Talent Mash

Most eczema sufferers are unaware of the effects of food on their malady. They seek out drugs, lotions and potions to try to solve the problem but rarely do they consider the foods they eat. Beat Eczema points out that at best, eating the wrong foods can have our skin looking dull and tired. At worst, there can be serious effects such as flaking, itching and open sores.

The ebook Beat Eczema points out that food allergies can have really bad effects on our skin but most people look to their food for the culprit last, if at all. When the body thinks a particular food is harmful, the immune system will take action and create antibodies to protect the body and ward off the perceived threat. These antibodies produce chemicals which cause the “allergic reaction” manifesting itself through breathing difficulties, cardiovascular problems and skin reactions.

The skin reactions that can appear most commonly are hives and eczema. Hives can form on any part of the body but are not usually found on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. It can take the form of welts ,as if from an insect bite, or can be really itchy patches of reddened skin appearing on the face, neck, arms and other parts of the body. This reaction is normally treated with , first of all, antihistamines. Depending on the severity of the case, however, the physician may use oral steroids to reduce the inflammation and itching.

When eczema rears its ugly head however, diet may be the best solution. Beat Eczema tells us that many times eczema flare ups are caused because an individual is allergic to a certain food and is eating it unknowingly. Therefore it is important to figure out which foods are a problem for you. One way to do this is by the process of elimination. Starting with the most likely suspects, such as fish, wheat, citrus and dairy, you can eliminate one food at a time until you find the culprit. Note, however, that these foods can be used as ingredients in other prepared dishes, which can further complicate matters.

Food allergies have now become common among both children and adults. Nobody seems to know exactly why they develop and many medical professionals are still hesitant to acknowledge that food allergies are to be taken seriously. This is particularly true of their relationship to eczema. It is therefore of major importance that eczema sufferers learn as much as they can from all sources about food allergies and their relation to eczema.

When eczema strikes, check out your diet! As much as 50% of eczema attacks can be traced to our food.

Having to bear lower back pain accompanied with stomach pain is an experience no one should ever have to go through. Scientists and doctors all over the world are groping around, mostly in the dark, trying to put their finger on the cause of lower back pain. So far as women are concerned doctors are sure that lower back pain accompanied with stomach pain is related to their menstrual cycles and this is something that can be dealt with a fair amount of ease.

However, doctors have admitted that it is not an easy thing to pinpoint the cause of lower back pain accompanied with stomach pain. They insist that a patient who can keep a track of the symptoms and report them to the doctor will make the process of diagnosing the cause and arriving at a better and effective treatment an easier task.

Some of the causes of lower back pain accompanied with stomach pain are related to the more common urinary infections and kidney or bladder problems, then again you may have a serious bowel problem. Whatever the cause of your lower back pain and abdominal pain you will soon find that it is very difficult to pinpoint and even more difficult to treat effectively. Most treatments available will prove to be temporary in nature and the condition will recur frequently.

In most cases where the lower back pain is caused by a urinary tract infection or cystitis a bout of stomach pain is also accompanied along with the lower back pain. There will also be a bit of inflammation in the abdominal region. There will mostly be a burning sensation in the stomach or back. Kidney stones are another reason for lower back pain and stomach pain.

If lower back pain accompanied by stomach pain is caused by kidney stones the pain will be so severe that the patient will not be able to stand or sit. In such cases the best resort is to use a local anesthetic to relieve the pain temporarily while the doctor treats the cause of the pain. In more unfortunate cases the pain is caused by tumors in the kidney and this scenario will have to be dealt with by the best experts in the field. Self, over the counter medication is strictly ruled out in cases where the pain is caused by kidney malfunctions or dysfunctions.

Doctors may also consider dysfunctions of the bowels to try to locate the cause of lower back pains accompanied by stomach pains. In such cases the doctor may prescribe some pathological tests to arrive at the proper conclusion and also to decide which medication is the best suited for the patient’s recovery. One sure-shot way to tell if the back pains and stomach pains is caused by the bowels is that the pain will come in waves, mostly between small amounts of exertions. Remember to tell the doctor this if he does not ask. Most lower back pains are cased by bowel disorders.

