Treatment for Hypoglycemia

Management of hypoglycemia involves immediately raising the blood sugar to normal, determining the cause, and taking measures to hopefully prevent future episodes.

The blood glucose can be raised to normal within minutes by taking (or receiving) 10-20 grams of carbohydrate. It can be taken as food or drink if the person is conscious and able to swallow. This amount of carbohydrate is contained in about 3-4 ounces (100-120 ml) of orange, apple, or grape juice although fruit juices contain a higher proportion of fructose which is more slowly metabolized than pure dextrose, alternatively, about 4-5 ounces (120-150 ml) of regular (non-diet) soda may also work, as will about one slice of bread, about 4 crackers, or about 1 serving of most starchy foods. Starch is quickly digested to glucose (unless the person is taking acarbose), but adding fat or protein retards digestion. Symptoms should begin to improve within 5 minutes, though full recovery may take 10–20 minutes. Overfeeding does not speed recovery and if the person has diabetes will simply produce hyperglycemia afterwards.

If a person is suffering such severe effects of hypoglycemia that they cannot (due to combativeness) or should not (due to seizures or unconsciousness) be given anything by mouth, medical personnel such as EMTs and Paramedics, or in-hospital personnel can establish an IV and give intravenous Dextrose, concentrations varying depending on age (Infants are given 2cc/kg Dextrose 10%, Children Dextrose 25%, and Adults Dextrose 50%). Care must be taken in giving these solutions because they can be very necrotic if the IV is infiltrated. If an IV cannot be established, the patient can be given 1 to 2 milligrams of Glucagon in an intramuscular injection. More treatment information can be found in the article diabetic hypoglycemia.

One situation where starch may be less effective than glucose or sucrose is when a person is taking acarbose. Since acarbose and other alpha-glucosidase inhibitors prevents starch and other sugars from being broken down into monosaccharides that can be absorbed by the body, patients taking these medications should consume monosaccharide-containing foods such as glucose tablets, honey, or juice to reverse hypoglycemia.

en.wikipedia

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Things to Know About Laser Skin Treatment

The word 'laser' is derived from the words Light Amplifi­cation by Stimulated Emission of Radiation - which means that a laser consists of a powerful beam of light. Several types of laser are used in medical practice with great success in numerous different areas: in the treatment of detached retinas, bleeding veins, some types of cancer and many serious skin problems.

There is evidence to show that they are effective in the treatment of port wine stains, in the removal of tattoos, in the treatment of warts, and in the treatment of some cancerous skin conditions.

There has been talk about lasers being used to treat wrinkles, but as far as I know there is no evidence to show that laser therapy is of any permanent use in the treatment of wrinkles. There can be some short-term relief - due to localized swelling hiding t
he wrinkles - but that's about all.

Things have come a long way since 1960 when an expert described the newly developed laser as an invention in search of an application.

Unfortunately, the production, sale and use of lasers has not been controlled. Today, there are many unqualified individuals buying and using them in private clinics where they are advertised as being suitable for an astonishing range of disorders. Lasers can be extremely dangerous and should never be used by unqualified practitioners. If you need laser therapy, your own family doctor will refer you to a specialist who knows exactly what he is doing. In my view the future of lasers in the treatment of skin disease has been put in peril by the careless, unscientific and irresponsible attempts by some users to cash in on a piece of modern technology. And please don't believe anyone who talks about an entirely 'safe' laser. If a laser is going to do an efficient job then it is potentially dangerous. To talk about an entirely safe laser is like talking about an entirely safe gun.
http://www.healtharticles.lk/articles/628/1/Things-to-know-about-Laser-Skin-Treatment/Page1.html

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Treatment of a Stroke

Tissue plasminogen activator (TPA)

There is opportunity to use alteplase (TPA) as a clot-buster drug to dissolve the blood clot that is causing the stroke. There is a narrow window of opportunity to use this drug. The earlier that it is given, the better the result and the less potential for the complication of bleeding into the brain.

