective.
3 Prescription Drugs That Do More Harm Than Good



True story: He had been a faculty member in three departments of a major university with an IQ north of 180. Over time, the professor lost the ability to recognize people he’d known closely for decades and to read more than a page of text at a time. He’d repeat the same thing over and over, not recalling he’d already said it. The diagnosis: rapidly progressive Alzheimer’s. When he went to his 50th college reunion, he wore a sign around his neck with his name and the statement, I have Alzheimer’s. Old friends needed an explanation for why he couldn’t recognize people he’d known for decades or repeated himself endlessly throughout the night.
His condition seemed hopeless when he applied to enter a clinical trial testing a new Alzheimer’s drug at Duke University.
Before he started the clinical trial, his wife took him off his cholesterol-lowering statin drug, simvastatin. By the time he got to Duke, he was no longer qualified to participate; he didn’t have Alzheimer’s, doctors said. Instead, he entered another study: The Statin Study Group, directed by University of California at San Diego (UCSD) physician and scientist Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD. “There are people with extremely severe functional deficits caused by statin drugs,” Golomb says. Two years after he stopped taking simvastatin, the patient reported his recovery was complete. His mind was clear and he was back to reading three newspapers daily.
Statin’s side effects are rarely so severe, but they are far more common — and numerous — than generally thought. And statins aren’t the only popular drug with unpredictable side effects. Three common classes of prescription drugs in the United States — statins for reducing cholesterol, angiotensin II antagonists for lowering blood pressure, and proton pump inhibitors for reducing stomach acid — can all cause side effects worse than the problems they aim to treat. And the symptoms caused by one drug may necessitate the use of the others.
For large numbers of people with questionable risk factors, these drugs deliver little or no benefit, but that hasn’t stopped pharmaceutical manufacturers from aggressively marketing them as preventive treatments. Underlying their marketing strategy is a host of scientific studies that “exaggerate positive results and bury negative ones,” says Shannon Brownlee, author of Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer (Bloomsbury USA, 2007). “The science on which so much of prescribing is based is biased, shaky, over-marketed and misinterpreted. These are excellent drugs when used on the right people. The problem comes when they’re marketed to everyone on the planet. There’s benefit to a few people, but when you start giving them to everybody, they may do more harm than good.

