Acute adrenal crisis also known as Addisonian crisis is a life-threatening condition that occurs when there is not enough cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands s.

Adrenal crisis occurs when:

• The adrenal gland is damaged (Addison’s disease, primary adrenal insufficiency)
• The pituitary gland is injured (secondary adrenal insufficiency)
• Adrenal insufficiency is not properly treated

Risk factors for adrenal crisis include:

• Dehydration
• Infection and other physical stress
• Injury to the adrenal or pituitary gland
• Stopping treatment with steroids such as prednisone or hydrocortisone too early
• Surgery
• Trauma

SOURCE:  www.nlm.nih.gov

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Menopause

Holly L. Thacker, MD
New York, NY; Kaplan Publishing: 2009
286 pages

This book presents a broad overview of factual information about women’s health issues around the time of menopause. The author’s decades of experience are evident in the clear, concise text and abundant clinical examples. Readers will relate to the narratives that serve as platforms for medical information, for example, the patient with severe hot flashes crying from fatigue. In this scenario and many more, the author explains the transition from the reproductive stage of life through the menopause transition in an engaging and understandable manner.

Discussions of how our bodies work, ovarian function, basic reproductive anatomy, and a glossary of terms provide a basis for understanding not only the contents of the book but also the “medicalese” often used by healthcare providers. The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Menopause is not just another book about menopause and the decision to use hormones or not. There is an emphasis on personal responsibility for a healthy lifestyle such as not smoking, eating sensibly, and exercising regularly. This book from a world-famous hospital puts the reader in the driver’s seat on the road to achieving good health, right next to her healthcare provider.

Dr. Thacker rightly points out that menopause is “not a disease” but that around the time of menopause women are at high risk of developing many chronic diseases. The diseases that become very prevalent during midlife and beyond include heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and other common causes of high medical costs, illness, and death.

The opinions and interpretation of applying medical research are Dr. Thacker’s own. Written for commercial publication, not as a scientific manuscript, the book is meant to educate and share experiences. As with any commercial venture, it is left to the reader to accept and apply the shared information based on her comfort level with the author’s experience and expertise. The majority of readers will find this book extremely valuable.

Review written by:
Marjorie R. Jenkins, MD
Associate Professor
Executive Director, Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health
Center for Women’s Health and Gender-Based Medicine
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Amarillo, TX
Certified NAMS Menopause Practitioner
Member, NAMS Professional Education Committee

SOURCE: menopause.org

Bees usually don’t go looking for trouble. If you don’t bother them by poking around their nests, chances are you’ll never get stung. And even if you do, most bee stings cause little pain, usually lasting from a few hours to a few days.

Unless, of course, you’re allergic–in which case you need emergency care. But for the vast majority of the population, a little tender loving care is all you’ll need.

Scrape out the stinger. One of the best ways to remove a stinger–and avoid any additional pain–is to “scrape”–it out of the skin with a credit card, a knife or a long fingernail, advises John Yunginger, M.D., professor and pediatrics consultant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “The biggest mistake people make is trying to pull the stinger out. In doing that, you squeeze the tiny venom sac attached to the stinger and accidentally release more venom into your skin.” If you scrape the stinger out, this sac goes undisturbed.

Rub an aspirin on the sting. “Rubbing a wet aspirin on the area where you were stung can help neutralize some of the inflammatory agents in the venom,” says Herbert Luscombe, M.D., professor emeritus of dermatology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and senior attending dermatologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, both in Philadelphia. If you are allergic or sensitive to aspirin taken by mouth, though, you shouldn’t try rubbing it on your skin.

Get tender relief with meat tenderizer. “Make a paste with meat tenderizer and water and apply it to the sting,” says Philip Koehler, Ph.D., an entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Laboratory at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “The reason meat tenderizer works is because insect bites and stings are made up of protein–and meat tenderizer breaks down this protein.” Use Adolph’s, McCormick or another product that contains papain–the active venom-busting ingredient.

Bee Stings

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Natural Remedies for Wasp Stings

1. Baking soda mixed with a little water to form a paste and then applied to the wasp sting area is a useful remedy for easing the irritation. A small dressing can be applied and secured with tape to keep the baking powder paste in place. This is useful at night when the warmth of the bed can make any skin irritation worse.
2. An application of a paste of water and meat tenderiser is is a popular treatment and works because the papain in the tenderiser breaks down the proteins, one of the main constituents of wasp venom. This is best applied and then kept in place with a small dressing to avoid it being rubbed off.
3. Pure aloe vera gel is another natural method of cooling and soothing the sting area. Aloe vera is known universally as a wonderful healing skin treatment and it contains no harsh chemicals, additives or medications.
4. The application of mud to the stung area is an American Indian treatment which works by drawing the venom out of the skin in the same way that a clay face mask draws impurities out from the skin of the face. This needs be nothing more elaborate than mud from the garden. Leave for 10-15 minutes to allow the mud to dry completely.

