Archive for the ‘Health and Fitness’ Category

Thanks to aggressive media campaigns from the pharmaceutical companies, public awareness of bipolar disorder has been raised significantly. However, television and radio spots are limited in the information they can convey. So, while more people have become aware of bipolar disorder, they may not truly understand what exactly the condition is and what the common bipolar symptoms and bipolar medication are.

Of course, before delving into the comprehensive it is helpful to understanding some of the basic bipolar symptoms and bipolar medication treatments. Therefore, a brief overview of both the common bipolar symptoms and medications is provided.

On the most basic of levels, bipolar disorder involves “swinging” from extremes of highs and lows. That means a person afflicted with the disorder can experience high, elevated moods followed by low, depressed moods. (Hence, the condition was originally called manic depression) The distribution of the highs and lows are not 50 – 50. In other words, one does not shift moods from day to day. A person could be manic for weeks on end, then shift into days of depression, followed by weeks of mania. Regardless of the duration of the mood swings, they are quite pronounced as bipolar disorder is serious enough to be labeled a disability. A brief overview of the symptoms of bipolar disorder is as follows:

Bipolar Disorder – Manic Symptoms

-Many people in a manic state experience severe anxiety and are very irritable (to the point of rage), while others are euphoric and grandiose.

-People commonly experience an increase in energy and a decreased need for sleep.  A person’s speech may be pressured, Attention span is low and a person in a manic state may be easily distracted. Judgment may become blurred.

-With thoughts experienced as racing. The “racing thoughts” of bipolar disorder are also sometimes described as “crowded thoughts”.

-Impetuous actions are undertaken with little worry of the consequences.

Depressed Symptoms in Bipolar Disorder

-A person may have a very sad, hopeless mood while at the same time feeling extremely energized.

-Excessively tired or irritated with difficulty maintaining proper sleeping patterns.

-Excess shame or guilt pervades one’s thoughts.

-Eat a lot or hardly eating anything (from one extreme to the other).

-Persistent thoughts of death or suicide.

Medication Treatment for Bipolar

There is no uniformed, standard combination for bipolar medication that will give the same results to different patients when it comes to treating bipolar with medication. There are lots of drugs that are utilized to aid bipolar patients calm their illness down. These medicines are for anti-depressants, anti anxiety, mood stabilizers and anti psychotic.

Anti-depressants are employed to help raise the individual’s mood and energy levels. Common anti-depressant medications include Wellbutrin, Effexor, and Zoloft and these medications are frequently prescribed to bipolar patients.

The most prescribed drugs to calm down the mania side of the bipolar illness are Lithium, Risperdal, Seroquel, and Geocodon. These anti-psychotic and mood stabilizer drugs are used to restore and calm down patients or tone down people with bipolar manic disorder.

While some doctors do not like to give anti-anxiety drugs to their patients there are others who still prescribe Xanax, Ativan and Klonopin to their patients. These medications help in bringing down excessive highs and panic attacks in the manic side of bipolar.

A monthly visit to your psychiatrist is advised to determine whether your medication should be modified or continued, because drugs are prescribed in various dosages and combinations.

 

Now you can enjoy the advantages of a home sauna more conveniently than ever. Nowadays, there’s a wide range of portable home saunas that can be found just about anywhere. When you get it home, you just unpack it and plug it in.

The home sauna is becoming much more popular these days, and it’s not hard to figure out why. There are many health benefits associated with sauna use. One of these is the acceleration of the heart rate. This in turn helps the blood deliver nutrients and oxygen to the various parts of the body more efficiently.

Your pores respond to the sauna’s heat by opening up and perspiring. This encourages the process of detoxification throughout your body. Toxins are expelled, along with the harmful effects of alcohol and nicotine in your system.

The benefit of heat penetrating deep into your body also leads to the loosening of stored fats and cellulite in the body. Many people consider saunas to be beneficial for weight loss. Unfortunately, the loss is generally temporary. Once you regain your proper level of fluids, the weight will come back.

Your skin will also reap some benefits from being exposed to the heat of a sauna. When your heart speeds up, it is better able to deliver oxygen and nutrients that are critical to the health of your skin. With regular use of a sauna, you will find that your skin has a healthy glow and fewer blemishes.

As the heat of the sauna elevates your internal temperature, your body starts to produce more white blood cells. These help to fight infections and other bacteria. People with various kinds of health conditions find they can relieve their symptoms by using a sauna on a regular basis.

Infrared saunas give you even more health benefits. Instead of heating the air around you in the sauna, infrared light heats your body itself. Therefore, there won’t be any harmful effects to your respiratory system. You won’t be inhaling heated air into your lungs like you would in a traditional sauna.

Portable home saunas can range in size to fit anywhere from one to four people. They are easy to install anywhere in the home. Indeed, some saunas can be located indoors or out.

Infrared saunas use up to 90 percent less energy than a traditional sauna. At the same time they heat up considerably faster. It’s the easiest way to reap the healthy benefits of a sauna in the convenience of your home.

18
Mar

The Chronic Tension Headaches

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Chronic tension headaches are a serious ailment that can detract from enjoyment of daily life.  Daily activities are subject to interruption by painful episodes that can occur any time.  Chronic tension headaches can easily lead to depression and a general pain crisis.  It is important that chronic tension headaches be treated as soon as possible.  Fortunately, the medical community is very experienced with the problem of chronic tension headache, and has several avenues of treatment available for sufferers.  In fact, headaches are actually divided into three individual categories.

The majority of headaches suffered can fit into the primary category.  A primary headache is frequently brought on by emotional or physical stress, and has the most frequent rate of occurence by far.  Primary headaches are almost never life threatening, but they can bring serious pain with them.  This pain can hamper everyday enjoyment of life, making even basic functioning difficult.  Although the exact causes remain something of a mystery, it is widely held that the symptoms are brought on by a tightening of the muscles that surround the base of the skull.  This tightening comes on as a sensation of tightness at first in the patient’s cranial area. 

Cluster and secondary headaches are a far rarer form of headache that occurs to small portion of the population.  To treat this kind of headache, serious medical attention is required.  Cluster headaches are easily identifiable by the amount of pain they cause.  Patients frequently describe cluster headaches as like having an icepick driven into the eye.  Treatment includes powerful sedatives and pain medications.  Secondary headaches can be a sign of deeper neurological issues.

A Chronic headache should be treated with an eye toward stress management.  Physical and emotional stress are both known to trigger chronic tension headache.  Circumstances that trigger significant emotional stress can prompt the occurence of chronic tension headaches. Prolonged physical stress can also be tied directly to chronic tension headaches.  Steps to manage both kinds of stress should be undertaken in order to reduce the occurence of chronic tension headaches.  If these steps do not succeed, then further treatment with more powerful pain medications may be necessary.  Chronic tension headaches that do not abate should be a signal to see a doctor.

The causes Of migraine headaches , chronic tension headaches and other type of headaches are still something of a mystery in the medical community but one should seek a doctor or specialist to help correct the problem.