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Delivering any medicine into the body has its challenges and drawbacks. Medicines taken orally have taste problems and some people have difficulty swallowing. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea are possible side effects for almost any medication taken by mouth. Suppositories although effective are highly unpopular and are usually considered only as a last resort. Injections often induce a fear factor and cause at least some pain. Also a certain amount of skill needs to be required by the person administering the injection. If a medication can be applied to the skin and if it can cross the barrier of the skin most of these problems can be solved.

Transdermal formulations such as patches, creams and gels are able to carry medication across the skin and offer an alternative method of treatment. Patches that contain an accurate measured dose are most commonly used for carrying estrogen or testosterone as hormone replacement therapy. Nicotine replacement therapy patches are well known to help people stop smoking. There is also a potent medicine called scopolamine that is applied in patch form for treating sea sickness. A powerful opiate, for severe pain, called Fentanyl is also available in a patch.

A number of substances have gathered interest for their ability to carry drugs with them across the barrier of the skin and into the body. Dimethyl sulfoxide or DMSO as it is more commonly known is one such chemical with this ability. Grapeseed oil which is high in linoleic acid has this transdermal property. The Australian Emu produces an oil, also high in linoleic acid that acts as a medicine carrier as well as having anti-inflammatory properties and has become popular for those seeking to treat aches and pains.

There are a number of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that are suitable for use in a transdermal base. The main disadvantage of NSAIDs is that they tend to cause stomach irritation when taken orally and if use is prolonged may lead to gastric bleeding. Applying a NSAID medicine to the skin has the benefit of being able to bypass the stomach and also allows the user to target the painful area. Stomach problems with transdermal use of this class of medicines become almost non existent.

NSAIDs such as Ketoprofen, Ibuprofen and Diclofenac are all available in transdermal gel formulations. Oruvail gel contains ketoprofen while Nurofen Gel contains ibuprofen. Voltaren Emulgel contains Diclofenac and is the most popular brand due to it having a longer lasting action. Diclofenac is for most people the NSAID of choice due to its long duration of activity and effectiveness.

Transdermal pain gels are used to treat the pain and inflammation of joint and muscle pain. These gels may be used for local application for inflamed tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints due to trauma, soft tissue rheumatism and localised rheumatic diseases. In practice there is usually little concern regarding side effects unless one has an allergy to any of the ingredients.

Application of diclofenac gel consists of gently rubbing in a small amount to the swollen or painful area two to three times daily. There is no greasy residue or staining involved and shortly after application there is nothing to see on the skin after the product has been rubbed in. Many users notice a slight cooling effect after application.

Transdermal gels will find a place for those that have difficulty in swallowing medicines or for those that suffer stomach related side effects from taking NSAIDs.

Bruce Wilson is a qualified New Zealand pharmacist and owner of Strand Arcade Pharmacy. Bruce invites you to read more about Voltaren Emulgel and other health and beauty products from New Zealand at http://www.StrandArcadePharmacy.co.nz

Most of us have had experiences with veterinary drugs… simply incredible drugs that generally are targeted towards horses or dogs… and the ensuing results have probably always been spectacular. However, when you first start, the concept of ingesting something intended for our four legged friends can be a bit jarring. You wonder if you’re going to take Winstrol and end up jumping 5 foot fences, or if you’re going to get on all fours, pee on your neighbor’s mailbox and chase a rabbit if you sample some of Fido’s hormonal medication - and haven’t we all had a moment on all fours where it’s been embarrassing? Scratch that.

Look, there’s definitely a reason that veterinarian drugs are desired by many and why taking the lead of race and show horse performance may be the best plan. Sport horses are insanely amazing athletes. Not just your typical race horses, but dressage horses, jumping horses, cross country and steeplechase horses, and so many others there are too many to mention. Basically, these capable athletes are not only as aesthetically pleasing and as muscle solid as you are as a bodybuilder, they tend to be really geared up for performance. They perform like well-oiled machines. Much of that is genetic predisposition and they have evolved over the years to become such powerful animals. But, a lot has been cultivated beyond the regular level of performance and conditioning by way of animal performance and growth drugs and equine specifically equine sports supplements.

