This is your captain speaking
Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your captain speaking.
Welcoming both seated and standing passengers on board of L**n Air.
We apologize for the four-day delay in taking off, it was due to bad weather and some overtime I had to put in at the bakery.
If you are suffering from hemorrhoids you are definitely not alone. This is a problem that plagues people from all over. The good thing is that there is a lot of hemorrhoid information available, and treatment options are beginning to advance as well.
Hemorrhoids are also sometimes referred to as piles, and they are nothing more than small lumps of fiber, muscle, and blood vessels. As far as the location of hemorrhoids, they are always found just past the anus, in the anus canal.
The majority of people that seek out hemorrhoid information are the ones that are actually suffering. In most cases, hemorrhoids plague men and women that are in the 45 to 65 year old age; but with that being said they can show up in anybody regardless of age.
The good thing about hemorrhoids is that they are not as dangerous as you may think. Sure, they are quite painful if you have them, but unless they bleed on a consistent basis you do not have to worry about them having too much of a negative effect on your overall health.
Generally speaking hemorrhoids are caused by a bad diet as well as straining too hard during constipation. If you can avoid these two things, then you can avoid getting hemorrhoids. And this is what you want to do because treating them can be more difficult than simply avoiding them.
To find hemorrhoid information you can go to the doctor or simply head online. Either way you should be able to find plenty of information.
If you have hemorrhoids, one way that you can get rid of them is with hemorrhoid laser treatment. Even though this is not always necessary, especially for mild cases, it can still go a long way in helping some people out. If you think that this treatment may be able to help you out, the best thing to do is speak with your doctor. He or she will be able to tell you if your case is severe enough to need hemorrhoid laser treatment.
The process of hemorrhoid laser treatment is quite simple. A beam of light is used in order to cut the hemorrhoids away from the tissue. In turn this leaves you hemorrhoid free without having to undergo any sort of major surgery. In addition, with hemorrhoid laser treatment there is little to no bleeding because the laser also does an excellent job in cauterizing the area.
Since hemorrhoid laser treatment does not require any incisions, the recovery time is much quicker. This makes it easier for people to get back to both their normal life and their normal diet. After the procedures there are no stitches that need to be removed either.
Overall, hemorrhoid laser treatment may be right for you if you are suffering from this problem over and over again. Your doctor will be able to set you up with this treatment, and from there you should be back to normal in no time at all. Almost 100% of the people that undergo hemorrhoid laser treatment comment that they were happy with the end result.
On average, 20 percent of individuals in the United States suffer from hayfever. Hayfever is caused by an allergic reaction mainly to different forms of pollen and ragweed. Hayfever has different effects on every individual depending on how severely they suffer from allergies. Some individuals may experience slight discomfort whereas the pain can be practically unbearable for others. So how do you know if you have hayfever? The following is a list of categories to consider in order to determine whether or not you are suffering from hayfever:
When Does It Occur?
Hayfever is a seasonal reaction which often starts in early June and continues through to the middle of July. Whenever pollen and ragweed season begins (usually near the beginning of seasons) is when you are most likely to start experiencing the symptoms.
Symptoms
There are many symptoms which may indicate you are suffering from hayfever. The most common symptoms are listed in categories below:
1. Eyes – An individual suffering from hayfever will experience many difficulties with their eyes. Itchy, watery eyes are an indication of hayfever as well as swollen red eyes. The best way to prevent yourself from scratching your eyes is to use Visine or some other form of eye drops. These drops will also reduce the redness your eyes may be experiencing.
2. Nose – Sneezing, running and stuffy noses are usually a good indication that you may be experiencing hayfever. Sinus problems (especially a plugged nose) can potentially cause severe headaches. To treat these symptoms use any form of nasal spray to clear your nose as best as possible.
3. Breathing – If you have hayfever, you may find it difficult to breathe. You may also notice wheezing or tightness in you chest. These symptoms are often identified as the same symptoms of asthma. They can be treated with the same forms of treatment for asthma sufferers. Possibly a puffer.
Suffering from hayfever can make it difficult to work and function on a daily basis. Unfortunately, hayfever tends to strike at the most inappropriate times such as when exams are being held for college or university students. It can also greatly affect your appearance and performance at work. There are easy ways to treat hayfever; the most appropriate perhaps is to visit your doctor who will prescribe medication to help you cope with your symptoms.
Not only do temperatures and weather conditions change as the fall season approaches, but those annoying allergies you get every year, around this time, are likely to hit again. But don’t worry just yet, there are ways to fight the annoyance so you can be as allergy-free as possible this fall.
