“Rest is a problem,” said James, 51. “I suffer from insomnia. I get about two to three hours of sleep a night; sometimes I’m up for two or three days at a time. I’ve gotten used to it. If I get more than four hours of sleep, I feel stiff, almost frozen. It takes two doses of medication before I’m up and able to move enough to do anything. About a month ago, I slept 12 hours, and it took almost 24 hours to get over that.”

Sometimes we can blame the Parkinson’s symptoms. It’s hard to sleep through a muscle spasm or cramp. Some people with Parkin­son’s find that their bodies quiet down at night, saving the tremors for morning; others are awakened by the twitching and quivering of the bedsheets after the medication has worn off. Sometimes muscle aches and pains make it impossible to get comfortable, no mat­ter how soft and supportive the mattress may be. Muscle rigidity can affect the bladder, leading to frequent trips to the bathroom throughout the night. Trust me, there’s no rest for the weary.

Many people with PD suffer from a condition known as rest­less-leg syndrome. The name tells it all—when you’re lying in bed at night, your legs feel restless and fidgety; you desperately want to get up and walk around. Some people also report feeling a creep­ing or crawling sensation in their legs.

The restlessness goes away when you move, but it typically returns when you lie down again. I am sometimes able to outsmart my legs by taking a warm bath and then shuffling off to bed as soon as I get out of the water. (If I take a side trip to the bathroom or to the kitchen, my legs seem to wake up and feel restless again.)

People with Parkinson’s sometimes suffer from REM Sleep Be­havior Disorder (RSBD). These lively bedfellows physically act out their dreams, often kicking, screaming, sitting up, or walking around while asleep. As you might imagine, this condition can re­sult in injury to the people with PD or anyone else around. Some­times people with Parkinson’s roam the neighborhood in their sleep, which can present its own set of hazards, especially for older people.

RSBD afflicts people with and without PD, but some researchers believe the two conditions could be linked. A study published in March 2006 in the journal Neurology found that RSBD could serve as an early marker of PD; studies estimate that approximately half of patients with RSBD will eventually develop PD. (The researchers observed this link, but did not explain how RSBD and PD may be related.)

Of course, medications can affect sleep, too. In an ironic twist, most drugs for PD bear warning labels indicating that they may cause drowsiness, yet they also tend to cause insomnia—you’ll be sleepy and tired, but unable to fall asleep, which more or less sums up the nighttime hours for many of us. Sinemet and many anti­depressant medications can cause nightmares or vivid dreams that may interfere with a restful night’s sleep.

In addition, as we get older, we awaken more often than we used to, and we spend more time fully awake in the middle of the night whether or not we have Parkinson’s disease. Sleep studies have found that by age 65, most people wake up at least a dozen times a night and spend only about half an hour in the most restful periods of deep sleep. A 20-year-old, on the other hand, snoozes virtually without waking and accumulates about two hours of high-quality deep sleep.

Interestingly, people with Parkinson’s who have had deep brain stimulation surgery tend to sleep better than those who have not had surgery. A study reported in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Neurology found that DBS increased total sleep time and re­duced sleep problems for up to 24 months after treatment. Despite reduction in the use of medication, DBS did not reduce excessive daytime sleepiness.

Michael L., 48, sleeps better since he had DBS. “After the sur­gery, I started sleeping better than I had my entire life,” he said. “I’ve dreamed dreams that were so real I didn’t want to wake up. Sleep is enjoyable now. The nights used to be so long, and now they go by so fast.”

Ultimately, it’s up to you to determine if you have a sleep prob­lem. Our sleep demands change throughout our lives. If you’re get­ting less sleep than you used to a few years ago, but you feel rested during the day, you don’t have a problem. On the other hand, if you’re tired during the day, you aren’t getting enough rest, regard­less of how many hours you spend in bed.

Sometimes she would listen while I tried to make sense of what was happening to me, and at other times she sat quietly and I felt comfort in the silence. There were times when I actually fell asleep in the middle of a sentence, and she let me doze off and then reminded me of what I was talking about when I woke up a few minutes later. I couldn’t have asked any more from her.

Other people avoided me because they didn’t know how to deal with me. They were suddenly unavailable, and they didn’t return phone calls. I felt like a leper, at a time when I really needed to be around other people.

Michael had the same experience, especially with his friends in politics. Because of his outward symptoms, he be­came politically embarrassing—would people think he was drunk or using drugs? Was he simply strange? Michael learned just how shal­low some of those people were, and it was a difficult time for him.

Ultimately, we must all accept our disease and give other people the opportunity to do so as well. If those around us don’t want to become better informed and can’t get past the outward symptoms of the disease, there is nothing we can do to make them accept us. In these cases, I have found it best to accept that the friendship is ending because the other person can’t make room in the relation­ship for the Parkinson’s disease and move forward. While this feels like a personal rejection, it’s really not about you at all. Some people simply don’t feel comfortable dealing with serious issues of illness and disease, and they can’t maintain the friendship any longer.

Now many of our friends have only known us as people with Parkinson’s, and some of our closest friends actually forget that we have the disease. There are times when we’re with a group and we become tired and need to rest, and we actually have to remind them that we need to slow down because of the Parkinson’s. We consider this a great compliment; we are accepted as peers first and people with Parkinson’s second. When this happens, we know we’re really living.

One of the challenges of accepting Parkinson’s involves main­taining the quality of our relationships once the diagnosis becomes public. “As soon as they knew, all my friends started treating me differently,” said Karen R. “I’d pull up in the driveway for a picnic, and everyone would rush up and say, ‘Are you feeling okay?’ ‘Do you want me to help carry anything?’ I’m still the same person; if I need help, I’ll ask.” It can be difficult to protect your independence from well-intentioned friends who want to help—a bit too much. It’s best, once again, to clearly communicate your feelings: “I ap­preciate your concern, but it isn’t necessary. Please know that I will ask for help if I need it.”

Studies have shown that people who are well-trained in mind-body techniques can voluntarily lower their blood pressure and heart rate, alter their brain-wave activity, reduce blood-sugar lev­els, and ease muscle tension. With practice, you, too, can put mind over illness and use stress-reduction techniques to help control your Parkinson’s symptoms.

You can learn more about each approach by checking books out of the local library or contacting a community center or health clinic to inquire whether classes are offered in your area.

Expressing Your Emotions
When diagnosed with PD or any other chronic medical problem, many people feel depressed, stressed, and angry—emotions that can make matters worse by further compromising the immune system. These feelings are to be expected, though you should try to take steps to work through them so that they do not further undermine your health.

Experience has taught me that I can often decide to be happy or decide not to let my Parkinson’s get me down; on those upbeat days, I almost always experience more joy and more humor than on the days when I let the dark cloud follow me through the day. Don’t underestimate the power of learning to laugh at yourself.

Openly discussing the emotional side of illness can help many people resolve their negative feelings. Some people find it helpful to talk things over with a friend or loved one, while others appreciate the assistance of a professional counselor or a support group for people who share a similar medical problem.