Present American Heart Association guidelines recommend that if used, TPA must be given within 4 1/2 hours after the onset of symptoms. for patients who waken from sleep with symptoms of stroke, the clock starts when they were last seen in a normal state.

TPA is injected into a vein in the arm but, the time frame for its use may be extended to six hours if it is dripped directly into the blood vessel that is blocked requiring angiography, which is performed by an interventional radiologist. Not all hospitals have access to this technology.

TPA may reverse stroke symptoms in more than one-third of patients, but may also cause bleeding in 6% patients, potentially making the stroke worse.

For posterior circulation strokes that involve the vertebrobasilar system, the time frame for treatment with TPA may be extended even further to 18 hours.

Heparin and aspirin

Drugs to thin the blood (anticoagulation; for example, heparin) are also sometimes used in treating stroke patients in the hopes of improving the patient's recovery. It is unclear, however, whether the use of anticoagulation improves the outcome from the current stroke or simply helps to prevent subsequent strokes (see below). In certain patients, aspirin given after the onset of a stroke does have a small, but measurable effect on recovery. The treating doctor will determine the medications to be used based upon a patient's specific needs.

Managing other Medical Problems

Blood pressure will be tightly controlled often using intravenous medication to prevent stroke symptoms from progressing. This is true whether the stroke is ischemic or hemorrhagic.

Supplemental oxygen is often provided.

In patients with diabetes, the blood sugar (glucose) level is often elevated after a stroke. Controlling the glucose level in these patients may minimize the size of a stroke.

Patients who have suffered a transient ischemic attacks, the patient may be discharged with blood pressure and cholesterol medications even if the blood pressure and cholesterol levels are within acceptable levels. Smoking cessation is mandatory.

Rehabilitation

When a patient is no longer acutely ill after a stroke, the health care staff focuses on maximizing the individuals functional abilities. This is most often done in an inpatient rehabilitation hospital or in a special area of a general hospital. Rehabilitation can also take place at a nursing facility.

The rehabilitation process can include some or all of the following :

1. speech therapy to relearn talking and swallowing;
2. occupational therapy to regain as much function dexterity in the arms and hands as possible;
3. physical therapy to improve strength and walking; and
4. family education to orient them in caring for their loved one at home and the challenges they will face.

The goal is for the patient to resume as many, if not all, of their pre-stroke activities and functions. Since a stroke involves the permanent loss of brain cells, a total return to the patient's pre-stroke status is not necessarily a realistic goal in many cases. However, many stroke patients can return to vibrant independent lives.

Depending upon the severity of the stroke, some patients are transferred from the acute care hospital setting to a skilled nursing facility to be monitored and continue physical and occupational therapy.

Many times, home health providers can assess the home living situation and make recommendations to ease the transition home. Unfortunately, some stroke patients have such significant nursing needs that they cannot be met by relatives and friends and long-term nursing home care may be required.

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Nursing Care Plan for Stroke

Stroke

A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), is the rapidly developing loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia (lack of blood flow) caused by blockage (thrombosis, arterial embolism), or a hemorrhage (leakage of blood). As a result, the affected area of the brain is unable to function, leading to inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate speech, or an inability to see one side of the visual field.

A stroke is a medical emergency and can cause permanent neurological damage, complications, and even death. It is the leading cause of adult disability in the United States and Europe and it is the number two cause of death worldwide. Risk factors for stroke include advanced age, hypertension (high blood pressure), previous stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), diabetes, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking and atrial fibrillation. High blood pressure is the most important modifiable risk factor of stroke.

A stroke is occasionally treated in a hospital with thrombolysis (also known as a "clot buster"). Post-stroke prevention may involve the administration of antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin and dipyridamole, control and reduction of hypertension, the use of statins, and in selected patients with carotid endarterectomy, the use of anticoagulants. Treatment to recover any lost function is stroke rehabilitation, involving health professions such as speech and language therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy.


