Scribonius Largus, the physician to the Emperor Claudius of ancient Rome treated the patients of migraine with electric shocks from the electricity-producing black torpedo fish called the Electric Ray.
Migraine is a kind of headache on one or both sides of the head, which may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity of the eyes to light and sound, dizziness, blurred vision, cognitive disturbances, etc.
The world of modern medicine has long replaced the Electric Ray. But the top migraine researchers from the US are exploring the electrical or electromagnetic intervention to treat an otherwise incurable condition.
Large scale clinical trials on different kinds of stimulatory devices are underway to give relief to those suffering from severe migraine.
Migraine affects about 30 million Americans and is known to be a hereditary neurological condition.
There are two kinds of stimulatory devices that are currently tested for mitigating migraine. An occipital nerve stimulatory device is a pacemaker-like machine which is connected to electrodes placed at the back of the head just under the skin. Electricity is passed through the electrodes to suppress or prevent migraine pain.
An another kind of machine, called transcranial magnetic device, is pressed against the back of the head, and short and periodic pulses that are generated are sent into the brain. It is aimed at checking the migraine pain while it progresses.
Migraine patients have responded to yoga and ayurveda in a highly encouraging way. Patients with chronic migraine, who participated in yoga camps, reported relief after practising breathing exercises or pranayama. The most beneficial of the exercises is the Aalom Vilom, a single-nostril rhythmic breathing exercise under an extensive regime of yoga.
The breathing exercises are known to bring a nervous balance, which has soothing effect. The effect is reinforced by the release of endorphins and cortisones, which are a direct result of the breathing exercises, as investigations have established.
November 23rd, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
At some point or the other we all go down with a spell of mild fever. New research indicates that mild fever is in fact is a good sign of health rather than one that calls for a quick dose of paracetamol.
Scientists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, US, have come to a conclusion that mild fever actually disrupts the ability of viruses that thrive at body temperature to multiply.
According to the researchers fever actually accelerates your “body’s surveillance process, identifying and eradicating an infection.” It helps your body’s immune system to increase the number of WBCs, the white blood corpuscles. WBCs, being part of our immune system, put up a defense against disease-causing pathogens like viruses.
The team of scientists was investigating how fever affects the movement of WBCs from your blood stream to lymphoid tissue, where they recognise and fight infection.
The researchers see wide implications of their finding. They hope that fever-based therapies could be fine-tuned to improve existing treatment systems for infections, auto-immune diseases and cancer.
Professor of Medicine at New Delhi based All India Institute of Medical Sciences Randeep Guleria says that even at present patients with fever upto 100 deg F are not advised to take antibiotics or even paracetamol.
Fatigue too causes fever. According to Guleria, the patients at best should have salt and lemon dissolved in water for sodium and potassium. Only when the fever does not subside over 5-7 days and is accompanied by symptoms like body ache and sore throat, should the patient go for a check-up, he advises.
Here I would like to share the finding of yet another doctor, who is attached with our continuing research on the effect of yoga on our body. Accordingly, the breathing exercises, called pranayama prescribed in the system of yoga, actually lead to an increase in the number of WBCs besides improving the quality of various essential fluid systems –including blood- of our body.
So next time you have mild fever, please do not rush for paracetamol or an antibiotic. Just feel happy about it.
It might also be advisable to practise yoga to improve your immunity against possible infections and stay healthy.
November 14th, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
On the BBC News this morning, there was an interesting article about cures for the common cold. Out onto the chilly streets went a number of reporters to discover what people use to treat and prevent the common cold.
“A couple of glasses of whisky”, said one jolly person. “Lemon juice in hot water” said someone else. The list of remedies that people employ was long and interesting, and invariably based on flawed science and medical fact.
Unfortunately the common cold is caused by any number of about 200 viruses and it’s basically up to your bodies natural defences to defeat the viruses as they spread their infection throughout your respiratory tract. Lemon juice, keeping your head warm in the cold and the other wifes tales may well help by making you feel that they work, but the death of those marauding viruses is down to the ability of your bodies immune system.
