Medical Articles, Medicine Information. Health related information and news from around the world.

Calcium antagonists, also known as calcium entry blockers or calcium channel blockers, act by blocking the movement of calcium into cells. The cells respond less briskly and so use less oxygen. The supply-demand equation is also improved by the vessel-dilating effect of calcium antagonists. “Afterload” is reduced when peripheral vessels are widened and more blood may reach the heart muscle because coronary vessels are relaxed. Calcium antagonists also relieve spasm and are often used for Prinzmetal’s angina.

Unlike beta-blockers there is no proof that calcium antagonists reduce mortality even though they do reduce angina. Therefore they are not your doctor’s first choice. They may be added to beta-blockers and nitrates to form “triple therapy” for angina that is hard to control.

Calcium antagonists are a diverse group of medicines and while they are generally easier to tolerate than beta-blockers, they do have their side effects. Verapamil (Calan, Isoptin, Verelan) can make heart failure worse, is rarely given in combination with beta-blockers, and is famous for causing constipation. Nifedipine (Adalat, Procardia), is-radipine (DynaCirc), and nicardipine (Cardene) form a group more likely to cause dizziness, flushing, headaches, rapid heartbeat, and swelling of the feet. Amlodipine (Norvasc) also causes headache and dizziness in some people. Diltiazem (Cardizem, Dilacor) can cause any of these problems but is often the best tolerated of the class.

Long-acting formulations of these drugs, taken once or twice a day, are safer than the fast-acting forms as well as more convenient. Be especially careful to store these drugs out of reach of children as they can cause swift death in young children even when only a few are swallowed.

*92\86\8*

Reasons for stopping smoking vary from generation to generation. Those teenagers who smoke heed health warnings only rarely; they think the possibility of death is too far away to bother about, and the danger may even attract them. However, they will often listen if a potential partner says that smoking is smelly and dirty, and immature. They will sometimes also listen to the environmental argument, such as that big multinational companies are exploiting Third World poverty to their massive benefit. Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Brazil put hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, which could be used for food, under tobacco, to serve the appetite of the developed world for tobacco. That profit does not reach the average person in these tobacco-producing countries.

Even worse, the tobacco companies are vigorously promoting their deathly products to the poorer countries, adding lung and heart diseases to their already huge health problems. What right-minded person can collude in that process? Ask any teenager!

The appearance of a smoker can be another powerful motive to stop. Smoking induces wrinkles and a gray, pasty complexion. Women who smoke could save themselves the horrendous costs of beauty creams and of cigarettes, and look far better by stopping smoking.

For older men and women, and particularly people with angina, the main motivation to stop must be health. Cessation of smoking decreases coronary risk by almost 50 percent within the first year. Remember the statistics given a few pages ago. They are horrific for the smoker with angina. A third of all men do not live to collect their pensions, mainly because of their smoking. There are few merry widows outside of opera—that fact alone should be enough to make people stop. But how to do it?

*72\86\8*

What really seems to matter is how much fat you eat, and the proportion of it that is derived from animals, rather than fish or vegetables. You probably get most of your fats from red meat and dairy products, such as cream, cheese, butter, and full-cream milk. The official recommendation is that fats should only account for between 30 and 35 percent of your total calorie intake. This is well below the content of animal fats in most American diets.

This is especially true for children. For most American children, 40 percent of their food energy supply comes from animal fats. This rises to 50 percent or more for children reared on junk foods. This is potentially tragic, because atherosclerosis starts in childhood, and hamburgers and chips are the best way to raise cholesterol levels in children.

Yet there is no need to be a food faddist, or to avoid one sort of food altogether. Even if you have angina, you can enjoy a wide variety of foods. There are simple rules you should observe, though:

• The first is to grill foods, or fry them in vegetable oils rather than fats or butter.

• Very small children may need some full-cream milk for extra energy, but for most people it is better to drink or cook with low-fat or skim milk rather than whole milk.

• For the most part, butter and hard margarines should be replaced by low-fat soft spreads made from buttermilk or skim milk, or by soft margarines made from polyunsaturated vegetable oils. Choose cheeses that have a low fat content, such as cottage cheese, rather than traditional hard or high-fat cheeses.

• Use vegetable oils for cooking, and eat more fish, poultry, and vegetables than red meats. There is no need to cut out beef, lamb, and pork altogether, but it may be wise to restrict them to twice a week.

*48\86\8*

Body Mass Index is a convenient way of measuring how your weight relates to your height—in other words, it tells you if you are too fat, too thin, or just right! The formula sounds complicated, but it is easy to work out if you know your height in meters and your weight in kilograms.

BMI is the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters (wt/ht2). If you know your height in inches, multiply that by 2.54 for centimeters and divide by 100. This gives you your height in meters. Likewise, if you know your weight in pounds, multiply that by 0.4536 to give you your weight in kilograms. Take as an example a man of 5 feet 10 inches and who weighs 177 pounds. Therefore he is 1.778 meters tall, and weighs approximately 80 kilograms. The square of his height (1.778 x 1.778) equals 3.16. Now divide 80 (his weight) by the square (3.16) and the answer is 25.3.

