Prevention of iron-deficiency anemia unless there is chronic loss of blood

Prevention of iron-deficiency anemia unless there is chronic loss of blood

 There is no need to take advertised remedies to provide extra iron for "tired blood." If there is blood loss which is producing anemia, it's important not only that the anemia be corrected but that the underlying cause be found and corrected. Pernicious Anemia For red blood cell manufacture in the bone marrow, vitamin B12 is needed. 

The vitamin is present in adequate amounts in any balanced diet. But for absorption by the body, B12 requires the presence in the stomach of a substance called "intrinsic factor." In pernicious anemia, intrinsic factor is lacking or operates inadequately. Vitamin B12 absorption is then inadequate, and in such patients the vitamin must be administered by injection. In addition to the common signs for all anemias, pernicious anemia manifests itself in a ted and sore tongue, difficulty in swallowing, a pale lemon skincolor.

In about 10 percent of patients, there are symptoms from spinal cord changes such as numbness and tingling in the lower extremities ("pins and needles" sensations) and unsteady gait. Sometimes the fingers are affected by numbness and tingling. Memory may be affected, and sometimes even psychotic states may be induced. The nervous system changes are referred to as "combined system disease" or "posterolateral sclerosis." It is important that they be recognized for what they are, especially when they occur before anemia becomes manifest.

If treated early, by vitamin B12 injections, the changes may be reversed completely; if neglected and treated too late, complete reversal may not be possible. The diagnosis of pernicious anemia is made through the characteristic appearance of the blood cells, examination of a bone marrow sample obtained by simple needle puncture, a finding of acid deficiency in stomach juice, and by other laboratory tests. It is important that the diagnosis of pernicious anemia be unequivocal because this condition requires lifelong care. If correctly diagnosed and treated, the outlook for pernicious anemia today is excellent. Blood returns to normal. 

Blood and iron health care

There is much talk these days about "iron-poor" blood. You will recall that it is hemoglobin-a combination of protein and iron-which carries oxygen. When the number of red cells in the blood is not adequate or the cells do not contain adequate amounts of hemoglobin, the body is not able to get its proper supply of oxygen. Without the oxygen, the muscles and other tissues are not able to burn all their supplies of fuel. The body is unable to get sufficient energy. The condition is called anemia. If anemia is the result of inadequate hemoglobin, the problem may be overcome by good diet-and may be avoided the same way. As noted previously, foods rich in iron include meats, particularly liver, heart, and kidneys; also leafy green vegetables; enriched bread and cereal; egg yolk; potatoes; oysters; dried fruits; peas; beans.

And since hemoglobin also contains protein, good-quality protein foods in the diet help. It should be emphasized, too, that there are other types of anemia and other possible causes. And if you feel unduly fatigued and suspect that you have anemia, don't guess that it may be for lack of enough iron or enough protein or anything else. Find out-let your physician test to determine-exactly what, if any, kind of anemia it is and what should be done about it. There are certain diseases that are great enemies of the heart and circulatory system. They include high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, rheumatic f ever, hardening of the arteries, diabetes, nephritis, and syphilis.  

Blood How it works on body care?

BLOOD

Blood, the body's transport medium, consists of about equal parts of a watery fluid called plasma and a mixture of red cells, white cells, and platelets. The red cells give blood its color and there are some 25 trillion of them. Each lasts about four months, wearing out and breaking up. And new cells to replace the old are produced in the bone marrow at a rate of about one million a second. The red color of the cells comes from hemoglobin, a combination of protein and an iron pigment. It is the hemoglobin that actually carries oxygen from the lungs to the capillaries and then carries carbon dioxide to the lungs, where it is exhaled.

Hemoglobin is a substance with an ability to hold very large quantities of oxygen. If it didn't exist, and if oxygen had to be dissolved in blood plasma, the body would require 300 quarts of blood instead of 5. White cells are less numerous than red but still there are 20 to 50 billion of them. Typically, in a pinprick of blood there may be some 10,000 white cells and as many as 5 million red cells. There are several kinds of white cells. One type, the granular leukocyte, is produced in the bone marrow along with red cells. Another, the lymphocyte, is produced in the lymph nodes, tonsils, and adenoids. White cells have an important role in the body's defense against invasive bacteria. Unlike the red cells, the white ones can move. They usually move along the sides of blood vessels rather than being pushed along with the red cells in the middle. They move by pushing out part of themselves ahead, then sliding the rest into the advanced area.

They can flow around and engulf bacteria. The battle, however, is not all one-sided. White cells can be destroyed by bacterial poisons, and pus is an accumulation of dead white cells and bacteria. But while bacteria sometimes can overwhelm the white cells, much more often the outcome is the other way, and most bacterial invasions (and they occur almost constantly) are repulsed. The blood platelets, which are smaller than the red cells, help blood to coagulate or clot. They collect at the site where a blood vessel is cut or otherwise injured, and they produce tiny fibrin threads, which lead to clot formation, helping to minimize blood loss. Plasma, which constitutes about half of whole blood, and is the part without cells, is itself about 91 percent water.

