How to care for the bones

CARE OF THE BONES In addition to the measures just mentioned to help protect the spinal disks, and precautions against accidents, proper nutrition is extremely important for bone health. Vitamin D is essential for bone production, and other vitamins are required to nourish the bone marrow. These are to be obtained in a balanced diet. Calcium, too, is vital. Most of the calcium in the body is in the bones, but calcium is also needed for muscle contraction, for heartbeat, and for blood clotting. In a remark- able automatic process, when the amount of calcium immediately avail- able for the heart and other parts of the body falls below a certain level, some of the calcium from bone is carried by the blood to these areas.

This is normal and healthy, but it underscores the need for adequate intake of calcium to maintain the bone stores. Milk contains plentiful amounts of calcium, which is one reason why it is such a basic item in the diet of growing children and in pregnant and nursing mothers. All through life there is need for adequate calcium intake, and this can be assured by a balanced diet. Calcium is contained in many food items. It is plentiful in dairy foods such as cheeses and in skim or fat-free as well as whole milk. After the menopause, bones in women need special care.   

WHAT IS A BALANCED DIET?

Understanding Balanced Diet

Nearly 50 nutrients; including amino-acids (the constituents of proteins), carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals are now known to be essential for health. A balanced diet is one that can supply all the essentials. It is almost certain that as time passes still other essential elements in foods will be isolated. This is added reason why a balanced and varied diet makes sense; if it is balanced and varied, it can supply all known requirements and others still unknown. 

The currently known essential nutrients have their specific functions. Briefly, because muscles, heart, liver, kidney, and other organs are composed chiefly of proteins, proteins are needed for development and growth of these organs during childhood and adolescence. After growth is over, body tissues, which are continually being worn out, must be   replaced by new materials, So ample dietary protein is essential at all times. 

Meat, fish, milk, and eggs are among the main sources of protein. Bones are composed chiefly of mineral substances such as calcium and phosphorus which are required both for original bone formation and for maintenance. Milk-fresh, canned, dried, skim, or whole-is a major source. Calcium also is supplied by American and Swiss cheese, molasses, turnip tops, dandelion greens.

And cereals, meat, and fish contain phosphorus. 

The fuel of life-what the body burns for energy-is sugar. Carbohydrates, which include both sugars and starches, provide the fuel most readily, for in the body starches are quickly converted to sugar. Fats and proteins also supply the fuel for metabolism-not as quickly, but they can be stored by the body as reserves, for use as needed. Vitamins help to convert foodstuffs into body tissues-skin, bones, muscles, nerves. Although required only in minute amounts, their role is obviously vital, and it is suspected that trace elements and perhaps still other materials yet to be isolated may perform similar functions.

A well-balanced diet-for young and old, active or sedentary, tall or short-can be supplied daily from four basic food groups: Milk and milk products- 2 servings for adults; 3 to 4 for children; 4 or more for teen-agers. One serving equals an 8-oz. glass of whole or skimmed milk; 1 oz. (1 slice) of hard cheese; or 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. 

Minerals Causes on our health

Investigations on Minerasls

Currently, scientists are investigating the influence on human health of many other trace elements, including chromium, manganese, cobalt, cadmium, copper, selenium, molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, and fluorine. Some preliminary evidence suggests that a deficiency of chromium may play a part in diabetes and, on the other hand, an excess of cadmium may adversely affect blood pressure. 

Even arsenic may be needed by the human body in these trace amounts. Trace materials occur in water and in soils, find their way into foods, and may be present in relatively large amounts in some foods, relatively small amounts in others.

Existing knowledge is still inadequate; there is enough to suggest the importance of trace materials but far from enough yet to provide a reliable guide to how much of them the body needs, how much of them can be dangerous, and their concentrations in various foods. Earlier, the discovery of the role of vitamins in human health under- scored the need for a balanced diet that would provide the vitamins. Now the work with trace materials underscores the need even more. 

