Bacterial Vaginosis

Bacterial Vaginosis is a common vaginal infection that causes many women of childbearing age much suffering. The infection occurs when the number of bad bacteria overtakes the number of good bacteria in the vaginal area. In addition to the discomfort of burning, a strong unpleasant and embarrassing odor also accompanies Bacterial Vaginosis.

Bacterial Vaginosis can also lead to other health issues such as low birth weight babies when pregnant women are infected, pelvic inflammatory disease, and a higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Many women with the infection turn to their doctor for antibiotic medicines.

While the medication typically clears up the trouble within a week, 70% of women will have a reoccurrence of the infection within a week. Suffers of recurrent BV are usually desperate to find a solution to rid them of the infection forever. They often live with an unpleasant and unfresh feeling. They dread intimacy with their mates and fear the embarrassment of others noticing the smell.

While some research claims that women taking birth control pills are less likely to have Bacterial Vaginosis, most doctors claim that they are not exactly sure what causes the infection. Many believe that the infection is associated but not limited to women with multiple partners or that frequently douche. Unlike treatments for yeast infections, over the counter Bacterial Vaginosis treatments are not widely available.

Pharmacies and medicine are often no help without a prescription from the doctor. Most women would love to find a home remedy or self-cure for their recurrent Bacterial Vaginosis; however, they are not sure where to turn or where to look.

They are tired of taking antibiotic medication or creams only to suffer again months later. They are exhausted of having to make the horrid trip to take with a doctor about such a sensitive issue.

They are tired of feeling ashamed to reveal themselves to their mates. After much suffering and trial and error with a variety of products, one women has taken it upon herself to give women the at home relief that they have been looking for finding.

Kristina J. Tomlin offers women the help that they desire. She gives her secretes on how she stopped her own Bacterial Vaginosis infections. Through her book, readers learn how they can cure their symptoms without making the dreaded doctor trips. Through being Bacterial Vaginosis free, women can regain the self-confidence that they have been missing.

In addition to correcting the current problem, she reveals a way to prevent Bacterial Vaginosis from creeping back into your life by using a three-step plan and simply ingredients found right in your home. Most women who are tired of feeling vaginal irritation, discomfort, unfreshness, and odor are ready for a permanent remedy to help make them feel sexy and confident once again. If nothing else is working for you, a three-step plan may just be worth a try. Click Here To Stop Bacterial Vaginosis

heart_disease

It has been known for some time that those diagnosed with depression have a higher heart disease risk or cardiac event – the medical term for a heart attack, stroke or other sudden problem involving your heart.

There’s also lots of evidence that depression is more common in heart patients and seems to up the risk of a second cardiovascular event.

No one has yet been able to pin down the reason for the association, but a new study published in the November 26th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association sought to do just that.

The results of the work suggest that the higher risk of cardiac events might be a result of behaviors that come with depression, especially low activity levels.

After all, when you’re feeling down it’s hard to motivate yourself, even harder to get up and get active.

It’s a vicious circle that can send your health spiraling downward reducing the chances of getting better.

Anyone who is being treated for cardiovascular disease knows how critical being active, within the limits you discuss with your doctor, is to recovering your strength, and your health.

The study, known as the Heart and Soul Study, was a collaborative effort of Dr. Mary A. Whooley of the VA Medical Center in San Francisco California, colleagues from 12 clinics in the Bay area, as well as researchers from Germany and The Netherlands.

The work involved 1,017 patients with stable heart disease, all outpatients in San Francisco area clinics.

The subjects filled out a questionnaire known as the Patient Health Questionnaire to see if they had depressive symptoms – they also answered questions about how active they were in the last month, including sports.

Of all the subjects, 199 had depressive symptoms, 818 did not. The study also found that subjects who were depressed were more likely to engage in dangerous behaviors like smoking, not taking their medications as prescribed and being less active overall.

Of the study participants who had depression, 10% had a cardiac event during the average 4.8 year follow up period. For those who weren’t depressed, a lowly 6.7% had a second cardiac event during the study.

