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February 28, 2011  In This Issue... - Forever Young
- New Clue to Controlling Hypertension -- Hormone Fix for Treatment-Resistant High Blood Pressure
- Perfect Painkillers...
- Cortisone Shots Make Tendon Injuries Worse, Not Better
Forever Young Getting old can be awful. Aches... pains... illness... constant bouncing from doctor to doctor. We all dread it. You can't stop the clock, but you can banish the miseries that sometimes come with it. - Bulging belly
- Cholesterol-choked arteries
- Brain failure and fatigue
- Weakness and impotence
- Frozen joints or back pain
- Spotted, decrepit skin
- Tumors taking over your body
- Parkinson's tremors
- Menopausal miseries
- Fading, cloudy vision
- And all other indignities of aging!
Read on...
New Clue to Controlling Hypertension You may never have heard of aldosterone -- many people haven’t -- but this hormone is vital to your body’s healthy function. Produced by the adrenal glands that sit atop the kidneys, aldosterone conducts a veritable symphony of body functions, speeding up and slowing down changes in levels of potassium, sodium and other electrolytes in your blood, all in order to keep blood pressure from fluctuating too much. For many, many people, aldosterone does its job admirably, never causing a missed note or reason for concern -- but if you are among the millions of people who have high blood pressure, you should pay careful attention to this story. We know from lots of research that aldosterone may play a role in what’s known as resistant hypertension -- blood pressure that is extremely difficult to control. And now a new study sheds more light on why that is and provides insights that may help solve the problem. Your Aldosterone, Your Brain and Your Heart For more information on aldosterone, I called the study author, Wanpen Vongpatanasin, MD, associate professor of internal medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Until lately, she told me, it was believed that the problems caused by elevated levels of aldosterone occurred primarily in the kidneys. New research demonstrates, however, that the hormone also affects many parts of the brain, which then in turn interact with the cardiovascular system. Dr. Vongpatanasin’s study examined how aldosterone affected specific areas of the nervous system where chemicals signal the brain to constrict blood vessels. After measuring these signals in patients with high aldosterone levels, researchers found that there was heightened activity that led to greater vessel constriction and hence elevated blood pressure. While there are several causes for elevated aldosterone, for the most part, people who have this condition remain unaware of it unless, or until, it affects their blood pressure. Among the causes of high aldosterone are several rare genetic conditions... age... certain illnesses (heart failure, cirrhosis, kidney failure)... and having a tumor (usually a benign one) on the adrenal gland. What to Do? If you have hypertension that proves resistant to treatment, you may want to ask your doctor to test your aldosterone level, because that’s the cause in an estimated 10% to 20% of people with this problem. Knowing that you are among them will allow you and your doctor to address and possibly correct the problem. Here are the steps that Dr. Vongpatanasin typically recommends... - Get tested for aldosterone. The starting point is a blood test that specifically checks your aldosterone level. If this test establishes that there is a problem, you will need to do a 24-hour urine catch to determine more precisely how high your aldosterone level is. This is called a salt-loading test because you consume a lot of dietary salt for five days beforehand. Why? Excess dietary salt normally shuts down aldosterone production, but this doesn’t happen in people who produce too much of the hormone. As a result, people with this problem tend to retain excess sodium.
- Have a CT scan to learn whether you have an adrenal tumor. For reasons unknown, tumors on the adrenal gland trigger a hyperactive mode for aldosterone production. Ninety percent of the time, these tumors are benign and surgical removal of them solves the problem. Malignancies, of course, may require more complex treatment.
- Consider whether you need medications to control aldosterone. In people who don’t have a tumor, the drug spironolactone (Aldactone), which blocks aldosterone from its receptors in the brain and the kidney, is useful, says Dr. Vongpatanasin, noting that it’s also helpful for those with a tumor who aren’t candidates for surgical removal.
- Reduce dietary sodium, and increase fruits and vegetables in your diet. Cutting sodium helps bring aldosterone levels back in line. For most people, the general guideline for salt intake is now about one teaspoon per day, according to the National Institute of Medicine, but for those who are more sensitive (including people who have high aldosterone), the recommended upper limit should be no more than half that amount. And Dr. Vongpatanasin told me that research shows that while people who live in places without lots of processed foods have high aldosterone levels at the same rate as the rest of the world, they don’t tend to develop elevated blood pressure. It’s likely that the lower sodium intake from their fresh- and whole-food diets deters hypertension.
