Anda menendang bola di padang, menjatuhkan sesuatu yang berat pada kaki anda, atau kepala anda terhantuk di depan pintu yang rendah.

Mungkin kelihatan seperti tiada apa-apa terjadi pada waktu itu, tapi bila terlalu kerap, anda mungkin bangun keesokan harinya dengan lebam yang sangat sensitif bila disentuh. Apabila ia terjadi, anda mungkin memerlukan beg ais atau ubat, tapi sebelum anda melakukannya, mari kita bincang tentang lebam dan mengetahui puncanya.

Lebam (atau dalam perubatan disebut "contusions") terjadi apabila anda terluka dan pembuluh darah kecil di kulit pecah. Pembuluh darah ini atau "kapilari", bocor ke jaringan di sekitarnya dan sebagai sel darah merah yang berkumpul, anda boleh melihat perubahan warna di daerah tersebut. Bermula sebagai luka berwarna merah-ungu kemudian bertukar menjadi hijau atau kuning sebagai tindakbalas tubuh bekerja untuk menyembuhkan kawasan tersebut dan memetabolismakan atau memakan jisim sel darah merah yang terlepas.

Kecenderungan untuk lebam bervariasi dari seorang kepada seorang yang lain. Sekiranya semua orang terjatuh, kanak-kanak kurang mendapat lebam. Mereka memiliki ketahanan pembuluh darah yang tidak mudah pecah. Orang-orang tua, khususnya mereka yang mengambil ubat-ubatan tertentu, mempunyai pembuluh yang nipis, sesetengah mendapati tanda hitam dan biru sering terjadi sehingga menjadi tanda tanya dari mana datangnya kecederaan tersebut dan apa puncanya. Ubat yang menghalang pembekuan darah (seperti Coumadin) dan preskripsi ubat yang membuat pembuluh darah lebih rapuh (seperti Prednisone) sering memberikan sumbangan terhadap jumlah lebam seseorang.

Setelah dua hingga tiga minggu, kebanyakan orang mendapati lebam mereka sembuh dan warna kulit mereka kembali normal. Kadang-kadang, tubuh akan menyekat wilayah ini daripada menghantar sel untuk melakukan kerja pembersihan. Ketika hal ini terjadi darah akan berkumpul dan daerah tersebut membengkak dan menjadi lembut. Jika kalsium yang disimpan, keadaan tulang yang disebut myositis ossificans boleh berlaku dan jaringan menjadi sensitif terhadap sentuhan dan kekerasan.

Bahan kimia semulajadi yang ditemui dalam Arnica membantu untuk menyembuhkan atau menghalang komplikasi yang tidak diingini. Flavonoid mengurangkan ketelapan pembuluh darah dan polisakarida merangsang proses di mana sel-sel pembantu membersihkan sel-sel jaringan yang tidak dikehendaki.

Apabila menggunakan Arnica, hasil yang terbaik terjadi apabila tahap kecederaan dan kekuatan ubat hemeopati yang digunakan berpadanan. Apabila anda tersepak meja atau terkena lontaran bola keranjang pada hidung, anda hanya memerlukan arnica potensi rendah. Untuk kecederaan minimum, sapuan arnica adalah memadai.

Ingat bahawa trauma serius dan lebam spontan memerlukan pemeriksaan perubatan yang lengkap. Pastikan anda memeriksa tanda-tanda kecederaan dalaman dan keretakan. Selain itu, perkataan "RICE" dapat membantu untuk mengingatkan anda tentang tips-tips berharga lain untuk lebam: Rest(rehat), Ice(ais), Compress(tuam), Elevate(mengangkat). Lakukan penuaman dingin dan mengangkat bagian tubuh akan mengurangkan aliran darah ke daerah tersebut. Hal ini mengurangkan jumlah pendarahan di kulit dan mengurangkan ukuran lebam tersebut.

