Our Lives and the Impact of Medication

Using medication to supposedly cure disease or ameliorate uncomfortable symptoms has become a part of our lives in Western culture. It is a part of the "pill for every ill" mentality that came about in the 1950s subsequent to the development of antibiotics and then tranquilizers. The ability to kill bacteria using antibiotics, thus literally saving thousand lives from the ravages of simple infections, naturally led to the idea that other medications might do the same for other diseases. However, over half a century later the medical profession finds itself in a very awkward and embarrassing position. An editorial in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Jerry Avorn in November 2006 opens with the following paragraph -
"September 30 is becoming a day of infamy for drug safety. On that date in 2004 Merck announced that rofecoxib (Vioxx) doubled the risk of myocardial infarction [heart attack] and stroke and the company withdrew the drug from the market after 5 years of use in more than 20 million patients." If this was an isolated situation, then my concern might be less. The problem is that this is a class of drugs known as NSAIDS, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatories -- perhaps better known to you as aspirin, ibuprofen, Advil®, Tylenol®, etc. Now make no mistake about it, these drugs are effective in relieving pain from acute illness, and indeed they were supposed to be used that way. These long-term side effects that are being discovered are only being brought to light because long-term testing of these drugs does not take place until after they come to market! It takes literally millions of dollars to bring a drug to market these days, and pharmaceutical companies simply do not do long-term testing on all new medications, in the race to have the latest blockbuster drug. So who becomes the guinea pig?
The answer is that you become the guinea pig after the drug is initially approved; and it is only after long periods of time with use by many people that these side effects are coming to light. You may recall, particularly if you are woman, that early in the millennium conjugated estrogens, better known as Premarin®, were found to increase heart disease as opposed to decreasing it -- the latter was a claim the drug companies and doctors had made for over 15 years. There was also a slight increase in the incidence of breast cancer. Women had been the subject of a huge uncontrolled experiment. Since that time hundreds of thousands of women have stopped taking conjugated estrogens and guess what? A recent study in 2006 showed that the incidence of breast cancer had decreased significantly over the last 5 years since women have decreased their intake of conjugated estrogens. Coincidence? Perhaps. More likely that the impact of huge numbers of women decreasing conjugated estrogens may actually be decreasing the incidence of breast cancer.
More concerning is that this is becoming a trend. The latest drug to receive a seal of disapproval is the anti-diabetic medication rosiglitazone. All that glitters is not gold! A large analysis in a 2007 study, again in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed a significant increase in the number heart attacks and death from heart disease in patients taking this medication. It's bad enough that diabetes itself causes increased heart problems; we do not need a drug that is supposed to help control diabetes actually increasing death from heart attack!
Do you want to think twice before taking any drugs on a long-term basis? Absolutely. Many of these drugs were developed for acute pain situations -- not always for long-term use in ongoing osteoarthritis or other chronic illness. All these medications are foreign to our bodies, and they not only target those areas of our bodies that are in pain, say for example in the case of Vioxx, but they also target other areas of the body such as our blood vessels and stomach lining causing them to be affected in adverse ways through increased heart disease, or gastric upset and potential bleeding.
Adverse drug reactions were found to be one of the six leading causes of hospital deaths, reported in the Journal American Medical Association in 1997. Why are we taking drugs that are supposed to help us when they are actually killing us? It's a good question that cannot be answered in this short article.
These adverse effects are not limited to pain killers, hormone replacement therapy, and anti-diabetes drugs, but have also been found to be significant in antidepressants that are prescribed to hundreds of thousands of people every year. A small increase in the suicide rate amongst those taking certain antidepressants, when pointed out by the psychiatric expert Dr. David Healey, resulted in his deferral from his upcoming position with the Canadian Association of Mental Health at the University of Toronto. A few years ago certain drug companies funded multiple clinical trials of their anti-depressants known as SSRIs - but they only reported the results of the favourable trials, and suppressed the unfavourable results! The impact of the pharmaceutical industry on medical science is both enormous and dangerous.
If you have to take medication then stick with the older medications that have been tried and true. You are better off in most cases because they have had the research behind them for many years, but... Lifestyle intervention on the other hand -- taking care of ourselves, eating healthy foods, exercising, relaxation, and just taking time to chill out have no adverse effects. They also have significant impact upon disease -- recent studies in Type II diabetes have shown that compared to diabetic drugs, lifestyle intervention was much more efficacious in keeping diabetes under control.
Take care of yourself - you're worth it. And if you want to read that editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine you can find it at by searching for http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/355/21/2169 on a search engine.
Edward Leyton MD 2007 © Accessing Resources for Empowerment(TM) 2007

