You have to go, and you have to go now. Come to think of it, it seems like you’ve had to go every 15 minutes since you woke up this morning. And each time, it’s been the same story. Not much comes out, but it burns like crazy. What in the world is going on?

If you have pain or burning on urination, the frequent urge to urinate, and/blood in your urine, chances are you have a bladder infection (Also called cystitis, urinary tract infection, or UTI). These symptoms may also be accompanied by lower and abdominal pain, fever and chills, and all-over ill feeling.

Bladder infections are caused by a bacterial invasion of the bladder and urinary tract. “The urine in the bladder is normally sterile,” explains Amanda Clark, M.D., assistant professor of Sciences University in Portland. “However, if it becomes contaminated with bacteria, a bladder infection can develop.”

If you’re a woman who suffers from bladder infections, you’re not alone. “Women tend to suffer more bladder infections than men because the female urethra, the tube leading from the bladder to the outside of the body, is only one-and-a-half inches long – a short distance for bacteria to travel,” says Sadja Greenwood, M.D., a women’s health specialist and assistant clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California at San Francisco. (A man’s urethra is about eight inches long.) Frequently, the urinary tract becomes contaminated with Escherichia coli, bacteria that are normally present in the bowel and anal area. In about 10 to 15 percent of cases, bladder infections are caused by another organism, such as Chlamydia trachomatis.

Women also suffer more bladder infections because sexual intercourse can irritate the urethra and contribute to the transport of bacteria from the anal area and vagina into the bladder. “We don’t really know exactly why intercourse increases the risk of bladder infections,” says Clark. “We think it might be the bladder tissues that are a little more receptive to having an infection or it may cause more bacteria to move up the urethra.”

Women who use diaphragm for birth control have a greater risk of bladder infections, too, says Clark. The diaphragm presses against the neck of the bladder, which inhibits a normal urination, she says. As urine flow decreases, pressure within the bladder increases, and the bladder is unable to completely empty itself. The pooled urine then acts as a growth medium for bacteria.

Pregnant women are also more likely to suffer from bladder infections. The changing hormones of pregnancy and the pressure exerted by the enlarged uterus on the bladder and the ureters (the two tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder) put pregnant women on greater risk.

Men can also suffer from this malady. In men, bladder infections are almost always secondary to an infection of the prostate gland (prostatitis), according to Theodore Lehman, M.D., a urologist in private practice and director of The Oregon Impotence Center in Portland. “Primary infection of the bladder in men just doesn’t happen, because the bladder is well protected,” explains Lehman. “But the prostate sits right in front of the bladder, and bacteria can get into it – through sexual intercourse, trauma like bouncing in a bicycle seat, or some kind of blockage – and it stirs up an infection in the prostate. Then the prostate infection can ‘move upstream,’ if you will, and infect the bladder.”

In men, prostate infection usually feels like “you’re sitting on a brick,” says Lehman. When the infection extends to the bladder, the symptoms of irritation, urinary frequency, and pain and burning on urination join the achy-bottom feeling.

These were taken from The Home Remedies Handbook.

Diabetes is a very serious and difficult disease to control. Your life will never be the same again once you’re diagnosed with it.  With the right decisions, you can be as healthy as you ever were before but aging healthfully will pose a challenge.  You have to change the way you eat and need to exercise daily.

Diabetes is referred to as a lifestyle disease and one gets it from unhealthy lifestyles. Some are more prone to get the disease but nearly everyone can avoid Type 2 Diabetes by living a healthy lifestyle.

Before you get diabetes, you get what is known as insulin resistance. In most cases, insulin resistance can be treated without taking any injections or medications.  If insulin resistance goes undetected for a long period of time it becomes a full-blown case of diabetes. Treatment ranges from pills, exercise, and dietary changes to insulin injections, exercise, and dietary changes.

Catching Diabetes Early

If you’re not exercising regularly, overweight, or you don’t eat healthy food, there is a good chance you’re on your way to being a diabetic. Get regular medical checkups and discuss the possibility with your doctor. A simple fasting glucose test will reveal whether or not you have diabetes.