Of course being predominantly fit and healthy and having a healthy diet can strengthen your immune system and being warm will, of course, allow your body to expend more energy on the battle with the cold viruses, but that is probably the extent of the curative powers of these various remedies.
So I am left wondering about my daily dose of Echinacea. Is it really working? I just don’t know. I went down with a minor respiratory viral infection last week, even though I had been taking these high dose Echinacea tablets for about a month. Of course, though, Echinacea, even if it works, will not stop you being infected with a virus, it will only help your body fight the viral infection.
If Echinacea isn’t going to stop me getting colds, then is it doing any potential harm? Unfortunately, I don’t know that either. So all things considered, the potential downside of Echinacea overrides the potential upside and I have decided that I will no longer take it.
I just hope that I don’t go down with a cold in a few days!
November 10th, 2006
Written by: chris
Music is making news in the world of modern medical science.
After I talked about a British study in my last blog a study has established that listening to soothing classical music can reduce chronic pain by upto 21% and depression by 25%. There have been studies earlier, too, that show that patients exposed to music of their choice experience less intense pain and hence use far lower doses of painkillers than those who prefer silence.
According to the director of a coronary heart unit of a US hospital, half an hour of classical music produces the same effect as 10 milligram of Vallium. An Arts Council has reported that the patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis found significant reduction in pain after listening to their favourite music for 20 minutes. Even singing was shown to increase the quality of life of the patients suffering from progressive dementia.
The music magic has also been reported to help you exercise more effectively, perform stressful tasks, be less aggressive, eat less and shop differently. Thus dieters have been advised to listen to Mozart or Enya, as they are slow and soothing, for the meal times. Those with high BP have been advised to try Fur Elise by Beethovan. Studies show the music can lower BP and stabilize the heart rate. Another study discovered that short bursts of Mozart’s Sonata K448 decreased epileptic attacks.
Theories about how music works the way it does abound. The one doing the rounds most is that music helps increase production of endorphins.
Mine and a number of others’ experience with yoga in matters of pain, stress and depression have been similar. Aalom Vilom, one of the breathing exercises particularly I have found works within a few minutes to half an hour to give relief in case of pain and stress.
Our findings point to the increased levels of endorphins and cortisones in our body after a session of pranayama, the breathing exercises, which work to bring relief in pain, stress and a number of other conditions.
November 7th, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
The British Journal of Psychiatry reports a study whereby music therapy is helpful in easing the depression, anxiety and emotional withdrawal symptoms of schizophrenia.
Undertaken by British scientists in four hospitals, the study indicates that encouraging patients to express themselves through music helps them mitigate their symptoms.
Dr Mike Crawford, the author of the study says, “We have known for sometime that psychological treatments can help people with schizophrenia, but these have only been used when people are fairly stable”. The study establishes that music is quite effective in working with schizophrenics to give them relief.
About 1% of people in Britain and the US are affected by schizophrenia, which is marked by hallucinations, delusions, hearing voices and significant changes in the behaviour of the patients. The disease mostly affects the youngsters from their late teens to early 20s.
Amongst the conventional line of treatments, patients of schizophrenia are given antipsychotic drugs which work to ameliorate the symptoms. The drugs are known to have possible side effects like sexual dysfunction, increased risk of diabetes and weight gain.
The patients in the British study were administered music therapy over eight to 12 music sessions. Marked improvements in the symptoms of the patients were recorded.
Under the regime of Yoga we have had an experience of treating severe cases of chronic depression and quite a few among them suffering from early to late stage of schizophrenia.
Among the breathing exercises, called pranayama under the regime of yoga, Aalom Vilom was found to be most effective in bringing relief to the patients over a period of three to eight months.
It is not difficult to understand that the music therapy in the British study works on the same lines as the pranayama, which is known to increase the flow of endorphins, the “happy hormones”. Our own findings indicate that breathing exercises are effective in balancing your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, which control the functioning of our vital organs, as an involuntary feature of our body. Such a balance is specially vital in achieving improvement in nervous conditions.