Walaupun kita sering berhati-hati, kemalangan tetap akan berlaku di rumah, di padang, di gym, dan di tempat kerja. Namun, dengan Arnica di tangan dan tips dalam fikiran, anda boleh mempercepatkan penyembuhan dan mencegah kecacatan jangka panjang yang sering menyertai lebam dan trauma fizikal. Jadi pastikan anda mempunyai bekalan Arnica di almari dapur anda, laci meja, dompet dan beg sukan. Anda akan dapat mengalami kesan penyembuhan bermanfaat dari Arnica yang disediakan sejak pendaki gunung menjumpainya berkurun-kurun lalu.

Oleh: Dr Lauri Grossman

Lauri Grossman adalah chiropractor dan homeopati berlesen. Beliau adalah lulusan dari Universiti Cornell, New England School of homoeopathy dan Hahnemann College of homoeopathy yang berprestij di Berkeley, California.

Dikenali dan dihormati sebagai ahli dalam penjagaan integratif, Dr Grossman telah mengajar di Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital, Hospital untuk Pembedahan Khusus dan Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

Punca Gambar

Penafian: Kami belum mempunyai bukti dokumentari untuk menunjukkan bahawa George W menggunakan * A Bruzzy untuk PENYEMBUHAN PANTAS dari LEBAM, TERKILIR dan KEJANG

If You Want to Age Gracefully

You can slow down your aging process and help stave off heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. U.S. News & World Report offers some tips on how to do it:

FREE RADICALS Free radicals are chemically unstable molecules that attack your cells and damage your DNA. You can limit your exposure to them by avoiding cigarettes, trans fats, charred meats, and other sources.

Fruits and vegetables are also chock full of antioxidants, which are thought to neutralize free radicals, so you should still aim to get five servings a day, organic or not. Those with the highest amount of antioxidants include prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, and kale (kailan).

INFLAMMATION Normally part of a healthy immune response to foreign invaders, inflammation is now considered to be a major player in many diseases of aging, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer's—that is, when it becomes chronic. This happens when the immune system begins targeting healthy cells and tissues for attack.

One way to avoid it is to follow a Mediterranean-style diet based on whole grains, fatty fish like salmon and tuna, fruits, vegetables, and monounsaturated fats (nuts, avocados, and olives) with little meat.

Other great anti-inflammatory foods include turmeric, dark chocolate, and red wine, which contains the anti-aging chemical resveratrol.

CLICK HERE for our other posts on inflammation

EXERCISE Moderate amount of steady exercise like brisk walking, swimming, or biking for 30 to 45 minutes five days a week is another great way to lower inflammation by boosting anti-inflammatory chemicals and helping you avoid weight gain through the years. Having too much belly fat, defined as a waist measurement of more than 35 inches for a woman and 40 inches for a man, means you probably have high inflammation, since abdominal fat produces inflammatory chemicals.

Caution: too much exercise to the point of soreness and extreme fatigue can actually increase inflammation, at least temporarily.

CLICK HERE for our archive on exercise

GLYCATION Glycation is what happens when sugar mixes with proteins and fats to form molecules that promote aging. Advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, are thought to accelerate your aging process by churning out free radicals and promoting inflammation. One way to avoid ingesting AGEs is to turn down the heat when you cook. The browning effect of high-heat cooking causes these molecules to form. Limiting your intake of sugar-filled foods in general will also help, since excess sugar often binds to proteins in your body to form AGEs. The American Heart Association now recommends that women consume no more than 100 calories per day of added sugars, and men no more than 150 calories per day. Aside from increasing your risk of heart disease, AGEs appear to play a role in diabetes by causing blood to become sticky and hampering its ability to flow smoothly through capillaries and into the extremities and vital organs like the kidneys and eyes. "

STRESS Stress initiates the release of a variety of hormones that make your pulse race and cause your blood pressure to rise.

But the hormone cortisol, released to lessen these effects, actually creates problems when it remains chronically elevated; it has been shown to shrink a part of the brain called the hippocampus which is essential for long-term memory. It can also lead to the accumulation of belly fat, causing inflammation and insulin resistance.

Practice relaxation techniques like meditation or yoga to help manage stress. If you have trouble devoting 30 minutes a day to doing so, just take five minutes every so often throughout the day to close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Make sure you sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

CLICK HERE for our earlier posts on Stress

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Preparing for Your Doctor's Appointment

We bet you had done a bit of research before you purchased the computer from which you are reading Zestzfulness.