Sometimes it is hard to distinguish whether the symptoms you are experiencing are due to a cold or allergies. The clear difference between the two is colds usually tend to be short-lived whereas allergies can run for weeks or even months. The most common allergy is pollen (also called hay fever), which causes symptoms to flare-up due to the pollen grains floating through the air. Allergies tend to occur when the seasons change and you may notice your allergies approaching at almost the exact same time every year.
There are many things you can do to help ensure you do not get allergies this fall season, and here are some of the most effective prevention tips:
• Close Your Windows – keep your windows closed in both your house and your car especially at night. This will prevent pollen and mold spores from entering your house and into the air you breathe.
• Stay Indoors – staying indoors (with your windows shut) is probably the best way to ensure you don’t get allergies this season. Most of the pollen is found outdoors, so eliminate this allergic element as much as possible.
• Use Your Air Conditioner – Turning on your air conditioner provides relief by cleaning, cooling and drying the air in your home. Dehumidifiers or air filters will also help in these situations.
• Use Air Ionizers& HEPA Filters – These products remove particulates from the air you breathe.
• Protect Yourself – If it is necessary for you to go outside to do yard work (or for other reasons), protect yourself by wearing a mask or a cover-up of some sort to keep you from breathing in the “contaminated air”.
• Take Showers and Baths – If you are outdoors for extended periods of time, take either a shower or a bath when you return home. Showers and baths will wash away some of the pollen that is left on your body. Changing your clothes when you come in from being outside is also a good idea.
If none of these things work for you and you find yourself suffering from allergy symptoms anyway, there are treatments which can help. Nasal Sprays, oral antihistamines and decongestants are all great for allergy relief. For itchy and watery eyes there are many forms of eye drops like Visine which you can purchase at any drugstore.
Immunotherapy (an allergy shot) is also a great way to help with your allergies this season. Check with your doctor before using any medications or treatments since some can potentially cause harmful side effects.
In a significant shift in strategy in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Centers for Disease Control recently recommended that tests for HIV be extended to all patients entering hospitals and clinics in the U.S. The CDC also recommended that doctors begin offering routine voluntary HIV tests to patients between 13 and 64.
It is estimated that of the more than 1 million people in the U.S. with HIV and AIDS, about 25% are unaware they have HIV. The new strategy is aimed at discovering these cases before HIV develops into AIDS. It is also hoped these measures will curb the spread of the disease since these 250,000 people are carriers who unknowingly infect others.
This marks a departure from the previously followed strategy of testing only people in high risk categories.
This policy change will also involve a shift away from the promotion of abstinence and condom use to prevent the spread of the disease, towards more emphasis being placed on testing for HIV status and early treatment.
According to a spokesperson for the CDC, what explains this change in policy is that drugs now exist that can prevent the development of AIDS from HIV. Early detection can therefore result in early treatment. In the past early detection did not necessarily mean much since there was very little that could be done for someone infected with HIV.
It is also hoped that early detection will result in less transmission of the disease. A recent CDC survey found that sexually-active adults altered their sexual behavior patterns after they were diagnosed with HIV. They were less likely to engage in unprotected sexual activity, in many cases opting for a condom or for not engaging in sex at all.
Drug companies and makers of oral tests stand to benefit significantly from this change of emphasis. It is expected that tests which are now administered at hospitals and clinics will soon be available over the counter. People interested in testing themselves will be able to do it at home. This should result in a significant increase in sales of HIV testing kits.
There should also be a rise in HIV treatment drugs as hundreds of thousands of people learn they have HIV and begin treatment with anti-HIV drugs. Currently anti-HIV drugs account for about $6-billion in sales in the U.S. That number should increase dramatically if the new testing procedures prove to be effective.
Some argue that as in so many areas within the health industry, efforts aimed at prevention will be replaced by promises of a quick cure brought to us compliments of the incredibly influential and increasingly invasive drug companies.
Drugs For Treating Aids May Prevent People From Catching Aids
In one of the most promising developments in more than 20 years, scientists claim that drugs used to control HIV/AIDS in patients may also be effective in preventing the disease in the first place.
The drugs in question are tenofovir (Viread) and emtricitabine, or FTC (Emtriva), sold in combination as Truvada by Gilead Sciences Inc. Gilead is the California company best known for inventing Tamiflu.
