alternative medicine

Ear Noise Treatment – Ear Problems Signal Hearing

dani — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:00:04 +0000

Ear Noise Treatment – The water, the sun, plenty of swimming and splashing around are the ingredients for a perfect summer day spent by the pool or at the beach. Add a painful ear infection to the picture, that’s what can happen to you if swimmer’s ear strikes. Swimmer’s ear is an infection of the outer ear canal caused sometimes by fungus but most commonly by bacteria. The frequent, prolonged exposure to water that occurs when someone swims regularly can wash away the oily, waxy substance that normally lines and protects the ear canal. In addition, even after the swimmer leaves the pool or pond, water can remain in the ear canal, creating a warm, moist environment that’s perfect for breeding bacteria. Despite the name, however, these external ear infections don’t just occur in swimmers or in the summertime. Water can enter and pool in the outer ear canal after showers, too.

Ear Noise Treatment – In the age of iPods, headsets, and rock and roll music, we’ve all experienced the discomfort ringing sensation or the sudden sensation of the room spinning, after standing up too quickly. When the ear is exposed to loud noises, the electrical signals that penetrate the ear may over excite the cochlea. The abnormal activity of the cochlea may cause damage to the nerve endings that carries the signal to the brain which may result to hearing damage such as tinnitus, which can be a temporary or a permanent condition that you have to live for life.

Our ears are made of tiny bones, passages and structures that not only control our hearing, but also our sense of balance and equilibrium. This delicate, intricate system can be thrown out of whack by many things: a cold, an infection, medication or an injury.

The three parts of the ear – outer, middle and inner ear – are all used in hearing. The outer and middle ear conduct sound waves, while the inner ear creates and sends the nerve impulses to the brain, where they are recognized as sounds. The inner ear also controls balance, which is why disorders of this part of the ear are particularly troublesome and can impact quality of life.

A common problem that affects more than 50 million Americans is tinnitus. With tinnitus, an abnormal ear noise such as roaring or ringing is heard in the ear. The noise has nothing to do with actual sound waves in the ear, but rather, is a “phantom” sound that’s heard either intermittently or all the time. It can develop in the outer, middle or inner ear, and it can affect hearing and balance too.

Tinnitus is challenging to diagnose and treat. It can be caused by many things, and is generally a symptom of an underlying condition like damage to the inner ear by illness, injury or abnormal tissue growth.

Tinnitus can occur in one or both ears. The phantom sound can be constant or occur in episodes, and can be accompanied by vertigo, a spinning sensation or loss of balance. The condition can be caused by excess fluid, infection, disease of the middle ear bones or ear drum, advancing age, loud noise exposure, or medication.

There are more than 200 medications – over-the-counter and prescription drugs – known to cause balance disorders. Sometimes, discontinuing the medication will reverse hearing and balance problems, but permanent damage is possible.

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, tinnitus can be brought on by a variety of conditions, including impacted wax in the outer ear, an ear infection, middle ear tumors, vascular problems (circulation disorders), noise-induced hearing loss, heart problems, TMJ (chronic inflammation of the jaw), auditory nerve tumors, epilepsy, or Meniere’s disease, a disorder of the inner ear in which inner ear fluid is not properly regulated.

Unfortunately, for many tinnitus cases, there is no known cause or cure. Often, tinnitus goes away on its own, but if it persists untreated it can cause permanent ear noise and disability. Balance issues, an associated symptom, are difficult to manage. While the human body can learn to adapt to reduced balance control, it’s important to see a doctor, because compromised balance can lead to other problems, particularly in seniors who are prone to falls and injuries.

The first step in treating tinnitus is a medical evaluation by your doctor, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist, or an audiologist, if hearing loss is suspected. Other diagnostic tests may include an MRI or CT scan to rule out the small possibility of a tumor on the balance or hearing nerve. Your doctor can locate the cause and recommend medical or surgical treatment, or suggest methods to alleviate tinnitus symptoms, if no identifiable cause can be found.

Ear Noise Treatment – Tinnitus can also be treated with medication and lifestyle changes. Some specialists suggest niacin to reduce tinnitus. Others suggest limiting salt intake, protecting the ears with earplugs in loud environments, avoiding stimulants like caffeine and nicotine, and regular exercise. Biofeedback, hypnosis, electrical stimulation, and relaxation therapy have also proven beneficial for some tinnitus patients.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Stephen Tai is a member of the otolaryngology medical staff in the department of surgery at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center. He is a graduate of Jefferson Medical College. Tai’s surgical internship and otolaryngology residency programs were completed at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.