Oh yes, these hooved homies are supplement junkies much like you! Alright, they aren’t, but their owners certainly are. As a matter of fact, the equestrian world is downright fanatical when it comes to “getting the edge. It’s really quite astounding that trends in the equestrian world so closely resemble the main threads of bodybuilding supplementation. We tend to take creatine, horses take creatine. We take Gamma-Oryzanol, horses take G-O. Horses take Glucosamine and Chondroitin, and we take it, in addition to Hyaluronic acid (horses took it first) and the list just keeps going on and on.

The idea is, horses and people aren’t so different in regards to athletic needs. While bodybuilding may be considered an aesthetic-only pursuit, those of us who train all know that in the gym, it’s all about obtaining higher levels of performance! The most exciting thing is, there is a supplement that is based on horse performance principles that is like the supplement version of we have all enjoyed out of veterinary Anabolics over the years. It really is the equivalent in regards to supplementation - something that has up until now been very difficult to obtain in the bodybuilding world.

I used to think that having a supplement that was as good as Winstrol and Equipoise are as an AAS, would be an impossible dream. Based on pre-workout (energy), workout (anti-fatigue/ lactic acid blocking properties) and post-workout (recovery), it’s like vet Anabolics - you tend to get the most clear results for the fewest hassles. It’s a real “bang for the buck” supplement in the same way Winstrol-V and Equipoise is a damn good steroid cycle! And believe you me, the pre-performance and recovery aspects of the equestrian supplement world are vastly more advanced than the human side.

The human version of this equestrian supplement is called TridenosenH, I believe it’s still a littler hard to find, but maybe do some searching on the Internet to see what you come up with. Believe me, this marriage of the equestrian supplement world with the human one is an advancement that’s been long awaited, especially by me.

Dane Fletcher is the world-wide authority on bodybuilding and steroids. He has coached countless athletes all over the world. To read more of his work, please visit either www.BodybuildingToday.com or www.SteroidsToday.com

Scientists have created a fairly recent invention called deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a relatively new treatment modality for brain disorders that was first introduced in 1985. Over the course of the past 10 years, it has been shown to improve a myriad number of brain disorders including schizophrenia, migraines and major depression.

The main idea behind this technology is that a TMS device generates an electromagnetic pulse that goes through a person’s skull and this pulse then creates an electric current in a targeted area of that person’s brain. When scientists change the frequency of the electromagnetic pulse, they can either increase or decrease activity selectively in any brain area. Low frequency pulses inhibit brain activity, while high frequency pulses excite brain activity. The problem, though, with existing TMS is that it can penetrate only about 1-2 cm into the brain. So this means that it is basically limited to activating or deactivating brain regions that are near to the subject’s skull.

Recently, scientists have invented a new deep transcranial magnetic stimulation device that is able to reach further into the brain. This device is able to inhibit or excite more areas that were previously out of reach with the older TMS devices. Deep TMS has the ability to touch practically any brain area. Usually disorders of the mind have brain areas that are either overactive or underactive in comparison to a normal brain.

This new technology can normalize abnormal brain activity by non-invasive stimulation. The major benefit to deep TMS is that it can be performed on a person when they are wide awake and completely conscious. So this device is very easy to use and it has few side effects. This is in comparison to drugs which often have many nasty side effects that go along with taking them.

Scientists are testing the deep TMS device on people who are overweight or obese to help them lose weight. They are non-invasively stimulating the hypothalamus which is a structure located deep within the brain. The hypothalamus secretes hormones and is involved in metabolic processes. So by stimulating this area researchers may enable a person to lose weight. The overweight person wouldn’t even have to do any dieting or exercising, all they would have to do is undergo several 30 minute treatment sessions.

Researchers are using the deep tms device to reduce the auditory hallucinations that are found in schizophrenic patients. Around 50 to 70 percent of schizophrenic patients can hear voices that do not exist in real life. These imaginary voices can be extremely distressing as they can make mean comments to the individual. Using brain imaging, scientists have found that an area of the brain called the left temporoparietal cortex is overactive when patients are experiencing these auditory hallucinations. So by using deep TMS, scientists may be able to decrease activity in these overactive brain areas and this could reduce the auditory hallucinations that schizophrenics experience.