This figure of 25.3 is the man’s BMI. It is just above the limit of normal, so shows that he is just a pound or two overweight. However, a BMI of 27 or more could be considered overweight enough to do something about it.

Here are the general BMI ranges:

• Below 20 is probably too thin

• 20-25 is within acceptable limits

• 25-30 is overweight

• 30-plus is obese

In the British Regional Heart Study, men above the average of 20-25 for BMI were at higher risk than average of having a heart attack.

However, a high BMI is closely related to a high cholesterol level, high blood pressure, and another measure of fats in the blood—a high triglyceride level. When these were taken into account in the British Regional Heart Study analysis, the BMI alone did not appear to exert an extra effect on heart disease over and above them. Some people have taken this to mean that obesity does not really matter, as long as you keep your blood pressure and blood fat levels under control. This is not true, and in any case is very difficult to achieve, as obesity, fat, and blood pressure are all bound up together. So if you are overweight and have angina, it is best to lose the extra weight.

*28\86\8*

Rosemary, at forty-five, is the odd one out of my six angina patient examples. She had symptoms indistinguishable from the others, with pain in the center of her chest when she exerted herself, that subsided quickly when she stopped. However, the angiogram showed she had absolutely smooth coronary arteries, with no sign of a blockage in them.

It transpired that Rosemary’s problem was not in the arteries themselves, but in the blood they carried to the heart. This was because, to my surprise (because she did not look particularly pale), she had very severe anemia. Her hemoglobin level—a measure of how many oxygen-carrying red blood cells are in the bloodstream—was, at 5gm/dl, only a third of normal. The red blood cells were also much larger than normal, a finding that pointed to a disorder called pernicious anemia. This is a condition in which the body is deficient in vitamin B12. Further blood tests confirmed my suspicions, and she was put on injections of the vitamin she lacked.

As is usually the case in pernicious anemia, Rosemary felt much better after the first injection, but it took some weeks before her blood count was back to normal. By that time, her angina had disappeared. Rosemary will need vitamin B12 injections for the rest of her life, but I consider her cured, at least of her angina.

Rosemary did have one thing in common with the other angina sufferers: She was unable to supply enough oxygen to satisfy her heart’s demand for it. In her case, this was because, with her lack of red blood cells, the blood flowing through her normal arteries was simply unable to carry enough oxygen for her needs. In the other cases, there were plenty of red cells to flow through their circulation, but their arteries were narrowed by a disease process that was common to them all—atheroma.

*5\86\8*

Prostatitis, the most common prostate trouble, is an inflammation of the prostate often caused by bacteria or by congestion. Men who suffer from this condition frequently experience pain on urination or sexual intercourse, frequent urination, and aching in the groin, testicles, and lower back. This is not an unconquerable problem because there are several ways to relieve the discomfort of prostatitis.

1) Avoid foods and drinks such as coffee, both caffeinated and decaffeinated; tea; cola; cocoa; alcohol; chocolate; spicy foods; and nuts, especially cashews.

2) Don’t sit for long periods of time or take bouncy rides in trucks, on motorcycles, and so on.

3) Take sitz baths twice a day for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, sitting in 6 to 10 inches of very hot water.

4) If your prostatitis is not caused by bacteria, consult with your doctor about engaging in sexual intercourse. Ejaculation may help relieve the inflammation.

5) If you suffer from acute prostatitis which is caused by bacteria, you should try to avoid sexual arousal until the condition is under control. You should also take your medication exactly as your doctor has prescribed, even if you begin to feel better before the recommended treatment is complete.

*211\27\8*

GENERIC

It is difficult enough to meet everyday living expenses without having to pay sky-high prices for prescribed medication. For those people who must take some type of medication on a regular basis, the additional expense can be an extreme financial burden. Some experts say that, in general, prescription prices are increasing almost twice as fast as other consumer prices. There are, however, several ways that you can cut the cost of medication, in some cases by over 60 percent. Here are some money-saving suggestions which could help you cut the costs on medicine you must use regularly:

1) Start with a small amount of medication. Rather than buying a big supply of medicine you have never used before, ask your doctor to prescribe a small amount. This is especially important if you’ve had discomforting side effects from any medication in the past. By purchasing a small quantity on a “trial” basis, you can avoid spending money on pills that are either ineffective or produce uncomfortable side effects.

2) Buy medicine in bulk. This is a saving technique only if you will be taking a medication for a long time, such as maintenance medication to control high blood pressure. By getting a 60-day or 90-day supply of such medication through a retail druggist or mail-order pharmacy, you can get substantial discounts.

3) Take advantage of mail-order pharmacies. Many times you can get prescription drugs from a mail-order firm for less than you would pay at a pharmacy.

These firms can’t provide refills as quickly as a pharmacy, but that’s usually not a major problem.

*250\27\8*

Although toothaches can be torturous, they don’t always have to be immediately treated by a dentist in order for the pain to be alleviated. Quite often you can treat your own toothache and get fast relief. Here are several things you can do to get rid of a toothache without going to the dentist first:

1) Use a pain-relieving gel— use a gel with eugenol or benzocaine. Both gels can numb an aching tooth with their mild anaesthetic action. An effective gel costs about $3.00 a tube at most drug stores.