Laughter
Laughter produces endorphins, the feel-good hormones, which go a long way toward improving mood and general outlook on life. There is a close relationship between dopamine and endorphins; the more we laugh, the more we produce endorphins, which allow the dopamine we have to work more effectively. It’s okay to laugh, even if you have Parkinson’s; you need to enjoy yourself and have a good time despite this illness.

Find ways to bring joy into your life, whether it’s spending time with your grandchildren, watching funny movies, or just joking around. The more we laugh, the better we feel.

If you have any questions about your diagnosis, be sure to seek a second opinion. A good doctor will respect your desire to learn as much as you can about your condition rather than feeling threatened by your decision to speak with another physician.

Don’t be afraid of telling a doctor, “You’re fired!” You want a doctor who will be your advocate and who will care about you. If you have any reservations about the doctor you’re seeing, it’s time to find another doctor.

You will want to establish a team of caregivers, possibly including:
- A general practitioner, who will address your overall health care
- A neurologist, who will manage your Parkinson’s disease
- A movement-disorders specialist if your neurologist doesn’t have experience in this field
- A physical therapist, who will help you develop an exercise program and find ways of meeting your specific physical challenges
- An expert on complementary or natural medicine, who will be able to recommend nutritional supplements, diet plans, herbs, exercise, and other parts of a balanced health regimen that may not be covered by a traditional physician
- A good pharmacist, one who is willing to answer your questions and knows about possible drug interactions.

With all of your health-care providers—but especially your neurologist—look for someone with experience treating Parkinson’s patients. While we would all prefer to be seen regularly by a seasoned movement-disorders specialist who is familiar with the latest research on PD, that is not always possible.

I have both a local neurologist, whom I see every six weeks or so, and a movement-disorders specialist, whom I see two or three times a year. (It’s a blessing that I don’t need to see the movement-disorders specialist more often since his office is two hours from my home.)

There is an adage in the Parkinson’s community: “When you’ve seen one Parkinson’s patient, you’ve seen one Parkinson’s patient.” That’s because each of us presents a unique combination of symptoms and sensitivities: we respond to medications differently, our symptoms progress at different speeds, we expect different levels of performance from our bodies.

A doctor with experience treating a number of Parkinson’s patients stands a better chance of understanding what you are going through and how he or she can help you. Early in the course of your illness, you should expect to see your neurologist every six to eight weeks. If a neurologist hands you a prescription and says, “See me in four months,” find another neurologist. I still see my neurologist every six weeks, and I have had Parkinson’s for almost seven years; I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Start your search by collecting names of physicians in your area. Ask friends and relatives for suggestions. You might also contact a local or regional Parkinson’s center and ask for a referral. You may want to check the “Physician Select” service at the American Medical Association’s website: www.amaassn.org. This site can give you lists of doctors by specialty who practice in your area.

Another option is the website run by the Administrators in Medicine, a group of state medical board directors, at www.docboard.org/docfinder.html. This site includes physician lists from the American Board of Medical Specialties, state medical and osteopathic boards of directors, and the National Board of Medical Examiners, among others.

Many health insurance plans can provide lists of specialists who participate in your plan. Check your policy to determine whether you will need to restrict your search to doctors on an approved list.

Before choosing a physician, set up an interview or an initial appointment to assess how you feel about the doctor. Because Parkinson’s medications need to be adjusted with some regularity, you will develop an ongoing relationship with your neurologist, so you want to be sure you find someone you like.

Aspirin’s best-known use is as an antiinflammatory, countering inflammations that cause body aches and pains. But recent evidence demonstrates that those little white pills have miraculous disease-preventing qualities, partic­ularly regarding the three most dreaded geriatric diseases: cardiovas­cular disease (heart disease and stroke), cancer, and dementia.

The way aspirin reduces inflammation is by blocking an enzyme our bodies needs to make a group of compounds that promote inflammation and its symptoms. For some time many researchers have felt that chronic, long-term inflammation is an important part of a series of events that leads to many types of cancers.

Therefore, aspirin as well as other antiinflammatory drugs (such as ibuprofen) have been studied in this regard, producing growing evidence that they significantly reduce the incidence of many types of cancer in laboratory animals. More importantly, recent human studies show that people who use aspirin regularly develop significantly less colo­rectal cancer than people who do not.

Currently, a number of large human clinical trials are underway to determine if other human cancers are inhibited by regular use of aspirin.

Aspirin already has a growing mainstream reputation for pre­venting platelet aggregation and clumping in our blood. A whole shelf-full of studies has shown that if people who have suffered one heart attack or stroke are given a small amount of aspirin daily, their risk of a second heart attack or stroke goes down dramatically.

For example, by the late 1980s, twenty-five human trials involving antiplatelet aggregation therapy (using mostly aspirin) had been completed in a total of about 29,000 people who had already had a heart attack or stroke. In 1988, the worldwide Antiplatelet Trialists’ Collabortion (ATC) conducted a statistical overview of all of these twenty-five research trials.

This ATC study found that those people taking aspirin or other anticlotting compounds regularly had a much lower incidence of having a second heart attack or stroke, when compared to those people who had previously had a stroke or heart attack, but were not taking antiplatelet compounds.

Now evidence convincingly shows that using aspirin to prevent a first heart attack is a good idea as well. The U.S. Physicians Health Study involved over 22,000 physicians, half of whom took one aspi­rin tablet every other day, the other half a placebo every other day.

The placebo part of this study was terminated after five years be­cause analysis of the data showed that the doctors taking aspirin were having heart attacks 44 percent less frequently than those phy­sicians who were taking the placebo. They terminated the study so that the doctors taking the placebo could start taking an aspirin every other day themselves. Several large clinical trials looking at aspirin usage and risk of heart disease and stroke are currently under way.

There is also a growing literature that suggests chronic inflam­mation in the brain may play a large role in both the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. For example, it’s been found in several recent studies that people using over-the-counter antiin­flammatory drugs called NSAIDs (non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs—examples are Nuprin, Aleve, Motrin, and Clinoril) and/or aspirin moderately over several years for various aches and pains had a much lower likelihood of acquiring Alzheimer’s disease than people who did not.

The most understood way that free radicals damage cells is through attacks on the DNA, the cell proteins, and the cell mem­branes. Fatty acids and phospholipids are specific fat like com­pounds that all of our cell membranes are composed of to a significant extent, and therefore they are needed in order for the cells to maintain and repair their cell membranes.

That is because cell membranes are not stable entities; instead, they are constantly in a flux of discarding old parts and those damaged by free radicals and replacing them with new parts. Therefore, we need to keep them well supplied with the parts that they need, which include certain phospholipids and fatty acids.

There are other good reasons for maximizing our consumption of certain fatty acids and phospholipids. One reason is because Americans are consuming lots of “abnormal” fatty acids, called transfatty acids, through high intakes of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, such as those in margarine.