Cardiac events include heart failure, heart attack, stroke, transient ischemic attack (a “mini” stroke) or death.

Even after using statistical tools to account for other health issues and the severity of disease, the depressed subjects were still 31% more likely to have another cardiac event.

One of the most important findings of the work was that physical inactivity alone was associated with a 44% greater rate of cardiac events.

Exercise might now become an even more important part of treatment for both depression and heart problems. Certainly this latest research gives you reason to get up… get active.

“These findings raise the hypothesis that the increased risk of cardiovascular events associated with depression could potentially be preventable with behavior modification, especially exercise,” the researchers write. “Exercise training can improve both depressive symptoms and markers for cardiovascular risk.”

The researchers also point out that it’s hard to tell where the independent effect of depression begins and where the effects of cardiac disease end.

So if you’re depressed, and you’ve had a heart attack or other cardiovascular event, this latest research suggests that getting active can lower your risk of repeating that pattern.

Talk with your doctor about your activity level – consider counseling or other treatment to help you get a handle on your depression so that you are able to get more active… perhaps adopt a few other healthier lifestyle habits as well to reduce your heart disease risk.

Hypertension

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a persistent blood pressure above 90 mm Hg between the heart beats (diastolic) or over 140 mm Hg at the beats (systolic). The blood pressure varies naturally in response to stress and physical work load. Therefore the blood pressure shall be measured in a relaxed situation and several times before this diagnosis is certain.

Hypertension does not in itself give dramatic symptoms, but it is dangerous because it causes a highly increased risk for heart infarction, stroke and renal failure.

THE PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION

One out of six persons is hypertensive. Most persons suffering from hypertension is over the age of 35. Still 6% of teenagers are hypertensive and also 1% of every child.

THE SYMPTOMS AND CONSEQUENCES OF HYPERTENSION

Hypertension is often without symptoms. By mild hypertension, flushing and headache can occur.
More serious hypertension gives symptoms like: Fatigue, dizziness, palpitations, tachycardia (rapid heart rate) and nosebleeds.

Extreme hypertension gives morning headache, blurred vision, dyspnoea (breathing difficulties) and elevated values of certain components in the blood, like urea and serum creatinine.

Hypertension will in the long run hurt the blood vessels, and serious hypertension can do extensive damage to the blood vessels in a few months or years.

The damaged blood vessels will impair the blood flow. They can also rupture causing a bleeding or be clogged by a blood clot that shuts out the blood flow and causes tissue damage. These things can occur in the brain, causing a stroke, in the heart causing heart infarction or in the kidneys with renal failure as a consequence.

A renal failure will in the next turn cause the hypertension to aggarvate, partly because a damaged kidney will not manage to secrete water and salt well enough, and partly because a kidney that do not get enough blood will start a hormonal mechanism that induces the kidney to actively hold back salt and water.

THE MECHANISMS AND CAUSES OF HYPERTENSION

The direct mechanisms causing hypertension is one or more of these factors:
- An increased tension in the blood vessel walls.
- An increased blood volume caused by elevated levels of salt and lipids in the blood holding back water.
- Hardened and inelastic blood vessels caused by arteriosclerosis.

The primary causes behind these mechanisms are not fully understood, but these factors contribute to causing hypertension:
- A high consume of salt
- A high fat consume.
- Stress at work and in the daily life.
- Smoking.
- Over-weight
- Lack of exercise.
- Kidney failure.

LIFESTYLE MEASURES TO PREVENT AND TREAT HYPERTENSION

Lifestyle measures shall always be a component of the hypertension treatment. Sometimes such measures are enough to cure the condition. Those measures are:
- Reducing salt consume.
- Reduction of the consume of fat, and especially saturated fat.
- Weight reduction.
- Relaxing and stress reduction techiques, for example meditation and autogenic training.
- Regular exercise.

SPECIAL FOOD TYPES THAT REDUCE THE BLOOD PRESSURE

Research projects suggest that the following food types reduce blood pressure.

