Archive for Diseases & Symptoms
Acid Reflux – Don’t Let it Turn Into “Esophagus Rot”
Posted by: · Commentsin Categories : Acid Reflux, Natural Remedies
If you are a frequent acid reflux or heartburn sufferer, then you know it can be painful just to eat a meal.
But, what you may not know is that it’s sometimes more than that painful burn in your chest. You could be suffering from Esophagus Rot. That’s where the acid flies up into your esophagus so frequently that it eats through the lining and begins “rotting” away the tissue.
This could lead to much more serious and threatening disorders like asthma and pneumonia as the acid moves into your lungs. If you’d like to know more about how to stop this process, naturally then read Reflux Remedy Report.
In addition, you may also suffer the following dangerous diseases because of ignoring your acid reflux problem: Read More→
Stress Can Throw You Off Your Diet Plan
Posted by: · Commentsin Categories : Diet & Nutrition, Eating Disorders, Relaxation & Stress Reduction
I’m sure you’ve heard of the long-standing joke, stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Unfortunately, it’s no joke when stress throws you off your diet. You’ve been diligent and worked hard to stick with you diet. Then wham, out of nowhere life throws you a sucker punch and you feel all stressed out. What is the first thing you do to combat that? You guessed it, eat your favorite comfort food and lots of it. It can be very discouraging when that happens.
However, the good news is you can bounce back before stress causes any permanent damage to your healthy diet.
There are some natural alternatives to traditional medicines to combat stress. One way is to plan time for meditation each day. We all have busy lives with our work and raising a family. Read More→
Tired but Can’t Sleep? 5 Tips to Falling Asleep Faster
Posted by: · Commentsin Categories : Sleep Disorder
You are tired after a long hard day at work. You almost fell asleep while brushing your teeth, yet can’t get to sleep when you hit the bed. Toss, turn, yawn, stretch, shift, toss some more – but you just can’t seem to fall asleep.
You are still wide-awake when your bedside clock shows 1:00 am. If this is a regular problem, you may have insomnia. There could a variety of reasons for your sleep disorder. Some common causes for trouble sleeping are:
Feeling depressed, anxious or having obsessive thoughts, your mind just doesn’t shut down enough to allow sleep. If you experience a major loss and are grieving, sleep can be difficult.
Sudden changes in your lifestyle can also cause sleep interruptions. Starting a new job with different hours than what you are used to can take time to adjust your sleep cycle. Constant stress at work or school that you just can’t let go of will definitely make a good night’s sleep elusive. Trying to drown your frustrations in alcohol, caffeine, or through smoking will only cause more sleep interruption problems.
Staying up too late watching TV or surfing the Internet doesn’t give your body enough time to wind down from the day for effective sleep.
Some sleeping problems may be related to other medical conditions. Breathing problems, back or leg pain, acid reflux and indigestion can disturb the body in ways that make sleep difficult no matter how tired you are.
If you’re fed up of being tired all the time, here are 5 things you can do to overcome your sleep disorder or insomnia:
- Don’t focus on going to sleep, instead think about relaxation. Visualize a pleasant, satisfying, relaxing place and see yourself in that place.
- Turn down the bedroom lights. This allows your body time to wind down and adjust easier than going from a fully lit room and to a completely dark room.
- Reset your body clock by getting on a manageable schedule. Don’t try to exhaust yourself with exercise, work or activity as a way to fall asleep. You already know that doesn’t work. Write down a schedule that allows an hour to prepare for sleep. Take a warm shower, turn off the TV, cell phones and PDAs and turn on some calming music (an instrumental CD, not the radio). Stretch and slide into bed at the scheduled time.
- If after resetting your sleep cycle, you find yourself getting tired too early, increase your light exposure. Go outdoors in the sunshine or turn up the light in the room. The body responds to light and dark cues for sleep.
- Cease any work or stressful activity at least three hours before bedtime. Let go of the frustrations and allow your mind to focus on less intense things.
When some of these natural methods can’t solve your sleeping problems, you may need to get on prescription medication. Whatever you do, don’t self medicate with over-the-counter sleep aids at night and wake-up pills during the day. That makes the problem worse. Don’t take any sleep medications unless a physician is monitoring you. You don’t want to develop drug dependency problems while curing your sleep disorder.