Cholesterol Conundrum

The rise in widespread use of statins coincided with lifestyle changes in post–World War II America. As the population gradually migrated to car-friendly suburbs and became increasingly sedentary, the food industry began filling supermarket shelves with more processed “convenience” foods packed with high-fructose corn syrup, trans fats and other pro-inflammatory ingredients. Before long, coronary heart disease (CHD) became a major cause of death.
Despite an increasingly clear connection between diet and heart disease, pharmaceutical companies in the 1990s saw a burgeoning market for a class of drugs called statins, which block production of LDL in the liver, reducing its levels in the blood. And, by 1994, they had the research they needed to argue that these drugs could prevent heart disease.
The Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study, sponsored by pharmaceutical giant Merck, showed that the cholesterol-inhibiting drug, simvastatin (brand name: ZOCOR), could lower LDL levels by 25 to 35 percent and reduce myocardial infarction (heart attack) by 25 to 30 percent in those with normal cholesterol but who have other risk factors, like hypertension, smoking or diabetes.
With the advent of statins, our Big Mac nation was given license to stay the course: We kept consuming processed foods through the rollout of lovastatin, simvastatin and atorvastatin — otherwise known as Lipitor — which for many years has been the top-selling drug in the world. Just last year, rosuvastatin (brand name: Crestor) was approved as a preventive for healthy individuals with low cholesterol counts and no risk factor beyond an elevated level of C-reactive protein (CRP), a sign of inflammation in the body. Once prescribed statins, these people were advised to take them for life.
That’s when cardiologists and epidemiologists adept at reading statistics finally began breaking ranks. Their concerns about statins’ side effects were well placed. A study published in The Lancet in February 2010 showed statins could increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by 9 percent. Other recent studies have traced statins to headache, joint pain and abdominal pain, as well as linked the drugs to peripheral neuropathy, the sense of tingling and numbness or burning pain, often in arms and legs.
At UCSD, Golomb has been studying a series of lesser-known (but not less common) neuropsychiatric and cognitive side effects. Her interest began when, as a medical student in the late 1980s, she became aware of two studies linking cholesterol-lowering drugs to violent death. “In these studies, the decrease in death from heart disease was fully offset by increases in violent death from suicide, homicide and accident,” she says. Golomb’s neurobiology research told her the reports made sense. “Cholesterol is a very high fraction of the dry weight of the brain,” she says, and aids the function of neurotransmitters — the molecules of emotion and cognition that help the brain do its job. Force cholesterol levels down by artificial means, and brain infrastructure suffers. Her own paper on low cholesterol and violence was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 1998.
As word got out, Golomb’s lab received a steady stream of email from statin users with a wide range of problems neither reflected in the literature nor taken seriously by their doctors. The effects, documented in her multiyear study, include reduced energy and a lack of interest in activity, increased fatigue after exercise, erectile dysfunction, and a significant reduction in the ability to achieve orgasm. “Half the people who reported any symptom reported more than one,” Golomb adds.
This reflects what the evidence shows — a common mechanism based on statin disruption of the mitochondria, the energy-producing parts of cells. “We are conditioned to think of cholesterol as a nefarious substance that courses through the blood for the sole purpose of congealing in our arteries and causing cardiovascular disease, but there is a reason why evolution mandates that every cell in our body produces it, and that it circulate through our blood,” Golomb says.
So what’s a statin-taker to do? If you are experiencing troublesome side effects, but have heart disease or serious risk factors and can’t stop taking the drugs entirely, you may still want to consider taking a brief break from the med to see if it seems to be causing your symptoms. If so, you should ask your doctor to prescribe a different drug or lower your dose.
If you’ve been prescribed the drugs prophylactically, it may be time to talk with your doctor about getting off statins entirely. According to internist and clinical pharmacologist James M. Wright, MD, PhD, professor at the University of British Columbia, statins have no proven net health benefit as a preventive. As managing director and chair of the Therapeutics Initiative, a group that evaluates drug studies in Canada, Wright is an expert on meta-analyses — the large “studies of studies” — that take every last bit of data into account. His latest review of the data — and the most comprehensive to date — was published in the Therapeutics Letter in 2010: “Statins do not have a proven net health benefit in primary prevention populations,” he wrote, adding that the “claimed mortality benefit” for this group is “more likely a measure of bias than a real effect.”
The data is especially murky for people with elevated cholesterol but no other risk factors. “This is a gray area,” he notes. In short, there’s little credible evidence that attempting to lower a high cholesterol count with drugs is beneficial unless other risks are elevated as well.
Walter Willett, MD, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, adds that even for those who need the drug, “statins only reduce risk of heart disease modestly, about 30 percent, and thus are not sufficient.” Lifestyle changes (see “Many Problems, One Cure,” page 65) are required to take patients the rest of the way. For many, making the right lifestyle changes is all that’s required.