There are four basic principles to health:
1. Good nutrition
2. Good exercise
3. Good thinking and emotional states
4. Good self-care
These embrace the mind, body and spirit of good health and well-being. This article and Dr. Leyton's monthly newsletter addresses one or more or more of these principles. These health tips are short and simple. All tips, where applicable, are based on quality research that is being done in the medical field.
You can subscribe to the free newsletter by signing up at http://www.arfe.ca You will see links throughout the newsletter to take you to more detail if you wish...or you can simply read what's there.

Worry - The Silent Killer

Worry is a slow poison. It is like cancer, AIDS, heart attack, blood pressure, diabetes, etc, is a killer. Keep this originator of many diseases at bay and you will live longer. Now the trend to "cure the mind before curing the body" is gaining momentum all over the world. Hence the modern maxim: "a healthy body depends on a healthy mind".
Emotions like futility, frustration, despair, anxiety, disillusionment, worry, fear, defeat, etc, are negative emotions. There affect our mental as well as physical health adversely but slowly. Specially worry creates a very high degree of tension. How often we find ourselves worked up over certain trivial issues and lose the rational way of dealing with the problem! Only a cool and unruffled mind functions at its maximum ability and efficiency.
Surprising findings in medical sciences have revealed that arthritis, tooth decay, clenched jaw and screwed-up faces are the natural manifestations of anxiety. A blooming and healthy complexion can be ruined by worries which affect the skin adversely, causing rashes, skin eruptions and pimples.
There are several causes of worries. The fact-faced and complicated life style contributes largely to our anxieties. Shortages, fears, competitions, dissatisfaction, disillusionment, fears, failures adds to the burden on our minds. Some of these factors may be uncontrollable but most of them are within our control.
What one needs is an appropriate outlook towards and about life. There is no doubt that there is dualism of everything, day and night, life and death, good and bad. Then one must be realistic about one's viewpoint about life. If one is born one surely will die. Emotions or sentiments are all right but they need the rod of reason and realities at pragmatic level. But this is not as easy as it is said.
Right from the time a child is tree years old and is pushed into a nursery, a rat race begins which lasts throughout one's life. Expectations of parents and competition with peer groups to achieve better results chase the child. This results into headaches which abound in children. Irritability, tension, fear of failure, ridicule, self-hatred are some of the hitherto experienced emotions that besiege the younger children of today. There is a steady erosion of the carefree, untiring and happy state of childhood. If this trend continues, the day is not far off when more children will suffer from ailments like heart problems, blood pressure, stomach ulcers etc.
Two major causes of worry that can be easily controlled by most of us are the tomorrow and yesterday. So much involvement had gone into worrying about yesterday and tomorrow that the feeling of today has almost vanished. The fear of tomorrow looms large over people. They fret about their savings, securities and their future, forgetting the importance of today. There is no use of tomorrow if we do not live to see it.

Mayank Gupta is a freelance writer with a Bachelor's degree in journalism. His areas of expertise are travel, health and fitness, personal finance etc. He is looking for freelance writing projects.

