A headache (cephalalgia in medical terminology) is a condition of pain in the head; sometimes neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted as a headache. It ranks amongst the most common local pain complaints
CAUSES:
The vast majority of headaches are benign and self-limiting. Common causes are tension, migrane, eye strain, dehydration, low blood sugar, and sinusitis. Much rarer are headaches due to life-threatening conditions such as meningitis, encephalitis, cerebral aneursym, and brain tumors.. When the headache occurs in conjunction with a head injury the cause is usually quite evident.
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY :
The brain in itself is not sensitive to pain, because it lacks pain-sensitive nerve fibers. Several areas of the head can hurt, including a network of nerves which extends over the scalp and certain nerves in the face, mouth, and throat. The meninges and the blood vessels do have pain perception. Headaches often result from traction to or irritation of the meninges and blood vessels. The muscles of the head may similarly be sensitive to pain.
TYPES:
Tension headaches are the most common type of primary headache; as many as 90% of adults have had or will have tension headaches. Tension headaches are more common among women than men.
Migraine headaches are the second most common type of primary headache. An estimated 28 million people in the United States (about 12% of the population) will experience migraine headaches. Migraine headaches affect children as well as adults. Before puberty, boys and girls are affected equally by migraine headaches, but after puberty, more women than men are affected. An estimated 6% of men and up to 18% of women will experience a migrane headache.In the United States, migraine headaches often go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed as tension or sinus headaches. As a result, many migraine sufferers do not receive effective treatment.
Cluster headaches are a rare type primary headache, affecting 0.1% of the population. An estimated 85% of cluster headache sufferers are men. The average age of cluster headache sufferers is 28-30 years, although headaches may begin in childhood.
Secondary headaches have diverse causes, ranging from serious and life threatening conditions such as brain tumors, strokes, meningitis, and subarachnoid hemorrhages to less serious but common conditions such as withdrawal from caffeine and discontinuation of analgesics.
Many people suffer from "mixed" headache disorders in which tension headaches or secondary headaches trigger migraine headaches.
DIAGNOSIS:
While statistically headaches are most likely to be harmless and self-limiting, some specific headache syndromes may demand specific treatment or may be warning signals of more serious disorders. Some headache subtypes are characterized by a specific pattern of symptoms, and no further testing may be necessary, while others may prompt further diagnostic tests.
Headache associated with specific symptoms may warrant urgent medical attention, particularly sudden, severe headache or sudden headache associated with a stiff neck; headaches associated with fever, convulsions, or accompanied by confusion or loss of conciousness; headaches following a blow to the head, or associated with pain in the eye or ear; persistent headache in a person with no previous history of headaches; and recurring headache in children.
The most important step in diagnosing a headache is for the physician to take a careful history and to examine the patient. In the majority of cases the diagnosis will be tension headache or migraine, both of which can be managed on the basis of a clear-cut clinical picture. Where doubt remains, or if there are abnormalities detected on examination, further investigations are justified.[1] computed tomography (CT/CAT) scans of the brain or sinuses are commonly performed, or megnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in specific settings. Blood test may help narrow down the differential diagnosis, but are rarely confirmatory of specific headache forms.
TREATMENT:
Not all headaches require medical attention, and respond with simple analgesia(painkillers) such as paracitamol/acetaminophen or members of the NSAID class (such as aspirin/acetylsalicylic acid or ibuprofen).
In recurrent unexplained headaches, healthcare professionals may recommend keeping a "headache diary" with entries on type of headache, associated symptoms, precipitating and aggravating factors. This may reveal specific patterns, such as an association with medication, menstruatrion or with certain foods. It was reported in March 2007 by two separate teams of researchers that stimulating the brain with implanted electrodes appears to help ease the pain of cluster headaches
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Headache.............most common local pain which forces you to visit ur physician
Saturday, June 9, 2007
DRUG ABUSE A SOCIAL EVIL............ HOW TO COMBAT?
