Thursday, April 10, 2025
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Fun For Chemists

Nirupama Surubhotla
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Every chemist deserves a break. So put down that beaker, take off your safety glasses, and enjoy a few chemistry jokes and riddles. And the next time you need an inorganic standard, be sure to think of Inorganic 

Q: Anyone know any jokes about sodium?
A: Na

Making bad chemistry jokes because all the good ones Argon

Q: What is the most important rule in chemistry?
A: Never lick the spoon!

Helium walks into a bar,
The bar tender says “We don’t serve noble gasses in here.”
Helium doesn’t react.

Silver walks up to Gold in a bar and says, “AU, get outta here!”

Two chemists go into a restaurant.
The first one says “I think I’ll have an H2O.”
The second one says “I think I’ll have an H2O too” — and he died.

Q: What did the scientist say when he found 2 isotopes of helium?
A: HeHe

Q: Why was the mole of oxygen molecules excited when he walked out of the singles bar?
A: He got Avogadro’s number!

A proton and a neutron are walking down the street.
The proton says, “Wait, I dropped an electron help me look for it.”
The neutron says “Are you sure?” The proton replies “I’m positive.”

Money has recently been discovered to be a not-yet-identified super heavy element.
The proposed name is: Un-obtainium.

As an ion chromatography chemist I made this one up:
Anions aren’t negative, they’re just misunderstood.

The optimist sees the glass half full.
The pessimist sees the glass half empty.
The chemist see the glass completely full, half in the liquid state and half in the vapor state.

Q: What do chemists call a benzene ring with iron atoms replacing the carbon atoms?
A: A ferrous wheel.

Q: If H2O is the formula for water, what is the formula for ice?
A: H2O cubed.

Q: What did the bartender say when oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur, sodium, and phosphorous walked into his bar?
A: OH SNaP!

A neutron walks into a bar. He asks the bartender, “How much for a beer?” The bartender offers him a warm smile and says, “For you, no charge”.

Q: What do you do with a dead chemist?
A: Barium

Q: What did one ion say to the other?
A: I’ve got my ion you.

Q: Why did the chemist sole and heel his shoes with silicone rubber?
A: To reduce his carbon footprint.

Q: What do you call a tooth in a glass of water?
A: One molar solution.

A small piece of sodium that lived in a test tube fell in love with a Bunsen burner. “Oh Bunsen, my flame,” the sodium pined. “I melt whenever I see you,” The Bunsen burner replied, “It’s just a phase you’re going through.”

Q: What do you call a clown who’s in jail?
A: A silicon.

Q: Why do chemists enjoy working with ammonia?
A: Because it’s pretty basic stuff.

Q: What emotional disorder does a gas chomatograph suffer from?
A: Separation anxiety.

Q: Why does hamburger yield lower energy than steak?
A: Because it’s in the ground state.

Florence Flask was getting ready for the opera. All of a sudden, she screamed: “Erlenmeyer, my joules! Somebody has stolen my joules!” The husband replied, “Calm down, honey. We’ll find a solution.”

Q: If H20 is water, what is H204?
A: Drinking, bathing, washing, swimming, etc.

Titanium is a most amorous metal. When it gets hot, it’ll combine with anything.

Q: What did one titration say to the other?
A: “Let’s meet at the endpoint.”

Q: What did the Mass Spectrometer say to the Gas Chromatograph?
A: Breaking up is hard to do.

Old chemists never die, they just stop reacting.

Q: What is “HIJKLMNO”?
A: H2O.

Q: When one physicist asks another, “What’s new?” what’s the typical response?
A:C over lambda.

Q: How did the chemist survive the famine?
A: By subsisting on titrations.

Q: What happens when spectroscopists are idle?
A: They turn from notating nuclear spins to notating unclear puns.

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.

Q: Why can’t lawyers do NMR?
A: Bar magnets have poor homogeneity.

Q: What element is derived from a Norse god?
A: Thorium.

Q: What happened to the man who was stopped for having sodium chloride and a nine-volt in his car?
A: He was booked for a salt and battery.

Q: What element is a girl’s future best friend?
A: Carbon.

Little Willie was a chemist. Little Willie is no more. What he thought was H2O was H2SO4.

Q: What is the name of 007’s Eskimo cousin?
A: Polar Bond.

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Mesothelioma – A rare type of cancer

Nirupama Surubhotla
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0

Definition

Mesothelioma is a rare type of aggressive cancer that is formed in the mesothelium, which is the protective lining around many of the internal organs. It is often labelled as ‘asbestos cancer’.  A normal and healthy mesothelium cell can only reproduce a certain number of times which keeps certain cells from invading others. It is when these cells become mutated that cancer occurs and the cells reproduce uncontrollably. A lump is then formed by the large amount of mutated cells and is known as a tumor. There are two types of tumors; benign and malignant tumors. A benign tumor doesn’t allow the abnormal cells to spread to the area around  it whereas a malignant tumor can spread to the cells around it. If a malignant tumor is left untreated it could spread and destroy healthy tissue and cells surrounding it. Cells off of the tumor can sometimes break off and spread through the bloodstream to other organs and tissue. It can also spread through the lymphatic system which is part of the body’s immune system. It includes bone marrow, the spleen and thymus, and lymph nodes found in the body that are all connected through lymphatic vessels. A new tumor that is formed is called a secondary tumor or a metastasis. Cancer is so dangerous for our bodies because of it’s ability to multiply and spread so quickly. Therefore, the sooner it is diagnosed, the better the chance one has of killing the cancerous cells and being cancer-free.

There are several different types of mesothelioma. The most common type develops along the pleura, which is the outer lining of the lungs and chest wall. This is known as pleural mesothelioma. It can also form along the pericardium, which is the protective sac around the heart. This type of mesothelioma is known as pericardial mesothelioma. The cancer can also form along the peritoneum, which is the lining of the abdominal cavity, and is known as peritoneal mesothelioma. Less commonly, mesothelioma can also develop along the tunica vaginalis, which is the protective sac around the testis. During the later stages of any type of mesothelioma, the cancer may spread to surrounding tissues in which it becomes more dangerous to the individual.

Cause

Mesothelioma is caused by a direct exposure to asbestos and/or when particles of asbestos are inhaled or ingested. Cases of second-hand exposure to asbestos has led to more diagnoses due to those handling the clothing, etc of those in contact with the asbestos. Most cases of mesothelioma are found in men however, women can be affected as well due to second-hand exposure. The disease can be dormant for 10-60 years after being exposed to asbestos. Therefore, it can be difficult to initially pin-point what the issue is and what it is caused by. Most individuals diagnosed with mesothelioma worked in shipyards, aluminum plants, steel mills,  and power plants or worked as plumbers, electricians, pipe-fitters, contraction workers, boilermakers, and any other occupation where one would be exposed to airborne asbestos. In communities where asbestos factories or mines were located, many people have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. In some cases, entire towns have been affected by the dangerous airborne asbestos particles. For example, in Libby, Montana there was once a vermiculite asbestos mine and hundreds of people there have been diagnosed with mesothelioma and died from the disease. Smoking can greatly increase the change of developing mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos. Therefore, it is important for an individual who has been exposed to stop smoking if they are a smoker and/or to not smoke at all. Overall, mesothelioma is known as the ‘asbestos cancer’ and is caused from direct or second-hand exposure to asbestos.

Signs and Symptoms

As mentioned above, often the signs symptoms of mesothelioma do not occur for several years after being exposed to asbestos. But once the signs and symptoms appear they become chronic very quickly. Typically the disease affects men aged 50-70. Signs and symptoms may depend on the type of mesothelioma the individual has. Below are signs and symptoms for each type of mesothelioma; pleura mesothelioma, pericardial mesothelioma, and peritoneal mesothelioma.

An individual with pleural mesothelioma, which affects the chest cavity and lungs, may experience all or some of the following signs and symptoms:
-shortness of breath
-fluid surrounding the lung(s)
-difficulty swallowing
-chest pain
-fatigue
-coughing, wheezing, or hoarseness
-anemia
-coughing up blood
-excessive sweating during the night
-fever

Pericardial mesothelioma, which affects the heart, causes signs and symptoms such as:
-heart palpations and/or a irregular heartbeat, also known as arrhythmia
-heart murmurs
-chest pain
-coughing
-difficulty breathing, even when resting
-fatigue
-fever and/or night sweats

An individual with peritoneal mesothelioma, which affects the abdominal cavity, may experience signs and symptoms such as:
-abdominal pain
-a mass (tumour) in the abdomen
-a buildup of fluid in the abdomen
-sudden unexplained weight loss
-issues with bowel movements

More severe and chronic signs and symptoms for any/all types of mesothelioma are:
-jaundice or yellowing of the skin and eyes
-blood clots in veins
-severe bleeding in several body organs
-low blood sugar
-blood clots in the lungs (in the arteries)
-buildup of fluid along the tissue of the lining of the lungs and chest wall (pleural effusion)
-buildup of fluid in the space between the tissues surrounding the abdomen and abdominal organs

Diagnosis

If an individual is experiencing any of the above symptoms, they should see their doctor as soon as possible. An early diagnosis allows for a better chance of recovery  and relief due to the cancer being caught at an early stage and more treatment options being available. Typically, a diagnosis is made within 3-6 months of the patient’s first visit with their family doctor after which they are transferred to an oncologist or a pulmonolgist and, at times, an oncologist who specializes in mesothelioma types of cancer. Before a diagnosis is made, the family physician will examine the patient’s medical history, looking at past and present health concerns, such as respiratory issues, and  the family history of cancer. A physical examination will also be performed where the doctor will look for signs or tumors, listen to the individuals breathing, check for localized tenderness upon palpation, and any reduced chest expansion with breathing. Prior asbestos exposure is a major factor the doctor will consider upon examination as well.

