Category Archives: Medicine

Know About Cotinine Drug Testing

Cotinine is a metabolic of nicotine, used to measure the grade of tobacco smoking. According to National Survey On Drug Use 2007, overall 68 million people abuse tobacco, and more than 3.5 million teens abuse tobacco between 12-17 years. Detection of smoke levels present in the body is possible with help of Cotinine test. Cotinine levels describe the level of smoke in the body.

Cotinine abuse
Cotinine abuse is similar to any illicit drug abuse. Cotinine is major metabolite of nicotine. Cotinine is present in nicotine, and smoked in cigarettes, chewed, and sniffed. When nicotine is metabolized, it gradually builds the level of cotinine in the body of both habitual smokers, and regular smokers. This drug is popular among teens because it is available in colorful packages with flavor choices to abuse. Cotinine itself is not harmful but nicotine is harmful, and has many adverse effects on the health of the abuser.

Test for cotinine
Cotinine effects are present in body for 20 hours from the time of consumption. Cotinine levels can be detected using various methods like gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Cotinine can be detectable from days to one week after tobacco abuse. Cigarette preference, menthol, puff size, and many other factors influence the detection period of cotinine using different testing types. Different persons have different levels of cotinine in the body with regular smoking. One way to reduce the cotinine levels in the body is to stop smoking.

Immunoassay technology used for detecting illicit drugs, can detect cotinine substance in body. Detection period of cotinine from specimen is four days after consumption. Cotinine retains in the blood for long period after consumption through smoking. There are many methods used for detecting cotinine. One of the preferred method is urine drug testing. Cotinine testing through saliva drug testing is difficult both in terms of collecting the specimen as well as drug detection. Using testing kits, testing process of cotinine is simple, and easy to perform at home. Often, lab confirmation tests are used to test cotinine levels for accurate results.

The above information gives you an overview about cotinine abuse, and testing methods. Cotinine drug testing makes it easier to detect presence of nicotine, and its metabolism presence in body.

Why Choose Acid Reflux Alternative Medicine

There is nothing wrong with the usage of prescription medication or antacids as a way to fight against acid reflux. These methods are proven. However, for those who suffer from chronic and frequent acid reflux, such methods are not always the best choice for treatment. Sometimes, using acid reflux alternative medicine can be more beneficial to your overall health.

This may sound strange, after all, why would alternative forms be better than prescriptions? Nonetheless, alternative medicine actually can be better than conventional medicine simply because they can eliminate some of the side-effects known to accompany other medications.

Many antacids can shut down the body’s natural digestion processes, so some people turn to alternative acid reflux remedies to avoid these complications. Supplements like orange peel extract, fiber and green tea can help ease the symptoms without impacting on the body’s processing ability.

Orange Peel Extract:
As an acid reflux alternative option there are few better than orange peel extract. This works to speed up the digestion process, without removing the absorption of minerals, and keeps your stomach from producing too much acid. They do not, as some would think, stop acid production. Instead, they merely help the food leave your stomach more quickly, which reduces the need for acid production. This will keep your stomach from refluxing acid into the throat and reduce symptoms.

Fiber:
Fiber, to put it simply, absorbs excess acid. This does not cure reflux but it dramatically helps keep the symptoms from appearing. When the acid is absorbed, it is removed naturally from the body as part of the digestion process. This is arguably the easiest method to use since there are so many ways to get a dosage of fiber. Vegetables and fruits are excellent sources of fiber. Everything from spinach to avocados can give you what you need. If you happen to have a particular aversion to high-fiber foods, however, fiber tablets are also available.

Green Tea:
Green teas health benefits are well-known, so it should come as no surprise that green tea may have a positive impact on reducing acid reflux. When you drink green tea, it helps to soothe your digestive system and works to balance acidic levels. This, while not a cure for reflux, will help you maintain a healthier stomach, resulting in less outbursts of acid. Of course, due to the fact that green tea has so many other health benefits, you would do well to drink it aside from reducing reflux!

Acid reflux alternative medicine can have certain advantages over prescriptions and antacids. They do not altar the body’s natural processes. Instead, they work with them.

Sign up below for the free Acid Reflux newsletter and discover the many other natural treatments for treating and preventing acid reflux.

However, please keep in mind that not all acid reflux alternative medicine may be an improvement over antacids, so you should always speak to your doctor about your treatment methods. However, many of the alternative options will give you the results you want without causing unwanted side effects. Alternative medicine does work for many sufferers and may be able to help you fight acid reflux.