November 3rd, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
Having crushed medicinal pills could have serious, even fatal, consequences, on your health.
Experts estimate that over 80% of people find it convenient to crush tablets into powder before swallowing them. Most of those preferring powdered medicine are children and elderly patients. According to the doctors, crushing pills can alter their effect besides affecting the way the drug is released and absorbed in our digestive tract.
A lot of medicines available in the form of tablets have a special coating which prevents the chemical inside from coming in contact with the epithelial lining of your stomach. The medicine is meant to pass through your stomach and reach your intestine for absorption. When crushed the medicine comes into the contact with the stomach wall which may lead to a gastric injury and even bleeding.
A number of medicines, the experts warn, are effective when they are released slowly into your digestive tract. For example, anti-diabetic drug Metformin is meant to be released over 24 hours. Crushing of such medicines would lead to their action lasting only for a limited period only.
According to a drug expert, a tablet may have some binding agents and other accessory chemicals, which often are not spread uniformly across a tablet. Thus consuming even half a tablet with the intention of having half the dosage of the medicine may change their effect when consumed individually at two different times. Hence it may be thoroughly wrong to imagine that breaking a tablet into two would reduce its potency by half.
As has been observed most patients who crush tablets before their intake mix them in juice or milk. This may result into undesirable interaction of drug with the liquid. According to the experts, drugs that are not scored or lined from the centre must never be crushed under any circumstance.
Over 60% of elderly patients have trouble swallowing pills so they prefer crushing them or have them crushed by their nurses. An estimated 75 million prescriptions a year are associated with adverse drug reactions.
Among common medicines that must never be crushed are the antibiotic Amplicillin, blood pressure drug Lisinoprill and pain killer Ibuprofen. Also crushing some bitter medicinal tablets like Cirpoquine and Ciprofloxacin, could result in nausea and vomiting.
Hence, next time you think you cannot swallow a pill, have it with a dollop of dessert, if you like. That will be perfectly fine.
October 31st, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
The effect of mobile phone on our health has been a debatable issue ever since it became a popular means of voice based communication.
Now a study has found some disturbing findings, especially for men. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine study indicates that men who spend more than four hours a day talking on their mobiles have 25% lower sperm count than those who never used the gadget in their life.
Equally disturbing is the finding that those with lower sperm counts also had the poorest quality of fundamental units of reproduction and transference of characters from one generation to another.
The current study has been reported to be the biggest and best designed investigation. It is a follow up on an earlier study which linked the use of mobile phones with poor quality sperm.
The current investigation was done across continents with involvement of researchers from Cleaveland and New Orleans in the US and Mumbai in India, and involved 361 men undergoing checks at a fertility clinic.
The men were divided into four groups. Those who never used a mobile, 40, those who used the phone for less than two hours a day, 107, those using the gadget for two hours, 100 and those who used their mobiles for more than four hours a day, 114.
Appreciable differences of sperm potency counts, viability, morphology and motility were observed in the different groups of men. The more a group of men used mobile phones, greater was the degradation in sperm quality.
DR Ashok Aggarwal, director of Reproductive Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic, who led the research says, “it is too early to advise men trying to start a family about whether they should limit their use of mobile”.
No technology or convenience comes without its negative repercussions. Once a convenience, mobile phones have become an integral part of our lives and its growing popularity is virtually unstoppable.
Yoga comes to the rescue of those men who suffer or fear loss of fertility because of deteriorating environmental or such conditions. Among the breathing exercises, called pranayama under the traditional regime of well being and healing, kapalbharti is useful in fighting reproductive disorders. The double-nostril exercise involves rhythmic exhalations, one every second, accompanied by inward contractions of stomach muscles and involuntary inhalations.
October 27th, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
Sterol-fortified orange juice has been found to be effective in checking heart disease. Sterols are plant cholesterols that are known to lower low-density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol in humans. Bad human cholesterol is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease.
Sterols are added to margarines, salad dressings and other fats. A University of California study has found that twice-daily servings of a low-calorie orange juice fortified with sterols also reduce levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, and a known risk factor for heart disease.