Some scientists believe that when our cells go about their daily “upkeep and recycling” of their cell membranes, they may be using these transfatty acids in place of the natural fatty acids and phospholipids. It is not yet known what the long-term effects of this might be, but I personally don’t want to give my cell membranes the wrong raw materials to keep themselves in top shape.

In addition, it has been shown that simply having low intakes of normal fatty acids and phospholipids in our diets is correlated with abnormal neurological function, including depression and de­creased cognitive functions. A phospholipid called phosphatidylcholine (PPC) is very important in maintaining the integrity of the cell membranes of the liver cells that are involved in the daily detoxifi­cation of noxious substances we bring into our body, and fatty acids known as omega-3 fatty acids appear to provide several benefits to our bodies.

Taking PPC is a particularly good idea if you drink alcohol, a major liver toxin. In fact, Dr. Charles Leiber, at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, has shown that baboons consum­ing alcohol along with PPC supplements for several years were sig­nificantly less likely to progress to fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver than those baboons drinking alcohol and not getting PPC.

A large number of human clinical trials, mostly in Europe, have tested PPC for years in people who already had some degree of liver damage, ranging from liver inflammation for various reasons to alcoholic fatty livers. Most of these studies revealed that patients who began taking PPC showed significant improvement in their liver-function tests.

For example, a study at King’s College in Lon­don, England, in 1982, on thirty people with chronic hepatitis-B infection (a viral infection of the liver) found that when half of these people received 2,300 milligrams of PPC daily for one year, along with their standard daily therapy for hepatitis B, they showed sig­nificant improvement in their liver structure (as revealed by biopsy) in comparison to the half who did not receive PPC.

The PPC group also reported a significantly higher feeling of well-being than those people not receiving PPC. It is believed that PPC produces its bene­fits in the liver by stabilizing liver cell membranes, resulting in fewer liver cell enzymes leaking out into plasma, and less lipid peroxida­tion of liver cell membranes.

Dosage
People who have no known liver disease would seem to benefit from 500 to 1,000 milligrams of PPC daily. I found the evidence regarding PPC and a healthy liver so compelling, along with its safety record, I now take 500 milligrams each day.

The intakes of PPC that seem to be most effective in people with existing liver damage range from about 1,000 milligrams to 4,500 milligrams (1.0 grams to 4.5 grams). No adverse effects have been seen at these doses. If you have existing liver disease, get a recent baseline of your liver-function tests from your physician. Start taking 1.5 grams of PPC daily for two months, and repeat your liver-function tests. If there is no significant improvement, take 3.0 grams daily for two months and test again. Do not take more than 4.0 grams daily.

Clinical studies have shown that PPS works by supporting certain brain functions that decline with age, possibly by enhancing neurotransmission by neurons and stabilizing neuronal cell membranes.

Until recently, PPS was available only from animal sources (their brains), and was found in trace amounts in commercial lecithin, but a plant source of PPS has now been found.

Several studies in older humans have shown that PPS can pro­duce significant improvement in a number of cognitive parameters including attention, concentration, short-term memory, and new memory acquisition. In addition, PPS seems to enhance cognitive functions in young people.

One recent experiment used an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brain electrical activity in eight men ages twenty-one to twenty-eight. Baseline EEGs were done, and when PPS was given, it boosted their alpha waves by 15 to 20 percent. Alpha waves are highly indicative of learning/memory activity in the brain; they are often found to be lower in the elderly.

As we have seen, cognitive function and mood are intimately related in people as they age: loss of memory invariably leads to depression; and depression has a pronounced negative effect on all cognitive functions. So it is no surprise that when PPS has been administered to elderly people suffering from depression, their de­pression has improved significantly.

Dosage
The oral dosage of phosphatidylserine (PPS) that has been shown in clinical trials to effectively and safely improve a number of cognitive parameters ranged from 200 to 300 milligrams daily. Most studies used 300 milligrams, given in three, 100-milligram doses through­out the day. PPS is not abundant in the human diet and we can synthesize it to some extent, but the amounts we synthesize do not appear to be sufficient for maximal cognitive functioning. No serious side effects have been reported at the 300-milligram daily dose.

While this may seem logical, it is important to note that only a handful of cancers have been shown to be amenable to cost-effective and validated screening. Inappropriate cancer screening can be harmful, leading to unnecessary invasive (and potentially dangerous) investigations, a false sense of security, or unwarranted anxiety which patient could potentially file claim on medical negligence UK. Cancer screening is still fraught with controversies. It is therefore important that a particular cancer screening program be carried out in the general population only after large studies have clearly confirmed its benefits.

One of the better-accepted cancer screenings is that of breast cancer. It has been shown in large international studies that women aged 50-69 years who regularly undergo breast cancer screening using a combination of clinical breast examination and mammo­graphy (preferably yearly) have a better chance of earlier breast cancer detection, and hence a better survival outcome. Evidence in support of breast cancer screening in women aged 40-49 years and those above the age of 70 years is more controversial.

Prostate cancer seldom occurs in individuals younger than 50 years old. Although a number of screening tests, including Digital Rectal Examination (DRE), Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) and Transrectal Ultrasonography (TRUS), have been shown to be capable of detecting early prostate cancer, the optimal and cost-effective use of these tests as screening tools in the general population has not been fully determined. Until firmer recommendations become available, many physicians and surgeons would combine a regular PSA measurement with a DRE.

Colorectal cancer screening can be carried out by testing for the presence of a minute amount of blood in the stool (faecal occult blood) yearly to two-yearly after the age of 50 years. Studies have also suggested that regular examination of the left side of the large intestine using a flexible sigmoidoscope would reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer-related deaths in individuals over the age of 50 years. Regular thorough examination of the skin by physicians for the presence of early skin cancer is a cheap and safe screening approach.

All these recommendations have not been universally accepted. Studies are under way to determine the absolute benefit of such screening recommendations in the general population.

Having said that, some individuals have risk factors for certain cancers, e.g. those with a family history of breast cancer or colon cancer, or previous personal history of certain cancers. For indi­viduals with a higher risk than the general population of developing specific cancers, a more liberal cancer screening approach may be justified.

This was first described in 1978, when John Dyerberg published a paper demonstrating that the fish that Eskimos consumed were very high in omega-3 fatty acids.

He had begun this study because it was very puzzling that Eskimos had much lower rates of certain types of heart disease than people in the continental United States, despite the fact that their diets consisted almost exclusively of meat and fish.

Since then, several papers have suggested that omega-3 fatty acids decrease heart disease—but the question remains as to just how they do it. Several studies have shown they do it by blocking the synthesis of a special enzyme called thromboxane A2 (TAX). One of the jobs of TAX is to cause the small cells in our blood known as platelets to clump together whenever we cut ourselves.

However, one of the reasons we get heart attacks and strokes is that TAX sometimes causes platelets to clump together when they shouldn’t, and this clump of platelets then goes and clogs up our coronary arteries or an artery in our brain. Omega-3s seem to reduce the risk of this happening.