Previous research has been aimed at finding a vaccine against HIV/AIDS, with the intention of conditioning the immune system against the disease. But these drugs work differently. They simply keep the virus from reproducing, and have already been used successfuly by health care workers to prevent them from being infected by the virus carried by patients.
This approach to fighting HIV/AIDS has been tempting researchers for many years, but has only recently become feasible as preventative drugs have been developed that are safe for non-infected persons to take. Previous drugs had unreasonable effects for uninfected persons.
That situation changed when Tenofovir came on the market in 2001. Tenofovir is powerful and safe, and it only has to be taken once a day. It also does not interact with other medicines or birth control pills, and manifests less drug resistance than other AIDS medications.
Monkey studies show exciting results
A major study by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in Atlanta, Georgia involved six macaques. The monkeys were given a combination of Tenofovir and FTC and then administered a deadly combination of monkey and human AIDS viruses. They were given the viruses in rectal doses to simulate contact between gay men.
Each was given 14 weekly exposures of the virus, and none of the monkeys became infected. In a control group which did not receive the drugs, all but one got the disease, normally after just two exposures.
The scientists then stopped giving the drugs to the test group to see if the prevention was only temporary. The results were equally impressive. None of the monkeys contracted the disease. “We’re now four months following the animals with no drug, no virus. They’re uninfected and healthy,” reported a CDC researcher.
Now other research teams are pushing to have this drug combination tested on humans. A $29 million CDC study of drug users in Botswana will now be switched to this new drug combination.
Another study of 400 heterosexual women in Ghana by the Family Health Initiative, and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is studying the effects of tenofovir alone.
But several other studies have failed to materialize because studies of this nature immediately raise suspicions that scientists are using local people as guinea pigs. The fear is that they will intentionally expose the test subjects to the virus.
The cost of tenofovir and Truvada also make testing difficult. In African countries condoms are now liberally donated by companies, aid groups, UN agencies, and western governments. While the drugs are relatively cheap, the cost remains an impediment.
Nevertheless researchers have been reinvigorated by the stunning results out of Atlanta, and new tests are going ahead in pockets of interest around the world.
AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome it causes a destruction of the immune system. It is the most advanced stage of the HIV virus (HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus). AIDS is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the presence of a positive HIV antibody test and one or more of the illnesses known as opportunistic infections.
The HIV virus, type 1 or 2 is widely known to be the cause of AIDS. HIV breaks down and attacks your T cells so your body is unable to defend itself against different infections. The HIV virus also attacks your peripheral nervous system, this causes nerve and muscle pain, especially in the feet, legs, and hands.
HIV is spread through direct contact with semen or blood of an individual that is infected. This can be transferred in many ways the most common is unprotected sexual intercourse. Other means of infection are infected blood transfusions, mother to infant (at time of birth, or through breast milk), sharing needles with an infected person, and rarely a healthcare worker that gets pricked with an infected needle.
Often people who are infected with HIV have few symptoms and in some cases there are none. Other times, symptoms of HIV are confused with other illnesses such as the flu. This may be severe, with swollen glands in the neck and armpits, tiredness, fever and night sweats. This is where as much as 9 out of 10 of the infected individuals will develop AIDS. At this point the person may feel completely healthy and not even know that he/she has the virus. The next stage begins when the immune system starts to break down and the virus becomes more aggressive in damaging white cells. Several glands in the neck and armpits may swell and stay swollen for an extended period of time without any explanation. As this disease progresses boils or warts may spread over the body. They may also feel tremendously tired, night sweats, high fevers, chronic diarrhea, and they may lose a considerable amount of their body weight. Most cases have shown thrush as a symptom as well. At this point the person is in the final stages of HIV–AIDS. Severe chest infections with high fever are common and survival rate is above 70% but decrease with each recurrence.
A person is diagnosed with AIDS when he/she has one or more positive HIV screening and the presence of an AIDS defining condition. Some of the common conditions include but are not limited to: Meningitis, Encephalitis, Dementia, Pneumonia, Kaposi sarcoma, and Lymphoma. There is also a blood test called an Immune Profile that can be done. This test is used to measure the loss of immunity and help decide on the best treatment. There is a test that is rarely used due to its high cost, it is known as a Viral Load: This test detects the virus itself, and also measures the amount of HIV in the blood. It shows how quickly the HIV infection is likely to advance. A high viral load suggests that the person may progress rapidly to AIDS.