From here, the family doctor will refer the patient to an oncologist or pulmonologist for further investigation. The specialist may prescribe a chest x-ray, CT scan, MRI, and or PET scans. Blood tests can also detect any signs of mesothelioma and assist in diagnosing the cancer at an earlier stage, even before symptoms arise. The hope is that some day blood tests will be perfected to assist in diagnosing cancer in the earliest stages of development. If their are any concerns from any of these results, the doctor will most likely perform a biopsy or serous effusion cytology for further examination. Biopsy’s are the most effective way to diagnose mesothelioma. Essentially, a needle is inserted into the area and tissue samples are removed and tested for cancerous cells. A diagnosis may be confirmed after these results are reviewed by the doctor. From here, treatment options will be discussed with the patient based on the type of mesothelioma is present.

Treatment

Once mesothelioma is diagnosed, treatment options will be discussed between the patient and the doctor. There is no known cure for mesothelioma and the prognosis for patients is poor. However, there are several treatment options such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and, at times, surgery which can attempt to remove the cancer and/or assist in treating the signs and symptoms. Certain alternative therapies can also be beneficial and provide assistance to patients.

For those suffering from pleural mesothelioma, the treatment options depend on what stage the cancer is at and the individuals’ overall physical health. Treatment options for pleural mesothelioma are surgery along with chemotherapy or surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Some more recent experimental treatment options are photodynamic therapy and immunotherapy which can be used if the cancer is more localized.

Pericardial mesothelioma is a rare form of mesothelioma cancer and difficult to treat due to the proximity to the heart.  Most people diagnosed with pericardial mesothelioma are not good candidates for cancer surgery because of the risk or performing surgery on a cancer that is surrounding the heart. That being said, there have been some cases where the cancer is caught early and the individual has surgery to remove the small and localized tumors from the area. Typically someone diagnosed with pericardial mesothelioma does not have a very good chance of beating the cancer and palliative treatment is sometimes the only option. Palliative care treatment would aim to improve the patients quality of life and help to make the inevitable symptoms they experience less severe. A fine needle can remove excess fluid from around the heart to decrease discomfort as well. Radiation is an option but not readily used due to the close proximity of the heart and lungs. Typical survival rate of this type of cancer is slim and roughly 50-60 percent of patients pass away within 6 months.

Peritoneal mesothelioma is no exception when it comes to effectiveness of treatment. Most treatment options are palliative and include methods such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. If caught early, surgery can be performed in an attempt to remove any tumors which can dramatically add years to their initial prognosis. After surgery is performed, the individual will also undergo chemotherapy and/or radiation in an attempt to kill any remaining cancer cells.

Overall the prognosis for one diagnosed with mesothelioma is poor. Although doctors perform surges and prescribe medications to remove the cancer, it is often unsuccessful especially since mesothelioma is typically diagnosed in the later stages. Studies and trials for new drugs are constantly being tested and hopefully, one day, we will have a cure for mesothelioma cancer.

Prevention

Mesothelioma is caused by an exposure to asbestos due to the lack of proper protection to those working with the product. Despite the knowledge of the dangers of asbestos, many employers have neglected to provide the proper protection to their employees. Recently, public awareness of the dangers has improved job sites and employees are now offered protective gear such as respirators, aprons, gloves, and other items to assist in avoiding unnecessary exposure to such a dangerous product. For those who do suffer the consequences of asbestos exposure, lawyers are involved and companies are paying millions of dollars as compensation.

Many people who have been directly exposed to asbestos believe that it’s already too late and the discussion of the prevention of mesothelioma is not a factor to them. However, direct known exposure is not the only reason for one to be concerned. During the 20th century, asbestos was used in many products that can be found in our homes, offices, and factories all across North America. Asbestos is still encountered today, often during renovations and/or expansions in homes, shipyards, power plants, chemical plants, on the railroad, and in the automotive industry.

Precautions in the home should be taken during renovations, especially in older homes. Products such as attic insulation, roof shingles and tar, drywall and drywall glue, popcorn ceilings, floor tiles, wrapping on pipes and electrical wires, and joint compounds should all be removed with care. As a general rule, in any home built prior to 1980, protective gear should always be worn.

Similarily, precautions should be taken on job-sites where asbestos is suspected. Wearing proper gear to avoid inhalation of the chemical is important and is mandated.  If an individual has been exposed to asbestos but has not developed any signs or symptoms yet, they should follow some general guidelines. Firstly, they should inform their family doctor of their exposure so they can monitor them during regular checkups. It is also important to have regular chest x-rays done and pulmonary function tests completed, whether there are symptoms or not. Also, quitting and/or not smoking will significantly reduce the emergence of the disease. Regular healthy checks are important to allow for early detection and early treatment which can greatly improve the individuals prognosis.

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Festo ExoHand Lets Wearer Control Robotic Hand and Feel What the Robot Grasps

BRAINSTROM
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The Festo ExoHand is an exoskeleton that can be worn like a glove. The operator’s hand movements are recorded and transmitted through to the robotic hand in real time. The ExoHand also uses force feedback, so the human operator feels what the robot grasps and can thus grip and manipulate objects from a safe distance without having to touch them. Dr. Eberhard Veit, chairman of the Management Board of Festo AG, is pictured wearing the ExoHand in the photo above. Take a look:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcTL7Hig8h4

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Healing a HYPOCHONDRIAC

Nirupama Surubhotla
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It happens to every medical student sooner or later. You get a cough that persists for a while or feel a funny pain in the stomach or notice a tiny lump under the skin. Ordinarily, you would just ignore it — but now, armed with your rapidly growing store of medical knowledge, you can’t help worrying. The cough could mean just a cold, but it could also be a sign of lung cancer. A twinge might be internal bleeding. The lump is probably a lymph node — but is it bigger than it should be? Could it be Hodgkin’s disease?

For doctors in training, nurses and medical journalists, hypochondria is an occupational hazard. The feeling usually passes after a while, leaving only a funny story to tell at a dinner party. But for the tens of thousands who suffer from true hypochondria, it’s no joke. Hypochondriacs live in constant terror that they are dying of some awful disease, or even several awful diseases at once. Doctors can assure them that there’s nothing wrong, but since the cough or the pain is real, the assurances fall on deaf ears. And because no physician or test can offer a 100% guarantee that one doesn’t have cancer or multiple sclerosis or an ulcer, a hypochondriac always has fuel to feed his or her worst fears.

Hypochondriacs don’t harm just themselves; they clog the whole health-care system. Although they account for only about 6% of the patients who visit doctors every year, they tend to burden their physicians with frequent visits that take up inordinate amounts of time. According to one estimate, hypochondria racks up some $20 billion in wasted medical resources in the U.S. alone. And the problem may be getting worse, thanks to the proliferation of medical information on the Internet. “They go on the Web,” says Dr. Arthur Barsky, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, “and learn about new diseases and new presentations of old diseases that they never even knew about before.” Doctors have taken to calling this phenomenon cyberchondria.

Most physicians tend to think of hypochondriacs as nuisances — patients they are just as happy to lose. But a few clinicians, like Barsky and Columbia University neuropsychiatrist Dr. Brian Fallon, have begun to take the condition more seriously. “It’s not correct to say there’s nothing wrong with a hypochondriac,” Fallon asserts. “There is something wrong, but it’s a disorder of thought, not of the body.” And, as he points out, disorders of thought are neither imaginary nor untreatable.

That’s something Fallon realized a little more than a decade ago. He was studying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when he noticed it had a lot in common with hypochondria. “Both disorders,” he says, “involve intrusive, worrisome thoughts, the need for reassurance and a low tolerance for uncertainty.” Psychiatrists had lately come to think that OCD could be treated with Prozac and similar drugs, and Fallon decided the medications might work for hypochondria as well. With only 57 subjects, the study was too small to be definitive, but it was certainly promising: about 75% of those who got the drug showed significant improvement.

But so did many in the placebo group, which led Fallon to take an even closer look. His conclusion: hypochondriacs may actually represent three different groups whose problems look superficially similar. Those in the first really do have a variant of OCD. Those in the second have a problem more like depression, often triggered by something that makes them feel guilty — an affair, perhaps — or by a loss, like the death of a close relative. And the third group consists of people who somatize — which means they focus an inordinate amount of attention on their bodies. A pain that most people wouldn’t even notice feels like a punch in the nose to those in this group.

In all cases, though, the descent into hypochondria takes the form of a self-reinforcing spiral. You notice a symptom, decide it’s unusual and begin exploring for more. Since we all have minor twinges from time to time, when you go looking for more, you find them. “You build a case in your own mind that something’s wrong,” says Barsky. Even if a doctor assures you it isn’t true, you have the symptoms to prove to yourself that the doctor is mistaken.

The key to treatment is disrupting the cycle. That can be tough, however, since doctors rarely tell hypochondriacs the truth about their disorder. When Fallon tried to recruit study subjects through their doctors, he got nowhere; physicians evidently didn’t want to embarrass or anger their patients by suggesting they might be hypochondriacs.