Further home remedies include the following:

* the inside of a cut onion to rub over the wasp sting site.
* white or cider vinegar applied with a piece of cotton wool.
* a copper penny. Placed on a wasp sting this apparently reduces the swelling, redness and irritation and has something to do with the copper content of the coin reacting favourably with the body’s own chemical makeup.

Please note, however, that if after using these remedies the irritation persists or worsens or the redness spreads, do seek medical advice. The above first aid measures are simply for use in the home and for anyone who has no out of the ordinary major reaction to insect stings and bites, and if there are any doubts or concerns do not hesitate to ask a doctor’s or pharmacist’s opinion.

Read more at Suite101: How to Treat Wasp Stings Using Home First Aid: Natural remedies and pain relief for treating wasp venom http://flying-insects.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_treat_wasp_stings#ixzz0xDEcZcmk

SOURCE: flying-insects.suite101.com

Click here to read the article

Bee stings are either annoyingly painful or deadly, depending on if the victim is allergic to the venom.
The best way to reduce any reaction to bee venom is to remove the bee stinger as quickly as possible. If a bee sting victim has had any allergic reactions to bee stings in the past, consider the possibility of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction.

1. Safety first! Get away from the bee. Bees release a scent when in danger to attract other bees. If you’re still around when reinforcements get there, they’ll sting you.
2. Follow universal precautions and wear personal protective equipment if you have it.
3. Remove any stingers immediately! No need to scrape off bee stingers, just remove them. It’s OK to pull stingers out with your fingers. The longer bee stingers are allowed to remain in the body, the more severe the reaction will be.
4. If the victim is allergic to bees, check to see if the victim is carrying an epinephrine auto-injector (EpiPen). If so, help the victim use the EpiPen. If the victim is supposed to carry an EpiPen and does not have it, call 911 immediately! Do not wait for symptoms to appear.Watch any victim closely for signs of anaphylaxis.
   • itching
   • redness
   • hives (raised welts)
   • shortness of breath

   If there is any concern that the victim may be developing anaphylaxis, call 911 immediately. Antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine (Benedryl), can slow an anaphylactic reaction, but will not stop it.

5. Non-allergic victims will almost always develop local reactions to bee stings. Redness, swelling, and pain are all common at the site of the bee sting. The pain will usually go away pretty quickly, but swelling may last for more than a day. Use an ice pack to reduce swelling at the site.It’s common to develop some itching at the bee sting site. Antihistamines or calamine lotion should help.
6. Take the victim to the emergency department if the victim was stung more than 10 times, or if there are bee stings inside the nose, mouth, or throat. Swelling from these stings can cause shortness of breath, even in non-allergic victims.
7. Use ibuprofen or acetaminophen for minor pain relief. For tenderness at the site, try a bee-sting swab  to dull the pain.

1. Conventional wisdom says to scrape bee stingers away from the skin because pinching the venom sack could push extra venom into the victim. In fact, how fast you get the stinger out is much more important than how.
2. Honey bees leave a stinger behind when they sting a victim. Wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets do not leave a stinger. These relatives of the honey bee can also cause an anaphylactic reaction.

SORUCE: By Rod Brouhard, About.com Guide

Click Here to read the article

Tako-Tsubo Syndrome or Tako-Tsubo Cardiomyopathy has been studied in Japan for several years.  It can also be called Transient Myocardial Stunning, either catecholaminergic or neurogenic.

The predominate group affected are post menopausal women.  The signs an symptoms are the same as a ” heart attack”.

Definition below from wikipedia.org

“During the course of evaluation of the patient, a bulging out of the left ventricular apex with a hypercontractile base of the left ventricle is often noted. It is the hallmark bulging out of the apex of the heart with preserved function of the base that earned the syndrome its name “tako tsubo”, or octopus trap in Japan, where it was first described.^[5] The cause appears to involve high circulating levels of catecholamines (mainly adrenaline/epinephrine).

There is an interesting web site has great illustrations about this Cardiomyopathy, using 6 characters to illustrate what

The theory is in this heart issue.

Source:  takotsubo.com

“Pathophysiology of Tako-Tsubo syndrome explained — goofy “theory of everything”, using all 6 character actors … (Japanese researchers have come up with first papers and attempts to explain this syndrome… they should tie up all things under 6 character actors… here it is for the first time… I hope that this gets me 1/2 of their Nobel Prize…ahahahah!)”