And you would do the same to get all the options and the best possible bargain for the digital SLR you have promised yourself.

Likewise you should apply those tactics to one of your most important regular purchases: a trip to your doctor's clinic.

"Understand that ordinarily appointments are not very long," said Arthur Levin, director of the nonprofit Center for Medical Consumers. "Physicians talk a lot and don't always listen. You have to organize yourself in a way that you maximize the chances that the questions you have will be heard and answered."

Do a little homework before going to your doctor.

Here are some basic tips to help you prepare for your appointment:

• Make a list of all of your symptoms and/or health concerns you've had on your mind.
• Make a list of all the medications you're currently taking, including dosage. Include a list of all over the counter meds, herbals, vitamins, and supplements that you are taking.
• Include information on medications that you have taken and if they worked for you or not. If they didn’t work or you had problems with the medication be sure to tell your doctor about it.
• Bring a detailed copy of your (and your family's) medical history. Note any recent lifestyle changes.
• Take a notepad and a pen with you and write down any information that the doctor gives you. If you don’t understand anything, make him explain it to you. There is no need to be embarrassed if you don't understand all the terminology. And if you write it down you can look it up later.

If your doctor prescribes a medicine, be sure to ask follow-up questions and these include:

• Why are you prescribing this particular drug?
• Are there alternatives to taking this medication?
• What are the possible side effects?
• Is there a generic version that will do the same job?

Many of our doctors maintain a little dispensary within their premises from which their assistants will dispense the medications that the doctor himself has prescribed. Make sure that the dispensed medications are checked by your doctor to ensure that they are the ones the doctor had prescribed and that you receive the right dosage instruction. You are the consumer, this is your right!

The better alternative is to ask for a prescription and have your medications dispensed by another health professional - your pharmacist.

With more than 8,000 medications on the market and three billion prescriptions written each year, prescription errors are a top concern of the U.S. health care system. The 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, which estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as a result of medical mistakes, has brought new public scrutiny to the issue of drug errors (1). While some analysts argue that the report's findings are exaggerated, few disagree with the central conclusion: Health care needs better systems to prevent deadly errors.

Your pharmacist complementing your doctor's care is one strategy that can reduce adverse drug events and improve patient care.

(1) From the March 2000 ACP–ASIM Observer by the American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine

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PS. If you forget any questions you have, be sure to call the doctor back and ask! Your health is too important to ignore. Don’t ever be embarrassed to ask your doctor and your pharmacist anything.

'Speed Control' for All of Us

Good morning! We trust you did not have a sleepless night worrying over PE.

If you do, here’s GOOD NEWS to cheer you up!

Janssen-Cilag announced recently that PRILIGY® (dapoxetine) is now approved for the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE) in men 18-64 years of age. It will be available soon on your doctor's prescription.

PE is one of those hidden conditions that can cause terrible problems in a relationship and a great deal of embarrassment. It can be present from the first sexual encounter or can develop later in life for a variety of reasons. Nearly 1 out of 4 men with PE (24.4%) reports significant levels of anxiety.

The symptoms of PE are: a short time to ejaculation, not being able to control when ejaculation happens and distress relating to either of these situations.

Dapoxetine is a medicine specifically developed for the treatment of PE. It is an oral tablet that can be taken approximately 1-3 hours before sex is anticipated.

Dapoxetine is chemically similar to a family of antidepressants called SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).

An observed, and usually adverse, effect of SSRIs is a delay in ejaculatory latency time although the precise mechanism of action is unknown.

Unlike the SSRIs which take 2 weeks or longer to reach steady-state concentration, dapoxetine has a rapid onset of action of approximately 1.5 hours and a short half-life*. By 24 hours, plasma concentrations are less than 5% of peak values.

These attributes make dapoxetine suitable for on-demand therapy for men with moderate-to-severe premature ejaculation with minimal adverse effects.

"If Viagra has made sex possible for men suffering from impotence, this new drug aims to regulate premature problems and to make it last longer. Much longer..."

Talk to your doctor if you think you have PE.