To avoid stigmatizing their patients, Fallon and Barsky avoid the H word altogether. Fallon calls it “heightened illness concern,” and Barsky doesn’t use any label at all. “The first thing I do,” says Barsky, “is acknowledge the patient’s symptoms and say we have no good explanation for them.” Then he suggests that the patient do some psychological work, which he tells them is often helpful in such situations.

His preferred technique is cognitive behavioral therapy, in which patients are trained to force their attention away from the symptoms. “Just as focusing on a pain makes it seem more significant, ignoring it can make it seem much less,” says Barsky. Patients are also instructed to counter panicky thoughts with self-reassurance, reminding themselves, for example, that stomach pain almost never means stomach cancer. Both cognitive therapy and medication seem to work, and at this point it’s hard to say whether one is better than the other. “Nobody’s done a comparative trial,” says Fallon, “although Barsky and I are working on that.”

Both men agree that their primary-care colleagues aren’t very well attuned to the problem. “Things are improving,” says Barsky, “but there’s not a heck of a lot of education about hypochondria in medical school. We teach doctors that their job is to find disease and weed out those who are physically well. They have no time for hypochondriacs.” It needn’t take as much time as they think, though. “It’s not hard to identify a hypochondriac,” says Fallon, “if you have the right antenna out.” And once a hypochondriac is identified and properly treated, no one is happier than his or her doctor.

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Smart Drugs

Nirupama Surubhotla
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Nootropics are “smart drugs” that improve mental functions such as memory, intelligence, motivation, attention, concentration, and cognition. These “smart drugs”, range from drugs constructed in laboratories, all the way to natural supplements and plants that have been discovered to have nootropic benefits. It is important not to be misled by the idea of nootropics. They are not going to turn you into a genius overnight. You aren’t going to take one and all of a sudden know advanced calculus. However, if you stick to a balanced nootropic regimen you will notice a difference. You will feel more motivated, more focused, and have a much easier time remembering things while promoting good mental health all at the same time.

Nootropics are “smart drugs” that improve mental functions such as memory, intelligence, motivation, attention, concentration, and cognition. These “smart drugs”, range from drugs constructed in laboratories, all the way to natural supplements and plants that have been discovered to have nootropic benefits. It is important not to be misled by the idea of nootropics. They are not going to turn you into a genius overnight. You aren’t going to take one and all of a sudden know advanced calculus. However, if you stick to a balanced nootropic regimen you will notice a difference. You will feel more motivated, more focused, and have a much easier time remembering things while promoting good mental health all at the same time.

It is perfectly natural to be a skeptic when it comes to nootropics. After all, if a pill could make you smarter, more focused, or more motivated, then why isn’t everyone taking it? Many skeptics fall into the fallacy, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is”. If everyone were to pass on things that appeared “too good” then one would miss out on a lot of opportunities. Even though skepticism is healthy, it is important to conduct your own research, and form your own opinion. When one looks into the possibility of smart drugs on a deeper level, it becomes apparent that not only are smart drugs plausible, but that science has proven their existence and their benefits to humanity as a whole.

In order to understand the plausibility of nootropics one must first understand exactly how the human brain processes information. The cerebral cortex of the human brain may contain anywhere from 20 billion – 1 trillion neurons. Each of these neurons can then be linked up with as many as 10 billion synaptic connectors. When your brain receives any sort of input these neurons communicate to their respective connector using a combination of different chemical neurotransmitters. One commonly known neurotransmitter is dopamine. Dopamine acts upon the reward system of the brain causing feelings of enjoyment and motivation. In many cases, depression is the result of low levels of dopamine. A common trait among people with social anxiety is a poorly functioning D2 Dopamine receptor causing low dopamine levels.

Every person’s state of mind at any particular time is linked to the levels of different neurotransmitters. For example, alcohol increases levels of the neurotransmitter GABA and lowers the level of Glutamine. As your brain receives more GABA and less Glutamine, you become more sluggish, lose your ability to reason, lose your ability to concentrate, and your motor skills decline. Adderall is an example of the opposite. It affects the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepenephrine. Larger levels of dopamine cause a feeling of arousal and alertness while increased levels of norepenephrine cause increased mental clarity and focus. In fact, because of adderall’s effects the illegal consumption of it has skyrocketed in recent years among college students.

Everyone tries to reach their full potential, but not everyone succeeds. Nootropics will help you reach that full potential. I firmly believe that one day nootropics will be taken as commonly as coffee to give people an edge. Whether you are skeptical or not; I urge you to read the information on this site before deciding to purchase nootropics. It is important to make an informed decision. Not many people have ever heard of nootropics and just the fact that you have stumbled onto this site provides a very unique opportunity for you.

In order to understand the plausibility of nootropics one must first understand exactly how the human brain processes information. The cerebral cortex of the human brain may contain anywhere from 20 billion – 1 trillion neurons. Each of these neurons can then be linked up with as many as 10 billion synaptic connectors. When your brain receives any sort of input these neurons communicate to their respective connector using a combination of different chemical neurotransmitters. One commonly known neurotransmitter is dopamine. Dopamine acts upon the reward system of the brain causing feelings of enjoyment and motivation. In many cases, depression is the result of low levels of dopamine. A common trait among people with social anxiety is a poorly functioning D2 Dopamine receptor causing low dopamine levels.

Every person’s state of mind at any particular time is linked to the levels of different neurotransmitters. For example, alcohol increases levels of the neurotransmitter GABA and lowers the level of Glutamine. As your brain receives more GABA and less Glutamine, you become more sluggish, lose your ability to reason, lose your ability to concentrate, and your motor skills decline. Adderall is an example of the opposite. It affects the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepenephrine. Larger levels of dopamine cause a feeling of arousal and alertness while increased levels of norepenephrine cause increased mental clarity and focus. In fact, because of adderall’s effects the illegal consumption of it has skyrocketed in recent years among college students.

Everyone tries to reach their full potential, but not everyone succeeds. Nootropics will help you reach that full potential. I firmly believe that one day nootropics will be taken as commonly as coffee to give people an edge. Whether you are skeptical or not; I urge you to read the information on this site before deciding to purchase nootropics. It is important to make an informed decision. Not many people have ever heard of nootropics and just the fact that you have stumbled onto this site provides a very unique opportunity for you.

Why Take Nootropics?

There is no denying that everyone wants to be smarter. Realizing you want to be smarter isn’t the tricky part. The tricky part is actually doing it. Improving your memory, your focus, and your ability to learn does not come easy. Some people work hard each and every day hoping to make dean’s list, or hoping for that next promotion. If there were a way to improve your chances at success simply taking a completely safe and non-reliant supplement, wouldn’t you take it?

Improved mental functions aren’t the only reason to take nootropics. After all, what would be the point of improving you memory, focus, and motivation if it depleted your brain faster? Luckily for us, the opposite is true of nootropics. Many nootropics were developed to help people with mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia but were later discovered to benefit healthy individuals as well. Not only do certain nootropics help protect you against disorders such as these, but some also slow the aging process that takes place in your brain. If another goal of yours is staying as sharp as possible for as long as possible, then nootropics will help.

There is a wide variety of completely safe supplements available for your use. Whether you want to use completely natural supplements, man made supplements, or both, the option is there. This is an opportunity not many people really explore, and it would be a shame for you to miss out. Nootropics will help you reach your full potential and achieve success in your future endeavors.

There is no denying that everyone wants to be smarter. Realizing you want to be smarter isn’t the tricky part. The tricky part is actually doing it. Improving your memory, your focus, and your ability to learn does not come easy. Some people work hard each and every day hoping to make dean’s list, or hoping for that next promotion. If there were a way to improve your chances at success simply taking a completely safe and non-reliant supplement, wouldn’t you take it?

Improved mental functions aren’t the only reason to take nootropics. After all, what would be the point of improving you memory, focus, and motivation if it depleted your brain faster like amphetamines do? Luckily for us, the opposite is true of nootropics. Many nootropics were developed to help people with mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia but were later discovered to benefit healthy individuals as well. Not only do certain nootropics help protect you against disorders such as these, but some also slow the aging process that takes place in your brain. If another goal of yours is staying as sharp as possible for as long as possible, then nootropics will help.

How Do Nootropics Work?

There are many different kinds of nootropics. It would be near impossible to explain how every single one works in one article. However, there are two very common mechanisms of action that nootropics use which I will explain, along with a rare, yet revolutionary mechanism of action.

1. Many nootropics affect neurotransmitter levels within the brain – If you have read the introduction to nootropics article, then you already have a good idea of how this works. Simply put, your brain is driven by levels of neurotransmitters that your neurons distribute to a multitude of synaptic connectors in your brain. There is a wide variety of these neurotransmitters and they act as your brain’s way of communicating with itself.

Communication between these neurotransmitters and their connectors result in certain outputs such as a mood, a feeling, or a thought. Increasing or decreasing the levels of these chemicals in the right way can result in quicker and more efficient communication within the brain. This results in increased focus, clarity, memory, and learning. Think of your brain as a factory, the workers as neurons, and the neurotransmitters as the product. Simply put, some nootropics allow your workers to make more products in the same amount of time.

2. Many nootropics increase the flow of oxygen to your brain – Think of oxygen as fuel for your brain and body. Your brain not only uses this fuel but acts a hub, distributing it to other parts of your body. The decrease of oxygen to any body part is called hypoxia while the complete lack of oxygen is termed anoxia. Symptoms of mild hypoxia may include lack of concentration and lack of coordination. Prolonged hypoxia and complete anoxia can result in permanent brain damage and death. Complete lack of oxygen can result in death in as little as 4-5 minutes.

