HOMOEOPATHIC REMEDIES FOR COMMON COLD

The common cold is a viral infection of your upper respiratory tract — your nose and throat. A common cold is usually harmless, although it may not feel that way at the time. If it's not a runny nose, sore throat and cough, it's the watery eyes, sneezing and congestion — or maybe all of the above. In fact, because any one of more than 100 viruses can cause a common cold, signs and symptoms tend to vary greatly.

Preschool children are at greatest risk of frequent colds, but even healthy adults can expect to have a few colds each year.

Causes-Although more than 100 viruses can cause a common cold, the rhinovirus is the most common culprit, and it's highly contagious.

A cold virus enters your body through your mouth, eyes or nose. The virus can spread through droplets in the air when someone who is sick coughs, sneezes or talks. But it also spreads by hand-to-hand contact with someone who has a cold or by sharing contaminated objects, such as utensils, towels, toys or telephones. If you touch your eyes, nose or mouth after such contact or exposure, you're likely to catch a cold.

Symptoms-Symptoms of a common cold usually appear about one to three days after exposure to a cold-causing virus. Signs and symptoms of a common cold may include:-Runny or stuffy nose,Itchy or sore throat,Cough,Congestion,Slight body aches or a mild headache,Sneezing, Watery eyes, Low-grade fever, Mild fatigue

The discharge from your nose may become thicker and yellow or green in color as a common cold runs its course. What makes a cold different from other viral infections is that you generally won't have a high fever. You're also unlikely to experience significant fatigue from a common cold.

HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINES

ACONITUM NAPELLUS  30—Give in the beginning at the start of the cold when the weather is very hot or very cold and there is much sneezing. Give it for two days. If it fails then give Ferr. Phos 6x

ALLIUM CEPA  30—Allergic coryza from pollen. Much sneezing. Copious watery and extremely acrid discharge . Coryza with cough and headache

AMMONIUM CARB. 30-  Discharge of sharp burning  water. Stopage of nose at night. Coryza  of long standing

ARSENICUM ALBUM  30—For a ripe cold. Thin watery discharge which is hot and excoriating. Nose feels stopped up. Sneezing gives no relief. It is worse in the open air and better indoors

ARUM TRIPH. 30—Acrid , excoriating discharge . Nostrils sore. Nose obstructed . Must breathe through the mouth. Irritation in the nostrils. Discharge may be bloody

CALCAREA CARB 200-  The patient takes cold easily, especially at every change of weather. Nostrils are dry, sore and ulcerated. The nose is stopped up and the discharge is fetid and of yellow color

DULCAMARA 30—Profuse during rain or when the days are hot and nights are cold. Coryza in new born babies

EUCALYPTUS  30—Thin, watery coryza with fetid discharge. Nose does not stop running. Water comes out even by bending the  head forward and without any effort

EUPHRASIA  6—Cold fully established with watering of eyes. Thick discharge but non irritating

FERRUM PHOS 1X—During the second stage of coryza, when there is heaviness of the head also

HEPAR SULPHURIS  1X- It will often secretion and profuse discharge in stuffy colds. Two or three doses are generally sufficient for the purpose. Sneezes every time he goes in the cold dry wind . Nostrils ulcerated

MENTHOLUM 30—It is curative of acute nasal catarrh with pain in the eye balls and frontal headache. Ears appear blocked up producing deafness with sore throat

MERCURIUS SOL  30—Acrid discharge. Very thick greenish discharge, has to be blown out . Sneezing in sun. It is worse in damp weather. Nostrils become ulcerated

QUILLAYA SAP.  30—If given early in the beginning of coryza , it stops the further development of cold, sore throat, dryness of throat  and cough with difficult expectoration

RHUS TOXICODENDRON 30—Coryza from exposure to cold, with winds and on getting wet while perspiring. Sneezing. Tip of the nose is red , sore, ulcerated and swollen