Sleep Apnea is a More Serious Problem Than Just Snoring
Posted by: · Commentsin Categories : Sleep Disorder
Sure, sleeping next to someone who snores all night is a big hassle and probably makes it difficult for you to sleep. You keep thinking, “If only the snoring would stop, I could fall asleep.”
Be careful what you wish for! If the snoring stops and it gets very quiet suddenly, it may not necessarily be a healthy situation for the other person.
Snoring is related to a condition known as sleep apnea. If you have sleep apnea, your nighttime breathing is interrupted and if doesn’t return promptly, it can become a life threatening situation. This breathing interruption can happen up to five times in an hour during sleep. If you snore loudly and nightly, you’re at higher risk for sleep apnea than the occasional snorer is.
Other signs of sleep apnea are episodes of daytime fatigue and emotional distress or skill deficits when you’re tired. Sleep apnea seems to start most often in mid-life and affects more men than women.
Risk factors for sleep apnea are:
- Overweight by more than 120% of your appropriate body weight
- Large neck girth. That’s determined by using a tape measure. The danger level is 17” or greater for men and 16” or greater for women.
- Hypertension whether treated or untreated by medication
- Narrow nasal passages
A medically supervised sleep study is needed to diagnose sleep apnea. A home monitor can be used for children as well as adults to monitor breathing interruptions. You have a number of options for treating sleep apnea.
You can be fitted for a dental appliance, an orthodontia device that you wear at night. This appliance changes the tongue placement so that the airway is clear for breathing.
Losing weight is also important to moderating sleep apnea. Along with losing weight, you need to be in an exercise program. Many people report that their sleep apnea completely disappears once they lose weight and get back to a normal, healthy range.
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) masks are worn over the nose and mouth to force air into the nasal passages in a continuous flow. This may not be the most comfortable way to sleep, but it has been highly effective and most people get used to the machine and rely on it to deliver a good night’s sleep.
If all else fails, there are surgical procedures such as widening the palate, restructuring nasal cavities or taking out the tonsils to aid in a sleep apnea disorder. Make sure you don’t ignore your snoring and mistake it as something harmless because if it’s sleep apnea, you’re putting your life at risk!
Books about sleep apnea:
Just Tired and Sleepy During the Day or is it Narcolepsy?
Posted by: · Commentsin Categories : Sleep Disorder
Do you ever feel really tired and sleepy during the day? Do you just have to take a nap at your desk or pull over if you are driving? That daytime fatigue may be the result of working late, lack of sleep or stress that interrupted your sleep the previous night. If a short nap or some rest is all you need, then you’re fine.
However, if you have narcolepsy, you could fall asleep during the day often and without any warning. You may still fall asleep during the day despite getting plenty of sleep at night.
You gulp down several cups of coffee and no matter how hard you try to fight off the sleepiness; you still can’t force yourself to stay awake. You may be the victim of crude jokes and criticized at work for being lazy because most people are not aware of narcolepsy and its symptoms.
You know you are not lazy and neither are you faking your symptoms. What you have is a real medical disorder called narcolepsy. If you are not diagnosed correctly and treated properly, this condition can worsen, interfere with your job, social life and severely limit normal activities like driving.
What is narcolepsy?
Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia. The condition is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in which a person experiences extreme fatigue and possibly falls asleep at inappropriate times, such as at work or school.
What are the symptoms of narcolepsy?
- Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS): This is the most common characteristic where the person often feels drowsy or fall asleep throughout the day even after adequate nighttime sleep. This urge to sleep may be physically impossible to resist and can occur at inappropriate times and places.
- Cataplexy: This is an episodic condition where there is loss of muscle function, ranging from slight weakness (such as limpness at the neck or knees, sagging facial muscles, or inability to speak clearly) to complete collapse of the body.
- Sleep paralysis: This is a temporary inability to talk or move while falling asleep or waking up. It may last a few seconds to minutes. It is often frightening but is not dangerous.
- Hypnagogic hallucinations: These vivid, often frightening, dreamlike experiences occur while dozing, falling asleep and/or while awakening.
Who is at risk of being affected by narcolepsy?
It is estimated that as many as 3 million people worldwide are affected by narcolepsy. In the United States, it is estimated that this condition afflicts as many as 200,000 Americans. Narcolepsy usually begins between the ages of 15 and 25, but it can manifest itself at any age. In many cases, narcolepsy is undiagnosed (fewer than 50,000 are diagnosed) and, therefore, left untreated.
