WADA changes its mind on baldness

November 14th, 2008

Perhaps I don’t watch enough television these days, but I have not noticed any sudden increase in the number of bald athletes or sports persons. For the most part, all these fit specimens of humanity seem to thump the ball or run around energetically while affecting the usual flowing locks. Wait, you don’t mean that these poor people have been forced to wear wigs all this time? Imagine all that sweat under a heavy crown of artificial hair. Or is that why many people wear these caps - I always thought that was to help keep the sun out of their eyes. How naive I was. Hmmm? You’re not following this? Ah, my apologies. I have the cart before the horse yet again. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is in the business of devising tests to detect drug cheats. These are the people who enhance their performance by training with anabolic steroids and other banned substances as part of their regime. It gives them an unfair advantage. But just as WADA devises a new test, so the cheats develop new ways of hiding their steroids. One of the substances thought to mask the use of steroids was finasteride which is sold under the name of propecia. This is a perfectly legitimate drug used to treat male pattern baldness. It has an excellent track record for effectiveness and safety only requiring that the man takes one tablet per day for as long as he wishes to retain his hair. Thus, propecia was duly added to the List of Prohibited Substances and Methods. Over time, a number of athletes were banned for using propecia. Without exception, they all protested their innocence of any use of steroids or other banned performance enhancer. There was considerable litigation. WADA’s decision to remove propecia from its list reflects the emergence of evidence that propecia does not interfere with the tests for steroids nor mask their use in any way. This does not help the athletes who were banned for its use nor the unfortunate publicity that was given to their baldness. But one thing is undeniable. WADA publishes its list. Propecia was clearly identified on it as a banned substance and these athletes broke the rule. Whether the rule was a good one or not cannot change the wrongfulness of the athletes’ decision. As to those of you athletes who are threatened with hair loss. Propecia is a great product and you can use it without breaking the rules as from January 1, 2009.

If you use corticosteroids, can you be an Olympic athlete?

October 10th, 2008

Both in the abled Olympics we’ve just celebrated in Beijing and the Para-Olympics to come, the basic rules are laid down by the organizing committees and controlled through the World Anti-Doping Agency. The general rule is that athletes can use inhaled, topical and systemic corticosteroids to deal with a wide range of medical conditions.

Probably the most common is the use of inhaled corticosteroids and beta-2 agonists to allow asthma sufferers to compete in Olympics. Other than that, topical corticosteroids are used for treating skin conditions. For this and the relief of joint pain and other inflammations, cheap Prednisone is the most common medication, but athletes must get a full Therapeutic Use Exemption before using it. There are myths that using steroids enhances performance. Dr. Kenneth Fitch of the School of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Western Australia has conducted three double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studies of asthma drugs. Most health experts agree that these drug simply allow the body to resume functioning normally. So asthma sufferers are able to breathe. Inflamed joints are able to move more smoothly again. And so on. The results showed no enhanced performance. So why does WADA control their use? You can reach for Prednisone knowing it’s approved as the standard treatment by elite athletes.

Pain, pain go away

October 2nd, 2008

Ask any familiar medic how to deal with moderate pain and the usual answer is to prescribe a painkiller like Ultram. It’s true that the medical profession is under pressure. Not enough doctors are prepared to work in general practice. It gets patients out of the door quickly, but it’s not treating them as human beings with a problem to solve.

The key issue is that, rightly or wrongly, painkillers have a bad press. Open any famous newspaper and you’ll routinely see stories of people arrested for dealing in narcotic painkillers, or hooked on them and going into rehab. People need reassurance that a drug like Ultram is safe if you use it in proper way. More importantly, they need options if they prefer to avoid taking medication for their problems.

The aim is simple. So many people need to be reintroduced to the idea of mobility. If trust is established, people work their way through the fear of movement to find they can move without feeling pain than they expected. In this, the social interaction between the patient and the therapist is crucial. This doesn’t mean people should avoid Ultram. It simply means they should take Ultram only for a limited time and work more at getting better naturally.

Bernie Mac was a sad loss

September 30th, 2008

Sometimes, a comedian like Rowan Atkinson just hits the right note of humor and intelligence to pass through the television screen and feel like a real human being. So often actors and comedians are trying too hard. There’s an archness about their performance. Bernie Mac was the unique talent.

Although the official cause of death this August was pneumonia, he had been fighting sarcoidosis for many years. It can affect any part of the body where groups of cells clump together. Where these so-called granulomas occur, the body is damaged. There is no cure for this disease. This is an autoimmune disease that, somewhat unfairly, operates along racial lines. Black Americans are sixteen times more likely to die than white Americans.

The standard treatment is Prednisone. Bernie Mac had been in remission for some three years before his death. Although there are some side effects if you take a steroid like Prednisone over longer periods of time, an increase in body weight, fluid retention, etc. these are prices worth paying for those with this disease. If it enters the heart or brain, you get symptoms mimicking a stroke or seizures. That Bernie Mac kept going and entertained so many for so long is a testament to the kind of man he was and the therapeutic quality of Prednisone.

