What Is Skin Cancer?

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Vincent

Skin cancer is a malignancy in the skin that affects millions of Americans every year. Although it is one of the most common cancers among all types, it is highly curable when treated at the earlier stages. This disease is often associated with UV rays, radiation and now, even pollutants.

skin cancer examinationTypes

There are three common types of this cancer. They are classified according to the type of skin cell affected by the malignancy.

  • Basal cell carcinoma: Known to be the most widespread, this type develops underneath the epidermis. Body parts that are often exposed to UV rays, such as neck and head, are the most commonly affected. Although this type is the most common, the growth of cancer cells is still relatively slow and the rate of spreading is highly unlikely. Nonetheless, worsening is still possible.

  • Squamous cell carcinoma: This type of skin cancer is the second most common. It is often more visible as it affects the top layer of the epidermis. Also often occurring on body parts exposed to sunlight, it is seen on the surface in the form of reddish lumps. When not cured earlier, it can spread to hidden body surfaces and ultimately, even the lymph nodes.

  • Melanoma: This aggressive form is the most fatal of all, and in fact, most deaths accounted for cancer of the skin are blamed on this type. It causes abnormalities in the pigment cells known as melanocytes, located in the bottom layer of the epidermis. And because Caucasians have more melanocytes than brown people and African Americans, they are ten times more susceptible to this dangerous disease.

There is a fourth type of cancer of the skin but this is extremely rare. Called Merkel cell carcinoma, this type is associated to a virus and can only affect old people and those who have weak immune systems.

Symptoms

The most common symptoms of skin cancer are any changes in size, color, shape or texture of an already existing mole. A mole that increases in size, becomes rough or itchy, or bleeds, should be brought to a doctor right away. Also, any development of new moles should be monitored.

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Different Allergy Relief Methods That You Can Try

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Vincent

spring allergyMore than 35 million Americans are in need of an effective allergy relief treatment. That is equivalent to 11% of the whole country’s population. According to a study published in 2006, it seems that the rate is even getting higher in highly industrialized countries year after year.

The figures are really bothering, but not many affected people see allergies as serious threats. The truth is, although millions are affected, most of them are only sensitive to airborne allergens that cause allergic rhinitis. This causes milder symptoms like sneezing, itching and nose irritation. Nonetheless, food allergies and other more fatal types can lead to hypotension, comatose and death when not taken care of.

For these reasons, knowing which handy allergy relief treatments can be used is very important. Here are some of them.

Medicines

The most favored drugs for allergies are antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine, and epinephrines. These are often sold over the counter at affordable prices. Because they are FDA approved and fast-acting, millions of Americans use them for maintenance and emergencies. Similar allergic mediator blockers, such as glucocorticoids and decongestants, are also often used.

Remember that these drugs are symptoms relievers that are meant to ease attacks and not permanently cure any form of allergies.

Immunotherapy

This is a more expensive form of relief but potentially permanent at that. In this method, allergens are being vaccinated to the person, with gradual increase in dosage session after session to force the body to produce the needed antibodies that will fight allergic attacks. It is like conditioning your body to get used to allergies, eliminating sensitivity in the process.

Different types of clinical immunotherapy may be recommended to you based on the type of allergy you have.

Natural Remedies

Homeopathic and alternative treatments are becoming very famous because of their “natural” labels. Saline solution is an easy home remedy that can be used by people who experience inflammation in the nose due to allergic rhinitis. By adding a teaspoon of salt to a pint of lukewarm water, you can already ease out all symptoms associated with allergic rhinitis.

Using it with a nose bidet or neti pot also makes this allergy relief method more effective.

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Methadone Dosage Guidelines

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Vincent

Methadone is a drug commonly used to treat both chronic pain and opioid addiction with the latter representing the most commonly prescribed usage.  Due to the high risk of developing a chemical dependency associated with all high potency pain medications, there must be considerable care given by a physician in determining the correct methadone dosage.

dosage of methadoneWhen treating pain, if treating an adult with oral methadone one should always start with a low dosage and titrate the dose upward until the patient achieves adequate pain relief.  Generally one starts with a dose of 2.5 mg and then gradually increases up to 10 mg, with a frequency of administration of roughly 10 hours.

The physician needs to remember that the drug persists for a long time in the blood stream so one should not increase the dose too rapidly.  Intravenous and intramuscular applications of the drug should be titrated using a similar dosage and methodology.

If, on the other hand, a person is being treated for opioid dependency, one will usually need to start at a higher dose and gradually withdraw the medicine.  Generally the right starting dose is between 15 and 40 mg depending on the severity of the addiction.  In some severe cases patients have been treated with as much as 325 mg per day.  Dosage might thus need to be elevated over a number of days until withdrawal symptoms stabilize.  The frequency of administration is generally daily, although one can give an additional 5 to 10 mg if the patient is experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms that cannot be tolerated.

