A recent report gives us yet another reason to ensure we keep our blood pressure and cholesterol levels down. An Irish study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology found conclusively that high levels of both cholesterol and blood pressure increased the risk of suffering from eye disease.
“Similar to small blood vessels elsewhere in the body, vessels at the back of the eye are also susceptible to damage from high blood pressure,” explains Dr Danny Cheung from the Retinal Vascular Imaging Centre at the Centre of Eye Research Australia.
“Chronic hypertension can lead to the development of several sigh-threatening eye conditions, including hypertensive retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, and retinal arteriolar occlusion”
In extreme cases, disturbed blood flow causes the retina to become dysfunctional, causing complete loss of eyesight.
High cholesterol levels can be equally as damaging.
High cholesterol is a major ingredient for atherosclerosis, a common vascular disease process. In the eye, increased cholesterol promotes thrombus formation in the retinal veins, facilitating the development of retinal vein occlusion.
Dr Cheung believes that there is insufficient awareness of the connection between eyesight and high blood pressure and cholesterol by general practitioners.
“All GPs should perform fundoscopic examination for their patients who are at risk or retinal vein occlusion.
A fundoscopic examination looks at the eye through a special light. This can be determine if there is any increased pressure inside the skull, as well as detect the presence of any eye problems.
“This is important because early detection of certain retinal vascular abnormalities, such as focal narrowing of retinal venule at crossing sites with arteriole, can help vein occlusion. “In these patients, optimisation of blood pressure and cholesterol levels is imperative for the prevention of this blinding eye disease.

If you thought eating disorders were confined to teenage girls, young women, think again.
Men too are at risk of developing debilitating illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.
In fact, about 10 per cent of people suffering from eating disorders are male.
Psychologist from Eating Disorder says men of all shapes and sizes suffer from eating problems.
It is said that, there’s a stereotype of someone who would develop and eating disorder which is usually a middle-class Anglo-Saxon teenage girl.
But we see people from all walks of life with eating disorders, including men.
Goodness knows how many men have sub-clinical eating disorders or are not on the radar because of the secrecy or the shame they may feel.

MANOREXIA
Eating disorder can often stem from weight issues suffered during a man’s formative teenage years.
Men who bottle up their emotional problems rather than discussing them with a friend or loved one can feel a heightened sense of stress, and this can also trigger illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia.
While eating disorders vary from person to person, the general signs that someone is battling an eating disorder includes overeating, severe weight loss and depression.
“Weight loss, or some sort of fluctuation in weight, is a big indicator, along with changes in mood, particularly around meal time.
One thing to keep in mind with these sorts of behaviors is people would probably need to display a number of them to be at risk.
Studies also show that images of male underwear models with washboard stomachs and airbrushed hips may be contributing to a rise in eating disorders among men.
Recent studies show about 67 per cent of men were dissatisfied with their bodies.

WHAT TO DO
The best way to help someone battling an eating disorder is to talk to them about concerns for their health.
People should expect some sort of resistance. Often people with eating disorder are really ambivalent about recovery.
One advise is not to approach someone at meal time because it’s usually a very anxious time for them.
Eating disorders, for men and women, fall into three general categories:

ANOREXIA NERVOSA:
self starvation
BULIMIA NERVOSA:
binging and purging
OVER-EATING:
binging without the purging

Those men who believe they may have eating disorder should visit a doctor to discuss their concerns.

For more information visit www.edf.org.au
www.eatingdisorders.org.au or
www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au

Did you know that Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) kills 325,000 people a year – or nearly 900 per day?
Did you know that SCA usually occurs without any warning?
Did you know that, If an individual is not treated within 4 to 6 minutes from the onset of SCA, the results can be fatal?
Inside Cardiac Arrest (www.insidecardiacarrest.com), presented by St. Jude Medical, provides information about the risk factors, warning signs, and treatment of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The site offers two videos: Sudden Cardiac Arrest (http://www.insidecardiacarrest.com/video_suddencardiacarrest.aspx) and The Human Heart (http://www.insidecardiacarrest.com/video_humanheart.aspx). In the videos, a real doctor explains SCA and heart anatomy in simple, easy to understand language.
St. Jude Medical is dedicated to bettering the lives of our patients. There you can read the personal accounts of those who have benefited from heart ICD or implantable cardioverter defibrillators. Take the time to learn about programs pertaining to Sudden Cardiac Arrest especially if you are at risk or any member of your family do. This is great help and important knowledge for the people with heart problems.