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. 

Penicillin overdose side effects! How to avoid it?

A Special Word about Medicine Taking of many people that if a little is good, more is better. With potent agents, excessive dosage can produce real trouble. Similarly, under dosage can cause problems. Inadequate antibiotic dos- age, for example, carries its own risk. One common example is the patient with a "strep" throat who takes penicillin, improves, stops treatment, then gets the sore throat back again.

Once more, he takes some penicillin but not the full prescribed amount. Again the sore throat dis- appears only to recur after a short time. And so a disease that can be eradicated by continued administration of penicillin for eight to ten days is converted into one that drags on with repeated remissions and relapses. Physicians have, in fact, long suspected that many failures of anti- biotic treatment stem simply from failure of patients to keep taking medication as prescribed. A recent study uncovered disturbing evidence that many parents may be risking their children's health by failing to make certain they take their medication as long as necessary.

Actually, in acute "strep" infections, penicillin treatment for 10 days is considered essential to prevent rheumatic fever. Yet in a follow-up of 59 children for whom a 10-day course of penicillin had been prescribed, investigators found that 56 percent of the youngsters had stopped taking the drug by the third day, 71 percent by the sixth day, and 82 percent by the ninth day. When a doctor prescribes medication, the first thing to do is to get the prescription filled immediately. The value may be lessened, or even lost completely, if you delay.

Then follow directions of the doctor to the letter. If you are not certain you understand them, ask him for clarification-even for instructions in writing as to exactly what you are to do. Take all the medicine pre- scribed, not some amount you arbitrarily settle on. Don't decide, if you begin to feel better, that you can stop or reduce dosage. Sometimes, illnesses require several prescriptions. Very much worth noting here is an old principle taught to nurses: read every label three times. You can use that principle to advantage at home. 

How to manage Infections, overdoses, side effects in modern medicine

Friendly bacteria keep under control harmful organisms that also are natives of the digestive tract. When friendly bacteria are killed off in large numbers, there is less competition for the harmful residents and they have a chance to multiply. The result may be super infection-a new and different infection that develops as a result of another's being treated. Again, the super infection is often mild and disappears once antibiotic treatment stops. 

But super infection sometimes can be severe.

What it comes down to is this: use of potent modern medications, not only antibiotics but many others, involves a calculated risk and alertness. Ideally, the physician uses them after careful consideration and upon arriving at the decision that the good to be gained outweighs any risks along the way-and uses them with caution, keeping alert to the earliest indications of any new trouble from the drugs which he may be able to overcome by change of dosage, switch of medication, addition of other medication, or when necessary discontinuance of treatment.

One of the major problems, though, has been the insistence of many patients upon willy-nilly prescription of medication. They may demand penicillin, for example, for a cold or any fever. They have the feeling that a visit to the doctor is not complete unless the doctor "gives" them something. Too often, this has put physicians on the spot; and to please patients, some have prescribed medication against their better judgment.

So far as your own health is concerned, you can do much to preserve it not just by seeking timely medical advice but by taking it-by avoiding insistence upon medications, by indicating to your physician that you are aware of the values and also limitations of medications, the need to use them wisely not indiscriminately, to use them when they are required and not otherwise.

DOSAGE PROBLEMS

A man who took double the prescribed dose of an anticoagulant-a drug that, in effect, acts to thin the blood to prevent clot formation-found himself in the hospital a few days later with severe nosebleedsand vomiting of blood.

 A woman with bronchial asthma was admitted to the hospital with heart palpitations after she had used, contrary to instructions, an isoprenaline (isoproterenol) spray repeatedly for several hours. Another patient, a 29-year-old man, who had decided to take 50 percent' more than his prescribed dose of a cortisone like drug, came- to the hospital with changed personality, considerable weight gain from fluid retention, and other effects. 

