Posts Tagged ‘elderly care’

A Brief Outline Of Birth Control And Cervical Cancer

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Birth control is a large issue, there is no doubt of that and women are more aware than ever that having children is not a necessary result of having sex. They are also conscious that having children at the wrong time can ruin their careers and they are also aware that passions or alcohol get in the way of safe sex using condoms very frequently.

This results in women taking care of the vast majority of birth control by taking ‘the pill’. The contraceptive pill caused an uproar in the Sixties with the Establishment and the Churches predicting the downfall of society and morality. And after a fashion, they were correct. But what happened was to sweep away a great deal of social barriers and privileges that previously just the rich (and men) had enjoyed. The ‘old order’ lost a bit of ground.

The problem with the way that women took control of their sex lives was or is twofold: firstly, men leave ‘that type of thing’ to the woman and secondly, taking the pill can lead to cervical cancer. The chances of getting cervical cancer from taking the pill are small (15,000 Americans a year, of which a third dies), but they do exist.

However, there are no recorded cases of men developing cancer from using a condom.

Women normally get cervical cancer from having sex. They pick up the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Most of the time, the woman’s immune system will prevent that virus from causing cancer, but research has shown that women who take the pill for more than five years consecutively have a higher danger than women who have not.

So a condom would be useful here.

Unfortunately, there are no symptoms in the early stages of cervical cancer, but later on, there may be heavier losses of blood, pain after sexual intercourse and even unpleasant smells. Periods could also last a great deal longer than ‘normal’.

The difficulty with studies is that, there frequently comes another study to prove something else and this is the case here too. Some studies have shown that the use of the contraceptive pill reduces the incidence of ovarian cancer.

It is like old sayings, there is always a opposite, as in: ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ and ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’.

If you listen to the ‘experts’, you would be in a lasting state of dilemma. Therefore, the only really safe course to take is to go for regular tests or screenings – at least once a year, unless your doctor or gynecologist tells you different and if he or she does, query it.

The pharmaceutical businesses have been promising a male contraceptive pill or implant for decades. In fact, the pill might even be there. But that is not the reason normally. The problem is usually men. The majority of men cannot be relied upon to provide adequate contraception when they are involved in casual relationships.

As long as this state of affairs continues, women will continue to take risks so that they are not bogged down by a family of 10 kids like their great-grandmothers were.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

Eye Care After A Lasik Operation

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

The patient of Lasik surgery has two foremost responsibilities regarding his or her eyes: firstly to pick a responsible, skilled surgeon, which should not be very difficult and secondly, to take care of his eyes after the operation by following the guidance of the surgeon on post-operative care. This second part is very important and should not be taken lightly.

The post-operative supervision process is not a problem, but if you are worried about it, you could ask your surgeon what it will entail before the procedure. The medical doctor or a nurse will be able to explain the procedure of care to you in detail or they will give you a brochure.

There might be some peculiar sight aberrations for a few days after the operation, some of which are fairly standard. One of the most common aberrations that are standard for a few days are halos around lights.

However, you should be certain that you understand the difference between what is standard and so no grounds for concern and what should be reported immediately

There are various Lasik procedures and the procedures are advancing all the time so it is not possible to give precise details in this piece. Moreover, the shape of the eyes and the reasons for deteriorating eyesight are individual to every patient.

Some of the advice that your Lasik surgeon might give for your post-operative eye care may include the following, although different doctors might have their own advice.

The first thing is to remember that you have just had an operation including anaesthetic. There might not have been any blood but it was surgery all the same.

All patients are desired to take it easy after an operation and you will be no exception. If you had had an operation on your knee, you would use it as little as possible for a time and the same is helpful advice for your eye.

Attempt to sleep for a couple of hours after the operation or at least close your eyes and rest. Infection is the chief anxiety, so do not poke or rub your eye and do not strain it by trying out your recently improved eyesight by reading or watching TV.

If you have to entertain yourself in this manner wear an eye patch. Your surgeon will almost certainly have given you a hard plastic eye guard, which you should wear at all times.

