May Lipitor Cause Depression?




In one of the previous posts, we have already addressed the potential danger of cholesterol lowering drugs to cause clinical depression in patients. Based on the reader's interest to the topic, we will review the most popular statin drug Lipitor in more details in terms of how it works, what are the potential side effects, and what are the chances that the negative side effects might be more significant than the health induced benefits.




Why is Lipitor Prescribed?





Lipitor (Atorvastatin) is used along with diet, exercise,
and weight-loss to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke and to decrease
the chance that heart surgery will be needed in people who have heart disease
or who are at risk of developing heart disease. Lipitor is also used to
decrease the amount of cholesterol (a fat-like substance) and other fatty
substances in the blood. This will decrease the risk of stroke, heart attack,
and other heart diseases because when there are high levels of cholesterol and
other fats in the blood, these substances may build up along the walls of the
blood vessels and decrease or block blood flow to the heart. Lipitor is in a
class of medications called HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins). It works by
slowing the production of cholesterol in the body.






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How Lipitor Works?




There are two sorts of cholesterol: a 'bad' sort called low density lipoprotein
(LDL) and a 'good' sort called high density lipoprotein (HDL). LDL is deposited
in the arteries and increases the risk of heart disease by clogging and
narrowing the arteries (atherosclerosis), while HDL actually protects the
arteries against this. Lipitor and other statins as well lower cholesterol in
two ways: They encourage the liver to clear LDL (bad cholesterol) from the
blood, and they block an enzyme that the body needs to make new cholesterol.





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At high doses, statins can nudge up your HDL (good cholesterol) while lowering
your LDL (bad cholesterol) by 50% or more. Studies have shown that, for
patients who already have heart disease, taking a statin can reduce the risk of
fatal coronary events within five years by up to 40%. According to Thomas H.
Lee, a cardiologist and editor in chief of the Harvard Heart Letter,
even people who don't have high cholesterol can cut their risk of heart disease
by a third simply by taking a statin.





Even given their wild popularity, "statins are still
underprescribed," says Thomas Allison, PhD, a cardiovascular specialist at
the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "The drugs could do much more good if
more people took them to prevent heart disease, not just treat it," he
says. "Most people aren't receiving cholesterol treatment until they've
had a heart attack."





Lipitor can also be used to reduce the risk of coronary
heart disease in people with type 2 diabetes, regardless of their cholesterol
levels. It has been shown to reduce the risk of needing procedures to improve
blood supply to the heart, such as a balloon dilation of an artery or a heart
bypass graft. It also reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke and death from
heart disease.





Is Lipitor Underprescribed
or Overprescribed?





While scientific opinion on the necessity of promoting
statin drugs, and Lipitor, as the most popular among them, is widely accepted
in medical community, it cannot be considered as the only existing approach to
the cholesterol related health problems. Dr. Mercola presents totally opposite
point of view, claiming that the drug is often prescribed for the cases, when
it is unneeded, and even presents certain dangers to the patients’ health.





That these drugs have proliferated the market the
way they have is a testimony to the power of marketing, corruption and
corporate greed, because the odds are very high— greater than 100 to 1—that if
you're taking a statin, you don't really need it.





The ONLY subgroup that might benefit are those
born with a genetic defect called familial hypercholesterolemia, as this makes
them resistant to traditional measures of normalizing cholesterol. And, even
more importantly, cholesterol is NOT the cause of heart disease. 





If your physician is urging you to check your
total cholesterol, then you should know that this test will tell you virtually
nothing about your risk of heart disease, unless it is 330 or higher.





HDL percentage is a far more potent indicator for
heart disease risk. Here are the two ratios you should pay attention to:


  1. HDL/Total Cholesterol Ratio: Should ideally be above 24 percent. If
    below 10 percent, you have a significantly elevated risk for heart
    disease.

  2. Triglyceride/HDL Ratio: Should be below 2.






I have seen a number of people with total
cholesterol levels over 250 who were actually at low risk for heart disease due
to their elevated HDL levels. Conversely, I have seen many people with
cholesterol levels under 200 who had a very high risk of heart disease, based
on their low HDL.