Researchers are also using this device to treat many of the symptoms that are associated with depression. They are targeting directly brain regions that are involved in a person’s ability to experience reward and pleasure. Electrical stimulation of a brain area called the nucleus accumbens has been shown to be rewarding. However up until recently, patients had to undergo risky brain surgery to get a brain implant to stimulate this area. Now, though, scientists will be able to non-invasively stimulate the nucleus accumbens without the need for brain surgery. Depressed patients usually experience anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure) along with dysphoric mood. The anhedonia is due to dysfunction of the reward circuits of the brain. So by using deep TMS, researchers can reduce chronic apathy and anhedonia in depressd patients by stimulating these reward related regions.

The researchers have already performed several clinical studies on over 100 depressed patients. They have found deep tms can improve or relieve anhedonia in more than 50% of the patients. So this treatment may allow a depressed patients to enjoy their life more than they would otherwise. In a study done on bipolar depressed patients, the researchers discovered that about 80% of the patients responded to the treatment, while 50% of them experienced a significant improvement in their depression symptoms. The scientists have even tested the deep TMS on normal healthy volunteers without a mood problem. The researchers have claimed that it improved the mood of these normal people. So this treatment may even enable a seemingly normal healthy person to get more enjoyment from their life.

This new deep TMS technology shows enormous potential for several different brain disorders. It could potentially allow a person to lose weight, experience more pleasure in life and reduce hallucinations (in schizophrenics). It may also find use for practically any brain disorder associated with altered brain functioning. Deep tms certainly has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of brain disorders in the future.

Blogger who blogs about Florida brain injury lawyer, deep transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation

I love the women of the Baby Boomer generation. They demanded world attention for their rights to equality in the sixties, changed the gender rules in the seventies, made their way into executive boardrooms in the eighties, and paved the way for the coming generations of their daughters and their daughter’s daughters. Generations X and Y, and hopefully “Z”, have a lot to thank them.

Today, younger adult women don’t have to go through what they did for recognition and understanding. When I enrolled at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1981, I was the only female in my first accounting class. Today, there are equally the same if not more women in graduate university and advanced education courses than men. This is how dramatically things have changed. But have they?

Since my mid-forties, I have had reason to visit a lot of doctor’s offices. I have been diagnosed as peri-menopausal, menopausal (differing opinions from different doctors), suffering from hypothyroidism, not suffering from hypothyroidism, Chronic Fatigue, no Chronic Fatigue, stress-related panic attacks, hypoglycaemia, hyperglycaemia - and the best of all - a recommendation that I should see a psychologist! All of these complaints and symptoms became more relevant when I later discovered I had severe adrenal problems - completely undiagnosed by all the doctors I saw. But for now, I just want to say, “God help the Baby Boomers!”

During the last few years, I have been in and out of so many doctor’s offices, surgeries, and hospitals that I have lost track. I have visited Hormone Specialists, Gynaecologists, General Practitioners and been rushed into hospital Emergency Rooms on countless occasions. I have had more blood tests than any rational person is meant to endure; subjected to ECGs (electrocardiograms), X-rays, brain scans, chest scans, hearing tests, and spent hours upon hours in those wonderful little ER cubicles waiting for tests or wheeled around from testing lab to testing lab. Not once, not a couple of times, but countless times. I have had the top of my palm injected with horrible large needles while I’ve waited for hours for a scan, drip, or blood transfusion.

I have also been insulted, ignored, laughed at, and been given operative procedures, drugs and antibiotics against my expressed concerns. A hospital gynaecologist even asked me on one occasion whether my breasts were real. (I am naturally well endowed.) I believe he was being playful and it was meant to be a joke - but at the time, I was lying in a hospital Emergency Room bed, waiting for a 4-pack blood transfusion. Needless to say, I didn’t find it very amusing at the time.

I am not a feminist. I know what strengths and weaknesses women have and acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses that men have. However, I am utterly astonished and dumbfounded at the way women are still being treated in the medical arena.

I am in total dismay at how the women of that gregarious, rebellious, open-minded, ground-breaking generation, the Baby Boomers, who led the revolution in changing the advertising, marketing, financial, and consumer-driven demands of the world, are still being treated as the 1950s stereotype female by the traditional medical community. And this includes some female doctors I have visited as well.

Every time I have visited a new doctor, the first typical response is, “its probably menopausal changes”. Firstly, if all I have suffered were menopause symptoms, I’d be swinging from the rafters with glee. I don’t wish to invalidate the women who have difficulties caused by hormonal changes, but with the new bio-identical hormone therapy available, menopause is an easier transition now than ever before.