Some surgeons will advise against getting water into your eye for a few days, which means washing just from the neck down, no showering, no going out in the rain and definitely no swimming.

Be careful with bright light, it cannot damage your eye but it does hurt. Your world will get much brighter after the operation and looking at a light bulb can be painful. Be cautious of watching moving traffic whilst the sun is shining, a car window can catch the sun and reflect it back into your eye all of a sudden.

You will be given eye drops so do not fail to use them. Lasik surgery can dry your eyes out, if this happens they might be able to give you alternative or supplemental drops.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with wet macular degeneration treatment. If you want to know more, please go to our site at Macular Degenerative Disease

Information On Breast Cancer

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

The medical phrase for breast cancer is ‘malignant breast neoplasm’. Breast cancer starts most often in the inner lining of the milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. The general term for cancers that originate in ducts is ‘ ductal carcinomas’ and the phrase for cancers originating from the lobules is ‘lobular carcinomas’.

Successful treatment depends greatly on the kind of cancer, staging and the age of the patient, however the figures vary from 10% to 98%. Worldwide, malignant breast neoplasm accounts for just more than 10% of all cancers in women, which makes it the second most common form of cancer in women after skin cancer.

In 2004 (the latest figures accessible at the moment), breast cancer caused almost 520,000 deaths worldwide, which is 7% of all deaths by cancer and 1% of all deaths. One more interesting statistic is that women are 100 times more likely to get breast cancer than men, but women have a far higher likelihood of recovery (mostly due to more frequent screening).

October has been designated as ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month’ and the symbol used (not just in October) is the ‘Pink Ribbon’. It has become a global symbol of breast cancer awareness.

However, some companies have been criticized for putting the pink ribbon on the labels of their products (see Kentucky Fried Chicken and some alcoholic drinks). The lesson to be learned is to check out how much that firm actually donates to breast cancer awareness and research.

If Breast Cancer Awareness month is to do any good, the one thing it ought to concentrate on is making women aware that this form of cancer is not a death sentence, because if it can be treated early the survival rate is very high. Even cancers that have been diagnosed ‘a little late’ can be treated successfully although the treatment will almost certainly be much more harsh.

All women ought to go for frequent screening by a professional – at least once a year – but they ought to also learn how to test their breasts themselves and get into the habit of doing the self-test every day whilst washing in the shower. You could also get a friend to lend a hand by incorporating it into foreplay.

The information necessary for self-testing is widely accessible all year round (not just in October) at your doctor’s surgery or at your gynecologist’s. It is also accessible in libraries, clinics, some schools and on Net. One of the main factors that you should take in to account whilst deciding on your plan for counteracting the threat of cancer is whether any other members of your family have had breast cancer or any other kind of cancer for that matter.

One concern that many people in the know have is that breast cancer research is getting too high a proportion of the whole amount available for funding for cancer research. This means that more patients are dying of other kinds of cancer than should be.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on quite a few subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

Modern Times And Blindness

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

Not so long ago, it was not at all uncommon to see blind people walking the streets tap-tapping away with their white sticks, being guided by a dog, normally a Labrador, but I have not seen anyone like that in Britain for years, as far as I recall.

That has to be a good thing; it must mean that we are starting to cure or at least assuage most kinds of blindness.

My aunty had cataracts for years when I was a kid in the Sixties – it was simply one of those things. Some individuals got them when they were old and others did not.

My brother’s mother-in-law had cataracts in the late Nineties and she was enrolled on a two year waiting, but at least she had hope and they were going to be removed free of charge.

I do not know of anyone else that has eye trouble except myself. I could not get my spectacles clean one day and then a friend said he saw a white dot in one eye. He drove me to the hospital and the optician said that I had ‘premature senile cataracts’.

Well, I live in Thailand now and he did not use those precise words. He told me that the cataracts were because I was prematurely senile.

