Archive for the ‘Treatment’ Category

Resources When Coping with a Disability

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Brain Injury (journal)
 

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One of the most difficult situations a person or a family can face is a life altering injury. When the injury is a brain injury it can not only be devastating emotionally, it can also be a financial burden. The expenses involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of a brain injury can take a huge toll on your household.

If you live in the Los Angeles area and someone in your family has brain damage as a result of an injury, it is important to find a good Los Angeles spinal cord injury attorney.  Who you choose could make a difference in your finances for the rest of your life and the life of your family members. Even during the difficult time of dealing with the shock and emotional stress of a brain injury.

Finding the right resources to help your family deal with a disability takes time and a lot of research, but if you make good decisions about who can help you, it will make a difference down the road. The places you can look for help may also depend on how the injury occurred. If it happened at work, you should look into disability insurance and worker’s compensation. If it was the result of an accident, you can look into an attorney as mentioned above. The government can also be of some help through the social security disability program.

Regardless of which resource you turn to, coping with a disability is not easy. It is often a life long change for a family, so getting the right help can make the process less stressful financially for everyone involved.

Stopping Hair Loss in Men

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

For many men, hair loss is inevitable since male pattern baldness is heredity. For others, hair thinning and hair loss can occur as a natural part of aging or because of trauma caused by a disease or injury. In some cases, certain medications can cause hair loss, as can certain treatments such as chemotherapy.

Fortunately, even for those with genetic hair loss tendencies, there is a way to stop hair loss in men. There are over-the-counter preparations, but now there is also a prescription medication —Propecia online. This is a brand name for finasteride.

Finasteride works by making it harder for the body to produce a chemical called 5-Reductase. Reducing the amount of this chemical also means that DHT (Dihydrotestosterone), the hormone that is responsible for hair loss, production is also lessened.Finasteride actually helps grow longer hair; it does not just enable the hair follicles to produce shorter hairs, sometimes known as “peach fuzz” or “seedlings.” And because this medication comes in pill form, as is the case with Propecia, which can be purchased online, it is easy to remember to take it. Like all medications, finasteride does have side effects. These include decreased sex drive and problems achieving an erection.

There are two very important things that should be remembered about Propecia. The first one is that women cannot take this drug, as it can cause birth defects, especially in unborn male children. The second is that this drug can affect PSA screening results, so it is important that a doctor knows it has been prescribed.

Finasteride does require a prescription; however, it can be purchased online without one.If you do this, you can actually compare prices. Doing this can help you save money. You may also be able to get a larger supply of Propecia online. If this is true, even if you have to pay a little more, you won’t have to purchase the drug as often.

Saving Money On Medicine For That Horrible Cold

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

People spend a lot of money each year on medicine and prescriptions. One type of medicine many people need a lot of is something to take when you have that horrible cold. Here are ways that you could get all the cold medicine you need without having to spend a lot of money in the process.

Try and plan out what medicines you think you will need. Cold medicine is always over the counter and often times found on sale. When you spot a good sale, that’s when you should buy. As long as you don’t open the product, it will last a good amount of time.

Also keep in mind something you heard a lot growing up when you were sick. Get plenty of rest and drink a lot of fluids… also, be sure to eat your chicken noodle soup. These are things that could help you get over a cold without having to take anything.

Don’t take too much medicine. There are times when people think they have to take two or three things for a cold. This isn’t true. Take a look at the ingredients in what medicine you’re taking. You’d be surprised to see that a lot of them have the same ingredients, which means you’re taking twice the amount of medicine you should be taking. Got a headache? Tylenol has acetaminophen in it, so when you’re taking something for your cold make sure that ingredient isn’t in it.

Want to know the easier way to save money on cold medicine? Buy generic. Many stores will have a generic form of the medicine for half the price and it works just like the name brand would. Don’t pay twice the amount just for the name, that’s insane to do.

Saving money on cold medicine is a lot easier than some might think. Going generic and looking for sales, with your coupons, is the best way to save money on cold medicine.

Senior/Elder Care and You

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Watching a parent age poorly is one of the toughest things you could ever go through. The impulse to try and care for them, as much as they cared for you when you were a child, is strong. But those who require professional care need, nay deserve, more than you are simply capable of providing for them. It is difficult to look past the love and concern you have for your parent and objectively recognize that it is time to bring in someone trained to do this properly.

The topic of senior/elder care is difficult to navigate for those with little to no medical training. It becomes particularly complicated when the emotional pull of an aging family member gets in the way. There are a few clear cut signs that should indicate it is time to bring in a professional, even if it is on a part-time basis. The first is a complicated medical regimen. The more pills needed, the more likely it is for mistakes to occur. When injections are added to the mix, it can oftentimes be easier and safer to have a trained professional guarantee that mistakes don’t happen. Another sign is when physical therapy is a requirement. A trained therapist will not only ensure that the regimen is followed properly, they can also make the appropriate adjustments as the patient progresses or falls behind. The signs do not always come from the parent though.

