If you use corticosteroids, can you be an Olympic athlete?

October 4th, 2008

Both in the abled Olympic games we’ve just celebrated in Beijing and the Para-Olympics to come, the basic rules are laid down by the organizing committees and enforced through the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The main official rule is that athletes can use inhaled, topical and systemic corticosteroids to deal with a wide range of medical conditions.

Other than that, topical corticosteroids are used for treating skin conditions. For this and the relief of joint pain and other inflammations, Prednisone is the most common medication, but athletes must get a full Therapeutic Use Exemption before using it.

There are myths that using steroids enhances performance. Most health experts agree that these drug simply allow the body to resume functioning normally. So asthma sufferers are able to breathe. Inflamed joints are able to move more smoothly again. Here we must place “etc.”

For example, Dr. Kenneth Fitch of the School of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Western Australia has conducted three double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studies of asthma drugs. The results showed no enhanced performance. So you can reach for cheap Prednisone online store knowing it’s approved as the standard treatment by elite athletes.

Am i alone?

October 3rd, 2008

Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?

The incidence goes up substantially with age, increasing significantly above the age of sixty-five-which is rapidly approaching for the baby boomers. Although ED becomes more likely with advancing age, there is certainly no age cutoff for a sexually fulfilling life. Some men enjoy sexual activity into their eighties and nineties.

Although impossible to document, almost every adult male experiences at least one occasion when he is not satisfied with the outcome. When surveyed, at least 50 percent will complain of difficulties at some point in life about some degree of erectile insufficiency. The researchers studied 1,290 men and found that over half of them complained of some degree of erectile dysfunction. This was broken down into those with minimal (17 percent), moderate (25 percent) or severe (10 percent) erectile dysfunction.

The greatest risk factor of all was found to be smoking. Smokers were almost three times as likely as nonsmokers to be completely unable to achieve an erection. Thus, the incidence of erectile dysfunction is huge, perhaps as high as 150 million men worldwide. Assuming two-thirds of men have at least some trouble by the age of seventy as shown in the Massachusetts Male Aging Study, most men will experience problems if they live long enough. That doesn’t have to be discouraging news, however. Instead, it should let you know that you’re not alone. Be sure to speak up to your physician if there is a problem. Help is readily available, so you are only alone if you choose to be.

Almost 40 percent of the men had some degree of erectile dysfunction by the age of forty. Moreover, if you add in cofactors like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, ulcers, arthritis, and allergies, the percentage of men with erectile dysfunction went up even higher. The same thing was found among men taking medications in several categories. Psychological factors that increased risk or erectile dysfunction included depression, excessive alcohol use, and anger.

On our site you can find a list of recommended reliable pharmacies where you can buy Levitra with confidence.

Pain, pain, go away! Don’t come back another day!

September 27th, 2008

One of the mysterious things about writing is working out what we take for granted. Sometimes, we explain everything as in simple work. So here I am writing about ultram as the best painkiller, and then I realized I might be assuming that everyone knows all there is to know about acute pain treatment - other than it hurts, of course. That’s everything you didn’t know about most things in big yellow packages. To fill in the gaps, I therefore offer the following quick guide (with my humble apologies if you already know all this).

Pain is acute when it’s severe (i.e. it really, really hurts) but it’s only going to last for a short period of time. A good example would be the pain you feel after you’ve been cut open for surgery. Apart from the scapel-wielding surgeon, the reason for this kind of pain is to act as a warning not to move around too much. The body is telling you that more movement is going to cause more tissue damage. So, ultram works well to give you immediate relief both while your body heals and as you begin to exercise again to rebuild muscle tone. Nerves learn or remember pain. New habits form. Again ultram can suppress pain signals but, this treatment should be accompanied by cognitive behavioral therapy to learn how to cope with pain.

When you undergo symptoms of shooting, electric, tingling or burning but there are no obvious causes, this is described as neuropathic pain. As with chronic pain, treatment with ultram slows down the pain and gives you a breathing space during which physiotherapy, relaxation training and other pain management techniques are applied.