There are some indications of the presence of the disease like if you find yourself thirsty all of the time but unable to quench your thirst, and urinating often. You may also have dizzy spells or feel lightheaded regularly. Unexplained changes in your weight may also be a symptom of diabetes.

Avoiding Diabetes

What used to be thought of as an adult disease has made it a disease for all ages with the changes in cultural lifestyle. Living healthy is the best way to avoid diabetes. Get a good sleep regularly, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and avoid the temptation of drinking anything other than water.  Also, avoid meats and sugary foods, get plenty of rest and exercise daily. Get your weight under control if you’re overweight.

Dealing with Diabetes

A healthy lifestyle is essential for diabetics. The best treatment method is the same as the way to prevent it.  Failure to live a healthy lifestyle will have a great impact on you’re health once you get the disease.  Take control of your life by controlling diabetes and live a long life.

Diabetics need to consult with their primary care physician before starting any weight loss plan. A diabetic diet plan needs to be monitored carefully monitored for sugar and a physician is the best person who can tell the best way without jeopardizing your health.

With diabetes, the body doesn’t either produce enough insulin or the body’s cells ignore insulin. Sugar is the basic fuel for the cells of the body and without insulin, the body cannot take sugar from the blood to feed the cells.

Controlling weight is the best way for those with Type 2 Diabetes to keep glucose in check. Trying to get into a healthy diabetic diet is a challenge in itself.

To start a diabetic diet, diabetics need to change their eating habits.  Increase exercise each day while maintaining a omfortable fitness level and increase intensity only when you feel you’re ready for it or you might hurt yourself.

Tips to help you get started:

* Start out simple. A diabetic diet will decrease the amount of sugar, fats, and non-essentials from your diet.

* Start eating more natural raw foods which are healthier and fill you up faster. They also provide long lasting energy you will need throughout the day.

* Keep track of your glucose levels as you start your diabetic diet so you can better see how what you eat affects your body.

* Drink more water to fill you up as reduced amount of food intake will make you fill hunger pains. As your stomach shrinks down, you will no longer feel the effects of hunger pains.

* Be honest in tracking your calories. You may be shocked to know how many calories and fat grams the diet meals actually have.

* Don’t count carbs! Diabetics need carbs in their diets in moderation in order to help maintain a proper level of insulin in their bodies.

Gout is considered a form of arthritis. The cause is an inherited fault in the way the body handles certain chemical substances. Uric acid is one of the by-products produced in the body in the digestion of food. In most persons this uric acid is readily eliminated by the kidneys. But in a person with tendency to gout the uric acid is not eliminated as quickly as it should be, and so the body’s fluids contain more or this substance than normal. Because this excess is best detected by measuring the amount contained in the blood plasma, this condition is called hyperuricemia (excess of uric acid in the blood).

According to www.rheumatology.org, an estimated 31.9 million (20.1 percent) U.S. adults have hyperuricemia. More specifically, they also noted hyperuricemia among 16.1 million men and 15.8 million women. They also found that the prevalence of hyperuricemia increased with age – with those participants ages 20 to 29 years being at a lower prevalence than those who are 80 years or older. Moreover, the study determined that prevalence of hyperuricemia among U.S. adults age 65 and older to be 8.4 million, or 31.3 percent of the population.