Secondly, it worries me that the abruptness and immediacy of this instant diagnosis for women who happen to be in the 40 plus age group can potentially and dangerously prevent a real disease from accurate diagnosis and treatment or lead to misdiagnoses and serious consequences where there were none in the first place.

Men, younger women and now even teenagers and children are affected by similar circumstances. However, the typical and by far the larger demographic profile of wrongly diagnosed patients who fall victim to anti-depressants and tranquillisers are adult women.

Norma Finkelstein, Ph.D., of the Boston-based Coalition on Addiction, Pregnancy, and Parenting says, “Women tend to get addicted to prescription drugs like sedatives and tranquillisers more often than men do because doctors prescribe them to women more freely”. She estimates that 70 percent of prescribed tranquillisers and sedatives in the US are given to women. In Australia, 2:1 or 66.7 percent is the estimated ratio for women. Finkelstein also adds, “Women have long been seen by the medical profession as hysterical and anxious - so rather than listening to the woman’s problem, some doctors will just write a prescription for medication.”

I recall the wisdom of a friend who once said, “Educate the mother and you educate the family”. He was speaking of higher values at the time, but those words ring ominously in my mind now. Was the Rolling Stones’ 1960s hit “Mother’s Little Helper” a warning we didn’t heed?

Ann Marosy is an accountant, consultant, and former university lecturer. She was formally the Financial Controller of the Fortune 500 Company, Jardine Matheson, and Finalist of SA Executive Woman of the Year.

Ann is the author of ‘The Money Program’ book series, which includes managing the stages of wealth creation, formulas for budgeting, debt-free program and investment strategies.

For more details visit: The Home of The Money Program

In his 1932 fiction novel titled Brave New World Aldous Huxley wrote about a futuristic society in the year 2540 that ubiquitously consumed a mind altering substance called Soma. It was a drug that was distributed freely by the government to keep the people happy. In the Veda, which is some of the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, Soma is a god and a sacred drink. It is both a divinity and a drink that is divine in nature, consumed by priests during sacrificial rituals. In Western medicine of today, Soma is a muscle relaxant medicine that is prescribed regularly by doctors, mostly to patients with painful musculoskeletal related injuries and muscle spasms. It is a very strong medicine that controls pain by blocking the nerve signals from reaching the brain.

Soma is quite pervasive in the book Brave New World. It is a mind altering substance that people depend on to escape from the reality of their bleak and government controlled lives. The people in this futuristic world take soma in pill form, liquid and even frozen as an ice cream. Almost everyone in this society is addicted to soma. The few people who are not addicted to this drug are considered to be unusual optimists who do not need soma to be happy.

Before there was Aldous Huxley or the Veda there was the soma plant that had been growing in the wild for thousands of years. It is a psychotropic plant with long, yellowish colored stalks that grows best in the mountainous regions of the northwest part of the Indian subcontinent, most notably the Kashmir region. Today there is a very high percentage of Vedic people known as Brahmans who live in this area. Their ancestors settled there many years ago mainly because of the high quality soma plants that were found growing there.

Several thousand years ago when human civilization sprouted up in the Kashmir region of India, people began to experiment with the juices, powders and extracts of plants. They were eager to discover the effects they may have on the health of the human mind and body. These resourceful humans soon discovered that the soma plant possessed medicinal and mild altering qualities that are very powerful. It was not long before they began to use soma in rituals of healing and sacrifice.

According to the Veda scriptures, from 1500 B.C. to 500 B.C. the juice of the soma plant was used during animal sacrifice rituals called the yajna. Priests would drink the soma juice during the ceremony and work themselves into hallucinogenic trances while sacrificing animals over a fire for many hours. It was a complex ceremony that could only be performed by holy men called Brahmans. The goal was to enter the mental realm where the god known as Soma lives to offer gifts of thanks and ask for good health and good fortune in life. Soma is the god who is considered to be the master of all plants, the one who heals all diseases and the one who provides riches and good fortune.

In the Twenty First Century, Western medicine has its own form of Soma. It is a prescription drug made with an active ingredient called carisoprodal. It has nothing to do with the ancient soma plant mentioned in the Veda scriptures, or any other historical writings. While some of the pain killing effects may be similar to that of the soma plant, the prescription medicine soma is very different. It is not classified as a hallucinogen.

