Posts Tagged ‘chronic conditions’

Standard Medical Treatment

Standard medical treatment for Crohn’s disease includes drug therapy such as anti-inflammation drugs. Most patients are given drugs that contain mesalamine, to control inflammation. The possible side effects can be nausea, vomiting, heart burn, diarrhea, and headache.

Then there are Cortisone drugs and steroids know as corticosteiods. Prednisone is the common name of one of these drugs. When the disease is at its worst, Prednisone is often prescribed in a large dose. This is a drug with very serious side effects.

Next we move on to immune system suppressors. Wow, just what a person with a debilitating condition needs. The side effects are nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, while it lowers immunity.

Also, antibiotics are used to treat bacterial over in the small intestines. One or more of these can be prescribed: ampicillin, sulfonamide, cephalosporin, and tetracycline.

Medication for diarrhea and abdominal pain may be necessary.

After all the medication two-thirds to three-quarters of patients with Crohn’s disease will require surgery at some point. Surgery removes part of the intestine to help people with the symptoms. It is not a cure. Many times people have more than one operation, as inflammation tends to return to another area.

Some people need to have their entire colon removed. The operation is called a colostomy. This means that all wastes that exits the body will be collected in a pouch worn over the opening, near the beltline. The majority (not all) of patients can live a normal life.

Another Story

Study

A new study found that Vitamin D, which is found in supplements such as cod liver oil, counters the effect of Crohn’s disease. John White, an endocrinologist at the Research Institute of the McGill University and the Universite de Montreal who presented their findings about the inflammatory bowel disease in the latest Journal of Biological Chemistry.

“Our data suggests, for the first time, that D deficiency can contribute of Crohn’s disease,” states Dr. White a professor in McGill’s Department of Physiology, noting that people who live in northern countries, and receive less sunlight then is necessary for the formation of Vitamin D in the body, are more vulnerable to Crohn’s disease.

What is important to note is that Dr. White’s interest in vitamin D is that it mitigates cancer. All of his results point to vitamin D’s effect on the immune system. The body’s innate immune system is the body’s first line of defense against microbial invaders. In Crohn’s disease Dr. White stated “It’s a defect in innate immune handling of intestinal bacteria that leads to an inflammatory response that may lead to an autoimmune condition.”

Connecting the dots will tell you that if one natural nutrient helps it means that there are multiple benefits from a healthy diet. Most of these nutrients will exceed your expectations, offering you a compete array of what you need for sustainable good health.

Find out more about the other story, and the people who healed themselves, by using natural methods. We will continue this article with the websites and information that you need in our newsletter “The Healing zone.”

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This is the generation that should be utilizing the rewards of all the medical advances. The upside is they are, and the downside is they are. This is putting boomers on the wrong side of illness.

Unraveling advances in care means taking a tough look at them. By dismantling the technology, we can see what we have.

Caution

The advances look like a very expensive proposition.

Prescription drugs

Routine physical exams

Preventive screenings

Immunizations

Diagnostic tests and laboratory work

This is what is called a senior fun fest. You get to go from doctor to doctor. It could be a form of entertainment. But you do not attain better health; you just get to use more pharmaceuticals, and aids. This is not the path that will help you cherish your senior years.

Choice

A study published in the American Journal of Medicine finds that seniors who drink fruit or vegetable juices at least three times a week lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 76 percent. The researchers credit the high levels of polyphenols in juices as being responsible for these findings. The antioxidant action of polyphenols (found mainly in the skins of fruits and vegetables) is well noted in other studies.

This is the first generation exposed to a new way of eating. Also, it is the first generation that had a lifestyle that wasn’t conductive to physical activity. It is the first generation that was exposed to the newest medical technologies, and pharmaceuticals.

Problem

The problem is both in lifestyle, and the dependence on medicine to solve the problems that are the outcome of habits. This is a nation that has gotten use to pharmaceutical solutions. For baby boomers it is worrisome. Medications are harder to process when you are older.

The liver which is a filter has a harder time riding the body of toxins. Pharmaceuticals are toxins and chemical poisons. Our food supply with all the additives introduces foreign substances into our systems.

Proactive

In America proactive means getting every test under the sun for an early diagnosis. Well-being does not come from a test; it is a function of being fit. No testing or medication can make you healthy. The outlook looks bleak for a population has the largest food supply, and an arsenal of pharmaceuticals. 

The healthcare crises can’t be taken lightly. The boomers are on the wrong side of illness, but so are their children and grandchildren. The barometer of our health and the health of the nation will be seen in the doctor’s office, hospitals, adult residences, and our public schools

What makes kidney disease a growing menace is fact that there is no cure according to allopathic medicine. Meanwhile, the population of people undergoing dialysis is also exploding, and is projected to pass the 2 million mark worldwide by 2010, according to some studies.  

Kidney disease

The leading cause of Kidney disease is diabetes. It accounts of 44% of new cases in 2005. The numbers are only on their way up. Nephropathy, kidney failure is a frequent complication of diabetes.

Obesity plays a role by raising blood pressure, and increasing insulin resistance. Both can stress your Kidney’s.

Stress is another factor since it raises blood pressure.

High cholesterol produces a fatty substance that can clog up your kidneys.

Urinary track infections can cause kidney problems.

Drug-Induced kidney Damage

There are prescription, and over-over-the-counter products that can cause kidney damage. This is a list of some of the medications that can cause problems.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NAIDs)

• Ibuprofen (example, Advil)
• Aspirin (example, Excedrin)
• Naproxen sodium (example, Aleve)
• Celecoxib (Celebrex)
• Acetaminophen (Tylenol, dose related)

High blood pressure medicines

• Hydralazine
• ACE inhibitors

Some Diuretics

Antibiotics

• Penicillin
• Sulfa drugs
• Cyclosporine

Preventing

Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) is the loss of kidney function. The number of people with kidney failure has doubled from 1990 to 2000. The annual cost of treating kidney failure is over $20 billion. A loss of kidney function ups the risk of heart attacks or strokes.

Prevention is not what the medical field calls for. They want regular checkups to see if you have signs of impaired kidney function. It is obvious that the kidneys are part of an overall picture of health. If the leading cause of this condition is either diabetes or high blood pressure, than you are dealing with something that is lifestyle related.

On the other hand if you are on some medications that can cause kidney failure it is an indicator that you have a host of health related problems. You prevent kidney failure the same way you prevent any chronic condition. By recognizing that changing what you do, will change what is happening within.

Naturally

Naturally it is hard to sell patients the idea of taking charge of their own health. There is dissent in the medical community that creates a climate of distrust. Combating a dangerous health problem with little else then diet, exercise, faith, and determination seems counterintuitive.

It takes tenacity to go against the prevailing logic. Modern medicine offers unpalatable choices. Promising that drugs are and will be the answer leaves us adrift at sea. We wait for a rescue ship to reach us in the nick of time.   

The promised cures are in the pipelines, years away. Research has shown that weight loss helps ward off decline in kidney function. A new study has found that exercise extends the lives of people with kidney disease.

Another interesting fact is that people with kidney disease have conditions not directly related to kidney problems. They in fact usually have compromised health due to other factors.

The dangers is modern medicine doesn’t recognize its limits. They have been wrong for so long that that they have trouble shifting focus. Getting hooked to a machine is not the same as empowering yourself and taking charge of your own health.