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Why Are My Ears Ringing – Tinnitus Cause And Treatment

dani — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:00:04 +0000

Why Are My Ears Ringing – People with tinnitus hear an abnormal noise (or noises): ringing, buzzing, whistling, roaring, or humming noises, machine type noises, etc. The sound comes from inside their ears so nobody else can hear it. Sometimes the noise pulsates at the same rate as your pulse. Tinnitus can be either constant or ‘come and go’. It can vary in loudness and character from time to time. You may be hearing the noise or noises in in one or both of your ears, in your head or it may be difficult to pinpoint where the noise seems to come from. The noise is often more prominent when you are in a quiet place. For example, when you are in bed and trying to get to sleep. Some people with tinnitus are also more sensitive to normal everyday sounds. For example, some people with tinnitus find that a radio or TV is painfully loud when it is at a normal volume for most people.

Why Are My Ears Ringing – Most tinnitus comes from damage to the microscopic endings of the hearing nerve in the inner ear. The health of these nerve endings is important for acute hearing, and injury to them brings on hearing loss and often tinnitus. During the day, the distraction of activities and the sounds around you make your tinnitus less obvious. When your surroundings are quiet, your tinnitus may seem louder and more constant. Otosclerosis is another condition that can bring on Tinnitus. This condition is a bony growth around one of the bones of the middle ear.

Tinnitus is a common problem and can occur at any age of about 10% of population i.e. almost 10 out 100 people feel buzzing sounds in the ear that can be very disturbing. Most people have an occasional episode of tinnitus after going to a load concert or disco. For most people, this is temporary and soon goes. Tinnitus can be very distressing but it’s not dangerous and there’s usually nothing wrong with the ear itself. As many as 1 in 6 people have persistent tinnitus that is mild and not very troublesome. However, about 1 in 100 people have tinnitus which persists most of the time, and severely affects their quality of life.

Why Are My Ears Ringing - Many people who are suffering from tinnitus may be also suffering from another illness that has actually caused the symptoms of tinnitus. While there is no known cure for tinnitus, some of its symptoms can be relieved by getting to the root causes of another problem that may have tinnitus as side effect.

What causes ringing in the ears (Tinnitus)?

There are different factors that can cause or contribute to tinnitus. The aging process causes the human body to breakdown in many ways and the ear isn’t exempt. Deterioration of auditory cells due to aging can cause tinnitus. For those aging adults who are suffering from hearing loss and tinnitus as an unwanted side effect due to getting older, a hearing aid may help. By increasing the sounds around you, the noises you hear from tinnitus may be drowned out. Talk to your doctor about ways to live with tinnitus caused by the aging process.

Researchers belief if you have been around loud noises like machinery or even loud music, especially if you are exposed for a long or repeated time, you may begin to suffer the symptoms of tinnitus. Loud noises like fireworks and gunshots can cause a temporary onset of tinnitus while overexposure can cause permanent tinnitus. If you work in a place where loud noises are unavoidable, make sure to wear earplugs or other ear protection.

Different types of medical conditions can cause tinnitus. One of the leading causes is high blood pressure. An inner infection that causes the build of fluids in the inner ear will cause tinnitus. You may also experience the symptoms of tinnitus due to a build-up of wax in your ears. Visit your healthcare provider if you are hearing noises in your head that no one else can. Getting to the bottom of an underlying medical condition could save you from more than just the aggravation of tinnitus. In very rare cases, an aneurysm or tumor could be that underlying cause of tinnitus.

One disease that causes tinnitus is Meniere’s Disease which causes a disruption in the flow of the inner ear fluids. Most of the time, only one ear is affected but it is possible to have it in both ears. Tinnitus is a side effect of this disease that normally strikes both men and women between the ages of 20 to 50. He ringing or buzzing in the ears usually starts in Meniere’s Disease at the onset of vertigo, a dizziness also associated with the disease.

The medicines you take could be the reason you are experiencing tinnitus. Over 200 different medications are known to have tinnitus as a side effect. Consult your doctor if you begin to experience any foreign noises in your ears that can’t be heard by others around you.

You must know of the fact that complete medical cure is not yet available for tinnitus. You may hear of various tinnitus treatments but they do not totally eliminate the problem but only minimize the symptoms. As tinnitus can sometimes cause anxiety and depression, medication such as antidepressants may sometimes be prescribed in combination with other types of treatment, such as counseling. This explains why a good number of individuals with tinnitus are in active search of other probable approaches apart from medical drugs to treat their condition.

Some people can manage their tinnitus using a number of self-help techniques which include:

Relaxation – stress can make your tinnitus worse so regular exercise, such as yoga, may help you relax.

Listening to music – calming music and sounds may also help you relax and fall asleep at bedtime.