Causes of Stroke

Blockage of an artery

The blockage of an artery in the brain by a clot (thrombosis) is the most common cause of a stroke. The part of the brain that is supplied by the clotted blood vessel is then deprived of blood and oxygen. As a result of the deprived blood and oxygen, the cells of that part of the brain die and the part of the body that it controls stops working. Typically, a cholesterol plaque in a small blood vessel within the brain that has gradually caused blood vessel narrowing ruptures and starts the process of forming a small blood clot.

Risk factors for narrowed blood vessels in the brain are the same as those that cause narrowing blood vessels in the heart and heart attack (myocardial infarction). These risk factors include :

• high blood pressure (hypertension),
• high cholesterol,
• diabetes, and
• smoking.

Embolic stroke

Another type of stroke may occur when a blood clot or a piece of atherosclerotic plaque (cholesterol and calcium deposits on the wall of the inside of the heart or artery) breaks loose, travels through the bloodstream and lodges in an artery in the brain. When blood flow stops, brain cells do not receive the oxygen and glucose they require to function and a stroke occurs. This type of stroke is referred to as an embolic stroke. For example, a blood clot might originally form in the heart chamber as a result of an irregular heart rhythm, such as occurs in atrial fibrillation. Usually, these clots remain attached to the inner lining of the heart, but occasionally they can break off, travel through the blood stream, form a plug (embolism) in a brain artery, and cause a stroke. An embolism can also originate in a large artery (for example, the carotid artery, a major artery in the neck that supplies blood to the brain) and then travel downstream to clog a small artery within the brain.

Cerebral hemorrhage

A cerebral hemorrhage occurs when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds into the surrounding brain tissue. A cerebral hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain) causes stroke symptoms by depriving blood and oxygen to parts of the brain in a variety of ways. Blood flow is lost to some cells. As well, blood is very irritating and can cause swelling of brain tissue (cerebral edema). Edema and the accumulation of blood from a cerebral hemorrhage increases pressure within the skull and causes further damage by squeezing the brain against the bony skull further decreasing blood flow to brain tissue and cells.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage

In a subarachnoid hemorrhage, blood accumulates in the space beneath the arachnoid membrane that lines the brain. The blood originates from an abnormal blood vessel that leaks or ruptures. Often this is from an aneurysm (an abnormal ballooning out of the wall of the vessel). Subarachnoid hemorrhages usually cause a sudden, severe headache, nausea, vomiting, light intolerance, and a stiff neck. If not recognized and treated, major neurological consequences, such as coma, and brain death may occur.

Vasculitis

Another rare cause of stroke is vasculitis, a condition in which the blood vessels become inflamed causing decreased blood flow to brain tissue.

Migraine headache

There appears to be a very slight increased occurrence of stroke in people with migraine headache. The mechanism for migraine or vascular headaches includes narrowing of the brain blood vessels. Some migraine headache episodes can even mimic stroke with loss of function of one side of the body or vision or speech problems. Usually, the symptoms resolve as the headache resolves.


Treatment of a Stroke

Tissue plasminogen activator (TPA)

There is opportunity to use alteplase (TPA) as a clot-buster drug to dissolve the blood clot that is causing the stroke. There is a narrow window of opportunity to use this drug. The earlier that it is given, the better the result and the less potential for the complication of bleeding into the brain.

Present American Heart Association guidelines recommend that if used, TPA must be given within 4 1/2 hours after the onset of symptoms. for patients who waken from sleep with symptoms of stroke, the clock starts when they were last seen in a normal state.

TPA is injected into a vein in the arm but, the time frame for its use may be extended to six hours if it is dripped directly into the blood vessel that is blocked requiring angiography, which is performed by an interventional radiologist. Not all hospitals have access to this technology.

TPA may reverse stroke symptoms in more than one-third of patients, but may also cause bleeding in 6% patients, potentially making the stroke worse.

For posterior circulation strokes that involve the vertebrobasilar system, the time frame for treatment with TPA may be extended even further to 18 hours.