Stronger and less

September 24th, 2008

There is an unspoken rule that you should never write what is impolitely called “knocking copy”. We don’t do that here. We are always absolutely fair and never do more than state facts, not opinions. So here is something you can check out for yourself. Most men seem to do best with an average dose of 50mg. Levitra, on the other hand, comes in 2.5mg, 5mg, 10mg and 20mg. Most men seem to do best with 10mg tablets but many get perfect results with the lower dosages. Why should anyone care? Because it is really, really disappointing to become some kind of impotent. Do many people have side effects? Well, you’re taking five times less of the same active ingredients to achieve the same results. Not that many with either drug but, if you were looking for a reason to prefer Levitra, safety would be top of the list for most. As a general rule in the world of medication, the smaller the dose, the lower the risk you will experience any side effects.

Buying drugs online is better say researchers

September 19th, 2008

Shopping online is good because it’s convenient and your privacy is incredibly big. Whether people should be allowed to buy drugs over the internet is more controversial. So the Mayo Clinic Proceedings has just published some research from Utah. One hundred men with erectile dysfunction were divided into two groups. One bought Levitra online, the other went to see their local health providers. The results of the research make interesting reading. The headline is that buying Cialis online was “more reliable”. Of course, both groups got the drug in its full strength version. Delivery caused no problems. The key advantage to buying online lay in “patient education”. People buying drugs online received targeted email messages about the product and how to use it safely. Combined with the more general introductory material available online, patients were better informed than those who went to see a doctor. Amazingly less than half the patients who had a face-to-face conversation with their physician were given any instructions on how to use the medication safely. It’s alarming that physicians should prove so bad at communicating with their patients. Some allowances can be made because those in general practice are under great pressure to see patients quickly. But, not to give proper directions on safety. . . So, everyone has the freedom to choose. It’s official. Buying Levitra online is better. This reduce the number of patients asking for prescriptions and give physicians more time to do a better job.

Australian regulators pull the adverts on impotence

September 13th, 2008

Drive down a highway in Australia and you’re likely to see a billboard with the burning question of the day, “Want longer sex?” So, what possibilities are offered? I suppose the target market is middle-aged and elderly males. The research in Australia shows that only 11% of men who have erectile dysfunction get any treatment. Let’s just pause there. That’s a remarkable finding from a survey. Where do the other 89% of men live their lives? How can they not know about Viagra and how easy it is to get a prescription or buy it online? Be that as it may, men who have problems of impotence, whether it’s erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation, are likely to slow the car and read carefully. Suppose they have children in the car with them. Are those same men going to want to answer the inevitable questions, like what do this doggy do with another doggy? I think not. Parents should never be put in the situation of having to explain sex to their own children. It should all be left to come naturally when they have their first chance on their wedding nights. And what about the religious and high-minded who think that it is never appropriate to talk about sex in public? The upshot? The Australian Advertising Standards Board has banned the adverts as too “blatant”.

For the poison ivy, get a goat

September 5th, 2008

It’s summer and along with all that nature comes poison ivy, that lush green monster with pretty yellow flowers. And just so you can keep calling global warming a myth, poison ivy is one of the plants responding well to the increases in temperature, humidity and the level of carbon dioxide. You can’t avoid meeting it at least on your backyard. It’s a misfortune to touch this plant or to touch something that has touched this plant - did you know your pet can pass through a thicket and bring its richness back to you on its fur? This plant is bursting with an oily resin called urushiol. Only a very few people are immune. For light exposure - you realized the danger immediately and washed the affected area of skin with warm water and plain soap or a solvent like rubbing alcohol - an over-the-counter topical steroid cream will usually be sufficient. For more serious exposure, you’re going to need the cream plus Prednisone. Two final thoughts on removing a patch of poison ivy from your yard. Lay in a supply of Prednisone drug and, wearing gloves, cut the vine and throw it on a bonfire. But watch out. Goats love to eat poison ivy.

Hot spots in Indonesia

September 2nd, 2008

Can you imagine yourself in mourning standing in front of the mirror? That acne is just crowding out all your good features and leaving a red, spotty mess. You’re lining up to take the Accutane - signing up for the iPledge is a real pain but it will all be worth it when the acne’s gone. Foreigners are really weird. Indonesia is just so way out there. Actually, you probably don’t know where Indonesia is, but, hey, it’s weird that anyone should talk about spots like that. It’s not quite what you thought. This is only acne that on your mind. It seems those Indonesians burn their forests and our great network of spy satellites can see the hot spots where the fires are burning most fiercely. No-one knows why we’re spying on Indonesia but it all fits because your deep-seated spots burn fiercely and nothing else has been able to make them go away. That’s why you’ve signed the iPledge and your parents are going to buy Accutane online. With a little luck, it will all be gone in six months time.

Have gun, will travel

September 1st, 2008

Back in the 1950s, Richard Bona starred as Bassist in one of the best TV Jazz shows ever made about a gun for hire. It was called, Have Gun - Will Travel. Today, our kids turn to other remedies to get rid of the thing they hate the most: acne - the bane of the teenager’s life. How can anyone bear to be seen in public with their faces all messed up with zits and pimples? So, they are all in the market to buy Accutane, the surest way to kill acne stone dead. Except it takes months rather than days to work and it doesn’t come in a cool black outfit like Paladin used to wear. But you can’t have everything. But who cares so long as it works. So how much would teenagers pay to be free of acne forever? According to a survey published in this month’s Archives of Dermatology , that was a real cool publication is ever there was one, the national average is $275. Obviously, the kids they asked in High School gave higher amounts if their acne was bad. Curiously, their parents averaged around $250 - just to get a little peace around the house. Well, the good news is that $275 buys you a truck load of acne’s treatment - more than enough to see off that acne, so buy some online today!