Although there is no cure for AIDS there are medical treatments that aide in prolonging, and maintaining the best quality of life possible. These include two nucleoside inhibitors, lamivudine and zidovudine. Actual treatment plans will vary with each patient, along with the physical aspect of this disease. The psychological side has to be addressed in order for a treatment plan to be effective.
The easiest way to escape contracting this disease is to avoid the risk factors that you are in control of. Such as: unprotected sex, not sharing a needle, and if you are in the healthcare field be sure to use all precautions necessary to avoid an accidental prick from a possible infected needle (remember that in this diseases early stages it is common for the person not to even know they are infected). Today AIDS is the fifth leading cause of death among all adults aged 25 to 44 in the United States. Among African-Americans in the 25 to 44 age group, AIDS is the leading cause of death for men and the second leading cause of death for women. Our society needs to become aware that by not protecting ourselves we are killing ourselves and that this has to stop.
There are many drugstore and alternative Internet products for treating hemorrhoids. Most of the products are not made to cure or eliminate hemorrhoids but to give you temporary relief of itching, pain, swelling or bleeding. I don’t recommend using any type of product that is not natural or that comes from a drugstore.
If the product contains petrochemicals, additives, coloring, dyes, or other chemicals, which enhance its appearance and feel, I would not use them. Most, if not all, of these chemicals will be absorbed into your body where your organs of elimination will have to deal with eliminating them.
All products whether drugs, drugstore medications, or natural formulations use chemicals, substances, oils, and herbs that have the following properties:
Anesthetics – suppresses pain and gives relief…any name with the suffix “caine” like tetracaine
Analgesics – suppresses and give pain relief – some of them are Anacin, Tylenol with Codeine, OxyContin, Darvocet, Ultracet
Vasoconstrictors – helps to narrow or constrict hemorrhoidal veins…any name with the suffix “rine” like phenylephrine
Lubricants – provide lubrication in the colon to relieve constipation – mineral oil, flax seed oil, castor, oil olive oil
Astringents – help to tighten tissue, which have been pushed out by hemorrhoid action – zinc oxide, witch hazel, calamine
Keratolytics – help to remove excess hemorrhoidal tissue. They are compounds of sulfur and salicylic acid
Many of the drugstore medications have anesthetics. They can aggravate and irritate the hemorrhoids you’re trying to eliminate. If you are using one of these drugstore medications, consider using a more natural remedy.
In 1975 Carl I. Flath, wrote a book called The Miracle Nutrient – How Dietary Fiber Can Save Your Life. In his book he talks about the effectiveness of drugstore suppositories,
“Suppositories quickly work their way up in the rectum beyond the location of most internal hemorrhoids, and so are of limited value in reducing local pain. As antiseptics they are essentially worthless, since the surface areas they are supposed to protect are under constant exposure to new bacteria….
Anesthetic agents do offer temporary relief from local irritations and pain… Neither the suppositories nor the ointments, however, do anything whatever to correct the basic cause of hemorrhoids—constipation.”
There are a number of over the counter hemorrhoids treatment products available and proper advice from a doctor or pharmacist must be taken, when choosing which one is the most appropriate.
Before applying medication, the anal area needs to be gently washed by dabbing, (avoid wiping) with a moistened cleansing tissue. It’s advisable not to use colored or scented tissue.
Any of the over the counter hemorrhoids treatment which contains a vasoconstrictor must be avoided if you have any of the following conditions; hypertension, urinary difficulties, cardiovascular disease, diabetes or if you’ve been prescribed medication for depression. A vasoconstrictor may be in the form of phenylephrine HCI, ephedrine or epinephrine. Some people may be allergic or hypersensitive to products including local anesthetics. The ingredients may cause pain, irritation, swelling or redness. If this occurs, patients need to consult their doctor, or if protrusion, seeping or bleeding occurs.
Some products can be inserted intrarectally for the treatment of internal hemorrhoids, and some products can only be used externally. Astringents, vasoconstrictors and protectants are allowable for internal hemorrhoids.
Over the counter hemorrhoids treatment can be roughly divided into the following, and their major benefits being; astringents which decrease inflammation, give relief from burning and itching but not pain, protectants which decrease inflammation, vasoconstrictors which help to reduce irritation and itchiness, local anesthetics which help with pain, itching and burning, keratolytics which reduces itchiness and discomfort, antipruritics which act as counter irritants and hydrocortisone which helps with itching and swelling.
If you are unfortunate enough to be a sufferer, over the counter hemorrhoids treatment can at least bring relief fairly quickly, and lead to eliminating the problem.