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Kidney stones affect more than 1 million people each year according to The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Much research has been done to evaluate the different options for treatment of this condition. The effect that it has on the lives of millions of people has led to improvements in the non-invasive treatment methods available.

Today, kidney stones are often treated without surgical intervention. Either the practitioner or nephrologist (kidney specialist), will check several factors to determine the best method of treatment. One of those tests is the chemical composition of the urine. They will recommend a 24 hour urine collection to evaluate the chemical make up of the urine. This helps for immediate treatment and recommendations for diet and fluid intake to stop the formation of future stones.

Often the kidney stone is small enough to pass on its own at home. Drinking 2 to 3 quarts of water a day the individual stays home taking pain medication and strains the urine to catch the stone. The practitioner will evaluate the stone to assess the need for diet or fluid changes to prevent further development of stones.

Another treatment for kidney stones is the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). This is a procedure that uses shock waves outside of the body to smash the stones into tiny pieces that pass easily from the body through the bladder. This treatment is usually used for smaller stones in conjunction with an x-ray or ultrasound. It is performed on an outpatient basis and the side effects are minimal.

Another treatment is the percutaneous nephrolithotomy. This is more invasive and intended to treat larger kidney stones. The urologist will make an incision in the back and insert an instrument to remove the stone. In cases where the instrument can’t remove the stone because of the size the surgeon breaks the stone into smaller pieces. This isn’t an outpatient procedure and patients remain in the hospital for a couple of days following the procedure.

A ureteroscopy is performed when the stone is in the ureter. The urologist places an instrument through the bladder and into the ureter. They can then remove the stone with an instrument that resembles a cage or use an ultrasound shock wave to crush the stone.

Once the stone has been removed and the individual is no longer in pain the practitioner may recommend such lifestyle changes as drinking more water to prevent the stones from forming. Individuals should drink at least 2 quarts of water each day. That means 8 – 8oz glasses of water each day. This is the standard amount of water that each individual should be drinking to maintain good health.

In the past those who commonly developed calcium stones were advised not to eat dairy products. But, recent research has indicated that eating dairy products may help prevent the development of stones while taking a calcium supplement may increase the risk of developing stones.

Those who develop cystine stones should drink enough water each day to dilute the concentration of cystine in the urine. These individuals need more than a gallon of water each 24 hours and at least a 1/3 of that must be drunk at night.

There are also medical therapies used to prevent the formation of certain types of kidney stones. These medicines control the amount of acid or alkali in the urine. Allopurinol in one medication that is useful for hyperuricosuria. If the cystine stones can’t be controlled by fluids the practitioner may prescribe Thiola and Cuprimine which help reduce the amount of cystine in the urine.

Tags: extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, extracorporeal shock wave, percutaneous nephrolithotomy, kidney stone, kidney stones



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photo credit: moonsheep

Pregnancy and childbirth are wonderful events that leave a lasting impression in the life the mother and father. And the mother often has an extra gift after the birth of her child. The changes in her body that were so welcome as the baby was growing and developing have now left changes to hips, feet, breasts and belly that can take up to one year return to pre-pregnancy status.

And even at one year there is the chance that the pelvis will continue to be just a bit wider, feet just a bit wider and breasts just a bit larger. But the physical change that most women struggle with is their belly after child birth.

It took nine months to stretch the skin, muscle and connective tissue so that baby could grow to 5-7 pounds in weight, plus a 2 pound placenta and the extra fat and blood needed to supply nutrients to the infant.

Now mom is faced with a belly that jiggles and moves all on its own! But relax – the stomach you see immediately after childbirth isn’t the belly that you’ll be enjoying in just a few short months.

In fact it will only be a week or two and you’ll notice a large change. Although not the belly you had pre-pregnancy it will start to regain some tone and the jiggle and wiggle will be decreasing gradually.

Many women never regain the tight abs they had before getting pregnant, especially if a first pregnancy happens in the 30’s or if you are contemplating your navel after your third or fourth birth. But with time, patience and a bit of work you can achieve and enjoy a belly after child birth that anyone would be proud to show off.

And the work is simple, doesn’t require lots of heart pounding sweating miles running on the roads or even lifting Olympian type weights at the gym. Rather you can achieve a pre-pregnancy belly using simple equipment at home in just minutes each day. And those minutes will also help you to achieve a healthier lifestyle and have more energy to deal with your new infant each day.

After your six week appointment with your obstetrician they will probably release you to do light exercise and workouts. Ask when you’ll be able to exercise your abdominal muscles.

Your best option, at least when your baby is young, is to use an exercise ball or Swiss ball, at home. These are the large blow up balls that are available in department stores. An exercise ball that fits you appropriately should let you place your feet on the ground with your knees at 90 degrees or less. You can use the ball to help improve your core abdominal strength just by bouncing and moving around on the ball.