6 character actors

1. tako-tsubo (octopus trap)

2. the octopus itself

3. some serious stress, anger, resentment

4. the central and sympathetic nervous system

5. norepinephrine being released uncontrollably

6. the heart (the target of all this)

1. The Octopus is resting in its Tako-Tsubo – Do NOT irk it !

2. The Octopus is unhappy and on a prowl

3. The Octopus has found its target – the heart

4. Oh! No ! — Big trouble ! — The Octopus IS the CNS

5. The CNS is stressed and resentful

6. The CNS, through the sympathetic nervous system, discharges unconscionable and irrational amounts of catecholamines (mainly norepinephrine) on the heart and this creates chest pain, myocardial stunning and/or congestive heart failure… or even SHOCK

Conclusion…

First described medically in 1991 by Japanese doctors, the condition was originally called takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Takotsubo is a type of pot used by Japanese fishermen to capture octopuses. When doctors take X-ray images of a person who’s experiencing broken heart syndrome, part of his or her heart resembles the pot. Today, the condition is also referred to as stress cardiomyopathy, stress-induced cardiomyopathy or apical ballooning syndrome.

By Mayo Clinic staff

It’s thought that a brief surge of stress hormones, such as adrenaline, might temporarily damage the hearts of some people. How these hormones might hurt the heart or whether something else is responsible isn’t clear.

Most heart attacks are caused by a complete blockage of a heart artery due to a blood clot forming at the site of narrowing from fatty buildup (atherosclerosis). In broken heart syndrome, the heart arteries are not blocked, although blood flow in the arteries of the heart may be reduced.

Broken heart syndrome affects women far more often than men. Some research indicates nearly nine out of 10 cases occur in women, and of those, almost all are in women 50 or older.

Other complications of broken heart syndrome include:
• Disruptions in your heartbeat
• A fast or slow heartbeat
• Backup of fluid into your lungs (pulmonary edema)
There are no standard treatment guidelines for treating broken heart syndrome. At first, it’s treated similar to a heart attack until the diagnosis is clear. There is no specific therapy, and most people stay in the hospital while they recover, which takes about a week.
Your doctor will likely prescribe blood pressure medications for you to take while you’re in the hospital, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, beta blockers or diuretics. These medications help reduce the workload on your heart while you recover. Usually, your doctor will tell you to stop taking these medications once you recover.

If you have had experience with this problem, feel free to e-mail me at

email

SOURCE: mayoclinic.com

Click here for more info

This Pod cast is from a KVEC  interview with Deborah Bayles about quality of life and aging in place no matter where the location.

Hands Only CPR
CPR. A lifesaving action.

Hands only CPR

When an adult has a sudden cardiac arrest, his or her survival depends greatly on immediately getting CPR from someone nearby. Unfortunately, less than 1/3 of those people who experience a cardiac arrest at home, work or in a public location get that help. Most bystanders are worried that they might do something wrong or make things worse. That’s why the AHA has simplified things.
Don’t be afraid. Your actions can only help.

It’s not normal to see an adult suddenly collapse, but if you do, call 911 and push hard and fast in the center of the chest. Don’t be afraid. Your actions can only help. Take a minute and look around this site and invite your friends! Increasing the number of people who know about Hands-OnlyTM CPR will increase the chance that someone can help when an adult suddenly collapses, and more lives can be saved.

SOURCE: handsonlycpr.org

Click here to learn more about Hands only CPR

Gardnerella Vaginalis
Bacterial vaginosis is a common condition, and studies have shown that approximately 29% of women in the US are affected
It is anaerobic gram-variable rod which can cause bacterial vaginosis in some women as a result of a disruption in the normal vaginal microflora which results in an overgrowth of normal bacteria in the vagina.

Gardnerella vaginalis

SOURCE: Wikipedia

Click here for more info from Wikipedia
The resident anaerobic lactobacillus population in the vagina are responsible for the acidic environment. Once the anaerobes have supplanted the normal vaginal bacteria, prescription antibiotics with anaerobic coverage may have to be given to eliminate the Gardnerella vaginalis and allow the balance to be restored.

What causes bacterial vaginosis?

Researchers have had difficulty determining exactly what causes bacterial vaginosis. At present, it seems to be that a combination of multiple bacteria must be present together for the problem to develop. Bacterial vaginosis typically features a reduction in the number of the normal hydrogen peroxide-producing lactobacilli in the vagina. Simultaneously, there is an increase in concentration of other types of bacteria, especially anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that grow in the absence of oxygen). As a result, the diagnosis and treatment are not as simple as identifying and eradicating a single type of bacteria. Why the bacteria combine to cause the infection is unknown.

A few antibiotic remedies are routinely used. Metronidazole (Flagyl) taken by either oral (pill) form or by vaginal metronidazole gel (Metrogel) is an effective cure.

SOURCE:medicinenet.com
Click her to read more about signs and symptoms of Bacterial Vaginosis