If the pain is localized at the site of an injury or some other physical problem such as arthritis, and you feel it as sharp, throbbing or aching, this is described as nociceptive. Treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and stronger painkillers such as ultram are recommended. So this post was mild and acute and, because it’s a known cause, the resulting pain was nociceptive.

McCain and the GOP on the defensive (again)

September 25th, 2008

Some folks for a long time have been looking at the voting records of both candidates in this year’s Presidential race - seems a little unfair. Seems that McCain has been voting against laws to force medical insurance companies to fund contraceptives. The argument is one of gender discrimination. Not everyone votes accordingly to their conscience when up on the Hill. But, hey, when news is in short supply, you go for the jugular with what you’ve managed to dig up from the past. The same insurers pay for Viagra when men ask for their pills. Women are working just as God intended without the pills, thank you very much.” Well, since Viagra works so well, this is adding to the world’s chronic overpopulation at a time when global warming is reducing food and water supplies. Viagra is not a treatment for a life-threatening condition. Birth control pills reduce the loss of menstrual blood so less anemia, reduce the risk of cancer in the reproductive system, reduce the pain of menstrual cramps and eliminate acne. But there are no health benefits in the eyes of the insurance companies. Millions of children die every year from malnutrition, thousands of women die from back-street abortions gone wrong. .

Bernie Mac was a sad loss

September 25th, 2008

Sometimes, a clown just hits the right note of humor and intelligence to pass through the television screen and feel like a real human being. There’s an archness about their performance. Bernie Mac was a rare talent. So often actors and comedians are trying too hard. Although the official cause of death this August was pneumonia, he had been fighting sarcoidosis for many years. This is an autoimmune disease that, somewhat unfairly, operates along racial lines. Black Americans are sixteen times more likely to die than white Americans. There is no cure for this disease.

Although there are some side effects if you take a steroid like Prednisone over longer periods of time, e.g. an increase in body weight, fluid retention, etc. these are prices worth paying for those with this disease. Often affecting the lungs and leaving you breathless, people are left without energy. That Bernie Mac kept going and entertained so many for so long is a testament to the kind of man he was and the therapeutic quality of cheap Prednisone.

New evidence about the competition.

September 13th, 2008

At the gathering of the American College of Cardiology Merck & Co anounced some clinical data from the Phase III trials for their proposed competitor to rimonabant, also known as acomplia. It is therefore interesting to compare results since, if it gains regulatory approval, it will be a direct competitor to acomplia. This new medication, still going by its generic name of taranabant, targets the same cannabinoid system as acomplia.

The randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled judgements recruited more than eight hundred participants who all had at least BMI 27. Merck & Co disclosed the preliminary results computed at the end of year one of what is intended as a two year trial. In conjunction with a diet and exercise program. In terms of averages, participants taking a 2mg dose of taranabant lost 14.5 pounds compared to 5.7 pounds on placebo. Depending on how you view these things, this could be viewed as a failure because Merck & Co announced in advance that it was aiming for a minimum 5% body weight loss in all participants taking their medication.

Past year Acomplia’s results were that 42% on Acomplia lost more than 10% of their body weight while 62.5% lost more than 5% of their body weight. But these results were obtained at the higher dosage of 20mg as opposed to 2mg taranabant. The reason for the difference in the dosage levels is that acomplia is a CB1 receptor antagonist that blocks endogenous cannabinoid binding to neuronal CB1 receptors, while taranabant acts as a selective cannabinoid-1 receptor inverse agonist, binding to CB1 receptors.

Merck & Co also tested higher doses of 4mg and 6mg but admitted problems with psychiatric side effects. It confirmed that taranabant would probably only be brought to the market at the lowest 2mg dose. Because the FDA has already expressed concern about similar side effects in acomplia, the Merck trials looked more specifically for evidence of the effects. It seems that 28% of participants on the 2mg dose reported side effects but it is not known how severe they were.