Halting Hypertension


Similar criticisms have emerged regarding the conventional treatment of high blood pressure, the measurement indicating how hard circulating blood pushes against arterial walls. Pressure may rise and fall throughout the course of a normal day, but if it stays too high for too long, it damages blood vessels, the kidneys and the heart. Hypertension, while asymptomatic, is a major cause of heart failure, heart attack and stroke.
Anyone who’s been to a doctor knows that blood pressure consists of two separate readings — systolic pressure (the higher top number, measured as the heart is beating) and diastolic pressure (the lower bottom number measured between beats when the heart is at rest). It is the higher, systolic pressure that is most often used to determine risk.
For many years, physicians have treated even slightly high blood pressure with drugs that counteract the vessel-contracting hormone, angiotensin. First, the pharmaceutical industry introduced angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors; later, when ACE inhibitors went off patent, drug companies began selling angiotensin II antagonists, also called angiotensin receptor blockers, or ARBs. But the data has not held up, says Wright, who also serves as coordinating editor of the Hypertension Group at The Cochrane Collaboration, whose systematic reviews of healthcare studies are considered the gold standard of evidence.
“Our job is to systematically review all the evidence related to blood pressure and hypertension, and what we are discovering is that the evidence for blood pressure treatment at more moderate levels is not as strong as we had previously thought,” he says. Indeed, while doctors routinely treat patients with mild to moderate systolic pressure of 140 to 160, it is only for those with moderate to severe hypertension — people with blood pressure over 160, the top 5 percent of the curve — that “we get a modest bang for our buck. Between 140 and 160 there is no good evidence that the benefits outweigh the harm,” he says.
Wright especially takes issue with marketing efforts to push ARBs rather than the less-expensive ACE inhibitors. The drug companies claim their studies showed better health outcomes with ARBs, he says, but recent research challenges that claim. A 2010 study published in The Lancet Oncology, for instance, reported an increase in cancer diagnoses among ARB users. Other side effects include headache, dizziness, lightheadedness, nasal congestion, back and leg pain, and diarrhea. And, while rare, side effects such as kidney failure, liver failure, allergic reaction, a drop in white blood cells and localized swelling of tissues (angioedema) can all be fatal.


The Acid Erasers


Another popular class of drug, generating more than $13 billion a year in the United States alone, is the proton pump inhibitor (PPI). These drugs reduce between 90 and 100 percent of acid in the gut by shutting down a system known as the proton pump.
The PPIs, including Prevacid, Nexium, Aciphex and Prilosec, originally were used to manage ulcers, a condition in which acid coursing over open stomach sores caused incapacitating pain. But research later confirmed that most ulcers are caused by the spiral bacteria Helicobacter pylori and could be effectively treated with a brief regimen of antibiotics. Use of PPIs then shifted to common conditions like ordinary heartburn (the burning sensation behind the breastbone) and the far more painful and persistent gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD (which results when muscles between the stomach and esophagus stay partly open, allowing stomach acid to leak up, or reflux, into the esophagus, causing pain).
PPIs can, in fact, effectively treat some noninfectious ulcers and severe cases of reflux, but it’s increasingly clear that long-term use can be dangerous, according to a series of studies published last year:
•  Research from the National Institutes of Health, published in Current Gastroenterology Reports, shows that long-term use of PPIs can limit the body’s absorption of essential nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, iron and vitamin B12, which require gastric acid to be absorbed. Risks include not just osteoporosis, but also anemia, fatigue, seizures and cardiac events.
•  The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that long-term use of proton pump inhibitors increases cardiovascular risk for those already suffering myocardial infarction or stroke.
•  The Archives of Internal Medicine reveals that PPIs substantially increase the risk of infection from a particularly hardy bacteria called Clostridium difficile. The study also linked long-term PPI usage with spine, lower arm and total fractures in postmenopausal women. Perhaps even more alarming was the finding that as many as 69 percent of people taking PPIs don’t need them to effectively treat their symptoms.
While almost no one should be using these drugs for years at a time, once someone has been taking them long enough, the habit can be hard to break. It’s been suggested that when patients stop PPIs, a rebound effect increases acid production for a while, causing painful reflux symptoms again. “People should hold out until the excess acid dissipates and the symptoms go away,” says pharmacologist Wright.
Having appropriate levels of acid in the stomach is the healthiest situation of all. Eating high-fiber whole foods (such as beans, veggies and nuts), taking digestive enzymes and probiotic supplements, and decreasing chronic stress can all help to bring your gut back into balance.