Symptoms of Cancer - How to detect Cancer? Answer these questions

CANCER SIGNALS

Some signs and symptoms are commonly associated with cancer. They include: Any lump or thickening in the breast or elsewhere Any sore that does not heal Any persistent change in bowel or bladder habits Persistenthoarseness or coughing Persistent indigestion or difficulty in swallowing Any change in a wart or mole Any sudden weight loss Actually, none of the foregoing constitutes proof of cancer-only that cancer is a possibility which should be investigated without delay.

No sign or symptom-either severe or mild but persistent or recurring -should be neglected, it bears repeating here, on the grounds that it may not mean anything or that the doctor may say it's "just nerves." The preventively minded physician whom you see regularly for your checkups will welcome being consulted about such signals, will not pass them off lightly as "just nerves," will check thoroughly, and, if it should be just a matter of "nerves," will help you do something about the "nerves.

YOUR OWN HEALTH INVENTORY

In addition to regular periodic checkups by your physician and your alertness for danger signals, there is an additional line of defense, an extra safeguard, you can put to use in maintaining health. It consists of a simple inventory of your health, a checklist of statements. Taking the inventory at home will require only a few minutes once a month.

Mark your calendar now to remind you to refer to this chapter and the following statements on some convenient date each month, perhaps the first or fifteenth. If you cannot say "True" to anyone of the statements that follow, you should see your doctor as soon as possible. If you have a perfect "True" score, it is quite likely that your health is being maintained satisfactorily, and you need not see your physician again until your next scheduled examination.

1.            I have noticed no sore on skin, lips, or tongue that doesn't seem to heal.

2.            I am not aware of shortness of breath when walking on level ground or when performing any type of activity that never before made me short of breath.

3.            I am not bothered by indigestion, nausea, appetite loss, abdominal pain or cramps, or the recent sudden appearance of constipation or diarrhea.

4.            I have noticed no blood in bowel movements or urine.

 5.           I am not steadily losing or gaining weight and I am satisfied that my weight is suitable for me.

6.            I do not feel myself becoming nervous, irritable, or depressed. I have had no crying spells and no feelings of overwhelming sadness, worthlessness, mental apathy. I have no persistent feeling that any- body is against me. I do not feel a nervous breakdown coming on.

7.            I do not feel unduly fatigued after little effort, mental or physical. I have no feeling of being rundown.

8.            I have no pallor; my skin color has not changed.  

9.            I have no cough that has persisted longer than a month. I have coughed up no blood.

 10.         I have had no persistent hoarseness.

11.          My hearing remains as good as it has ever been.

12.          My eyesight, too, remains good; I have had no dimming or fogging of vision.

13.          I have no persistent headaches.

14.          I have felt no chest discomfort without obvious cause.

15.          I have had no prolonged aches in back, limbs, or joints.

 16.         There has been no swelling of my feet or ankles.

 17.         I have noticed no urinary changes.

18.          I sleep well. I have no tendency to wake up during the night and have difficulty falling asleep again.

 19.         I have no new persistent pain or any other new symptoms.

20.          I am not worried about the possibility of having a venereal disease. Special for women:

21.          I have noticed no vaginal bleeding at unexpected times.

22.          I have felt no lump in my breast, and I have not been worried about the possibility of cancer or tumor there or in any other part of my body.

23.          I am not troubled with hot flashes. Special for men:

21.          My urination has not been abnormal in any way recently-particularly in terms of difficulty in starting, stopping, dribbling, and pain.

22.          I am not ruptured and have no thoughts that I may be.

23.          I do not believe that I may have picked up some disease overseas during the war which may now be coming to the surface.

Important Note: If you cannot say "True" to one or more of the preceding statements, it does not necessarily mean that you have a serious problem. There may, indeed, be a clue to something serious-and because it is likely to be an early clue, the problem is very likely to be amenable to effective treatment. On the other hand, the problem may be mild, possibly even temporary. But let your physician make the diagnosis for you. He will almost certainly agree that it is good preventive medicine, in the best interests of your continued good health, for him to check up on the lead provided when you cannot say "True" to a statement. – 

How Supplementary Tests are useful along with Blood tests to determine and eradicate diseases?