The remainder is made up of such minerals as sodium, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, plus fats, sugars, plasma proteins, and antibodies. Antibodies are another part of the body's defense mechanism. Micro- organisms entering the body stimulate the production of antibodies which then, in very specific fashion, lock on to and incapacitate them. And it is by causing the body to produce antibodies specific against a particular disease organism that vaccines work. After use of a vaccine, the antibodies are in the plasma, ready and waiting to attack immediately if the disease organism should appear.

Blood and circulatory system

 THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM \ ALL LIVING cells of the body must have a supply of fuel, water, and oxy- gen brought to them and must have their waste products removed. This is the function of the remarkable circulatory system, consisting of the heart and a vast network of blood vessels. In recent years, much knowledge has been acquired about the functioning of the human heart and circulatory system and about factors critical for the health and welfare of the system. There have been significant developments in the area of prevention of disturbances, and there are many measures which you can take quite readily.

THE HEART weighing less than a pound when full grown and only a little larger than your fist, the human heart ranks as perhaps the world's most fantastic machine. Despite its small size, it beats an average of 72 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, nearly 40 million times a year. Each day it pumps the equivalent of some 5,500 quarts of blood weighing 6 tons through more than 60,000 miles of the circulatory system. The work done by the heart is comparable to the effort you would have to expend to lift a ten- pound weight three feet off the ground twice a minute for the whole of your life. A hollow organ, the heart perches in the front part of the chest, under the breastbone in the center, with its apex pointed to the left. It has a muscular wall, the myocardium, which is surrounded by a fiber like bag, the' pericardium, and is lined by a strong, thin membrane, the endo  heart is actually ,I double pump,  our chambers two at the top called atria and two at the bottom called ventricles.

Swimming a great relaxation source

A swim should leave you relaxed and comfortable; if it does not, you have stayed in the water too long. Take a shorter swim next time.  Long swim, have someone row along beside you or go with and long good swimmer. And be sure both of you know life-saving technique. 

The most expert swimmer can get a cramp-and if he does, he would drag you down unless you know how to avoid desperate clutches and how to tow him to shore. No matter how well you swim, stay close to shore if you are swimming to an isolated spot. Any races you may have won in high school or college will not protect you against cramps.

Don't try to swim a long distance the first few times out. Your swimming muscles may have lost strength through inaction; give them time to get strong again before you tackle rapid currents, heavy seas, or long distances. Before diving in a new place, test the water for depth and hidden logs or rocks. Lakes and rivers change in depth depending upon rainfall; md in salt water, high and low tides have to be considered. 

Find out for yourself whether your dive should be a shallow one-rather than risk a broken neck. If you have trouble with sinuses or ears, give up diving and under-water swimming. Excessive water in the nose may wash away secretions that help protect against infection.

In addition, infections may wash into the sinuses through the nose or may even reach the middle ear through the Eustachian passage from the throat. 

How drugs Interacts with our body mechanism? And Outdated Medicines

OUTDATED MEDICINES

 If your physician has prescribed a drug for you and instructs you to discontinue its use before the supply is all gone don't save what is left over for another time. Discard it. It may seem like a waste to throw away expensive medication; actually, it is an important safety precaution. Some drugs lose potency with time; some gain potency. Either way, their use after a lapse of time can be dangerous.

 Moreover, it has become clear that some drugs, in the process of aging, not only change in potency; they undergo marked chemical changes that can make them dangerous. Not long ago, for example, physicians at three New York hospitals reported on several patients who had suddenly experienced nausea and vomiting and then developed symptoms like those of diabetes. The trouble in each case was traced to chemical deterioration of an antibiotic, a tetracycline, taken long after it should have been thrown away.

DRUG INTERACTIONS 

when one medication is being used, the addition of another sometimes can be helpful but sometimes can be harmful. When two agents used in concert do not harmonize, the interaction or interference can cause trouble. Moreover, even effects on dosage requirements must be considered when two or more medicines are being used. Recently, for example, a patient who had had a heart attack and recovered from it was released from the hospital. 

Ten days later, an alarming condition developed. While in the hospital the patient had received an anticoagulant medication as part of treatment-a compound aimed at preventing clotting. At home, he continued as directed to take the same compound in the same dosage. But now the drug was thinning.

 The blood too much

 Something had changed. It had indeed: in the hospital, the patient had been given phenobarbital upon retiring. The sedative, in the course of its activity in the body, had stimulated certain liver chemicals which broke down the anticoagulant faster. At home, without the phenobarbital, the anticoagulant activity continued longer and was more potent. In effect, without the sedative, the patient was getting an overdose of.

The anti-coagulant

The matter, once understood, was quickly adjusted. But it illustrates what is coming to be virtually a new science in medicine, concerned with understanding and taking into account inter- actions between medicines. This, of course, is not the place to go into complex technical details. 

But as indications of how important interaction can be, here are some recent findings: When a patient is taking aspirin, addition of an anticoagulant drug may lead to bleeding. If a patient is receiving a medication such as amitriptyline for mental depression and is also given guanethidine for high blood pressure, the antihypertensive activity of the latter is lost.