Taking care of your health can alleviate the causes of tinnitus in many cases. Eat a regular and nutritious diet, get enough rest, and avoid putting yourself under too much stress. All of these things can bring on other problems that carry tinnitus as a side effect. Dealing with tinnitus can be stressful enough to cause another health issue to be worse. The best way to avoid all these kinds of problems with your health is to take care of yourself. The results of being inattentive to your body and its physical state could end up putting you at risk for having to deal with tinnitus on a daily basis. Understanding the causes of tinnitus can help you on the journey to a cure and finally living tinnitus-free. You would be happy to know that there are a few wonderful alternative tinnitus remedies that have worked very well for many sufferers like you. There’s no reason why they can’t work for you.

Consider These Alternative Tinnitus Remedies

Herbal treatments – These treatments are developed from herbs.. For thousands of years, in ancient India, China and in other countries, herbal remedies have cured a lot of people from all kinds of diseases. We can’t really ignore that. Herbal remedies also usually do not cause any side effects. Even modern medicine is now agreeing that several herbs have curative values and have a large role to play.

The ginkgo biloba herb can be extremely effective in treating tinnitus. It can enhance blood circulation and treat vertigo – both these conditions have been linked to tinnitus. Ginkgo biloba can also calm your senses and ease the symptoms. On the negative side however, herbal remedies might not be as effective for everyone.

Essential oils – Sometimes essential oils too work very well. Some people have got very good results by applying one kind of oil. And for others, a blend of various oils has worked. Both these approaches can work. Oils such as Cypress, Lavender and Juniper have been tried by many tinnitus sufferers, and they report positive results. Essential oils work best when they are applied through vaporization, massage, inhalation, compression and bathing.

Optimizing Your Diet – The food you eat is crucial to your health. When we choose the right foods, we stay healthy, and when we opt for all that junk stuff, we fall ill. It is essential that we have all the vitamins and minerals that our body needs to function properly. But sometimes, because of wrong food choices, the human body does not receive all the essential nutrients. For example, if you are not getting adequate Vitamin B, then you might develop tinnitus.

Luckily however, Vitamin B is easily obtainable from grains, cereals, vegetables and fruits. So always ensure that your eating plan includes them. Eat a well balanced meal that includes all the food groups. A supplement can never work as well as the natural food source.

Sound Masking – This is a unique approach to provide you some relief from the tinnitus noises. Those who suffer from tinnitus often report the problem worsening in the night. This happens because the silence of the night seems to intensify the noises heard. A masking device plays some soft natural noises that are pleasant on the ear. It is as if you are hearing some channel music at the hotel lobby or listening to your favorite composer through the earphone. The unpleasant swishing, buzzing and constant ringing is thus blocked.

Alternative tinnitus treatments may work. But there’s a problem. In most cases, when using alternative remedies for tinnitus, the root contributing factors that caused all those noises remain, and so the sounds will come back as soon as you have stopped following these treatments.

Why Are My Ears Ringing – The only way you could ever get rid of your tinnitus for good is by following the holistic approach to healing. New approaches to the treatment of tinnitus – a buzzing or ringing in the ears – are being pioneered by Thomas Coleman. Thomas is a former tinnitus sufferer himself, an author, researcher, nutritionist and health consultant who dedicated his life to creating the ultimate Tinnitus solution guaranteed to permanently reverse the root of ear ringing and naturally and dramatically improve the overall quality of your life, without the use prescription medication and without any surgical procedures. By using a multidimensional treatment for tinnitus, he is tackling all tinnitus causative factors and eliminating these triggering elements from the root. This is the only path for permanent freedom from tinnitus.

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Pinnacle ENT Associates Adds New Practice, Physicians and Office Locations

dani — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:00:04 +0000

Pinnacle ENT Associates announces that it has recently expanded, effective April 1, 2012.

Benefits Of Vitamin D: Vitamin D, The Next Wonder Drug?

dani — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:08 +0000

Benefits Of Vitamin D – Imagine a treatment that could build bones, strengthen the immune system and lower the risks of illnesses like diabetes, heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure and cancer.

Benefits Of Vitamin D - Some research suggests that such a wonder treatment already exists. It’s vitamin D, a nutrient that the body makes from sunlight that is also found in fish and fortified milk.

But don’t start gobbling down vitamin D supplements just yet. The excitement about their health potential is still far ahead of the science.

Although numerous studies have been promising, there are scant data from randomized clinical trials. Little is known about what the ideal level of vitamin D really is, whether raising it can improve health, and what potential side effects are caused by high doses.

And since most of the data on vitamin D comes from observational research, it may be that high doses of the nutrient don’t really make people healthier, but that healthy people simply do the sorts of things that happen to raise vitamin D.

