Health Blog and Health Product Reviews

Sciatica is a frequently misunderstood cause of lower back and leg pain. It’s not simply a condition but a diagnosis of multiple symptoms. Sciatica is important to understand because the treatment is based on what kind of symptoms are discovered. Sciatica necessarily caused only by a compacting of the nerve root. It can frequently be caused by a herniated disc, a vertebra (spinal element) that is no longer aligned, or possibly by a disc that has deteriorated

Sciatica can be a problem during pregnancy, as the uterus can sometimes sit on the sciatic nerve. As a woman puts on weight during the pregnancy, this can cause the vertebrae in the spine to compress the nerves. If a woman is not careful with her posture during pregnancy, sciatica can become an issue. Carrying yourself with poor posture can put pressure on the sciatic nerve. These and a number of other pregnancy issues can cause back pain.

Sciatica can also be caused by a muscle spasm in the back. This spasm can be caused by the contraction of the piriformis muscle. As this muscle contracts, the muscles can compress the sciatic nerve; as a result, a painful sciatica can develop. Sometimes the problem can be the result of too much sitting or a poor sleeping position, if this is not corrected by regular stretching exercise then this can also be a back pain issue.

Anything that puts pressure on the sciatic nerve can cause this back and leg pain. A well-known cause sciatica can be a spinal disc herniation. Normally the nerve passes through the vertebrae, but if there is herniation then the spinal column can no longer protect the nerve in the way it is designed to do..

The way to treat sciatica, and to relieve the back pain it causes, is to find ways to remove the compression. Relieving the pressure will also remove the pressure on the nerves. Usually offering some type of physical support to relieve the pressure accomplishes this decompression.

In ninety percent of all cases of sciatica, removing compression is enough to allow the disc to recover itself. Although genetics can play a part in the chances of a person having a herniated disc, the treatment is the same for anyone with this problem. The best treatment is to rest and wear a back support. If more severe intervention is needed, you may supplement that treatment with massage. A professional masseur or masseuse knows how to mobilize the muscles and can supplement the beneficial effects of self-exercise.

Whether with professional massage or self-exercise, the goal is to loosen the muscles while lessening the inflammation, which should quickly diminish the back pain.

The patient may find that an extended period of physiotherapy may be required. If the patient combines this professional therapy with changes in posture, he or she will find that improvement will come faster.

How to improve posture? The primary ways are not standing for too long, finding a better chair to sit in or at least improved posture while sitting and maybe using a pillow to give added back support. Sometimes it is necessary to use anti-inflammatories to help the swelling go down faster and so ease the pain.

Scott Meyers is a staff writer for Its Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Back Pain.

“Anxiety and Panic Attack sufferers tend to live lives of quiet desperation.”

As a personal development trainer specializing in anxiety issues, and a former sufferer of
extreme anxiety and panic attacks, I can assure you the above statement is true-I’ve been there. I spent years of my life searching in desperation for an anxiety cure that was effective and would last.

Like many people, I tried the medical route: I was prescribed anti-anxiety medications that doctors assured me would provide a “real” anxiety cure with no severe side-effects or withdrawal symptoms…at least that’s what I was told.

Fast forward two years: I had gained 50 pounds, I suffered with chronic heartburn, fatigue, memory loss (my friends began calling me “Mr Short-Term Memory”) and sexual “dysfunction” (don’t even ask). My relationship was in ruins and I was barely able to function at my job.

And the worst part? My anxiety and panic attacks were still there!

Here’s what the medical community and drug manufacturers don’t really want you to know: anti-anxiety medications are completely ineffective for most people as an anxiety cure. The best anti-anxiety medications available have success rates that are only slightly higher than a placebo (that’s right, a regular sugar pill).

And when you factor in severe side effects like I had, and withdrawal symptoms, it’s easy to see why these medications aren’t really a good idea for many people.

Now, I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy going on (exactly), but I am saying that there is a ton of money to be made by keeping this information quiet. And that’s exactly what the big corporations do. Which is great news if you are a stock holder, but terrible news if you are desperately seeking an anxiety cure, as I was for so many years.

So if medication is not the answer, what is?

A “real” anxiety cure must be sustainable, not a quick fix that makes your life progressively worse over time, creating a type of addiction that keeps sufferers feeling like helpless victims. A “real” anxiety cure is all about empowerment-taking back control over your life.

There is no “quick fix” for an anxiety problem. The only real and lasting cure is in dealing with the issue personally, taking full responsibility for it, and refusing to be a victim that waits for someone “out there” to come and “fix” your life. Because the truth is, no one ever will.

