Sunday, May 31, 2009
What is CAM?....Complementary and Alternative Medicine
What is CAM? Today, many people use complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM, for a wide variety of diseases or conditions, and use of CAM has increased in recent years.
But what exactly is CAM, and how is it different from standard medical care?
Complementary medicine is used together with standard medical care. An example is using acupuncture to help with side effects of cancer treatment.
Alternative medicine is used in place of standard medical care. An example is treating heart disease with chelation (pronounced "kee-lay-shen") therapy (which seeks to remove excess metals from the blood) instead of using a standard approach.
A related concept, "integrative medicine," is a total approach to care that involves the patient's mind, body, and spirit. It combines standard medical treatments with CAM practices that have shown the most promise.
An example is taking an omega-3 fatty acid supplement in addition to a prescription statin medication to reduce cholesterol.
Experts group CAM practices into four major categories. These are
- biologically based practices
- energy medicine
- manipulative and body-based practices
- mind-body medicine.
These four categories sometimes overlap.
Another term, "whole medical systems", refers to complete systems of care that have evolved over time in different cultures and parts of the world. Whole medical systems may include practices from the four major CAM categories.
The Certificate of Practice shown above is an example of CAM - a member of Malaysian Society for Complementary Theraphist certified by Ministry of Health of Malaysia. It does not represent the text.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Do you consume enough water everyday?……….helps to avoid infected by vulnerable diseases!!!!!
DRINKING enough water is important in ensuring a healthy lifestyle.
Normally, our body needs 60 - 70% water since the blood is in liquid form. Similar with our organs, livers and brains contain a lot of water.
Even if you look at the whole world, it consist more water than the land. It is a mother nature that we are lucky enough to have huge seas, lakes, rivers and rains from the clouds.
Our body needs water to stabilize heats, supply nutrients to the organs, provides oxygen to the cells, detoxification while not forgetting also it protects your joints and organs.
You MUST realize that a lot of water being discharged through urination, breathing and sweats. Those who are active in sports tend to lose MORE water than those who are not active.
COFFEE contains cafein. Thus Coffee Lovers need to consume extra water because the cafein will dry up easily since you urinate quite often.
Should your body contains insufficient water, you will:
· Suffer chronic Joints and Muscle Pain
· Lower back pain
· Headache, and
· Thirsty
· Smelly and yellowish urine which is a symptom of dehydration
You need to replenish the water in your body before you feel thirsty.
Simple calculation on how much water is required by your body – your weight divided by 2; the result is converted into ounces. It tells you how many ounces you need to drink water daily.
As an example, if your weight is 150 lbs then you will to drink 75 ounces of water every day. If you are active in “physical exercise”, you will have to consume additional 8 ounces of water once in every 20 minutes.
Should you be in a long journey, it is advisable for you to drink 8 ounces of water for every hour while you are in the aircraft or any vehicle.
You need extra 2 ounces of water should you be in a dry and hot environment. As an example above, you will now need 77 ounces of water.
Not all water comes from the water that you consume but about 20% of the water is obtained from the food that you eat every day. Drinking mineral water has always been the best way as compared to drinking carbonated drink which contains high sugar contents and calories.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
What is Diabetes?
What is Diabetes?Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure. Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches, and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes is a mystery, although both genetics and environment appear to
play roles.There are two major types of diabetes:
Insulin-Dependent (type 1).
An autoimmune disease in which the body does not produce any insulin, most often occurring in children and young adults. People with type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin injections to stay alive.
Non-Insulin-Dependent (type 2).
A metabolic disorder resulting from the body's inability to make enough or properly use insulin, it is the most common form of the disease.
Who Is At Greater Risk For Type 1 Diabetes?
Siblings of people with type 1 diabetes. Children of parents with type 1 diabetes.
Who Is At Greater Risk For Type 2 Diabetes?
- People with a family history of diabetes.
- People who are overweight.
- People who do not exercise regularly.
- Women who have had a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds at birth.
Type 1 Diabetes:
- Frequent urination.
- Unusual thirst.
- Extreme hunger.
- Unusual weight loss.
- Extreme fatigue.
- Irritability.
- Any of the type 1 symptoms, plus...
- Frequent infections.
- Blurred vision.
- Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal.
- Tingling/numbness in the hands or feet.
- Recurring skin, gum, or bladder infections.
There are nearly 1.2 million people in Malaysia who have diabetes. Diabetes is actually a general term for a number of separate but related disorders. These disorders fall into two main categories:
- type 1, which usually occurs during childhood or adolescence, and
- type 2, the most common form of the disease, usually occurring after age 30.
Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes is a disease which results from the body's failure to produce insulin -- the hormone that "unlocks" the cells of the body, allowing glucose to enter and fuel them.
This is most often the result of an autoimmune process in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Since glucose cannot enter the cells, it builds up in the blood and the body's cells literally starve to death.
People with type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin injections and regularly monitor blood sugar levels.
There are an estimated 24,000 people with type 1 diabetes in Malaysia today.
The risk of developing type 1 diabetes is higher than virtually all other severe chronic diseases of childhood.
Peak incidence occurs during puberty, around 10 to 12 years old in girls and 12 to 14 years old in boys. The symptoms for type 1 diabetes can mimic the flu in children.
Type 1 diabetes tends to run in families. Brothers and sisters of children with insulin-dependent diabetes have about a 10% chance, or a 20-fold increased risk, of developing the disease.
The identical twin of a person with insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes has at least 50 times the risk of developing type 1 diabetes than a child in an unaffected family.
In type 1 diabetes, incidence is highest among whites. Scandinavian countries have the highest incidence in the world, approximately 30 cases per 100,000 children.
What is type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes?
Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes results from the body's inability to make enough or properly use insulin. Often type 2 diabetes can be controlled through diet and exercise alone, but sometimes these are not enough and either oral medications or insulin must be used.
The fact that few people with type 2 diabetes require insulin has led to the myth that this is a "mild" form of the disease.
Of the nearly 1.2 million Malaysians with diabetes, more than 98% have type 2 diabetes.
People with type 2 diabetes often develop the disease after age 30, but are not aware they have diabetes until treated for one of its serious complications.
The risk for type 2 diabetes increases with age.
Studies indicate that diabetes is generally under reported on death certificates, particularly in the cases of older persons with multiple chronic conditions such as heart disease and hypertension. Because of this, the toll of diabetes is believed to be much higher than officially reported.
Diabetes In Youth
How Are Young People Affected?
The risk of developing type 1 diabetes is higher than virtually all other severe chronic diseases of childhood.
Peak incidence occurs during puberty, around 10 to 12 years old in girls and 12 to 14 years old in boys.
Type 1 diabetes tends to run in families. Brothers and sisters of children with type 1 diabetes have about a 10 percent chance, or a 20-fold increased risk, of developing the disease.
The identical twin of a person with type 1 diabetes has at least 50 times the risk of developing type 1 diabetes than a child in an unaffected family.
In type 1 diabetes, incidence is highest among whites. Scandinavian countries have the highest incidence in the world, approximately 30 cases per 100,000 children.
The symptoms for type 1 diabetes can mimic the flu in children.
Diabetes And Seniors
How Are Seniors Affected?
Diabetes prevalence increases with increasing age.
Approximately half of all diabetes cases occur in people older than 55.
People with diabetes are more likely to be institutionalized in nursing homes than are people without diabetes.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Breast Cancer
Cancer patients may be able to fight chemotherapy-induced nausea using a common pantry spice -- ginger.Dr. Ted Gansler, director of medical content for the American Cancer Society, says complementary therapies such as ginger may work for some patients, but "most oncologists would not recommend counting on them as alternatives--especially for those receiving chemotherapy drugs known to cause the most severe nausea and vomiting."
If you're feeling queasy, Ryan says, consuming fresh ginger root from the grocery store can help, but purified capsules may work better due to their easier absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. In theory, ginger-containing products such as ginger ale, ginger snaps, and other products could reduce nausea, too, but only if they contained real ginger root, not just ginger flavoring.
When dealing with chemotherapy-induced nausea--or any upset stomach--the American Cancer Society recommends eating dry foods such as pretzels and sipping on--you guessed it--ginger ale.
Chemotherapy may cause nausea, which may be alleviated through ginger, a new study says.
The findings were released Thursday and will be presented later this month at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
Health Library
"We were surprised to find that the lowest doses were the most effective. I am guessing that at one gram the gut reaches maximum absorption," Ryan says.
The reduction in nausea was substantial, she says. The patients taking a placebo reported about a four or five on a seven-point nausea scale, meaning they were extremely nauseated. In comparison, ginger-taking patients tended to report one or two, which is little to no nausea. The supplements reduced vomiting by roughly 5 percent in the study, says Ryan, but very few of the patients had any vomiting due to the anti-emetic drugs they were taking.
Studies have suggested that ginger can also quell nausea caused by pregnancy, motion sickness, and anesthesia.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
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