Health News

Statins can cause nerve damage resulting in symptoms such as tingling, pain, numbness and weakness in the hands and feet. Some people even experience difficulty walking because of this. Researchers studied 500, 000 residents of Denmark and found that taking statins for one year raised the risk of nerve damage by 15 percent. People who took statins for two or more years were 26 percent more likely to get nerve damage. Cholesterol is a major component of the myelin sheath, which insulates our nerves and facilitates nerve transmissions.

Anne in NSW had been taking 40mg of Lipex (simvastatin) for 18 months before she noticed any side effects. Her cholesterol had been 6.3mmol/L and she couldn’t get it down any lower with diet and exercise, so her doctor decided to put her on Lipex. The fact that Anne is a type 2 diabetic made her an even more suitable candidate for statin therapy according to her doctor. Anne has got a fatty liver, and her liver enzymes were elevated even before she started taking Lipex, yet her doctor still recommended she take it. Anne suffers with high blood pressure and takes Avapro 300, and has an under active thyroid, and takes Oroxine for this.

The first unusual symptoms Anne noticed were a feeling of nausea and what she described as “dead legs”; her legs felt extremely weak and heavy. She started sweating, developed pins and needles and felt overpoweringly ill. Anne assumed that she had come down with a virus.

A week later her legs became even weaker and she noticed that her arms were trembling. The nerves in her arms and legs tingled and she felt like she was on the verge of suffering an anxiety attack, even though she had never experienced that before. Anne commented that her hands trembled as though she had Parkinson’s disease.

Anne accidentally forgot to take Lipex for the next few days and started feeling better. She resumed the drug and the next morning felt incredibly weak, was trembling, shaking and sweating. The next thing she noticed, she could hardly stand. That was when Anne was taken to hospital. She underwent numerous tests which came up with nothing specific. Anne did not have an infection and her liver enzymes were still raised as previously. She was taken off Lipex, and then resumed it one last time, only to have all these symptoms return. Her doctors concluded that the only possible explanation for all of these symptoms was an adverse reaction to Lipex.

Anne was permanently taken off Lipex and the dose of her blood pressure tablet was reduced. It has now been one month since Anne discontinued Lipex, and she is slowly getting better. She used to walk 20 kilometers each week for exercise but cannot manage anything near this now; even going shopping is a strain on her legs. Anne still notices the occasional tremors in her hands.

The information leaflet inside a box of Lipex recommends it be used in people with diabetes, a history of stroke, or other blood vessel disease, regardless of their cholesterol level, in order to prolong their life. It is recommended that you do not take Lipex if you have a liver disease; Anne had a fatty liver yet she was still prescribed this medication. Paraesthesia is listed as a possible side effect of Lipex, this is a nervous system disorder whereby people experience burning, prickling or stinging sensations. Anne experienced an extreme case of an adverse drug reaction. She has now been placed on an appropriate eating plan with nutritional supplements, and day by day she is slowly recovering her health.

*22/53/5*

Many people don’t realize there are a number of infections that can damage fertility. Some can cause infertility in both men and women, some can stop the embryo implanting once fertilisation has taken place, and some can cause miscarriages.

In men, infections in the seminal vesicles or the prostate gland can affect the sperm in several ways. Pus cells will reduce the sperm’s swimming ability and certain infections may kill off the sperm. Some infections can cause blockages in the male reproductive system, stopping the effective transport of the sperm. Cytomegalovirus (CMV), which is caused by a herpes virus, has been linked with low sperm count and inflammation of the testes.

Chlamydia

Chlamydia may sound like an exotic flower but it is actually a sexually transmitted bacteria which can lead to infertility in women without causing any symptoms. It is effectively an infertility time-bomb, which is claiming growing numbers of victims (particularly teenage girls). The Royal College of Physicians’ Committee on Genito-urinary Medicine estimates that it is the most common sexually transmitted disease in our society.

A number of countries, such as Sweden, routinely screen for chlamydia trachomatis and the fall in the number of clilamydia cases there has been dramatic. But there is no routine screening in the UK. It is known as the ’silent illness’ because only a small number of women experience actual symptoms such as a discharge. Men can also get chlamydia. They feel a burning sensation on passing urine. If men do not get the symptoms investigated then they will infect their partners, and possibly damage their own fertility.