If you simply want to be longer lasting, you will be pleased thrilled to know that Zestz has been observed (anecdotal) to generously prolong intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT)

Journal Reference

Pryor JL, Althof SE, Steidle C, Rosen RC, Hellstrom WJ, Shabsigh R, Miloslavsky M, Kell S; Dapoxetine Study Group. Efficacy and tolerability of dapoxetine in treatment of premature ejaculation: an integrated analysis of two double-blind, randomised controlled trials. Lancet. 2006 Sep 9;368(9539):929-37.

A medication's half-life is the time it takes for the plasma concentration of a drug to reach half of its original concentration. More simply put, the half-life of a drug is how long it takes for half of it to be eliminated from the bloodstream.

CLICK HERE for a balanced, easily understood information on PE

Have a Good Sunday!

Lasting Longer

It’s a fact of life that every one of us wants to last longer!

A satisfying sexual life is an important component of a healthy and happy relationship. Your inability to ‘last long enough’ can also impact heavily on your partner's sexual life and cause major relationship difficulties.

How long should you last?

Let’s get technical here: IELT.

Intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) is defined as the time between the start of vaginal intromission and the start of intravaginal ejaculation.

Marcel Waldinger et al assessed the intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) distribution amongst 500 couples recruited from countries: the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, and the United States.

The researchers discovered this:

“the distribution of the IELT in all the five countries was positively skewed, with a median IELT of 5.4 minutes (range, 0.55 to 44.1 minutes). The median IELT decreased significantly with age, from 6.5 minutes in the 18-30 years group, to 4.3 minutes in the group older than 51 years. The median IELT varied between countries, with the median value for Turkey being the lowest, i.e., 3.7 minutes (0.9 to 30.4 minutes), which was significantly different from each of the other countries. Comparison of circumcised (N=98) and not-circumcised (N=261) men in countries excluding Turkey resulted in median IELT values of 6.7 minutes (0.7 to 44.1 minutes) in circumcised compared with 6.0 minutes (0.5 to 37.4 minutes) in not-circumcised men (not significant). The median IELT value was not affected by condom use.”

It all boils down to this:

If you doing at least 5.4 minutes (or to put it in a more positive light, 324 seconds) per session, you’ve got no worries.

Less than this and you are suffering from PE.

PE is not Physical Education!

The medical literature contains several definitions of PE.

Realising that all of these definitions are just authority based rather than evidence based, and have no support from controlled clinical and/or epidemiological studies, Chris McMahon and mates at the Australian Center for Sexual Health in Sydney set out to clarify the murk.

The Aussies analysed the evaluations of the 2007 Ad Hoc Committee for the Definition of Premature Ejaculation (PE) of the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) on the strengths and weaknesses of the then current definitions of PE, the evidence in support of the constructs of ejaculatory latency, ejaculatory control, sexual satisfaction, and personal/interpersonal distress.

After lots of deliberation (and beer?), all 21 blokes decided to call it a day by agreeing to the agreement of the Ad Hoc Committee that lifelong PE is

"a male sexual dysfunction characterized by ejaculation which always or nearly always occurs prior to or within about one minute of vaginal penetration, and the inability to delay ejaculation on all or nearly all vaginal penetrations, and negative personal consequences, such as distress, bother, frustration and/or the avoidance of sexual intimacy."

Simply put, if you cum within 1 minute of penetration or you cum before penetration, you’ve got PE!

Calm down! It’s not a problem without solutions.

Journal Reference:

1. Waldinger MD, Quinn P, Dilleen M, Mundayat R, Schweitzer DH, Boolell M. A multinational population survey of intravaginal ejaculation latency time. Journal of Sexual Medicine. 2005 Jul;2(4):492-7.
   
2. McMahon CG, Althof SE, Waldinger MD, Porst H, Dean J, Sharlip ID, Adaikan PG, Becher E, Broderick GA, Buvat J, Dabees K, Giraldi A, Giuliano F, Hellstrom WJ, Incrocci L, Laan E, Meuleman E, Perelman MA, Rosen RC, Rowland DL, Segraves R. An evidence-based definition of lifelong premature ejaculation: report of the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) ad hoc committee for the definition of premature ejaculation. Journal of Sexual Medicine. 2008 Jul;5(7):1590-606.

