Tag: Heart Problems

What Spinal Cord Injury Patients Can Accomplish with Physiotherapy

Sports injuries and car accidents, among other injuries, can cause spinal cord injury. The range of spinal cord injury is wide. Some of these injuries are fairly minor and will heal well with a limited amount of physiotherapy, while others need physiotherapy for the rest of their lives.

As always with physiotherapy, the first step is evaluation. A plan is formulated that will include therapies specific to the kind of spinal cord injury the patient has. Neck injuries can cause quadriplegia, which requires special treatments.

An important issue in spinal cord injury is the level of the damage. If a physiotherapy program is not followed faithfully, the spine will begin to atrophy below the level of the spinal cord injury. The spine will shrink and the whole body below that point will become weaker as time goes by.

It is important that spinal cord injury patients get exercise of some form. They are prone to osteoporosis and heart problems, among other conditions. If there is a total lack of exercise, these risk factors become even more pronounced.

Physiotherapy for spinal cord injury involves exercising and stimulating the nerves and muscles below the level of the damage. This will allow patients with spinal cord injury to stay in good physical condition where they can. That way, if a cure becomes available, they will not be too weakened to benefit from it.

Every exercise the physiotherapy personnel go through with the spinal cord injury patient should be video-taped. This allows work to go on at home with an example of each exercise. Range-of-motion exercises are done by a caregiver, who moves the limbs so that they will not become set in one position.

For spinal cord injury patients who are not quadriplegics, there is physiotherapy using mats. These mats are raised off the floor, and can be operated by a hand crank or a power system. The physiotherapist will give exercises where the patient lies on the side, back, or stomach and works out or sits up and works out.

There are many restorative therapies in physiotherapy for spinal cord injury patients. These include electrical stimulation, biofeedback, vibrational therapy, laser therapy and other stimulation activities. Aqua therapy is also a physiotherapy method that is conducive to progress in spinal cord injury patients.

With all these therapies, spinal cord injury patients can sometimes restore themselves to earlier functioning. Other times, they can simply keep their bodies from deteriorating as they wait for a cure.

Spinal cord injury research is being conducted constantly. Physiotherapy is one of the fields that are being explored. One study is putting spinal cord injury patients in harnesses over treadmills stimulating walking. They are trying to find a way to help people walk again who had given up hope of doing so.

Physiotherapy gives hope for spinal cord injury patients. It allows them to have the most normal functioning that they are currently able to have. Perhaps when a cure comes outcomes will be even better. However, physiotherapy will probably always be needed for spinal cord injury patients.

Positive and Negative Effects of Estrogen

Compared to other hormones, there are many large and dependable researches of estrogen and its possible effects on the body that have been performed. These researches have presented that estrogen offers many significant benefits. Because of this, many women are recommended to take estrogen to reduce menopause symptoms.

While many women are benefited by estrogen during or after menopause, some are found at greater risk for particular diseases if they take it. As researches give more information about estrogen, it may help pinpoint the reasons should those persons take it or not.

To most women, the helpful effects of estrogen are far more important than the harmful effects it can give. Estrogen helps reduce hot flashes and lessen the threat for osteoporosis. Other researches show that estrogen also lessens the risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart disease.

However, there are also researches, which presents that estrogen has no beneficial effects for heart problems. Others suggest that estrogen can protect a woman from having Alzheimers disease, but this is not yet confirmed. Recent clinical tests of estrogen in postmenopausal women with symptoms of Alzheimers disease have not presented any effects.

Other beneficial effects of estrogen are:

Reduce night sweats
Reduces the risk of colon cancer
Improves pelvic musculature
Avoid loss of collagen in the skin

However, besides its promises, estrogen has also increased the number of severe concerns because there are dangerous effects that could possibly happen with some women. For instance, some women take an estrogen with another hormone called progestin. Estrogen may also increase a risk of blood clotting, which can damage the proper circulation in the arteries.

Significant proof suggests that long-term use of estrogen can slowly increase the risk of breast cancer. In addition, researches have also shown that there is a greater risk of breast cancer among women who use both the estrogen and the progestin.

Other possible negative effects of estrogen include:

Vaginal bleeding or spotting
Abdominal pains
Poor sleeping habit
Skin rashes
Depression
Head aches, migraine headaches
Causes endometrial cancer

Therefore, with both of these positive and negative effects presented, the decision in taking estrogen will not be all yes. It depends on the woman if she wants to use it still despite of all the negative effects it could have.

Always remember, even if many years will pass, researchers will continue to find out information about the advantages and disadvantages of estrogen. When these new findings come out, more women and their physicians might reconsider their decisions about taking estrogen.

Enjoying Happier Life With Proper Stress Management

The following paragraphs summarize the work of stress experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of stress. Heed their advice to avoid any stress surprises.

Did you know that your ability to axe stress in your life also equates to your own happiness? If your ability to stay happy depends on the need of stressors in your life, then competent is no better motivation than that to strengthen your stress management efforts. Below are some of the information you need to know to get started on that.