SABADILLA  6—Coryza with spasmodic sneezing. Severe frontal pains, redness and watering of eyws, sore throat beginning left side and tough mucus. Symptoms better hot food and hot drinks. Worse cold and cold drinks. No thrist

SAMBUCUS 30—Dry. Coryza of infants. Difficult breathing startles the child. Snuffles of infants

SAPONARIA  10M—It breaks up the cold, coryza and sore  throat . The patient behaves as if drunk

SOLANUM NIGRUM  30- Acute coryza , watery discharge from the right nostril, left stopped up, with a chilly sensation alternating with heat

TRITICUM REP  30—It is an excellent remedy for coryza when the patient blows his nose constantly even when the discharge does not come on each occasion 

COMMON DIABETES DRUG CAN REDUCE BAD CHOLESTEROL

A common diabetes drug Metformin can also help lower “bad” cholesterol that is known for promoting cardiovascular diseases by hardening the arteries, significant research has found.

“The findings suggest that Metformin might indeed have an additional beneficial effect with regards to cardiovascular diseases among the diabetes patients”, said study first author Dr Tao Xu from Helmholtz Zentrum Minchen, the German research centre for environment health in Neuherberg.

Along with the team from the German Diabetes Centre (DDZ) in Dusseldorf, Dr Tu and colleagues analysed more than 1,800 blood samples of participants.

Using a comprehensive approach, the scientists investigated metabolic products (metabolites) as well as genetics of these participants.

They found that the administration of Metformin in patients suffering from Type 2 Diabetes led to a change in metabolite levels.

According to the authors, this was associated with a significantly decreased level of LDL or “bad” cholesterol.

The researchers speculate that Metformin intake affects the levels of LDL cholesterol, leading to a down-regulation of specific genes.

“This is also supported by the fact that three lipid metabolites are decreased after taking the diabetes drug. Presumably, this is the mechanism how the production of ‘LDL’ cholesterol is repressed by Metformin,” explained

Dr Rui Wang-Sattler from the institute of epidemiology II of the Helmholtz Zentrum Minchen.

“Until now the exact mechanism is unclear. Thus, we want to continue our contribution to its decryption”, added co-study author Dr Stefan Brandmaier in a paper published in the journal Diabetes Care.

Metformin is the oldest and most frequently used oral anti-diabetes drug.

It affects blood fat levels via AMPK signalling pathway. The AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an enzyme that determines the energy status of the cell.

In case, the energy status is low, AMPK stops energy consuming processes like the synthesis of cholesterol or fatty acids.

COMMON ANTIBIOTICS LINKED WITH HEART DEATH

The antibiotic clarithromycin -- widely used for treating common bacterial infections -- is associated with an increased risk of heart deaths, finds a study published on thebmj.com today.

The authors say their findings require urgent confirmation, given that many millions of people are prescribed the drug each year. But they stress that the absolute risk is small and that prescribing practice should not be changed until results have been confirmed in an independent study.

Clarithromycin belongs to a group of antibiotics known as macrolides. Macrolide antibiotics prolong the duration of electrical activity of the heart muscle (known as the QT interval) and are therefore thought to increase the risk of potentially fatal heart rhythm problems.

Given this background, the cardiac safety profiles of individual macrolides need to be studied in greater detail to help guide clinical treatment decisions.

So a team of Danish researchers decided to assess the risk of cardiac death associated with clarithromycin and another macrolide called roxithromycin, compared with penicillin V, an antibiotic with no known cardiac risk.

Using national databases, they identified over 5 million treatment courses among Danish adults aged 40-74 years from 1997 to 2011 (160,297 with clarithromycin, 588,988 with roxithromycin and 4,355,309 with penicillin V).

Individuals with serious disease, who may be at high baseline risk of death, were excluded from the analysis.

A total of 285 cardiac deaths were observed during ongoing use with the study drugs, 18 of which occurred during use of clarithromycin and 32 during use of roxithromycin.