Changing Course


Many doctors rely on pharmaceutical reps and materials for the latest information on treatment options. And they’re inundated with reports — that may or may not be credible — about the latest research. As Golomb notes, clinical studies designed to prove the efficacy of a certain drug have inherent limitations, particularly as it relates to examining safety.
For patients seeking unbiased information, two credible resources are The Cochrane Collaboration (www.cochrane.org) and Clinical Evidence (clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/index.jsp), both of which feature summaries of valid pieces of research that provide important, relevant, more accessible information to patients and doctors.
At the very least, patients should ask their doctors to explain the pros and cons of every drug in a way they can understand, so patient and doctor can share the decision about treatment, says Brownlee. “If your primary-care doctor says, ‘I’m ever so busy, I’m not going to do that,’ you might need to find a new doctor who will help you be informed and who will share treatment decisions with you,” she says.
Patients must be “assertive, smart consumers” to make sure they are not being overmedicated or getting drugs they do not need, says Joseph T. Hanlon, PharmD, MS, professor of medicine in the University of Pittsburgh’s Division of Geriatrics and Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, and health scientist at the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System. “Make a list of every drug you are on and make sure you can answer five questions: What is it called? What are you taking it for? How and when are you taking it? What are the common side effects? And when will the treatment stop?” Hanlon says. “Medical schools don’t always do the best job of teaching prescribing. You are your own best advocate.”
Pamela Weintraub is features editor at Discover and author of Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic (St. Martin’s Press, 2008).

Many Problems, One Cure

You’ve probably heard the line in plenty of pharma ads: “When lifestyle changes aren’t enough . . . ” But changing your life can and does work, even in tough cases — as long as you’re making the changes that really count.
In fact, research shows that basic shifts in nutrition, activity, stress and other lifestyle factors can be more effective than drug protocols in treating inflammatory health conditions — dramatically improving overall health and fitness in the process.

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Illness is a big problem of people today so I believe solution on this area is great contribution to our society. 


 Related websites; 
 http://sites.google.com/site/healthwealthrolssky/ , http://rolsskywellness.webs.com

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Do we know the Functions of Kidney? Before you take drugs or any chemicals think about your Kidney.




Why Are the Kidneys So Important?

Most people know that a major function of the kidneys is to remove waste products and excess fluid from the body. These waste products and excess fluid are removed through the urine. The production of urine involves highly complex steps of excretion and reabsorption. This process is necessary to maintain a stable balance of body chemicals.
The critical regulation of the body's salt, potassium and acid content is performed by the kidneys. The kidneys also produce hormones that affect the function of other organs. For example, a hormone produced by the kidneys stimulates red blood cell production. Other hormones produced by the kidneys help regulate blood pressure and control calcium metabolism.
The kidneys are powerful chemical factories that perform the following functions:
  • remove waste products from the body
  • remove drugs form the body
  • balance the body's fluids
  • release hormones that regulate blood pressure
  • produce an active form of vitamin D that promotes strong, healthy bones
  • control the production of red blood cells

Where Are the Kidneys and How Do They Function?

There are two kidneys, each about the size of a fist, located on either side of the spine at the lowest level of the rib cage. Each kidney contains up to a million functioning units called nephrons. A nephron consists of a filtering unit of tiny blood vessels called a glomerulus attached to a tubule. When blood enters the glomerulus, it is filtered and the remaining fluid then passes along the tubule. In the tubule, chemicals and water are either added to or removed from this filtered fluid according to the body's needs, the final product being the urine we excrete.

The kidneys perform their life-sustaining job of filtering and returning to the bloodstream about 200 quarts of fluid every 24 hours. About two quarts are removed from the body in the form of urine, and about 198 quarts are recovered. The urine we excrete has been stored in the bladder for anywhere from 1 to 8 hours.

What Are Some of the Causes of Chronic Kidney Disease?