Many persons with hyperuricemia have no symptoms and do not know that they have this condition. But in a few of this group (about three persons per 1000 population) complications develop: (1) acute gouty arthritis, involving the joints; (2) tophaceous gout, in which hard masses of uric acid crystals develop in various parts of the body, often in relation to the joints; (3) development of kidney stones composed of uric acid crystals; and (4) gouty kidney disease in which the kidneys no longer function efficiently. Note the following additional facts on these four complications:

1. Acute gouty arthritis occurs in attacks which come unannounced and, if untreated, each runs a course of one or two weeks. The pain in such attack is severe and, if it is the first attack, usually emanates from just one joint. Often the joint at the base of the big toe is first affected. The joint becomes swollen, warm to the touch, and extremely tender. The skin over the joint is tense, shiny and red. Usually a series of attacks will occur, each more severe and more frequent. The ankle may be infected, the instep, the knee, and joints of the hands and arms.
2. Tophaceous gout is a chronic condition in which deposits of uric acid crystals, called tophi, make their appearance in various tissues. One of the favorite sites for tophus is the ear lobe. Commonly, however, tophi are situated in the vicinity of joints. The body’s tissues react to these tophi as to foreign bodies with mild but persistent inflammation. When untreated, there develops a certain destruction of the bones and other tissues adjacent to a tophus.
3. Kidney stones are more likely to develop in persons with high concentration of uric acid in blood.
4. Gouty kidney disease. There appears to be a two-way relationship between degenerative disease of the kidney and gout. About one third of the cases of hyperuricemia seem to be aggravated by or even caused by the inability of the kidneys to eliminate uric acid as readily as they should. On the other hand, the condition of hyperuricemia seems to damage the kidneys.

WHAT TO DO

1. If hyperuricemia is discovered before any complications of gout develop, the person should follow a program which lowers the concentration of uric acid in his body. Eliminate flesh foods and animal fats from the diet, as these contain substances that favor the production of uric acid.
2. If the person is overweight, the weight should be brought within “normal” limits.
3. Drink up to three quarts of water per day. This aids the kidneys in eliminating uric acid.
4. Hyperuricemia and gout require the care of a physician. Within recent years several medicines have been successfully used. It is now possible to relieve cases of acute gouty arthritis and to prevent its complications. Medicines are available which influence the metabolism of the uric acid, including colchicine, probenecid (Benemid), and allopurinol. These can make the difference between invalidism and a life essentially free from disability and deformity.

This information was taken from the New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia.

This denotes discomfort that accompanies or follows the intake of food. It is usually associated with difficult or painful digestion and may be related to actual failure of some phase of the digestive process.

Symptoms of indigestion are varied – a feeling of fullness or weight in the pit of the stomach; pain either dull and steady or acute and spasmodic, which may follow immediately or occur sometime after eating; nausea, or vomiting, which often relieves the pain or discomfort. Heartburn may appear, accompanied by acid – sour acid liquid thrown into the mouth from the stomach. Flatulence and coated tongue, headache and dizziness may be present. Belching is not necessarily a sign of indigestion.

One group of gastric disturbances is caused by gastritis, dilation of the stomach, ulcers, cancer, gastroptosis (downward displacement of the stomach), and others. Indigestion may result from disorders in organs other than the stomach, such as cirrhosis (a chronic disease of the liver characterized by the replacement of normal tissue with fibrous tissue and the loss of functional liver cells), gallbladder inflammation, appendicitis, nephritis (inflammation of the kidney), peritonitis (inflammation of the membrane which lines the inside of the abdomen and all of the internal organs), heart or lung diseases which may affect the lining of the stomach, tuberculosis and anemia. Certain mental conditions may be the source of indigestion, such as hysteria, neurasthenia (a psychological disorder characterized by chronic fatigue and weakness, loss of memory, and generalized aches and pains, formerly thought to result from exhaustion of the nervous system), or hypochondriasis (The belief and fear of serious illness which lasts for six months, beyond and despite medical reassurance).

Because indigestion may originate from such wide variety of causes, prompt treatment should be found. The doctor will be guided by the symptoms and treatment may vary from bicarbonate of soda to relieve stomach acidity to surgery for ulcers.

Many cases of indigestion are due to emotional disturbances rather than organic diseases or disorder. Worry, nervousness, or frustration over a long period of time may cause constant irritation in the stomach. The person should endeavor to relieve or remove the causes of tension and to adopt a calmer, more relaxed general attitude. Plenty of sleep, relaxation, and special attention to diet are essential for persons with nervous indigestion.
This information was taken from the New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia.

