Archive for the 'Disease & Illness' Category

If you suffer with nagging lower back pain you may lose valuable hours at work, lie awake through sleepless nights or even struggle with disability. Four out of every five adults in America will experience lower back pain at some point in their lives. If you haven’t already struggled with lower back pain, chances are, you will.

Chronic lower back pain often begins as the result of a back injury such as a strained muscle, sprained ligament or herniated disc. One would expect that the pain vanishes when the initial damage has been repaired. Surprisingly, health experts have found that such injuries can sometimes trigger an alteration in nerve cells that transmit signals. The resulting pain or hypersensitivity persists long after the initial trauma has been healed.

When hypersensitivity occurs, the chronic lower back pain transforms into a disease that becomes far more than a simple symptom of past spinal damage. The trauma has long passed, but the pain of hypersensitivity persists. To avoid future painful episodes, it’s crucial for people who have suffered lower back trauma to maintain an ongoing rehabilitation program.

Patients seeking effective, non-surgical treatment methods may find relief with PNT, or percutaneous neuromodulation therapy. This treatment is performed with the application of electrical stimulation to the deep tissues in the posterior portion of the body.

This new procedure for relieving chronic lower back pain has recently received clearance by the FDA. PNT is a minimally invasive procedure that can be performed in a regular medical clinic.

To qualify for percutaneous nueromodulation therapy, you must:

* Are you at risk of developing long-term, intractable pain?

* Existing pain should radiate from the lower back into your buttocks, legs and feet.

* Are you free of ample pain-relieving medications (including physical therapy or chiropractic manipulation)?

* A desire to take a less insidious approach before resorting into a surgical operation is required.

When a doctor performs PNT, he or she will utilize several needle electrodes that are designed to reach the nerve pathways that may be impacting the pain. Specialists believe that this kind of charged stimulation helps to restrain the central nervous system that relentlessly ushers in pain.

Typical PNT sessions last about thirty minutes. With the patient is comfortable in a face down position on the examination table, up to ten PNT electrodes are applied to specific locations on the lower buttock area. Each is deployed with a fine-gauge filament to a depth of three centimeters. With the electrodes in place, the doctor can adjust the stimulation to a rate that distributes the greatest therapeutic benefits to the patient.

If you undergo PNT as a treatment for lower back pain, you must complete three or four sessions before evaluating the effectiveness of the procedure. While some patients experience a certain level of relief after a single PNT session, others require subsequent sessions. No two patients are the same, and the suitable frequency of PNT can vary.

Following the application PNT treatment, some patients report overall feeling of wellness, including increased physical activity, a better quality of sleep, improved pain control, reduced levels of disability and a lessened need for pain medications.

Suffering with lower back pain should not make you a slave to the condition. There are effective treatment options available, including PNT sessions, which can provide the relief you need to get back on your feet.

If you take the time to read up on all the deadly diseases that can be found just outside your door, you probably would never go outside. It is that scary. West Nile Virus is hardly the most dangerous of threats, but it is still plenty deadly.

Despite the name, West Nile Virus is in reality a form of Encephalitis. It is a virus that acts like an infection within the body. For most people, the disease has little or no impact on them, but it can be deadly for some.

If you live in an area with mosquitoes, you may have been infected with West Nile and not even know it. Why? In many cases, the body can defeat it without any symptoms even being apparent.

While most people get through the infection in 10 days, a minority fall into a near coma with fever, weakness, chills, sweating and general misery. Nausea can follow as well as gastrointestinal issues.

At this point, even the worst cases can break after ten days or so with the patient recovering. Still, a few will never recover. The infection will spread into the spinal cord and brain with death being likely.

Given the name, most people view West Nile Virus as one of those health threats that are third world countries. While this is true, many first world countries have the problem. The United States is certain included in this group.

West Nile became a known threat in the United States in 1999. Over the next few years, deaths attributed to the virus could be counted in the single digits. In 2002, the number jumped to 284 and roughly 100 have died every year since then.

Surviving West Nile is all about not getting it. While birds carry it around the world, mosquitoes actually infect humans. How? The mosquitoes bite both birds and humans, which transfers the virus.

To break the chain of transport, you should go after those buzzing bugs. Mosquitoes need standing water to reproduce. Eliminate it and they will disappear. In the meantime, wear insect repellent to hold them off.

Mosquitoes are the carriers of misery and death. The list of diseases they carry is simply appalling. Even if West Nile does not concern you, wiping out mosquitoes in your area should be a goal.