According to Sridevi Devaraj, lead author of the study, their investigation is the first of its kind to show that the fortified orange juice beverage can reduce C-reactive protein levels besides lowering bad cholesterol. Devaraj and Ishwarlal Jialal, professor of medicine and pathology had, in 2004, shown the cholesterol-reducing effects of a non-fat beverage fortified with sterols.
Cardiovascular or heart disease remains one of the leading causes of death in the Western world despite significant advances made towards its prevention and treatment.
Nearly half of all heart disease patients do not have elevated levels of blood cholesterol. Hence the considerable role of inflammation, which leads to cardiovascular disease, has come under extensive investigation since recently.
The researchers believe that although the best way to fight heart disease is through lifestyle changes including diet and exercise, people are too lethargic to leave their existing habits for better ones.
The time-tested healthy regime of yoga, which includes breathing and physical exercises, is now increasingly accepted not only as preventive but also for even mitigating the cardiovascular conditions, worldwide. But again, you have to make time and change in your lifestyle to get the best out of the ancient science.
Fortified orange juice could prove to be of significant benefit in the meantime.
October 23rd, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
There’s been a lot of publicity in the UK over the last few days about research which has found that sleep deprivation in teenages can cause hormonal changes that can result in obesity.
The TV and newspapers have been full of information about how teenagers are spending too much time playing computer games in the evening, or later, and therefore reducing their sleep time, triggering hormonal changes that induce them to overeat and hence increase their chances of becoming obese.
I can’t question the validity of this research, of course, however I do wonder if it is missing the point.
The pathway from lack of sleep to hormonal changes to increased appetites to obesity is a bit of a long and tortuous one. Surely any hormonal changes must be small and therefore the final effect on increasing obesity must be small too.
Much more threatening to the health of our children, is the general lack of physical exercise that the young are suffering from. Spending evenings playing computer games instead of kicking a football around a field must surely account for incidences of over weight and obese children.
Exercise makes you physically tired, so you sleep better and then, according to this research, your hormones will be more in balance and you will control your eating (though I must confess that exercise makes me hungry and I have to be careful not to overeat as a result!).
So lets do everything that we can to encourage our children to be as active as possible. I am convinced that they will be sharper intellectually, healthier and happier as a result. What could be better than that?
October 20th, 2006
Written by: chris
Chris in his blog a couple of days back has talked about the research on how your body image can influence your decision about checking your weight and getting back to shape.
The latest research from Brigham Young University in Utah may help you pinpoint what is wrong with your diet even if you cannot assess yourself or would not like to disclose to your dietician.
According to the research, your hair strands provide an insight to an eating disorder if you have one. The researchers identified differences in the contents of nitrogen and carbon in the hair strands taken from female volunteers who had an eating-disorder and those who did not have one.
They could identify the source of the disorder 80% of the time.
Hair can show the patterns of diet of an individual, according to Kent Hatch, a professor in BYU’s department of integrative biology and the principle author of the research published in a journal, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.
Your hair grows continuously every day. Their chemistry changes on a day-to-day basis, which has been found to be linked with your daily intake of nutrition or lack of it. Just five strands of your hair can indicate if you have anorexia or bulimia, the two most common eating disorders.
The research, which needs to be perfected for wider usage, can help a clinician diagnose an eating disorder at a much earlier stage.
Doctors and therapists in their diagnosis of an eating disorder normally have to depend upon what their patients say about what and how much they eat. “Their self-evaluation is very impaired; they are poor historians too”, says Jennifer Tolman, clinical director of a treatment facility in Utah.
According to Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of well being and healing, it is very important for you to know when you must eat, when you must not and when you must stop while eating. For instance, it takes 45 minutes to an hour after a meal for you to know whether you have eaten just enough, or have overeaten. Your correct biorhythms about such body processes are set very early in life. The parents who force their kids to eat when they are not hungry help set wrong biorhythms for them to grow into sick individuals. Yoga has been found to help correct such imbalances.
October 19th, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
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