Tag: depression

Depression in Adolescents

Depression in adolescents is a disorder which occurs due to persistent sadness, loss of interest, loss of self worth and discouragement. Depression is normally a temporary reaction towards situations of stress. Depression is a normal part of the maturation process of adolescents. It is even induced due to production of sex hormones. Adolescent females are depressed twice more than adolescent boys according to a study.

Adolescent behavior is normally marked with good and bad moods. The transition from a good mood to bad mood and vice-versa, can take minutes, hours and even days. That is the reason why true depression is very difficult to find out. Depression in adolescents can be caused due to bad school performance, break up with boyfriend or girlfriend, and failing relations with friends and family. These causes can lead to persistent depression. Other serious causes are chronic illness, obesity, child abuse, stressful lifestyle, poor social skills, unstable care giving and depression in family history.

Symptoms of depression in adolescents are eating disorders, weight change, irritable mood, excessive sleeping in daytime, excessive temper, criminal behavior, memory loss, fatigue, self preoccupation, sadness, difficulty in concentrating, worthlessness feelings, loss of interest, self hatred, obsession with death and thought & attempts of suicides. When these symptoms are being noticed for more than two weeks, it is important to get treatment for the adolescent. Depression not only affects interpersonal relationships, but school performance as well. Depressed adolescents are more prone to take onto drugs and alcohol as an attempt to overcome their depression. Such problems require intensive treatment.

The doctor will take blood test and perform physical examination to determine the cause of depression. The adolescent can also be tested for substance abuse such as smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, marijuana smoking, and usage of other drugs. After the physical examination, psychiatric evaluation is also done to understand the cause of sadness, loss of interest and irritability. Depression can also lead to the development of other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, mania and anxiety. It is also important to determine whether the adolescent poses a risk for himself/herself and others. Family and school personnel can provide valuable information about the adolescent to the doctor.

Treatment for depression for adolescent is similar to the treatment of depression for adults. Along with the treatment, the adolescent are given antidepressant medication and psychotherapy. Antidepressant medications include tricyclics, Prozac, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRI. Some of the medicines increase the risk, so it is a good idea that parents discuss the possible risks with the doctor. Only some of the antidepressant medications are meant for children and adolescents. Adolescents with severe depression need to be hospitalized as they are more prone to kill themselves.

Family and school support is necessary to tackle the depression of the adolescent. Parents can get their children admitted in emotional growth schools, boot camps or wilderness programs, to solve the behavioral problems. These programs consist of non medical staff and confrontational therapies. But care must be taken as some of the programs can in turn harm children who are depressed and sensitive. Adolescents, who get caught due to criminal offense, should be taken special care of by their parents. It is best that the child face the consequences and learn a lesson from it. Depressed adolescents respond well to treatment if they are treated comprehensively and early. More than half of the adults are known to have depression when they were in their teens.

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Steroid Use Causing Problems in Sports Medicine

There are always athletes who feel the need to use steroids while playing sports. While many organizations prohibit the usage, the doctors in the sports medicine field tend to be the real people who are fighting the effects of steroids on a daily basis.

Some of the most prevalent symptoms that sports medicine doctors are forced to deal with include mood swings, violent behavior, depression, and psychoses. The good news is that all of these symptoms are reversible with treatment once the use of the steroids stops; however some other conditions are not as easily reversed.

The use of steroids can alter numerous systems in the body, and how they react in terms of permanent or temporary is very important in terms of working to treat the effects. As the number of athletes guilty of using steroids is steadily decreasing there are fewer problems that doctors are trying to counter, however the use of steroids is still happening which causes the problems to still persist even if at a slower level.

While sports medicine doctors do not typically treat reproductive issues, they are finding themselves engaged in more aspects as the use of steroids can hinder several components. For example, in men it can alter the libido, as well as cause male pattern baldness and even cause impaired spermatogenesis amongst the other problems that include testicular atrophy and gynecomastia. However, of all of the problems, only male pattern baldness is entirely non-reversible with treatment. However, there are times when even gynecomastia is unable to be successfully treated once steroid use has been discontinued.

Women tend to have greater reproductive problems with the use of steroids with the risks causing problems with menstrual cycles, an altered libido, deepened voice, pattern baldness, and even clitoral enlargement. The good news is that the libido as well as menstrual cycle can be restored, while the other results of steroid use at this point are not a reversible complication. This means that each year, women who stop taking steroids are still left with the results to deal with, much more so than men are.

Steroids also have the unfortunate problem of negatively affecting the cardiovascular system, which in athletes much be as healthy as possible in order to achieve the best results. With increased LDL cholesterol levels, reduced HDL cholesterol levels, as well as complications with hypertension, elevated triglycerides and even the potential of arteriosclerotic heart disease the use of steroids has several devastating effects on the athletes overall health.

While there are rare and few doctors who will encourage the use of steroids, a well trained doctor will be able to identify signs that an athlete is using steroids and will do their best to help discourage their usage. While obviously the final choice on using steroids lies with the athlete, a good sports medicine doctor should be able to identify based on signs, which athletes are using.