After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, baseline cardiac risk and use of other medication, ongoing use of clarithromycin was associated with a 76% higher risk of cardiac death compared with use of penicillin V. There was no increased risk of cardiac death with clarithromycin after treatment had ended.

The absolute risk difference was 37 cardiac deaths per 1 million courses with clarithromycin. No increased risk of cardiac death was found with ongoing or past use of roxithromycin.

"Our study expands on the available knowledge of the cardiac safety of macrolides, being the first large scale population based observational study to show significantly increased cardiac risk with clarithromycin and the relative cardiac safety of roxithromycin," write the authors.

The authors emphasise that the absolute increase in risk is small and should have limited, if any, effect on the prescribing practice in individual patients. However, they note, "clarithromycin is one of the more commonly used antibiotics in many countries and many millions of people are prescribed this drug each year; thus, the total number of excess (potentially avoidable) cardiac deaths may not be negligible."

Before these results are used to guide clinical decision making, "confirmation in independent populations is an urgent priority given the widespread use of macrolide antibiotics," they conclude.

Sensory Neuropathy remains common in HIV patients why

This article from the European Aids Treatment Group,EATG, (see link below) goes over old ground to some extent, in that most people know the story of how the older HIV meds: stavudine, didanosine, or zalcitabine were responsible for the neuropathy that many long-term HIV-patients now suffer. However, only recently has it been suggested that both a lower and higher CD4-cell count, or the virus itself, can cause neuropathic problems, as well as a number of other possible factors, including age and long-term medication use (whatever the drugs). So why, when the virus itself can and is being controlled and people's immune systems are returning to accepted healthy levels, is neuropathy still the snake in the grass?
The fact is that the research world-wide, is small-scale and inconclusive and frankly, not really good enough. More evidence of the lack of commerciality of our disease - no effective cure, means no money to be made. The most important sentence in this article may the last one, where the idea of removing the components of the medication which are likely cause nerve damage, will prevent neuropathy in the first place...hmmm is that not just too obvious!

Debilitating HIV-associated sensory neuropathy remains common
By Dave Levitan, 20/05/2010

Debilitating sensory neuropathy remains prevalent in HIV-infected patients, despite a general decline of neurological complications with use of combination antiretroviral therapy.

This finding is from a study in which the researchers tested 1,539 HIV-infected individuals for clinical signs of neuropathy and neuropathic pain.

"We were surprised by the high prevalence," lead author Dr. Ronald Ellis of the University of California, San Diego, told Reuters Health by e-mail.

"Painful neuropathy frequently persists and requires ongoing management," even when antiretroviral therapy has reduced viral load and restored immune function, he said.

In the May Archives of Neurology, Dr. Ellis and colleagues report that 881 patients (57.2%) had HIV-associated sensory neuropathy, and 335 of those 881 (38.0%) had neuropathic pain.

"Neuropathic pain was significantly associated with disability in daily activities, unemployment, and reduced quality of life," the investigators say.

Patients currently taking combination antiretroviral therapy had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.60 for clinical signs of sensory neuropathy, compared to past users or never users of antiretroviral combinations.

Age (aOR 2.13), past use of stavudine, didanosine, or zalcitabine (aOR 1.95), and lower CD4 nadir (aOR 1.16) were also associated with sensory neuropathy.

Paradoxically, neuropathic pain was associated with a higher CD4 nadir, as well as with past use of stavudine, didanosine, or zalcitabine.

In an editorial, Drs. Dennis Kolson and Francisco Gonzalez-Scarano, both of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said the "association between neuropathic pain and a higher CD4 nadir suggests that a functional immune system may contribute to the induction of pain." They also suggest considering the risk of neuropathy - and the disability that results -- when deciding whether to start antiretroviral therapy.

