New treatment for deep vein
thrombosis
Hot news from the US,
where a recent conference reported on a
new anticoagulant for the long-term preventative treatment of deep vein
thrombosis and stroke. The product, marketed under the name of Exanta, is
showing excellent results in trials, and is tipped to be the treatment of
the future for thromboembolic disease, though it is not yet available for
general use.
It is taken orally
and reports show that it can safely be prescribed for long term treatment. Current anticoagulants are usually prescribed for only 6 months
because of side effects.
Thrombosis is one of the major causes of disease and death
in the western world, with nearly 4 million cases of thromboembolic disease
(which includes stroke, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and heart
attack) in the EU and Japan.
How
are your veins?
‘Take
Care of Your Heart’s Little Helpers’, is the rather twee name for a campaign
to help detect and prevent venous disease in legs (spider or thread veins,
DVT, aching legs and varicose veins). Your heart’s little helpers are your
calves and calf muscles. They assist the heart by acting as pumps to return
blood back to the heart.
To launch the
campaign, a team of NHS nurses will be touring Superdrug and National
Co-operative Chemists during January and February offering a free test which
will comprise a thorough leg examination to check for the signs of venous
disease. They’ll throw in a Doppler test, which is a blood pressure test in
the legs to check that the blood flow is normal.
The campaign is run by Activa
Compression Hosiery and the Association Of Tissue Viability Nurse
Specialists. Compression
hosiery can reduce the signs of venous disease which include such painful
conditions such as aching, tired legs, swollen ankles, bulging veins or a
wound that is difficult to heal.
Compression hosiery does not rate high in glamour stakes, but Activa point
out that it has in fact reached the 21st century and is not to be
confused with old fashioned surgical stockings.
Their compression hosiery is available as knee highs and tights, “using the
latest smooth stretch of lycra and ultrafine tactel to produce high denier
fashion hosiery in glossy black that breathes with your body.” They
have also provided the following hints:
Dos
Walk and exercise regularly
Watch your weight
Regularly moisturise your legs
Put your feet up
Don’ts
Cross your legs
Stand for long periods
Have very hot baths
lgnore sores or irritations
Smoke
Sit too close to a fire
Coffee could reduce diabetes
People who drink 7 or
more cups of coffee a day are over 30 per cent less likely to develop type 2
diabetes than someone who drinks 2 or fewer cups, says a report in the
Lancet.
The secret could be substances called chlorogenic acid,
magnesium and other
micronutrients found in coffee, believe the Dutch researchers who carried
out the study. Chlorogenic acid
reduces glucose absorption, while magnesium improves insulin sensitivity and
secretion.
The study looked at the lifestyle habits of 17,111
individuals aged between 30 and 60 who, on average, were drinking just over
five cups of coffee a day. Fewer cases of type 2 diabetes were cropping up
among the heavy coffee drinkers during the study years between 1987 and
1991.
Decaffeinated coffee didn’t seem to have the same protective
effect, and tea consumption was too low in the group to be measured. Nobody
looked at the effects that heavy coffee drinking had on other areas of the
participants’ health, 7 cups being considered a health risk for heart
disease and other conditions. But at
least coffee addicts have something to cheer about.
Eat yourself slim
 Based
on the recipes and menus that will feature in Rosemary Conley's television
series, of the same name, this book has suggestions for those who want to
enjoy fine food and control their weight, or lose some weight at the same
time.
The natural beauty & bath book
This book gives you 70 recipes for beauty
and bath products that you can make yourself, using ingredients you will
find at your local grocery and health food shops. Pamper yourself from head
to toe with these natural formulas:
6 weeks to super health
Whether you are looking to lose weight,
get healthy or get out of a rut, this eminently readable, well-designed,
informative and authoritative guide is guaranteed to have a permanent effect
on your lifestyle.
Tai Chi
This book explains: what Tai Chi is; how
to use Tai Chi for health and healing; the best way to train in Tai Chi.
This book is an ideal guide for anyone who wants to understand the
fundamental ideas and practices of this ancient martial art.
Stop smoking
This new edition of the bestseller aims to help the reader use the "Easy
way" method to eliminate the psychological reasons for smoking, handle
withdrawal symptoms, avoid temptation situations, and stay a non-smoker!
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Retraining the bladder
In the UK, 3 million people, young and
old, have bladder problems and too many of
them suffer in silence though there are effective ways to treat them. Women are particularly vulnerable, often after
childbirth, though the problem may be something they inherit. The unlucky minority find they leak when they
cough, laugh or sneeze, or even when doing light exercise.
These symptoms are described as stress incontinence, and they can continue
for years, getting progressively worse.The problem is loss of tone in the pelvic floor
muscles.
Overactive bladder is the name for another kind of incontinence. It means there is a sudden urge to get to the toilet
even when the bladder is not full. This may
happen after a stroke or other medical conditions and it’s due to an erroneous
message to the brain.