Drug abuse has a wide range of definitions related to taking a Pschoactive drugs or performance enhancing drugs for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect. Some of the most commonly abused drugs include alcohol,amphetamines, barbiturates, cocaine, opium alkaloids, and minor tranquilizers. Use of these drugs may lead to criminal penalty in addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm, both strongly depending on local jurisdictionOther definitions of drug abuse fall into four main categories: public health definitions, mass communication and vernacular usage, medical definitions, and political and criminal justice definitions.It can aslo lead to loss of memory,kidney and liver failure, and make a persons heart and lungs stop
HOW TO COMBAT
Approaches to managing drug abuse
In addition to being a major public health problem, some consider drug abuse to be a social problem with far-reaching implications. Stress, poverty, domestic and societal violence, and various diseases (i.e., injecting drug users as a source for HIV/AIDS) are sometimes thought to be spread by drug use. Studies have also shown that individuals dependent on illicit drugs experience higher rates of comorbid psychiatric syndromes
Harm reduction
One alternative involves replacing failed law enforcement policies with harm-reduction strategies, which focus on reducing the societal costs of drug abuse and other drug use. Techniques include education to avoid overdose, needle exchange programs to reduce the spread of blood borne disease, and opioid substitution therapy to reduce crime related to the procurement of drugs. This pragmatic approach is known as the harm reduction paradigm. Harm reduction also addresses special populations, such as drug-using parents, pregnant drug users and users with psychiatric comorbidity. The philosophy of harm reduction accepts that drug use is part of the community, but that it must be addressed as a public health issue rather than a criminal one
Harm-reduction measures are at odds with the prevailing framework of international drug control, which rests on law enforcement and the criminalization of behaviors related to illicit drug use. However, harm-reduction has had a notable impact and is slowly gaining popularity. In Brazil alone, a comprehensive harm-reduction and drug-access program successfully reduced AIDS mortality among injection drug users by 50%
Abstinence-Based
Abstinence-based approaches set as a goal complete abstinence from all addictive substances, including both licit and illicit, prescribed and unprescribed. While the harm-reduction approach has been demonstrated to work well with opioids, the abstinence-based approach is the medical community standard of care for sedative (including alcohol) dependence.
Medical treatment
Beyond the sociological issues, many drugs of abuse can lead to addiction, chemical dependency, or adverse health effects, such as lung cancer or emphysema from cigreete smoking.
Medical treatment therefore centers on two aspects: 1) breaking the addiction, 2) treating the health problems.
Most countries have health facilities that specialize in the treatment of drug abuse, although access may be limited to larger population centers and the social taboos regarding drug use may make those who need the medical treatment reluctant to take advantage of it. For example, it is estimated that only fifteen percent of injection drug abusers thought to be in need are receiving treatment.Patients may require acute and long-term maintenance treatment and relapse prevention, complemented by suitable rehabilitation.
Pharmacotherapy
The development of pharmacotherapies for drug dependency treatment are currently in progress. New immunotherapies that prevent drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, phencyclidine ,nicotine, and opiods from reaching the brain are in the early stages of testing as is ibogaine, an alkaloid found in the Tabernanthe of West Central Africa. Medications such as buprinorphine , which block the drugs active site in the brain are another new option for the treatment of opioid addiction. Depot forms of medications, which require only weekly or monthly dosing, are also under investigation.
Traditionally, new pharmacotherapies are quickly adopted in primary care settings, however, drugs for substance abuse treatment have faced many barriers. Naltreoxone, a drug originally marketed under the name "ReVia," and now marketed in intramuscular formulation as "Vivitrol" or in oral formulation as a generic, is a medication approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence. This drug has reached very few patients. This may be due to a number of factors, including resistance by Addiction medicines specialists and lack of resources.
Legal approaches
Related articles: prohibition(drugs), Aguments for and against drug prohibition
Most governments have designed legislation to criminalise certain types of drug use. These drugs are often called "illegal drugs" but generally what is illegal is their unlicensed production, distribution, and possession. These drugs are also called "controlled substances". Even for simple possession, legal punishment can be quite severe (including the death penalty in some countries). Laws vary across countries, and even within them, and have fluctuated widely throughout history.
Attempts by government-sponsored drug control policy to interdict drug supply and eliminate drug abuse have been largely unsuccessful. In spite of the huge efforts by the U.S., drug supply and purity has reached an all time high, with the vast majority of resources spent on interdiction and law enforcement instead of public health.In the united states, the number of nonviolent drug offenders in prison exceeds by 100,000 the total incarcerated population in the EU ,despite the fact that the EU has 100 million more citizens.
Despite drug legislation (and some might argue because of it), large, organized criminal drug cartels operate world-wide. Advocates of decriminalization argue that drug prohibition makes drug dealing a lucrative business, leading to much of the associated criminal activity.
In addition to being a major public health problem, some consider drug abuse to be a social problem with far-reaching implications. Stress, poverty, domestic and societal violence, and various diseases (i.e., injecting drug users as a source for HIV/AIDS) are sometimes thought to be spread by drug use. Studies have also shown that individuals dependent on illicit drugs experience higher rates of comorbid psychiatric syndromes
Harm reduction
One alternative involves replacing failed law enforcement policies with harm-reduction strategies, which focus on reducing the societal costs of drug abuse and other drug use. Techniques include education to avoid overdose, needle exchange programs to reduce the spread of blood borne disease, and opioid substitution therapy to reduce crime related to the procurement of drugs. This pragmatic approach is known as the harm reduction paradigm. Harm reduction also addresses special populations, such as drug-using parents, pregnant drug users and users with psychiatric comorbidity. The philosophy of harm reduction accepts that drug use is part of the community, but that it must be addressed as a public health issue rather than a criminal one
Harm-reduction measures are at odds with the prevailing framework of international drug control, which rests on law enforcement and the criminalization of behaviors related to illicit drug use. However, harm-reduction has had a notable impact and is slowly gaining popularity. In Brazil alone, a comprehensive harm-reduction and drug-access program successfully reduced AIDS mortality among injection drug users by 50%
Abstinence-Based
Abstinence-based approaches set as a goal complete abstinence from all addictive substances, including both licit and illicit, prescribed and unprescribed. While the harm-reduction approach has been demonstrated to work well with opioids, the abstinence-based approach is the medical community standard of care for sedative (including alcohol) dependence.