2) Use zinc oxide putty— this is effective as a temporary filling in a bad tooth when you can’t get in to see your dentist for a few days. Zinc oxide putty has the numbing agent eugenol that will give you relief until your dentist can see you. While the product is effective, you should get to a dentist as soon as possible. Zinc oxide putty costs about $3.00 at most drug stores.

3) Use oil of cloves— you can get this temporary remedy over-the-counter at most drug stores. Apply a small amount of the oil directly onto the offending tooth, or put a drop on a small piece of cotton and press lighly against the ache.

4) Use a floss pick— it isn’t always convenient to carry dental floss wherever you go. Floss picks, which are actually plastic tooth picks with a taut length of floss attached to one end, make it more practical and easier to dislodge pain-causing particles wedged in a tooth or caught under a denture. Floss picks are priced at about $1.50 at most drug stores.

While the above four suggestions will help ease the immediate pain of a toothache, you should also heed professional warnings about toothaches. Experts advise that you see a dentist if your toothache lasts longer than several minutes. If your tooth is simply sensitive to cold or sweets, the ache should pass momentarily. But, if your toothache is unprovoked and it lingers, it could be a sign that a more serious problem exists. Pain relievers should only be used for immediate and temporary relief until you can see your dentist.

*287\27\8*

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)

This is a water-soluble vitamin that is present in many animal and plant foods |t plays a vital role in the proper functioning of the nerves, muscles, and the heart.

While a balanced diet usually provides sufficient amounts of thiamine, those people most susceptible to deficiency include people with a poor diet, people with above average energy requirements, and people with severe alcohol dependency. Extreme thiamine deficiency may result in beriberi, abdominal pain, constipation, depression and loss of short-term memory.

Especially good sources of thiamine include wheat germ, bran, whole-grain enriched cereals and breads, brown rice, pasta, liver, pork, fish, eggs, beans, and nuts The recommended daily allowance of thiamine is 1.1 to 1.5 mg.

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)

This vitamin is essential for various biochemical reactions involved in the breakdown and utilization of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and in the producti0n 0f energy in the cells. It is also essential for the production of hormones by the adrenal glands.

A serious deficiency of riboflavin may cause chapped lips, soreness of the tongue and corners of the mouth, and certain eye disorders.

Riboflavin is present in a wide range of foods, including milk, cheese, eggs, green, leafy vegetables, whole-grains, enriched breads and cereals, and liver. The recommended daily allowance is 1.3 to 1.7 mg.

Vitamin B3 (Niacin)

Niacin is essential for the utilization of energy from food. It also plays a major role in the functioning of the nervous system, the manufacture of sex hormones, and the maintenance of healthy skin.

A niacin deficiency, while extremely rare, can, in severe cases, lead to diarrhea, soreness and cracking of the skin, and certain mental disturbances.

The primary dietary sources of niacin include lean meat, liver, fish, poultry, dried beans, nuts, and whole-grains. The recommended daily allowance of niacin is 15 to 19 mg.

*324\27\8*

These vegetarian recipes are well balenced meals that are low in calories and fat but high in nutrition.

Potato Casserole

4 large potatoes, 1 onion, 4 cups fresh green beans, 1-28oz. can of pureed tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tsp. italian herb seasoning. Cut potatoes into large chunks, add onion and green beans into a large casserole dish, mix tomatoes with seasoning and pour over vegetables. Cover and bake at 380 degrees for 80 to 90 minutes.

Asparagus Soup

1/2- 1 onion, 1 tbs. olive oil, 1 potato (diced), 2 cups water, 2 ibs. fresh asparagus (sliced), 4 stalks of celery with leaves (chopped), salt and pepper to taste. Saute onions in the oil, add potato and water, simmer 15 to 20 minutes, add other ingredients, and cook until the vegetables are tender. Puree in a blender and milk to thin if desired.

Lentil Burgers

1 cup lentils, 3 cups water, 1 onion (chopped), 1 clove garlic, a stalk celery

(chopped), 1 carrot (grated or finely chopped), 1/2 cup bulgur wheat, 1 tsp. each of mustard & chili powder. 2 Tbs. Tomato sauce. Bring lentils to a boil, add vegetables and simmer for 30 minutes, Add other ingredients and cook for 15 minutes. Cool shape into patties and brown on a griddle.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 cup rice, uncooked, 1 small onion, 1 stalk celery, 4 green bell peppers, 4 ounce can tomato sauce, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder. 1/2 cup to 1 cup spaghetti sauce. Cook rice as recommended on box, saute onion and celery in 1 tbls. butter or margarine, par-boil green bell peppers for 5 or 10 minutes until fork tender but not mushy or fall apart stage. Mix rice, onion, celery, tomato sauce, garlic powder and onion powder. Drain bell peppers, and stuff with rice mixture. In a baking pan or glass baking pan pour spaghetti sauce to cover bottom of pan, add green peppers, sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake in 350 to 375 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes.

*361\27\8*