I asked him if that was what he actually intended; he looked it up in a book and we both had a hearty laugh about it, although he never actually corrected himself. My condition turned out to be a little bit worse than just cataracts, but when I went from the local hospital to a major hospital in Pattaya, the surgeon saw me within 30 minutes and asked me if I wanted them removed.

I said that I did and she was willing to do the operation there and then. I got it postponed by 24 hours, but she would have sorted my eye out that day in a 30 minute operation, which does not need anaesthetic. I think that that was marvelous.

We have come a long way from routinely seeing blind individuals on the street and putting up with cataracts through a two-year waiting list to on the spot removal of cataracts by laser surgery in 40-50 years.

At least we have in the Developed World and in the East too, if you have the money. There are still millions of people in Asia and particularly in Africa suffering blindness and partial blindness for the sake of an easy 30 minute operation.

Two weeks after my surgery, my other eye began to cloud over. It was as if it had been holding on with its last scrap of strength until I got his mate sorted out. I had that one done last year and once I was permitted to remove my patch and look around me with two decent eyes again for the first time in a decade, I could not believe that I had forgotten how bright the world actually is and that I had not noticed how dingy my world had gotten.

If you are worried about an eye operation, do not be. What you will experience when you can see properly again will make all the worry seem ludicrous and if you get the opportunity to give someone their eyesight back, please do it.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with macular degeneration glasses. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Macular Degenerative Disease

Age-defying Hair

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

All women and a increasing number of men would like shiny hair. This is because shiny hair is thought of as belonging to a healthy, vivacious person. The fact is that as we age, men’s hair falls out and women’s hair becomes more lifeless. So how can you have age-defying hair?

There are a few tricks of the trade, some of which are pretty obvious once you give them a bit of thought. The first and most vital tip is not to over wash your hair. Your head produces oil to protect your hair and it does that because it thinks that hair is vital to help it regulate the temperature of the brain.

OK, these days we can put a hat on or erect a parasol, but it takes the body a long time to change. The point is to not wash all the oil from your hair too often. You want to wash the dirt off your hair but not all the oil.

Consequently, massage the shampoo into your scalp and not into your hair. As the shampoo runs off your hair it will take the dirt off your hair with it but only some of the oil. This makes a big difference.

The tip above is the most important piece of advice because it applies to whatever shampoo you purchase, but the next tip applies to what shampoo to buy. Do not stint on shampoo if you would like lovely-looking hair.

Do you remember the days when you had to wash your hair, rinse it and then apply conditioner and then rinse again? Well those actually were the good old days as far as hair is involved. These all-in-ones clean on the principle that the conditioner will not work in the presence of oil and the shampoo will not work if there is no oil.

This means that on the first wash, half the shampoo is wasted, but the shampoo has to scour your hair for the second wash (conditioner) to do its job. On the second wash the conditioner does its job, but the shampoo half goes down the drain having done nothing.

In other words, your inexpensive container of shampoo with conditioner costs double as much as you paid for it, so why not buy separate shampoo and conditioner in the first instance?

The combined shampoo and conditioner is a con because it makes you think that you are saving time and thereby getting something for nothing. You are not.

The best tips you can hear for your hair is to buy a mild shampoo without conditioner. By all means buy one that says that it is better suited to your sort of hair if you want. Then do some research on your hair sort and natural colour on the Net and make your own conditioner or buy one.

Individuals used to use vinegar, beer, dandelions and all types of things and one that I have recently come across is Butterfly Pea. Do not become guiled by adverts and time saving if you really like your hair

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with the cause of macular degeneration. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Macular Degenerative Disease

Breaking Age-Related Social Norms

Friday, April 29th, 2011

The post Second World War years were an age of prosperity for numerous countries, but particularly the United States because their plant and infrastructure was unscathed and they made a great deal of money furnishing the products the rest of the world required to rebuild their countries.

America was working flat-out in the Fifties and early Sixties and salaries and national prosperity kept increasing. A comparable feeling of goodwill was obvious in numerous other countries, but it was relief that the war was finished and gratefulness that their lives and cities were being rebuilt. This feeling of international joy and abundant employment also led to a boom in babies.