Because of the risks associated with the cardiovascular system as well as musculoskeletal system, using steroids can actually cause more harm to the body than it can provide in benefits. In addition to the complications associated with the cardiovascular system that were already discussed, it can create complications with tendon degeneration, which is potentially not reversible. This creates a huge problem with weakened tendons that are much more susceptible to injury even after steroid use has stopped. Overall, steroid use represents a huge problem to sports medicine doctors all around the world.

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Who are you? Alzheimer’s symptoms

From the German psychiatrist who first diagnosed the disease, Alzheimer’s is a fatal disease that has both no known cause and cure. There are treatments that help prevent the disease to develop into its complete form. Plus medications already exists which could assist patients to manage their agitation, depression, hallucinations or delusions which could manifest during the later stages of the disease.

There are a number of symptoms which help diagnose the disease. The most prominent of which is memory loss. What seems to be a simple lapse in memory could be the start of Alzheimer’s disease. Loss of memory in Alzheimer’s is manifested from the more than unusual fluctuating forgetfulness to short-term memory loss.

Later, the patient will start to forget familiar things and well-known skills. They will start to forget names, objects, and persons even those that are close to them. Alzheimer’s memory loss is often accompanied by aphasia, disorientation and disinhibition. Aside from forgetfulness and amnesia, some refer to Alzheimer’s related memory loss as memory decay, memory decline, or memory impairment (Loring, 1999).

One, however, should not conclude that all memory loss is caused by Alzheimer’s disease. There are two basic causes of memory loss, namely normal or age related memory loss and the abnormal type. It is normal that middle age and older people begin to forget a number of things. Their ability to remember is often times measured on a standardized scale.

If their memory scores fall within the designated cutoff, their memory loss is due to normal and age-related causes. Meanwhile, if they fail to pass the scores it means that their memory loss is caused by not mere age-related reasons but by abnormal, or age-inappropriate, memory disease or impairment instead. One, therefore, needs to let professional medical workers to isolate and determine if he/she got Alzheimer’s disease.

Aside from the early symptom of memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease at the early stage could also change the patient’s behavior. And as the disease develops, the patient will loose more and more control over body functions such as affecting the way the person thinks and respond. With the effects on the brain’s cognitive functions, the patient will have trouble talking, will find skilled movements troublesome to do and hard to accomplish, and will start slowing down in terms of movements.

The patient will become indecisive and will start having trouble in decision-making processes and planning stages of human activities. These losses of memory and cognitive functions are related to the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. The two lobes are becoming disconnected from the limbic system due to the disease.

Also, part of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s is mood swings and outbursts of violence or excessive passivity. The later stages will be more horrible. People with Alzheimer’s will later on start to loose bowel movement as well as muscle control and mobility. Alzheimer’s usually develops and become fatal within approximately 710 years.

Since Dr. Alzheimer diagnosed the disease in 1901, there have been a lot of medical discoveries and tons of results from research studies and medical investigations that were found to be beneficial in preventing or delaying Alzheimer’s disease.

Studies found out that exercise helps lessen the risk of contracting the disease. Scientists have found significant findings which indicate that having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and low levels of the vitamin folate can increase one’s risk of acquiring Alzheimer’s disease.

Support Groups for People with Bad Habits

There are support groups all over the world for people with bad habits. These groups provide a framework by which the person with bad habits can get better. They are available to anyone who wants to attend.

Alcoholics Anonymous is the gold standard for support groups. There people with bad habits relating to alcohol can meet and discuss their bad habits. They can talk about their experiences and share their hopes. They can gain strength by spending time with people whose goal is also to banish their bad habits.

Alcoholics Anonymous practices the Twelve-Step program for those whose bad habits have brought them to seek help. The system is designed to guide alcoholics through their despair and into sobriety. It is a rigorous program, but it is worth the work if you come out on the other side without your bad habits.

Another group the uses the Twelve-Step program for gaining control over bad habits is Overeaters Anonymous. Contrary to what the name implies, it is not just for people who eat too much. The largest number of members of any one group is those who overeat. However, it is also for those with bulimia or anorexia. It is for anyone who is “powerless over food.”

This group holds meetings as AA does. It also uses tests and other tools to help people evaluate the extent of their bad habits and depression. The Twelve-Step program leads them to work on their bad habits from perspectives that are physical, emotional, and spiritual. It has helped many people to gain control over their eating disorders.

Yet another group is based on the Twelve-Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. This is Narcotics Anonymous. It is for people with bad habits with all kinds of drugs. You can be involved in the program no matter what kind(s) of drugs you used.

It does not matter if you used a few times or you used constantly for years. The important thing is what you want to do about it. Narcotics Anonymous provides you with a way to deal with these destructive bad habits in your life if you will do the work.

There are all kinds of smoking cessation support groups to help people quit their bad habits with smoking. There are groups at medical centers. There are groups at colleges. Some groups meet at community centers.

There are even smoking cessation groups that meet online. The websites give quite a bit of helpful information about your bad habits. They often will have a blog where people can compare notes about how their recovery from nicotine is going. Then, there are live chat support groups.

There are not support groups for all the bad habits that people have. No one is going to go around smacking your hand and saying,”Do not drum your fingers!” At least, they will not do it as a support group. Yet, for many serious bad habits, there is help. In some cases, you will have to drive across town. In other cases, it is as near as your computer.