This adds an important and newsworthy bit of information to the quest to learn better ways to control blood pressure! Source(s):
Wanpen Vongpatanasin, MD, associate professor of internal medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
Perfect Painkillers... Work in seconds, cost 23 cents and heal your gut! We're all trying alternatives now that painkilling drugs are proving so deadly. There's got to be a better way! And now there is, thanks to a brilliant physician named Dr. Mark Stengler. In a famous case that's making fellow doctors gasp in admiration, Dr. Stengler's patient, Todd, could barely believe how fast his arthritis agony disappeared after all those drugs had failed him. Read on for more details...
Cortisone Shots Make Tendon Injuries Worse, Not Better If you’ve ever complained about a painful "tennis elbow" or other tendon injury, it’s likely that someone urged you to get a cortisone shot for immediate relief. The belief has been that this works because inflammation accompanies an injured tendon -- and, since cortisone is an anti-inflammatory steroid, it reduces the inflammation and banishes the pain. But there have been some interesting developments regarding this "sure-fire" cure! Researchers discovered a few years ago that most tendon injuries actually do not involve inflammation. Instead what happens is that these injuries occur over time... and as that happens, vital tendon tissue is gradually replaced with scar tissue (the process is called "micro-tear formation"). Ultimately, it is the built-up scar tissue that brings the intense pain and not the inflammation surrounding it. Name Change Is a Game Changer Accordingly, doctors changed the name of tendon injury from tendonitis (the "itis" ending referring to inflammation) to "tendinopathy," which literally means "disease of the tendon." When researchers examined data from 2,672 tendinopathy patients, they discovered that, in the long run, those who had been treated with cortisone shots ended up with more pain and less healing! While the shots did ease pain at first (for as long as eight weeks), the pain came back -- worse. After six months to a year, these patients hurt more... had a lower rate of full recovery... and had a 63% greater risk for relapse. I spoke with Karim Khan, MD, PhD, a professor in the department of human kinetics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who was coauthor of a commentary on the study, both of which were published recently in The Lancet. Why did cortisone soothe pain at first? Dr. Khan told me that cortisone curbs pain in the early weeks because it influences local pain receptors, but it doesn’t actually help heal the tendon. He said that research shows that it takes six to eight weeks for the local pain receptors to get back to normal, and then the spiral of pain begins anew. Try This Instead According to Dr. Khan, there is a more certain path to healing tendon injuries, but, alas, it takes longer. Here are his up-to-date recommendations for treating tendon injuries: - Move quickly to ice the injury -- at the first hint of tendinopathy pain. If you catch it relatively early, icing for 15 minutes twice a day can help to minimize the long-term effects of a tendon injury... but, said Dr. Khan, the unfortunate truth is that tendon problems often sneak up gradually, so this advice may not prove so helpful.
- Exercise the injured tendon, adding weight gradually. Previous advice emphasized complete rest for the joint, but doctors now know that exercise will repair the tendon and rebuild strength. Seek advice from a physical therapist to learn the proper exercises to bring about gradual healing.
- Make a modified return to the activity that triggered your injury. Most tendon injuries are caused by repetitive sports, such as tennis or golf, or other activities (like gardening) that strain the joints. Dr. Khan said it is often helpful to continue the activity, but at a greatly reduced level. For example, if you injured yourself playing tennis, hit the ball gently but for only about 10 to 20 minutes a day. Focus on how the injury feels, Dr. Khan suggests, and stop the activity if pain reaches what you’d consider a "five" on a pain scale of one to 10.
- Consider medication for pain relief. Avoid anti-inflammatory drugs. If you need a pain reliever, Dr. Khan considers acetaminophen (Tylenol) a good choice.
- Identify and correct the problems that caused the injury in the first place. This is most important, according to Dr. Khan. If a sport is the cause, work with an instructor to identify and correct your form... and if it’s just a life activity that gives you tendon pain, see a physical therapist to learn how to avoid straining your joint. Be patient. Dr. Khan said this process may take three to six months if started early and as many as eight to 12 months for "chronic" problems that have been painful for six months or more.
Source(s):
Karim Khan, MD, PhD, professor in the department of human kinetics at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He is coauthor of the textbook Clinical Sports Medicine (McGraw-Hill).
Be well, 
Carole Jackson
Bottom Line's Daily Health News
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