“Correlation does not necessarily mean a cause-and-effect relationship,” said Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, a Harvard professor who is chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“People may have high vitamin D levels because they exercise a lot and are getting ultraviolet-light exposure from exercising outdoors,” Manson said. “Or they may have high vitamin D because they are health-conscious and take supplements. But they also have a healthy diet, don’t smoke and do a lot of the other things that keep you healthy.”

Manson is leading a major study over the next five years that should provide answers to these questions and more. The US clinical trial is recruiting 20,000 older adults, including men 60 and older and women 65 and older, to study whether high doses of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids from fish-oil supplements will lower risk for heart disease and cancer.

Manson said fish-oil supplements were included in the study because they are another promising treatment that suffers from a dearth of clinical trial evidence. In addition, vitamin D and fish oil are known to have an anti-inflammatory effect, but each works through a different pathway in the body, so there may be an added health benefit in combining them.

Study participants will be divided into four groups. One will take vitamin D and fish oil pills. Two will take either a vitamin D or a fish-oil supplement and a placebo. The fourth will take two placebo pills.

Vitamin D is found throughout the body and acts as a signaling mechanism to turn cells on and off. Right now, the recommended dose from food and supplements is about 400 international units a day for most people, but most experts agree that is probably too low. The Institute of Medicine is reviewing guidelines for vitamin D and is expected to raise the recommended daily dose. Study participants will take 2,000 IU’s of vitamin D3, believed to be the form most easily used by the body.

Although consumers may be tempted to rush out and start taking 2,000 IU’s of vitamin D a day, doctors warn against it. Several recent studies of nutrients, including vitamins E and B, selenium and beta carotene, have proved disappointing — even suggesting that high doses do more harm than good, increasing risk for heart problems, diabetes and cancer, depending on the supplement.

Despite the promise of vitamin D in observational studies, research into other supplements shows it’s difficult to document a benefit in otherwise healthy people, and virtually impossible to predict potential harms, notes Dr. Eric A. Klein, chairman of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Klein recently worked as national coordinator for Select, a study of vitamin E and selenium for prostate cancer. The study seemed promising, but in the end it showed no benefit from the supplements and a potentially higher risk for diabetes in selenium users.

“My sentiment is that the lesson we have learned form large trials with other vitamin supplements, including Select, is that there is no proven health or preventative benefit for dietary supplements in nutritionally replete populations, which accounts for most of the people who enter this sort of clinical trial,” Klein said. “It makes more sense to me to study dietary supplements or vitamins in populations who are deficient.”

The scientific community continues to debate the optimum level of vitamin D. In general, people are considered to be deficient if they have blood levels below 15 or 20 nanograms per milliliter. But many doctors now believe vitamin D levels should be above 30. The ideal level isn’t known, nor is it known at what point a person is getting too much vitamin D, which can lead to kidney stones and other problems.

Benefits Of Vitamin D – People’s vitamin D levels are influenced by whether they have light or dark skin, where they live, how much time they spend outdoors and by fish and milk consumption. To raise vitamin D without supplements, a person could increase sun exposure for 10 to 15 minutes a day. Eating more fish can help — a 3.5-ounce serving of wild fresh salmon has 600 to 1,000 IU’s of vitamin D — but it would take a quart of milk a day to get the recommended dose of vitamin D.

“What we know is that there are a lot of people who are vitamin D deficient based on estimates from national surveys,” said Dr. Michal L. Melamed, assistant professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.

“But we don’t know what happens when the curve shifts to the other end. There probably is a risk to having too much vitamin D in the system.”

By Tara Parker-Pope

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Problems With Contact Lenses, Beware Contact Lenses That Do Not Fit

dani — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:08 +0000

Problems With Contact Lenses – Improper fit of your contact lenses can cause problems. A contact lens should cover your cornea and move only a little when you blink your eye. These two factors depend on the width of the lens and the curvature that comes into contact with your cornea.

Problems With Contact Lenses – A contact that doesn’t fit correctly is likely to irritate the eyeball and the tissue of the eyelid. This irritation can lead to pain and inflammation. There are numerous nerves in the eye and it is very sensitive to stimuli, which is one reason why proper-fitting contact lenses are so important.

If your contacts are too tight, the lens can’t move enough, and irritates your eye around the outside edges of the lens. Your eyes will become uncomfortable after only a few hours of wear due to the tear film’s inability to reach the eye. Continued use will make your eye red and irritated, and could cause sensitivity to light and other vision blurring. If a contact is causing pain, it could actually be scratching the surface of the eye, and permanent damage is a possibility. A contact lens needs to be removed as soon as possible the second there is pain associated with it, and it should not be used again until it has been examined by an eye professional.

The use of ill-fitting contact lenses can prematurely age your eyes.