Medical treatment
Beyond the sociological issues, many drugs of abuse can lead to addiction, chemical dependency, or adverse health effects, such as lung cancer or emphysema from cigreete smoking.
Medical treatment therefore centers on two aspects: 1) breaking the addiction, 2) treating the health problems.
Most countries have health facilities that specialize in the treatment of drug abuse, although access may be limited to larger population centers and the social taboos regarding drug use may make those who need the medical treatment reluctant to take advantage of it. For example, it is estimated that only fifteen percent of injection drug abusers thought to be in need are receiving treatment.Patients may require acute and long-term maintenance treatment and relapse prevention, complemented by suitable rehabilitation.
Pharmacotherapy
The development of pharmacotherapies for drug dependency treatment are currently in progress. New immunotherapies that prevent drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, phencyclidine ,nicotine, and opiods from reaching the brain are in the early stages of testing as is ibogaine, an alkaloid found in the Tabernanthe of West Central Africa. Medications such as buprinorphine , which block the drugs active site in the brain are another new option for the treatment of opioid addiction. Depot forms of medications, which require only weekly or monthly dosing, are also under investigation.
Traditionally, new pharmacotherapies are quickly adopted in primary care settings, however, drugs for substance abuse treatment have faced many barriers. Naltreoxone, a drug originally marketed under the name "ReVia," and now marketed in intramuscular formulation as "Vivitrol" or in oral formulation as a generic, is a medication approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence. This drug has reached very few patients. This may be due to a number of factors, including resistance by Addiction medicines specialists and lack of resources.
Legal approaches
Related articles: prohibition(drugs), Aguments for and against drug prohibition
Most governments have designed legislation to criminalise certain types of drug use. These drugs are often called "illegal drugs" but generally what is illegal is their unlicensed production, distribution, and possession. These drugs are also called "controlled substances". Even for simple possession, legal punishment can be quite severe (including the death penalty in some countries). Laws vary across countries, and even within them, and have fluctuated widely throughout history.
Attempts by government-sponsored drug control policy to interdict drug supply and eliminate drug abuse have been largely unsuccessful. In spite of the huge efforts by the U.S., drug supply and purity has reached an all time high, with the vast majority of resources spent on interdiction and law enforcement instead of public health.In the united states, the number of nonviolent drug offenders in prison exceeds by 100,000 the total incarcerated population in the EU ,despite the fact that the EU has 100 million more citizens.
Despite drug legislation (and some might argue because of it), large, organized criminal drug cartels operate world-wide. Advocates of decriminalization argue that drug prohibition makes drug dealing a lucrative business, leading to much of the associated criminal activity.
courtsey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_abuse
Friday, June 8, 2007
DISCLAIMER
Any information like text, graphics , videos and links posted on this site(ehealthindia.blogspot.com) are for educational purpose only. They are not meant to make diagnosis or prescribe any kind of treatment.so comply with your physician for diagnosis and treatment and DO NOT make your own diagnosis and start or modify the treatment given by your physician.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Stay healthy through YOGA way
According to WHO definition of health, being healthy is not mere the absence of disease but its complete physical , MENTAL and social well being of an indiviual.
Although most of psychiatric disorders are caused due to imbalnce of neurotransmitters in our brain but some of them like anxiety , depression have alot to do with our day to day activities.
Due to our stressful lifestyle these disorders are on rise at alarming rate. we can mantain our mental harmony by practicing apowerful stressbuster known as YOGA.
Yoga is a spritual practice concieved in india thousands year back and being practiced here since then. Due to marked increase in mental health disorders in recent times its being explored like anything these days and being practiced worldwide. Term Yoga stands for UNION, union with the divine conciousness .Union with conciousness is ultimate source of happiness and enlightnment. yoga practice consists of various body postures and breathing exercises. practicing yoga not only helps improving our self esteem and sense of well being but increses muscle tone,flexibility and strength. it also boosts immune response, increses blood circulation and helps decreasing body fat. so yoga is not just helpful for being mentally healthy but it has shown very promising results in various chronic disordres like diabetes, chronic headaches, hypertention and asthma .
So if you practice YOGA then it not only gives you spritual elevation but also physical and psy
chological well being.
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