The so-called Baby Boomers were being born in their millions into a joyful time where money and employment was everywhere to be had. Education was seized upon not only by these youngsters but also by numerous returning service men and women, who wanted to assume a bigger role in that bright new world that was stretching out before them.

With a better education and the mood of liberation that the ending of the War brought about, the Civil Rights Movement began to thrive particularly in America were non-Caucasians were still being segregated.

Although it was not called Apartheid, segregation is simply the English word for the same idea and masses of people were starting to find it intolerable and not just non-Whites either.

Individuals after the War were far less respectful of Authority, Governments and the Old Ruling Orders for several reasons. It was these people who got us all into wars in the first instance and it was these individuals who were denying Civil Rights. Even if they did not condone segregation they did not do much to abolish it.

As Marx or Engels said, nobody gives away power, it has to be taken.

The individuals alive in the Fifties and Sixties were unlike any generation that had ever gone before them. They had money, education, a healthy disrespect for authority and a higher percentage of individuals who had been abroad than ever before in history.

Even if they were carrying weapons at the time. This was a heady cocktail and civil disobedience raged all over the world from America to Europe to Thailand in the Sixties and Seventies.

The new order articulated itself in music and rock and roll was its name. Never before had youngsters had their own music and they had the technology to reproduce it cheaply, the freedom to transmit it and the money to purchase it. A whole new industry was started in the Fifties – record labels aimed at teenagers.

Now that the Baby Boomers are becoming old, they are breaking other norms too. Boomers are questioning why the are expected to feel old at sixty-five and give up working. At sixty-five these days individuals frequently still have twenty years left to live and if the past is anything to go by, they will not just roll over and die on this one either.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with the cause of macular degeneration. If you want to know more, please go to our site at Macular Degenerative Disease

Fighting Atherosclerosis With Good Nutrition (Part 1)

Monday, April 18th, 2011

The first thing to do in this piece is to make certain that we all understand the same thing by the word ‘atherosclerosis’. atherosclerosis means ‘in the Greek’ athero=’gruel’ and sclerosis=’hardening’; individuals call it ‘furring’ or hardening’ of the arteries, which gives it its other appellation: arteriosclerosis.

What this all comes to mean is that the arteries get clogged up, slowing the flow of blood around your body. These blockages put pressure on the heart and can, or almost always will, lead to strokes or / and heart attacks.

So, what brings about atherosclerosis? The foremost reason given by most, but not all, medical experts is the build up on the arterial walls of fat and other materials. This gunge makes a plaque, similar to the way the food on your teeth forms plaque, if you do not brush them frequently enough. The plaque builds up over time, layer on layer until it has a serious effect on blood flow.

However, your body is still saying to your brain that, say, your legs need more energy, because you are running for a bus. Your brain tells your heart to get some more blood to your legs immediately, so your heart pumps more quickly, but the blood is not going through in sufficient quantities because of the arteriosclerosis, so the heart has to pump even more.

This means that the heart of a sufferer from atherosclerosis has to pump a great deal harder than that of those who do not have atherosclerosis. This additional stress on the heart can lead to a heart attack. Not just that, but bits of plaque break off under this higher pressure and they zoom around the blood stream. If they get lodged in the brain and cause a blockage to a vital process, you may suffer a stroke.

The three factors that exacerbate the condition the most are smoking, diabetes and a family history of arteriosclerosis. Men are more at risk than women and those with a sedentary lifestyle and career are more at danger than dynamic individuals or those who have a physically demanding job.

Diet and exercise are the foremost agents in combatting atherosclerosis without the use of drugs. However, it is not that simple. Everyone agrees that exercise is useful, and everyone agrees that diet is important, but the diet argument is contended by two groups.