Regarding potential for peripheral nerve regeneration and recovery, Dr. Ellis told Reuters Health, "It may be that treatments can be designed to enhance regeneration. Alternatively, we may find that earlier HAART therapy using agents without neurotoxicity can protect individuals from developing neuropathy in the first place."

http://eatg.org/eatg/Global-HIV-News/Treatment/Debilitating-HIV-associated-sensory-neuropathy-remains-common

PRENATAL EXPOSURE TO COMMON HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS LINKED WITH SUBSTANTIAL DROP IN CHILD IQ

Children exposed during pregnancy to elevated levels of two common chemicals found in the home--di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP)--had an IQ score, on average, more than six points lower than children exposed at lower levels, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

The study is the first to report a link between prenatal exposure to phthalates and IQ in school-age children. Results appear online in the journal PLOS ONE.

DnBP and DiBP are found in a wide variety of consumer products, from dryer sheets to vinyl fabrics to personal care products like lipstick, hairspray, and nail polish, even some soaps. Since 2009, several phthalates have been banned from children's toys and other childcare articles in the United States. However, no steps have been taken to protect the developing fetus by alerting pregnant women to potential exposures. In the U.S., phthalates are rarely listed as ingredients on products in which they are used.

Researchers followed 328 New York City women and their children from low-income communities. They assessed the women's exposure to four phthalates--DnBP, DiBP, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, and diethyl phthalate--in the third trimester of pregnancy by measuring levels of the chemicals' metabolites in urine. Children were given IQ tests at age 7.

Children of mothers exposed during pregnancy to the highest 25 percent of concentrations of DnBP and DiBP had IQs 6.6 and 7.6 points lower, respectively, than children of mothers exposed to the lowest 25 percent of concentrations after controlling for factors like maternal IQ, maternal education, and quality of the home environment that are known to influence child IQ scores. The association was also seen for specific aspects of IQ, such as perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. The researchers found no associations between the other two phthalates and child IQ.

The range of phthalate metabolite exposures measured in the mothers was not unusual: it was within what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention observed in a national sample.

"Pregnant women across the United States are exposed to phthalates almost daily, many at levels similar to those that we found were associated with substantial reductions in the IQ of children," says lead author Pam Factor-Litvak, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School.

"The magnitude of these IQ differences is troubling," says senior author Robin Whyatt, DrPH, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and deputy director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School. "A six- or seven-point decline in IQ may have substantial consequences for academic achievement and occupational potential."

"While there has been some regulation to ban phthalates from toys of young children," adds Dr. Factor-Litvak, "there is no legislation governing exposure during pregnancy, which is likely the most sensitive period for brain development. Indeed, phthalates are not required to be on product labeling."

While avoiding all phthalates in the United States is for now impossible, the researchers recommend that pregnant women take steps to limit exposure by not microwaving food in plastics, avoiding scented products as much as possible, including air fresheners, and dryer sheets, and not using recyclable plastics labeled as 3, 6, or 7.

The findings build on earlier, similar observations by the researchers of associations between prenatal exposure to DnBP and DiBP and children's cognitive and motor development and behavior at age 3. This September, they reported a link between prenatal exposure to phthalates and risk for childhood asthma.

It's not known how phthalates affect child health. However, numerous studies show that they disrupt the actions of hormones, including testosterone and thyroid hormone. Inflammation and oxidative stress may also play a role.

Finally A Common Sense Approach To Cannabis For Nerve Pain

Today's post from nytimes.com (see link below) illustrates the new approach and ideas about cannabis as a pain killer perfectly. It reflects the sort of common sense that is finally gaining ground when it comes to cannabis hysteria. The older people in this article clearly benefit from (what seems to be) cannabis oil (CBD) administered to relieve their neuropathic pain and you have to give credit to the authorities that allow this to happen. One thing that comes across very strongly in this article is that people are still afraid of, or suffer, stigma associated with medicinal cannabis. Others seem to be convinced that patients will get high and are even taking it for that very reason, which of course, with cannabis oil is patent nonsense. What the future holds for medical cannabis in the current US climate of right wing political thought, is very much up in the air but neuropathy patients across the world will be hoping that common sense prevails and that even more research and study will be done until medical cannabis becomes as accepted as aspirin.