After a couple of days stabilization at this base methadone dosage, the physician can begin to titrate the dosage down slowly, roughly by a fifth per day until the patient is able to go without being medicated.  This is generally achievable within 10 days.

Care must always be exercised in determining the correct methadone dosage as different people will respond differently based on their genetics and tolerance to the drug.  This is particularly true in the case of treating severe opioid dependencies where a patient could have a very abnormal tolerance for the drug.

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The Truth About Benadryl Overdose

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Vincent

benadryl pillsBenadryl is not a medication anyone should take lightly. Although you may feel that an overdose on this medication is impossible, this is not true. You can not only overdose by taking too much Benadryl, but you can harm your body in a variety of other ways as well. Read through this article to learn more about the risks of taking too much Benadryl.

Firstly, children and the elderly are the most at risk for experiencing the drawbacks of an overdose. An overdose does not solely mean you are going to die, but that you harm your body to the point where you feel pain. Read the label instructions to understand how much Benadryl should be in your system at any given time. There are detailed instructions for how much a person at a certain age, weight or height should take. Follow these instructions and everything should be fine.

In the event that you or someone you know suspects they have overdosed on Benadryl, what are the symptoms? Well, some people feel and act as though they are intoxicated from alcohol. Others start to actually hallucinate and see things they normally wouldn’t before. In addition to this, vomiting is common and can make your stomach upset for quite some time. When a Benadryl overdose occurs people seem to become a bit off during conversations. This can lead to embarrassing moments. Lastly, watch out for deep sleep, oversleeping and drowsiness as a result of taking too much Benadryl.

Although an overdose is highly unlikely it is still something to look out for. If you are taking Benadryl then write down each time and date you take a dose. When someone you know is medicating make sure you check in on them from time to time. At first when someone takes this medicine they feel like it isn’t doing anything to their body so they decide to take more. Give your body some time for it to settle and never take more than the recommended amount to avoid an overdose.

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Side Effects To Look Out For When Taking Pravastatin

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Vincent

pravastatinPravastatin is the generic name for Pravachol, one of the earliest statins used to lower LDL cholesterol levels.  Since it is one of the most mild statins in terms of efficacy, its side effect profile is typically the most benign of the entire class.  Nonetheless, there are still several side effects of this drug that one needs to look out for.

All statins, including pravastatin, have the potential to cause liver damage.  In clinical trials it was found to raise liver enzyme levels in a small percentage of users.  For this reason, no one should take it without having regular liver enzyme monitoring done in order to ensure that there is no substantial damage to the liver.

Rhabdomyolysis with acute renal failure is also one of the rarely observed pravastatin side effects, as with most statins.  This refers to a rapid break down of muscle tissue, which causes myoglobin to accumulate in the bloodstream.  Long term levels of this breakdown product can damage the kidney, leading to rare cases of kidney disease.  Note many people who take statins commonly complain on muscle pain for this reason and will often switch medicines before any significant permanent damage is done.

In long term clinical studies, the rate of most side effects of pravastatin when compared to placebo were comparable.  Only a few were shown to be statistically significant.  Headache was one of the most common, judged to be caused by the drug in 1.7% of patients involved in clinical studies versus only 0.2% in placebo. There also was a significantly higher rate of influenza, but that was believed to be causes by a statistical anomaly and not the drug.

The profile of pravastatin side effects is pretty benign as prescription medicines go, particularly in the statin class.  That being said, one must always remember that these are man-made molecules and the long term side-effect of decades of habitual use might not be well known for a while since rigorous clinical trial follow-up is usually limited to a few years before a drug is approved.

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Different Types Of Wart Removal Techniques

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Vincent

Warts are non-cancerous rouapplying creamgh skin lesions caused by a virus called HPV (Human papillomavirus). Though warts can occur anywhere, it is commonly found in moist regions of the body like feet, hands, scratches or small cuts on the fingers, and even in the genital areas. There are almost hundred strains of HPV, which can cause different types of warts, such as genital warts, mosaic warts, plantar warts, filiform warts, flat warts, and common warts. Warts are a highly contagious disease that can spread very easily from an infected person to another. Therefore, warts removal is essential to check its spread.

There are many different types of treatment and procedures available for wart removal, but most of them provide only a temporary relief from them. Removing warts permanently can be time-consuming. Prior to the discovery of modern medicine, natural home remedies were also used in the removal of warts.

Medications

Both prescription and OTC drugs are available for the treatment of warts.