Standard wisdom says that the problem is LDL cholesterol resulting from saturated fat, hydrogenated and trans fats. However another faction says that the over consumption of omega 6 is to blame; or rather that the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 in our bodies is to blame. They say that we acquire too much omega 6 (which is responsible for inflammation) in polyunsaturated vegetable oils.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several topics, and is now concerned with omega 3 arthritis. If you want to know more, please go to our site at Omega 6 9

Natural Sight Improvement

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

Losing one’s sight can get upsetting. In the beginning, if as standard, you start to lose your eyesight at around 40 years of age, it is the first sign of approaching old age, but later as it deteriorates further, people start to worry whether they will go blind.

Well, if you need glasses at 40 then yes, it is the first sign of approaching old age, but there are not so many individuals who go completely blind now due to advancements in information concerning the eyes and how to remedy impairments.

There is nothing you can do regarding the former difficulty, but at least two routes you can take to resolving the latter.

Most people ‘blindly’ follow their opticians advice and purchase spectacles or contact lenses. This is the best option for the optician and the cheapest option for the client in the short term. It is good for the optician because you will almost certainly require new spectacles every two years and contact wearers have to keep buying contact lenses as well.

It is handy for the customer because the outlay is small if you do not go for designer frames like Gucci or Levi. In the long term, though the client pays out many, many times more than if a different procedure had been chosen.

One of these other courses of action is Lasik surgery. This is expensive up front, but can last for 20 years although you might still need spectacles for either long or short distances. Most individuals have their long distance sight corrected and never ever have a problem with it again, although they do still need reading glasses.

A third option, which you might like to attempt instead of or in conjunction with any of the above is called Natural Vision Improvement. It has to be said that the system of Natural Vision Improvement has more detractors than supporters, but some individuals treat it as a form of yoga for the eyes which cannot do any harm.

The point here though is that if you would like to try Natural Vision Improvement, you should still go to an optician regularly so that they can check for eye diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration, which Natural Vision Improvement cannot hope to, nor does it claim to, cure.

Advocates of Natural Vision Improvement say that contemporary equipment like TV screens and monitors and even living in a city where long distance eyesight is almost unnecessary because it is blocked by buildings a few yards away, have trained us to ‘see badly’.

They say that we need to relearn how to see in the right manner. They even go as far as to say that glasses and contact lenses may be part of the problem.

By this they mean that as your eyes become used to corrective lenses, they come to rely on them and so become weaker. Therefore, the next time your vision is measured, you will require stronger glasses.

The Natural Vision Improvement philosophy says to use the weakest lenses that you can and make your eyes struggle harder. In this way, they insist, the next time you go for a check up, you can get weaker lenses not stronger ones until eventually you do not require glasses at all.

Some opticians and optometrists will work with you if you want to attempt this path, but you may have to look about for one. One vital point around the Natural Vision Improvement procedure is that if your impaired vision could create a danger to yourself and others, you should wear regular, full-strength glasses whilst carrying out those activities (like driving).

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with macular degeneration test. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Macular Degenerative Disease

What Is Wavefront Technology In Lasik Eye Surgery?

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Lasik surgery has hugely improved the sight of millions of people worldwide. It has converted the visually impaired into sighted individuals who are capable of seeing their children again and contributing to the family’s income by working. Two things that millions thought they would never be able to do again.

However, Lasik eye surgery has not been sitting on its laurels. Far from it, Lasik surgery techniques are being improved all the time. One such enhancement is Wavefront Technology. Wavefront Technology with relation to Lasik eye surgery is used to more accurately map the patient’s eyeball, which makes more accurate surgery feasible.

This is of immense importance because eyeballs are not all the same shape. They are like hands, superficially they all look the same, but once you get down to particulars, they are not. There are all shapes sizes and proportions. The same is true for eyes.

The more precise the map of the eye, the more chance that the surgeon has of giving you the best vision possible, considering the precise problems that you have in your particular case. Wavefront Technology helps the surgeon achieve this.

