Relief For Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. RA is a systemic disease, often affecting extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and muscles. Rheumatoid arthritis can also cause inflammation of the tissue around the joints, as well as other organs in the body.

Rheumatoid arthritis is two to three times more common in women than in men and generally strikes between the ages of 20 and 50. But rheumatoid arthritis can also affect young children and adults older than age 50. About 60% of RA patients are unable to work 10 years after the onset of their disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is a common rheumatic disease, affecting more than two million people in the United States. The disease is three times more common in women as in men. It afflicts people of all races equally.

RA can affect any joint, but the most common places are the hands or feet. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes redness, pain, swelling or a hot (or warm) feeling in the lining of a joint, the place where 2 or more bones come together. Worldwide, about 1% of people are believed to have rheumatoid arthritis, but the rate varies among different groups of people.

Rheumatoid arthritis is different from osteoarthritis, the common arthritis that often comes with older age. Rheumatoid arthritis is rarely associated with pyoderma gangrenosum, a necrotizing, ulcerative, noninfectious neutrophilic dermatosis. RA can affect body parts besides joints, such as your eyes, mouth and lungs. RA is an autoimmune disease, which means the arthritis results from your immune system attacking your body's own tissues.

Rheumatoid arthritis most often affects the smaller joints, such as those of the hands and/or feet, wrists, elbows, knees, and/or ankles. RA may start gradually or with a sudden, severe attack with flu-like symptoms. It's important to remember that RA symptoms vary from person to person. In some people the disease will be mild with periods of activity or joint inflammation and inactivity. Along with painful, inflamed joints, RA can cause inflammation in other body tissues and organs. In 20% of cases, lumps called rheumatoid nodules develop under the skin, often over bony areas.

Treatments for arthritis have improved in recent years. Corticosteroids. These medications, such as Prednisone and methylprednisolone (Medrol), reduce inflammation and pain, and slow joint damage. Medications used to control RA fall into two categories: those that relieve symptoms and those that have the potential to modify the course of the disease. Exercise is also an important part of a treatment program. Immunosuppressants medications act to tame your immune system, which is out of control in rheumatoid arthritis.

Some of the commonly used immunosuppressants include leflunomide (Arava), azathioprine (Imuran), cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune) and cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan). These medications can have potentially serious side effects such as increased susceptibility to infection. Rituximab-Rituximab reduces the number of B cells in your body. B cells are involved in inflammation. The most common antidepressants used for arthritis pain and nonrestorative sleep are amitriptyline, nortriptyline (Aventyl, Pamelor) and trazodone (Desyrel).

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Tips

1. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen (Motrin and others), naproxen (Naprosyn, Aleve), Celecoxib (Celebrex) and many others.

2. Light exercise may be beneficial for improving blood circulation to joints.

3. Various anti-cytokine medications are now being used to treat painful disease states such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.

4. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is a type of medicine that reduces pain and swelling.

5. Severely affected joints may require joint replacement surgery, such as knee replacement.

6. Corticosteroids are man-made drugs that closely resemble cortisone, a hormone natural produced by the body.

7. Immunosuppressants medications act to tame your immune system, which is out of control in rheumatoid arthritis.

Juliet Cohen writes articles for health and fitness and diseases treatment. For more information visit our site at http://www.healthfitnesstips.org/.

Post Traumatic Headaches - Life After the Car Accident

Many times after a car accident people will have initial neck pain, are seen in the emergency room and treated. If the injuries are not life threatening they are sent home with some medication and told to rest. Unfortunately, many will start to have headaches, even if they have never had headaches before. Those with a history of headaches will find their headaches are getting worse. Most of the time the headache will dissipate over a week or two and everything will be fine.

But what if the headaches don't go away? What happens and what do people do if the headache gets worse? Post traumatic headaches that get better in four to six weeks are considered acute headaches, but those that stay at the same pain level, start to get worse, or go beyond six weeks are more concerning. The headaches may be all over the head and moderate in pain with breakthrough stabbing, throbbing pain on one side. This more severe form of headache is associated with migraine symptoms and indeed is a migraine.

At this point most people will reach for the over the counter medications such as Excedrin or Tylenol. Failing that, they may try the medication the doctor in the emergency room gave them and most of the time these treatments are quite successful. However, there is a certain percentage of people who will not respond to this treatment and as a result will start taking more and more medication. The headaches will begin to get worse for two reasons.