Other strong evidence that has come out recently shows that omega-3s might decrease heart disease because they seem to prevent the development of what are called “arrhyth­mias” in our heart. Our hearts have a built-in electrical pacemaker, and sometimes it goes awry and sends our heart muscle into electri­cal pandemonium, which can cause sudden death. Omega-3s seem to help prevent this from happening.

Some scientists have questioned the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids in preventing heart disease, but a recent article in the re­spected medical journal Lancet has silenced most of them. This study looked at blood lipid profiles of fish eaters and vegetarians in two African populations, and found that the fish eaters (who were getting lots of omega-3s) fared much better with regard to heart disease than even the vegetarians.

In fact, the multinational team concluded that “… the favorable risk factor profile originally described in Eskimos living on diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids is real and not overestimated.”

The second important thing the omega-3 fatty acids seem to do for us is to stabilize the cell membrane of neurons, and this is believed to help prevent depression. Depression is the most com­monly diagnosed mental disorder in the United States, and it has been increasing in North America in the last 100 years.

Depression occurs mainly because certain neurotransmitters in the brain are released in inadequate amounts into the synapse. Because the part of the neuron’s cell membrane that makes up the synapse is very high in omega-3 fatty acids, it is thought that a lack of these omega-3 fatty acids in the diet will then result in a lack of these fatty acids in these membranes; this in turn causes these synaptic membranes to fail to release their neurotransmitters properly, resulting in de­pression.

In fact, a low consumption of omega-3 fatty acids during infancy or early childhood is believed to increase the chance of getting depression later in life. Rates of depression in North America are much higher than they are in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan, where fish consumption is much higher.

Finally, ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids has been shown in re­cent years to both prevent and slow the growth of some human cancers such as colon, skin, and breast cancer in animals. For exam­ple, it was found that human cancer cells implanted into “nude” mice (mice with essentially no immune system) grew much more slowly in those mice consuming diets high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Also, when nude mice were infected with human breast-cancer cells, those mice consuming higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids had a significantly reduced spread (metastasis) of the cancer to their lymph nodes and lungs.

It is a cofactor within a particular antioxidant enzyme system, the glutathione peroxidase enzyme (GPX) system, which is one of the most important endogenous enzymes our cells have to control oxygen free radicals. GPX needs selenium to do its job—selenium supplements increase its antioxidant activity.

And since the job of GPX is to essentially enhance the ability of the substance glutathione (GSH) to neutralize peroxides before they can be converted into free radicals, you should include GSH, or a GSH precursor along with your selenium.

For some time it has been known that giving selenium supple­ments to animals dramatically reduces the incidence of cancer, but now an impressive number of human clinical trials in more than twenty countries also show a significant decrease in the incidence of cancer in humans taking selenium supplements.

In fact, a large, recent clinical trial in the U.S. using selenium supplements in around 1,300 people for an average of 4.5 years concluded that taking sele­nium supplements clearly reduced the risk of total cancer incidence and mortality in these individuals.

Dosage
How much selenium we have in our bodies at any given time is a function of how much selenium is in our diet (we cannot manufac­ture a mineral), but, of course, the selenium content of foods can vary greatly depending on the selenium content of the soil it was grown in.

The average blood level of selenium in persons in the U.S. is in the range of 1.30 to 1.80 micromoles of selenium per liter of plasma, although measurement of the activity of GPX in the blood is thought to be a better indicator of selenium status than blood-selenium levels.

The average daily intake of selenium in the U.S. that produces this blood level of selenium is between 60 and 160 micrograms per day. The levels of selenium intake that have been found to be safe, and optimize the activity of GPX in humans, range from 125 to 600 micrograms per day.

For normal, healthy people, I recommend 200 micrograms every other day (that’s what I take). However, do not exceed 600 micro­grams per day, as you will approach toxic blood levels.

If you are taking selenium supplements and start to experience muscle twitching, lethargy, hair loss, abdominal cramps, white streaking in your nails, or your nails falling out, you may have selenium poisoning.

Stop taking the supplements, and have your plasma-selenium levels checked by your doctor. Selenium is a very important mineral for Youth enhancement, but you do not want to have too much of it.

You can purchase either organic or inorganic selenium, but or­ganic selenium may be a better choice because animal studies show it inhibits cancer more effectively.

Now biofeedback used in conjunction with techniques such as meditation, progressive relax­ation, and guided imagery, is widely accepted by most of the medi­cal community.

Basically, biofeedback is a setup for “teaching” your body how to control its responses. The “feedback” is information on the how the body is currently responding, which is then fed back to the individual via a simple signal, usually a sound or a flashing light.

So, for example, if your aim is to lower your blood pressure by self-induced relaxation, the feedback device will tell you when your blood pressure starts to drop.

Other kinds of information these devices can gather and feed back include skin temperature, and skin electrical conductivity (gal­vanic skin response, also used in “lie detectors”), with low skin temperatures and electrical conductivity indicative of deepening re­laxation.

Still other indicators of decreased stress responses are a lessening of muscle tension (which can be monitored with an elec-tromyogram), lowered heart rate (measured by monitoring pulse rate), and particular types of brain waves (measured with an electro­encephalogram) that are seen when we are relaxed.

Eventually, a person can learn how to regulate the parameter in question (heart rate, muscle tension, brain waves, and so on) in a stress-reducing direction without the aid of the biofeedback device. Biofeedback has been used successfully to treat several stress-related disorders, including insomnia, migraine headaches, temporomandibular-joint syndrome, and gastrointestinal disorders.

How To Do It
Although you can now buy biofeedback devices in some health food stores and catalogs, I think your best bet is to start this tech­nique with the help of an experienced professional. Such profes­sionals are fairly easy to find; many clinical psychologists are trained in this technique.

To find names and phone numbers of prac­titioners of biofeedback in your state, you may find out more details from Association for Ap­plied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. You can also get information on bio­feedback practitioners from the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America.

Why do our adrenal glands begin to make less and less of the important hormone DHEA over the last forty to fifty years of our life, contributing to a reduction of our libido and producing dysfunc­tion in a number of our physiological systems?

And why do our gonads make less and less testosterone in males and estrogen in females as we age, robbing us of their youth­ enhancing properties? Why does our pineal gland start making less melatonin after age forty or fifty, a hormone that we need to help us stay young? Why does our pituitary gland crank out less and less growth hormone in our later years, resulting in our losing muscle and gaining fat, both leading to general frailty?

And perhaps most importantly, why is it that after sixty or more years of life, something goes haywire in certain neurons in our brain, resulting in Alzheimer’s disease, or Parkinson’s disease?

These are the fundamental questions of aging—the questions whose answers will have the greatest impact on how we extend our youth.

Over the past several years, there have been many basic theories of aging. The Waste Product theory focuses on the fact that cells become less and less able to get rid of their normal wastes as we age, resulting in a surfeit of damaging cellular garbage.