A chest x-ray to disclose abnormality of the lungs is commonly made. X-ray studies are also used, when considered necessary, to check on heart size and, with the help of barium' either taken by mouth or given by enema, to study the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract. In addition, with the aid of injections of special dyes, x-rays today can be used to study the chambers within the heart and the condition of blood vessels. There is a method of using x-ray, after injection of a dye into an artery leading to the brain, to detect a brain tumor; this technique shows the blood vessel architecture of the brain and where tumor growth has pushed one or more vessels out of normal position. Blood studies have many values.

For a blood count, blood is drawn from a vein in the arm or fingertip, mixed with a diluting fluid, placed in a glass chamber so the number of red and white blood cells can be counted. Red pigment (hemoglobin) in the blood can be determined by comparison with color standards. The proportion of red cells in relation to the rest of the blood can be established by whirling the blood in a centrifuge so that heavier red cells settle in the bottom of a small measured tube called a hematocrit.

 Any departures from normal-such as too little hemoglobin indicative of anemia, too few white cells indicative of inability to combat infection, too many white cells indicative of body response to an infection not otherwise apparent-can are noted quickly.

Blood, usually taken from a vein in small amounts, also may be checked for sugar content as a test for diabetes and for the level of a substance, uric acid, as a test for gout. And sophisticated new blood tests often are valuable for heart problems, supplementing the information provided by the electrocardiogram. The electrocardiogram, a record of the electrical activity of the heart, is useful for analyzing any disturbances of heartrhythm, detecting inflammation, showing damage to the heart muscle, and making other determinations. An electrocardiogram, taken in good health, is of value because it provides a baseline for the future; it establishes what is normal for the individual and allows better interpretation of any changes that occur later. When a heart attack occurs-and many heart attacks are silent-an electrocardiogram will show that it has occurred. But it may not show accurately how much of the heart has been damaged. 

How Blood Pressure Determination helps to find and Prevent diseases?

 

Measuring blood pressure is an even more important part of the medical check today than it was in the past. For one thing, we know now how common elevated pressure is, affecting at least 17 million Americans. For another thing, we know now that high blood pressure, or hypertension, is an important factor in stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease. And best of all, hypertension today almost invariably can be controlled. Blood pressure is simply the push of blood against the walls of the arteries. It is highest when the heart contracts and pumps blood into the arteries and this peak pressure is called systolic. It is lowest when the heart relaxes between beats, and this lower pressure is the diastolic.

To measure pressure, a basically simple, though not simply named, device, the sphygmomanometer, is used. It's an inflatable cuff attached to mercury or other type of meter. When the cuff is wrapped around the arm above the elbow and inflated, the inflation does two things: it drives the mercury column up to near the top of the gauge and it compresses an artery in the arm so no blood flows through. With his stethoscope placed on the artery, the physician listens as he gradually lets air out of the cuff. At some point, as the air is released, the pressure of blood in the artery will begin to exceed the pressure of air in the cuff, and the blood will begin to flow again in the artery.

The beginning of flow produces a thudding sound the physician can hear through the stethoscope, and at this point the mercury gauge shows what the systolic pressure is. Then, as more air is released from the cuff there comes a point when the thudding sound no longer can be heard, and at this point the mercury gauge shows the diastolic pressure. It is normal for pressure to vary somewhat from day to day, even minute to minute. It goes up with excitement, which is why in an examination a physician may wish to take your pressure several times. In some people, however, the blood pressure is nearly always higher than it should be. 