First of all, the medication will start enhancing the headaches and cause a condition known as analgesic rebound headache syndrome. In this case, the headache pain goes up and the person grabs the Excedrin which brings the headache down a bit. But, as the medication wears off, the headache starts getting bad again. More medication, more bouncing up and down in pain levels. Eventually, the medication stops working but the person still keeps taking it in desperation because they don't know what else to do. They might got to their doctor and get stronger drugs, such as Lortab but this only makes the situation worse.

Secondly, the medication used at this point is all wrong. Post traumatic headaches respond best to low doses of tri-cyclic anti-depressants such as Elavil or Pamelor. Elavil is generally accepted as being the best medication, but most doctors make the mistake of using migraine doses (10-50mg). Unfortunately, post-traumatic headaches do not respond to this dose but most people do respond when the dose is slowly titrated up to 75-150 mg. Fortunately, this medication is also excellent for any associated neck pain and spasms!

The breakthrough migraines are treated just like that..like migraines. A small dose of an anti-seizure drug may also be necessary with triptans (Imitrex or Maxalt) for when the pain is bad.

Don't forget, like all other headache syndromes, lifestyle is very important. Regular sleep cycles, good diet and exercise as tolerated will all help the headaches get better. In this particular case, however, the vitamins and herbs used to successfully treat migraines do not have much of an effect on post traumatic headaches. None the less, many people do want to try them to help the migraine component.

The key to post traumatic headache syndrome is to find a headache speCialist and be patient. If the headaches are severe, chances are that it will take several months for any one treatment to have an effect. Most people are not aware of this fact in headache treatment, so they tend to start and stop treatments after a few days or weeks and become discouraged. The longer the brain has the treatments on board, the greater the chance it will heal.

Mary K. Betz, MS RPA-C is a practicing Physician Assistant in neurology who specializes in headache medicine. For more information visit http://www.headache-adviser.com

Depression Treatment

Lots of people endure from depression, and it's not something that anyone need be embarrassed of. This is an important starting point for those who are in need of treatment. Depression should be treated like any other bodily illness, and like other physical illnesses it can often be fixed with prescription drugs. Having said that, it can also frequently be dealt with without drugs, through psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy unfortunately also has a stigma associated to it in the minds of various people, but it is nothing more than a form of counselling where the depressed person is given an occasion to chat about life and the way they feel. The very process of being able to talk about pain and misery in a non-judgemental environment can have an immensely healing effect, especially for those who are suffering mild or moderate cases of depression. Severely depressed persons do not generally profit from psychotherapy and counselling to the same extent. Severe depression generally requires supplementing counselling with other depression treatments. Even so, counselling is not only a good starting point in the process, but a competent counsellor will generally be the best person to give advice as to the need for more treatment.

Severe depression needs medication and sometimes hospitalisation. Even then, it can often take some time to get treatment right, as there are a selection of antidepressant drugs available on the market and some of them can have dangerous side-effects.

Part of the reason for the popularity of antidepressants such as Prozac or Zoloft is that they usually have a small number of side-effects, apart from a regular diminish of libido, and hence are relatively safe to prescribe. However such drugs do not work at all for some people who may require 'tricyclics' such as Vivactil, Norpramin or Pamelor. The problem with tricyclics is that it can cause problems for those already suffering with heart disease, and getting the correct dosage right is far more tricky than with Prozac or Zoloft. People certainly have been known to seriously overdose on tricyclics.

These issues highlight the need for antidepressant medication to be administered by a trained psychiatrist and not by a general practitioner. A good psychiatrist will also be the best person to dictate if the individual should be hospilatised.

For those who need to be hospitalized, electric shock therapy (ECT) is another form of treatment that has proven very valuable to some people. This is generally only used with people who have rare and harsh symptoms of depression and who have become manic. ECT is usually only considered for those who have not been successful on antidepresasnt medication and when all other types of treatment have failed to make the symptoms of the depression less acute.

ECT involves electrical stimulation that causes the brain to seizure in order to lessen the depression. While this sounds shocking, this treatment should not be associated with the torturous forms of shock therapy frequently seen in films. Today, patients who are given ECT you are also given muscle relaxants so as to remove all discomfort and pain. ECT is generally used in conjunction with both antidepressant medication and counselling. Sometimes the ECT will let a person to become free of a depressive episode after which they will be able to look after their equilibrium through the use of normal antidepressants.