Chronic kidney disease is defined as having some type of kidney abnormality or "marker" such as protein in the urine, and having decreased kidney function for three months or longer.
There are many causes of chronic kidney disease. The kidneys may be affected by diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Some kidney conditions are inherited (run in families).
Others are congenital; that is, individuals may be born with an abnormality that can affect their kidneys. The following are some of the most common types and causes of kidney damage.
Diabetes is a disease in which your body does not make enough insulin or cannot use normal amounts of insulin properly. This results in a high blood sugar level, which can cause problems in many parts of your body. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease.
High blood pressure (also known as hypertension) is another common cause of kidney disease and other complications such as heart attacks and strokes. High blood pressure occurs when the force of blood against your artery walls increases. When high blood pressure is controlled, the risk of complications such as chronic kidney disease is decreased. 
Glomerulonephritis is a disease that causes inflammation of the kidney's tiny filtering units called the glomeruli. Glomerulonephritis may happen suddenly, for example, after a strep throat, and the individual may get well again.However, the disease may develop slowly over several years and it may cause progressive loss of kidney function.
Polycystic kidney disease is the most common inherited kidney disease. It is characterized by the formation of kidney cysts that enlarge over time and may cause serious kidney damage and even kidney failure. Other inherited diseases that affect the kidneys include Alport's Syndrome,primary hyperoxaluria and cystinuria.
Kidney stones are very common, and when they pass, they may cause severe pain in your back and side. There are many possible causes of kidney stones, including an inherited disorder that causes too much calcium to be absorbed from foods and urinary tract infections or obstructions. Sometimes, medications and diet can help to prevent recurrent stone formation. In cases where stones are too large to pass, treatments may be done to remove the stones or break them down into small pieces that can pass out of the body.
Urinary tract infections occur when germs enter the urinary tract and cause symptoms such as pain and/or burning during urination and more frequent need to urinate. These infections most often affect the bladder, but they sometimes spread to the kidneys, and they may cause fever and pain in your back.
Congenital diseases may also affect the kidneys. These usually involve some problem that occurs in the urinary tract when a baby is developing in its mother's womb. One of the most common occurs when a valve-like mechanism between the bladder and ureter (urine tube) fails to work properly and allows urine to back up (reflux) to the kidneys, causing infections and possible kidney damage. 
Drugs and toxins (chemicals) can also cause kidney problems. Using large numbers of over-the-counter pain relievers for a long time may be harmful to the kidneys. Certain other medications, toxins, pesticides and "street" drugs such as heroin and crack can also cause kidney damage. 

How is Chronic Kidney Disease Detected?

Early detection and treatment of chronic kidney disease are the keys to keeping kidney disease from progressing to kidney failure. Some simple tests can be done to detect early kidney disease. They are:
  1. Blood pressure measurement
  2. A test for protein in the urine. An excess amount of protein in your urine may mean your kidney's filtering units have been damaged by disease. One positive result could be due to fever or heavy exercise, so your doctor will want to confirm your test over several weeks.
  3. A test for blood creatinine. Your doctor should use your results, along with your age, race, gender and other factors, to calculate your glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Your GFR tells how much kidney function you have. To access the GFR calculator, click here.
It is especially important that people who have an increased risk for chronic kidney disease have these tests. You may have an increased risk for kidney disease if you:
  • are older
  • have diabetes
  • have high blood pressure
  • have a family member who has chronic kidney disease
  • are an African American, Hispanic American, Asians and Pacific Islander or American Indian.
If you are in one of these groups or think you may have an increased risk for kidney disease, ask your doctor about getting tested.

Can Kidney Disease Be Successfully Treated?

Many kidney diseases can be treated successfully. Careful control of diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure can help prevent kidney disease or keep it from getting worse. Kidney stones and urinary tract infections can usually be treated successfully. Unfortunately, the exact causes of some kidney diseases are still unknown, and specific treatments are not yet available for them. Sometimes, chronic kidney disease may progress to kidney failure, requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation. Treating high blood pressure with special medications called angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors often helps to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease. A great deal of research is being done to find more effective treatment for all conditions that can cause chronic kidney disease.

How is Kidney Failure Treated?