Heparin and aspirin

Drugs to thin the blood (anticoagulation; for example, heparin) are also sometimes used in treating stroke patients in the hopes of improving the patient's recovery. It is unclear, however, whether the use of anticoagulation improves the outcome from the current stroke or simply helps to prevent subsequent strokes (see below). In certain patients, aspirin given after the onset of a stroke does have a small, but measurable effect on recovery. The treating doctor will determine the medications to be used based upon a patient's specific needs.

Managing other Medical Problems

Blood pressure will be tightly controlled often using intravenous medication to prevent stroke symptoms from progressing. This is true whether the stroke is ischemic or hemorrhagic.

Supplemental oxygen is often provided.

In patients with diabetes, the blood sugar (glucose) level is often elevated after a stroke. Controlling the glucose level in these patients may minimize the size of a stroke.

Patients who have suffered a transient ischemic attacks, the patient may be discharged with blood pressure and cholesterol medications even if the blood pressure and cholesterol levels are within acceptable levels. Smoking cessation is mandatory.

Rehabilitation

When a patient is no longer acutely ill after a stroke, the health care staff focuses on maximizing the individuals functional abilities. This is most often done in an inpatient rehabilitation hospital or in a special area of a general hospital. Rehabilitation can also take place at a nursing facility.

The rehabilitation process can include some or all of the following :

1. speech therapy to relearn talking and swallowing;
2. occupational therapy to regain as much function dexterity in the arms and hands as possible;
3. physical therapy to improve strength and walking; and
4. family education to orient them in caring for their loved one at home and the challenges they will face.

The goal is for the patient to resume as many, if not all, of their pre-stroke activities and functions. Since a stroke involves the permanent loss of brain cells, a total return to the patient's pre-stroke status is not necessarily a realistic goal in many cases. However, many stroke patients can return to vibrant independent lives.

Depending upon the severity of the stroke, some patients are transferred from the acute care hospital setting to a skilled nursing facility to be monitored and continue physical and occupational therapy.

Many times, home health providers can assess the home living situation and make recommendations to ease the transition home. Unfortunately, some stroke patients have such significant nursing needs that they cannot be met by relatives and friends and long-term nursing home care may be required. (medicinenet.com)

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Treatment Chart for Peptic Ulcer

A - DIET

I. Milk and banana diet for three to five days.

II. Thereafter, the following diet may be adopted:-

1. Upon arising: 25 black raisins soaked overnight in water along with the water in which they are soaked and also water kept overnight in copper vessel.

2. Breakfast: Fruits such as bananas, mangoes, musk melon, custard apple, papaya and figs and a glass of milk. Avoid sour fruits .

3. Mid-morning: Carrot juice or coconut water.

4. Lunch: Steamed vegetables, whole wheat chappatis or rice.

5. Mid-afternoon: Few dates and milk.

6. Dinner: Lightly cooked vegetables, whole wheat Chappatis and fruits.

NOTE: Introduce gradually raw vegetables and sprouted green gram .

7. Before retiring: A glass of milk.

AVOID: Tobacco, alcohol, flesh foods, coffee, tea, condiments, all chillies, white sugar, white flour and their products, fried and greasy foods.

IMPORTANT: Take low salt diet, small and frequent meals, avoid too hot or too cold foods and drink eight glasses of water everyday.

B - OTHER MEASURES

1. We packs for one hour in the morning and evening on an empty stomach, hot packs in case of abdominal pain.
2. Yogasanas like uttanpadasan, pavanmuktasan, bhujan¬gasan and shavasan.
3. Avoid stress, nervous strain, and worries.
4. Adequate rest and relaxation.

Source : www.diethealthclub.com

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Love not enough to keep couples together

Age, previous relationships also are factors in whether marriage lasts . Living happily ever after needn't only be for fairy tales. Australian researchers have identified what it takes to keep a couple together, and it's a lot more than just being in love.

 

A couple's age, previous relationships and even whether they smoke or not are factors that influence whether their marriage is going to last, according to a study by researchers from the Australian National University.

The study, entitled "What's Love Got to Do With It," tracked nearly 2,500 couples — married or living together — from 2001 to 2007 to identify factors associated with those who remained together compared with those who divorced or separated.