Other areas that your doctor will consider are the bowels. For instance both constipation and diarrhea can be painful. The doctor will do more tests if you indicate you’ve had a change in your bowel patterns when you began to get lower back pain with stomach pain. One surefire way to tell if you are experiencing pain from the bowels is the nature of the pain itself. It would come in waves with minimal discomfort, or none at all in between the pain.

If you happen to have lower a bloated or swollen lower belly, this may be a warning flag for conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome. Notice fresh blood or tarry looking stools? This would need investigating as well.

Your pain may feel like it’s coming from the womb or any other of your internal reproductive organs. This would mean you would experience the pain in the middle of the lower belly, just above the line of public hair about as far up as the navel. There might be more pain to one side than the other – usually an indication of an ovary being inflamed etc. If you have pain when you have sex, you would feel that deep in your pelvic area. The possible range of conditions is varied. You could be looking at pelvic inflammatory disease, ovarian cysts, fibroids or maybe even endometriosis. In any event, don’t wait call your doctor immediately.

A gentleman named Jason contacted me and said he recently had sinus laser surgery from Dr. Harvey Paley, whose practice is in Beverly Hills, CA. He said flatly that this operation “changed my life”. This gentleman has had 3 other conventional surgeries in the past 15 years during which time he had lost his sense of smell and sense of taste. Hearing about such a success after a sinus operation is rare in my experience. I personally have had two of them, and they basically didn’t work, since I continued to have sinus infections after both of them. In fact, I’ve heard of very few people who have had sinus surgery and who were pleased about the results over time.

So when someone is as enthusiastic about his operation as Jason is, it is time to listen, especially considering his background of sinus problems. The operational procedure is called Sinu-Clear, and it uses a laser as well as an endoscope. The laser equipment also provides a steady stream of salt water to flow through the nasal passageways while the operation is taking place. There is apparently very little bleeding during the procedure, since the laser cauterizes the tissue being operated on. Because of this there is no need for nasal packing, and this is a huge positive, as those of us who have gone through a conventional operation with a scalpel and had our noses packed can attest. For me it was just awful. The endoscope allows for good viewing by the surgeon, as the camera projects a picture of the nasal cavities being worked on onto a television screen.

This type of approach seems to make perfect sense. That is, using laser and endoscope technology to limit bleeding and see clearly what is being operated on. The first question I had is “why are there only a small handful of surgeons in the U.S. doing this operation?” It is not brand new, and in fact this laser sinus surgery was apparently pioneered by Dr. Daniel M. Schuman from Boca Raton, Florida over 10 years ago. Apparently Dr. Schuman has subsequently retired from his medical practice.

I asked this question to a gentleman from the company that produces the Sinu-Clear laser equipment, a company called PhotoMedex. He said there are many reasons for so few surgeons using the procedure, and most seem to boil down to the reluctance of people, in this case sinus surgeons, to change. In fact PhotoMedex is emphasizing different product lines of medical laser equipment, and the gentleman I spoke with was not optimistic about growth aspects for this procedure. To me this is certainly a shame. I personally have only spoken to one person, Jason, who has undergone the procedure, but he is extremely enthusiastic. I hope to speak to others and get more inputs. I can only say that when someone who has had 3 other operations tries sinus laser surgery and says he has finally regained his sense of smell again after 15 years, then this is worth taking note of, at the very least.

In addition to Dr. Paley in Beverly Hills, CA, I found out about two other otolaryngologists who perform the Sinu-Clear sinus laser operation. One is Dr. Vincent Pisciotta in Biloxi, Mississippi, and the other is Dr. Robert Bonham in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Bonham also performs another new operation called Sinuplasty, which is similar to angioplasty but for the sinus cavities. I understand there may be a few other surgeons in the country who routinely perform the Sinu-Clear operation, and I intend to continue to research this and get the word out. Results will be posted on the blog and forum at http://www.postnasaldrip.net. I only wish I had heard about this sinus laser surgery procedure years ago. It sounds like it might have been more effective and certainly less painful than the operations I did have. If you are considering being one of the 300,000 people who have sinus operations in the U.S. alone, this procedure is certainly something to know about and consider as an option, even if it were to require travel.