It’s no picnic if you suffer from seasonal allergies. Runny nose, itchy eyes, scratchy throat, and constant sneezing are the basic complaints. But the nasal congestion that results can also keep you awake at night. Allergies can also trigger more serious complications, such as chronic sinusitis and asthma. Yet most allergy sufferers don’t seek help beyond a box of tissues. A lot of people think it’s normal to sniffle and sneeze all day.
Even those who do to to the doctor for their allergies may give up before they find a solution.
A consumer research survey found out that more than 60 percent of patients failed to take allergy medicine as prescribed by their doctors, largely because their symptoms didn’t clear up or they cleared up only temporarily. Indeed, only about 20 percent of patients believe that they can become free of symptoms.
Now, all that is changing because of breakthroughs in both prescription and over-the-counter treatments.
Allergies are the immune system’s hyped-up reaction to normal harmless foreign substances, or allergies. When these touch the lining of the nose, the mucous membranes become inflamed, setting off symptoms. Seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever) follows nature’s calendar. Bit some people have chronic allergic rhinitis; their symptoms occur year-round in response to animal dander, cockroaches, molds, and dust mites.
These allergic account for a lot of misery. Millions of people have seasonal rhinitis.
And many type of allergies are on the rise. In the United States, a 2005 survey by the National Institute of Health found that 54 per cent of the population tested positive to one or more substance (the most common being dust mites, grass, ragweed, and cockroaches), making them more vulnerable to developing full-blown allergies down the road.
Thirty years ago, however, only half that number tested positive.
Why are the numbers going up? Some researchers blame increased in pollution. Others think we’ve become too clean.
According to the so-called hygiene hypothesis, children raised in hyperclean environments develop hair-trigger immune systems that are skewed toward allergies. Interestingly, babies who live in homes with two or more dogs or cats in their first year are less likely to develop allergies. So are those who have lots of older siblings or who attend day care. Presumably, exposure to a variety of foreign substances and microbes “teaches” the immune system hoe to react appropriately. The theory is intriguing right? But the truth, scientists aren’t sure what’s driving the rise.
If you develop symptoms and don’t know what’s triggering them, a doctor can help figure it out, often with skin tests or with blood tests. Many types of doctors treat allergies, but allergists are the most experienced at diagnosis and also the most up-to-date on treatments.

We use eating as a means of handling emotions, be it happiness or sadness. It’s not really our intention to gain weight. Then the others also just to pass time.
Ours is an eating society. We always tend to meet friends over lunch, snacks, or dinner. It’s dangerous because you wouldn’t notice you’ve eaten a lot. Plus the food is often used to reward children. If they have high grade, (we tell kids), let’s eat.
We’re influenced by eating habits of others. In our house, everyone eats in big amounts. The other, peer pressure – whatever your friends are eating, and you as well. However, some people have faster metabolism than others like me, so that we easily burn calories. Other experience the opposite.
Many conveniences are now available, especially for children. There’s TV, Gameboy, Nintendo DS, Wii, cars. Because of these, kids nowadays don’t engage in as much physical activity as before. Even P.E. in school are being cut down.
Bad eating habits are passed to children. These habits are picked up by children as what I have observed. Most of the time, parents who are always busy tend to serve unhealthy, instant food. Their gratification is the high fat, so it’s easy to get full, which is also bad.

Vaccination is the only active way to prevent and control influenza. It can prevent the flu in 70 per cent to 90 percent of young, healthy adults. You can still get the flu after having a flu vaccine but you will be far less sick than someone who has not received the vaccine. The vaccine reduces the severity of the symptoms and protects you from other viruses that sometimes feel like the flu.
Different types of flu vaccines have been available and used for more than 60 years. The difficult aspect of vaccine development is that the influenza viruses are constantly changing, so that the vaccines must also be changed annually to target the most recent circulating flu viruses. Scientists need about four months to develop a new vaccine that protects against a new virus.
There is no single vaccine that can be used to protect you from flu forever. While flu viruses can become resistant to antiviral drugs, they have not yet developed resistance to flu vaccines. Last winter in the USA, the influenza A (H3H2) virus was the predominant flu virus and it caused a more severe flu season.
Because the flu vaccine is only effective for one year and viruses vary from year to year, you should have a flu shot every year. Immunity does not develop immediately after your vaccination. The flu vaccine takes about 14 days to provide its greatest protection. Ask your doctor about getting vaccinated before the flu season arrives. Here in Australia, the vaccine is usually available from March each year.
If you’re not in one of the groups recommended to get the flu shot you still choose to be immunized. Your GP will write a prescription which will cost whatever the pharmacist charges. This year, US health authorities are recommending that all children aged six months to 18 years receive an annual influenza vaccination. These recommendations have nit yet been introduced in Australia. You can still ask your doctor for advice.
Our three kids already got the shots but we parents not yet so I guess by this month we can have it for prevention.