‘Wearing ill-fitted lenses not prescribed for you will result in your corneas aging prematurely,’ said Dr Stan Isaacs, president of the Singapore Contact Lens Society and clinical director of I & Vision.

So will sleeping with lenses that are not designed for you to do so and using lenses that do not fulfill your oxygen requirements, he added.

Dr Lim Li, a senior consultant ophthalmologist in corneal service at Singapore National Eye Centre, said: ‘Corneal aging is a natural process. However, this can be hastened by the wearing of inappropriate lenses like the use of hydrogel soft contact lenses in those with high myopia.’

The cornea is made up of five layers of tissue, the innermost layer being the endothelium. At birth, the endothelium is made up of a single layer of evenly sized, hexagonal cells that are closely packed together. The endothelium’s essential function is to control the state of corneal hydration and to keep the cornea clear.

Dr Isaacs said: ‘As endothelial cells age, their size changes and cell density goes down. When we talk about premature corneal ageing, we’re saying the cornea is put under unnecessary stress that accelerates these changes.

Problems With Contact Lenses - ‘It is like getting wrinkles prematurely from exposure to excessive UV rays and lack of sun protection.’

When contact lenses reduce the amount of oxygen going to your cornea, they adversely affect the structure and function of the endothelium. The most obvious changes are that the endothelial cells become larger and more distorted and cell density is reduced. These are closely associated with the onset of a condition known as ‘corneal exhaustion syndrome’.

Dr Isaacs said the cornea needs oxygen to maintain its transparency.

While premature corneal aging will not lead to serious complications like blindness, the condition can cause other problems, such as the patient becoming intolerant to contact lenses or a slowing down of the eye’s healing process after corneal surgery.

In the 1960s, hard PMMA (a transparent thermoplastic) contact lenses were introduced in Singapore and such lenses did not allow oxygen to pass through to the cornea.

Dr Roland Izaac, an optometrist and contact lens practitioner in private practice, said: ‘People using such lenses did not get enough oxygen in their corneas. After many, many years of use, we started noticing changes to their corneal endotheliums.

‘These changes became known to the layman as aging eyes.’

By the time a patient notices symptoms like red eyes or an uncomfortable feeling while wearing contact lenses, premature corneal ageing would already have occurred and the process is only moderately reversible, Dr Isaacs said.

He advised patients to see a qualified eyecare professional once every six months to have their eyes checked and corneal health assessed.

Nowadays, contact lenses across the board have higher oxygen permeability than their predecessors.

Dr Izaac said: ‘The healthier choices include silicone hydrogel lenses, daily disposable lenses and rigid gas permeable lenses.’

Silicone hydrogel lenses transmit higher levels of oxygen than conventional contact lenses and allow as much oxygen as your eyes require.

Rigid gas permeable lenses have high oxygen permeability and there is a lower risk of contact lens-related allergic conjunctivitis and infective corneal ulcers. They are also more suitable for lens wearers with dry eyes, Dr Lim said.

As everyone’s eyes and corneas are different, it is imperative that people who want to wear contact lenses have their eyes checked by a qualified eyecare professional before buying or wearing contact lenses.

Dr Isaacs said: ‘Everyone’s tolerance for the amount of oxygen let in by lenses is different.

Problems With Contact Lenses – ‘It’s important for patients to discuss with their optometrist how long they’ll wear lenses for, how disciplined they are and their lifestyle requirements.’

By June Cheong

This article was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times.

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Signs of An Alcoholic – Out of Control

dani — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:08 +0000

Signs of An Alcoholic – Nights out and booze go hand in hand for many people. Drinking is woven into the fabric of many societies—sharing a bottle of wine over a meal, going out for drinks with friends, celebrating special occasions with champagne. But because alcohol is such a common, popular element in many activities, it can be hard to see when your drinking has crossed the line from moderate or social use to problem drinking which can lead to alcohol addiction.

Signs of An Alcoholic – Since drinking is so common in many cultures and the effects vary so widely from person to person, it’s not always easy to figure out where the line is between social drinking and problem drinking. If you consume alcohol simply to feel good, or to avoid feeling bad, your drinking could become problematic. Alcoholism and alcohol abuse can sneak up on you, so it’s important to be aware of the warning signs and take steps to cut back if you recognize them. Understanding the problem is the first step to overcoming it. The bottom line is how alcohol affects you. If your drinking is causing problems in your life, you have a drinking problem.

The road to this addiction starts when the reward centre in the brain (the part of the brain that records pleasure) gets “screwed up”, said Associate Professor Munidasa Winslow, a psychiatrist at Raffles Hospital.