The modern medicine with the name Soma was developed by a pharmacologist named Dr. Frank M. Berger back in 1959 at Wallace Labs. The goal was to create an analgesic pain killer that is very helpful in the treatment of certain severe muscle injuries.

Today, Soma the prescription medicine can be purchased at most brick and mortar pharmacies, or even at one of the many US licensed online pharmacies that sell FDA approved drugs on the Internet. It is available by prescription from US licensed physicians.

Despite the fact that Soma can be purchased at any pharmacy, there are some health risks that should be weighed with the benefits before this medicine is taken, as is the case with all prescription drugs. It is important to know that Soma can be dangerous to your health if it is abused. When Soma is taken in excessive amounts some of the dangerous effects that can be experienced are dizziness, headaches, impaired vision, extreme drowsiness, seizures, shaking, tremors and loss of coordination. Soma can also be habit forming and should only be taken as prescribed by US licensed physicians who are currently practicing in the field of health and medicine.

The word Soma has been used by many different cultures throughout history to describe a variety of different things such as a deity, a hallucinogenic drink for Hindu priests and a government issued narcotic in a futuristic fiction novel. In Western medicine today it is used to describe a pain killing prescription drug. It is a muscle relaxant that works by blocking neurons of pain before they reach the brain, and it has been very effective when used to treat musculoskeletal injuries and spasms. Although Soma use comes with certain health risks, US licensed physicians prescribe this medicine every day to thousands of patients who can benefit greatly from it during their healing process.

Michael P. Connelly is an Author, Artist and award-winning Filmmaker who writes on a variety of topics that effect people in their every day lives.

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Laser dentistry is a totally new paradigm in dental treatment that is quickly gaining ground among dental practitioners. It takes advantage of new developments in laser technology to provide dramatically superior dental treatments that have much less risk than traditional treatments. Today we will discuss the primary benefits of laser dentistry over traditional dental treatments. We will furthermore go into some of the reasons why laser dentistry services remain difficult to find despite the dramatic empirical support for the efficacy and great safety profile of laser-based dental treatments.

Even though the practice of medical treatment in general has advanced so quickly, established dentistry techniques remain rather violent and unfocused. For example, a regular old filling is actually performed by grinding into the outer layer of the tooth with a hot drill bit. There is substantial risk that your tooth will crack open in this simple treatment, in which case an eventual loss of the tooth would likely be precipitated.

Once the hole is drilled out, a bit of metal amalgam or ceramic is placed into the gap in your tooth enamel, with an expectation that the artificial replacement will wear out and require replacement in a relatively short time. By the time that is the case, there will frequently be a need for additional drilling. After the hole grows deep enough, a root canal will become unavoidable. This procedure involves the whole inner section of the tooth being drilled through, destroying the delicate nerve tissue that lies within.

Laser dentistry alters this situation a great deal. A dentist making use of laser technology to repair a cavity will likely have no need for any anesthetic at all. The laser tool has no moving parts and also little risk of becoming too hot or of causing a fissure in the enamel. The laser itself destroys the bacteria that cause the cavity to begin with, which means there is a substantially reduced risk of ill effects from the procedure. Additionally, much less of the undamaged tooth enamel is ruined by the procedure, and the end result is likely to be much more resilient.

We have considered the regular dental filling as our example, but laser dentistry technology extends far beyond this type of everyday procedure. Dental lasers also facilitate dental surgery that is extremely clean and precise. Operations that have used these techniques often require no stitches or sutures, produce almost no bleeding, and have a greatly reduced risk of infection because the laser beam actually kills off the bacteria that are living in the area being operated on. For this reason, oral surgery that makes use of laser technology tends to heal significantly more quickly and significantly more cleanly than the usual oral surgery modalities.

The primary reason that it is presently so challenging to find an affordable laser dentistry clinic is largely because the technology is simply still so new. The equipment is still very expensive, and there are presently a fairly small number dentists who have achieved proficiency in using it. Because of the substantially improved efficacy and safety of these types of treatments, it is virtually guaranteed that they will become more widely available within the next decade, as a growing number of dentists receive training in their clinical applications.

Dallas is a freelance writer and marketer who is helping to connect Tampa Bay locals with expert Tampa dentistry and reliable cosmetic dentistry Tampa who offer dependable, expedient dentistry services at affordable prices.