Although the exact cause of narcolepsy is still not known, researches have discovered a strong link between narcoleptic individuals and certain genetic conditions. Narcolepsy seems to occur 8-12% more often in families with at least one close relative with this condition.
How is narcolepsy diagnosed?
The most common symptom of narcolepsy is EDS and it is not exclusive to this condition. Proper diagnosis requires a thorough clinical exam and a comprehensive medical history.
Polysomnogram (PSG) and the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) are two essential tests for confirming narcolepsy. These medical tests are interpreted by a physician who specializes in sleep disorders.
How is narcolepsy treated?
Although there is no cure for narcolepsy, prescription drugs can control symptoms of EDS and cataplexy. Abnormal sleep patterns may be treated by antidepressant medications.
You can help yourself by making certain lifestyle changes such as limiting or avoiding caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and heavy meals. Go to sleep at a regular time everyday, don’t work late or too close to bedtime and exercise regularly.
The key here is to explain your condition and symptoms to your family, friends, colleagues and your boss at work. You want people close to you to understand that your daytime sleepiness is not laziness or lacking of motivation but a real medical problem called narcolepsy.
Books about narcolepsy:
Before listing the different types of arthritis, let’s define what it is. We have all experienced occasional joint pains or soreness in our hands, knees or shoulders. That doesn’t mean it is some type of arthritis.
Arthritis is usually caused by inflammation of the tissue lining the joints. Symptoms include redness, pain and swelling. These problems are telling you that something is wrong. In some cases, or types of arthritis, this inflammation also produces degeneration and deformity in the joint.
There are several types of arthritis. The two most common ones are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. This condition usually sets in with age and most often affects the fingers, knees, and hips. Sometimes osteoarthritis follows an injury to a joint. For example, a young person might hurt his knee badly playing football. Or someone is injured in a car accident or from a fall. He may develop arthritis in the knee many years after the injury has healed.
Rheumatoid arthritis is caused when the body’s own defense system fails to work properly. It affects joints and bones (often of the hands and feet), and may also affect internal organs and systems. You may feel sick or tired, and you may have a fever.
Crystals that build up in the joints cause another common type of arthritis known as gout. It usually affects the big toe, but many other joints may be affected.
Arthritis can also affect other parts of the body such as the skin, internal organs and eyes.
Researchers have identified several risk factors even though the exact cause of most types of arthritis is not yet known. These include obesity (being overweight puts additional stress on the joints), age (the risk increases with age), gender (arthritis appears to occur more frequently in women than men), and job related issues (repetitive movement, heavy lifting or frequent injury can lead to arthritic changes).
Arthritis affects approximately 70 million Americans. Or, put another way, it affects approximately one out of every three people. It is a major cause of lost work and disability. It can affect people of all ages but is most common among older adults. Diagnosis is done by a thorough medical evaluation and history, physical exam, blood tests and imaging studies.
The primary goals of treatment are to provide relief from pain, increase mobility in the joints and reduce strain around the joints. Physicians may recommend medication, hot or cold compresses, exercise, joint protection or surgery. With early diagnosis, most types of arthritis are managed well with pain and disability being minimized.
Although it cannot be prevented, there are steps you can take that will help reduce your risk or prevent permanent joint damage. By maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, eating a healthy diet and protecting your joints at work you reduce your risk of developing arthritis.
For more information on arthritis and related conditions, contact any of the following organizations:
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Information Clearinghouse
National Institutes of Health
1 AMS Circle
Bethesda, MD 20892-3675
Phone: 301-495-4484
Toll Free: 877-22-NIAMS (226-4267)
TTY: 301–565–2966
Fax: 301-718-6366
Email: NIAMSinfo@mail.nih.gov
Website: http://www.niams.nih.gov - Arthritis Foundation
P.O. Box 7669
Atlanta, GA 30357-0669
Phone: 404-872-7100
Toll Free: 800-283-7800
Website: http://www.arthritis.org - American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
6300 North River Road
Rosemont, IL 60018-4262
Phone: 847-823-7186
Toll Free: 800-824-BONE (2663)
Fax: 847-823-8125
Email: pemr@aaos.org
Website: http://www.aaos.org - American College of Rheumatology (ACR)
1800 Century Place, Suite 250
Atlanta, GA 30345-4300
Phone: 404-633-3777
Fax: 404-633-1870
Website: http://www.rheumatology.org
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