Cataract surgery has been performed for many years, and new developments have dramatically improved the post-op vision. The lens is a normal structure of the internal part of the eye. We are all born with clear, natural lenses whose function is to focus light onto the retina, and also absorb dangerous wavelengths of light. Over time, this clear lens will become yellow, as its chemical structure changes as a result of years of light absorption, and general oxidative stress on the body.

Early cataract surgery involved simply removing the cloudy lens from the eye. In order to see, the patient then had to wear very thick eye glasses, or a contact lens. As technology advanced, anterior chamber Intraocular lenses(IOL) were developed. These were artificial lenses that were placed in front of the iris to replace the removed lens. They worked very well, but over time the corneas were damaged in most of these patients. These anterior chamber lenses vibrated as a result of aqueous humor (fluid) flow from the back of the eye toward the front. These vibrations over time damaged the endothelial (bottom) layer of the cornea resulting in swollen corneas, and cloudy vision.

The next big change was the development of posterior chamber IOLs. These are placed behind the iris, and thus eliminated the vibrations; sparing the cornea from trauma. Over time, improvements were made to these lenses; smaller, better quality and flexible so they could be implanted with very small suture-less incisions. The basic problem with all of these implants was that unlike the natural lenses of the eye, only distance correction could be achieved. Reading glasses were necessary to see objects up close. This brings us to the next big change in the IOL implants. In an effort to meet the challenges of allowing patients to see distance and near post surgically, multi-focal implants have been developed.

The major new players in this game of multi-focal IOLs include Restore by Alcon, Rezoom by AMO, Array and Tecnis also by AMO and Crystalens by Eyeonics. They are all designed to give the patients a full range of vision from distance to near without the need for any eyeglasses. Each type achieves this goal through different modalities.

The Restore implant is manufactured with multiple small concentric rings, similar to the rings of a dart board. These concentric rings alternate between distance and near vision. Multiple images are projected onto the retina, and the brain must then decide which image it wants to see clearly. Most patients say that they see adequately in the distance, and usually test to about 20/40 vision. Near vision is a bit better in most patients. The primary complaint, aside from less then perfect distance vision is glare at night. Approximately 80% of these patients do not wear any type of glasses post surgically.

The Rezoom lens works in the same manner as the Restore, but has larger concentric rings. This improves the distance vision, but reduces the near vision. 81% of these patients are happy with their reading vision, but 29% still require reading glasses to see at near. With both the Restore and Rezoom implants, Alphagan eye drops are employed to reduce bothersome glare by reducing the pupil size.

The Tecnis IOL is not as yet available, but since it is made as an Aspheric lens and not concentric rings, there is less glare and halos and better reading in dim light. It also permits reading with a greater range. More research will bring to light the true value, and short comings of this implant.

The Crystalens is the first IOL that has an adjustable focusing ability, much like the natural lens of the eye. The implant is placed behind the iris, and has 2 flexible hinges 180 degrees apart from each other. As the ciliary muscle contracts, and relaxes it causes the implant to move forward and back changing the effective power of the lens. This mimics the natural lens’s power change with focusing. It is therefore the first and only Accommodating implant that allows for bothe near and far vision. Substantial adaptation is required, and may take weeks to even months to reach an acceptable level of vision. There is, however a decrease in contract sensitivity ,and some distortion may be induced. Reading glasses may be required for the intermediate distances, and in patients with larger pupils night time vision issues may be present.

Which implant would be best for any given patient will vary, and depend on factors such as expectations, side effects, need for bilateral surgeries (since some implants work best when each eye has one) and cost. Insurance plans do not pay for these specialty implants, and the combined costs with the doctor’s fees may be over $2000.00 per eye.

Finally, some patients have astigmatism following cataract surgery. Since the implants do not correct for this, corneal incisions can be made post surgically to reduce or eliminate that component.. When deciding to have cataract surgery it is important to see an experienced surgeon who is knowledgeable with all these new developments, and can best asses which implant would be best for which patient.

