Overcome Snoring Once and For All

Think of It: Having to sleep in the same bedroom with a snoring husband or wife, night after night. The funny thing is that most people who snore not at all agree that they do. Imagine each and every night you’re awake in the middle of the night listening to this. It is amazingly frustrating knowing that you have to get up in the morning and you can’t fall asleep.

‘They’ believe it is just a common condition that most men have. ‘They’ can believe what ‘they’ want to believe. ‘WE’ want to do something about it! And fortunately we CAN.

What is snoring?

Snoring happens as soon as the flow of air from your mouth or nose to your lungs makes the tissues of the airway vibrate. Most of the time this is caused by some sort of jam or obstruction is the nose, mouth, or throat, but the cause generally varies from case to case. Snoring is devastating to quality sleep. The cause for snoring and solutions are addressed. Snoring has long been thought of as simply an aggravation for the bed partner but in recent years much has been learned about the real dangers that snoring indicates. The concrete sound known as snoring is caused by the vibration of the walls of the throat. Most people might think it as a nonsense issue to even talk about. Snoring may increase with age. Snoring can affect you and your partner in many ways, including sleep disturbance, tiredness, exhaustion, and lack of concentration. A permanent lack of sleep and the consequential frustration can lead to strained relationships.

Types of Snoring

- Snoring while sleeping for the duration of night times only, this condition of snoring is what usually is called the usual snoring habits - Snoring while sleeping any time of the day - Snoring while mouth closed shows a problem with the tongue - Snoring while mouth is open shows a problem with the throat - Snoring when lying on your back shows a mild difficulty - Snoring when sleeping in any positions shows the problem is serious

Controlled and Uncontrolled factors of snoring

It is general believe that there are things that we can control and those that we cannot control when it comes to snoring. Fortunately we know better these days. For example: Snoring when your back is lying on the bed, most commonly indicates exhaustion. It could be that the back of the tongue is blocking some parts of the passage ways and causes the sound that produces the snoring.

What to do when you are snoring severe? Is it DANGEROUS?

If you’re snoring in your sleep in any kind of sleeping posture of position, then it is considered as serious. If you snore, you may wish to talk to your doctor. As said: Snoring happens when the passage of air through the mouth and nose is physically blocked. It is the vibration of respiratory structures and the resulting sound, due to blocked air movement during breathing while sleeping. Snoring can actually lead to a condition called sleep apnea, which occurs when a person ceases breathing during sleep. While snoring doesn’t automatically lead to cases of sleep apnea, it is a risk; and snorers are thus advised to consult with their physician to see if they can pro-actively cut down on some risk factors. Medicines can help as well, but being careful of what you do, what you eat, and your actual lifestyle will affect you tremendously. And it is also very well doable to “cure” snoring Naturally.

One of my favorite areas of medicine is the challenge involved with treating the elderly. While on rotations in school I was fortunate enough to be placed at a site with an all-inclusive care program for the elderly. The program was a mixture of adult daycare and healthcare (physicians, nurse practitioners, physical & occupational therapists, etc. were on site). I LOVED the older patients - they were full of wisdom and had a no holds barred attitude, saying whatever they wanted to say!!!

I quickly learned there is more to treating the elderly than one would think. I assumed you could treat the older patient exactly like a younger adult suffering from the same ailment - Not true!

There are several different challenges to meet when dealing with the elderly and medicine so I’m going to hit on one area at a time - hopefully this keeps the topic from being too overwhelming.

We’ll start with what your body does to drugs after you take it (pharmacokinetics - big word!), which consists of four major areas. Note: this may be a little confusing, but please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions! The major areas are:

1) Absorption - the movement of the drug into the bloodstream

2) Distribution - the movement of the drug between the blood and the different tissues of the body (i.e. muscle, fat, and brain tissue)

3) Metabolism - how your body changes the drug in preparation for elimination

4) Elimination - how the drug is removed from your body

These actions all change as you get older and at some point they will change to a degree in which extra care is needed.

Stay tuned for more to find out how the abovementioned areas change as you age. In the meantime, visit my blog at http://www.getpharmacyadvice.com for additional pharmacy-related issues!

It may surprise you to learn that hemorrhoids are actually a very common medical condition. It is estimated that around half of all adults will at some point in their lives suffer from the problem. With that statistic in mind it is a good idea to learn a little bit more about what hemorrhoids are and how is it best to cure them.

Basically hemorrhoids are swollen glands in the anal region of the body. The severity can vary, but usually it is caused by straining and pressure. Read on to discover some of the common ways to cure the problem effectively.

It is generally accepted that mild forms of the condition will settle down fairly quickly. However for other more painful forms of hemorrhoids it is better to take the following advice.

The first thing that you should do is to take good care of yourself. Take a warm bath and relax. The warm water will help to relieve the constant itchiness around the anus area. Also, remember to use soft baby tissues after going to the toilet. Using this kind of paper instead of the common dry type will help to reduce this discomfort.