STETHOSCOPE EXAMINATION FOR HEART PROBLEMS AND TO AVOID HEART ATTACK

STETHOSCOPE EXAMINATION

The stethoscope has a small cone which concentrates and slightly amplifies internal body sounds while excluding external noise. One of its major uses is in the detection of heart problems. The heart produces two distinct sounds-e-Iubb-dup, lubb-dup, lubb- dup-which are related to the closing of the valves inside the heart. The rate, rhythm, pitch, and intensity of these sounds, which can be studied with the stethoscope, provide indications of the health of the heart. The stethoscope can pick up any abnormal sounds-for example, a rubbing scratchy noise which may indicate pericardia, an inflammationof the outer coating of the heart.

With it, too, the physician can detect murmurs-audible vibrations produced by blood flow-and can distinguish among various types of them. There are murmurs associated with different kinds of congenital heart defects. Others are produced by over activity of the thyroid gland and disappear when the gland condition is corrected. A fever or anemia may produce a heart murmur which disappears when the anemia or fever is over- come. In addition-and worth special note here-there are innocent murmurs. Unfortunately, many people worry needlessly after being told at some point, perhaps during an insurance examination, that they have a murmur even though reassured it is "innocent." The fact is that innocent murmurs are unrelated to any physical problem and are quite common.

They can be found in as many as 15 percent of normal healthy adults and in an even higher percentage of normal healthy children. Such murmurs are more readily detectable in children because they have thinner chestwalls. And some authorities are convinced that if there were sensitive enough instruments, slight and innocent murmurs could be found in all people. Your physician has been trained to understand the significance of various types ofmurmurs, to distinguish carefully among them, and to heed those which tell him of existing or possibly brewing trouble.

Let him examine you and if he finds a murmur tell you exactly what it means. If he can report that it is innocent and no reason for worry that is exactly what he means. In addition to its value in studying the heart, the stethoscope often is useful in revealing characteristic sounds of asthma and of the lung disorder emphysema. Applied to the abdomen, it is often helpful in gastrointestinal problems; it may, for example, aid in diagnosis of intestinal obstruction. With the stethoscope, too, it is sometimes possible to detect blood vessel problems-the existence and location of an obstruction in an artery, for example.

Heart Attack And Other Problems - Percussion Examination

PERCUSSION

Percussion-a simple procedure to Know heart problems in which the physician lays one hand flat on the chest and raps on it with fingers of the other hand-can provide useful information about some internal organs. With it, the approximate size and shape of the heart may be established, for example. The chest is largely occupied by the lungs which, because they are filled with air, produce a hollow sound when the chest wall above them is tapped. 

Over the heart, which is filled with fluid, the sound has changes to a dull note. The physician can begin percussion at a point on the chest known to be over the lungs, moving in the direction of the heart until a dull sound tells him he has reached it. That establishes one point of the heart's position. Other points can be determined by starting the percussion else- where on the chest and moving in toward the heart again. 

Heart Attack and other Issues in Heart are well explained in the following posts, Please follow all the posts to know about the heart and the problems arising. In this modern days pollution and Global Warming create many issues and the human body cannot tolerate the modern day diseases. Though EBOLA is not a heart related virus directly, We could avoid EBOLA if we were followed some principles and hygienic procedures in Our life. In the same way we can avoid heart issues by adopting certain methods and exercises to avoid the issues in Heart. 

Please follow your physician's instructions in the matters and any suggestion given given here is subject to verify your physician.      

Patient History and Physical Examination can be Physician’s tool to Prevent Diseases

Patient History and Physical Examination can be Physician’s tool to Prevent Diseases

One patient who experienced a slight change in urination-dribbling a little during the night- passed it off as a joke, kidding with his wife that somehow, though he was still a young and vigorous man, he had entered second childhood. He had actually developed an enlargement of the prostate gland. A year of delay made the operation he needed more difficult and led to a complication, kidney infection, caused by backing up of urine. In reporting symptoms to the doctor, don't grope for medical words; use simple English. Many diseases have strong psychological aspects, and symptoms may recede the moment you are in the doctor's office. Still, tell the doctor you have the symptoms even though it may seem silly to talk about them when they are not immediately present. You can be certain the doctor will understand the phenomenon.