Dealing efficiently with depression can obviously be very testing, and the cost (financially as well as physically) can be high, but these costs generally pale in comparison to the toll taken by depression that is left untreated.

For more information on treatments for depression visit Depression Treatment

Pros and Cons of Taking Medication for Manic Depression

Medication is not usually used as a first line of defense against manic depression. Often, the patient has to undergo psychotherapy before the doctor will finally decide if he or she needs to take antidepressants. The reason for this is that the effects of these medications can differ from patient to patient. And these effects can either be beneficial or, sometimes, fatal to patients.

Of course, the medications for manic depression are designed to cure the patient suffering from it. However, since it is a mental illness, it cannot be avoided that other patients would react negatively to the drug while others find the drug relatively helpful.

Manic depression occurs when there is an imbalance with the neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that control the functions of the brain. When there is an imbalance among these neurotransmitters, either mania or depression occurs.

From here, let us discuss the pros and cons of manic depression medications:

At present, there are 4 groups of antidepressants:

1) SSRIs or Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors


2) MAOIs or Monoamine oxidase inhibitors


3) TCAs or Tricyclic


4) Lithium carbonates

SSRIs are antidepressants that fix the serotonin levels of the brain. Popular SSRIs are sertraline (Zoloft), fLuvoxamine (Luvox), Fluoxetine (Prozac) citalopram (Celexa), paroxetine (Paxil), and escitalopram oxalate (Lexapro).

There are new SSRIs, the nefazodone (Serzone) and the venlafaxine (Effexor) that work not only to fix the serotonin levels of the brain but also another neurotransmitter, particularly the norepinephrine. Another antidepressant, the bupropion (Wellbutrin), affects dopamine and norepinephrine, more than the serotonin.

MAOIs or Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (phenelzine and tranylcypromine) inhibit the MOI (an enzyme works to break down certain neurotransmitters) at the same time reinstate the normal mood of the patient.

TCAs or Tricyclic antidepressants relieve depression by maintaining the right amount of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system. Popular tricyclic antidepressants are despiramine (Norpramin), imipramine (Janimine and Trofanil), amitriptyline (Elavil), and nortryptyline (Pamelor)

Lithobid and Eskalith are Lithium carbonates that reduce the excessive activity of the brain.

Other antimanic medications include carbamazepine (Tegretol), divalproex sodium (Depakote), and lithium citrate (Cibalith-S).

All these, of course, are created for the benefit of the patient suffering from manic depression, especially the episodes of depression. However, since they are drugs, the effects may not be as desirable as they have to be; because, there are several patients that experience several side effects in taking these drugs.

Side effects could range from hair loss, motor problems, weight gain, headaches, tremor, diarrhea, anxiety, reduced sexual performance or drive, nausea, to dry mouth depending on what type of medication is given.

The occurrences of these side effects still depend on each patient. Some can claim that they experience at least one of the mentioned side effects while others can experience two or more. It should be noted that these are unavoidable but if the patient thinks that the medication he or she is taking gives more harm than good, the choice to continue now depends on him or her with the advice of his or her doctor.

As a precautionary measure, the patient should consult an expert psychiatrist or a qualified doctor with experience of handling cases of manic depression. Alternatively, ask for other types of treatment that may work more effectively like alternative medicines, psychotherapy, or for the worst cases of manic depression - electroconvulsive therapy.

The author of this article, Matthew OConnor runs a site dedicated to the latest news and developments in depression treatments, particularly the crucial topic of medication for manic depression.

How Antidepressant Drugs Work

While not necessarily addictive, antidepressant drugs can cause serious side effects that lead to erratic behavior. Such side effects create a dangerous situation in the workplace, the home, while driving and in many other instances. Those antidepressant drugs of particular concern are tricyclic antidepressants.

Amitriptyline is an antidepressant drug that goes by the brand name Limbitrol. Nortriptyline is also a part of the tricyclic antidepressant family and is prescribed as Aventyl and Pamelor. Doxepin is used to treat both depression and anxiety and can be found under the names Adapin and Sinequan. Desipramine is sometimes also prescribed to treat eating disorders and withdrawal symptoms from cocaine addiction. It is sold under the name brands Norpramin and Pertofrane.

How Do Tricyclic Antidepressants Work?