One should be on the lookout for the ways senior/elder care affects him or her. People should be willing to hire help when their schedules make it more difficult to care for their aging parent. When simply finding time to stop by to make sure everything is going well is too much, the piece of mind that comes with paying someone to oversee the day to day life of their aging family member is always worth the expense.

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Parenting Tips: Controlling Sibling Rivalry

Saturday, November 20th, 2010
Children in Jerusalem.
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Sibling rivalry can blow put of proportions when children grow up. Therefore it is important to nip the bud at the beginning itself. Sibling rivalry is nothing but a brewing discontentment amongst two children of a parent. It’s like a discord or a rivalry between a brother to a brother, a brother to a sister, or a sister to a sister.

Sibling rivalries are not a good thing in a family. It does happen during childhood, when two children might fight. But as time passes, things iron out between the two. When things don’t, then sibling rivalry can become a full blown war between two grown up adults.

To stop your children from being rivals with each other, your need to certain things that will make them feel like equals. You need to love them equally. Punish them equally. Care for them equally. Never make the mistake of having a soft corner for a younger child over an older child. This will make the older child loathe even the presence of the younger child.

These childhood angers will also carry on to adulthood. In adulthood it will become more than a small problem. During this time, parents will not have a control over their children. So it is better to deal with it right now itself.

Teen and child health experts feel that the best way to deal with sibling rivalry is to create a partnership between children. When children are asked to be partners to do something, then they will feel more like a team.

You can start off with making some small games in your home, where you and your spouse will be one team, while the other team is your children. So your children will feel one and together. If you encourage such activities, the children will stop being rivals, and start working for each other.

Therefore the best parenting advice for dealing with sibling rivalry is to make your children become activity partners.

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Parenting a disabled kid

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
This is the internationally recognized symbol ...
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It is never easy to parent a disabled kid. It requires a lot of effort on the part of the parent to really fulfill the requirements of the disabled child. Disabled children will have varying levels of emotional problems due to their physical afflictions. Parents of children with disabilities need to understand how to emotionally stabilize their children.

No medical journals or teen and child health magazines will completely make a parent understand the value of instilling confidence in a child with disabilities. Disabled children don’t have that much confidence. This is because they somehow do not feel all right with themselves. They do not understand why they have been separated from the rest of the people by God.

By instilling confidence in the disabled kid, a parent will create hope in the child. The hope to live and the hope to lead a normal life inspite of having disabilities. Confidence creates an understanding of the uniqueness of the soul and its purpose. It also increases the appetite to live, and not just merely exist. Children with disabilities when they grow up feeling low and unconfident lose the hope to live, and choose to just exist. This situation is because parenting never focused on building their confidence.

Now the question arises as to how to build confidence? Confidence is the result of having belief in one’s ability. Even disabled children will have plenty of talent. Television shows project blind children singing, and playing musical instruments. This is enough to show that every human being has got ability. And it is the responsibility of the parent to find this and hone this.

Parents should also concentrate on providing the best of education to their disabled children. Educated children can easily fit in as useful citizens of the country. They can be used to work in different fields of education. Education creates skilled resources. Even disabled children can become skillful adults and real assets to the society in large.

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Parenting tips: If you have an adopted kid and a biological kid

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
US Navy 100423-N-0641S-143 Mara MacDonald demo...
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It is indeed a peculiar situation when you have to deal with an adopted kid, and your biological kid. Sometimes these things are hidden from kids, until they grown up. Challenging as it may seem, but this is not provided to see things in a certain way, your kids will do the same.

You don’t need a biological kid to parent

Parenting need not only be if you have conceived and gave birth to your own children. Parenting is an attitude, and a human need. Even biological kids don’t get parented that great by their biological parents. So the best parent advice that can be given to a parent, who wants to be a parent, is that parenting needs not only with your biological child. You can parent any kid who you think you can give all your love and care to.

Don’t let your adopted child feel like one

Treat your adopted kid and your biological kid the same. Don’t let your differential treatments create a sense of alienation in your adopted kid. Make your adopted kid feel like your kid, and you will see that your adopted kid considers you as his or her parent. Even if the adopted kid grew up and met his or her biological parents, the real parent would still be you. That’s what love can do. No parenting advice is complete without essaying the qualities of providing love and compassion to children.

Tell your adopted kids that they were adopted

Tell them after some time, when they reach about the age of 7 or 8. Don’t make it too late. Letting them to become adults and then letting them know is not right. They will have a rude awakening when they know this fact. By telling them when they are kids, they will feel that adoption is a very normal thing. And when they grow they too will adopt orphaned children or homeless children, fully knowing that parenting is a personal decision.