• Fish oil and fat fish. The working substances seem to be the omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The effect from fish oil seems to cease when the fish oil supplements are stopped.
  -Olive oil, especially olive oil of the quality extra virgin.

NATURAL SUPPLEMENTS TO HELP AGAINST HYPERTENSION

Natural supplements to treat hypertension exist. These supplements reduce blood pressure by lowering the cholesterol and lipid content in the blood, by preventing oxidation of tissue components by free radicals, and by helping damaged blood vessels to heal. Examples of ingredients having these effects are vitamin B3, inositol, turmenic extract and gum guggul extract.

They may also contain Ingredients giving a direct anti-hypertensive effect, like potassium, magnesium, calcium, vitamin C and fatty acids from marine sources.

MEDICAL TREATMENT OF HYPERTENSION

When lifestyle measures and supplements are not enough to cure the condition, medical treatment must be applied.

Diuretics, or medicines to increase the urine production, are used to decrease the water content in the blood vessels, and thereby reduce the pressure in the vessels. When the water content is lowered, the heart does not need to pump so hard any more, and this will also reduce the pressure.

Beta-adrenergic blockers are another group of medicines to treat hypertension. This group of medicines block the signals that hormones and neurotransmitters give to the vessel walls, and the vessel walls then relax. They also slow down the heart rate to give a lower pressure exerted by the heart upon the blood.

heart_disease

Basically, heart disease is a disorder affecting the ability of the heart to function normally. There are many forms of heart disease of varied etiology.

The most widespread form of heart disease is high cholesterol. In the initial stages of the disease, lesions and cracks will form in the walls of blood vessel walls, usually close to the heart itself. The body will repair the damage by depositing fatty substances such as cholesterol and lipoproteins to fill the cracks.

If the body does not get adequate vitamin C that are vital for keeping the blood vessel walls from cracking, the repeated deposition of fatty substances can clog the blood vessels and thus cause a stroke or heart attack.

Types of Heart Diseases

The common forms of heart disease are: coronary heart disease, ischaemic heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, hereditary heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, inflammatory heart disease, and valvular heart disease.

Heart diseases may also occur due to congenital reasons, heart valve malfunction, electrical rhythm of the heart going out of sync, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, aortic regurgitation, heart attacks and heart failure.

Causes of Heart Disease

The major causes of heart disease include obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetic and a sedentary lifestyle. Others include menopause in women, getting on in age, especially after reaching sixty-five years of age and finally, the arterial walls being struck down with infections.

Damage to the heart muscle or valves due to a congenital defect, as well as inflammation and damage associated with various viral, bacterial, fungal or parasitic diseases can also cause heart disease.

Disease can also cause heart disease, for example atherosclerosis, dermatomyositis, Friedrich’s ataxia, hemochromatosis, Kawasaki disease and Paget’s disease of bone. Rheumatic fever and syphilis can also cause heart disease, as can genetic or autoimmune disorders in which cellular proteins in the heart muscle are deranged or which disrupt enzymes affecting cardiac function.

Common Symptoms of Heart Disease

The most common symptoms of heart disease include heaviness or pressure on the chest; dizziness; nausea; shortness of breath; back or shoulder pain; irregular or fast heartbeats and excessive heart palpitations. If one encounter any of these problems, it would be prudent to consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Diagnosing Heart Disease

Everyone should be concerned with heart disease and should discuss testing for heart disease with a doctor especially if one have a family history or aggravating lifestyle choices. High blood pressure, frequent loss of breath, heavy smoking or drinking, obesity, high cholesterol, inactivity and diabetes are sound reasons for heart disease testing.

Cure for Heart Disease

On diagnosis of heart disease, the doctor will probably recommend that a patient adopt a healthy lifestyle such as having frequent exercise, a healthy diet, avoiding alcohol and cigarettes. The next treatment will more than likely involve medications and finally surgery.

Although there are many different forms of treatment for heart disease, there is no cure for heart disease. There are promising theories, however none yet have been perfected yet.