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Tips Sederhana Mencegah Bau Mulut Selama Puasa

Selama menjalankan ibadah puasa, masalah bau mulut seringkali menimbulkan ketidaknyamanan.

Masalah yang kerap terjadi menjadi hambatan dalam pergaulan dan membuat minder.

Saat berpuasa, produksi air liur dalam mulut dan dalam saluran pencernaan berkurang sehingga menjadi lebih kering.

Akibatnya timbul halitosis atau bau mulut.

Bau mulut juga dapat disebabkan penyakit sistemis seperti liver, lambung, saluran pernapasan serta ginjal akut.

Sedangkan penyakit gigi dan mulut penyebab napas tak segar di antaranya gigi berlubang, radang gusi, gingivitis karena karang gigi, dan periodontitis.

Dipublikasikan oleh Wawan Lodro

Punca Foto

What is a bruise?

You get kicked on the soccer field, drop something heavy on your toe, or bang your head on a low entryway.

It might seem like nothing at the time, but all too often, you wake up the next day with a discolored bruise that is so tender to the touch, you want no one to come near. When this happens, you might reach for an ice pack or consider running to the medicine cabinet, but before you do, let’s talk about bruises and learn what causes the rainbow of colors that appears as days go by.

Bruises (or what medical doctors call “contusions”) occur when you get injured and break tiny blood vessels in the skin. These blood vessels or “capillaries”, leak into the surrounding tissue and as red blood cells gather, you can see discoloration in the area. What starts off as a red-purple injury becomes green or yellow as the body works to heal the region and metabolize or gobble up the mass of escaped red blood cells.

The tendency to bruise varies from one person to another. Despite all their falls, young children bruise less readily. They have resilient blood vessels that don’t break easily. Older people, especially those on certain medications, have delicate vessels; some find black and blue marks so frequently that they are forever wondering where the injuries come from and what it was they last bumped into. Medications that prevent blood clotting (like Coumadin) and prescription drugs that make blood vessels more fragile (like Prednisone) often contribute to the number of bruises one has.

After two to three weeks, most people find their bruises healed and their skin color returned to normal. Sometimes, however, the body will wall off the region instead of sending cells in to do the clean up work. When this occurs the blood pools and the area swells and becomes tender. If calcium is deposited, a bony condition called myositis ossificans can occur and the tissue becomes sensitive to touch and hard.

The natural chemicals found in Arnica help to heal or prevent these unwanted complications. Flavonoids decrease the permeability of the blood vessels and polysaccharideas stimulate the process by which helper-cells clean the tissue of unwanted debris.

When using Arnica, the best results occur when you match the severity of the injury with the strength of the homeopathic medicine. A lower potency is all you need when you bang your toe into a table or get a blow to the nose in a basketball game. For more minimal injury, topical Arnica is all you need for relief.

Remember that serious trauma and spontaneous bruising calls for a complete medical evaluation. Be sure to get checked for signs of internal injury and fracture. In addition, the word “RICE” can help to remind you of other valuable tips for bruising: REST, ICE, COMPRESS, ELEVATE. The application of a cold compress and elevating the body part reduces the blood flow to the area. This lessens the amount of bleeding in the skin and reduces that size of the bruise.

Even with the utmost caution, accidents will happen at home, on the field, in the gym, and in the workplace. However, with Arnica on hand and these tips in mind, you can speed the healing and prevent long-term disability that often accompanies bruises and physical trauma. So be sure to have a supply of Arnica in your kitchen cabinet, desk drawer, purse and gym bag. Then, you too will be able to experience the beneficial healing effects that Arnica has provided since mountain climbers discovered it centuries ago.

By: Dr Lauri Grossman

Lauri Grossman is a licensed chiropractor and homeopath. She is a graduate of Cornell University, the New England School of Homeopathy and the prestigious Hahnemann College of Homeopathy in Berkeley, California.

Known and respected as an expert in integrative care, Dr. Grossman has taught at Sloan Kettering-Memorial Hospital, the Hospital for Special Surgery and Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

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Disclaimer: We do not, as yet, have documentary evidence in hand to show that a George W endorses A*Bruzzy for RAPID RELIEF from Bruising, Sprains and Strains.