Hair loss in culture

At the dawn of time, we all had more hair and lacked the means to cut it. The only way the mass of hair reduced was through aging. Sadly, hair loss has always been the first sign of growing old. And in this simple truth, we probably have the reason for our modern preoccupation with maintaining a full mane. It needed young men to go out into the world of dangerous predators and forage for food or hunt. The tribe depended on their skills and strength. Once someone grew too old to provide food or defend against wild animals, they had to hide in the caves with the women. This was a significant reversal in status. One minute, you're the leader of the gang. The next, you're a worthless dependent. You can imagine how these early go-getters felt when they were no better than women.

Looking at this first paragraph, little has changed except we now have scissors, razors and other effective ways of taming the hair, and keeping it neat and tidy. For those first signs of snow on the mountain, dyes are available in almost every shade you care to think of. No one need ever see that first whitening. But hair loss is more difficult to hide. Although the technology for wigs and toupees has improved significantly, they remain something of a joke. Culture can create conditions making life difficult for those who fail to live up to expectations. If "young" men start losing their hair, they are still considered little better than women. Wearing anything to cover it up does nothing except draw attention to the "problem".

It would be better if we had advanced as a species. Yet, for all our civilization, we still refuse to accept people for who or what they are. We must always find ways in which to judge each other. What should be insignificant differences become major social problems. The result is a mass market for products supposed to inspire our heads to keep on growing hair. There were people selling magic remedies back in Ancient Rome two thousand years ago. Fear still drives the sales of the modern equivalents. We have learned nothing about being kind to each other. Except in one small way. One manufacturer has developed a product that really works (although, truth be told, it was an accidental discovery). Propecia has been through all the clinical trials and now carries the full approval of the Food & Drug Administration. In every post-marketing survey carried out, men confirm the initial tests. It really does work. So, despite all the claims and promises made by the "rest" of the products, none of which have ever been through full clinical trials - one other drug with FDA approval lists hair growth as an undesirable side effect and its use to stop hair loss does not have FDA approval (it can also be fatal to your pets). So Propecia is the best (and kind to your pets). Ignore all the marketing slogans for the magic products. They did not work in Ancient Rome. They do not work now.

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Science's #1 Cure for Poison Ivy

Expert and amateur hikers and campers alike are familiar with the dangers of poison oak, ivy, and sumac. In fact, it's the first merit badge many Cub Scouts get. For good reason: the aggravating rash, welts, and itch can stay with you for FAR too long and drive you up a wall. While learning to recognize and avoid these plants is clearly the best way to approach any outdoors situation, these plants have a habit of surprising us or catching us unawares. So once you've got it, what do you do about it? There is only one sure-fire cure, so find out about it below.

First, let's learn a bit about these allergy-inducing plants.

Poison Ivy
It's not actually an ivy at all. It can be found growing as a trailing vine, a shrub, or a climbing vine in many parts of the United States. It produces an oil with its sap called urushiol (not urush-oil) that, when it comes in contact with the skin just by brushing up against the plant, causes a severe itching rash.

To avoid poison ivy, stay away from any plants that grow with clusters of three leaves, especially if they have red stems. There are a number of mnemonic devices to help: leaves of three, let it be; red leaflets in spring, it's a dangerous thing; longer middle stem, stay away from them; and so on.

Poison Oak
This is a bush that grows up to three feet tall. It has 6-inch long leaves that alternate in groups of three. The leaflets are hairy and irregular sizes, but they look a lot like white oak leaves.

Like poison ivy, just brushing up against poison-oak will cause a severe allergic reaction in many people and non-human animals. While it starts out as just itching, you can tell it is poison-oak because the skins soon becomes inflamed, develops non-colored bumps, and turns into blisters when scratched.

Poison Sumac
This is a proper tree, growing up to 20 feet tall, that has leaves made up of 7-13 leaflets. It is almost always an odd number of leaflets, unless there is a mutation. It has the same allergic properties as poison ivy, because it makes the same oil: urushiol. There is one major difference though, and that is that poison sumac can be deadly.

If an unfortunate hiker or camper inhales smoke from using poison sumac as fire wood, he or she will suffer extreme pain and severe respiratory difficulty that, if untreated, can result in death.

The Cure
Allergic reactions are basically a confused response from your immune system, so Prednisone, an immunosuppresant, is used to return the immune system to normal function.

It works like this: you take Prednisone, it gets to the liver where it is converted into prednisolone, an active steroid, which then tells the adrenal gland to chill out, and then all is better!

Take 60 mg of Prednisone for 5 days, then 40 mg for another 5 days, and 20 for 5 more. The rash will be gone after 6 or 7 days, but keep taking it to make sure you recover well.

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It's all about the label

Now here's an exciting question for you. When you receive your order through the mail from an online pharmacy, do you read all the consumer information that comes with it? It's often on the label or in small print in a neatly folded format that hides most of the text unless you open it out. Why do we ask? Well, there's a big debate going on about how much you should be told about the drugs before you take them. As it is, the system is mostly passive.

The information is there, but it's left to you to read through it all. How many of you have started reading some of this stuff only to find your eyes glazing over? We've all been there. There's just so much of it and not exactly written in a way we can all take in easily. For example, when you see all those side effects, do you really think about what they are and how big a risk you're taking? It's the same on television where you have these ads for drugs. They have about ten seconds of message telling you how great the drugs are, and then thirty seconds listing all the side effects. Like we all take notes during that half minute.