How Psychiatry Is Misunderstood

Psychiatry is often misunderstood by people who don't understand the topic and nature of psychiatric treatment or hold on too tightly to their culture and its beliefs. This is the reason why people have so many misconceptions about psychiatry. Research has been conducted on most of these misconceptions and they have been proven to be wrong. Science does not provide any evidence to support these 'myths' that people strongly believe in. instead science and researchers blame these myths to be the cause of why some psychiatric patients are denied treatment.
We will be highlighting some misconceptions that people live by when it comes to psychiatry. Some of the misconceptions are as follows:
1. People believe that physical illness and psychiatric illness is different; psychiatric illness is a special kind of illness. However the World Health Organization says that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". By studying this meaning, we can understand the psychiatric illness is not different from physical illness. Just like physical illness affects the different body parts, psychiatric illness will affect behavior and has to be treated.
2. People believe that all patients who have psychiatric illnesses are violent in nature and are dangerous. This has been proven wrong for a number of occasions when psychiatric patients are not violent.
3. A very odd belief that some people cling on to is that once a psychiatric patient visits the market he/she will never get well. This is extremely untrue because a lot of patients have been found in markets and have been taken in for treatment. After being managed properly and being given treatment they have improved.
4. Some cultures believe that psychiatric illness is a sin for patients for their wrongdoings. Just like other illnesses are caused by bacteria or germs, stress, hormonal imbalance or genetic problems etc, can be the cause of psychiatric illness. This is not a punishment or a sin. It is simply a change in the body which affects a person's behavior in a negative manner.
5. Some people believe that psychiatric illness is a prolonged illness that has no cure. People believe that even if the person shows signs of improvement, it is not for long since the illness relapses. Just like any other illness like cancer or cardiac disease, the treatment takes long and there is always a chance of relapses. However it is not a special case when it relates to psychiatric illness because it is an illness like any other and the odds of relapses of the condition are the same as with any other medical condition.
6. People also believe that psychiatric illness can spread from person to person, which is highly untrue. They cannot be transmitted through contact with the person. In fact, these patients very safe to stay close to.
These were some of the major misconceptions when it comes to psychiatry and psychiatric patients. There are many other misconceptions that people need to understand and deem wrong and give patients the treatment they need, without neglecting them.

Dr. Philip A. Grossi is a Famous Psychiatrist in California. His Approach for Psychiatric Treatment for each patient is different. He has great knowledge of Mental Health related issues. To know anything about Mental Health related issues please visit his personal website:- http://www.mdshrink.com

Mental Health Conditions Affect All Ages

Mental health conditions are common in all nations of the world. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, about 26 percent of Americans aged over 18 years are diagnosed with a mental disorder every year. This equates to almost 60 million people. The NIMH has also found that about 6 percent of those, have been diagnosed with a serious mental condition, many of which may suffer from two or more mental conditions. Mental illness, has been found to be a major cause of disability amongst people, aged between 15 and 44 years in the US and Canada.
Of course, mental conditions are not confined to the adult person, as people of all ages and genders can be affected by the disorder. Many children and adolescents are diagnosed with mental health problems, and special care is needed to treat them adequately. Mental conditions that affect children are varied and may be of a temporary nature, however, specialized treatment should be sought to help reduce the chances of the disorder becoming long term. NIMH reports indicate that about 5 percent of children in North America suffer from bouts of depression. This figure increases to around 8 percent for the number of teenagers who are suffering from anxiety and depression.
Many teenagers are also affected by eating disorders, which can aggravate bouts of depression and lead to other problems such as, phobia, inhibition and learning difficulties. Teenage girls who may be suffering from anxiety or depression are susceptible to anorexia nervosa, a very serious eating disorder, which can lead to grave health concerns, even death. Mental conditions, such as these, need to be treated by mental health care professionals who can help young people to adjust to the circumstances that have brought about their disorders.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a most severe mental health condition that is more likely to affect young boys. Sufferers of ADHD need specialized professional care as well as added personal attention from their parents. A child suffering from ADHD will display little regard for authority and will engage in a range of continuous physical activities much to the detriment of his fellow students, teachers and parents. Treatment, provided by a mental health care professional, for this type of disorder, may include some form of medication.
Early diagnosis of mental health problems, is essential for the successful treatment of the conditions, and the prevention of long term effects that may result in a lasting disability.

