Early Warning Signs of Cancer

Posted on July 25th, 2008 by

Early detection of all types of cancer is extremely important. It means being continually on the lookout for unusual changes in the body that might signal the start of a cancer. The following are the common early warning signs of cancer:

a lump or thickened tissue in the breast, testicles, or any other part of the body

a sore or ulcer that will not heal

persistent hoarseness or a nagging cough that has blood in it

persistent pain or large lumps in the abdomen or difficulty in swallowing

changes in bowel or bladder function

obvious changes in a wart or mole

unusual bleeding or discharge

unexpected weight loss or loss of appetite

undue fatigue, lassitude, or malaise

persistent pain (though cancer is not always painful)

painless, swollen glands that stay enlarged.

Note These could all be symptoms of a “benign” condition that can be quickly and easily cleared up with the right treatment, but you should always consult a physician right away.

Treatment

All estimated 85-95 percent of all cancers are preventable, according to some experts. Prevention, then, is the key in cancer, as it is in heart disease. This means maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and mental and emotional state. And even when it is too late for prevention, the same things that can help prevent cancer are also recommended in its treatment (outside the standard medical treatments of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or drug therapy).

Diet And Nutrition Eat less fat (trim all the fat off meat, and try fish or chicken instead). Buy only skim or semiskim milk, low-fat yogurt and cheese. Cut down on fried food (bake, broil, or steam instead). Eat butter (in moderation) instead of margarine; give up cream. Eat more fiber (or roughage): at least five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables every day (leave the skin on fruit but wash it thoroughly first); dried fruit, especially prunes (without sugar); plenty of dark green and yellow vegetables (spinach, broccoli, carrots); baked potatoes with the skins left on; plenty of whole grain cereals (such as brown rice); granola, bran flakes, or porridge for breakfast; wholewheat flour and wholewheat bread only; wholewheat pasta.

Eat less sugar, less salt, and eat organically-grown food as far as possible.

Special Treatment

Nutritional or dietary treatments have a good record for helping some people with cancer. Some are listed below.

The Gerson Therapy (or Gerson Diet) This was created by the late Max Gerson, a German doctor who immigrated to the United States. It involves counseling as well as a strict diet, and requires determination and commitment on the part of the client.

Macrobiotics This is an Oriental form of food combining.

Megavitamin Therapy Supplementation for cancer should only be prescribed by a qualified practitioner.

Alternative Treatment

Those alternative therapies shown to be most effective for cancer are

psychological therapies: including art, music, and drama therapy; counseling; healing/faith-healing; hypnotherapy; meditation/relaxation; psychotherapy; visualization

physical therapies: aromatherapy; Ayurvedic medicine; homeopathy; herbalism; massage; naturopathy/ hydrotherapy; nutritional therapy; reflexology; yoga and and t’ai chi.

Popularity: 100%

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Enlarged Prostate – Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Posted on July 25th, 2008 by

The prostate gland, which is normally about the size and shape of a walnut, wraps around the urethra between the pubic bone and the rectum, below the bladder. In the early stage of prostate enlargement, the bladder muscle becomes thicker and forces urine through the narrowed urethra by contracting more powerfully.

Enlarged Prostate Causes

The cause of benign prostatic hyperplasia is unknown. It is possible that the condition is associated with hormonal changes that occur as men age. The testes produce the hormone testosterone, which is converted to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and estradiol (estrogen) in certain tissues.

Symptoms of Enlarged Prostate

Prostate gland enlargement varies in severity among men and doesn’t always pose a problem. Only about half the men with prostate gland enlargement experience signs and symptoms that become noticeable or bothersome enough for them to seek medical treatment. These signs and symptoms may include:

Weak urine stream

Difficulty starting urination

Diagnosis of Enlarged Prostate

Your doctor will ask you questions about your symptoms and your general health. You may be asked to fill in a urination questionnaire to help work out the severity of your symptoms.