Another option to use, (that can be done throughout the day), are both abdominal muscle tightening and/or kegel exercises. While sitting in the car, rocking the baby or watching television you can employ both of these options to improve the muscle tone in the stomach.

While these exercises will help to tone the belly and improve the strength of the muscles they won’t help to decrease the fat over the belly. Spot toning will happen but spot weight loss will not. To get those great new abs visible you’ll also have to lose some of the extra weight from the pregnancy.

Tags: belly, pregnancy and childbirth, pregnancy belly



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photo credit: isforinsects

Many people dislike many things. We are all individuals, after all. Some of us hate spiders, dogs, and heights, among other things, and avoid them at all costs.

Does this mean that they have a specific phobia?

The answer is, probably not, depending on the extent of their aversion to dogs, heights, or whatever bothers them. A phobia is a much more serious condition than a simple fear and can be debilitating in some cases.

Doctors do not understand everything about phobias at this point in time, but physicians agree that a phobia is an irrational fear of an object or situation. A fear is determined to be irrational when the reaction to the threat is much greater than the situation requires. In addition, phobias are usually accompanied by other disorders, most commonly panic attacks or obsessive compulsive disorder.

The seriousness of a phobic reaction would be treating a non-threatening thing like a life and death situation. In people who are afraid of snakes, they fear every snake as if it were a cobra, or other snake that would or could kill them. Many times people with phobias are paralyzed by their fear, or they have a panic attack.

Some phobias are relatively harmless. They start as being nervous about something, but a small incident can almost escalate it to a phobia level. One of the most common dislikes is the fear of public speaking, which if the person is placed into the situation of absolutely having to give a speech for example, and they become embarrassed by being unable to do it, it can become a social phobia and lead to a panic attack when faced with any similar situation.

Panic attacks are a physical response by the body that is characterized by some or all of the following symptoms: increased heart rate, shaking, shortness of breath, being lightheaded, fear of dying, nausea, or feeling of choking. Like phobias, panic attacks are an irrational disorder, and is an over reaction to a series of thoughts or an outside stimulus. Panic attacks can even happen because a person begins to worry about having a panic attack.

I experienced this personally as a teenager who was timid of giving a speech, or even standing up at a social function and saying a few words. It probably originated at school in my P2 class when we had to stand and either spell something or give the answer to a small mental math question. I was crap at maths at that age, and for a long time struggled with learning addition and substraction. Unfortunately that meant a caning across the hand for getting it wrong every time.

It was an inter club juniors golf club competition that brought it out. I had difficulty winning a match that I should have had no difficulty with, and then I was told it was my turn to say a few words to the opposing team at the dinner afterwards. I stood up, choked on the third word which came out strangled, everything faded and I had to sit down in embarrassment. For about a year afterwards I had the same type of panic attack even trying to answer a question in class from a sitting position. I had developed a temporary public speaking phobia.

Panic attacks can be triggered when someone has an extreme anxiety about something, and are worse in people who have anxiety disorders, such as obsessive compulsive disorder. In people with obsessive compulsive disorder, a minor worry or irritation can quickly progress into a full blow panic attack. The irrationality of these disorders fuels a response that is not proportionate to their thoughts or outside stimuli.

A panic attack essentially causes the body to enter into a fight or flight response without just cause. The fight or flight response is a way psychologists describe the body’s reaction to extremely stressful situations, and attribute prehistoric man’s survival to this natural response. The classic example is what your body would do if you were walking down the street and were suddenly uncomfortably close to a hungry bear.

The instant your brain processed the situation a large quantity of adrenaline would be dumped into your bloodstream. Adrenaline speeds your heart rate, causes your pupils to dilate, and enables your body to fight or run like never before. Adrenaline temporarily makes a person more athletic, allowing them to escape dangerous situations.

Panic attacks can be very frightening for people because they have a panic attack for no apparent reason or in response to something that poses little or no threat. For someone with a phobia, the sight of a flower or small spider can be as scary as a bear, and their body prepares to deal with the presence of their phobia like it is absolutely life-threatening.

A common one is a dislike of needles which can become a needle phobia, but the most common you will see is a spider phobia, a height phobia, and an unproportionate fear of mice.

A phobic reaction is a major overreaction to something most people would consider ordinary. Spiders and snakes are not usually welcome, but most people do not consider the presence of a small creature to be a crisis situation. A panic attack is also not a normal response. Phobias are very serious and should be dealt with if they begin to impact on the quality of your life.


Tags: phobia, phobias, specific phobia, social phobia, needle phobia, spider phobia, public speaking phobia



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