When your brain is receiving sufficient levels of oxygen it distributes it to life-support functions first, such as your heart, and then to higher level functions such as your memory. This means that when your brain’s intake of oxygen increases, the extra oxygen goes straight to the higher level brain functions. This leads to improved memory and concentration among other things. In retrospect, when oxygen flow decreases, these higher levels functions are the first things that lose oxygen.

Let’s go back to the factory example. Oxygen is what is powers your factory. When your factory has no oxygen the power goes out and the machines stop running. When you have excess oxygen the lights are brighter and the machines run

3. Few nootropics increase your neuron growth factor (NFG) – Some people have heard growing up that you cannot create new brain cells. There was a time when this was a common belief but science has since disproved this rumor. Rita Levi-Nontalcini and Stanley Cohen discovered the neuron growth factor in the 1950’s and after gaining recognition, won a Nobel Prize in 1986 for their discovery. The neuron growth factor is a metric used to gauge the growth and maintenance of certain neurons.

Think of the factory example one last time. Remember those workers that are producing products for your brain. Well as in any factory, workers retire and workers are hired. When it comes to your brain, workers are hired less quicky then they retire hence the mental breakdown that results from aging. Certain nootropics can actually hire workers at a faster rate. This promotes overall mental health and can actually slow the mental breakdown that results from aging. An example of a nootropic that does this and that I believe should be in every regimen can be found here.

Getting Started

Before you even begin constructing your regimen it is important that you understand how to use smart drugs. Nearly every smart drug that has been studied has an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve. This means that if you take too much then you may get an opposite effect, and if you take too little you won’t get any noticeable effect. It would be nice if I could tell you the exact dose you need to take to hit the top of the U-curve, but that’s not possible. Every person is different and different people may require different doses. So how can you determine the exact dose that is right for you?

1. Start with only one nootropic or smart drug at a time. If you start on three or four at once you may notice effects, but you won’t know which effects are coming from which smart drugs. You may have the right dosage from one nootropic while be completely off on another and not even know it. Even worse, you may experience unwanted side effects and have no clue which smart drugs are causing them. This is why your best bet is to start with one, and once you have perfected your dosage move on to another. This way, youknow that each nootropic is working and that you are getting the wanted benefits from each one.

2. Start with a low dosage and work your way up. This site lists the recommended or standard dosage for each nootropic. It is always best to start a little lower. If you feel no side effects and aren’t completely satisfied with the results, then move up to the standard dosage. Keep in mind that everyone’s body and mind is different. Also, ask your friends or family if they notice anything different about you. The effects of some nootropics can be very subtle and just because you haven’t noticed an improvement, doesn’t mean that nobody else has. You could be paying better attention in class, performing better at work, or remembering things better without even realizing it. Keep in mind these effects don’t all hit you at once. They slowly build up.

Picture the effects of a nootropic like this. There is an object 300 feet away from you. Every day the object moves closer to you by six inches and stops moving after 50 feet. Chances are, unless you were measuring that object each day you would never notice that it has gotten any closer to you. Even after 100 days, when the object is as close as it will get, you might not notice. That doesn’t mean the object hasn’t gotten closer, and it certainly doesn’t mean no one else has noticed the object’s movement. The moral of the story; pay close attention to the object, and ask other people of they have noticed the object move. Maybe you’ve been remembering one extra thing each day or figuring things out a couple seconds faster each day. Sometimes this can be hard to notice. If you really want to track your progress find some brain and memory games to play online. Take note of how well you do and track your progress.

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Common Eye Disorders

Nirupama Surubhotla
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Approximately 11 million Americans 12 years and older could improve their vision through proper refractive correction. More than 3.3 million Americans 40 years and older are either legally blind (having best-corrected visual acuity of 6/60 or worse (=20/200) in the better-seeing eye) or are with low vision (having best-corrected visual acuity less than 6/12 (<20/40) in the better-seeing eye, excluding those who were categorized as being blind). The leading causes of blindness and low vision in the United States are primarily age-related eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. Other common eye disorders include amblyopia and Strabismus.

Refractive Errors

Refractive Errors

Refractive errors are the most frequent eye problems in the United States. Refractive errors include myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism (distorted vision at all distances), and presbyopia that occurs between age 40-50 years (loss of the ability to focus up close, inability to read letters of the phone book, need to hold newspaper farther away to see clearly) can be corrected by eyeglasses, contact lenses, or in some cases surgery. Recent studies conducted by the National Eye Institute showed that proper refractive correction could improve vision among 11 million Americans 12 years and older.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration, often called age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is an eye disorder associated with aging and results in damaging sharp and central vision. Central vision is needed for seeing objects clearly and for common daily tasks such as reading and driving. AMD affects the macula, the central part the retina that allows the eye to see fine details. There are two forms of AMD, wet and dry.

Wet AMD: when abnormal blood vessel behind the retina start to grow under the macula, ultimately leading to blood and fluid leakage. Bleeding, leaking, and scarring from these blood vessels cause damage and lead to rapid central vision loss. An early symptom of wet AMD is that straight lines appear wavy.

Dry AMD: When the macula thins overtime as part of aging process, gradually blurring central vision. The dry form is more common and accounts for 70-90% of cases of AMD and it progresses more slowly than the wet form. Over time, as less of the macula functions, central vision is gradually lost in the affected eye. Dry AMD generally affects both eyes. One of the most common early signs of dry AMD is drusen.

Drusen: Drusen are tiny yellow or white deposits under the retina. They often are found in people over age 60. The presence of small drusen is normal and does not cause vision loss. However, the presence of large and more numerous drusen raises the risk of developing advanced dry AMD or wet AMD.

It is estimated that 1.8 million Americans 40 years and older are affected by AMD and an additional 7.3 million with large drusen are at substantial risk of developing AMD. The number of people with AMD is estimated to reach 2.95 million in 2020. AMD is the leading cause of permanent impairment of reading and fine or close-up vision among people aged 65 years and older.

Cataract

Cataract

Cataract is a clouding of the eye’s lens and is the leading cause of blindness worldwide, and the leading cause of vision loss in the United States. Cataracts can occur at any age due to a variety of causes, and can be present at birth. Although treatment for the removal of cataract is widely available, access barriers such as insurance coverage, treatment costs, patient choice, or lack of awareness prevent many people from receiving the proper treatment.

An estimated 20.5 million (17.2%) Americans 40 years and older have cataract in one or both eyes, and 6.1 million (5.1%) have had their lens removed operatively. The total number of people who have cataracts is estimated to increase to 30.1 million by 2020.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common complication of diabetes. It is the leading cause of blindness in American adults. It is characterized by progressive damage to the blood vessels of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that is necessary for good vision. DR progresses through 4 stages, mild nonproliferative retinopathy (microaneurysms), moderate nonproliferative retinopathy (blockage in some retinal vessels), severe nonproliferative retinopathy (more vessels are blocked leading to deprived retina from blood supply leading to growing new blood vessels), and proliferative retinopathy (most advanced stage). Diabetic retinopathy usually affects both eyes.

The risks of DR are reduced through disease management that includes good control of blood sugar, blood pressure, and lipid abnormalities. Early diagnosis of DR and timely treatment reduce the risk of vision loss; however, as many as 50% of patients are not getting their eyes examined or are diagnosed too late for treatment to be effective.
It is the leading cause of blindness among working-aged adults in the United States ages 20–74. An estimated 4.1 million and 899,000 Americans are affected by retinopathy and vision-threatening retinopathy, respectively.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can damage the eye’s optic nerve and result in vision loss and blindness. Glaucoma occurs when the normal fluid pressure inside the eyes slowly rises. However, recent findings now show that glaucoma can occur with normal eye pressure. With early treatment, you can often protect your eyes against serious vision loss.

There are two major categories “open angle” and “closed angle” glaucoma. Open angle, is a chronic condition that progress slowly over long period of time without the person noticing vision loss until the disease is very advanced, that is why it is called “sneak thief of sight”. Angle closure can appear suddenly and is painful. Visual loss can progress quickly; however, the pain and discomfort lead patients to seek medical attention before permanent damage occurs.

Amblyopia

Amblyopia, also referred to as “lazy eye,” is the most common cause of vision impairment in children. Amblyopia is the medical term used when the vision in one of the eyes is reduced because the eye and the brain are not working together properly. The eye itself looks normal, but it is not being used normally because the brain is favoring the other eye. Conditions leading to amblyopia include; strabismus, an imbalance in the positioning of the two eyes; more nearsighted, farsighted, or astigmatic in one eye than the other eye, and rarely other eye conditions such as cataract.

Unless it is successfully treated in early childhood, amblyopia usually persists into adulthood, and is the most common cause of permanent one-eye vision impairment among children and young and middle-aged adults. An estimated 2%–3% of the population suffers from amblyopia.

 

Strabismus

Strabismus involves an imbalance in the positioning of the two eyes. Strabismus can cause the eyes to cross in (esotropia) or turn out (exotropia). Strabismus is caused by a lack of coordination between the eyes. As a result, the eyes look in different directions and do not focus simultaneously on a single point. In most cases of strabismus in children, the cause is unknown. In more than half of these cases, the problem is present at or shortly after birth (congenital strabismus). When the two eyes fail to focus on the same image, there is reduced or absent depth perception and the brain may learn to ignore the input from one eye, causing permanent vision loss in that eye (one type of amblyopia).