And then there’s cystitis, which is said to affect 1 woman in 5 at
some time. Symptoms here are constantly
wanting to empty the bladder, but never feeling this had happened, accompanied by an
intense burning sensation. The cause is thought to
be a urinary infection which may recur occasionally or regularly.
What to do? For stress
incontinence, there are the famous pelvic floor exercises, which don’t work
overnight, but do if you keep at them for weeks or months. Pilates
exercise workouts include pelvic floor exercises. Worst
case scenarious may require surgery.
Overactive bladders may need other kinds of retraining. This could include cutting down on caffeine and
alcohol and resisting the urge to go to the loo, starting with a delay of 2 minutes and
building up, perhaps with the help of pelvic floor exercises.
Cystitis responds to drinking more water, plus cranberry juice and, if the
infection is persistent, a course of antibiotics.
Contacts:
www.continence-foundation.org.uk
www.Incontact.org
www.angela.kilmartin
.dial.pipex.com (for cystitis)
www.ichelp.org
Product:the
PelvicToner, a small device inserted into the vagina to speed up the effect of pelvic
floor exercises and, makers claim, to improve sex life. Price £29.99. website: www.pelvictoner.co.uk
Thermal underwear or heating allowance?
Professor Bill Keatinge, University of
London, thinks that the Brits are very bad at taking care of themselves in the cold. We have more cold-related deaths than any other
developed country, and the cause is not usually hypothermia but a heart attack.
Exposure to even quite mild cold causes the blood to become stickier and
more concentrated, leading to increased risk of clotting. In
older people chances of heart attack are increased by 30 per cent when the temperature
drops.
Other countries are much better at keeping warm. In Russia, apparently, death tolls don’t rise
till the temperature drops to -29C. In the UK,
the risks start at around 18C. And the main
reason seems to be that we are always unprepared for a cold snap and don’t wear the
right clothes.
Should pensioners be given thermal underwear rather than a heating
allowance? Not really. The best plan is to have both. Professor Keatinge warns of the dangers of poor
public transport with long waits at bus stops, pointing out that patient passengers are
more likely to die a couple of days later in a warm house so the connection isn’t
made.
Global warming could halve our death rate from the cold, but while
we’re waiting for that, it helps to keep moving, walking up and down and shaking arms
till the bus finally comes. A warm overcoat
helps too.
Why you probably won’t get
Alzheimer’s
Most people who live long enough stand a good chance
of developing Alzheimer’s, or so it seems. You might start losing your memory,
forgetting where you left things, or perhaps can't recall faces and names quite so
readily.
Alzheimer's apparently affects over 50 per cent of the elderly, and the figures are
markedly higher among the over 80s. No one can
deny that the sufferer is suffering some kind of memory loss, but how can we be sure it's
Alzheimer's?
The condition was unheard of until 1907 when Alois Alzheimer discovered it during a post
mortem examination. He found abnormal formations of plaque on nerve endings in the
hippocampus, the part of the brain that affects memory and intellectual function. This was
a condition quite different from standard senile dementia, sufferers of which displayed
none of the plaque buildup of an Alzheimer's victim.
Alzheimer's is a highly specific brain
condition, and it's untreatable.
There's a range of powerful drugs that can slow its progress, but they have side effects
which can cause restlessness and shaking.
Now, some specialists are saying that Alzheimer's is being overdiagnosed by at least 40
per cent. They claim that it's a convenient catch-all definition, and if it isn't
Alzheimer's, it's probably senile dementia, which is treatable, and in some cases
reversible. ( Ironically, before Alzheimer’s was widely recognised, the opposite was
true, with people misdiagnosed as having senile dementia.)
Senile dementia in up to 20 per cent of cases can be treated with good nutrition and
medical supervision. New and better forms of
diagnosis for Alzheimer’s are being developed, but
meanwhile, if you have a relative with the condition, a review of the situation might be
useful.
If in any doubt about any of
the information covered in healthwise articles and it's relevance for you, consult your GP.
In edition 33:-
Improving eyesight
Health supplement Lutein is now recognised as a major protection against
Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
Stress through the ages
Older people have more stress-free days than younger ones
Help slow down
Parkinson`s
An over-the-counter antioxidant may help to slow down the progress of Parkinson`s
Disease, according to a new study.
Do you suffer from Syndrome
X?
If you are one of those unfortunate people who cannot lose weight even though you
eat a low-fat diet, you may be suffering from Syndrome X
A teaspoon of honey
Ounce for ounce honey provides the same amount of antioxidants as fruits and
vegetables.
And a nice cup of tea
can work
wonders against gingivitis...
Index to
all previous Healthwise editions
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 Maximise your memory
This work provides detailed instructions, illustrations and sample
exercises that show the reader how to build a system of personalized frameworks for
storing and recalling information on demand.
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