Antidepressants work by helping to maintain certain levels of neurotransmitters, chemicals called serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain. These chemicals help to regulate mood and modes of thinking. By elevating a person suffering from depression's mood, antidepressants alleviate the feelings of hopelessness, sadness and the general lack of interest in living associated with their condition. The medication is typically taken as an antidepressant pill, but is also available in syrup form.

Effects of Antidepressant Drugs

Antidepressant drugs, especially tricyclic antidepressant drugs can cause a whole array of side effects. Side effects include, upset stomach, dry mouth, increase in skin sensitivity, insomnia, drowsiness, changes in sex drive, changes in appetite and confusion. Serious antidepressant side effects that require medical attention include constipation, difficulty in speaking, irregular heartbeat, trembling, stiffness of limbs and hallucinations. Tricyclic antidepressants also create an increased likelihood of thoughts of suicide and attempts in children and adolescents. Any sudden behavior changes, mood swings or extreme agitation should be relayed to your child's doctor.

Signs of Tricyclic Antidepressant Overdoses

Someone overdosing on tricyclic antidepressants exhibits many signs and should be taken to a medical facility immediately. Warning signs of a potential overdose include seizures, dilated pupils, pounding or irregular heartbeat, hallucinations, difficulty breathing, severe drowsiness, and vomiting.

How To Test For Antidepressant Drugs

While antidepressant drugs are a prescription medication with legitimate uses, they can be potentially dangerous to those who work in fields that require the operation of heavy machinery and other hazardous activities. There are many different kinds of drug testing kits that test for tricyclic antidepressants in one's system, such as urine drug tests, saliva drug tests and hair follicle drug tests.

Having an employee that is under the influence of antidepressant drugs such as amitriptyline, nortriptyline or doxepin can be potentially dangerous, not only to themselves, but to other employees and the health of your company. That is why performing drug tests at your workplace to detect antidepressant use can keep your workers safe, your reputation sound and your company producing to the best of its ability.

As a parent, the prescription drugs your child or teenager is taking is obviously of concern to you. But the potential side effects of some drugs like tricyclic antidepressants are astounding and should be carefully monitored. To test your teen for amitriptyline use, nortriptyline use, doxepin use, desirpramine use and other antidepressant drugs that have been shown to increase the likelihood of suicidal thoughts in adolescents, a drug test kit can help to calm your mind and decide what is best for your child.

A longer version of this article is located at Anti-Depressant.org. The article is prepared by Serhat Pala who runs the website TestCountry.com.

Some of the information used in this article are taken from:Common misspellings for Tricyclic Anti-Depressants

Depression - Finding The Right Medication

Once it has been established that a person is suffering from clinical depression, help for the condition is fairly easy to get. Even "regular" physicians are so informed about depression that they can prescribe treatment for it. It's no longer necessary (in most cases) to see a speCialist to get a diagnosis or medication for it.

If the patient chooses treatment in the form of medication, there are many options available. Each medication has some side effects, so it's just a question of trying different medications until the right one has been established. With most of the medications, results can be seen within three to six weeks, given that the patient takes them on a regular basis and that the dosage is adequate for the patient.

Treatment in the form of medication is usually divided into the following categories:

- SSRIs (Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are medications such as Zoloft, Luvox, Paxil and Prozac. These are the most prescribed drugs for the treatment of depression They only have a few and tolerable side effects, such as mild headaches, insomnia, feeling very sedated, nausea and a decrease in interest in sex. The later can be helped with a small dosage of special medication and the other side effects usually wear of within a few days. They are safe in overdose.

- SNRIs (Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) such as Effexor and Serzone also have good results. The side effects are about the same as the SSRIs, except for the sexual side effects. They are also safe in overdose.

- Bupropion (Wellbutrin) has restlessness, anxiety and insomnia as side effects. It is not safe in overdose, since higher amounts of this medication can cause seizures. It is therefore also not recommended in treatment of depressive patients with epilepsy. - Mirtazapine (Remeron) is fairly new on the market. The known side effects are weight gain and a sense of sedation. Due to the later, it is only used at night. It is safe in overdose.

- TCAs (Tricyclic Antidepressants) such as Elavil, Pamelor and Norpramin are one of the first types of medication used in treatment of depression. It has quite a lot of side effects and has to be monitored closely by the physician. Despite of this, it is an effective treatment and many patients turn to it when all other treatment forms have failed. The most common side effects are blurred vision, dizziness or feeling lightheaded that can lead to a fall, constipation, urinary problems, dry mouth, a feeling of sedation, heart palpitations and weight gain. It can be fatal in an overdose.