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/basic_information/eye_disorders.htm

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All About Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Nirupama Surubhotla
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0

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by the sufferer experiencing repeated obsessions and/or compulsions that interfere with the person’s ability to function socially, occupationally, or educationally, either as a result of the amount of time that is consumed by the symptoms or the marked fear or other distress suffered by the person. Conventional knowledge is that there are four types of OCD: obsessions that are aggressive, sexual, religious or harm-related with checking compulsions; obsessions about symmetry that are accompanied by arranging or repeating compulsions; obsessions of contamination are associated with cleaning compulsions; and symptoms of hoarding.

An obsession is defined as a thought, impulse, or image that either recurs or persists and causes severe anxiety. These thoughts are irresistible to the OCD sufferer despite the person’s realizing that these thoughts are irrational. Examples of obsessions include worries about germs/cleanliness or about safety or order. A compulsion is a ritual/behavior that the individual with OCD engages in repeatedly, either because of their obsessions or according to a rigid set of rules. The aforementioned obsessions may result in compulsions like excessive hand washing, skin picking, lock checking, or repeatedly arranging items. Different than compulsions, habits are behaviors that occur with little to no thought, are repeated routinely, are not done in response to an obsession, are not particularly time-consuming, and do not cause stress. Examples of habits include cracking knuckles or storing car keys in a coat pocket.

The diagnosis of OCD has been described in medicine for at least the past 100 years. Statistics on the number of people in the United States who have OCD range from 1%-2%, or more than 2-3 million adults. Interestingly, the frequency with which it occurs and the symptoms with which it presents are remarkably similar, regardless of the culture of the sufferer. The average age of onset of the disorder is 19 years, although it often begins during the childhood or the teenage years and usually develops by 30 years of age. It tends to afflict more males than females.

Individuals with OCD are more likely to also develop chronic hair pulling (trichotillomania), muscle or vocal tics (Tourette’s disorder), or an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia. OCD sufferers are also predisposed to developing other mood problems, like depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. OCD puts its sufferers at a higher risk of having excessive concerns about their bodies (somatoform disorders) likehypochondriasis, which is excessive worry about having a serious illness. People with OCD are more vulnerable to having bipolar disorder, also called manic depression.

Although sometimes confused with OCD, obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is defined by perfectionism and an unbending expectation that the individual and others will keep a specific set of rules. OCPD sufferers do not tend to engage in ritualized behaviors (compulsions). However, OCPD tends to occur more often in people with OCD than in those without and therefore can be considered another risk factor for the development of obsessive compulsive disorder.

What causes OCD?

While there is no known specific cause for OCD, family history and chemical imbalances in the brain are thought to contribute to the development of the illness. Generally, while people who have relatives with OCD are at a higher risk of developing the disorder, most people with the illness have no such family history. A specific chromosome/gene variation has been found to possibly double the likelihood of a person developing OCD. It is thought that an imbalance of the chemical serotonin in the brain may also contribute to the development of OCD. Some life stressors, like being the victim of sexual abuse as a child, can increase the chance of developing OCD as an adult.

How is OCD diagnosed?

Some practitioners will administer a self-test of screening questions to individuals whom they suspect may be suffering from OCD. In addition to looking for symptoms of obsessions and compulsions by conducting a mental-status examination, mental-health professionals will explore the possibility that the individual’s symptoms are caused by another emotional illness instead of or in addition to OCD. For example, people with an addiction often have obsessions or compulsions, but those symptom characteristics generally only involve the object of the addiction. The practitioner will also likely ensure that a physical examination and any other appropriate tests have been done recently to explore whether there is any medical problem that could be contributing to the signs or symptoms of OCD.

What are the treatments for OCD?

Most individuals with OCD experience some symptoms of the disorder indefinitely, with times of improvement alternating with times of difficulty. However, the prognosis is most favorable for OCD sufferers who have milder symptoms that last for less time and who have no other problems before developing this illness.

Treatments include cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, behavioral therapies, and medications. Behavioral therapies for OCD include ritual prevention and exposure therapy. Prevention of rituals involves a mental-health professional helping the OCD sufferer to endure longer and longer periods of resisting the urge to engage in compulsive behaviors. Exposure therapy is the process by which the individual with OCD is put in touch with situations that tend to increase the OCD sufferer’s urge to engage in compulsions, then helping him or her resist that urge. Cognitive/behavioral therapists help patients change the negative styles of thinking and behaving that are often associated with the anxiety involved with obsessive compulsive disorder.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the medications that are most commonly used to treat OCD. These medications increase the amount of the neurochemical serotonin in the brain. (Remember that brain serotonin levels are thought to be low in OCD.) As their name implies, the SSRIs work by selectively inhibiting (blocking) serotonin reuptake in the brain. This block occurs at the synapse, the place where brain cells (neurons) are connected to each other. Serotonin is one of the chemicals in the brain that carries messages across these connections (synapses) from one neuron to another.

The SSRIs work by keeping serotonin present in high concentrations in the synapses. These drugs do this by preventing the reuptake of serotonin back into the nerve cell that is transmitting an impulse. The reuptake of serotonin is responsible for turning off the production of new serotonin. Therefore, the serotonin message keeps on coming through. It is thought that this, in turn, helps arouse (activate) cells that have been deactivated by OCD, thereby relieving the symptoms of the condition.

SSRIs have fewer side effects than clomipramine, an older medication that is actually thought to be somewhat more effective in treating OCD. SSRIs do not cause orthostatic hypotension (a sudden drop in blood pressure when sitting up or standing) and heart-rhythm disturbances, like clomipramine can. Therefore, SSRIs are often the first-line treatment for this illness. Examples of SSRIs include fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft),citalopram (Celexa), fluvoxamine (Luvox), and escitalopram (Lexapro). When the improvement that people with OCD experience is not optimal when an SSRI is the only medication prescribed, the addition of a neuroleptic medication like risperidone (Risperdal), olanzapine (Zyprexa), or aripiprazole(Abilify) can sometimes be helpful.

SSRIs are generally well tolerated, and side effects are usually mild. The most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, agitation, insomnia, andheadache. However, these side effects generally go away within the first month of SSRI use. Some patients experience sexual side effects, such as decreased sexual desire (decreased libido), delayed orgasm, or an inability to have an orgasm. Some patients experience tremors with SSRIs. The so-called serotonergic (meaning caused by serotonin) syndrome is a serious neurologic condition associated with the use of SSRIs. It is characterized by high fevers, seizures, and heart-rhythm disturbances. This condition is very rare and has been reported only in very ill psychiatric patients taking multiple psychiatric medications.

Newer, often called atypical, neuroleptic medications like the ones named above tend to cause fewer side effects than many of the older medications in this class. The most common side effects of atypical neuroleptics include sleepiness, dizziness, dry mouth, and weight gain. Sometimes, people can be more sensitive to the effects of the sun while taking these medications and therefore should take care to wear adequate sunblock whenever exposed to the sun. Less commonly, side effects of atypical neuroleptic medications can result in painless, although abnormal, muscle movements like tremors, stiffness, and very rarely permanent muscle twitches called tardive dyskinesia.

Studies on the effectiveness of treatment of OCD in adults have variable results. Some indicate that medications, response prevention, and CBT are equally, although only mildly to moderately, effective in treating this problem. Cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) has also been found to be an effective treatment for OCD.

Research on treating OCD in children and adolescents suggests that while medications are clearly effective in treating this disorder, the improvement that is experienced as a result is quite mild. However, clomipramine tends to be more effective than the SSRIs, and the individual SSRIs tend to be equally effective. As in adults, people under 18 years of age tend to improve more significantly when treated with a combination of medication and CBT. There is increasing evidence that deep brain stimulation may be effective in treating severe OCD that has not responded to other treatments. There is also increasing research about whether or not hallucinogens have a role in treating OCD.

What happens if OCD is not treated?

Without treatment, the symptoms of OCD can progress to the point that the sufferer’s life becomes consumed, inhibiting their ability to keep a job and maintain important relationships. Many people with OCD have thoughts of killing themselves, and about 1% complete suicide.

In terms of the prognosis for the specific symptoms, it is rare for any to progress to a physically debilitating level. However, problems like compulsive hand washing can eventually cause skin to become dry and even to break down. Repeated trichotillomania can result in unsightly scabs on the person’s scalp.

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Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Nirupama Surubhotla
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Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is characterized by a preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency.

When rules and established procedures do not dictate the correct answer, decision making may become a time-consuming, often painful process. Individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder may have such difficulty deciding which tasks take priority or what is the best way of doing some particular task that they may never get started on anything.

They are prone to become upset or angry in situations in which they are not able to maintain control of their physical or interpersonal environment, although the anger is typically not expressed directly. For example, a person may be angry when service in a restaurant is poor, but instead of complaining to the management, the individual ruminates about how much to leave as a tip. On other occasions, anger may be expressed with righteous indignation over a seemingly minor matter.

People with this disorder may be especially attentive to their relative status in dominance-submission relationships and may display excessive deference to an authority they respect and excessive resistance to authority that they do not respect.

Individuals with this disorder usually express affection in a highly controlled or stilted fashion and may be very uncomfortable in the presence of others who are emotionally expressive. Their everyday relationships have a formal and serious quality, and they may be stiff in situations in which others would smile and be happy (e.g., greeting a lover at the airport). They carefully hold themselves back until they are sure that whatever they say will be perfect. They may be preoccupied with logic and intellect.

Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

A pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

  • Is preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or schedules to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost
  • Shows perfectionism that interferes with task completion (e.g., is unable to complete a project because his or her own overly strict standards are not met)
  • Is excessively devoted to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships (not accounted for by obvious economic necessity)
  • Is overconscientious, scrupulous, and inflexible about matters of morality, ethics, or values (not accounted for by cultural or religious identification)
  • Is unable to discard worn-out or worthless objects even when they have no sentimental value
  • Is reluctant to delegate tasks or to work with others unless they submit to exactly his or her way of doing things
  • Adopts a miserly spending style toward both self and others; money is viewed as something to be hoarded for future catastrophes
  • Shows significant rigidity and stubbornness

As with all personality disorders, the person must be at least 18 years old before they can be diagnosed with it.

Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder is approximately twice as prevalent in males than females, and occurs in about 1 percent of the general population.

Like most personality disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder typically will decrease in intensity with age, with many people experiencing few of the most extreme symptoms by the time they are in the 40s or 50s.

How is Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder Diagnosed?

Personality disorders such as obsessive-compulsive personality disorder are typically diagnosed by a trained mental health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist. Family physicians and general practitioners are generally not trained or well-equipped to make this type of psychological diagnosis. So while you can initially consult a family physician about this problem, they should refer you to a mental health professional for diagnosis and treatment. There are no laboratory, blood or genetic tests that are used to diagnose obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Many people with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder don’t seek out treatment. People with personality disorders, in general, do not often seek out treatment until the disorder starts to significantly interfere or otherwise impact a person’s life. This most often happens when a person’s coping resources are stretched too thin to deal with stress or other life events.

A diagnosis for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is made by a mental health professional comparing your symptoms and life history with those listed here. They will make a determination whether your symptoms meet the criteria necessary for a personality disorder diagnosis.

Causes of Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder

Researchers today don’t know what causes obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. There are many theories, however, about the possible causes of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Most professionals subscribe to a biopsychosocial model of causation — that is, the causes of are likely due to biological and genetic factors, social factors (such as how a person interacts in their early development with their family and friends and other children), and psychological factors (the individual’s personality and temperament, shaped by their environment and learned coping skills to deal with stress). This suggests that no single factor is responsible — rather, it is the complex and likely intertwined nature of all three factors that are important. If a person has this personality disorder, research suggests that there is a slightly increased risk for this disorder to be “passed down” to their children.

Treatment of Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder

Treatment of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder typically involves long-term psychotherapy with a therapist that has experience in treating this kind of personality disorder.

Psychotherapy

As with most personality disorders, individuals seek treatment for items in their life which have become overwhelming to their existing coping skills. These skills may be somewhat limited, in the first place, because of their disorder. While they may be generally effective enough in most instances to shield the client from stress and emotional difficulties, during times of increased stress, work pressure, family problems, etc. the underlying disorder will become more evident in day-to-day behaviors.

As with most personality disorders, treatment is often focused on short-term symptom relief and the support of existing coping mechanisms while teaching new ones. Long-term or substantive work on personality change is usually beyond most clinician’s skill levels, and patient’s budgets. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is especially resistant to such changes, because of the basic makeup of this disorder.

Short-term therapy will be most likely to be beneficial when the patient’s current support system and coping skills are examined. Those skills which are not currently working could be reinforced with additional skill sets. Social relationships can also be examined, reinforcing strong, positive relationships while having the client re-examine negative or harmful relationships. One important aspect is to try and have the individual examine and properly identify their feeling states, rather than just intellectualizing or distancing themselves from their emotions. This can be accomplished through a variety of techniques, such as feeling identification (e.g., the “feeling faces”) at the onset of every therapy session. Homework might include writing feelings down in a journal, especially as they notice them. Proper identification and realization of feelings can bring about much change in and of itself.

Individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder often are not in touch with their emotional states as much as their thoughts. Leading the client away from describing situations, events, and daily happenings and to talking about how such situations, events and daily happenings made them feel may be helpful. Sometimes the patient may complain he or she doesn’t remember or know how he or she felt at the time; the journal becomes a useful tool at this point.

Therapy with people who have this disorder can sometimes be trying, since they can see the world in a very “all-or-nothing” manner. Beck’s cognitive therapy doesn’t seem to be all that effective in treatment, and cognitive approaches in general probably aren’t useful in this case. Clinicians must be willing to undergo verbal attacks on their professionalism and knowledge, as such skepticism about a therapist’s treatment approach from the client with this disorder can be expected. Clinicians should also be careful about engaging the client within these verbal attacks or intellectual discussions, as they continue to distance the patient from his or her feelings. And take the focus off of the client and onto unrelated matters (e.g., a therapist’s professional training).

Most people who suffer from this personality disorder (and the different, but related, obsessive-compulsive disorder) lead relatively normal lives, may have a family, friends, and work regularly. Clinicians should be careful not to overgeneralize psychopathology and look to change aspects of the patient’s personality he or she is not ready or willing to change. This means, in effect, that if the way they relate to others in their environment (which a clinician might characterize as a personality disorder) is working for them, a clinician should not seek to change it 180 degrees without the client’s purposeful consent. Therapy will most often be most effective when it focuses on correcting short-term difficulties currently being experienced. It will become increasingly less effective when the goal of therapy is complex, long-term personality change.

Although a group therapy modality may be helpful and an effective treatment option, most people who suffer from this disorder will not be able to withstand the minimum social contact necessary to gain a healthy group dynamic. They may quickly become ostracized by the group for pointing out other people’s deficits and “wrong-headed” ways of doing things.

Hospitalization

Hospitalization is rarely needed for people who suffer from this disorder, unless an extreme or severe stressor or stressful life event occurs which increases the compulsive behaviors to an extent where regular daily activites are halted or present possible risks of harm to the patient. Hospitalization may also be needed when the obsessive thoughts do not allow the individual to conduct any usual activities, paralyzing them in bed or with their accompanying compulsive behaviors.

Medications

In most cases, medication for this disorder is not indictated unless the individuals is also suffering from a clearly delineated Axis I diagnosis as well. However, newer medications such as Prozac, an SRRI, have been approved for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and may provide some relief to individuals with the personality disorder. Long-term use, though, is rarely indicated, appropriate, or beneficial.

Self-Help

Self-help methods for the treatment of this disorder are often overlooked by the medical profession because very few professionals are involved in them. Support groups, though, offer an excellent adjunct to continuing medication check-ups once a month, and a way to gain emotional and social support through the community. These groups also allow others to ensure the client is doing well and promotes the client’s independence and stability. Many support groups exist within communities throughout the world which are devoted to helping individuals with this disorder share their commons experiences and feelings.

Such support groups are recommended to individuals suffering from this disorder, especially if they have found therapy unhelpful or too expensive.

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Cataract Overview

Nirupama Surubhotla
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0

Cataracts are changes in clarity of the natural lens inside the eye that gradually degrade visual quality. The natural lens sits behind the colored part of the eye (iris) in the area of the pupil, and cannot be directly seen with the naked eye unless it becomes extremely cloudy. The lens plays a crucial role in focusing unimpeded light on the retina at the back of the eye. The retina transforms light to a neurologic signal that the brain interprets as vision. Significant cataracts block and distort light passing through the lens, causing visual symptoms and complaints.

The term cataract is derived from the Greek word cataractos, which describes rapidly running water. When water is turbulent, it is transformed from a clear medium to white and cloudy. Keen Greek observers noticed similar-appearing changes in the eye and attributed visual loss from “cataracts” as an accumulation of this turbulent fluid, having no knowledge of the anatomy of the eye or the status or importance of the lens.

Cataract development is usually a very gradual process of normal aging but can occasionally occur rapidly. Many people are in fact unaware that they have cataracts because the changes in their vision have been so gradual. Cataracts commonly affect both eyes, but it is not uncommon for cataracts in one eye to advance more rapidly. Cataracts are very common, affecting roughly 60% of people over the age of 60, and over 1.5 million cataract surgeries are performed in the United States each year.

Experts have estimated that visual disability associated with cataracts accounts for over 8 million physician office visits a year in the United States. This number will likely continue to increase as the proportion of people over the age of 60 rises. When people develop cataracts, they begin to have difficulty doing activities they need to do for daily living or for enjoyment. Some of the most common complaints include difficulty driving at night, reading, participating in sports such as golfing, or traveling to unfamiliar areas; these are all activities for which clear vision is essential.

Cataract Causes

The lens is made mostly of water and protein. Specific proteins within the lens are responsible for maintaining its clarity. Over many years, the structures of these lens proteins are altered, ultimately leading to a gradual clouding of the lens. Rarely, cataracts can present at birth or in early childhood as a result of hereditary enzyme defects, and severe trauma to the eye, eye surgery, or intraocular inflammation can also cause cataracts to occur earlier in life. Other factors that may lead to development of cataracts at an earlier age include excessive ultraviolet-light exposure, diabetes, smoking, or the use of certain medications, such as oral, topical, or inhaled steroids. Other medications that are more weakly associated with cataracts include the long-term use of statins and phenothiazines.

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The Facts on Alzheimer’s Disease

Nirupama Surubhotla
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  • Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible degeneration of the brain that causes disruptions in memory, cognition, personality, and other functions that eventually leads to death from complete brain failure.