When Retirement Comes With a Daily Dose of Cannabis
By WINNIE HUFEB. 19, 2017

Ruth Brunn finally said yes to marijuana. She is 98.

She pops a green pill filled with cannabis oil into her mouth with a sip of vitamin water. Then Ms. Brunn, who has neuropathy, settles back in her wheelchair and waits for the jabbing pain in her shoulders, arms and hands to ebb.

“I don’t feel high or stoned,” she said. “All I know is I feel better when I take this.”

Ms. Brunn will soon have company. The nursing home in New York City where she lives, the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, is taking the unusual step of helping its residents use medical marijuana under a new program to treat various illnesses with an alternative to prescription drugs. While the staff will not store or administer pot, residents are allowed to buy it from a dispensary, keep it in locked boxes in their rooms and take it on their own.

From retirement communities to nursing homes, older Americans are increasingly turning to marijuana for relief from aches and pains. Many have embraced it as an alternative to powerful drugs like morphine, saying that marijuana is less addictive, with fewer side effects.

For some people, it is a last resort when nothing else helps.

Marijuana, which is banned by federal law, has been approved for medical use in 29 states, including New York, and the District of Columbia. Accumulating scientific evidence has shown its effectiveness in treating certain medical conditions. Among them: neuropathic pain, severe muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis, unintentional weight loss, and vomiting and nausea from chemotherapy. There have also been reports that pot has helped people with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia as well as Parkinson’s disease.

Recent Comments

My biggest Obama disappointment was that he did not use an executive order to make the feds get off our elderly aching backs on the MJ issue...
Mike L. Wallace Jr. 1 day ago

EPIPHANY : Cannabis is necessary for our bodies healthy endocannabinoid system to prevent illnesses . Recreational marijuana prevents many...
Oleg 1 day ago

Marijuana should be legalized same as alcohol or tobacco. It should be affordable, and people should be able to grow it either for their own...

Across the nation, the number of marijuana users who are in their later years is still relatively limited, but the increase has been significant, especially among those 65 and older, according to recent studies.
 
Marcia Dunetz, 80, said that she worried at first about what people would think. “It’s got a stigma,” she said. “People don’t really believe you’re not really getting high if you take it.” 

“It’s a bigger issue than we thought,” said Brian Kaskie, a professor of health policy at the University of Iowa who co-wrote a study published in January, “The Increasing Use of Cannabis Among Older Americans: A Public Health Crisis or Viable Policy Alternative?” “This is an elephant we’re just starting to get our hands on.”

A medical marijuana education and support club started by residents of Rossmoor Walnut Creek, a retirement community east of San Francisco, has grown to 530 members — so many that it has changed meeting rooms three times.

“I would be in a lot worse shape if I wasn’t using cannabis, both physically and mentally,” said Anita Mataraso, 72, a grandmother of six who is the program director and takes marijuana daily for arthritis and nerve pain, among other ailments.

In the state of Washington, at least a dozen assisted living facilities have formal medical marijuana policies in response to demands from their residents, said Robin Dale, the executive director of the Washington Health Care Association. The association, an industry group, has posted a sample medical marijuana policy on its website.

In March, an influential group of medical providers, AMDA — The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, will tackle the issue at its annual conference. Cari Levy, the group’s vice president, will offer a “Marijuana 101” lesson on the benefits, the risks and the potential pitfalls for providers.

“People are using it, and we need to know how to respond,” she said.

But as older people come to represent an emerging frontier in the use of marijuana for medical purposes, questions are being raised about safety and accessibility. Even in states where medical marijuana is legal, older people who stand to benefit often cannot get it. Most nursing homes do not openly sanction its use, and many doctors are reluctant to endorse pot use, saying not enough is known about the risks in the oldest age groups.