Your body NEEDS cholesterol—it is important in the
production of cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you
to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps your brain form memories and is vital to
your neurological function.





There is also strong evidence that having too
little cholesterol INCREASES your risk for cancer, memory loss, Parkinson's
disease, hormonal imbalances, stroke, depression, suicide, and violent
behavior.






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How to Optimize
your Cholesterol Levels Naturally?





If your
cholesterol levels are not critical yet, you may try to adjust your diet and
lifestyle accordingly to balance your good and bad cholesterol in the body:


  • Reduce, with the plan of eliminating,
    grains and sugars in your diet. Eat the right foods for your nutritional
    type, and consume a good portion of your food raw. 

  • Make sure you are getting plenty of
    high quality, animal-based omega 3 fats, such as krill oil.

  • Other heart-healthy foods include
    olive oil, coconut and coconut oil, organic raw dairy products and eggs,
    avocados, raw nuts and seeds, and organic grass-fed meats as appropriate
    for your nutritional type.







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  • Exercise daily. At least 30 minutes
    of exercise a day has been shown to decrease total cholesterol and improve
    "good" HDL cholesterol levels, while lack of regular physical
    activity can raise "bad" LDL cholesterol levels as well as lead
    to weight gain. Make sure you incorporate peak fitness exercises, which
    also optimizes your human growth hormone (HGH) production.

  • Reach and
    maintain a healthy weight.
    Being overweight can decrease "good" HDL levels and
    increase "bad" LDL and total cholesterol levels.

  • Address your emotional challenges
    engaging in enjoyable and mood stabilizing activities, like dancing, yoga,
    meditation, massage, and others.







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  • Cut out
    caffeine and alcohol
    – drink water.
    Both
    caffeine and alcohol have been shown to elevate cholesterol. So it's best
    to switch to pure water and, at the very least, follow the "no more
    than one a day" rule.

  • Don't smoke or use tobacco in
    any form.
    Smoking
    damages blood vessels, contributes to hardening of the arteries and is a
    major health risk for heart disease, stroke and other degenerative
    diseases. Be sure to get plenty of good, restorative sleep.






Unlike statin
drugs, which might lower your cholesterol at the expense of your health, these
lifestyle strategies represent a holistic approach that will benefit your
overall health—which includes a healthy cardiovascular system.





However, some experts have expressed concern that the
emphasis on statins could draw attention away from the importance of diet and
lifestyle. A 2007 study of 71 patients who began taking statins found that 44%
felt their physician had prescribed the statin even though the patients
preferred to try dietary measures to control their cholesterol. And although
76% of the patients wanted to reduce their dietary fat intake when they began
statin treatment, after six months there was no significant change in the
group's fat intake.





Lipitor Side Effects





While you may try to leverage your cholesterol levels
naturally with the recommendations, provided above, that might not work as
expected due to the various reasons, and mostly due to the genetic
predisposition. If that is a case, you will still have to take the medications,
since the cholesterol can potentially be dangerous to lethal to your health.
While taking Lipitor or other statins, you should be aware on the possible side
effects. Note that medicines and their possible side effects can affect
individual people in different ways, or may not affect at all. The following
are some of the side effects that are known to be associated with Lipitor. Just
because a side effect is stated here does not mean that all people using this
medicine will experience that or any side effect.





Common (affect between 1 in 10 and 1 in 100
people)





  • Disturbances
    of the gut such as diarrhoea, constipation, nausea, flatulence or
    abdominal pain.

  • Indigestion.

  • Runny
    or stuffy nose.

  • Nose
    bleeds.

  • Muscle,
    bone or joint pain

  • Headache.

  • Difficulty
    sleeping (insomnia).

  • Skin
    reactions such as rash and itch.

  • Back
    pain.

  • Dizziness.

  • Feeling
    of weakness.