Well, let's get to the beef. There's been yet another appeal case dealing with our favorite acne drug. This one's about a girl who started treatment at 13 and then took the drug for two years. Far too long, but we can pass over that. She began to show blood in her stools. Later she had to have a part of her colon removed. This is a very rare side effect and, on the label, there's a warning of possibly severe problems including inflammatory bowel disease. So, the $10 million question is whether mentioning a problem along with many others is adequate warning. The jury felt there was an information overload and hardly surprising it took a young girl so long to understand she was supposed to stop taking the drug if she had "stomach" problems. One view is we get snowed under with information and give up. There's actually research evidence testing how much we can remember after reading the consumer information supplied with the drugs we take.

Most of those tested did very badly. When any drug like Accutane can be dangerous, the question is who is responsible for communicating the warnings. The manufacturers say they can't do any more. They openly publish all the relevant information. What they publish is vetted by the FDA. If people don't read it, that's not the manufacturer's problem. At some point, people have to take responsibility for their own safety. This would be particularly the case if they buy Accutane online and avoid talking with a doctor. In the good old days when we all had to get a prescription, the doctor could force us to listen. At present, the young lady's case claiming $10 million goes on. She was very unlucky to be injured, but it was an avoidable injury if only she had read and understood the label.

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Acomplia and the search for weight loss

Surveys are always interesting as a snapshot of what people claim to be thinking at any one time. Of course, some of us delight in giving all the wrong answers if someone is daft enough to stop us in the street with a quick questionnaire. But, allowing for there being a number who game the survey, there's always a basic element of truth buried in there somewhere. All you have to do is dig it out. So, look around the country and what do you see? Well, there's the obvious recession. Walk down any street in the suburbs or exurbs and you're going to see sale boards out front of many homes. People are hunkered down, fearing the worst on employment. And walk down any Main Street and you're going to see a lot of overweight people. Put all this together and you have the grit to make a pearl of a survey.

Look on the magazine racks, count the reality television shows, surf through the virtual bookshelves of Amazon, and walk down the isles in any drugstore and you could only conclude we are a nation obsessed with weight loss and dieting. Except, when you do your walk through a mall, you're immediately struck by the number of overweight people. We are just not eating more healthy food or exercising properly. Without a real commitment to losing weight, the necessary lifestyle changes are never going to be made. It's one of these dreams-meet-reality things. Having a great body is what we all want, but when it comes to the need to give up our favorite foods, cook for ourselves and the family, and pay more to get fresh healthy food from our local stores, we lack the stones. This latest survey shows only 35% of Americans actually have a healthy lifestyle based on eating smaller portions of healthy food and exercising. At the other end of the scale, 30% of Americans admit to being unhealthy, having unsuccessfully dieted 20 or more times.

Despite repeated failures to lose weight, people admit to being embarrassed by their bodies, particularly when it comes round to the summer months and they might be expected to show more flesh. Worse, many feel sufficiently self-conscious, they have given up dating. When it comes to this level of commitment to defeatism, it hardly seems worth mentioning Acomplia. Although the clinical trials consistently show people losing an average 10% of their body weight, this drug only works in combination with a diet and exercise program. An appetite suppressant does not reduce the number of calories you eat. That's always down to you. Worse, if you don't sacrifice your comfort and burn off some of those calories, even eating less is not going to produce real weight loss. The survey demonstrates the sad truth. Most Americans don't know how to lose weight and no matter how good Acomplia, it's never going to help the majority. But for that small percentage determined to join the 35% who remain healthy, this is the drug for you!

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Muscle cramps relieving tips

Muscle cramps are described as involuntary and temporary contractions of muscles or muscle groups, which usually manifest during or after physical activity. The sensation is usually described as being very unpleasant associated with lack of control over the affected muscles and strong contraction that can cause pain. There are numerous causes for muscle cramps to take place, however the most common factor contributing to their development is the lack of proper warm up before physical activity, especially before training in athletes.

Warming up in a correct fashion involves two main stages: general warm up (cardio exercises), which increases the overall body temperature; and specific warm up, which addresses the main muscle groups and joints that will be involved in the training process. Unfortunately, most people forget about one of these stages or completely avoid warming up before training either due to lack of time or simple ignorance. And that's why cramps can occur.

The second important part of any training that as crucial as the warm up process is the relaxation phase after the training. Just as with warming up, relaxation involves two stages: dynamic (aerobic activity) and static (stretching). As you may guess from the name, the relaxation phase is needed to calm the body down, easing muscle tension and eliminating the catabolic products synthesized in the course of training. Avoiding proper relaxation after the training can make the recovery process longer and lead to muscle cramps during the next training sessions.

Muscle cramps are also known to be caused by electrolytic imbalance, resulting from excessive perspiration that eliminates too much electrolytes from the body. In order to recover the balance, one must employ a special diet rich with fruits and vegetables, as well as supported by periodically using vitamin and mineral supplements.

In case you experience symptoms of muscle cramps during physical activity, the first thing you should do is stop the training. Try to relax and ease the tension in the affected area by massaging it. This will make more blood to flow into the affected area and eliminate the catabolic products much faster.

Another good thing to do is to stretch the affected area. This will help putting the muscle fibers in place and relaxing the overall muscle group in the region. This will also make the muscles more elastic, which will contribute to faster recovery.

You can also benefit from having a warm shower. It will help relaxing the muscles and reduce the tension in the body. It's best done while you're still in the gym.

If these measures do not help, you may need a much stronger medication aid with drugs like Carisoprodol. Make sure to ask your doctor or the medic at the gym if you can use such drugs.

Ignoring muscle cramps can lead to more serious problems such as muscle rupture and periodical relapse. This can be especially traumatizing for athletes, who will be unable to give their best during trainings or sports events. Moreover, muscle cramps can even affect the everyday activity of a person, making it hard to control and use the affected muscle group. If muscle cramps have affected some key areas such as back, neck, or joints, it can be even hard to sit, walk and do things around the house. So if you experience symptoms of muscle cramps, make sure to do everything to eliminate them, even if it means taking drugs like Carisoprodol.

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