The Mem­brane Hypothesis of Aging concentrates on the damage done to cell membranes over the years that results in the failure of the cell to work properly. And the Theory of Protein Oxidation puts the blame on the proteins inside the cell that become excessively oxidized during aging and eventually kill the cell.

Finally, another theory of aging points the finger at the cumulative damage done to our DNA over the years that results in cellular death.

But these days most scientists agree that most, if not all, of the cell damage described by these various theories of aging have one thing in common: they can all be explained by a lifetime of our cells being exposed to various types of free radicals.

Therefore, the all-encompassing Free Radical Theory of Aging, first put forth by Dr. Denham Harmon in 1956, is now thought to explain almost all the age-related cell damage that occurs in our bodies.

What exactly is a free radical? Well, our bodies are essentially held together by electrical charges—trillions of negatively and posi­tively charged molecules that ultimately form our bones, skin, mus­cle, kidneys, brain, and all the rest of us. Our body wants the total number of negative and positive charges to be equal, because atoms and molecules do not like to have a net charge of any type—they want to be neutral.

Our atoms contain a nucleus with several rings of electrons (negatively charged particles) circling around it, usually in pairs. A free radical is simply an atom or molecule that has one or more unpaired or free electrons in its outermost ring. These free electrons make the molecule unstable, meaning that it wants to either give up its free electron to another molecule or take on other electrons which will then pair up with the free electrons; either way it will give the unstable molecule a neutral charge and stabilize it.

The reason these free radicals are dangerous is that when they react with surrounding stable molecules by giving or taking an electron from them, they make these molecules unstable and very often damage them. There are several types of free radicals that our bodies can generate, but there is one type in particular that appears to account for much of the damage to our cells over the years—the oxygen free radical.

If you are going to make sure that you stay healthy and your baby develops properly during pregnancy then you need to make sure that you take a pregnancy vitamin no matter what age you are.

If you are over the age of forty then you need to make sure that you take certain vitamins because woman at certain ages need more of certain vitamins.

When you are pregnant and over a certain age there are many things that you need to think about. The first should be what pregnancy vitamin you should take.

If you can, make sure that you take a good vitamin that gives you what you need, then you can ensure that the baby gets everything that they need, while also making sure that you get what you need as well.

It’s best to ask your doctor to run some tests to see if there are any nutrients or vitamins that your body is low on so that you can take the pregnancy vitamins that are needed to increase these levels.

Things that your doctor needs to make sure that they check are things such as folic acid, iron, calcium, DHA, Alpha lipoic acid, zinc, and vitamin B6. This list might seem a bit long but pregnant woman need many things that other people need but not quite as high in doses.

Its’ a good idea for you to make sure that you are careful when you take your pregnancy vitamin so that you can make sure that you get whatever you need and your baby is healthy.

These vitamins all serve a different purpose such as the development of the nervous system, bones, brain, and other functions to make sure that the baby is healthy during the pregnancy and after they are born.

Some of these can also make sure that there is a greater chance that the pregnancy will go full term and there will not be a miscarriage or early birth. Taking a pregnancy vitamin is very important and something that should be talked over with your doctor before you do it.

Talking with your doctor will help to make sure that you don’t end up with any overdose or problems during or after the pregnancy.

You doctor might have a thought as to what is a good idea for you to take and exactly what you need to do to make sure that you get all of the nutrients that you need. The health of the baby and mother are both very important and to make sure that this is done a doctor must be involved.

That’s why it’s a good idea for you to make sure that you do whatever you can to naturally help you conceive faster. That being the case there are actually some pregnancy vitamins that can help you to conceive and make sure that you are safe and healthy doing it.

This is a good option if you don’t want to go with the medical route to conceive but you can also use these in addition to the medical route as long as you ask your doctor first.

There are many different vitamins that can be taken to help speed up the process of getting pregnant, for instance one such pregnancy vitamin that is usually recommended is vitamin B12.

This is a good one to take because it helps to increase your fertility, because if you have a lack of this vitamin then it can lead to infertility or even miscarriages. There are other things such as infertility in your partner that this can help as well. If you suspect that your husband is infertile this can actually help him as well.

You should also try to take vitamin d as well, this pregnancy vitamin is a good way to help you if you are having problem with your ovulation. You will need to make sure that you take a supplement to get this vitamin as you can’t get it from the food that you eat.

The amount of vitamin d that you need to speed up the process of pregnancy is so much that it’s impossible to get it from standing under the sun or eating so supplement much be used.

Iron is also a great way to boost your fertility. After each of your menstrual cycles you will have very little iron left in your body. This is what is needed to help to ovulate again, if you don’t have enough iron then you might miss your next ovulation and therefore you won’t be able to get pregnant.

Iron is one vitamin that you need to make sure that you are careful about taking a pregnancy vitamin for. The reason is that if you get too much iron you could end up causing problems and making yourself sick.

That’s why it’s a good idea to make sure that you consult your doctor before you do anything like start taking a vitamin on a regular basis. Plus asking a doctor what you should take can help you to make sure that you are taking the proper pregnancy vitamin.

The reason is that most of the time people can get what they need from the foods that they eat, if they make sure that they eat well and are careful, however when a woman is pregnant they need more than the normal amounts since they are also the source of vitamins for the baby.

The strange thing that many women that are taking pregnancy vitamins seem to notice is that while they are taking these they are noticing that their hair seems to be growing thicker, whether this is something that is true or not has been proven since there have been no tests that have been run on this yet.

The belief is that since pregnancy vitamins differ a bit in what is in them, they are more able to achieve certain things and the mix of some of the vitamins and nutrients with the body of a pregnancy woman then it’s not impossible for certain things to happen.

There are reasons that could be proven as to why pregnancy vitamins would help with hair growth, the main reason is folic acid. This is one of the main things that help our hair to grow and make sure that it’s think and strong.

It helps to increase the cells and make new ones that are fresh to replace the old ones. It’s in many of the pregnancy vitamins that we use; because it can help to prevent birth defects and problems, but for many people that are not pregnant it’s taken as a supplement to prevent hair loss.

There is no proof that this is the case, and it could just be that many women don’t see certain side effects that happen during pregnancy.

For instance many women actually have some hair loss during and after pregnancy simply because of the hormonal changes that are going on throughout the body.

These women that think that they vitamins are helping with hair growth could just be experiencing the opposite effect or just not having a problem with hair loss and are taking it to mean that the vitamins are the reason. That’s not to say that there is not a possibility that a pregnancy vitamins couldn’t be the reason, but there is no long standing proof or tests to say either way.

Well you know that you need to take your pregnancy vitamin but the thought of doing this just almost makes you sick just thinking about it.

This might not just be the fact that you are pregnant or what you eat that makes you sick, it might very well the vitamin that you are taking, so what to do now.

Pregnancy vitamins are very important and something that a pregnant woman needs to take to stay healthy and make sure that their baby develops the way that they should.