“You will overcome your anxiety problem–no one else will do it for you.”

Of course there are resources out there that can help you along the way and even coaching programs to guide you step-by-step, but you must make the first big step right now, and that is to take 100% responsibility for your situation. This is not about blaming yourself–it’s about taking your power back.

Don’t believe the hype folks. The cure for anxiety is not to be found in a pill. I cured my anxiety and panic attacks years ago by following a number of simple techniques, but the very first step along the way, was to understand that “I” was entirely responsible for my anxiety situation, and only “I” could overcome it.

The sooner you take responsibility and recognize your role in the anxiety–the sooner you’ll take back control of your life.

Jon Mercer, MA, is a personal development trainer and the founder of www.easycalm.com, a leading anxiety resource site. Can this free anxiety coaching video change your life?

Atorvastatin, marketed under the trade name Lipitor, is used for lowering cholesterol. Atorvastatin inhibits the enzyme located in hepatic tissue that produces mevalonate, a small molecule used in the synthesis of cholesterol. This lowers the amount of cholesterol produced which in turn lowers the total amount of LDL (low density) cholesterol. In 2005, Lipitor sales totaled $12.2 billion, making it the largest selling drug in the world at the time.

Atorvastatin is indicated as an adjunct to diet for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia. In a clinical trial, after 2 years, a relative risk reduction of 16% in the primary end point rate (death, heart attack, unstable angina, coronary revascularization, or stroke) was seen in patients receiving intensive treatment with the drug. The benefit of intensive treatment was apparent, in some instances, within 30 days.

If you have high cholesterol, chances are your physician has already talked to you about Lipitor. Doctors like to prescribe it because it works quickly and easily. However, you need to understand the risk consequences associated with taking these sorts of drugs, because there is a potential for dangerous and sometimes permanent side effects. Some patients have suffered severe health consequences and were not adequately forewarned by their doctors.

Some of the more well known side effects associated with drugs known as statins (statins is the scientific classification for drugs such as Lipitor) include liver damage, sexual dysfunction, and peripheral neuropathy. But there have been other studies that have revealed other subtle problems that develop within the patient, which can have huge ramifications for the health of that patient later in life.

In a study performed by Finnish doctors, doctors assessed the effects of the statin drug Zocor on 120 men ages 35 to 64. All of the men had high cholesterol levels, ranging from 232 to 309. One group of men was told to maintain their current diet, while the other group was required to reduce their daily intake of saturated fat to less than 10 percent of total daily calories, and to keep their daily cholesterol consumption below 250 mg.

Then, each of the 2 groups was divided into 2 subgroups. One subgroup would take 20 mg of Zocor per day, while the other group received a placebo. This was continued for 12 weeks, at which point each subgroup switched so that the subgroup that had been receiving the placebo would receive the Zocor for the next 12 weeks, and vice versa. At the beginning of the clinical trial, and after the first 12 weeks, as well as at the end of the second 12 weeks, the cholesterol, blood pressure, insulin, and weight of each patient were measured.

The Zocor clearly worked, because it decreased cholesterol levels by 20.8 percent, while diet alone only decreased cholesterol by 7.6 percent. However, there was an astonishing finding. It was discovered that the drug increased fasting serum insulin levels by 13 percent, and decreased serum concentrations of important antioxidant vitamins by as much as 22 percent. This was a huge revelation.

Decreased insulin sensitivity can lead to a whole host of problems down the road, such as blindness, diabetes, and kidney disease. And antioxidants protect us from a whole host of problems, such as organic brain disease, cancer, and atherosclerosis. So, even though these cholesterol drugs perform a valuable function (lowering cholesterol), they can cause a whole range of other problems and diseases that can make a patient severely ill later in life.

So, you should think long and hard before using cholesterol-lowering drugs. The aforementioned side effects may not be equally severe in all people who take the medication. However, you might be better off working closely with your doctor to develop a program of diet and exercise before using drugs like Zocor or Lipitor to lower your cholesterol.

Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make an HTML form

“Eat less and exercise” is traditional advice dispensed to those wanting to lose weight, improve health, and reduce susceptibility to certain diseases. With the national obesity epidemic growing by the day, particularly in Texas, this is sound advice. But recent studies show the first part alone of that classic line may be sufficient to lengthen one’s lifespan by up to 40%.