It found that a husband who is nine or more years older than his wife is twice as likely to get divorced, as are husbands who get married before they turn 25.

Children also influence the longevity of a marriage or relationship, with one-fifth of couples who have kids before marriage — either from a previous relationship or in the same relationship — having separated compared to just nine percent of couples without children born before marriage.

Women who want children much more than their partners are also more likely to get a divorce.

A couple's parents also have a role to play in their own relationship, with the study showing some 16 percent of men and women whose parents ever separated or divorced experienced marital separation themselves compared to 10 percent for those whose parents did not separate.

Also, partners who are on their second or third marriage are 90 percent more likely to separate than spouses who are both in their first marriage.

Not surprisingly, money also plays a role, with up to 16 percent of respondents who indicated they were poor or where the husband — not the wife — was unemployed saying they had separated, compared with only nine percent of couples with healthy finances.

And couples where one partner, and not the other, smokes are also more likely to have a relationship that ends in failure.

Factors found to not significantly affect separation risk included the number and age of children born to a married couple, the wife's employment status and the number of years the couple had been employed.

The study was jointly written by Dr Rebecca Kippen and Professor Bruce Chapman from The Australian National University, and Dr Peng Yu from the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. ( Reuters.com )

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Why are girls reaching puberty younger ?

Why are girls reaching puberty younger?. The fact that girls are reaching puberty younger is a physiological phenomenon, with important emotional implications, says Cassandra Jardine.

Girls in Britain, and throughout the developed world, have been been reaching puberty younger and younger Photo: ALAMY

When I was 12, my pottery teacher invited me to a party. For a year or more – nothing to do with school – I had been learning to throw pots at his studio and I was flattered to be treated as a grown-up. Rather to my annoyance, my elder sister decided to chaperone me – rightly so, for the party turned out to be an orgy. Swiftly backing me out through the door, she asked the host why on earth he had invited someone so young. “I thought she was 18,” he replied.

It was an understandable mistake. In the late Sixties, not many girls reached their full height before they left primary school, as I did, or had other misleadingly adult paraphernalia. Many more of them were like my tiny Japanese best friend who still shopped for children’s shoes and looked a decade younger than me.

Nowadays, she would be the exception and I would no longer enjoy, even briefly, the compensation of being useful (solely because of my height) to the netball team. For girls in Britain, and throughout the developed world, have been reaching puberty at a younger and younger age.

The latest results among a group of 1,000 Danish children, in research conducted by Professor Anders Juul of Copenhagen University, a paediatric endocrinologist, showed that between 1991 and 2006 the average age of breast development – the first sign of impending puberty in girls – has come down from 10.88 to 9.86 years. For every worried 14-year-old who is still padding out her bra with socks, there is now an eight-year-old who is being taken, red-faced, to the lingerie department fitting room.

These children may have been tottering around like Suri Cruise in high heels from the age of three. They could be watching unsuitable programmes on television. But becoming apparently physically mature at an early age is still confusing, both for children and their parents.

“Young children should be concentrating on friendship and education,” says educational psychologist Madelene Portwood of Durham University. “This adds to the pressure on them to behave like adults.”

Early puberty is a physiological phenomenon, with important emotional implications for all those girls who are wandering around in adults’ bodies. These girls are towering over boys of their own age because, for girls, the growth spurt and development of breasts come first; periods come later. With boys, it is the other way round: their genitalia and sweaty armpits develop before their height shoots up. The last stage of the maturing process, when they are finally able to signal their manliness, comes when their voices break.

All these markers have been occurring steadily earlier for both boys and girls, but recent changes have been dramatic. In the 18th century, when Bach was directing the Leipzig choir, the average age at which a boy’s voice broke was 18. Choirmasters now have trouble finding trebles over the age of 13 or 14.

Parents of girls in Victorian times found it easier to prevent them becoming mothers at the age of 12, because they were hitting puberty at 15 – just before they were deemed ready to marry and start families. Girls are now having their first periods aged 13.1 years.