But because of what a pregnant woman needs, pregnancy vitamins contain a large amount of iron and folic acid, both of which have the ability to make you sick. So if you put that with the fact that you stomach and body are going through changes then there is a much better change that you could get sick to your stomach.

If you find that your pregnancy vitamin is making you sick there are a few things that you can do to make sure that it doesn’t upset your stomach and make you sick. Since you now have a better idea as to how and why the vitamins make you sick then you will have a better chance of stopping it.

Make sure that you take your pregnancy vitamin with some food, usually at a mealtime is going to be best. It’s best to make sure that you take them with something that has a great deal of protein in it, such as eggs. Its’ also a good idea to drink a full glass of water after you take the pill to help it stay down better.

The last thing that you want to do is take a pregnancy vitamin on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, as this is the time that your stomach is going to be the most sensitive.

If you can’t find any way to keep the pregnancy vitamin down during the morning time then try to take it at night, that way you might be able to go to sleep and when you wake up to won’t feel sick.

Try taking it with some crackers or a bowl of cereal and cheese to help calm the stomach and get some sleep. If you can’t seem to find any way to keep it down then you might do well to ask your doctor if there is something that you can do or if should try to take a different pregnancy vitamin.

The large amounts of bad fats, proteins, salt and sugar that these fast foods contain produce damages beyond the possibility of retrieve. The new generation of children is tempted all the time by the nice colorful sweets and fast food abundant in over burned oil, proteins cooked in over heated environments and bad sources of sugar.

These ingredients aside from the highly damaging effect on the children’s weight, cause serious diseases, like fat liver. An obese child is the first indication to concern the parents to get him for a hepatic control.

Fat Liver Is the Common Disease Among Children
Taken the example of the American Liver Association, more and more across the world doctors that specializes in liver diseases conduct studies to find out more about fat liver diseases in children.

More over there are educational programs meant to teach both the parents and the children about the benefits of healthy food and the serious damaging effects of fast food. Concordant with these studies more than half of the young generation from America, Europe and Australia are obese and they suffer of fat liver disease. Moreover, the same studies show that these patients will need liver transplant past the age of 30 years.

Detection of Fat Liver Disease
As we already stated, the medical studies conducted by doctors from America, Europe and Australia have determined that a percentage of 1to 5 from the children population under five years old are over weighted or even obese.

Further more, some researcher state that more than half of the over weighted and obese teenagers suffer from the fat liver disease. Studies couldn’t be more concluding since the only way to determine for sure that the patients that suffer from fat liver disease is the biopsy. In exceptional cases the children that have a normal weight, get to suffer from fat liver disease.

Prevention of Obesity in Order to Discard Fat Liver Disease
Fat liver disease is one of the most serious diseases that affect the children from very small ages. If detected on time, with proper medication and strict diet the adult that suffered from fat liver could avoid the liver transplant. If not the future of a child that suffers from undetected fat liver could end up with liver cancer, plus various serious disorders due to malfunctioning of the liver.

The main indicator that a child could have fat liver disease or there a several malfunctions in the liver’s activities that could conduct to fat liver, is that the child is over weighted or even obese. It is the parents’ responsibility to prevent obesity for their children, this way avoiding a greater bad, which is fat liver disease.

We all know that even in the case of small children to teach them to consume healthy aliments and not to eat those damaging fast foods is a very difficult task.

Yet, if parents would put more efforts in teaching their children right from the start to consume natural healthy food, then the task of getting them off the fast food diet wouldn’t be so impossible.

Good diet habits are better learned at home. So leading a healthy life as parents, will mean having a healthy child in the future.

Fatty liver-a world wide epidemic
Fatty liver disease is caused by weight gain, obesity and alcohol abuse. It can occur in the case of certain drugs (like corticosteroids), tuberculosis and a side effect of diabetes disease.

Just like in the case of most liver diseases the most common causes are obesity and alcohol abuse. The statistics show that world wide the numbers of obese persons associated with the ones that are alcohol addicts determine at least fatty liver patients. The patients that suffer from fatty liver are close to be as many as those that suffer from chronic heart diseases and diabetes.

Symptoms To Led You Know About Fatty Liver
More than a third of the American population suffers from fatty liver and doesn’t even know it. The symptoms of fatty liver disease are pretty “quiet”. One can suffer from fatty liver and could go on living without a notice about it. The fat accumulates in the inner walls of the liver determining this way the pathology of fatty liver disease.

In time this fat will cause that the liver losses its efficiency and potency. The symptoms of fatty liver are so mild than most of us do go to the doctor for them. Commonly, this disease causes headaches, nauseas, weakness, fatigue, dry mouth, coated tongue, mental confusion, abdominal pain, swellings of ankles and feet, even bad odor.

Fatty liver can affect both women and men, both thin and obese, but dramatic loss of weight can happen as result.

Systematic Sport and Green Diets As Fatty Liver Cure
The most important thing to do when suffering from fatty liver disease is to stop the factors that contribute to the liver’s destruction.

To sum up, fatty liver patients need to cut off all kind of drugs, if they still need to follow some treatment they should choose the alternative drugs, the homeopathic treatment. More over, any coffee, alcohol and cigarettes abuse has to completely stop. For the most patients the change of diet is mandatory.

They should go for a more green type of aliments, like vegetables and fruits. Most treatments for fatty liver disease focus on proper diet in order to achieve weight loss, but new studies have shown that systematic exercise can be the key for treatment even without weight loss.

Exercises of only 150 minutes per week would mean the world for improvement of general state of health for fatty liver patients. Other studies shown that over three month period of controlled diet and one to two hours of daily exercise have brought important improvements for fatty liver teenager patients.

Beneficial Products Of The Liver
The liver fulfills many functions for the human organism, since is one of the biggest internal organs. Parts of the liver’s functions are tided to the energetic metabolism, playing a key role in transforming the nutrients in energetic sources.

The hepatic diseases, like Hepatitis and Cirrhosis have a dramatic damaging effect on the liver’s correct functioning and could have repercussions on the general state of health; the body misses out on several essential nutrients. At the same time, the liver delivers an important detoxification function for the entire body, plus hormonal balancing and production.

Hepatic-protective Diet For Improvement of Liver’s Functions
By following a fitted eating diet the patients with liver diseases could avoid several additional nutritional unbalances. A part from that, the proper diet can provide the patient large nourishment principals. Each patient that suffers from a liver disease should follow a hepatic-protective diet set by his doctor and or his nutritionist. This diet is to be composed based on the patient’s own pathology.

Even the persons that don’t have installed yet a liver disease, but still show some incipient hepatic pathology are advised by their doctors to change their nourishment habits in order to avoid overcharging the liver’s functions.

Plus by making this change, the persons will manage to protect and prevent further liver’s disturbances. A hepatic-protective diet is based mostly on carbohydrates and minimum if possible absent amounts of proteins, lipids and fats.