Nevertheless, this must be placed in a proper context. Acomplia has, of course, been available on prescription in US for two years and there is no emerging evidence of problems sufficiently serious to justify withdrawing approval. What should be relatively uncontroversial is that the use of the cannabinoid system for the treatment of obesity should remain firmly on the research agenda. Acomplia continues to offer an effective supplement to diet and exercise regimes. As its effects are better understood, the reported side effects may be better controlled.

What is painkilling?

September 6th, 2008

The word “narcotic” has been used misfelicitously. In its medical sense, it originally referred to drugs derived from plants that would stupefy or knock you out. However, it is now linked to the opiates - those drugs derived from the opium plant which is recognized as having a good painkilling effect, i.e. it numbs the senses. In the legal sense, it refers to more or less any prohibited drug that has an addictive effect. NSAIDs painkillers are not addictive and are particularly effective to treat pain caused by inflammation.

This makes the management of pain a very personal problem. Your family and friends can help keep you positive. Your financial situation may be strong. People have different levels of tolerance for pain. The management of your pain is something only you can do. Talking to doctors can give you guidance and advice but, at the end of the day, you are the one who should stay in control, making the decisions about what is best for you. If you must up the strength of the medication to one of the opiates, you will have to deal with the risk of addiction. Some of the NSAIDs also have worrying side effects over time.

It is also a good idea to talk to your doctor about how to manage the pain. Ultram does not “cure” the source of the pain. All it does is to change the way you “feel” it. That leaves the doctor with the job of curing whatever the problem is causing the pain, assuming it can be cured. Unfortunately, some illnesses and diseases cannot be cured and will cause you chronic pain, i.e. the pain will last over time. In such cases, the knee-jerk reaction is to take more ultram for longer periods of time.

This may not be such a good idea. The more you take, the more likely it is that you will experience one or more of the side effects. Secondly, your body builds up a tolerance for the medication so you are continually forced to increase the dose to get the same painkilling effect. This drives up the cost both physically and in cash terms. So the decisions about how much ultram to take and over what period of time are always a balancing act. You need to weigh up the benefits against the risks.

To understand how the opiates and their derivatives work, think in practical terms. People who are unconscious feel no pain. So the more severe the pain, the greater the need to produce unconsciousness. For less severe pain, you need to block the pain signals and prevent them from reaching the brain. There may still be an active source of pain in the body, but the drug prevents us from becoming aware of it. It is rather the way you distract someone by changing the subject. Quite often, the distracting sensation is so pleasant that people prefer that state to any other. They come to crave that level of pleasure all the time.

Effectiveness of warnings

September 2nd, 2008

One of the most contentious of the current issues in the United States is the idea of pre-emption. That state legislators should be allowed to shield the pharmaceutical manufacturers from liability even though their medications or medical devices may have injured people. The justification is that the Federal Government has delegated the task of regulating the safety of medications and medical devices to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The courts therefore do not have the expertise or the right to second-guess the Federal body.

So, here we comes Pfizer Inc. which was decided by the Circuit Court of Appeals in tandem with Colacicco v. Apotex Inc. The plaintiffs allege fault because the manufacturers of zoloft and paxil failed to give adequate warnings. Both are Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) used to treat depression. Patients taking either zoloft or paxil committed suicide. Although there is a black box notice that warns of the risk to some extent, the FDA refused wording in a stronger and more explicit form. The cases brought before the state courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey reached opposite conclusions.
Whether the FDA should or should not enforce a more strict labelling system has been the subject of debate for some years. The SSRIs including zoloft are associated with changes in mood, especially among the young. Now, in one sense, that is exactly what a pharmaceutical company making an antidepressant would want to hear. The medication is supposed to change the mood of those who take zoloft for the better. But moods can swing both ways and, just as zoloft may have its successes, so it may not help or exaggerate depression.