Non-prescription drugs

The best non-prescription drug for the treatment of wart is salicylic acid. Salicylic acid preparations are available in the form of gels, pads, drops, and plasters and are designed to be applied to any kind of warts, big or small. Salicylic acid is a keratolytic agent, which when applied on to the warts dissolves the protein and softens them, so that it can be rubbed off easily. One such example of non-prescription wart removal product is aldara cream.

Prescription medications

The use of prescription drugs in the removal of warts is not used widely. The most commonly used prescription drugs for wart removal include:

Cantharidin: It is the most prescribed cream for wart removal. The application should be done in the physician’s office and then covered with a bandage. This wart removal cream comes with a real bonus- it do not leave any ugly marks on the skin after use.

BCA (Bichloroacetic acid): Bichloroacetic acid is a proteolytic agent, which kills the warts by means of protein destruction. This medicine is strongly acidic in nature, so it has to be administered in the doctor’s office carefully.

Retinoid cream: Retinoid creams are another prescription drug that can be used for effective wart removal. However, unlike the other 2 creams, retinoid creams can be applied self in the comfort of sitting at home. It works by disrupting the growth of wart skin cells.

Procedures for wart removal

The following treatment procedures may also be prescribed by the physician to get rid of warts. They include

Keratolysis – It is the process of removing dead cells using immunomodulators, blistering agents, or formaldehyde.

Cryosurgery – Cryosurgery utilizes liquid nitrogen to freeze the warts and then remove it.

Laser treatment – Laser treatment has also become one of best option for the removal of warts. It uses intense laser beams to burn the warts and the procedure is done by a physician in his/her office. Laser surgery is done quick and often leaves little to no scarring after the treatment is over.

Surgery – Surgical removal of warts is another option, when other methods of wart removal fails. One common method of surgical treatment of warts is electro surgery and curettage, where the wart is burnt with an electric current and a sharp knife is used to cut off the wart from the skin.

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Common Medications For Pain Relief

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Vincent

Dozens of over-the-counter medicines for pain relief can be used for mild to intense pain. Some of them may be effective while some may not work at all. This is especially true for dreaded cases, such as pains caused by different forms of cancers, brain injuries and bone defects. In the aforementioned cases, prescription drugs are often needed. Usually, illegal drugs such as hallucinogens may also be used for clinical reasons. These drugs, however, should be administered at the right dosages.

Analgesics, or drugs meant as pain relief, are classified into two: the non-narcotic analgesics and the narcotic analgesics. These drugs do their work without the person having to lose consciousness. As opposed to anesthetics that usually put a person into a deep sleep, analgesics are general drugs that can be used, most often than not, without the supervision of a licensed doctor. One such medication is Oxycodone Acetaminophen. Oxycodone is a analgesic medication synthesized from poppy-derived thebaine and is usually used as a compounding product with acetaminophen or paracetamol.

pain relief pillsNon-narcotic Drugs

The non-narcotic drugs stop or lessen pain by preventing nerve impulses at the affected part from sending a signal to the brain.

  • Ibuprofen: This is a popular relief to muscle pains because it effectively reduces inflammation in the muscles. It can also be used to ease out the symptoms of arthritis and fever. Nonetheless, among the over-the-counter analgesics, it triggers allergic reactions the most.

  • Aspirin: Even kids use it. Known to be a safe choice, this drug inhibits the formation of prostaglandins, a hormone responsible for inflammation in the blood vessels and other parts of the body.

Because it promotes blood clotting, people with ailments related to blood infection are not advised to use this drug. Likewise, pregnant women should stay away from it as well because there are records associating it with miscarriages and bleeding.

Narcotic Drugs

The narcotic drugs, on the other hand, directly take action on the receptors that are in the nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord. Because these drugs target the root recipients, they are often used for more intense pains, like post-surgery pains and pains caused by serious injuries. It is also due to this reason why they can have negative impacts on the brain.

Opium, morphine, codeine and heroin are just other samples of narcotic drugs. They may give pain relief, but the side effects are beyond manageable when abused.

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Different Types of HPV Treatment

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Vincent

human papillomavirusBefore anything else, you should know that HPV or human papillomavirus has no cure. On the lighter side, there is a way to avoid getting infected with it. If infection already exists, there are treatments that are proven effective in eliminating the virus. An HPV treatment is best done during the earlier stage of infection.

HPV is a very common virus with 100 known types to date. Of this number, 30 are known to cause sexually transmitted diseases (STD) while the rest can damage the female reproductive organ from within. Widespread STDs caused by HPV include genital warts, while cell abnormalities caused by HPV include cervical cancer.

Prevention

Medical experts highly recommend that all women should get an vaccine to avoid getting infected. Some medical insurance companies cover this vaccine, to avoid having to pay for more dreaded diseases, while some do not. You should know, nevertheless, that the vaccine becomes useless when you are already infected with HPV.