“The reward centre in the brain gets pleasure from the drinking, so there is a craving for more,” he said. “But after a certain point, the body becomes dependent on alcohol to function normally.”

He explained that someone having crossed this point will need to drink more alcohol, usually on the sly, to keep up with work and family activities. There will otherwise be withdrawal symptoms.

These include tremors, anxiety, tension and anger – suppressed only by imbibing more alcohol. A chronic drinker will then develop tolerance to alcohol and require greater levels to feel normal.

Agreeing, Dr Desmond Wai, a consultant gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the Asian Centre for Liver Diseases and Transplantation, said the classic signs of alcoholism include craving, loss of control over the habit, withdrawal symptoms and alcohol tolerance.

Signs of An Alcoholic – There may also be displays of uncharacteristic anger and irritability – and in some people, violence.

All this is due to the effect alcohol has on overriding logic, said Dr Tan Hwee Sim, an associate consultant psychiatrist at the National Addictions Management Service, Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

“Alcohol affects the central nervous system. It can sedate – or blackout – the brain such that emotions can take over,” she said.

Many alcoholics cannot recall their strange behaviour later because of this blackout they experience, she added.

Depression

There is more: because alcohol is a depressant, excessive drinking can lead to alcohol-induced mood disorder in the long run.

Such people are constantly in a depressed mood and show a lack of interest in daily activities, Dr Tan said, adding that the symptoms mimic that of depression.

Alcohol addiction affects not just the mind. The body suffers too.

Liver damage

Alcoholic drinks can burn the stomach lining, which is why some people have abdominal discomfort when they consume a large amount of alcohol within a short time, said Dr Wai.

The stomach can usually recover quickly from this but not the liver, which can be hit with lasting damage. This is because toxic substances are produced when the liver has to break down alcohol.

Alcohol is absorbed in the stomach and intestines and is transported to the liver to be broken down, Dr Wai explained. “The end product of this process is not toxic, but the middle products are.”

The initial effect is to cause fat to accumulate in the liver, which may later become inflamed. Eventually, liver diseases develop, such as hepatitis and cirrhosis, where liver cells die and are replaced with fibrous tissue, resulting in scarring.

Although the liver is incredibly resilient and can recover on its own, often, the only option for severe cirrhosis is a liver transplant.

“Fatty liver and mild forms of alcoholic hepatitis are usually reversible but liver scarring is not,” said Dr Yang Wei Lyn, a senior consultant gastroenterologist at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Dr Wai added that about half of the patients with cirrhosis die within two years.

He also said that while it takes about 10 years of regular drinking for liver trouble to emerge, it is always wise to quit drinking early.

“Every person has a different point of no return. We will not know what that is until he quits drinking,” he said. “About one-third of patients won’t improve even after they have stopped drinking as they have crossed that point.”

Women at higher risk

Women who abuse alcohol may do more harm to their brains in a shorter amount of time than men, according to a new study. Researchers found that women experience the same loss of serotonergic function in four years of alcohol abuse as men do in 12.

“We have to be aware that women are more vulnerable to excessive drinking, not just bodily harm but also [harm] to the brain. We also have to be aware that prevalent psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety, which are related to imbalance in the serotonin system and which women often are seeking help for, may also be influenced by excessive drinking,” said principal investigator Claudia Fahlke, PhD, of the Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden, in an article on Medscape Medical News.

Female drinkers are more susceptible to alcohol-related diseases due to their smaller body size and liver volume, said Dr Yang.

The treatment for liver ailments is simple – quit drinking.

“If you quit drinking, it’s as good as having a liver transplant because there’s a high chance that the liver will recover,” said Dr Wai.

Apart from liver damage, alcohol can also cause inflammation of the pancreas, sexual dysfunction in men, nutritional deficiencies and dementia, added Dr Yang.

Long road to recovery

As alcohol addiction is also a psychological illness – because the brain becomes wired to depend on alcohol – counseling is integral to recovery.

Here, education is the key, said psychiatrist Dr Chan Keen Loong, the department head of psychological wellness at Alexandra Hospital.

This includes getting the message across to addicts that there are harmful effects on their health, family relationships, finances, social life and work.

“The counselor’s job is to get the person to look at his addiction honestly and change his attitude; to offer support and a listening ear,” he said, adding that sessions may be held in groups or individually.

Even so, counselling can only do so much. Patients have to first shed their self-denial, said Dr Tan.

“Such denial in some people can be so strong that they fail to acknowledge that they have a drinking problem even when it’s obvious to everyone else,” she said.

In such cases, family and friends can step in. For example, they can point out matter-of-factly to their loved one how alcohol has affected his behavior.

“They can say, ‘last time when you drank, you did this’, as the person may be too drunk to remember anything, said Dr Tan. “Family is a major component of counseling – they need to provide the right kind of support.”