For further information, visit: http://itsmentalhealth.com/

Check Your Mental Health

Complete Mental Health by John Ingram Walker, M.D. reviewed by Bryan M. Knight
At first I thought this book was a parody. That's because each of the 17 chapters has a flippant (though often clever) subtitle. For example:
Chapter 4: The Bipolar Spectrum: Up the Down Escalator Chapter 8: Understanding and Managing Somatoform and Factitious Disorders:
Those Low-Down, Mind-Messin', Waitin'-in-the-Doctor's Office Blues Chapter 12: Alzheimer's Disease and Other Age-Old Concerns: Dulled Wit Chapter 13: Sexual Dysfunction and Romantic Resolution: The Viagra Monologues Chapter 15: The Uses and Abuses of Psychiatric Medications: Pills, Poisons, and Placebos.
However, this work is actually a highly readable, in-depth guide to what ails us mentally. Dr Walker's humor is endearing and reflects his own advice to not take oneself too seriously.
He asserts that family doctors need more psychiatric training so they can recognize the underlying emotional problems of their patients. In the interim, Dr Walker created this amazing "Go-to Guide for Clinicians and Patients."
Within these 350+ pages are quizzes for doctors and patients plus an astounding, detailed view of drugs, psychotherapies and mental disorders.
Hypnosis is favored with one link about it being of possible use in Conversion Disorders. And a whole page for hypnotizing yourself to have a restful sleep.
The author links each illness to details of famous people. For example, the alcoholic authors who died around the age of 40: Dylan Thomas, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack London and Edgar Allen Poe.
A massive list of References adds authority to Dr Walker's personal pronouncements and a comprehensive index allows doctors and patients alike to quickly zero in on their chosen ailments.

For many reviews of fiction and non-fiction books enjoy A Little Knight Reading by Bryan M. Knight who is Canada's foremost hypno-psychotherapist. To find out about how you can benefit from hypnosis by visit his site Hypnosis Depot where all your questions about hypnosis will be answered.

Choosing a Mental Health Counsellor

Everyone faces situations in life that are difficult and overwhelming. One way to cope is to consult with a professional counsellor. Counsellors can help you make a career change, deal with the death of a loved one, overcome panic attacks, manage stress, get over anger, cope with divorce, chronic pain, bullying, school anxiety - in short, counsellors are trained to help you face a wide range of difficulties.
Counsellors work with people across the life span - from childhood, through adolescence, and adulthood. Counsellors offer their services in a variety of modes: individual counselling, couple, family, and groups.
, Finding the right counsellor is often a confusing process. You can use the following guidelines to identify a qualified, helpful counsellor.
1. A good counsellor is a qualified profession with a university education (often a master's degree or higher) from a recognized university. You can ask to see their university degree, where they did their internship and how long they've been in practice.
2. A good counsellor is part of an association to which they are accountable, has a code of ethics, and which grants certification based on high standards of training and education. The Canadian Counselling Association (CCA) certifies qualified counselors. To find a Canadian Certified Counsellor in Canada, contact The Canadian Counselling Association at 1-877-765-5565 or by visiting their website at http://www.ccacc.ca
A good counsellor has expertise and the necessary training or area of specialization to help with you specific problems.
3. A good counsellor listens more than they speak and keeps the focus on you. A good counsellor is respectful and willing to challenge you when necessary.
A good counsellor is someone you are comfortable with, who is nonjudgmental, someone you can trust with the personal details of your life. A good counsellor encourages and answers your questions.
3. A good counsellor discusses the issue of confidentiality with you, explains when confidentiality might be broken and with whom and under what circumstances the counsellor can discuss your case.A good counsellor helps you set clearly defined goals and a plan of action. A good counsellor gives you an estimate of how long counselling might last and how counselling will end.
4. A good counsellor describes appontment policy with you including the session fees, method of payment, the policy regarding missed appointments, the length of each session and how to reach them in case of an emergency.
5. A good counsellor welcomes your feedback and asks how you feel the counselling process is going and if you have any concerns or questions.

Lucy MacDonald, M.Ed. is a Canadian Certified Counsellor. She is the author of Learn to be an Optimist and Learn to Manage Your Time. Lucy provides phone counselling services and tele-classes on anger management and stress management. Her website is http://www.lucymacdonald.com.