In a woman the chlamydia bacteria can lie dormant for many months before passing through the cervix, and from there unnoticed into the womb and up the fallopian tubes where it causes the majority of pelvic inflammatory diseases (PID). If untreated, it can damage the fallopian tubes, resulting in blocked or scarred tubes which can mean infertility or increased risk of an ectopic pregnancy (where the fertilised egg implants into the fallopian tube instead of in the womb). In men it can cause inflammation of the testes and the tubes surrounding the testes.

Women can be screened for chlamydia with a cervical swab and/or a urine test and men can have a urine test. If caught early it can be treated successfully with antibiotics.

Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma

Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are very common organisms that can infect the genito-urinary tracts of men and women. These organisms don’t always cause infertility, but:

• According to a study in the 1970s, there seems to be a higher frequency of these organisms in the ejaculates and cervical secretions of couples with unexplained infertility problems. And when the couples were treated, pregnancy rates increased.

• In men, this type of infection can decrease the sperm count, reduce motility and increase the number of abnormal sperm.

• These organisms have also been linked with an increased risk of miscarriage.

*11/73/5*

Most of us know by now that what we eat can kill us, but there are lots of guys who have yet to acknowledge the connection between their emotions and heart disease. Yet some of our most common male emotions-social isolation, hostility, cynicism, and depression-are almost as devastating to the heart as, say, lunching on lard.

“All of these emotional problems have been found to increase the risk of heart disease and other health problems. And it’s not one or the other. In fact, they usually cluster. If you’re hostile, you’re more likely to have higher levels of depression and you’re more likely to be socially isolated,” says Redford B. Williams, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and author of Life skills.

In fact, if you’re a brooding loner, you may be asked to appear in a foreign film someday, but you may not live long enough to see it on the big screen. One five-year study found that people who were socially isolated were three times more likely to die from heart disease than those who had more social lifestyles.

What’s more, research has shown that those who already have had heart attacks and were depressed were also more likely to die within six months of their attack, says Dr. Williams. And a Danish study found that those who suffered from despair, low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, and low motivation were 70 percent more likely to die from heart disease.

“These people weren’t clinically depressed, but did have persistent symptoms of depression,” says John Ñ Barefoot, Ph.D., psychologist and associate research professor at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

What’s happening in these situations that increases your risk for heart problems? Anger, frustration, depression, and other emotional upsets are thought to activate your body’s fight-or-flight response-an automatic reaction that sets off a chain of internal physiological changes like a home security system gone berserk. Chemicals such as adrenaline and Cortisol, for example, rush to mobilize fat from your body’s stores in case you need a high energy source in your bloodstream to fuel your muscles-and your escape, says Dr. Williams. Not surprising, this raises your cholesterol and blood pressure and even makes your blood more likely to clot.

If that’s not bad enough, those who are socially isolated, depressed, and hostile seem to have worse health habits, making them more likely to drink and smoke, he says.

*85/36/5*

That’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. Experts answer it differently, depending on their area of specialty.

The Biological Perspective

Biologists see eating disorders as a foul-up in the body systems that regulate hunger and eating, particularly the hypothalamus. This cluster of nerves in the brain controls many body functions, including intake of water and food.

By releasing hormones, the hypothalamus also regulates the onset of puberty-an important connection to eating disorders. Although we don’t know exactly what “pulls the trigger,” puberty may begin when the body reaches a preprogrammed weight and achieves a certain percentage of body fat. Starving makes both weight and body fat decrease. If the weight-to-fat ratio falls too low, metabolic changes-including the loss of menstruation, a kind of regression from puberty-occur.

Biologists also look for problems in the way the body converts food into neurotransmitters-chemicals that carry signals between cells. The brain “knows” when the body needs certain foods to make the neurotransmitters that are in short supply and tells us what we should eat next. Eating disorders may arise from a malfunction in this feedback system.