I’m so bothered with winter sicknesses especially that we were just new to this certain kind of season. My oldest son is feeling bad today and he is vomiting early in the morning and doesn’t want to eat. I was just glad that he can still manage to go to school and reach home this afternoon fine but still looks grumpy.
I made a research about winter sicknesses and the first that I have read was about gastroenteritis which is some kinda related with the symptoms my son experiencing.
Gastroenteritis in young children and babies occurs more often from about April each year and is often called winter gastro. It is an illness caused by the infection and inflammation of the digestive system, mostly by viral or bacterial infections, but also by bacterial toxins, parasites, some chemicals and some drugs.
Here in Australia the most common causes of gastroenteritis are viruses, often the rotavirus, and the most common bacterial gastroenteritis is Campylobacter infection. Infection occurs when the virus or bacterium enters your gut, usually by eating or drinking.
Gastroenteritis is very easily spread – an infected person can pass the bacteria to other people, or surfaces, by not wasing their hands properly. Oh my God, I hope my son is doing the washing in school. I always told them to do it often.
Good hygiene, including thorough washing of hands, is essential to protect yourself and other family members.
Generally, gastroenteritis is over within a few days. Typical symptoms include tummy cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting.
It’s important to see your doctor, however, as vomiting and diarrhoea can also be caused by many other problems such as food poisoning, infections in other parts of the body (such as pneumonia or ear infections) and appendicitis.
If you have gastro, you need to drink plenty of fluids. Drinks that contain a lot of sugar – such as soft drinks, cordial, sports drinks and fruit juice – are not suitable as they can make you sicker. The best way to replace lost fluids is with oral rehydration fluids. These drinks are available at chemist and have the right amounts of sugar, salt and water to be easily absorbed in the gut.
A person suffering from severe gastroenteritis may need fluids administered intravenously. Don’t take antivomiting or antidiarrhoea drugs bought from the chemist unless your doctor has recommended it, because these medicines will keep the infection inside your body.

Flu starts when an influenza virus enters your body through your nose and mouth, although the virus does not start an infection in everybody who is exposed to it. To make you ill, a virus needs to get into your respiratory tract (the passages from your nose and mouth into your lungs).
The virus can be spread by coughs and sneezes spraying droplets on to surfaces, especially in crowded, enclosed spaces. These viruses can survive outside the body for some time, especially in cold and dry weather. If you touch droplets containing a virus for a respiratory disease, and then touch your face near your nose or mouth, the virus can enter and move down your respiratory tract. This is the most common way to catch the flu.
It usually takes between one and four days for you to develop flu symptoms after the influenza virus enters your body through your nose or throat. You are infectious from the day before you develops symptoms until seven days after symptoms start.

About three days after being exposed to the virus, the symptoms of the fly usually develop suddenly. Symptoms are similar to those caused by cold viruses, but they tend to be more severe and to last longer:
* Fever (temperature of 37-40 Degrees Celsius or higher)
* Aching in muscles and joins all over the body
* Headache
* General feeling of being very ill
* Dry cough
* Blocked or runny nose
* Lack of appetite
* Extreme tiredness
* Chills and sweating

Medical scientists are predicting that avian flu (bird flu H5H1) may be be next year major pandemic to occur on our planet. This flu is a very infectious disease of birds caused by the Influenza A virus.
All birds are susceptible to the flu but wild ducks, domestic chickens and turkeys are particularly at risk to a very fatal type of the virus. Control of the outbreak means quarantining infected farms and the destruction of domestic poultry flocks, resulting in a great economic loss to farmers and governments.
The major concern for world health authorities is that the bird flu will mix with a human flu virus and mutate rapidly, forming a new viral strain deadly to humans by human-to-human contact.
Population will not have immunity to the new virus and will be susceptible to severe illness and death before a vaccine can be developed to protect them.
They have been recent alarms of bird flu being transmitted directly to humans in Indonesia, Vietnam, HongKong and Egypt in 2008; internationally 238 people have now died from avian flu, with most of these deaths being in Indonesia and Vietnam. Almost all of these cases have been caught from birds flu in Australia. Health authorities here closely monitor the situation in neighbouring countries and are well prepared for any Australian outbreak of this flu.