Carbohydrates as Energetic Sources in Hepatic-protective Diets
The carbohydrates should represent the main caloric source for persons with liver diseases. The grape sugar represents a true tonic for the liver, since it is the main source to produce and release in the organism of glycogen. When the body needs an additional energetic fuel, the glycogen instantly transforms back into grape sugar.

Along with the depositing of glycogen function, the liver plays an important role for controlling and balancing the sugar’s level from the blood. Variations of sugar grape’s level in the blood are frequent in liver diseases.

In consequence the patients with hepatic disorders have to maintain the strict control of the carbohydrates’ level. Highly indicated would be to consume a certain amount of carbohydrates’ based food at every meal.

Side Effects Of Hepatic-protective Diets
The liver is involved in the metabolism of all nutriments, this way resulting the energy necessary for all the others internal functions.

Due to the central role of the liver in the general metabolism, forced by hepatic disorders, could engage dramatic weight loss, lack of appetite, deficiencies of vitamins deposits or of certain amino acids (due to the absence of proteins). Yet in case that the patient continues to have a diet full of proteins, fats, alcohol liver diseases will only get worse.

In such a situation it is least expected that behavioral traits which are abnormal, like too much of anger, nervousness and irritation are considered as the initial symptoms of an impending cause of mental illness.

The problem with a large number of people is that they are financially and commercially in a healthy situation, but when it comes to their mental health they have a lot to be desired. It has been researched and found out that a lot many people suffer from what is known as silent depression which is the natural outcome of a stress filled and monotonous life style where making money in the only goal in a person’s life.

It has to be considered that while some bit of anger and nervousness is expected even from normal human beings, too much of it could be considered as the first signs of mental illness. So ignoring cold-shouldering radical changes in behavioral changes is dangerous to say the least.

Some Common Mental Symptoms of Mental Health Problems
Although symptoms of and reactions of mental health problems are varied and could be different for different persons some common changes which are unusual could be pointers towards mental imbalances. These changes should be taken seriously and the person should be taken to a psychiatrist as early as possible so as to avoid complications in the future.

Some of the common mental symptoms could be the person’s inability to cope up with daily work and a sense of general disinterest in life and lethargy.

Apart from these there are other symptoms which point to a deterioration of a person’s mental health and this could include changed eating habits like disinterest in food or in some cases unnatural craving for food etc. There are other symptoms too which should be carefully observed such as lack of sleep and staying awake in the night.

Physical Symptoms of Mental Health
When it comes to physical health there are some classic symptoms which could be a reflection towards the person’s deterioration of mental health. These symptoms could be many such as medically unexplained pains and aches in the body, loss of mental concentration and difficulty in following daily routine, too much tiredness, lack in sex life, unexplained weight loss, etc.

Apart from these there are also a number of other symptoms associated with the body such as eating too much and that too at unearthly hours, etc.

How to Overcome Mental Health  Problems?
The best way to overcome problems related to mental health would be take the person to a good mind doctor or psychiatrist and have him or her thoroughly examined.

Additionally, one more thing that as a family member we should remember, is to treat patients with mental health problems with respect and love. Physical or verbal abuse is the last thing that should be indulged in.

Unfortunately, mental problems lead to a lot of other side-effects which are both psychological and physiological and are the cause of a number of deaths throughout the world. The worst part is that not many persons, especially those who are not literate and belonging to the lower strata of society, are aware that they have a problem with regard to the mental health.

Hence they suffer throughout their life in silence and when the problem becomes unbearable, the commit suicide or slip into a stage called chronic depression. Hence, a good and normal state of mind is as important as having a good physical health.

How to Remain Mentally Healthy?
Though a lot has been said and written about the need to have a stable and good mental balance, in today’s world of stress and strain it takes more than mere lip service to walk the talk. The concept of relationships is changing very fast and everything is becoming very materialistic and self-centric.

In such a situation if a person is under severe mental duress he or she has very little options considering the fact that relationships are moving to a more practical platform.

Hence it is best to follow some common things which would go a long way in ensuring good mental health. A few of them are being discussed here briefly. Eating healthy and nutritious food is one the simplest yet effective methods of avoiding mental stress and becoming mentally sick.

In conjunction with today’s modern life many of us have developed the habit of eating fast foods at least a few times during the week apart from gulping down liters of aerated soft drinks under the pretext of being too busy to eat home-cooked food. This habit is a sure short recipe for a number of ailments including problems related to mental health.

Another mistake which all of us make is that we don’t drink the required amount of water everyday. Water is a very naturally and effective way of cleansing toxins and helping rid the body of impurities.

Once this is done regularly, it is bound to stimulate the brain and help a lot in maintenance of normal mental equilibrium and mental health. Drinking 8 glasses of water is very essentially for a normal persona while for people with active habits need to drink much more of it.

Say No to Alcohol and Smoking
One of the most notorious causes of mental health is without doubt the unbridled use of alcohol, smoking and drugs. These are slow poison and apart from damaging the physical health of a person they go a long way in spoiling the mental health too.

Hence, it is better to keep off these vices if we are serious about being mentally normal and fit.

Though it is very difficult to define mental health in the strictest sense of the term, one way of looking at mental health is to look at attitude of a person towards his life.

Hence, the health of a person’s mind or the lack of it would depend to a large extent on various factors such as his environment, his upbringing, his genetic makeup and a lot of such vital points and considerations.

In fact, there are thousands of people over the world are suffering from various degrees of mental ill health and the unfortunate part is that not many of them know that they are suffering from such a condition.

They continue to merely exist and they are not only to themselves but also to the outside world. Hence, incomplete mental health is indeed a serious problem around the world.

What does Lack of Mental Health Do to A Person?

A person who is not in the full state or normal state of mental health prevents him from performing a number of his daily routine tasks.

The person is not able to continue and develop healthy and friendly relationships with his peers and other group members of society and when it comes to controlling anger and stress, he finds himself at a loss and is not able to control his emotions as normal persons would be able to do.

It would be best to summarize an abnormal person of mental health as someone who has very violent swings of mood, thought processes which are extremely irrational and destructive at times and behavioral patterns which could be described as highly unnatural and unpredictable.

Why Is Mental Health So Important?

So what if a person is short-tempered? What is wrong if he suffers from violent mood swings? These are some of the questions that might encounter us when we try and understand the importance of mental health. The reason why mental soundness is so important is too broad a subject to be described in a few lines.

However, there are certain basic traits and qualities by which a normal human being in a normal state of mental health is recognized and the lack of such traits might make the person unwanted in society. Not only that, he becomes an object of ridicule and is shunned and made fun of by society at large.

The first thing that a person with unbalanced mental health does is to destroy the person’s self image in the eyes of his friends, relatives and even his kith and kin. Education is the backbone of a person’s complete development and this important tool of development of a person gets disturbed if he is not of sound mental equilibrium.

Apart from the above, there are also important aspects of a person’s life which get totally affected if a person is not of normal mental health. These include his sleep habits, his eating habits, his general physical health and most important his relationships with people.