When potentially suicidal people go untreated, some will commit suicide. Let us put the SSRIs including zoloft to one side. Therapy and counselling might have saved more lives. But the warning put out by Health US was vague. Were they to stop prescribing or taking zoloft? Were they to change the dosage of zoloft? What change in the symptoms after taking zoloft might indicate danger? When some parents are ashamed of their children’s illness, it can be difficult to get them to bring their children for treatment. Put out a vague warning with no specific recommendation on how to react, and prejudices are confirmed and the children are left untreated.

The US research only examined the evidence as it affected people under the age of 18 years. We do not know how adults responded to the warning on either side of the US/European border. But Health USA and the FDA should take greater care in their warnings. Information has no use if you are not told how to use it effectively. It seems that in America, the courts are not willing to allow themselves to be used to penalise the manufacturers if the FDA gets the warnings wrong. I wonder when we can expect research along the US lines to examine the suicide rates in America before and after the FDA’s warning.

Pain isn’t something you can’t fight

September 1st, 2008

I twisted awkwardly as I was getting out of the car or as I was lifting the bag of groceries out of the trunk. When the individuals are more sporty, they may tell you about the tennis match they were on the point of winning or the strikes they were racking up at the bowling alley. The main fact about chronic pain is that in almost all cases it follows some injuries.

Most of the time we have a condition that is reducing our mobility day by day. In everyday life, we go about our business without any awareness until there is a single twist or turn that brings the problem to our attention. This is not to deny that some people do have traffic accidents in which their necks and spine are damaged, or play sports and pick up injuries. But, most people have a moment when the minor problem becomes more obvious. It is easy to link the cause of the pain with the event and not recognize that the pain has been slowly creeping up on us for months.

What happens then? Well, a lot of money has been spent to convince people that pain is a serious problem. No, really. Even though you might think it is obvious, pharmaceutical companies have to teach you that you solve the problem of pain by buying a medication like ultram. Wherever you look, advertisements sell the idea of science as the best painkiller. And there is a lot of science that backs up this idea. Thousands of people have been through clinical trials for medications like ultram and have reported reductions in pain with few side effects. “Look”, it says, “you don’t have to walk around like you’re treading on eggshells. We know pain is terrible but you don’t have to be afraid anymore. Just take this pill.”

But what used to happen in the “good old days”? Well, when the pain got bad enough, a lot of people used to take opiates like laudanum - a tincture of opium. It was notoriously addictive and many would only consider using it when there were no alternatives. The rest of the time, people lived with the pain. But pain management was as much art as science. It varied from relaxation techniques to reduce tension in the muscles and to control fear (when you anticipate pain, fear magnifies the slightest twinge), to religious groups like the Christian Scientists who believed you can transcend pain through prayer.

Now let us be clear. There are some painful conditions like arthritis which so disrupt life that using ultram or an equivalent is entirely appropriate. However, the more quickly you reach for the pills, the less effect they will have over time. Tolerance reduces the effectiveness of almost every medication.

In the beginning…

August 26th, 2008

Erectial disfunction in the seventeenth century changed the face of Western civilization. The Spanish Hapsburg Empire reigned supreme over much of the world for centuries. Their downfall was attributed to the impotence of their final leader. Unable to keep it up long enough to propagate the lineage, Don Carlos II sought all available impotence treatments including seventeenth-century psychotherapy. Since his impotence endured, the Hapsburg lineage-and empire-did not.

Other historical figures rumored impotent include Kings Richard I and Louis XVI, George Bernard Shaw, Sigmund Freud, Napoleon, Beethoven, and Rousseau. Rousseau’s 1762 essay “Discourse on the Arts and Sciences” argued that the advancement of science and medicine had not been beneficial to mankind. He would have felt differently had the FDA approved Viagra in the eighteenth century. Edgar Allen Poe’s most famous line, “Nevermore,” evidently referred to his love life.

One fact that doesn’t surprice much is that there isn’t any impotent man from history are American presidents. Apparently, no one has trouble with erections while living in the White House-at least not the lack of them.

Order Levitra with confidence.