Over the past 15 years, girls have started having periods three months earlier; in the same time span boys’ development has dropped by a similar amount to 11.66 years. Happily, the earlier age of puberty is not, in itself, a reason to panic, says Professor David Bainbridge, a Cambridge University zoologist and author of Teenagers: A Natural History. “It is the result of a better diet. Puberty is triggered by GnRH (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone). This affects the pituitary gland, which releases neurotransmitters acting directly on the ovaries or testicles.

“In that respect we are like pigs, whose puberty can be controlled by how fat we make them, although not all animals operate in this way. With cows, it is being among other adults that triggers puberty. For ewes, it is the presence of a ram. In deer, puberty never occurs until they have survived two winters.”

It seems weight is our trigger, although genes play a part, too. Better nourished, taller and heavier, there seems to be a tipping point at which the hormonal changes begin. It may even be that weight in babyhood is the key to earlier puberty.

Encouragingly, there seems to be an age below which maturity does not descend. In the Netherlands – Europe’s tallest nation – the age of first periods in girls has reached a plateau at around 13 years old. That is likely to happen here, too.

The more worrying decrease in age is related specifically to the development of breasts in girls, which can now occur long before puberty. This could be linked to the increase in genital disorders in boys.

“Six per cent of baby boys have undescended testicles, one per cent have deformed penises,” says Professor Richard Sharpe of the Medical Research Council’s Human Reproductive Sciences Unit in Edinburgh. “One in six men now has a low sperm count, and testicular cancer is doubling every 20 years. I’m more convinced that these problems, and early breast development, have their origins early in life. The problem is assigning a cause.”

Various potential villains are being investigated. The pollution of drinking water by oestrogens derived from the contraceptive pill and HRT has been known for 20 years to cause hermaphroditism in fish. But, Sharpe points out, water is carbon-filtered before it returns to the tap, and very little oestrogen remains. Naturally occurring plant (phyto-) oestrogens could also be responsible, among them tea-tree oil used in anti-nit treatments. The finger has also been pointed at parabens – preservatives used in shampoos and sun tan lotions. So, preventing children from itching and burning could be causing other problems.

Bisphenol A, a component used in the lining of tin cans, children’s feeding bottles and plastic bottles, is another possible culprit. (The National Childbirth Trust offers advice: avoiding bottles with a number 7 in the triangle on the bottom is a start). Sharpe, however, is more concerned about phthalates, chemicals used to make plastic soft, durable and transparent.

Whatever is causing premature breast development and other anatomical anomalies – and Sharpe does not want to pre-empt studies due to be published later this year – more and more children are suffering the embarrassment that comes with looking like adults while they are still at primary school. Parents can try to delay the onset of puberty by helping children stay slim, but there will always be some who develop young. They need sensitive handling both at home, and at school.

While physical changes can be premature, the brain seems stuck on an immutable development timetable. “The distinctive brain changes of adolescence are not driven by hormones, they are an independent process,” says Prof Bainbridge. “The quest for autonomy, more complex thought process and the ability to think about other people: these start aged 12-14, as they always did. Whereas these used to occur before puberty, now they come afterwards.”

Children in adult bodies find it confusing, as I did. And the pressures now to act adult are greater. “My approach to working with children has changed,” says Portwood, “because not only are they physically sexualised earlier, emotionally they are more vulnerable than they were 20 years ago. When they used to stick with the same group of friends from nursery to secondary school, they had more support. Now they move more, and the extended family is not often around, we are seeing an increasing incidence of mental health issues, including anorexia and teen suicide.”

Most primary schools now have sanitary bins in girls’ lavatories. But that is not enough. They also need school counsellors, says Portwood, to help children who are confused by looking older than they are. Parents, too, should be careful not to treat them as teenagers. “They need to look at their emotional, not their physical, development. Children of 10, 11 and 12 may look grown-up, but they shouldn’t be treated as young adults or allowed to wear adult clothes.” ( telegraph.co.uk)

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