Wavefront Technology is actually a technology that has been adapted from astronomy. in astronomical telescopes it is crucial that the lenses are as perfect as they can be, because at high magnification, even the very slightest impairment would lead to huge distortions, which in turn would make the telescope just about useless.

Astronomers were using this technology in the 1970′s, so it was already quite advanced when some bright spark noticed that it could become adapted for use in eye surgery too. Wavefront Technology was born and taken on board by Lasik and other eye surgeons with great expectations.

In fact, the bright spark who noticed the possible value of this piece of astronomical technology was a German doctor called Josef Bille who started using it in his practice.

He gradually enhanced and adapted the sensors and announced it to the Lasik manufacturers in 1997. This in turn allowed the manufacturers of Lasik equipment to adapt Wavefront Technology to their own apparatus.

Wavefront Technology is extremely complicated in design and technology but also highly simple to understand. The Wavefront machine sends a flat sheet of light (called a wavefront) through the eye to the retina, which reflects it back to the Wavefront machine.

The Wavefront machine compares the two, measures the imperfections, chooses what has to be done to right them and guides the laser to the correct spot in order to accomplish the corrections. As simple as that!

However, the geniuses who invented and developed Wavefront Technology did not give up there. They have their machine send in multiple wavefronts from various angles so that the computer can construct up a three dimensional picture for even more precision.

There are now well over 60 patterns that can be automatically corrected by a Lasik laser guided by Wavefront Technology. So, if you have any concerns with long or short sightedness, make an appointment to see your Lasik surgeon as soon as they can.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with macular degeneration glasses. If you would like to know more, please go to our site at Macular Degenerative Disease

A Personal Story Of Lasik Eye Surgery

Friday, April 8th, 2011

I have never had Lasik eye surgery, although I have had both of my human lenses replaced with plastic ones. However, I wanted to help a friend recount his story of Lasik eye surgery, because I know from my own experience that there is a lot of rubbish talked about having eye surgery of any form.

I strongly urge anyone who is thinking about having cataracts removed, Lasik eye surgery or total lens replacement to go ahead and have it done as soon as they can. There will be no looking back, I assure you and you will live in a lighter world again that you had not realized had been growing gradually but surely ever darker.

I shall call my friend Fred to make it easier for me to tell his story and that of many others who have been in a equivalent situation to him. Fred wore glasses all his life or from the time that he was in the Navy doing his national conscription service at any rate.

He got used to this predicament, but was growing concerned at the rate that his glasses were growing in thickness year on year and the growing dependency he had on them.

After months of worry and talking to ‘friends’ in bars, he decided to go talk to the only other person whose opinion actually mattered – the Lasik surgeon. He was quite nervous that they would say that his eyesight was too far gone, but he was also worried that they would say he could undergo the operation because he had a terror of anyone doing anything to his eyes which could rob him of the little bit of eyesight that he still had.

The surgeon said that both of his eyes could benefit from surgery, one perhaps more than the other, but that he would definitely still need specs for the rest of his life, albeit weaker ones than he was using now. In effect, the surgeon was saying that he could restore most of Fred’s long-distance eyesight but that at his age, 63, he would still require reading glasses.

Fred turned up on the day of the first operation having not been to the pub and having had an early night. In his circumstances they operated on one eye at a time with a week in between the operations. They began both session by putting drops in his eye. These drops dilate and numb the eye although the eyeball does not actually feel any pain.

The operations lasted about three minutes each, but Fred is not sure how much of that was ‘laser time’. He said there was a sensation of intense white light, but no pain whatsoever. He was required to stay in the waiting room for thirty minutes afterwards and then he went home.

On his medical doctor’s recommendation he had taken a friend with him, because your old glasses will not fit on top of the protective shield on your treated eye. This shield had to be worn for 24 hours to stop Fred from poking or rubbing his eye inadvertently.

Fred had taken the next day off work, but he says there was no need and he did not bother the next time. Fred’s eyes have improved hundreds of percent and sometimes he can even read without specs as well.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with macular degeneration glasses. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Macular Degenerative Disease