- MAOIs (monoamine oxidase inhibitors) such as Parnate and Nardil are also older forms of medication that are especially used in the treatment of atypical depression, where the patient complains of unexplained body aches, excessive sleeping and overeating. When all else fails, this form of medication is often prescribed. It does come with a lot of side effects though, the same as TCAs. During usage of this medication the patient has to follow a very strict diet. He must avoid all food high in the amino acid tyramine, which are contained in liver, aged wines and cheeses, broad beans and other foods. The patient also must avoid taking any sort of cold medications that contain pseudoephedrine. Mixing the medication with the mentioned foods or a decongestant can be fatal.

No matter which medication form the patient and doctor decide to go with, results are even better if the medication is taken while the patient undergoes psychotherapy.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Depression

Phentermine Precautions - Steps For Safe Phentermine Weight Loss

Even though it is well known that side effects caused by the Phentermine drug are of temporary nature but certain precautions are to be followed strictly to avoid further complications. It is observed that some of the patients are facing sever complications and that may due to various reasons such as not carrying out regular exercises, improper diet plans, not referring to the doctor or not following the correct prescription, taking Phentermine drug during late night or missing out the regular doses and taking double doses of Phentermine drug. Another important reason is not purchasing the Phentermine drug from the authorized dealer.

Secondly patients suffering from prolonged diseases should not opt for the Phentermine drug and in case of emergency they should immediately contact their family doctor for further advise. In case if a obesity patient is suffering from various side effects of the Phentermine such as nervousness, loose motion, constipitation, irritability and high blood pressure patients should immediately refer to their physician. It is better to inform complete medical history to the doctor so that he can take proper decision while prescribing the weight loss drug. Especially patients suffering from diabetics, active thyroid problems, glaucoma and hypertension should not opt for the Phentermine drug. Even the pregnant ladies and breast-feeding mothers are advised to stay away from this weight loss medicine. Even normal cough and cold medicines may harm the obesity patient in case of Phentermine drug.

Whenever you purchase Phentermine drug from medical store please check the suitability of the drug from the doctor. Also inform him if you are already taking other weight loss medicine. At the same time check for the label on the bottle for the expiry date and for other information details so that you can be aware of the various ingredients of the Phentermine drug. Restrict or avoid the use of various inhibitors such as phenelzine and selegiline if you taking Phentermine tablets.

Next important precaution to be taken while following the Phentermine drug is that, do not consume decongestants and caffeine products as it increases the heartbeat rate and may lead you in danger. Same times avoid smoking and taking alcohol that may increase your problems. Carry out regular exercises and follow the proper diet plans. These provide quick results and reduces chances of various side effects.

In case you are undergoing any surgery or other medical treatment provide all the information about the Phentermine drug to your doctor. Remember that appetite suppressants are not meant for planned diet thus proper diet plans are to be considered along with proper exercises. Prescribed doses are to be strictly followed and proper timings are to be adhered while taking the Phentermine drug. Do not worry if you have missed a particular dose. Avoid going for long drives and carrying out heavy jobs.

Do not opt for the antidepressant drugs such as Amoxapine Asendin, Imipramine Tofranil, Amitriptyline Elavil, Nortriptyline Pamelor and Desipramine Norpramin once you are taking the Phentermine drugs as it slow downs the effects of the weight loss drug.

If all the above-mentioned precautions are properly followed by the obesity patient while taking the Phentermine drug you will succeeding in your plan to reduce the extra weight.

These precautions are to be used as guide lines only and are not to be taken as authority. For further information readers are advised to talk to their doctor.

Learn more about Phentermine and how this diet pill may help you win the weight loss battle. Why not educate yourself and possibly change your life for the better? One of the top websites about Phentermine is Phenforum.com, an online weight loss community offering diet tips, support groups, free articles and education on weight loss, phentermine info, and a list of pharmacies that are safe and reliable to order from. Heck, even if you don't take advantage of all the help they offer, at least educate yourself on weight loss by subscribing to their free newsletter. I've received many tips to help me get through tough times with my weight loss! Just visit their site, http://www.phenforum.com and fill out the form at the top where it says, "Start losing weight!"