Cellular therapy is promising as a possible cure for heart disease. Cellular products have been shown to hold great potential for the treating of damaged and diseased tissues in the body. The sources for cellular product also come in a variety of sources, such as bone marrow stem cell and peripheral blood, as well as from myoblasts from skeletal muscle cells.

Cellular therapy is a growing field for clinical research. It is of growing interest to medical researchers as potential treatments for congestive heart failure and ischemic heart disease, for instance.

The research to date has shown positive results. There are also various other forms of promising treatment. So a cure for heart disease may be a reality in the future.

All treatment for heart disease should be discussed with a doctor but most of the medications will be available on prescription. If the medication is not effective, then the last option may be surgery. There are wide ranges of surgeries and many of them are less invasive so recovery time is shorter.

One should also understand that heart disease is preventable by living a healthy lifestyle such as regular exercise, having low salt and low fat diets as well as abstaining from alcohol and smoking. After all, prevention is much better than cure.

acne-products

The shocking must read truth is that the most popular skin care brands targeted towards treating acne are damaging to your skin and make acne worse. Learning the truth will save you disappointment, money and a lot of time.

Many advertisements are aimed at making consumers (you) believe that if you buy their products your acne will vanish and you will have clear, smooth and radiant skin. Pretty models rub cleanser onto their cheeks then splash it off all the while beaming with joy at this so called miraculous product. When you’re suffering from unattractive breakouts and red inflamed pimples, it’s easy to be led astray and you constantly find yourself desperately buying each new pimple fighting product determined that this time it’s going to work, only it never does.

Below is a review on some products in two of the most popular acne targeted skin care ranges.

Clean & Clear:
Continuous Control Acne Cleanser contains Vaseline and mineral oil which adds a lot of unwanted oil and works towards clogging your pores causing more pimples to form.

Other products you should never use from this line are; Continuous Control Acne Wash Oil Free, Deep Action Cleansing Wipes Oil Free, Deep Action Cream Cleanser, Clarifying Toner, Oil Fighting Deep Cleaning Astringent, Sensitive Skin Astringent, Moisturizing Mist, Invisible Blemish Treatment and Overnight Acne Patches.

All of these products contain potently irritating ingredients like camphor, peppermint and clove which work to make skin red and inflamed. Many of these products have a high percentage of alcohol which is also highly irritating and extremely drying towards skin, making your skin flake and peel adding to your problems. Alcohol (the only exception being SD Alcohol) not only irritates and angers the skin, but prolongs healing time.

Also any Salicylic Acid which these products contain is not effective in the least because of the low dosage and the incorrect PH level which renders this ingredient ineffective towards treating acne.

Clearasil:
Considering how long Clearasil has been around, you’d think by now it would have succeeded in curing somebody’s acne. It’s hard to understand why Clearasil is making such bad products, but it’s a testament to their advertising department that they can still convince people to buy their merchandise.

All of their products are very bad choices when it comes not only to fighting acne, but for all skin in general. Many of their products contain menthol and alcohol which is harmful to the skin and which causes pimples to become red, angry and inflamed.

Here are a couple of examples:
Vanishing Treatment Cream Maximum Strength touts a 10% benzoyl peroxide which is a great ingredient for treating acne, however in the same product they use isopropyl myristate which causes breakouts.

Adult Care Acne Tinted Cream is one of the most highly irritating and damaging skin care products for acne. It not only contains alcohol but also has resorcinol, sulphur and isopropyl myristate all very irritating ingredients. This product clogs pores, is drying (in a very bad way) and causes redness and irritation and damages the skin.

It’s a major cause of concern that the majority of skin care products that advertise treating acne not only have no effect on eliminating pimples but actually cause them to look worse. Finding an effective acne treatment is like finding a diamond in the rough, the search is a very expensive game of hit and miss.

Finding truthful and factual information on acne is the best first step you can take in clearing your skin. Rising above the hype and glitzy advertisements is hard, but needs to be done if you want great skin.