THE PHYSICAL EXAMINATION 'Even as he shakes hands with you, an alert physician may pick up some clues. Are your hands warm and moist, with a fine tremor? These characteristics may suggest over activity of the thyroidgland. If the hands are cold and the skin is coarse and puffy, the thyroid could be under- active. Red fingertips may signal some abnormal flow of blood in the heart; flushing of the nail beds in time with the heartbeat may indicate another type of heart problem called aortic regurgitation. As he observes the body, the physician can learn a great deal. The color of lips and ears may indicate possible anemia.

The Promise and Nature of Preventive Medicine

 One leg is slightly shorter than the other-enough in some cases to account for a backache problem. He may note leg swellings traceable to a heart problem, and any enlarged glands, tumors, or abnormal pigmentation resulting from internal disease. In his examination, the physician will be looking to see if the body is symmetrical. Lack of symmetry is almost always a sign of some dis- ability or disease. If the left side of the neck looks different from the right, it may be because of a tumor which is pushing out on that side. If the thyroid is not symmetrical, it may be because of a benign tumor which has enlarged one lobe ofthe gland. In the retina at the back of the eyes, small blood vessels-arteries and veins-lie are almost naked, devoid of covering material.

And there, very quickly, with an instrument called the Ophthal-mo-scope, the physician by looking through the pupil of the eye can detect any blood vessel changes which may provide clues to diabetes or kidneydisease. Women need a breast examination for any tenderness, abnormal lump, or nipple discharge. During a vaginal examination, a smear of cells for the "Pap" test is usually taken; this is a test to detect early cancer in the area. Both men and women should have a rectal examination to detect any local disturbances. With an instrument, the Sigmoido-Scope, the physician can see and check the lower portion of the colon for any growths.

As a patient, you can help greatly by insisting that the physician do a thorough inspection, by reassuring him that you have no squeamishness. Some doctors feel that patients’ are resistant to rectal andgenital examination and omit these vitally important checks. 

How does a preventively minded physician function? Follow 1000 posts in the series

You can expect that in working with you he will get to know you thoroughly-past medical history, family medical history, job, working habits, living habits-so he can weigh any possibility that you-as a member of a specific group based on heredity, environment, age, sex, color, personal habits-may face certain specific health hazards.

In his regular periodic examinations, he will follow your health progress in general and will be alert for the slightest early indication of anything wrong in any area of special risk for you. He may, in fact, from time to time use special tests to make certain all is going well in a special risk area.

During your visits, he will be concerned, of course, with any physical complaints and also with any mental or emotional problems (job, marital, and others), since these can affect health.

He will be interested in any changes in your habits and their possible effects, for good or ill, on your health. From time to time, he may have suggestions for an alteration, perhaps minor, of diet, exercisepattern, sleep, relaxation, etc.

As he regularly checks you, alert for earliest indications, even pre-indications, of possible trouble, he will be prepared to intervene without delay. Rather than wait, say, for obvious symptoms of diabetes to develop-especially if you belong to the group with greater than average probability of developing the disease-he will intervene to try to correct, if they appear, the very first changes that could possibly lead to diabetes.

As medicine has been practiced generally to now, it has been the patient who, in effect, has turned up after making a self-diagnosis. It has been the patient who has decided, "I think I am or may be sick or becoming sick," and then has sought help.

How it will be the preventively minded physician who increasingly will be able to tell the patient, "You are about to become sick and we are going to take a few measures in advance so you won't actually develop the sickness." 

Natural cure without medicines 1000 posts following

Medicines always cause some side effects and addiction that makes our body desperately needs medicine after once or twice taken. But Mother nature gives us many options to cure illnesses without any chemicals and medicines based on chemicals.

We will continue this blog dedicated to nature cure lovers, follow this blog for a complete solution for your health problems. Coming days will be very important to you to maintain a flawless healthier body.