Kidney failure may be treated with hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis or kidney transplantation. Treatment with hemodialysis (the artificial kidney) may be performed at a dialysis unit or at home. Hemodialysis treatments are usually performed three times a week. Peritoneal dialysis is generally done daily at home. Continuous Cycling Peritoneal Dialysis requires the use of a machine while Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis does not. A kidney specialist can explain the different approaches and help individual patients make the best treatment choices for themselves and their families.
Kidney transplants have high success rates. The kidney may come from someone who died or from a living donor who may be a relative, friend or possibly a stranger, who donates a kidney to anyone in need of a transplant. More information abouthemodialysisperitoneal dialysis , kidney transplantation  is available from your local National Kidney Foundation.

What Are the Warning Signs of Kidney Disease?

Kidney disease usually affects both kidneys. If the kidneys' ability to filter the blood is seriously damaged by disease, wastes and excess fluid may build up in the body. Although many forms of kidney disease do not produce symptoms until late in the course of the disease, there are six warning signs of kidney disease:
  1. High blood pressure.
  2. Blood and/or protein in the urine.
  3. A creatinine and Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) blood test, outside the normal range. BUN and creatinine are waste that build up in your blood when your kidney function is reduced.
  4. A glomerular filtration rate (GFR) less than 60. GFR is a measure of kidney function.
  5. More frequent urination, particularly at night; difficult or painful urination.
  6. Puffiness around eyes, swelling of hands and feet.

How Well Do Your Kidneys Work?

By Gerard J. Stanley, Sr., MD
The kidneys perform several important jobs including the removal of chemical and mineral impurities from the blood, balancing acid in the blood, and controlling body fluids. These delicate processes take place when blood flows through the kidneys. The kidneys also help to control your body’s production of red blood cells, regulate blood pressure, and help keep bones strong and healthy. Each kidney has about a million tiny nephrons. Each nephron has a group of tiny blood vessels called a glomerulus. The glomerulus is the small structure in charge of filtering and cleaning the blood as it flows through the kidney. The rate at which the glomerulus filters the blood is called the glomerular filtration rate or “GFR”.
The kidneys filter almost 200 quarts of blood every day and make approximately two quarts of urine as the waste product. When the kidneys don't work like they should, products in the blood which are supposed to be removed, like the blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine (Cr) stay in the blood and can be easily measured with a blood test. Other products that are supposed to stay in the blood, like proteins, end up in the urine and can be measured with a urine test.
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) wants doctors to calculate, and patients to know, their GFR number. If your doctor has drawn blood to check your creatinine, he or she can very easily figure out your GFR. By calculating your GFR and checking urine protein, your doctor can tell if you may be in the early stages of chronic kidney disease, or CKD. If steps are not taken to slow the worsening of kidney function, the kidneys may eventually fail and either dialysis or kidney transplant would be needed to live.
The most frequent causes of kidney disease are poorly controlled diabetes and high blood pressure. Other common kidney diseases are glomerulonephritis, which causes inflammation and damage to the glomerulus, and polycystic kidney disease—an inherited disease that causes large cysts to form in the kidney. Another common but often overlooked cause of kidney disease, is the overuse of analgesics, or pain-relieving medicines, especially aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), and non-steroidal drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, ketoprofen, and naproxen (Aleve). Because these drugs can be bought over the counter they can be quite easily taken in large amounts. These medicines can be toxic to the kidneys, causing permanent damage.
There are usually no symptoms in the early stages of kidney disease, but as it gets worse, you may have high BUN and creatinine on lab tests, nausea and vomiting, less appetite, weakness, extreme tiredness, itching, muscle cramps and anemia.
Warning signs of kidney disease:
1) high blood pressure
2) blood and/or protein in the urine
3) decreasing GFR
4) more frequent urination; pain or difficulty urinating
5) puffiness around eyes; swelling of hands, feet
You can do some things to reduce the risk of getting kidney disease or slow it from getting worse. Work with your doctor to start an “ACE Inhibitor” blood pressure medicine. ACEs have been found to help protect kidney function as well as lower blood pressure. People with diabetes should take an ACE to protect their kidneys even if they do not have high blood pressure. Keeping good control of blood sugar is important. If protein is found in the urine, working with a dietitian to control diabetes and eating a lower protein diet may be needed.
Staying physically fit is important for kidney function. Exercise helps kidney disease by improving muscle function, lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, keeping a healthy body weight and improving your sleep. Start an exercise program with an activity that you like, such as walking, swimming, bicycling or dancing. “Start low and go slow” but try to exercise at least 30 minutes, three times a week. You should be able to talk to your exercise partner while working out, and you should feel completely recovered within one hour of your routine.
Pain-relieving medicine should be taken carefully and only when needed. Speak to your doctor if you need to take pain medicines for more than 10 days in a row because of a chronic pain problem such as arthritis. Avoid combination drugs that have acetaminophen, NSAIDs, and caffeine. Always drink six to eight glasses of water each day if you are taking these medicines.
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If we are not careful of the things that we take or use our kidneys might be affected. Actually any one of our internal organs to be affected it surely creates imbalance and then disease will start to appear.
Eat or use the suitable substance for our bodies if we want to live longer and happy, otherwise we will suffer while we live.