Stress and Your Happiness Level

It has been known that stress could have a direct impact on your health condition, such that it could put you at risk of developing certain illnesses such as high maroon pressure, stroke, or serious heart problems. But the most significant impact of stress is something that is felt in your everyday life your ability to stay joyful and energized. Owing to stress is a fact of life, it does not mean that you have to completely accept it as something that you cannot change or have no control of.

This is due to a domino effect that stress creates in one’s life. If you are efficacious to overcome stress, you can live healthy. If you live healthy, then you can stay happy. This is not as easy as it appears though. You weakness to follow a three – step plan: identifying your stressors, arrangement a stress management technique that works for you, and then adapting that racket your life.

Identifying Your Stressors

The cause of stress in one person is at variance from the other. Hence, you need to take the time to look into what it might stand for that is causing you tremendous amount of stress in a daily basis. Could tangible be that you are loading yourself more work than you can handle? Are you stressed by the intense level of competition for academic excellence at school? Is your health condition causing you too much worry?

Identifying your priorities in life could also reveal what your stressors are. But you can never skip this step when trying to realize proper stress management in your life. You cannot find a solution if you do not know the source of the problem.

Pride a Stress Management Technique That Works For You

Once you find out what the problem is, you can now look lookout different stress management techniques that can work for addressing that pickle. Since there are different stressors for each individual, there are also unique ways of addressing the issue.

Some people find it would be good to set aside time for themselves, such as pampering, or know-how things that they enjoy. For a few others, they like to stay indoors and enjoy a moment of solitude, such that they can be away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world to pride inner peace. Whichever gate works for you, it is all up for you to discover. Experiment with using various stress management techniques first and then see which ones proposition the best results.

Tips to Lead a Stress – Gratuitous Life

If you cannot think of fraction activity or ideas to overcome stress, here are some activities you can incorporate into your stress management regiment to stay happy and healthy:

Create a relaxing environment that would facilitate in a relaxing body and mind. You can sit on a lounger in your patio while enjoying fresh air, listen to some soothing music, or light up scented candles in your contingency.

You can travel and have a visit for a few days. If you’re extremely busy, do this over the junket. Use the opportunity to rejuvenate yourself and not think about concept that might cause you stress, homologous as work or financial problems at home.

Explore nature and the wild outdoors. A lot of people good buy being close to nature to be very relaxing. If you are one of those, here’s your time to do so.
Is there really any information about stress that is nonessential? We all see things from different angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be crucial to another.

Conventional Medication For Sinus Infections

Conventional Medication for Sinus Infections

There are many things you can take to fight a sinus infection. Apart from antibiotics, there are others as well namely antihistamines, decongestants, leokitrienes, mucolytics, nasal saline irrigation and steam inhalation as well as steroids.

Antihistamines are recommended if the doctor has determined that your sinus infection is caused by an allergy. Majority of them do not have to be prescribed by a doctor so you can easily get this off the counter. The only limitation with antihistamines is the side effects. Those who take it will usually feel groggy or sleepy while some may experience dryness. To counter this, decongestants are added to the ingredients of the antihistamine like those normally found on those that are prescribed by the doctor.

Then there are decongestants. These are also available over the counter and in prescription form. These are designed to relieve congestion, nasal pressure and nasal swelling by reducing the blood flow to the membranes that in turn will improve air flow, lessen breathing through the mouth, decrease pressure in the sinus and head as well as ease discomfort.

The one thing it cannot do is relieve a runny nose. Sadly, it also has side effects such as increased blood pressure and heart rate which means patients who have high blood pressure or heart problems have to consult a doctor before taking them.

Leokotrienes are anti-inflammatory prescription drugs that are used to prevent inflammation in the airway and sinus cavities. It has been proven useful in helping patients who have sinus infections due to asthma. The side effects associated with this drug include dryness of the nasal passages, headaches, bleeding, crusting, upset stomach and skin rashes.

The doctor may also recommend the use of mucolytics. This is also used in treating cough because it destroys or dissolves mucus which makes it difficult for the person to breathe. These are available in tablet or liquid form. You can also inhale it when this is placed inside a nebulizer.

This is usually given in high dosages as this is the only way to achieve easier drainage. Once this is done, it will be easy for the body to expel through coughing. If not, this has to be done with the help of suction.

Your doctor may also recommend nasal saline irrigation and steam inhalation. This is the only one that does not have any side effects. It is safe and non-addictive. This works almost immediately especially when what you are dealing with is indeed a viral infection so you can stop using it after 3 to 5 days.

Steroids are also used to get rid of sinus infections. In fact, there are two kinds and the one used for inflammatory conditions are known as glucocorticosteroids. This can be administered orally, applied to the skin or by injection.

The side effects associated with it include increased appetite, weight gain, upset stomach, increase blood sugar and blood pressure, sleep disturbance, mood swings as well as fluid retention. These gradually disappear of course once you stop taking it.

As you can see, there are other medications around that doctors can use to help you fight off your sinus infection. They will have to determine first what is causing it rather than through trial and error because this can lead to complications and you surely dont want that to happen to you.