In nervous indigestion, treatment includes a regimen of diet and eating habits, which help the stomach, heal itself. This often includes the following:

1. Eat meals at regular hours. This helps the stomach secrete its juices at regular times. If meals are delayed, the concentrated acids may irritate the lining of the stomach, which is the first step to an ulcer.
2. Avoid large heavy meals. Small meals at frequent intervals are better than large meals less frequently.
3. Eat slowly and chew the food carefully.
4. Avoid irritating stimulants and greasy foods.
5. Drink a glass of milk between meals. This will help overcome the excess acid in the stomach.
6. Reduce your alcohol intake.
7. Avoid wearing tight clothes or belts around the stomach area.
8. Try to keep your bodyweight in the healthy range.
9. Avoid bending over or lying down after a meal to help prevent your stomach contents being pushed upwards and causing heartburn.
10. If you have heartburn at night, try sleeping with your upper body in a more propped-up position, and avoid eating for two hours before bedtime.

Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 631,636 people died of heart disease in 2006. Heart disease caused 26% of deaths—more than one in every four—in the United States.

What causes heart attack? In most cases, an attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is severely reduced or stopped, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). This stoppage is caused when one of the arteries that supply blood to the heart is obstructed, usually by the fatty plaques that characterize atherosclerosis, a result of coronary-artery disease.

Although it is not clear where the plaques come from in each individual case, the most common causes are blood cholesterol level that’s too high, a hereditary tendency to develop atherosclerosis, and increasing age (55 percent of all heart attack victims are 65 or older, 45 percent are under 65 years of age, and 5 percent are under 40).

You can’t change your age, your gender, or your genes, but you can watch what you eat to reduce your risk of developing heart disease. The following tips were taken from The Home Remedies Handbook.

Stay away from saturated fats. Many people make the mistake of believing that if their blood cholesterol level is high that it’s because they ate too many foods containing cholesterol. Not exactly true, says W. Virgil Brown, M.D., past president of the AHA and professor of medicine and the director of the division of Arteriosclerosis and Lipid Metabolism at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. The number-one cause of high serum cholesterol is eating too much saturated fat, the kind of fat that is found in full-fat dairy products and animal fat, he says. Another culprit is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil which contains trans fatty acids, substances that increase the cholesterol raising properties of a fat. The best rule-of-thumb is to stick with fats that are as liquid as possible at room temperature, according to Brown. “For example”, he says, “if you are going to use margarine, use the most liquid kinds, such as the tubs or squeeze bottles.”

Read your meat. The small orange labels stuck to the packages of meat at the grocery store aren’t advertisements or promotions; they’re actually grades of meat, William P. Castelli, M.D., director of the Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts. “Prime,” “Choice,” and “Select” are official U.S. Department of Agriculture shorthand for “fatty,” “less-fatty,” and “lean,” he explains. “Prime is about 40 percent to 45 percent fat by weight, Choice is from 30 percent to 40 percent fat, and Select, or diet lean, is from 15 percent to 20 percent fat,” he says. You could have a hamburger made from Select ground beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner and still not exceed your daily saturated fat limit, he adds.

Learn to count grams of fat. The AHA’s dietary guidelines outline the percentages of daily calories that should come from fat. However, since most package labels show grams of fat, not percentages, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what you’re eating. Instead, he recommends counting grams of fat. How many grams of fat, and how many grams of saturated fat, can you have each day? Multiply your total number of calories per day by .30, and then divide by 9 to find the number of grams of total fat allowed. (You divide by 9 because of each gram of fat provides 9 calories.) Multiply your total number of calories per day by .10 and divide by 9 to find the number of grams of saturated fat allowed each day.

“If you’re on a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet, you should not eat no more than 22 grams of saturated fat a day,” Castelli says. “The average American eats twice as much.”