Illness is one of the big problem of people today so I believe solution on this area is great contribution to our society. 
 Related websites; 
 http://sites.google.com/site/healthwealthrolssky/ , http://rolsskywellness.webs.com

Causes and Treatment of Hepatitis C

Isang concerned citizen tumawag sa atin na laganap daw ngayon ang Hepatitis C sa Bahrain ayon sa kanyang kaibigan na radiologist sa isang hospital bilang ito ang kanyang trabaho ang pag record ng mga sakit gamit ang x-ray. Tinawagan natin mismo ang kanyang kaibigan at tama nga ang nasabi.

BILANG BABALA SA ATING MGA KABABAYAN MAG-INGAT SA SAKIT. Kung mgakasakit tayo ng mga ganitong sakit, masisira ang ating mga pangarap.

Kaya talakayin natin ang tungkol sa hepatitis C.


eMedicineHealth

Hepatitis C Overview

Hepatitis is a general term that means inflammation of the liver. This inflammation can be caused by contagious diseases such as viral infections. Hepatitis can also be caused by exposure to alcohol, certain medications, chemicals, poisons, and other toxins, or by other diseases. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the many viruses that can cause inflammation of the liver.
Inflammation of the liver caused by infection with HCV is referred to as hepatitis C.
  • If the infection does not resolve, it becomes chronic (ongoing, long term) and can cause chronic liver disease, which can be serious or even fatal.
  • Approximately 75% to 85% of people infected with hepatitis C develop chronic hepatitis C. Many live normal lives, but some develop significant liver damage over several years.
  • If the disease progresses to liver failure (end stage liver disease), then liver transplant is the only treatment.
  • Hepatitis C is an increasing public health concern in the United States and throughout the world.
  • HCV is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in the United States and the most common cause of chronic viral hepatitis.
  • It is believed that there are 17,000 new (acute) cases of hepatitis C in the United States each year. Hepatitis C is the leading viral cause of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, and liver cancer.
  • HCV is responsible for 8,000 to 10,000 deaths per year in the United States.
More than 3 million people in the United States have antibodies to HCV, meaning they have been infected with the virus at some point; as many as half of them do not know they have the infection.