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New Asthma Treatment Approved By FDA

Sunday, August 29th, 2010
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A device called the Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This non-drug, device-based procedure is the first of its kind and helps adults whose current medication may not be enough for a severe asthma attack.

Deemed appropriate for people that are 18 years or older, the Alair system should help people control their asthma when long-acting beta-agonist prescriptions and inhaled corticosteroids are not enough. The device gives a type of thermal energy to the airways with a catheter–delivering radiofrequency energy, reducing smooth muscle thickness, and heating lung tissue. All these factors should improve an asthmatic person’s ability to breathe.

To help it be approved by FDA, the treatment underwent a clinical trial of 297 patients suffering from persistent and severe asthma. Data reflected a decreased number of asthma attacks with the Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System. A five-year study of the device is required to determine its safety and effectiveness long-term.

Side effects during the Alair system procedure include wheezing, chest tightness or chest pain, coughing up blood, partially collapsed lungs, asthma attacks, anxiety, nausea and headaches.

According to the FDA, the treatment aims to reduce the number of attacks over a long period of time. It is not suitable for people with pacemakers, internal defibrillators or other implantable devices. Asthmatics sensitive to lidocaine, benzodiazepines or atropine should not use the device. Similarly, patients should not be treated with the Alair device while experiencing a bleeding disorder, an active respiratory infection, or if changes have been made to an individual’s corticosteroid regimen in the past 2 weeks.

The company who manufactures the system, Sunnyvale, California-based Asthmatx Inc., was given expedited review by the FDA because of its potential to help asthma patients reduce airway constriction and address other unmet needs.

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General Information about Down’s Syndrome

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
Boy with Down Syndrome assembling a book case.
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Down syndrome occurs when a child is born and has an extra chromosome. Instead of the normal 46 chromosomes the child is born with 47. This birth defect is the cause of severe mental and physical disabilities. There are many screens that are conducted to determine whether a child has this genetic condition. The most common are amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, genetic ultrasounds, and a triple/quadruple screen.

Physical and Mental Disabilities Associated with Down Syndrome

Children affected with Down syndrome have certain physical characteristics that include slanted eyes, small head and facial features, along with small hands and feet. Down Syndrome children often have heart defects, gluten sensitivity, hearing and eye issues, low muscle tone, problems with their thyroid or skeletal systems, and gastrointestinal defects. Also there can be serious problems with the lungs a condition known as pulmonary hypertension.

Mentally Down Syndrome children can have severe learning disabilities, inability to concentrate, slow language development and a low IQ. Everyday activities such as eating, dressing themselves and potty training can also represent a challenge.

Down Syndrome Statistics

The only known risk factor to having a baby with Down syndrome is age. Women that have children after the age of 35 are at a higher risk to have a child with Down syndrome, and the risk increases every year. Currently 13 out of every 10,000 children born in the U.S. will have this birth defect. Women that reach the age of 40 have a 1 in 100 chance of having a baby with Down syndrome.

Treatment

There is no cure for Down syndrome, but through heavy counseling and other services, the lives of children with Down syndrome can be greatly improved. It is imperative that children receive physical, occupational, and speech therapy at the earliest age possible. Children with Down syndrome will automatically qualify for assistance under the Disabilities Education Act.

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Spina Bifida and Children

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Schematic drawing of a baby with spina bifida.
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Spina Bifida is a birth defect that occurs in the neural tube of the spine. It is basically where the one area of neural tube of the spine doesn’t close during the formation of the fetus. When this occurs significant spinal cord nerve damage can result. The nerve damage will range from mild to severe depending on which location of the neural tube is left open and how large an area is unprotected. There are a number of prevention techniques the most effective is a high intake of folic acid during pregnancy.

Types and Diagnosis

Most cases of spinal bifida are diagnosed either at birth or before. The mildest version however is usually not diagnosed until well after birth or adulthood due to the lack of any symptoms. Three tests that can detect Spina bifida during the pregnancy are the ultrasound, an amniocentesis, and the alpha-fetoprotein test.

The severest type of Spina bifida is myelomeningocele. This is where a sac of fluid comes thru the neural tube opening. This sac contains parts of the spinal cord and related nerves. Meningocele is another type, but the sac of fluid that protrudes from the opening doesn’t contain any portion of the spinal cord. The mildest type is Spina bifida occulta, where there is no fluid sac at the neural tube opening just a small gap.

Spina Bifida and Resulting Disabilities

There are a number of disabilities that result from a diagnosis of Spina bifida. They include partial or full paralysis, gastrointestinal problems, learning disabilities, depression, meningitis, problems with eating and or breathing, inability to focus, and various skin allergies.

Treatment of Spina Bifida

Almost every case of Spina bifida is treated via surgery. Most surgeries will occur as soon as the child is born. Physical therapists will teach parents a variety of muscle exercise techniques and also will provide support to assist in the child’s walking.

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