What can you eat for 22 grams of fat? One serving of Choice beef contains from 12 to 15 grams of fat, whereas serving of Select contains 4 to 10. One tablespoon of butter is just under seven grams, while many brands of low-fat margarine contain only one gram per tablespoon. Whole milk has a whopping five grams per cup; skim milk just one. You add it up. After all, if you choose the lower-fat versions of each item, maybe you’ll have enough saturated fat calories left in your daily budget to indulge in some low-fat frozen yogurt, a cup of which may contain as little as two grams of saturated fat.

Eat as much like a vegetarian as possible. Dietary cholesterol is found only in animal products; animal products also tend to be higher in fat (Skim milk products are exceptions), especially saturated fat. Foods derived from plant sources, on the other hand, contain no cholesterol and tend to be lower in fat. The fats they do contain tend to be polyunsaturated and monounsaturated, which are healthier than the saturated kind, says Peter F. Cohn, M.D., chief of cardiology of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. (The exceptions are coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and particularly hydrogenated oils, which contain higher amounts of saturated fatty acids.) You’ll be doing you arteries a favour if you increase your intake of vegetable proteins, such as beans, whole grains, and tofu, and keep servings of high-fat animal products to a minimum.

Increase your carbohydrates intake. Adding extra servings of complex carbohydrates into your diet will fill you up and make your feel more satisfied, leaving less room for fatty meats and desserts, says Cohn. Complex carbohydrates include fruits, vegetables, pasta, whole grains, and rice.

Grill it. Grilling, broiling, and steaming are heart-smart ways to cook food, says Brown. Unlike frying, they require no added fat.

Skin a (dead) chicken. The skin of chicken (and turkey, too, for that matter), is an absolute “no-no” for people who are watching their fat intake, according to Cohn. The skin contains high amounts of saturated fat, he says.

Skip the pastry. One hidden source of saturated fat is pastry- donuts, Danishes, piecrust, éclairs and so on, says Brown. These confections are often made with shortening or butter – two things that should be limited to people who are working to reduce their saturated fat intake. Stick with whole grain bread and rolls, and read labels to make sure you know what’s in the package, he suggests.

Eat fish. Fish oil, as a cholesterol reducer, has gotten a lot of play in the media in the past few years. And it is true that the slimy stuff contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, substances that have been associated with lower cholesterol levels, according to Henry Blackburn, M.D., Mayo Professor of the Public Health and a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. However, the greatest benefit has been achieved in people who frequently substitute their intake of higher fat meats with fish. Also, fish oil itself tends to be high in fat, Blackburn says. His advice is to add more servings of fish into the diet (as substitute for some of the meat dishes) and reap the oil’s benefits naturally.

Eat smaller meat proportions. One way to cut down on saturated fat without giving up steaks is to keep your proportions small, says Brown. “Reduce the size of the meat proportions, even chicken, to about three ounces per serving,” he advises. “Try to have a vegetarian lunch. Then you can have six ounces at dinner.” A three-ounce serving is about the size of a deck of cards, Brown says.

Increase your fiber intake. Soluble fiber, the kind found in fruits and brans, has been shown to be effective in lowering cholesterol levels, says Brown. However, to exert this effect, it must be consumed in high amounts; a bowl of oatmeal a day probably won’t make much difference. “You have to eat about a quarter pound of oatmeal per day to get ten grams of soluble fiber a day, the amount that can lower cholesterol,” he says. He recommends a daily one-teaspoon dose of a psyllium-husk powder, such as Metamucil, which provides a lot more bang for our buck. “For the person whose cholesterol is still borderline high after changing their diet, psyllium may give them another eight percent to ten percent reduction in their LDL,” he says. And no need to get overboard, either. More than ten grams a day won’t make much more of a difference, he says. It’s also prudent to increase your fiber intake gradually in order to give your system time to adjust.