Hepatitis C Symptoms

Acute infection: When a person becomes infected with hepatitis C, there are often no initial symptoms.
  • Approximately 80% of newly infected patients are asymptomatic.
  • The remaining 20% of newly infected patients have symptoms that includefatigueabdominal painnausea, loss of appetite, or a condition known as yellowjaundice. Jaundice occurs when a yellow-colored compound called bilirubin builds up in the body, tinting the whites of the eyes and skin. At the same time, the urine may take on a dark brown 'cola' color and stools may become gray or light tan.
  • These symptoms typically develop 4-12 weeks after exposure to HCV. Some people describe the symptoms as being flu-like.
Chronic Infection: Most of the time, the body's immune system cannot 'cure' itself of the virus. Among people who acquire HCV, approximately 75% to 85% will fail to clear it from their bodies and will become chronically infected. Most chronically infected people do not have symptoms or have only vague symptoms such as fatigue. However, even asymptomatic patients may have active or progressive liver damage.
Chronic hepatitis C can lead to scarring or 'cirrhosis' of the liver, a condition also associated with alcoholism. Cirrhosis is a condition in which the healthy liver tissue is replaced by fibrous tissue, followed by scar-like hardening. As this happens, the liver gradually begins to fail, or looses its ability to carry out its normal functions. Of the chronically infected people, 15% to 30% will eventually develop cirrhosis, often 20 to 30 years after the initial infection. Eventually, symptoms develop. Symptoms of cirrhosis include the following:
  • Fluid retention causing swelling of the belly (ascites), legs (edema), or whole body (anasarca)
  • Persistent jaundice
  • Fatigue
  • Disturbances in sleeping
  • Itchy skin
  • Loss of appetite, weight loss, wasting
  • Vomiting with blood in the vomit
  • Mental disturbances such as confusion, lethargy, extreme sleepiness, or hallucinations (hepatic encephalopathy)

Hepatitis C Treatment

Hepatitis C Self-Care at Home

If the affected person has symptoms, these measures will help them feel better faster.
  • Take it easy; get plenty of rest.
  • Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.
  • Do not drink alcohol of any kind, includingbeerwine, and hard liquor.
  • Avoid medicines and substances that can cause harm to the liver such asacetaminophen (Tylenol) and other preparations that contain acetaminophen.
  • Avoid prolonged, vigorous exercise until symptoms start to improve.

Hepatitis C Medical Treatment

If the patient is dehydrated, the health care practitioner may prescribe intravenous fluids to help the patient feel better.
If the patient is experiencing significant nausea and vomiting, he or she will receive medicines to help control these symptoms.
If the patient's symptoms are well controlled, they can be cared for at home. If dehydration or other symptoms are severe or if the patient is showing signs of confusion or delirium, then they may be hospitalized.
Medications are available to help eliminate HCV from the body or reduce its effects.
  • Decisions to start medications for the treatment of hepatitis C are usually made in consultation with a gastroenterologist or liver specialist (hepatologist). The medications have side effects and are expensive. Their use must be balanced against the fact that only 15% to 30% of patients will develop cirrhosis. Thus, most physicians only treat patients at high risk for cirrhosis.
  • The decision to treat is based on symptoms, the results of lab tests of liver function, results of viral load tests for HCV, and liver biopsy, and on the person's age and general medical condition.
  • The goal of treatment is to suppress the virus so much that it becomes undetectable in the blood. Some patients who have undetectable levels appear to have cleared the virus permanently. Others may relapse over weeks to months.
  • Treatment is much more complicated if the patient has other serious medical conditions such as heart failure or HIV/AIDS.
Certain medical conditions preclude the use of some HCV medications:
  • Depression and certain other mental and neurologic disorders
  • Active alcohol or drug abuse
  • Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritissystemic lupus erythematosus, or psoriasis
  • Low blood hemoglobin level (anemia) or blood cell counts
  • Cirrhosis that is severe enough to cause symptoms such as jaundice, wasting, fluid retention that causes swelling, or mental disturbances.

Hepatitis C Medications

  • Patients are treated with a combination of an injectable medicine called pegylated interferon alpha (Pegasys, PEG-Intron) and an oral antiviral drug called ribavirin(Virazole). Treatment continues for weeks or months; the exact duration of treatment depends on the response and results of blood tests.
  • Recently, a new class of medications called protease inhibitors have been approved for the treatment of genotype type 1 HCV. Examples include telaprevir (Incivek) and boceprevir (Victrelis). These medications are given along with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. In some cases, adding a protease inhibitor can shorten the overall duration of treatment.
Most people tolerate these drugs, although side effects are common. Side effects may be mild or debilitating. Women taking these medications for HCV should avoid getting pregnant during treatment. Common side effects of HCV treatment include the following:
These medications can have other, less common side effects that may be serious. The patient should discuss these with their health care provider before starting treatment.


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