  • Decreased
    sensitivity to touch or pain, pins and needles sensations.

  • Chest
    pain.






Uncommon (affect between 1 in 100 and 1 in
1000 people)


  • Vomiting.

  • Decrease
    in the number of blood cells called platelets in the blood (thrombocytopenia).

  • Inflammation
    of the pancreas (pancreatitis).

  • Muscle
    pain.

  • Hair
    loss (alopecia).

  • Loss
    of appetite.

  • Weight
    gain.

  • Liver
    disorders.

  • Changes
    in blood sugar levels.






Rare (affect between 1 in 1000 and 1 in
10,000 people)


  • Swelling
    of the legs and ankles due to excess fluid retention (peripheral oedema).

  • Hepatitis
    (inflammation of the liver).

  • Muscle
    breakdown (rhabdomyolysis).

  • Inflammation
    of the muscles (myositis).

  • Fever.






Very rare (affect less than 1 in 10,000
people)


  • Visual
    disturbances.

  • Serious
    skin conditions such as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome or toxic epidermal
    necrolysis.

  • Enlargement
    of the breasts in men.

  • Taste
    changes.






Unknown frequency


  • Interstitial
    lung disease.

  • Depression.

  • Memory
    loss.

  • Sleep
    disturbances.

  • Sexual
    problems.






Lipitor and
Depression





As you noticed, the frequency of the Lipitor-induced
depression falls in the category of Unknown. That means, that the link exists,
the danger is low, and that there is no sufficient data to quantify the
probability you may develop depression from long-time Lipitor consumption.





Some new researches however show much higher probability for
the related problems development than is shown on the official side effects statements.
One of the studies found up to 12
per cent of patients taking part in one clinical trial suffered sleep
disturbances such as insomnia, while 11 per cent of users in the same trial had
depression and three per cent some level of memory loss. Another study
suggested 12 per cent of statin patients had erectile dysfunction. That does
not mean you might develop all the health problems above, if you just start
taking Lipitor, since these trials did not evaluate the per cent of the
patients affected by the stated conditions before the trials, so the numbers
have lower value with missing reference points.





Another study,
performed at the University of California, School of Medicine, showed that in
multiple cases patients report depression and mood changes as side effects of
Lipitor. Some people reported loss if interest in activities and tendency for
diminished involvement in social affairs.





Summary






While the Lipitor side effects might be significant, the mainstream medical
opinion is that the biggest risk with statins is not taking them. Only about
half of all patients prescribed a statin end up reaching their cholesterol
goals, mainly because far too many people leave far too many pills untouched.





If you feel that taking Lipitor brings major complications
to your health and emotional wellbeing, discuss with your doctor the
possibility to alter your treatment plan and optimize the cholesterol
maintenance approach.








Sources and Additional
Information:





















Symptoms Of Rabies

Symptoms Of Rabies, symptom checker, there are a lot of factors that actually come when rabies are injected in your body. These viruses are deadly and it can actually have a lot of bad effects, on the human body which can result in hydrophobia, and also you may eventually die of such a disease.
Though it is a common misconception that dogs are always the carrier of rabies virus, it is actually bats and cats that are the actual carriers of such a disease. In many circumstances, rabies can also be given from monkeys, has be careful to take your dog in front of them.RabiesThe sure shot symptoms of rabies is a fear of water, and he or she would obviously become very irritable. There is also a very high fever that is prevalent in the body, along with severe headache and you might find that the person is twitching all over, like he or she is undergoing spasm. If all these conditions prevalent in a person and you would also find a foam coming out of the corners of the mouth, then you can be sure that the person is infected with rabies, and get immediate treatment or else he would lose that person forever.



More About Symptoms Of Rabies

Early Symptoms of RabiesEarly rabies symptoms in humans are similar to flu symptoms. These early symptoms can include: Fever Headache General tiredness Discomfort, numbness, or pain at the site of the bite. Progressive Rabies SymptomsAs the disease progresses, neurological symptoms appear and may include: Insomnia Anxiety Confusion Slight or partial paralysis Excitation Hallucinations Agitation Hypersalivation Difficulty swallowing Hydrophobia (fear of water).