Kamalahar – Ayurvedic Treatment For Jaundice, Hepatitis And Cirrhosis

I live in the eastern part of India. It is a small town in the state of Jharkhand. The flora and fauna of the state is great. The mountains of the state and the great forests provide great opportunities for the makers of the herbal medicines.
I would like to share my experience with an Ayurvedic product with you. Kamalahar had played a major role as a life saver after the corporate hospitals had given up treatment when my friend’s mother was suffering from Jaundice with Ascitis. Currently there is no western or allopathic medicine for Jaundice. The doctors mostly ask for rest and control of diet. They hope that with proper diet control and rests things will be taken care. But many times this is not enough. This is a big issue if the patient is undergoing malaria treatment or some other treatment whereby the patient is required to take medicines which affect the liver. In those cases the patient is sometimes left at the mercy of luck.

My friend’s mom who is an old lady was suffering from Jaundice for quite some time. The serum bilirubin level went up to as high as 22. The bilirubin after six months of rest diet and allopathic treatment was around 16 (sixteen) and she had become a mere skeleton of her old self.

They came to know about Kamalahar through a family friend. They found out the details about the medicine and if there is any side effects of it. Once they found out that Kamalahar is a unique Ayurvedic/herbal product which is very effective in the treatment of liver disorders especially Jaundice, Hepatitis and Cirrhosis. The medicine is purely herbal and it does not have any side effects. My friend’s mom started the medication and after taking the medicines for 7 days she started seeing positive results. Her bilirubin level which had been high for past 6 months started going down dramatically. We become very happy and she continued her medication. After 1 month of treatment, her serum bilirubin was a bit above 1 and within 3 months 0.65 which was in normal healthy range.

They have been very thankful to Khatore Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Limited for the medicine. Since then they have been in constant touch with them and introduced me to the company. In fact after the Kamalahar experience we used another of their medicine called K-MATIC which is very useful for arthritis. But on that I will write some other day as that was an experience in itself. In this article I want to focus on Kamalahar. My aunt is now more than seventy five years old and she is still healthy and has not complained about the Jaundice problem anymore. Ever since that all the adult members of our family have used Kamalahar for Liver Detoxification to make our liver strong. Hopefully this article will benefit many more suffers of Jaundice, Hepatitis and Cirrhosis for which our modern system of medicine is still struggling to find a cure.

Learn Transcendental Meditation And Lower High Blood Pressure

A new scientific research study conducted at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine provides further evidence that people with high blood pressure can find relief through meditationbut the study also found that not all forms of meditation are equally effective. The study compared findings from research on several well-known types of meditation and relaxation practices, and found that the only mind/body practice that produces significant changes in blood pressure is the Transcendental Meditation technique.

According to a definitive new meta-analysis of 107 previous studies on stress reduction programs and high blood pressure, published in the American Journal of Hypertension (Vol. 21, 3: 310-316), the Transcendental Meditation technique was found to produce a statistically significant reduction in high blood pressurean effect not found with other forms of relaxation, meditation, biofeedback or stress management.

Significant Reductions in Blood Pressure
The new meta-analysis reviewed randomized, controlled trials published in peer-reviewed scientific journals over the past decades concerning stress reduction and relaxation methods used by participants with high blood pressure. Blood pressure changes through the Transcendental Meditation technique included average reductions of 5.0 points of systolic and 2.8 points of diastolic blood pressure, changes which were statistically significant, according to the review. These changes associated with Transcendental Meditation practice were consistent with other controlled studies showing reductions in cardiovascular risk factors, improved markers of heart disease, and reduced mortality rates among participants in the Transcendental Meditation program.

Transcendental Meditation equivalent to adding a second hypertensive agent
“The magnitude of the changes in blood pressure with the Transcendental Meditation technique are at least as great as the changes found with major changes in diet or exercise that doctors often recommend,” said Dr. James Anderson, principal author of the study. “Yet the Transcendental Meditation technique does not require changes in lifestyle. Thus many patients with mild hypertension or prehypertension may be able to avoid the need to take blood pressure medicationsall of which have adverse side effects. Individuals with more severe forms of hypertension may be able to reduce the number or dosages of their BP medications under the guidance of their doctor.

Dr. Anderson stated further: Adding Transcendental Meditation is about equivalent to adding a second hypertensive agent to one’s current regiment, only safer and less troublesome.