Eat like the rest of the world. “Four billion of the 5.3 billion people on this earth eat 15 grams of saturated fat or less each day,” says Castelli. “Where do they live? Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They are four billion people that never get atherosclerosis. We want our 250 million people to eat like those 4 billion. If we accomplished this, we could get rid of heart attacks, stroke, and other manifestations of cardiovascular disease. We could live five years longer, which isn’t much. However, we wouldn’t have heart attacks in our 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s. That is the vision of America.”

The disease and its causes

A patient with a cataract has an eye condition in which the lens of the eye becomes clouded over. When the lens becomes completely opaque, no longer allowing light to pass through to the retina, sight is completely lost.
The likelihood of cataract development increases with age, peaking at greater than 70% of the over 75 years population. This clouding of the lens is seen most frequently after the middle age, as the tissues of the eye lenses degenerate. But some people are born with cataracts and others may inherit the disease or the tendency toward it. Cataracts are caused by nutritional diseases such as diabetes and rickets, an injury to the eye lens or lens capsule, and by diseases of the eye. Certain drugs, and exposure to radium X ray, can also cause toxic hazards.

The disease may start in one eye, but eventually it will affect both. This is not because it is “catching” or infectious. What it signifies is that the same physical breakdown takes place in the second eye. From start to finish the development of cataracts can take about two years. Usually it is seen without any other sign of eye disease.

Symptoms

Regardless of the cause, the symptoms of most cataracts are the same. With time, the patient sees less and less, and his sensitivity to light decreases. He may develop double vision and nearsightedness. Often he will complain of spots before his eyes or have unexplained daytime headaches. On close examination the pupil of the affected eye, normally black, takes on a milky gray or whitish color.

Complications

Slow but continuously increasing loss of vision is the most serious complication which develops as the cataract grows. An eye disease in which the cataract is a secondary condition can cause blindness if the primary infection or injury is not properly treated. Most cataracts accompany old age and there is little that can be done to prevent their development. When they are secondary to injury or infection their development can be prevented with prompt care.

Surgery

In which the cataract-covered lens of the eye is removed – is considered the only effective treatment for cataracts once they have developed. After the operation, the patient wears special cataract glasses or contact lenses which effectively replace the clouded eye lens removed in the operation. However, it usually takes several months after the operation before the patient gets used to this and adequate vision returns. These information were taken from the New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia.

What you can do?

As with many health conditions, you can take preventive measures to reduce your risk of developing a cataract. These were taken from elderissues.com. The measures include:

• Having regular eye examinations that include cataract screening
• Keeping your eyes from exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light by using sunglasses that block UV penetration and by wearing a hat with a wide brim
• Managing illnesses such as diabetes to reduce your risk of complications as a result of systemic diseases
• Reducing your risk of eye injury by wearing protective goggles for active sports and work in which your eyes could be exposed to chemicals or injury
• Staying in good nutritional balance and eating eye healthy foods that are rich in vitamin C and beta carotene
Once you have developed a cataract and are experiencing some difficulty with your vision, you can maximize your ability to see by:
• Increasing your lights at home and at work to make sure your work areas are well lit to ease reading and working; assure that light comes from more than one source
• Reducing glare on television screens by paying close attention to room lighting and making sure the light doesn’t reflect on the TV screen; adjust window shades and treatments to also reduce glare
• Using larger print for writings and readings – a magnifying glass may also be helpful

With the advances in medical knowledge it is now possible to reduce your risk of cataracts and to prevent their formation.

Dentures have come a long way since the wooden teeth worn by George Washington. But, as anyone who has worn them can attest, dentures can cause discomfort. There are two times when dentures often cause discomfort – during the “initial” adjustment phase, when dentures are new, and after several years of wearing, when dentures may stop fitting properly.

Most people become accustomed to their new dentures within a short time. However, at first, you may have difficulty talking and eating. You may find the dentures tend to “slip,” or you may develop sore spots in your mouth.

Even people who have had dentures for years sometimes develop problems with them, sometimes problems related to fit. “When the teeth are extracted, the dentures sit on the bony ridge that is left,” says Sandra Hazard, D.M.D, a managing dentist with Willamette Dental Group, Inc., in Oregon. “Without the teeth, the stimulation of the bone is gone and, over the years, the bone is reabsorbed by the body. The plastic denture, of course, stays the same but starts to fit badly.”