 

  • Over 5 million (5.4 million) Americans age 65 and older are thought to have Alzheimer’s disease. By 2050, the number of Americans with this disease could increase to over 15 million.
  • The national cost of Alzheimer’s disease (in people over 65 years old) was $183 billion in 2011, and by 2050 it will be $1.1 trillion.
  • One person in the United States is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease approximately every 69 seconds.
  • It is estimated that almost 500,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s disease will be diagnosed this year.
  • According to data from the CDC, in 2010, more than 82,000 deaths were recorded as being caused by Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States.
  • Worldwide, nearly 36 million people are believed to be living with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. That number is projected to increase to 65.7 million by 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050.
  • Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia.
  • By 2048, one in forty-five people may be living with Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Alzheimer’s disease usually begins after age 60 and risk increases with age. Younger people in their 30s, 40s and 50s may get Alzheimer’s disease, but it is rare.
  • Approximately 5 percent of all cases of Alzheimer’s disease are believed to be familial (hereditary). In familial cases, often called early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, symptoms typically appear within the age range of 30 – 60 years.
  • It is estimated that one in eight Americans aged 65 years and older, and more than one in three Americans 85 years and older have Alzheimer’s disease.
  • The lifetime risk of Alzheimer’s disease among those who reached the age of 65 is approximately 1 in 5 for women and 1 in 10 among men.
  • People with poor vision that did not visit an ophthalmologist for treatments had a 9.5 fold increased risk of dementia when followed over an 8.5 year period.
  • Death from Alzheimer’s disease is often underreported or misdiagnosed.
  • Alzheimer’s disease represents around 70% of all cases of dementia. Making it the most common cause of dementia.
  • Approximately 5.1 million Americans are age 85 years or older, and this age group is one of the fastest growing segments of the population. It is also the group with the highest risk of Alzheimer’s disease. It is estimated that at least 19 million people will be age 85 and older by the year 2050.
  • Common symptoms include: disturbances in memory, attention, and orientation, changes in personality, language difficulties, and impairments in gait and movement.
  • On average, patients with Alzheimer’s disease live for 8 to 10 years after diagnosis, but this fatal disease can last as long as 20 years, or as little as 3 to 4 years if the patient is over 80 years old when diagnosed.
  • Currently, the only way to definitively diagnose Alzheimer’s disease is to physically examine the brain through autopsy.
  • Approximately 70% of Alzheimer’s disease patients receive care at home.
  • In terms of health care expenses and lost wages of both patients and their caregivers, the cost of Alzheimer’s disease nationwide is estimated at $100 billion per year.
  • Nearly half of all nursing home residents have Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder.
  • The average hourly service cost for home health aides is $21 per hour.
  • The average annual cost for an assisted living facility is $37,572.
  • For a person with Alzheimer’s disease, the annual cost of a room in an Alzheimer’s special care unit is estimated in the range of $214 and $239 per day or $77,998 and $87,362 per year, for a semi-private or private room, respectively.
  • For a person with Alzheimer’s disease, the annual cost of home care is estimated at $76,000, including medical expenses and indirect costs such as a caregiver’s time and lost wages.
  • The care of an Alzheimer’s patient, viewed as custodial care, is not covered by Medicare and most health insurance plans.
  • In the absence of disease, the human brain often can function well into the 10th decade of life.
  • 58% of people with dementia worldwide live in low or middle income countries.
  • One third of those whose lives have been touched by Alzheimer’s disease provide support to their loved ones.
  • Of those providing financial support to someone with Alzheimer’s, the average amount is $200 per month. Those providing caregiving support give the average amount of 16 hours a month.
  • Among those who do not personally have Alzheimer’s disease, one third worry about getting Alzheimer’s. Those who have a parent or parent in law with the disease are even more concerned.
  • Roughly half of all caregivers are between the ages of 18 and 49, with the average age of the typical caregiver being 48.
  • Nearly 2 in 10 Americans believe they know someone with Alzheimer’s disease who has not sought diagnosis/treatment.

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Parkinson’s Disease herbs vitamins and supplements – natural and alternative treatment, diet, food and home remedy

Nirupama Surubhotla
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Definition: Parkinson’s disease is a common neurological condition afflicting about 1 percent of men and women over the age of seventy. A small region in the brain, called the substantia nigra, begins to deteriorate. The neurons of the substantia nigra use the brain chemical dopamine. With the loss of dopamine, tremors begin and movement slows. Despite current drug therapies, it remains a progressive and incurable condition. Many patients with this neurological condition may also suffer from age related cognitive decline or have some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is both hereditary and due to environmental factors.


Natural treatment strategies and remedies
The nutritional treatment for Parkinson’s disease is still an uncharted territory. The most promising approach appears to be the use of antioxidants to slow the oxidation and damage to the substantia nigra. It’s possible that additional nutritional approaches may be found in the future. Those who exercise regularly early in their adult life have a lower risk. Weight training in a gym or at home could reduce the stiffness, slowness, and tremors.
Over the past few decades, doctors have made important advances in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease with pharmaceutical medicines. Yet, several nutritional treatment strategies exist which should be explored further.

Improving the antioxidant system
Of all the nutritional treatments available for Parkinson’s disease, antioxidants appear to be the most promising choices to prevent or slow the progression of this condition. Individuals whose diets include plenty of healthy foods containing antioxidants are less likely to develop this neurological condition. Patients should consume foods, such as fruits and vegetables that containglutathione or can help produce it. Cyanohydroxybutene, a chemical found in broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage, is also thought to increase glutathione levels. Anthocyanins are antioxidants found in berries that could be of benefit. High intake of dairy products may lead to a higher incidence of Parkinson’s disease.
The following antioxidants may be helpful in addition to standard pharmaceutical therapy. Please use low dosages initially until you learn how each supplement works for you before upping the dose. Also, combining supplements and medicines can sometimes have a stimulating effect. Learn how each supplement works by itself before adding another one.

Mucuna pruriens is an herb to seriously consider for Parkinson’s disease. It has been successfully used in India for centuries. Mucuna may work as an antioxidant and also as a dopamine provider. We know little about the ideal dosage of mucuna to treat Parkinson’s disease.

R-alpha lipoic acid 10 to 50 mg a few times a week in the morning with breakfast. R-Lipoic acid is a powerful antioxidant and helps generate glutathione. Alpha lipoic acid may be used in combination with Acetyl-l-Carnitine as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The proper dosage of the combination of alpha lipoic acid and acety l carnitine as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease remains to be determined, but it may be a good idea to start at a low dosage of 30 mg of R ALA and less than 300 mg of acetyl l carnitine for a few days before considering taking higher amounts. The interaction of these supplements with medications currently used for Parkinson’s disease is not clear, nor is their interaction with mucuna pruriens and other natural herbs and supplements.

Combined R-alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine exerts efficient preventative effects in a cellular model of Parkinson’s disease.
J Cell Mol Med. 2008.
Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative damage are highly involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. Some mitochondrial antioxidants / nutrients that can improve mitochondrial function and/or attenuate oxidative damage have been implicated in Parkinson’s disease therapy. The present study examined the preventative effects of two mitochondrial antioxidant / nutrients, R-alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine. We demonstrated that 4-week pretreatment with R-alpha-lipoic acid and/or acetyl-L-carnitine effectively protected SK-N-MC human neuroblastoma cells against rotenone-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative damage, and accumulation of alpha-synuclein and ubiquitin. Most notably, we found that when combined, R-alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine worked at 100 to 1000 fold lower concentrations than they did individually.

CoQ10 — this nutrient helps preserve dopaminergic neurons from toxins. A dose of 20 mg to 50 mg a few mornings a week with breakfast is reasonable. This nutrient also improves energy production in cells. However, research with CoQ10 and Parkinson’s disease has provided mixed findings, and there is not convincing evidence that the use of CoQ10 will have a significant effect on the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. CoQ10, though, is a healthy supplement, and low doses could be beneficial for other purposes besides Parkinson’s disease.

Natural vitamin E complex between 30 and 200 units a few times a week preferably of mixed, natural tocopherols taken with any meal. Eating food rich in vitamin E may help protect against Parkinson’s disease. Foods rich in the vitamin include nuts, seeds, wheat germ, spinach and other green leafy vegetables.

Natural vitamin C with bioflavonoids between 100 and 300 mg once or twice a day. In addition to being an antioxidant, vitamin C also helps the production of L-dopa from tyrosine.

N-acetyl-cysteine is an antioxidant that can help regenerate glutathione. A dose of 100 to 250 mg of NAC can be taken most mornings before breakfast.

Quercetin, a flavonoid, may be of benefit.

Selenium is an antioxidant that can help increase levels of glutathione. A dose of 50 to 100 micrograms a day can be taken with any meal. Selenium is also normally found in multivitamin and mineral pills.

Melatonin is the sleep hormone with antioxidant abilities. A dose of 0.3 to 1 mg can be taken one or three hours before bed for those with insomnia. Tolerance can develop with regular use and since we don’t know the long-term effects of nightly use, it’s best to limit the frequency of use of melatonin to once or twice a week. In the 1980s, some individuals taking a synthetic drug called MPTP developed symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease. It was determined that MPTP causes an oxidative destruction of substantia nigra neurons. Interestingly, a study with rats has determined that the administration of melatonin is able to almost completely prevent the neurotoxicity from MPP, a toxin very similar to MPTP. The rats on melatonin and MPP did not get symptoms of Parkinson’s disease  while the controls on MPP alone did.