Reduced Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke
Anderson added that long-term changes in blood pressure of this magnitude are associated with at least a 15 percent reduction in rates of heart attack and stroke. “This is important to everyone because cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S. and worldwide,” Anderson said. The study’s biostatistician, Maxwell Rainforth, assistant professor of Physiology and Health Statistics at Maharishi University of Management, said the meta-analysis used state-of-the-art statistical methods to review 107 published studies in the field of stress reduction, relaxation and blood pressure. “The twenty-three separate studies included in the final analysis met well-known criteria for high scientific quality. That is, these studies used repeated blood pressure measurements and participants were randomized to either a stress reduction technique or placebo-type control for at least eight weeks. The data we used are all published in peer-reviewed scientific journals,” Rainforth said.

Side Benefits of TM vs. side effects of drugs
According to Dr. Robert Schneider, director of the Institute of Natural Medicine and Prevention and co-author, this rigorously conducted meta-analysis indicates that the Transcendental Meditation technique is distinctively effective compared to other scientifically studied techniques in lowering high blood pressure. “For those 100 million Americans with elevated blood pressure, here is a scientifically documented, yet simple and easy way to lower blood pressure without drugs and harmful side effects. In addition, related studies show an integrated set of positive ‘side benefits,’ such as reduced stress, reduced heart disease levels and longer lifespan with this technique to restore balance in the cardiovascular system, mind and body,” Schneider said.

Overturns a previous study on meditation
The new meta-analysis was co-authored by researchers at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, in Louisville, and at the NIH-funded Institute of Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management in Iowa.

According to Dr. Anderson, the findings of this new study rebut a July 2007 report sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the NIH-National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which concluded that most research on meditation is low quality and found little evidence that any specific stress reduction effectively lowers blood pressure.

The new meta-analysis identified all high quality meditation studies published through 2006 and rigorously analyzed their results, which the previous government report failed to do. Anderson said the new meta-analysis includes only high quality studies on all available stress reduction interventions. The studies on the Transcendental Meditation technique were conducted at five independent universities and medical institutions, and the majority of them were funded by competitive grants from the National Institutes of Health.

How to Introduce Holistic Medicine to Your Family

Holistic therapies are increasingly gaining more and more acceptance around the world as scores of frustrated people seek alternatives to expensive modern medical practices. These people have slowly begun to recognize that the very same modern medical practices that theyve relied on for so long, seek to treat the symptoms rather than cure the disease and avoid seeing the patient as a whole being in need of care not only for their body but their minds and spirits as well.

Interestingly, while individuals are turning to holistic medicine in record numbers, they are often wary of discussing such things with their friends and families out of the fear that they will be misunderstood.

Here are a few suggestions that will help you broach the topic of holistic medicine with your family:

Educate Yourself

Education is your first line of defense when faced with a discussion about an unfamiliar topic. Before you talk to your friends and family, read everything you can find on the subject of holistic health. Your local library branch or an internet search is a place to start, but you will also glean much more by actually seeing and being with holistic health practitioners and those on the holistic path. Reading books and information that are applicable to your own situation will make it much easier to field the unavoidable questions that will no doubt be forthcoming. Having such tools to use as a reference will give you confidence in introducing and discussing other health options with those who may be less supportive or knowledgeable.

Explain about Access to Affordable Health Care

When you first enter into the holistic discussion with others, it is best to approach it from a perspective that they are likely to understand right off the bat. Modern health care is prohibitively expensive and as such is out of reach for millions of people. Health care insurance if it is available at all can cost hundreds of dollars every month and still may not cover all of the costs associated with maintaining the health of you and your family. Regardless, even if you have the best health insurance seeking alternative healing arts modalities may be the best path for you.

Thankfully there are a number of holistic therapy options that are available to people irrespective of their age, current health condition or financial status.

Organize a Family Movie Night

One way to foster family togetherness is to incorporate a family movie night. In this relaxed atmosphere, discussions can take place in a comfortable and familiar environment, leaving many people much more receptive to new concepts. There are DVDs available on nearly any holistic therapy you can imagine and The Center for Healing Arts has made what to watch and share a simple task. Subscribers receive a new DVD every other month to review at their leisure, in the privacy of their own home.

According to founding director Victor Demko, sharing your newfound information is exactly what the Center had in mind. “Members of the center are encouraged to watch and share the DVDs with friends as part of creating a wellness mentality in their community. The DVDs can also be used to support friends and loved ones on their own wellness journey.”