Poor fit is probably the most common cause of denture discomfort. As the bony ridge shrinks, the dentures can slip, move around, and cause sore areas. Often, people try to refit their dentures by using commercial denture adhesives. But using too much adhesive can change the relationship of the denture to the tissue and result in more soreness. Sometimes the body itself tries to resolve the ill-fitting denture problem by causing the tissue to overgrow in the mouth.

While dentures will never be as comfortable as your natural teeth, there are plenty of things you can do to prevent and resolve denture discomfort. The following information was taken from The Home Remedies Handbook.

Keep those chompers clean. When you first have your teeth extracted and your new dentures fit, it’s important to keep your dentures clean, “because excess bacteria can retard the gum’s healing process,” says Hazard.

Once you’re accustomed to your dentures, it’s important to clean them at least twice a day. “You can brush them with toothpaste or use a special denture cleaner,” says Hazard.

Jack W. Clinton, D.M.D., Dean of School of Dentistry at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, prefers plain old soap and water to keep dentures sparkling. “Using a hand brush and soap and water works great,” he says.

Brush the gums. Don’t forget to brush your gums, too. “You can help maintain the health of the tissues that lie underneath the dentures by brushing your gums twice a day with a soft brush,” says Ken Waddell, D.M.D., a general, family and sedation dentist in private practice in Tigard, Oregon.

Brushing the gums, palate, and tongue not only stimulates the tissues and increases circulation, it also helps reduce bacteria and removes plaque.

Baby your mouth. At least at first, your gums need time to adjust to the compression created by the dentures. Hazard advises patients to eat soft foods during the denture adjustment period to avoid damaging the tender tissues.

Once the gums have healed and your dentist has refitted your dentures properly, you’ll be able to chew more normally. But Waddell says some foods, such as apple and corn on
the cob, are probably best avoided by people who wear dentures. “Advertisements show people with dentures eating all kinds of hard foods,” he says. “But hard foods cause the denture to traumatize the gums and the bone of the upper jaw. Cut up your apples and take the corn off the cob.”

Take an over-the-counter pain reliever. During the initial break-in of your dentures, your mouth is likely to feel sore. According to Hazard, over-the-counter pain relievers, including aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen, can take the sting out of the pain.

However, if you have persistent pain or if you’ve worn dentures for several years and pain develops, see your dentist.

Take them out. When you develop a sore area in your mouth from dentures, Clinton says to do what is natural – take them out. “If you’re uncomfortable, you probably have a soft tissue injury,” says Clinton, “Take the denture out and leave it out for an hour or so. In most cases, that takes care of it.”

If you develop a red spot, Clinton advises going dentureless for 24 hours. Then, if it doesn’t clear up or if the soreness returns when you start using your dentures again, see your dentist.

Rinse with salt water. If you’re in the adjustment phase of wearing dentures or if you’re adenture veteran who has developed a sore area in your mouth, Clinton advises rinsing the mouth with warm salt water (half a teaspoon of salt to four ounces of warm water). “Take out your dentures and rinse your mouth every three to four hours with the salt water,” he says. “Not only does the salt water help clean out the bacteria, it also helps toughen the tissue.”

Try hydrogen peroxide. Rinse your mouth out once a day with oral three percent hydrogen peroxide, advises Ronald Wismer, D.M.D., past president of the Washington County Dental Society in Oregon. Mix the peroxide half and half with water, swish for 30 seconds or so (don’t swallow), and spit. The hydrogen peroxide helps clean the bacteria.

Don’t self-adjust. Too often, people who have worn their dentures for a while and develop a fit problem try to adjust their dentures themselves with a pocket knife or other tool. “This can cause more harm,” says Clinton, “because it can break down the dentures, change the dentures “bite” and alters how the dentures fit against the gum.“

Also, don’t try to “fill the space” between the denture and the gum tissue with over-the- counter adhesive. If your dentures begin to slip or don’t feel like they’re fitting properly, see your dentist who can reline them.