Withania somnifera, also known as ashwagandha, was found in a rodent study to be helpful for tardive dyskinesia symptoms although it is not known whether ashwagandha would be helpful in dyskinesia due to L-DOPA induce dyskinesia.

Providing dopamine precursors
L-dopa, the immediate precursor to dopamine, is a nutrient available by prescription. L-dopa (often combined with carbidopa) is the most commonly used medicine to treat Parkinson’s disease. It is possible that the use of L-dopa for prolonged periods causes oxidation and toxicity to brain cells. If this turns out to be true, it would further justify the recommendations that antioxidants be added to standard Parkinson’s disease therapy. There is, as of yet, no clinical proof that taking antioxidant supplements help those with Parkinson’s disease live longer but all indications point to the possibility that the course of the disease can be slowed by providing adequate antioxidant support.
Tyrosine is an amino acid that can be converted into L-dopa. But there is no reason to take tyrosine if L-dopa is available. Another way to increase dopamine levels is with the use of B vitamins, particularly NADH. Preliminary studies have shown some benefit with NADH in the therapy of PD. Although more research is needed, for the time being, it would seem reasonable to add NADH at a dose of 2.5 mg. NADH can be taken every other morning on an empty stomach. NADH may also help regenerate the antioxidant glutathione which could be beneficial. Be careful when you add NADH when you are already taking L-dopa or other medicines that treat Parkinson’s disease, since the effects could be cumulative. The long-term effectiveness of NADH in patients with Parkinson’s disease is currently not known. Taking between one to three times the RDA for the B vitamins seems to be a reasonable option.

Blocking dopamine breakdown
Dopamine is broken down in the brain by an enzyme called monoamine oxidase (MAO). When the activity of MAO is inhibited, dopamine stays around longer and this benefits those with Parkinson’s disease. Several drugs are available that block the activity of MAO. Selegiline is the most effective and the one used most commonly. The prescribed dosage is 5 mg a day.
No nutrients are currently known that prevent the breakdown of dopamine. However, a study conducted on rats at the College of Humanities and Sciences, Beijing Union University, in Beijing, China, indicates that the Chinese herbs codonopsis and astragalus can inhibit MAO type B and increase the activity of the antioxidant SOD. We don’t have any human trials to determine whether these two herbs would benefit patients with Parkinson’s disease. Although selegiline is a very helpful medicine, high doses may increase the risk of heart irregularities.

Additional nutrients and supplements to consider
Some of the following nutrients may not be directly involved in making more dopamine, but could well improve general cognitive abilities or provide other benefits. Many patients who have Parkinson’s disease, especially the elderly, have age related cognitive decline. You may also consider drinking less milk (see below).

Fish oils at 500 to 1,000 mg a day of EPA / DHA with meals. The role of fish oils in Parkinson’s disease is being evaluated since omega-3 fatty acids can generally improve overall brain health. Each fish oil softgel usually has about 300 mg of a combination epa and dha fatty acids.

Depression in Parkinson’s disease: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study of omega-3 fatty-acid supplementation.
J Affect Disord. 2008. Laboratório de Neurofisiologia, Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, C.P, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Our results reveal that PD patients taking fish oil, with or without antidepressants, presented improvement in depressive symptoms and indicate that the intake of omega-3 can be used with an antidepressant effect or as adjuvant therapy with some other medication. This is a first pilot study with parkinsonian patients and omega-3 supplementation and requires replication in a larger sample.

Gingko biloba at 40 mg most days with breakfast or lunch. This herb has antioxidant properties and helps improve memory and alertness.

Neuroprotective effect of Ginkgo biloba L. extract in a rat model of Parkinson disease.
Phytother Res. 2004.
Our data suggest that the neuroprotective effects of Ginkgo biloba reduce the behavioural deficit in 6-hydroxydopamine lesions in rat and also indicates a possible role for the extract in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

Curcumin has strong antioxidant properties. Curcumin is derived from turmeric.

Replacing hormones in patients with Parkinson’s disease may be an additional option. Whether pregnenolone, DHEA, or other hormones are helpful in Parkinson’s disease is currently not known. Long term use of high doses of hormones has side effects.

Calcium and vitamin D supplements may be helpful for bone health. People with Parkinson’s disease have an elevated risk of developing fragile bones and fractures. Reduced mobility can lead to reduced bone mass and a greater risk of falls — which together put Parkinson’s disease patients at risk of bone fractures and joint injuries.

It’s quite likely that the proper use of natural supplements can reduce the necessary dose of L-dopa, selegiline, and other drugs currently used to treat Parkinson’s disease, or help slow down the progression of the condition. There’s still a great deal we need to learn about the nutritional treatment of PD.

Exercise
Treadmill training can help Parkinson’s patients to walk more normally. However, it’s unclear how long the benefits of treadmill training will last, or the best way to deliver this type of training to patients with the movement disorder. The Cochrane Library 2010.

Cause
Although Parkinson’s disease can occur from viral infections or exposure to environmental toxins, such as pesticides, the causes of the majority of cases are not well known. Scientists suspect that oxidative damage to neurons in the substantia nigra could well be one of the major causes, particularly due to the depletion of the antioxidant glutathione. There can be an overlap betweendementia and PD.

People living near a steel factory or another source of high manganese emissions are at higher risk.

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland have discovered that the more pesticides gardeners are exposed to, the more likely they are to develop the degenerative brain disease. The results reinforce the need for amateur gardeners and farmers alike to wear protective equipment when spraying pesticides. Amateur gardeners were 9 percent more likely to suffer from the disease than non-pesticide users. Farmers were 43 percent more likely.

Consumption of milk and calcium in midlife and the future risk of Parkinson disease
Neurology 2005.
Middle-aged men who drink a glass or two of milk each day may be increasing their risk later in life. The ingredient or possible contaminant in milk responsible for this effect is unclear, but the current findings suggest it’s not the calcium.

Parkinson’s disease fact : the four most popular Parkinsonian neurotoxins are 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), rotenone, and paraquat.

People who sustain substantial head injuries face an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease years later. This has been shown in more than one study, therefore, it is safe to assume that head injury, such as in boxing, is a cause.

Taking prescription amphetamines may raise your risk years later.

Symptom
Individuals with Parkinson’s disease have tremor of the hands, rigidity, poor balance, and mild intellectual deterioration. The tremor is most apparent at rest and is less severe with movement.Shaking or tremor is an early symptom of Parkinson’s disease. Progression leads to trembling in arms, legs, jaw, and rigidity or stiffness of the limbs.

Diagnosis
It is difficult to diagnose Parkinson’s disease in the early stages. Early on, PD is diagnosed almost primarily by its symptoms, and studies indicate that physicians make an incorrect initial diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in between 10% and 40% of cases. Blood tests are not helpful for diagnosis.

Common medicines used in Parkinson’s disease to improve prognosis
There are basically three types of Parkinson’s disease drugs that are commonly prescribed for patients with Parkinson’s disease. First, doctors prescribe dopamine precursor medication, such as L-dopa, which converts into dopamine. A second medication type is using drugs that block the breakdown of dopamine. A common medicine used for this purpose is selegiline (also known as deprenyl). And third, drugs are provided that influence dopamine receptors directly. The two most commonly prescribed are bromocriptine and pergolide. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic say that in some cases, patients taking pergolide (Permax) may experience damage to heart valves. In some cases, patients taking cabergoline may experience damage to heart valves. High cumulative doses of and long-term treatment with cabergoline ( Dostinex ) are risk factors for the development of valvulopathy.
Some develope a gambling problem while taking Mirapex or similar drugs.
Dopamine agonists may trigger sudden uncontrollable sleepiness in about one in five patients. About one in five patients taking a therapeutic dose of a dopamine agonist develop compulsive gambling or hypersexuality.

Although symptoms of Parkinson’s disease often improve when the drug levodopa is given, brain scan results suggest that the drug hastens progression of the disease, according to a report in The New England Journal of Medicine. Given these conflicting findings, the long-term effects of levodopa on the disease remain unclear. The researchers evaluated 361 patients with early Parkinson’s disease who were treated with levodopa at one of three doses or with inactive placebo for 40 weeks. The main outcome measure was the extent to which symptoms worsened during treatment, but a subgroup of patients was also evaluated with brain scans. Parkinson’s symptoms worsened to a lesser extent in patients who received levodopa, at any dose, than in those who received placebo. In contrast, brain scanning in 116 patients showed that patients treated with levodopa lost more critical nerve cells than those who received placebo.
Dr. Sahelian comments: perhaps levodopa acts as an oxidant, damaging nerve cells.

I was diagnosed with PD in 2005. At that time I was prescribed with Artane (Benzhexol hydrochloride 2 mg) and still taking this medicine until today. In 2009 I started taking Mucuna Pruriens and over last 6 months I took 2 times/day with 40 % L-Dopa. In July 2009 I suffered from eyelids disorder (involuntary spasm of the eyelids muscle) and today the condition is getting bad. With PD getting bad over the past 2 years, I felt de-motivated, stressed and find myself useless due these sickness. I went to see eye specialists in 2010 and confirmed the eyes are good.

New Parkinson’s Drug
In 2006 FDA approved Azilect (rasagiline) for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Axilect is a monoamine oxidase type–B (MAO-B) inhibitor that blocks the breakdown of dopamine, a chemical that sends information to the parts of the brain that control movement and coordination. Azilect was approved for use as an initial single drug therapy in early Parkinson’s disease, and as an addition to levodopa in more advanced patients. Levodopa is a standard treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

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