EARLY WARNING OF HEART FAILURE
April 2nd, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
Depending on the type of heart trouble, some of the earliest signs of failure in need of treatment include swelling of the ankles (medically known as edema) and shortness of breath during mild exercise, such as climbing stairs. This latter sign is evidence that the heart is not pumping well enough to empty blood out of the lungs, causing the condition medically known as pulmonary congestion.
However, according to Primary Cardiology Clinics (2#1:19), a certain type of coughing is yet another sign that, if heeded, gives even earlier warning. Also due to pulmonary congestion, this sign is almost like a smoker’s “hacking” cough. Its really distinctive feature is that it comes on when one is in bed or sitting down but stops almost instantly when one stands up.
In heart failure patients, this sign may precede breathless-ness by hours or days but should always be reported to a physician right away. When pulmonary congestion is more severe, of course, the cough is not relieved by standing and may be replaced by breathlessness which is not relieved by rest. Even though this early sign is not new, we feel that knowing about it is important and could save many lives.
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ORAL POLIO VACCINE
April 2nd, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
Since it is made with modified but still “live” virus, oral polio vaccine (OPV) sometimes actually causes paralytic polio, the very illness it is supposed to prevent. Injectable polio vaccine (IPV), which is made with killed virus, cannot do this. In Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (31:22), the U.S. Public Health Service warns that OPV occasionally endangers not only those who are vaccinated with it but also, for a month afterwards, certain persons living in close contact with them. Anyone with deficient immunity is at risk, and this involves, among others, all cancer or leukemia patients, persons treated with radiation, or anyone taking cortisone-like steroid drugs, whether for arthritis, asthma, or any other ailment.
Since, even though rare, polio paralysis can cripple or kill, the Swedish government has now banned OPV. For the same reason, many American physicians prefer EPV, but, surprisingly, OPV continues to be the most widely used vaccine for polio in the U.S.A.
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A NEW BOOST FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY
April 2nd, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
The National Cancer Institute has launched a large scale (200 patients) test of an immune hormone called thymosin that could make non-surgical cancer therapy more successful. Cancer specialists are investigating thymosin’s possible role in immunotherapy, the process of stimulating the body’s own defenses against the disease.
Many authorities believe that cancer cells gain a foothold when our immune system becomes less efficient in seeking them out and destroying them. Unfortunately, this immune function is largely under the control of the thymus glands, two soft, pinkish gray lobes found in the upper chest that gradually disappear as we age.
The body employs chemical messengers like thymosin to alert various components of the immune system to their roles. According to a report in Science 81 (2:73), when thymosin levels are artificially increased, the immune system reacts by fighting cancer cells with greater vigor.
One study of 55 patients with a particularly difficult-to-treat cancer, small cell cancer of the lung, was summarized. Among 21 patients who received the highest doses of the drug, six were alive and free of disease after two years. Average survival time in this group increased from 240 to 450 days. While no firm conclusion can be reached from such a small study, larger studies now in progress should demonstrate whether a deficient immune defense system against cancer can always be corrected by thymosin, and for how long the effect lasts.
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EARLY WARNING OF RETINAL DETACHMENT
April 2nd, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
By knowing about the first signs of retinal detachment, we greatly improve our chances of getting early enough treatment to prevent blindness. The most important signs include the sudden appearance of “floaters” (small shadowy shapes like flies or spider webs constantly dangling in our field of vision no matter where we look) and spontaneous flickers or flashes of light (like fireflies or sheet lightning) which are most noticeable in the evening and in the morning before daylight. As more and more retina becomes detached, a growing curtain of darkness seems to surround the things one looks at and which one can still see clearly.
Tragically, because the center of the retina is usually the last part to become detached, the ability to read and watch TV, etc., is preserved intact until the last moment before total blindness occurs. This misleads people into believing that their symptoms are not serious. According to Geriatrics (365#4:87), retinal detachment is most likely to occur in people with myopia (nearsightedness), high blood pressure, or diabetes.
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ALLERGIC NOSES
April 2nd, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
To identify the triggering substance responsible for allergic nasal symptoms (such as stuffiness, itching, redness, and watering), it is most helpful to ask about both the season and the times of day when attacks occur.
Thus, Emergency Medicine (16#10:20) reports, summertime attacks that begin about mid-morning are probably due to pollen and do not occur earlier in the day because the morning dew dampens the pollen dust and keeps it out of the air. Attacks that occur indoors year round are more likely due to house dust or pet dander. Mold sensitivity is at its worst during damp, rainy weather, but attacks can be triggered by air blown into the face from a car’s air conditioner or room humidifier (both offer dark, damp, favorable habitats for mold growth).
The best treatment is to avoid exposure to the trigger substance and to reduce its concentration in one’s surroundings as much as possible. In the case of molds, this involves drying up damp basements, etc., changing filters, cleaning humidifiers regularly, spraying with Lysol, and keeping closets dry with a constantly lit bulb. Getting mold out of a car’s air conditioner can be difficult and usually requires a mechanic’s help.
When measures such as these fail to provide relief, help can be obtained from antihistamine pills and, if necessary, desensitization shots as well. Antihistamines work best when they are taken around the clock to prevent allergic attacks and are not so effective when begun after an attack has already occurred. A common mistake is to take an antihistamine, get better, and then stop taking it. For more difficult cases, the allergist may need to prescribe other drugs in addition.
One type of allergy that has often been overlooked, the American Family Physician (29#5:408) reports, is triggered by grass pollen and is usually brought on by mowing the lawn. In the past, this allergy has generally been assumed to be caused by the leaves (blades) of grass, weeds, or the molds deposited on them, but, understandably, it has not been too responsive to desensitization shots aimed specifically at those causes.
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