Rabies Pictures And Images

RabiesRabies PictureRabies PicturesRabies Photos

Ecstasy and Depression: Risk Factor or Potential Cure




Ecstasy Popularity





After several years of falling popularity, ecstasy use has
once again been increasing in clubs and on college campuses. As this
recreational drug first appeared on the arena, it gained popularity fast among
adolescents and young adults in the nightclub scene or dance parties known as
“raves.” However, the profile of the typical ecstasy user has been changing now.
The drug is widely used by all demographic groups because so many young people
believe that ecstasy is a safe drug. A person may experience feelings of mental
stimulation, emotional warmth, empathy towards others, a general sense of
well-being and decreased anxiety.






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The reason
ecstasy popularity has increased might be lying under its main traits, outlined
above. The research made on the reasons of sudden increase in Ecstasy
Popularity show that some people turn to it as a temporary means of escaping
the problem. It is also been observed that young people have started taking the
MDMA as a part of their lifestyle. Ecstasy popularity studies also shows that
recently people have tendency to take ecstasy more than other drugs because, it
has very few direct effects, almost all the effects are indirect and hence it
is considered as harmless by many users.





Young adults are not aware that ecstasy can produce a
variety of adverse health effects, including nausea, chills, sweating,
involuntary teeth clenching, muscle cramping, blurred vision and, in some
cases, death due to overdose. Ecstasy can affect the brain by altering the
activity of chemical messengers, or neurotransmitters with symptoms such as
high blood pressure, faintness, panic attacks, and in severe cases, a loss of
consciousness and seizures.





In this publication, we will not review in details all
negative effects on health and wellbeing, which ecstasy may cause to its
consumers, but we will focus on the scientifically proven facts, that its use
can lead to the severe consequences to the mental health, causing clinical depression.







What is Ecstasy?





Ecstasy is a slang or street name for Methylenedioxymethamphetamines
(MDMA) It is a synthetic, psychoactive mind-altering drug with hallucinogenic
and amphetamine (stimulant) like effects. It alters perception of time and
distance.  MDMA was first developed in 1914 as an appetite suppressant or
diet drug. It was a legal substance up until 1985. 





As Ecstasy was
considered as a natural antidepressant, doctors used to prescribe it to the
patients until it was banned by UN and USA. Prior to this ban, the MDMA was one
of the main tools against depression, the doctors had. It was also widely used for
treating post traumatic stress disorder.





MDMA/Ecstasy is produced in clandestine laboratories, and is
seldom pure.  The amount in a capsule or tablet is likely to vary
considerably, which could lead to overdoses.  Now, MDMA is under a Federal
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) -- Schedule I Substance -- meaning that
it has no medical use and high abuse potential. The Federal penalty for
manufacturing or selling can lead to fines up to four million dollars.  A
ringleader or head manufacturer could receive life in prison. 





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What does ecstasy do to the brain?


                    


Ecstasy works by stimulating the production of a brain
chemical called serotonin, key in the regulation of mood and emotion. The rush
you get comes from the release of much higher levels of serotonin than normal.
But by artificially messing with this production process, some scientists
believe users are diminishing their brain's ability to produce serotonin in the
future.






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Mid-week Hangover





Ecstasy works by changing the way the brain produces and
handles the neurotransmitter serotonin that, among other things, regulates your
mood. 





"Experts agree that once the initial serotonin rush
produced by the drug (the 'high') has passed, levels of serotonin in the brain
will fall," says Ruth Goldsmith from the independent drug information and
expertise centre DrugScope. "This seems to account for the 'mid-week
hangover' or 'Tuesday blues'; the short period of depression experienced by
many ecstasy users in the days following their use of the drug." 