The president and chief executive of RiverSpring Health, Daniel Reingold. He said he administered marijuana to his father as a painkiller shortly before his death.

“This is a target demographic that may have their access limited, if not cut off altogether, simply because they reside in a facility,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a group that advocates the legalization of marijuana. “It is a problem that may infringe on their quality of life.”

While there is no shortage of research on marijuana, relatively little of it has focused explicitly on older users even as their numbers grow — and not just in the United States. In Israel, for instance, older people have been treated with medical marijuana for years. And Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group, helped open a research center in the Czech Republic that is evaluating its impact on older people.

“It’s an area that’s very important to look at,” said Dr. Igor Grant, the director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, San Diego, adding that older people are now one of the center’s research priorities.

“Older people can be more sensitive to medicine,” he said. “It’s possible a dose safe for a 40-year-old may not be in an 80-year-old.”

Dr. Thomas Strouse, a psychiatrist and palliative care doctor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that just as sleeping and pain medications could harm older people, marijuana could possibly make them confused, dizzy or more likely to fall.

“There is no evidence that it is particularly helpful to older people, and some reason that it could be harmful,” he said.

Most nursing homes have also taken a cautious position, often resorting to a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach.

“If residents are taking it, they are taking it undercover without the staff knowing so it’s not part of their care plan,” said Dr. Cheryl Phillips, senior vice president for public policy and health services for LeadingAge, an industry group representing more than 2,000 nursing homes. “I think that creates a safety problem.”

Fred Miles, a Colorado lawyer who represents nursing home operators, said nursing homes — unlike assisted living facilities — were regulated by the federal government, and were fearful of jeopardizing their Medicare and Medicaid funding. Staff members who administer marijuana could also theoretically face criminal prosecution under federal law, he said, though he has never heard of that happening.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said no nursing home had specifically lost financing or been penalized for permitting the use of marijuana. In New York State, which started a medical marijuana program in 2016, its use is restricted to people with designated medical conditions, including neuropathy, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, H.I.V., AIDS and cancer.

At the Hebrew Home in the Bronx, the medical marijuana program was years in the making. Daniel Reingold, the president and chief executive of RiverSpring Health, which operates the home, said he saw its powers firsthand when his own father, Jacob, was dying from cancer in 1999. To ease his father’s pain, Mr. Reingold boiled marijuana into a murky brown tea. His father loved it, and was soon laughing and eating again.

“The only relief he got in those last two weeks was the tea,” Mr. Reingold said.

When Mr. Reingold requested approval from the nursing home’s board members, there were no objections or concerns, he said. Instead, they joked that they would have to increase the food budget.

Then Dr. Zachary Palace, the medical director, developed a program that seeks to offer marijuana as an option but also comply with federal regulations: Though the nursing home recommends and monitors its use, residents are responsible for buying, storing and administering it themselves.

Last fall, the first three residents started taking marijuana pills. Their families obtain the pills at a dispensary in Yonkers run by Etain, a company licensed by the state to sell medical marijuana to qualifying patients or their designated caregivers, who must live in New York. Dr. Palace said that as the program expanded this month, as many as 50 residents could be using marijuana.

Marcia Dunetz, 80, a retired art teacher who has Parkinson’s, said she worried at first about what people would think. “It’s got a stigma,” she said. “People don’t really believe you’re not really getting high if you take it.”

But she decided to try it anyway. Now, she no longer wakes up with headaches and feels less dizzy and nauseated. Her legs also do not freeze up as often.

For Ms. Brunn, the marijuana pills have worked so well that she has cut back on her other pain medication, morphine.

Her daughter, Faith Holman, 61, said the pills cost $240 a month, which is not covered by health insurance. Ms. Holman, who lives in New Jersey, also has to ask a family friend to go to the Yonkers dispensary.

“Obstacles had to be overcome,” Ms. Holman said. “But I think she was meant to have it because everything has worked out.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/nyregion/retirement-medicinal-marijuana.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news