Treatments

Healthy diet

Do not be surprised, but healthy diet is your first line of treatment. The human papilloma virus dies on its own. In fact, many infected women do not even have to undergo any kind of medical attention at all. With a strong immune system, the virus is not impossible to kill.

Medication

There are some drugs or creams available that are effectively used to treat HPV caused diseases like genital warts. For example podophyllin or aldara cream.

Cryosurgery

One advanced way of killing HPV is through cryosurgery. In this method, the area with abnormal cells is frozen using liquid nitrogen. When melted, all infected cells die, including the virus itself.

Not all doctors see this method as a conventional type. But the success rate achieved through it is really satisfying. Likewise, this treatment can also be used with a more advanced case HPV infection, like cervical cancer.

If you are interested, talk to your doctor now because not all hospitals practice this procedure.

Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure (LEEP)

In this method, the abnormal cells are being killed using electrical current, eliminating all remaining human papillomavirus as well. This is recommended for non-extensive infections.

Conization

This HPV treatment removes all infected parts using surgery. It is often done alongside a biopsy to see if the virus already caused mutation leading to cancer.

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The Anatomy of a Cough Medicine

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Vincent

A cough medicine, or linctus when in a form of syrup, refers to a substance that is used in an attempt to cure coughing or other related illnesses.

cough syrupThe Types of Cough Medicines

Different forms of coughing are addressed using different kinds of cough remedies. Dry cough, or coughing that does not produce phlegm, should be treated using suppressants or antitussives to stop it from developing any further. On the other hand, productive coughs, or coughing that comes with phlegm, should be treated using expectorants. Such substances would aid in loosening the mucus that accumulates inside the respiratory tract.

Examples

Some examples of commonly used cough remedies include codeine, bromhexine, guaifenesin and honey. Apart from honey the main active ingredient found in these medicines is dextromethorphan hbr.

  • Codeine is once considered as the gold standard when it comes to suppressing cough. Evidence proves that it acts to the medulla to increase the verge for cough triggers.
  • Bromhexine is a mucolytic that feats on the early stages of the formation of mucus across the glands inside cells that secrete mucus. This would then trigger the production of less viscid mucous that is easier to expel out of the body.
  • Guafenesin refers to an expectorant that is believed to implicitly increase the output of fluids inside the respiratory tract thus aiding into the formation of less viscous mucus secretions.
  • Lastly, honey is claimed to be a minimally effective cough medicine. Accordingly, it is assumed to help in making the respiratory tract smoother and finer.

Considerations When Buying Any Cough Medicines

It is important to consider certain things before buying a cough remedy for failure to do so could risk someone’s life. It is a must to consider the authenticity of the product to avoid unwanted incidents. For instance, there have been a couple of recorded cases of poisoning from cheap diethylene glycol. It should also be considered whether one is allergic to a particular remedy or not. As such, asking for the assistance of a physician would be more than helpful.

Efficacy of Cough Remedies

The absolute efficacy of cough remedies is yet to be proven. Several researchers are speculating that their effects could be merely placebo. As such, people should be alarmed about persisting extents of respiratory tract illnesses and ask for the help of a doctor immediately.

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Information About OTC Sleep Aids

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Vincent

man sleepingMany people are using over the counter sleeping aids. These might not boast the same level of efficiency as the ones prescribed by a doctor where their side effects are well-known. Here is the reason why over the counter sleep aids are so popular.

Convenient – Antihistamines are one of the most common sleep aids that have FDAs approval and can be obtained over the counter without prescription. The only concern is that many people may start to depend on them and take this for the long term instead.

Less surprises – Sleep aids have been on the market for quite sometime. Longer that any popular prescription sleeping aid like Lunesta and Ambien. Medical specialists are normally wary of the latest sleeping treatment which have not stood the test of time.

Lesser evil – As the harmful factor of the over the counter sleep treatments are considered the side effects. Some people put up with the well known hangover effect or have just adapted on how they take the over the counter sleep aid, smaller amount of dosage or simply sleep longer and go to bed earlier. Granted that these hangovers and other associated side effects can be serious for some individuals. On the other hand, day sleepiness seems less strange than unconsciously sleepwalking on prescribed sleep aids.

Cheaper – An over the counter sleep aid can only be obtained at a very reasonable price as compared to other sleeping pills. People are glad to solve their insomnia problems at a very reasonable price and lower risk. The cost of the treatment is always a deciding factor when the conventional prescription sleeping treatment does not measure up the cost difference.

Instant lifestyle – Change is fast and constant for these sleep aids. People need both instant solutions and instant gratification for their stress filled lives. Over the counter sleep aids can be obtained very quickly.

Insomnia is a distressing health concern. Over the counter treatments are best utilized for occasional sleep problems at suggested doses. However, you need to read the label prior to taking this treatment in order to prevent further health concerns.

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