Hemorrhoids can be the result of a number of factors and it is possible that diet might be one of them. If you suspect that this is the case, then try to introduce different kinds of food into your diet. Some foods will make you strain more on the toilet and so you should eat fiber to reduce this and drink lots of water to help to change this situation.

For more severe cases of hemorrhoids you are advised to visit your local pharmacy. There are plenty of medicines and creams available without prescription that can help to relieve the pain and irritation caused by the hemorrhoids. If you would prefer to visit your local doctor then this is a good idea. They may prescribe something like bismuth oxide or witch hazel.

These creams can be very effective, but remember to use then for no longer than about a week, as too much can cause soreness around the anus. For further questions remember to ask your doctor.

If the problem continues to cause you pain and irritation than you may have to undergo something called “banding”. This is a very simple procedure that involves the use of a band that is very tightly attached to the base of the hemorrhoid within the anus. The aim is to restrict blood flow so that it falls out. Typically this will take around a week to occur.

The procedure may cause some discomfort but this normally treated with mild over-the-counter painkillers. It is very rare for complications to occur from this treatment, but it is possible for infection or ulcers to develop. If you experience a lot of red blood flow then it is advisable to call for medical attention immediately.

In some circumstances the doctor may offer an injection as an alternative hemorrhoid treatment to banding. This procedure is known as “sclerotherapy”. This is used to treat larger hemorrhoids, typically referred to as grade two or three. An injection is inserted directly in to the area around the anus and this helps to numb the pain and irritation caused by the hemorrhoid.

Over a period of one month to six weeks the affected area should begin to decrease in size and eventually disappear.

I am a pharmacist. When I lived in Miami, I had a regular patient (aka Janet) that would come in and talk with me about her dogs (my favorite subject!) She had been in New York for a few weeks for work. Before she had left for her trip, she had picked up a prescription for Diflucan (fluconazole)-a treatment for a yeast infection.

Janet came into the pharmacy and barely mentioned her new puppy (Charlie). She seemed upset and irritated. She was picking up another Diflucan prescription. So, I asked her what was up.

She was at wits end- she had been treating a yeast infection for about 2 months. At first, she self treated with OTC medications then with her physician. Janet’s physician gave her some prescription creams and then Diflucan.

We talked about all of her concerns…

What the symptoms are…

Symptoms range from none to swollen, red, itchy, irritated vaginal/vulvar tissues, discharge and odor -or any combination.

Even once the infection is cleared up (about 3-5 days) the symptoms can remain for up to 14 days -this is a problem because many women think that they still have an active infection.

We talked about how you get a yeast infection…

All women naturally have a small amount of yeast (candida albicans) in the vagina. The infection occurs when there is too much of the yeast. This can happen anytime -it is usually caused by medications (like antibiotics), injury, stress or other sickness.

Studies show that for some women who get recurring yeast infections, their risk is increased by using panty-hose, panty liners, sexual lubricants and drinking cranberry juice.

How is it treated?…

OTC vaginal creams and suppositories (such as Monistat) -they usually come in 1-day, 3-day and 7-day treatments. I usually recommend a 3-day treatment for most women.

Prescription vaginal creams and suppositories (like Gynazole) -these are not usually any better than the OTC creams.

Helpful Hint: Be careful -the creams can breakdown condoms.

Diflucan (fluconazole) is a prescription oral medication. Usually 1 tablet is taken once (sometimes it is repeated in 3 days). The tricky thing about the pill is that although it often only one tablet, the symptoms still take about 3 days to go away (you can use an OTC cream to help).

Boric acid vaginal suppositories -this is what Janet and I talked about mostly because she had already been through all the other options. She wanted to know why it had to come down to some random treatment she had never even heard of. There are three main reasons

1) There are different kinds of yeast that can cause infections. Most kinds of infections are treated by the normal treatments but there are some yeast infections that can ONLY be treated with boric acid.

2) Sometimes the infection is not caused by yeast but by a bacteria…none of the anti-fungal will help but boric acid can treat yeast and bacteria.

3) Sometimes, when a woman with a yeast infection uses a bunch of different treatments, the vagina just gets “unbalanced” -boric acid corrects the pH and kinda gives the vagina a “re-boot” back to baseline.

The regular dose is 600mg boric acid (in type 0 capsules) inserted vaginally at bedtime for 14 days. They need to be compounded so -you need a prescription and a compounding pharmacy.

Back to Janet- I printed out some info about boric acid that she could show her physician. She had to go back up to New York for another month but she called a couple of times to update me on her progress -she said her doctor looked at her like she was crazy at first but after reading about it gave her the prescription, she went to a compounding pharmacy and all has been good for her.

So that is great…here is the funny part- a few weeks later, I had a woman come to the pharmacy and asked if we have boric acid. I started talking to her about how it needs to be compounded with a specific capsule because yadda yadda yadda…

Her face was frozen in confusion and a bit of fear…I stopped talking and she said, “I…uhhh….just wanted some boric acid powder,” pause while we both looked at each other puzzled. She then continued, “You know…for cleaning.”

Boric acid for cleaning….who knew?!