Your doctor will examine the size and consistency of your prostate by inserting a finger into your rectum. This is called a digital rectal examination (DRE).

Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Blood Test

To rule out cancer as a cause of urinary symptoms, your doctor may recommend a PSA blood test. PSA, a protein produced by prostate cells, is frequently present at elevated levels in the blood of men who have prostate cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a PSA test for use in conjunction with a digital rectal examination to help detect prostate cancer in men who are age 50 or older and for monitoring men with prostate cancer after treatment.

Treatment - Enlarged Prostate

The choice of a treatment is based on the severity of your symptoms, the extent to which they affect your daily life, and the presence of any other medical conditions. Treatment options include “watchful waiting,” lifestyle changes, medication, or surgery.

If you are over 60, you are more likely to have symptoms. But many men with an enlarged prostate have only minor symptoms. Self-care steps are often enough to make you feel better.

Surgical removal of part of the prostate gland used to be the most common treatment for BPH. Usually, prostate tissue is removed in a procedure called transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). Despite its excellent results, TURP has a greater chance than do other treatments of causing side effects — retrograde ejaculation being the most common.

Medication treatment prostate enlargement

There are two types of medication that help to control the symptoms of an enlarged prostate, they are alpha blockers and finasteride Proscar, Propecia. Alpha blockers are effective in about 75% of men. They work by relaxing the muscles at the neck of the bladder making urination easier. The FDA has approved three types: doxazosin Cardura; tamsulosin Flomax and terazosin Hytrin.

Popularity: 89%

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Countering The Link Between Your Drinking Water Purification System And Cancer

Posted on July 25th, 2008 by

Home drinking water purification systems vary widely in performance and quality. It is not a good idea to purchase any drinking water purification system without first doing your homework. A good place to start would be to contact the manufacturers of the targeted product and ask them for a certified performance data sheet.

You can most often obtain this information directly off the manufacturers’ website, and some states even require that the data sheet be part of the actual sales brochure. Be careful when reading the data presented as they may only allude to which chemicals their drinking water purification systems will remove and to what degree. There are times when the real facts will take some rooting out.

Despite what the company claims, a drinking water purification system may remove nothing other than chlorine. Chlorine does affect the odor and taste of your h20, but, while a noble cause, chlorine elimination by itself is a far cry from purity. There are many more contaminants to worry about blocking also.

Chlorine is very dangerous though, don’t get me wrong. Researchers have deduced that the chemical causes everything from intestinal tract disorders to certain kinds of cancers. THMs, a byproduct produced by chlorine disinfection, is directly linked to breast cancer in women. These women all had levels of THMs in their bodies many times higher than non-cancerous women.

Even though deemed an unhealthy practice, the public drinking water purification systems absolutely must use chlorine in its disinfecting operations. There is simply no other way to remove the risk of widespread bacterial contamination. Despite the dangers that chlorine imposes, we have yet to come up with an alternative method for staving off typhoid and cholera outbreaks.

So with no end in sight to chemical disinfection, the only answer to protecting us from the very thing that is protecting us, is a home drinking water purification system. THMs pose maybe the greatest danger, and just because your system removes chlorine does not mean that it prevents THMs.

Along with breast cancer, THMs has also shown to be connected to an increased risk of colorectal and bladder cancer. It has been estimated that a person who has been exposed to THMs has about a 30% greater chance of getting cancer than someone who has never been exposed. 700 new cancer cases per year are directly linked to THMs exposure according to a Canadian study.

THMs can be absorbed by your skin, so swimming in a chlorinated pool regularly puts you at greater risk. You are not even safe in the shower as chlorine vapors can be inhaled directly through shower steam. That tells you right away that you’d better look for showerhead units to go along with your drinking water purification systems.

Birth defects can be traced back to THMs according to studies by researchers in the United Kingdom, but with careful choosing of the right drinking water purification system, you and your baby can be safe and sound.

These are just some of the many reasons why choosing quality drinking water purification systems are so important to you.

Popularity: 86%

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