Take time out. “I tell people their dentures should be out of their mouths half the time,” says Clinton. “It gives the tissues time to recover.”

Always take your dentures out at night, Clinton advises, “You don’t sleep with your shoes on,” he says. “It’s the same with your dentures.” This also helps to make sure you have a good night’s sleep.

Pneumonia is an inflammation of one or both lungs. Many types of pneumonia have been distinguished, but usually when the word pneumonia is used without qualification, lobar pneumonia, in which one or more entire lobes are infected, is implied, and the causative organism is the pneumococcus. Other organisms may also produce pneumonia, such as the streptococcus and staphylococcus, which may cause bronchopneumonia.

Pneumonia is the 5th leading cause of death in the elderly since this can go unrecognized as they may be asymptomatic due to other medical issues or typical age-related changes in the lungs like decreased productive cough for bringing up liquid/sputum from the lungs.

The symptoms of a typical case of pneumonia may follow a slight cold or infectious disease or may appear suddenly without warning. A shaking chill may be followed by a sharp stabbing pain on the side of or in the chest, with coughing and expectoration of brown or bloody sputum. The pulse is rapid, the cheeks flushed, temperature rises sharply, and weakness and even prostration, headache, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea sometimes ensue.

The person with pneumonia must be put to bed immediately, and carefully watched, since restlessness, sleeplessness, and even delirium may provoke the patient, despite his weakness, to try to get out of bed.

As the infection progresses, changes may take place in the lung itself. It may become filled with inflammatory material and solidify, causing shortness of breath and shallow noisy breathing. The blood cannot obtain sufficient oxygen and so the skin and mucous membranes may become bluish, a condition known as cyanosis. The patient must be placed in an oxygen tent to assist his breathing as well as correct the cyanosis.

During the acute stages of pneumonia, care must be taken to prevent complications, such as heart failure, empyema, distention of the abdomen, and abcess. The development of other diseases, including pericarditis, endocarditis, meningitis, and arthritis, must also be carefully prevented.

For long time pneumonia was a dreaded disease with a high mortality rate. Treatment depended on the use of serums, which were developed to combat specific infections, and the condition usually led to an acute stage with a definite crisis, in which the patient appeared near collapse. After the crisis, a sharp drop in temperature followed and the patient fell into a deep sleep, with subsequent recovery in some cases.

Today the use of sulfonamides and antibiotics, such as penicillin, terramycin, aureomycin, and streptomycin, have decreased the development of lung abscess and empyema, and the death rate has fallen sharply. Good nursing care in pneumonia still continues to play a considerable part. The recovery period is especially significant. The patient should not get up from bed or engage in activity too early. A complete physical checkup, including a chest x-ray examination, is strongly advised following pneumonia.

The number of cases of virus pneumonia has sharply increased, at the same time that bacterial pneumonia has yielded to treatment with sulfa drugs and antibiotics. Although the nature of viruses is not completely understood, and few specific measures have been developed to combat them, it is known that virus pneumonia is produced by a number of specific types of virus. Virus pneumonia may vary from mild or walking state to a serious condition requiring hospitalization. In a mild case the patient may not suspect that he has anything more severe than a slight cough and fever, which may ascribe to a cold. In the more severe form, fever, sweating, malaise, headache, sore throat, weakness, and a dry hacking cough are involved.

Treatment of virus pneumonia includes bed rest, even in a mild case. Antibiotics are frequently effective in preventing complications. It is essential to treat the fever and cough; and in severe cases in which cyanosis is present; an oxygen tent may also be required. In general, virus pneumonia does not persist more than a few days to a week. However, convalescence, usually characterized by weakness, is often long and slow, and x-ray examination of the chest may reveal shadows for several weeks. These information were taken from The New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia.