Adverse Effects of Medicinal Herbs Uncovered

The use of herbal medicines as substitute for pharmaceutical medications is also widespread among countries. Even though most of them are harmless, there are still lots of herbal remedies that may have side-effects and can threaten human if not taken properly.     

     

Americans widely use herbal products as alternative therapies. These products do not undergo scientific test as required in conventional drugs. They are advertised in the United States without any clinical efficacy or safety proof to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But they are allowed by the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act to promote their medicinal effect on human body.    

Consequently, adverse effects linked to herbal medicines, including their interactions with other drugs, are being unrecognized. For instance, Ginko biloba extract, which is said to increase cognitive functioning, could cause spontaneous bleeding as reported. Another related case is the reverse effects of Ginseng when combined with anti-depressants. Therefore, physicians dressed in scrub tops and pants must be cognizant on the possible harmful drug interactions of herbal products. They must also be aware of the deleterious results that can be derived from these products, especially those people using herbal remedies.  

Some medicinal herbs negatively interact with medications so they become too active or inactive. In that case, other herbals should be taken only in regulated amounts as they can be overdosed.

Herbals sometimes pose trouble with the functioning of organs when taken for a long time. Liver and kidney are two certain organs usually affected by herbals since they serve as body filters. They can also affect cognitive functioning and could lead to mental confusion. Inaccurate use of herbal medicines may also increase blood pressure, especially if a person has already heart problems. Other herbal side-effects include skin irritation, photosensitivity, and sleepiness.    


Although herbal products are available even without a prescription, physicians should still give medical guidance to avoid the adverse effects and undesirable drug interactions of herbal medicines, including dietary supplements.      

Antibody in Women's Blood May Indicate Ovarian Cancer

A recent study has found a possible way to identify women who are at higher risk of ovarian cancer, and actually diagnose early onset of the disease. They found mesothelin, a protein present in normal tissue that can develop as an immune system response, in abundant quantity in ovarian cancer cells. Read published study.

When researchers looked into the blood of infertile women, an ovarian cancer high risk group, mesothelin antibody was more likely to be found. And it proved to be the same as with women with cancer of the ovary. On the other hand, healthy women and those with benign ovarian cysts or tumors didn’t have significant levels of the antibody.

The significance of mesothelin antibody in detecting ovarian cancer is just on the first step of the whole long process. More studies will have to be done to identify the correlation of this antibody to infertility, or whether women found to have high mesothelin count in the blood would likely develop ovarian cancer.

Being able to fully maximize the use of mesothelin in detecting early-stage ovarian cancer would be a breakthrough. The presence of autoantibodies could be a significant biomarker, allowing doctors in uniforms scrubs to help patients improve their odds and increase survival rate. Meanwhile, early detection of ovarian cancer remains stark.

Doctors, Community Hospitals Failed to Provide Proper Bladder Cancer Treatment

Community hospitals, along with the men and women in uniforms scrubs got failing grades as a recent study found that only 1 in 4,545 high-grade bladder cancer patients receive recommended treatment. Consequently, patients not receiving are 50% more at risk of spread and 70% increased risk of the cancer to return.

Could it be that the researchers of Chamie of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center set the standard bar too high as suggested by Dr. H. Barton Grossman, professor and deputy chairman of the urology department at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston? That’s unlikely the case, since only 37% of patients with high-grade bladder cancer received the treatment.

High-grade bladder cancer treatment guidelines as set by the American Urological Association and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network:

• Inject chemotherapy drugs into the bladder
• Chemotherapy drugs injection must be followed with bladder assessment and urine testing every three months
• Chemotherapy shot with a six-week course of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) treatment follow ups
• Upper urinary tract MRI or CT scans every two years

Saving Women and Newborns Means More Midwives

Midwife shortage gets in the way of reducing mortality rate among newly born babies and women during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period as shown in the first State of the World’s Midwifery report. The effect of such shortage is most notable in low-income countries, wherein poor marginalized women have no access to functioning healthcare facilities, qualified health professionals, midwives, and even those trained with midwifery skills.

The world is losing 358,000 women and 3.6 million newborns every year due to largely preventable complications. The mortality swells with the 2.6 million stillbirths caused by insufficient healthcare. The numbers boldly suggest immediate deployment of more skilled midwives to remote areas is very much necessary. Even in rural areas, wherein those in uniforms scrubs are outnumbered at an overwhelming rate, more midwives should be sent to give doctors and nurses a hand.

The probability of death or survival of women and newborns largely depend on how many are the skilled people that are going to provide health care. WHO and its partners are working closely to strengthen midwifery education around the globe, to increase women’s access to healthcare, especially in the more impoverished countries such as Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan. This is also deemed to answer improved services on primary health care as well as link women up with obstetric care if necessary.

I don’t know how these organizations are working on midwifery education, but I do hope they are imparting midwifery training to those people who are likely to devote their skills to these people. Who else but those coming right from the heart of the communities? These people need to be educated by the importance of healthcare from traditional doctors, and given the basic survival training. As for more thorough midwifery training, they have to be training until they become experts of the craft.

What is Polio?

Polio or poliomyelitis is a dreaded disease that can leave a child irreversibly paralyzed or even dead. Caused by polio virus, this disease can damage the nervous system and result to paralysis in a matter of hours. This happens because the virus interrupts muscle signals, resulting to slack and weak muscles. If fresh nerve cells are not able to replace the damaged ones, the patient can suffer permanent paralysis or disfigurement. In worst cases, wherein polio virus reaches the brain and lungs, the patient may die as it will cause breathing to stop. Somebody who wears a lab coat, and is expert in this kind of disease would usually require the patient to undergo more aggressive therapy such as putting the patient in a ventilator just to survive.

How is polio virus contracted? This highly contagious viral illness begins when food or drink, or anything that is contaminated with virus found in stool, is ingested and enters the body through the mouth. When virus is able to get through, it will multiply in the intestinal tract. And the most highly at risk are children under the age of 5.

How do you know a child is infected with polio? There are three forms of poliomyelitis, and symptoms depend on the kind that affected a child. One is the abortive polio, a non-paralytic type that usually enables a patient of full recovery. Symptoms are just flu-like, so the illness is usually mistaken for something else that’s ordinary. A patient suffering from abortive polio experiences mild upper respiratory infection, diarrhea, fever, sore throat, and other symptoms similar to flu. The second type is nonparalytic polio associated to aseptic meningitis, which shows sensitivity to light and stiff neck. The third is the severe type or the paralytic polio, wherein the virus leaves the intestinal track and goes into the blood stream, affecting the nerves and causing limb and respiratory muscles.

Standard treatment of polio involves ventilators and iron lungs for the respiratory muscles. Patients who suffer form paralytic polio may have to dread people in lab coats, for they may have to face a number of operations. Surgeries are also done on the affected body parts such as spine, legs, knees, ankles, and toes. After each operation, a patient undergoes a rehabilitation period and painful exercises, forcing the patient to virtually live in hospitals instead in their homes for years.

Acute symptoms usually last in less than 2 weeks. Ill or paralytic effects, though, can last a lifetime. People who were able to fully recover might still suffer from post-polio syndrome after 30 to 40 years since contracting the disease.

In many developed countries, like the U.S., polio has become rare disease due to polio immunizations. However, in 3rd world and developing countries, thorough vaccination isn’t administered, keeping polio a recurring problem. Polio WHO reports that in Congo, 120 cases of acute flaccid paralysis and 58 deaths were listed early in November 2010, with the fist cases occurred first week of Oct of the same year. Global initiative to eradicate polio is focused in 4 polio-endemic countries, specifically in Northern India, Northern Nigeria, and the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

What is Binge Drinking?

In layman’s understanding, binge drinking is too much drinking – an act of consuming alcohol up to the point that the drinker is no longer capable of standing, much less walk. Binger would or may pee in the pants and throw right anywhere, but would not remember anything once sober again. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, though, binge drinking is having several drinks, (5 drinks for men and 4 for women) within a short period of time.

Compared to what health experts define as moderate drinking, the amount of alcohol that is health-friendly (1 for women and not more than 2 for men per day), average bingers put down 8 drinks in just 2 hours. Not surprisingly, the more aggressive young binge drinkers consume more than 8 drinks on average!

There is no safe level in binge drinking. And it constitutes not just embarrassing acts as a result of uncontrolled physical, mental and emotional reaction to too much alcohol in the body. Bingeing also puts the binger in serious risks such as violence against others, car crashes, sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancies, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and infant death syndrome, and alcohol dependence. In the long run, a binger can suffer from chronic illnesses such as stroke, heart disease, liver disease, and cancer. If you have been bingeing, and is experiencing symptoms related to any of the mentioned diseases, see your physician.

Benefits of alcohol intake, according to studies, can reach up at the level of improving longevity. Professionals, wearing Dickies scrubs and Adar uniforms, would even recommend alcohol intake in order to mend some stomach problems. However, bingeing or drinking heavily undermines all advantages.

CDC reports drinking too much led to more than 79,000 deaths in the U.S. annually. But since, binge drinking is not recognized as a problem, there has been a significant rise in the number of bingers in the country. Today, however, CDC points to binge drinking as huge public health problem.

Acute Mountain Sickness – The Foe in High Altitudes

The most amazing sceneries are found in the highlands and mountain ranges, no wonder many nature lovers even risk their lives to have a look of these awe-inspiring sceneries. Who could resist the magnificence of Drei Giffel in Alpine Mountains and Himalaya’s Mount K2, or wouldn’t drop a jaw upon getting a glimpse of Mount Alpamayo’s splendor? And when up on top of any of these, none would probably ever regret that they actually took such a risky adventure. The sceneries from the top of mountains are just priceless, and being able to see the grand masterpieces of nature will prove to be among the most unforgettable experiences.

Witnessing the grandest designs on Earth is never easy, though. The most longed sceneries come with great risks. Besides unpredictable situations, high altitudes can be deadly. In the Himalayas, where Mt. Everest is found, many have died already, and high altitude could be one of the reasons. The official altitude of the world’s highest peak is 29,029 feet above sea level, but could be higher by 6 feet. Climbing the highest summit of Mt. Everest fast is inviting, but at about 8000 feet, mild symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness or AMS can already be felt by mountaineers.

WHAT IS ACUTE MOUNTAIN SICKNESS?

AMS, also known as high altitude cerebral edema, is the body’s natural response to the scant oxygen supply in high altitudes. When a person is in such a place, barometric air pressure decreases and the lungs absorb less oxygen. The condition affects human body’s most vital organs, the lungs, heart, muscles, and nervous system upon reaching high elevation until about four days. Its best solution is to climb down. Otherwise, it could lead to death due to respiratory distress or brain swelling. Cerebral edema or brain swelling, pulmonary edema, and or coma are possible complications when preventive treatment is not administered on time.

A person can suffer from mild or severe AMS, depending on the altitude, speed of ascend, and overexerting before acclimatizing. During this period, fluids may accumulate in the lungs and or around the brain. When a mountain climber starts suffering from difficulty of sleeping, dizziness, fatigue, headache and loss of appetite, he is experiencing AMS symptoms that are mild to moderate. He can also experience nausea, rapid heart beat and shortness of breath. And when congestion, coughing up blood, gray or pale complexion, and inability to walk in a straight line or to walk at all, he is already suffering from severe AMS. Congestion, confusion, decreased consciousness and shortness of breath at rest also tells that AMS is severe, and immediate medical attention is needed.

To prevent AMS, individuals with respiratory ailment or anemia must avoid high altitudes. For medications, people in nursing uniforms and lab coats or your physician could best provide. As much as possible, do not travel alone. Extra oxygen must also be handy. And of course, never shun any symptoms of AMS.