April 20th, 2010 by Admin

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.
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April 5th, 2010 by Admin

Accidents and prolonged sickness can be a drain both emotionally as well as financially. Sometimes money crunch is caused by the inability to hold a job, or when the medical bills escalate and it becomes increasingly difficult to balance expenses.

Further, medical insurance may prove insufficient or will not cover long term medications. Life has become such that one needs to think about and plan for any eventuality.

Experts recommend the following:

1. Ask your doctor for samples of medication.

2. Often an older drug is effective and cheaper. Request the doctor to write a prescription for a drug that is more affordable. According to studies you can save up to 75% this way.

3. Find out the generic name of the medication and choose to purchase it instead of branded medication —the saving can amount to as much as 70%.

4. Very often companies sell higher dosages of medication for a marginally higher cost. Be prudent, buy the higher dosage and spilt the medication in
half, one-third, or quarters. The savings you can make are almost 50 %.

5. Order 90-day supplies in bulk from discount mail order pharmacies or online services. The savings are considerable and many doctors help long term patients reduce costs by putting the patients in touch with distributors.

6. If a particular medication is very expensive ask the doctor to recommend a substitute. This is known as therapeutic substitution.

7. Do try comparison shopping. You will find that the same medication is priced differently in local pharmacies, online outlets, and chain stores. Online pharmacies like http://www.walgreens.com/, www.costco.com , or http://www.drugstore.com/ offer medications at affordable prices.
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March 25th, 2010 by Admin

One of the greatest concerns America has today is cancer. The figures are alarming according to the National Cancer Institute studies a total of 1,372,910 new cases of cancer and 570, 280 deaths were predicted for the year 2005. Approximately one in every four deaths is due to cancer.

Research indicates that the lifetime probability of developing cancer is higher for men at 46% while for women it is 36%. The National Cancer Institute has put in place a challenge to eliminate suffering and death due to cancer by 2015. To meet this, the nation is tackling the problem on a war footing. And, to this end the creation of awareness has become a priority. To conquer cancer you must know what the risks are, how lifestyle changes can help, about intervention and preventive care, and where help is available.

The most common cancers are:

Men:

1. Prostrate. This accounts for approximately 33%.

2. Lung and bronchus. Accounts for 13%

3. Colon and Rectal. Accounts for 10%

4. Urinary and Bladder –7%.

5. Melanoma of skin—5%.

6. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma—4%.

7. Kidney and Renal Pelvis—3%.

8. Leukemia—3%.

9. Oral Cavity and Pharynx-3%.

10. Pancreas—3%.

Women:

1. Breast –32%.

2. Lung and Bronchus—12%.

3. Colon and rectum—11%.

4. Uterine Corpus—6%.

5. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma—4%.

6. Melanoma of the skin—4%

7. Ovary—3%.

8. Thyroid—3%.

9. Urinary Bladder—2%.

10. Pancreas –2%.

An organization called the CDC is taking giant strides in the field of cancer prevention and control. They advocate adoption of a healthy life style, eating nutritious and well balanced food, regular health checks, and screening for cancer. Screenings are quite often lifesaving as problems can be nipped in the bud. Many cancers are curable if detected in the early stages.
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March 2nd, 2010 by Admin

Flowering landscape trees are the crown jewels of the yard.
Perhaps no other plants, individually, can have as great an
impact on how a yard looks in spring. Browse the articles to
which I’ve linked below for information on particular varieties
of flowering landscape trees. Pictures are included.

Crape Myrtles: Landscape Trees of the South

A popular choice in flowering landscape trees for Southerners,
crape myrtles have a long blooming period (mid-summer to
fall). The blooming clusters of these flowering landscape trees
come in pink, white, red and lavender. The clusters appear on
the tips of new wood. Northerners can sometimes get away
with treating these flowering landscape trees as perennials
that die back in winter but come back in spring.

Trees

Not all specimens with a weeping habit are flowering
landscape trees, but this article looks at several weeping
varieties that do bloom, headed by four types of cherry.
Saucer Magnolias

The size and shape of the blooms are what suggested the
common name for these flowering landscape trees. Want a
specimen with a brilliant bloom as big as a saucer? Access
information on these beauties here.
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