The IMH receives about 300 new cases of alcoholic addicts yearly and 90 per cent are men. However, Dr Tan said more female cases are surfacing recently.

After they have faced up to their problem, addicts need to resolve to stay away from alcohol completely. Otherwise, they will suffer a relapse, said Dr Wai.

“I tell recovered patients they should never touch a drop of alcohol again and avoid friends who drink,” he said. “I have seen many who tried so hard to quit but easily went back to square one.”

There is a saying, “Once an addict, always an addict”. Therein lies the challenge for an alcoholic.

Signs of An Alcoholic – Dr Chan said: “Quitting is easy. Staying off alcohol is the hard part.”

By Poon Chian Hui

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

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Cause of Sensitive Teeth, Tell Me About …

dani — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:08 +0000

Cause of Sensitive Teeth – If you’ve ever suffered from sensitive teeth, you know how painful a sip of coffee or a bite of ice cream can be to your mouth. This type of sensitivity can prevent a person from enjoying some of their favorite foods, and who wants that?!

Cause of Sensitive Teeth – If you feel your nerves causing pain while eating something hot or cold, then the layer beneath the surface known as dentin has most likely become exposed.

Dentin hypersensitivity, colloquially known as sensitive teeth, usually occur because of receding gum tissue, which exposes the root of a tooth, affects more than 40 million Americans. This happens as a result of the enamel (hard outer covering above the tooth) above the gum line and cementum on the root becoming worn away. It exposes microscopic tubes in the dentin that lead straight into the nerve of the tooth.

The nerves and cells within the tooth become inflamed when irritants come in contact with the tooth surface. Cold is not the only source of irritation, either. Once this has worn away, biting into foods that are hot, cold, sweet, sour foods, acidic, plaque, and even the open air can causing discomfort and wrenching pain.

EVERY time I drink cold water, I experience a severe ache in my gums. At first, I thought I had a cavity. But when I went to the dentist, he told me that I have sensitive teeth. What is this? I didn’t know teeth could ‘feel’ anything.

YOUR tooth is actually divided into two parts – the crown and the root. The crown and the root meet at the neck of your tooth, which is just below your gum margin.

The crown is the part of the tooth that you can see in your mouth. It has three segments: The enamel (outer hard layer), dentine and pulp. The enamel is the hard part and does not possess a nerve supply. If you bite down on it, or if there is a chip or any sort of damage to it, you will not feel pain. Unfortunately, your enamel cannot repair or heal itself.

Chemical factor: Excessive use of tooth-whitening products can lead to sensitive teeth.

Cause of Sensitive Teeth – The dentine is the layer below your enamel. On the crown, it is covered by the enamel, but in the root, it is protected by a covering called cementum. Your dentine surrounds and protects your nerves and blood vessels in your pulp.

Your dentine can register pain because it is alive. It can also repair itself. If your dentine is exposed, you can feel pain. The pulp consists of nerves and blood vessels. It occupies the root canal and the pulp chamber.

If in any way it is exposed to decay or injury, it will die and cause severe pain.

So my teeth can become sensitive in the dentine and pulp area?

Yes. Tooth sensitivity is defined as tooth discomfort or pain in one or more teeth. It is triggered by heat, cold, sweetness or sourness. It may be from food or drink, or even breathing in cold air.

The pain can be sharp or a dull ache. It can be sudden or come on insidiously. It can also last for a little while, or a long time, especially when it shoots deep into the nerve endings of your teeth. Your entire jaw and even side of the neck can ache.

Sensitive teeth occurs when your dentine is exposed.

How does my dentine get exposed? You mean it’s like having a tooth cavity?
Brushing your teeth too hard, or constantly using hard-bristled toothbrushes can wear down your enamel and lead to receding gums.

It’s not a tooth cavity, though the pain is elicited in the same manner.

Sensitive teeth occur usually because of receding gum tissue. So your roots, which are not covered by your enamel, are also exposed.

The root contains many tubules that lead to your tooth’s pulp, and allows the stimulus – be it from drinking cold water or chewing on that side of the mouth – to reach your tooth’s nerves.

What are the causes of tooth sensitivity?

There are several factors involved:

*If you brush your teeth too hard, or if you constantly use a hard-bristled toothbrush, this can wear down your enamel and recede your gums.

Yes, your mother probably taught you to brush this way, and you think you are doing your teeth a service by brushing hard. But this is one of the things you have to unlearn, because it’s not good for your teeth in the end. l If you want to make sure your teeth is really clean, it’s better to floss after each meal to pick out the food particles that may be stuck between your teeth.