There are several possible reasons why ecstasy my cause the
short-term depression. MDMA works by
releasing from certain brain cells large amounts of the brain chemical,
serotonin. This release of serotonin is what causes Ecstasy’s mood elevation
effect, as well as the feelings of empathy, self-acceptance, and emotional
closeness with others that so many people find valuable and rewarding about the
drug. But in releasing large amounts of serotonin, MDMA also depletes the
brain’s supply. It then takes some time for the brain to replenish what was
released. How long does it take for serotonin levels to be fully restored after
someone takes Ecstasy? This depends on the individual’s diet, general heath,
genetic make-up, how much ecstasy the person took, and other random factors.
There’s no way to tell for sure, but based on animal studies, scientists say
that it could take anywhere from 48 hours to an entire week. The mild
depression some people feel after taking Ecstasy could be related to this
temporary depletion of serotonin.





Somehow similar theory states, that the release of serotonin also causes serotonin
receptors in the brain to down-regulate, which basically means turn themselves
off for a while. The up-and-down regulation of receptors is one of the primary
ways the brain tries to achieve homeostasis, or balance. These receptors work
in conjunction with the amount of serotonin around and are just as important in
the regulation of mood as serotonin itself. In trying to maintain a balanced
mood, these receptors respond to the amount of serotonin around by turning
themselves on and off (up-regulation and down-regulation). When they are
flooded with serotonin as a result of taking Ecstasy, many of them
down-regulate.





The majority of
these receptors will up-regulate again as soon as the excess serotonin is
metabolized away. However, some of these receptors may stay down-regulated
longer, perhaps days, weeks, or even months. The depression some people feel
after taking ecstasy may be a result of these serotonin receptors staying
down-regulated too long. Whether, how much, or how often this happens may
largely be a genetic factor unique to the individual.





Some people may
simply be genetically pre-disposed towards Ecstasy-related depression. Some
ecstasy users who experience depression might have been depressed before they
started using ecstasy. Depression is a common illness that often goes
undiagnosed and untreated. This is particularly true for teenagers and young
adults who suffer from mild to moderate depression. It is likely that many
compulsive ecstasy users are unconsciously trying to self-medicate their
depression. However, ecstasy use may play unfavorable role
in depression treatment, since by directly affecting serotonin, it may trigger
getting your neurotransmitters out of balance, especially if they already were in the
borderline condition.






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 Ecstasy
and Clinical Depression





While danger of
short-term mild depressive episodes has somewhat limited effect on mental
wellbeing, the long-term consequences might be far more dangerous, and even
disastrous.





Based on the
study 2003 results in Britain, experts warned that the changes to the brain
brought about by the drug leave a legacy of long-term mental health problems,
including memory loss and lack of concentration. Psychologists have found that
even those who gave up taking the drug several years ago scored higher on a
depression rating than people who had never taken it.





A 2005 Cambridge University study discovered that people
with a certain genetic make-up showed greater signs of depression after using
the drug. The Cambridge team looked at the gene which controls serotonin
transporters in the brain. Everybody has two copies of each gene, and there are
two possible versions which people can carry, so they can either be classed as
ll, ls or ss. They found that 60% of people who had the ss version were
assessed as having at least mild depression after taking ecstasy, while
non-drug users with the ss type displayed no such problems.





Similar results were received in 2006 during the three-year
study conducted at the PET Center at Arhus Hospital in Denmark, showed the
recreational drug caused depression in laboratory pigs. The scientists injected
pigs with varying doses of Ecstasy to study the effect the drug has on the
pigs' brains. The study has significant importance for humans as well, as pigs'
brains are quite similar to human brains in many perspectives.





Controversial Studies





Recently, the
Ecstasy positive and negative therapeutic effects came in light of the general
community due to several researches, producing controversial results of weather
ecstasy may cause the long-term brain damage or not.





There is no
evidence that ecstasy causes brain damage, according to one of the largest
studies into the effects of the drug. Too many previous studies made
over-arching conclusions from insufficient data, say the scientists responsible
for the research, and the drug's dangers have been greatly exaggerated. It was
concluded that ecstasy has not been linked to damage to the central nervous
system and no long-term changes to emotional states and behavior have been
triggered by consumption of the drug.