Food allergies are among the most dangerous, which is why it’s important to understand the symptoms of a food allergy. As with other types of allergies, you experience a reaction when your body’s immune system responds incorrectly to a particular food or a particular ingredient within a food. The most common food allergies are nuts, milk, shellfish, wheat, soy, and eggs.

The most common symptoms of a food allergy include irritation of the skin which may involve hives, eczema, and a simple rash. In more severe cases, symptoms may also include swelling of the tongue, lips, throat, face and other body parts, abdominal pains, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, lightheadedness, and tingling inside the mouth.

The following symptoms are often more difficult to directly associate with a food allergy because there could be numerous other reasons for these symptoms. However, in those situations where these become persistent you should definitely visit with your physician and see if you can isolate what’s going on …

Trouble Sleeping Moodiness Fatigue Heartburn Constipation Symptoms Similar To Those of Arthritis Canker Sores Bed Wetting Inflammation Of The Face And Lips Rhinitis Migraine Wheezing

Eczema or atopic dermatitis, which is a swelling and drying of the skin, can be seen in allergies to citrus fruits, eggs, and tomatoes. Hives or urticaria is also a form of skin irritation which is represented by elevated skin welts that are reddish. Hives are a common reaction to tomatoes, eggs, shellfish, mangoes, pork meat, nuts, and strawberries.

Simple headaches are usually symptoms of an allergic reaction to chocolates and wheat. Migraines, on the other hand, are typically caused by an allergy to cheese, nuts, citrus fruits, tomatoes, milk, eggs, and MSG or monosodium glutamate. Monosodium glutamate is a chemical used for seasonings in a lot of foods but only those which have excessive amounts can cause allergic reactions.

In severe conditions known as anaphylaxis, can result in life-threatening symptoms such as rapid pulse, loss of consciousness; airway constrictions that lead to loss of breathe and shock with a significant drop in the blood pressure levels. When any of these symptoms occur, immediate medical attention is required.

As mentioned, food allergy symptoms are not unique. Therefore, when these symptoms do appear it can be difficult to know if they’re related an allergy or if there’s another cause. Even if you’re able to identify a symptom as belonging to an allergy, you’ll also need to determine if food is the culprit or if there’s another allergen involved.

There is one consideration that can help … did you eat recently? If so, what did you eat? Mild food allergy symptoms often appear within minutes of consuming the food allergen (severe cases of a food allergy will result in an almost instantaneous reaction). So if you’re experiencing a reaction, simply think back to your last meal. Of course, the trigger could be hidden within a food item, a hidden ingredient that you may overlook. For example, a peanut sauce may not readily identifiable.

Once you have a clear understanding of the potential symptoms of a food allergy, not only will you know what to be watching for, you’ll be prepared to help your physician or allergist further define those foods that are troubling for you.

Radiation therapy is not painful while it is administered; however, side effects which people may obtain from the therapy can be the reason for discomfort or pain.

Many persons who have cancer need to have the therapy. In reality, almost sixty percent of people who have cancer get therapy through radiation. Sometimes, this therapy happens to be the only treatment needed by the cancer patients.

Radiation therapy is utilized to cure cancer. It may be used to slow down the growth of cancer cells, stop and treat cancer. It can be used also to reduce symptoms. If cure is not probable, radiation can be utilized to shrink tumor cells to decrease pressure. The therapy used in this means may cure problems like pain or it may avoid troubles such as loss of bowels and bladder control and blindness.

This therapy is frequently used together with other treatments of cancer. The following are some of the examples:

- Radiation therapy as well as surgery – it may be provided before, after or during surgical procedure. Doctors may utilize radiation to minimize the size of the tumor prior to surgery, or they can use this following the surgery to eradicate each cancer cells which stay behind. Sometimes, radiation is provided during surgery in order that the it goes toward the cancer cells without passing the skin. This procedure is called intra-operative radiation.

- Radiation therapy as well as chemotherapy – radiation can be given before, after or during chemotherapy. During or before chemotherapy, radiation may shrink the tumor for the chemotherapy to work better. Occasionally, chemotherapy is administered to assist radiation therapy to work better. After chemotherapy is finished, radiation treatment may be utilized to kill any tumor cells that remain.