Simply eating less may not only add years to life, but also may improve cardiovascular health, lessen the chances of such diseases as diabetes and cancer, and slow neurodegeneration due to aging all also of considerable concern in Texas. And, hey, with so many individual health insurance premiums skyrocketing, who couldn’t use a discount for good health?

It seems so simple. With all the latest gadgets, gizmos, fitness club machines, weight loss programs, herbs, supplements, medications, and scams in Dallas, Houston, throughout Texas and the rest of the country amounting to an all-out, take-no-prisoners, product assault on the increasing number of health-conscious individuals how could this possibly work? Health insurance companies and other medical facilities release regular warnings that the best, and most sure methods, for maintaining and increasing health are old news namely, eating well and exercising. Far from putting a deeper hole in the pocket of the average American consumer (who is already in debt), eating less may actually save money.

“It can’t be,” you say. Oh, but it can.

The answers aren’t entirely clear yet, but scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the National Institute on Aging are slowly closing in on all the whys of this revelation. Anecdotal evidence has existed on the subject since the 1930’s, but 2002 saw this hypothesis’s first big break. It was then that George S. Roth of the National Institute on Aging confirmed that the lives of lab animals were extended by up to 40% through the application of a reduced calorie, highly nutritious diet. While nutrient levels were maintained, calories were cut by approximately one-third. Similar studies have been done on roundworms and monkeys with similar results.

Originally, the effect of calorie restriction on longevity was believed to be mediated by the insulin/IGF-1 pathway. A research group headed by Andrew Dillin, Ph.D., from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, published a study in May 2007 stating his team had actually discovered a specific gene linked to calorie-restriction induced longevity. Other factors believed to affect longevity were also expressed in experimental worms through a “forkhead family” of genes. One by one, these fifteen “forkhead-like factors” are being isolated and tested, but so far, only one other has proved to be a promising link to longevity.

The specific gene Dillin is highlighting is one encoding the PHA-4 protein found in worms, which operates independently of the insulin/IGF-1 pathway. In humans, the group of genes similar to the PHA-4 gene is known as the Foxa family, which is involved in the development and regulation of glucagons – a pancreatic hormone that increases blood sugar concentrations and maintains energy levels, especially during fasting. What this means is that there may be several pathways influencing longevity, and scientists are slowly isolated what they are, and how they work.

According to Dillin, “we know three distinct pathways that affect longevity: insulin/IGF signaling, calorie restriction, and the mitochondrial electron transport chain pathway PHA-4 is specific for calorie restriction as it does not affect the other pathways.”

Calorie restriction may set off certain biological markers common in those with increased longevity, as well. Both experimental animals, and certain people with longer life spans (either set off by calorie restriction or occurring naturally) display lower body temperature, lower insulin levels, and a steady level of the steroid hormone DHEAS. The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging found that, among their experimental group of aging men, those dying more slowly displayed these biological markers, begging the question: Which came first – good genes, or good bio markers? Can they, if not inherent, be induced by calorie restriction? Such an intriguing twist will, surely, inspire further studies benefiting all, including the disproportionately overweight population of Texas.

Nationally, obesity is increasing at an epidemic rate; so is heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and many of the other conditions often associated with it. In Texas alone, the percentage of obese individuals is hovering around 27% nearly 3% above the national average and studies in Dallas and Houston show equally alarming trends in those 18 years of age and under. Calorie intake is certainly not the only cause of obesity, but it is a major contributing factor. The growing number of health problems associated with the condition is not only dangerous on a biological level, but is also one factor pushing the rising costs of individual health insurance for many companies.

But cutting calories by 30-40% just may not be realistic for the majority of the American populace, and, doctors warn, is probably not actually healthy. It’s difficult for most in Texas, and the rest of the country, to imagine living as an ascetic sinewy body, constant hunger just to live life somewhat longer. It contradicts modern Western culture, in which indulging in sweets and large meals is considered an unvoiced right. The moral of the story, as it were, may very well be to learn from an even older saying, “All things in moderation.” If it’s not realistic to cut calories by nearly half, Americans can at least limit themselves to the Recommended Daily Allowance to enjoy better health.

So it’s possible, and it’s even simple. Good health is entirely within our reach through intelligent moderation and applied discipline. Reducing calories by 40% may not be the best thing for most, but choosing lower calorie, highly nutritious food offerings just may add years to your life. Besides, your health insurance company will love you for it.

How you eat when you’re young will certainly affect your health as you age, and eventually your wallet.

Pat Carpenter writes for Precedent Insurance Company. Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at Precedent.com