The study was
carried out by a team led by Professor John Halpern of Harvard Medical School
and published in the journal Addiction February 2011. Many experts who
have argued that the drug is relatively safe welcomed the new paper. "I
always assumed that, when properly designed studies were carried out, we would
find ecstasy does not cause brain damage," said Professor David Nutt, who
was fired as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs by Alan
Johnson, then home secretary, for publicly stating alcohol and tobacco were
more harmful than ecstasy.





Ronald Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Psychiatry
in his report in the May 2011 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology opposes
this viewpoint, insisting that recreational Ecstasy use is indeed associated
with a chronic change in brain function. Cowan and his colleagues examined
brain activation during visual stimulation, using functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI), in subjects who had previously used Ecstasy (but not in the two
weeks prior to imaging) and in subjects who had not previously used Ecstasy. They
found increased brain activation in three brain areas associated with visual
processing in Ecstasy users with the highest lifetime exposure to the drug. The
findings were consistent with the investigators' predictions based on results
from animal models: that Ecstasy use is associated with a loss of serotonin
signaling, which leads to hyper-excitability (increased activation) in the
brain. The hyper-excitability suggests a loss in brain efficiency, Cowan said,
"meaning that it takes more brain area to process information or perform a
task." The investigators found that this shift in brain excitability did
not return to normal in subjects who had not used Ecstasy in more than a year.






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Summary





While I am not expert on the topic, based on the various
resources, available on the Web, I can conclude that both proponents and
opponents of Ecstasy have their valid points, but research results are still
inconclusive to choose side. There are multiple studies and clinical ongoing
trials, trying to bring the positive effects of the drug to the safe medicine
(for PTSD, depression, and cancer treatment) in Europe, Israel, and USA, but there
is still a long way to go, and the resulting drugs might be substantially
modified by the scientists from the state as you may take it now.





For those, who use ecstasy as recreational drug on regular
basis, I have one question to ask: Are you ready to jeopardize your health for
short-term positive emotional effect, if there is a chance that it may cause
your mental destabilization on long run? Think about that, before you take next
pill.





In any case, there are safer alternatives, as marijuana,
for example...  








Sources and Additional
Information:







Ulcer Symptom

Ulcer Symptom, if you always feel a very sharp pain around your stomach, and you always feel nausea as well as tiredness that is engulfing you each and every moment of your living life, then you will very probably have ulcer in your stomachUlcer SymptomUlcers are generally sauce that are about half an inch in diameter, and they actually form in the lining of the stomach just below the beginning of your small intestine, and they are very painful as the food which is processed from that area had to go through those source, and an open area of phone would be very susceptible to pain with all the food as well as the acid flowing through it. When you have too much of an acidic diet, and feel that you have pain in your stomach region whenever the food has been registered, then you would certainly know that you have all served in your body. In such cases, you could consult a doctor or a medical practitioner for the relief, as ulcers can be very painful, and it can cause a lot of potential damage to the stomach lining, and can create a very potential harmful experience for you.

More For Ulcer Symptom

The major symptom of an ulcer is a burning or gnawing feeling in the stomach area that lasts between 30 minutes and 3 hours. This pain is often interpreted as heartburn, indigestion or hunger. The pain usually occurs in the upper abdomen, but sometimes it may occur below the breastbone. In some individuals the pain occurs immediately after eating. In other individuals, the pain may not occur until hours after eating. The pain frequently awakens the person at night. Weeks of pain may be followed by weeks of not having pain. Pain can be relieved by drinking milk, eating, resting, or taking antacids.Appetite and weight loss are other symptoms. Persons with duodenal ulcers may experience weight gain because the persons eats more to ease discomfort. Recurrent vomiting, blood in the stool and anemia are other symptoms.

Ulcer Symptom Pictures And Images

Ulcer SymptomUlcer Symptom PictureUlcer Symptom PicturesUlcer Symptom Photos
 
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