Today we are living in a word of people and relationships is important which gets totally damaged a person with unsound mind.

Diabetes mellitus happens to be associated with sugar levels in our blood. In particular, the condition comes about because of high sugar levels in our blood. High sugar levels may be because our body cells fail to respond to insulin produced within or when our bodies fail to produce the necessary insulin. With high blood sugar, we are bound to experience increased incidents of urination, hunger and increased thirst.

Types of diabetes mellitus

Although there are various types of diabetes mellitus, three are the most recognized. Type 1 diabetes is associated with the body’s failure to produce its own insulin, necessitating the need for one to undertake insulin injection to regulate blood sugar level. Type 2 diabetes occurs when body cells fail to utilize the insulin produced by the body. Lastly, gestational diabetes that occurs in pregnant women comes about because of increased sugar levels during pregnancy. This can happen to any pregnant woman who has never suffered from diabetes before.

If not managed effectively, gestational diabetes can lead to type 2 diabetes. This happens to be part of the reason for the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. While the onset of type 1 diabetes can be sudden and at any age, type 2 diabetes builds up gradually and its occurrence happens to be mostly in adults.

Diabetes mellitus symptoms

Although the three types of diabetes present same symptoms, manifestation of the symptoms vary depending on the type of condition. Type 1 diabetes can take up to months to present symptoms while type 1 diabetes may or may not present any symptoms at all. Generally, though, the common symptoms include frequent urination, hunger and increased thirst.

Causes of diabetes mellitus

The causes of diabetes mellitus vary and largely depend on type of the condition. Type 1 diabetes happens to be inherited and its occurrence happens to be triggered by environmental factors. While type 2 diabetes can also be inherited, it can come about because of general lifestyle.

Treating and managing diabetes mellitus

Both type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus are chronic conditions that do not have any cure. The medications and other therapies available are meant for effective management of blood sugar levels. Medication treatment involves the use of insulin, which converts sugars to glycogen. While the use of insulin is primarily on type 1 diabetes, type 2 can effectively be managed by use of oral medications with occasional use of insulin.

Patient education ranks highly in assisting diabetes mellitus patients understand their condition to effectively undertake management practices. Apart from lifestyle change, other safe management practices include regular exercises and suitable diet. With proper education on the occurrence, causes, prevention and management therapies of diabetes mellitus, patients can effectively manage their condition and live healthy lives.

Identifying the most suitable treatment option happens to be the best way of treating the condition because treatment depends on the type of diabetes, age and other factors. You are likely to receive personalized treatment because treatment suitable for you may not be suitable for another patient.

Dietary and exercise treatment

Suitable diet plays an important role in the treatment of diabetes mellitus condition. Although no diabetic diet exists, what you eat affects your condition. The suitable diet should be rich in fiber and low in sugar and fat. While eating diet rich in sugar directly increases your blood sugar, too much fat impacts negatively on your body cells, making them less responsive to any diabetic medications you may be taking or using. By exercising, you not only keep yourself physically fit and burn excess fats but lower your blood sugar levels.

Medication treatment

Of all diabetic drugs available, insulin plays central role. Insulin removes sugar from the blood, resulting in low sugar levels. Administered through injection, insulin regulates blood sugar by encouraging the body to remove unnecessary sugar from the blood.

Apart from insulin, other oral anti-diabetic drugs are also available. While patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus will find insulin useful, those with type 2 will find oral medications appropriate. This comes about because insulin works well in patients whose pancreases do not produce any insulin at all. The oral mediations are meant to raise the amount of insulin naturally produced by pancreas.

Lifestyle treatment

By changing your otherwise dangerous lifestyle that encourages the increase of blood sugar, you can effectively manage your diabetes mellitus condition. Using illegal drugs, smoking, excess consumption of alcohol and use of some prescription medications inject into the body dangerous chemicals, which impair the normal functioning of the pancreas and other body organs. By changing your dangerous lifestyle, you can easily reverse some of diabetes mellitus damages. Change in lifestyle may not be complete without paying attention to the kind of food that you eat.

Alternative medicine treatment

Various alternative medicinal substances are available that you can use in treating your diabetes mellitus condition. These are mostly herbs with powerful antioxidants capable of lowering your blood sugar levels.

Transplantation treatment

Diabetes mellitus affects the kidneys, making it necessary for kidney transplant. Kidney transplantation can be undertaken alongside pancreas transplantation to increase the condition’s treatment chances.

While on any of these treatment options, you constantly need to monitor your blood sugar to be in control of the condition. By monitoring your blood sugar, you will be able to point out what causes increase or decrease of your blood sugar and act accordingly.

Diabetes mellitus occurrence

The human body is dependent on the insulin produced in the pancreas for the conversion of sugar in the bloodstream into glycogen, which gets stored for gradual use by body cells. For unknown reasons, the natural insulin production process collapses, resulting in lack of insulin within the bloodstream. This results in high levels of sugar in the blood stream, which in turn leads to the occurrence of diabetes mellitus condition.

Some of the factors that are thought to contribute to the collapse of smooth production of insulin in the pancreas include virus and bacterial infection of the organ, chemical toxins in foods and factors that lead to autoimmune reaction.

Misplaced beliefs

Most diabetes mellitus patients lacking proper education on the occurrence of the condition hold that the condition occurs because of eating sugary products like sweets and candies. This belief is misplaced. Sugary products can only cause the condition if their consumption leads to obesity, which increases chances of one developing the condition.

Medication causes

Certain medications have been identified to contribute to the occurrence of diabetes mellitus. In particular, steroid drugs have been noted to not only interfere with smooth production of insulin but also lead to other serious health complication. Steroids should only be used on prescription and in indicated dosage.

Lifestyle causes

Lifestyle contributes heavily to type 2 diabetes that mostly occurs in adults. The use of illegal drugs like cocaine, consumption of foods that contain additives and preservatives and smoking injects into the body dangerous chemical substances that interferes with the body’s internal processes, including the smooth production of insulin in the pancreas. A lifestyle that can be considered dangerous can easily lead to the occurrence of diabetes condition.

Risk factors

Apart from medication and lifestyle causes of diabetes mellitus, there are risk factors that can lead to the occurrence of the condition. Obesity, advanced age and lack of physical activity are risk factors that contribute to the occurrence of the condition. By undertaking all measures that minimize chances of obesity, one can easily keep diabetes mellitus at bay.

Diabetes mellitus management

Even with the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes, the condition can be self-manage. Diabetic patients need to watch their diet by ensuring that they consume healthy foods that aid in the control of blood sugar. Proper management can also be achieved by undertaking safe lifestyle.

Exercising happens to be one of the best management practices that diabetic patients can undertake. Undertaking regular exercises burns excess fats deposited in body tissues that can cause obesity, which is a risk factor in the occurrence of diabetes mellitus. With proper management techniques, diabetic patients can effectively manage their conditions and continue living normal lives.