Other evidence of the biological basis of eating disorders comes from studies on twins. Identical twins, who grow from a single egg and share an identical genetic blueprint, have a higher incidence of anorexia nervosa than fraternal twins, who grow from separate eggs.

If we can identify the biological breakdown or the genetic glitch that causes an eating disorder, then perhaps medicine can correct the problem and offer hope for treatment.

The Psychological Perspective

Most experts feel biology alone can’t explain eating disorders. The question then becomes, “What factors provoke abnormal eating in one person but not another?”

The answer, they believe, lies in a person’s life experiences and the thoughts and feelings those experiences arouse. A loss or rejection, a death in the family, the act of leaving home, can all start the ball rolling. The anorexic may feel she is somehow not good enough, that she is a disappointment to everyone. She is a “failure” in every capacity except one: her ability to be thin.

In bulimia, some of the same psychological factors are at work. A bulimic also equates thinness with self-worth (although in this case the degree of thinness is less extreme than in anorexia). There are other pressures as well. As biologists suspect, there may be a physical urge to binge. Bingeing also serves as a kind of distraction, allowing a woman to push aside unpleasant feelings and focus instead on intense physical sensations. By overeating, a woman rebels against the limits society tries to impose. She conquers fear by withdrawing into the comfortable, dependable world of bingeing. (Patients occasionally refer to bingeing as their “friend.”) Bingeing has much in common with the abuse of drugs or alcohol. By definition, however, a bulimic feels her behavior is beyond control. Purging thus becomes her way of regaining balance. She tells herself: “I overeat, but it’s okay because I throw it up anyway.” Bulimia lets her control at least one aspect of her life-eating-to make up for lack of control elsewhere.

*17/35/5*

After battling a weight problem for most of his life, Mark Maron tuned in to the surprising, binge-fighting power of music and successfully shed 25 pounds.

Mark first got serious about slimming down and staying healthy in 1997. That’s when the then-34-year-old Clifton Park, New York, resident found out that his mother had breast cancer. “I realized that both my mother and I had to start eating smarter— me, to lose weight and avoid getting cancer; her, to possibly save her life,” he explains.

Mark, who weighed 265 pounds at the time, read as much as possible about health, nutrition, and fitness and tried to incorporate all that he learned into his life. For him, that meant eating more vegetables and fruits, trying to steer clear of fatty foods, and working out at the gym at least three times a week.

Sure enough, the extra pounds melted away. But that wasn’t the end of Mark’s weight problem. It seemed that when he had some kind of emotional upset—a crisis at work, a fight with a loved one, or another problem that made him feel bad—he would binge on high-fat foods. “I would feed my emotions by eating things from fast-food drive-thrus and pizza houses, then go straight to bed when I got home,” he recalls. Needless to say, overeating only made Mark feel worse, and he found himself trapped in a vicious cycle.

During a down moment one day, Mark found himself heading for one of his fast-food haunts. Then he remembered a song that he had heard on the radio just a few hours before and decided to make a stop at the nearest music store. “I picked out two CDs. One was by a band called Big Audio Dynamite, and the other was an assortment of 1970s tunes, including my favorite, ‘Born to Be Alive,’” he recalls. “The music was very high energy and upbeat. It really pumped me up.” He got so pumped up that he forgot about stuffing down his sorrows with food and headed for the gym instead.

It’s a habit that has stuck with him ever since. Whenever he senses a slump coming on, Mark cranks up the tunes. Sometimes, he goes to the gym and works out; other times he just stays home and dances. “I danced a lot of my weight off,” he says.

In fact, by fall 1998, those 25 unwanted pounds that Mark had carried around for so long finally disappeared. He maintained his weight at 240 for several months before enrolling in a personal coaching program. Now he’s down to a muscular 230 pounds and

he hopes to lose a little more. “My mom is better now, and we’re both living healthier than we ever have,” he says. “We’re feeling great about it!”

WINNING ACTION

Tune in to fun instead of food. Like Mark, we all hit speed bumps that can send our egos and self-esteem plummeting and trigger a binge. Keep a “fun list” around so that when you get knocked off your feet by something, you can turn to a positive source of consolation, rather than to a pint of ice cream.

*71\89\8*