*If your tooth decays near the gum line, then, yes, you have a cavity right there that exposes your dentine.

*If your gum moves away from your tooth as a result of disease, such as gingivitis (inflammation of your gums).

There may be loss of the supporting ligaments of the gum, which may result in the root of your tooth being exposed.

*If you have cracked, broken or chipped teeth which may be filled with plaque.

The bacteria will then enter the pulp to cause inflammation.

*If you grind your teeth, or if you like to clench your jaw very often, which can wear down the enamel.

*If you use too many tooth-whitening products or mouthwash that contains acids.

*If you like eating a lot of acid-containing foods like oranges, lemons, tomatoes, pickles, or if you like drinking a lot of tea.

*If you recently had a dental procedure. But sensitivity caused by this usually disappears within six weeks.

Cause of Sensitive Teeth – Preventative Measures

There are a few things that you can do to heal and prevent sensitive teeth:

Brush your teeth with a soft bristled toothbrush.
Floss thoroughly. Be careful when you brush around the gum area so that you don’t remove more gum tissue.
Use desensitizing toothpaste. They may not work as well as “regular” toothpaste, but when you swipe them on the sensitive area and leave it there (preferably without rinsing your mouth), they work very well to reduce your pain. These types of toothpastes contain potassium nitrate or strontium chloride, which help to fill the dentinal tubules and prevent painful stimulants, like ice water, from hitting the nerve. However, results will not be immediate. Be patient, as it can take two or three weeks for these pastes to begin working.

If you must rinse your mouth, then do so only after 20 minutes of leaving the toothpaste there.
Don’t eat acidic foods or drink ice water.
Don’t grind your teeth, or use a mouth guard at night if you do it during your sleep.
If you have silver fillings, ask your dentist about using a new filler of a different type of material. Silver fillings are poor insulators, especially if they are deep. And lastly, if your sensitive tooth problem is persistent or unbearable, ask your dentist about forming a barrier for your teeth with one of a range of coatings, such as fluoride varnishes or dental sealers which can be applied to your exposed roots., which does a great job of reducing sensitivity.

By Dr Y.L.M

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Mobile medicine apps are the future, as we move increasingly into digital, virtual communication; yet FDA medical device and other legal issues remain.

Recently it was reported that everything in medicine in going mobile:

Cardiologist Eric J. Topol, MD, was on a cross-country flight when an attendant made an announcement asking if there was a doctor on board.

Dr. Topol, chief academic officer for Scripps Health, responded and was brought to a man who was in obvious trouble. Only a year or two ago, Dr. Topol would have had to make an educated guess and hope he could take care of the patient until the plane landed.

This time, though, he pulled out his iPhone, and with an app that produces an electrocardiogram, he determined that the patient was having a heart attack. The plane made an emergency landing while paramedics waited on the ground to take the patient directly to surgery to open the blocked arteries causing the attack.

Though the story is an extreme example, it illustrates why mobile technology was such a big focus of the 2012 annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, where Dr. Topol shared the story. With each passing day, mobile technology is giving physicians more opportunities to practice medicine from anywhere, at any time….

Mobile technology is bringing the patient’s bedside to the physician’s smartphone or tablet computer…..

Just a few years ago, physicians with patients in hospitals either had to be at the patient’s bedside to get a complete view of what was going on or rely on a floor nurse’s interpretation of what the patient’s monitoring devices showed.

Mobile technology has made it possible to bring the patient’s bedside to the physician’s smartphone or tablet.

Applications can send a physician real-time updates on a patient’s condition regardless of where the physician is. A doctor can monitor the wave-forms of cardiac monitors, contraction and fetal monitors, ventilators, and a host of other bedside monitors. A dashboard displays a patient’s vitals and lab values, and all the information from the patient’s electronic health record can be accessed from a device small enough to fit in a pants pocket.

If you are fan of Ray Kurzweil, who wrote The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity Is Near, you’ll recognize this scenario: from Web to mobile to implants in our bodies – tiny nano robots that monitor our health and give us instantaneous boosts and repair. The emphasis on mobile medical technology is a way-station to that reality.

FDA and other legal and regulatory issues, however loom.

Recently, for example, the FDA announced that when cellphones are used as medical devices, they are subject to legal rules and regulation governing medical devices. Smart phone? Smart FDA.

Telemedicine and legal rules governing corporate practice of medicine and unlicensed medical practice also may apply. For example, see:

Intellectual property concerns, including copyright, trademark, and patent, also will be important.

If you are developing a mobile medical application (app) or a device for e-health, be sure to consult with an attorney familiar with Food and Drug Administration laws governing medical devices, Federal Trade Commission rules governing advertising, state medical licensing and telemedicine rules, and other areas of law and regulation.