Parsteiner Blog

Archive for February, 2010

After having either a hip or knee replaced, getting the required amount of sleep in those first two to three weeks after the surgery can be a daunting process. You will find that you slept better when you were hospitalized then when you return home and the reasons are many.

One reason was that you were better medicated. medication schedules for the most part are better regulated then when you arrive home. Many patients will either postpone taking their medication for pain or forget altogether. You are less distracted at the hospital in regards to family and friends you find you will rest better in the hospital then when you arrive home.

Now there are cases however where this is not always a fact. It will depend on your experience at the hospital some of you may feel much better in your own bed. Something however will change when you get home causing the replacement to create more discomfort and in turn reduce your sleep.

I find the patient that has had a knee replaced will suffer more then the hip replacement patient as having the knee replaced is more painful. keeping the knee comfortable during the night is something that you have to work at. The knee will wake you up at night as it starts ache and you will develop muscle spasms once it has sat still for awhile. The trick here is when you wake up to start moving the knee as soon as possible and you will find the pain will relieve itself.

Here are several things you can do to help yourself get a good nights sleep after returning home after joint replacement surgery.

1. Be sure not to complete your last set of exercises right before going to be. I suggest you do your last exercise session roughly two hours before going to bed.

2. Be sure to take your pain medication before going to sleep. I found this to be helpful in my case and it will help relax you and begin to decrease the pain at the surgical site.

3. Keep your room cool and comfortable. Have found many patients that have tried to sleep with the room temperature higher then normal due to the fact they are not active and feel cold to begin with. Having a room temperature that is higher then normal will keep you uneasy and tossing and turning as well. Use a temperature that is comfortable to you.

4. Monitor you overall workload during the day. Many people when they get home begin to get involved in to much around the home. Remember these joint replacements will not let you know you have done too much until later that night and the next day. By over doing things around the home more exercises then has been prescribed or household chore will also cost you a good nights sleep.

After getting home and re-established, you will find your sleep patterns will begin to get back to normal within two weeks. The first two weeks will be hit and miss. this is something I have found of course that will vary from patient to patient. Sleeping will be a challenge when you first arrive home so try and prepare yourself accordingly.

There are at least three areas in which the assessment of patient risk should be considered, including risks associated with the surgery and/or anesthesia, psychological risks, and medical risks. Risks associated with the surgical procedure may include inadvertent perforation of the nasal sinus, local and systemic infection, and nerve injury. Before surgery a medical history should be taken to evaluate the history of the presenting problem and chief complaints. A review of the current status of the patient’s organ systems should be made. The dental implant risk today is much different than years ago. Implant Dentistry has dramatically changed and in now considered part of normal mainstream Dentistry. This was not the case two decades ago. An implant dentist used to be considered a quack by established dentists but things have dramatically changed. There have been many advances.

Studies Based On Hazards Of Dental Implant:

This study’s objective was to identify, in a statistically valid and efficient manner, the risk factors associated with dental implant failure. We hypothesize that factors exist which can be modified by clinicians to enhance outcome. A retrospective cohort study design was used. Cohort members had one implant placed. Risk factors were classified as demographic, health status, implant-, anatomic-, or prosthetic-specific, and reconstructive variables. The outcome variable was implant failure. The cohort was composed of 677 patients who had 2349 implants placed. Based on the adjusted multivariate model, factors associated with implant failure were tobacco use, implant length, staging, well size, and immediate implants (p 0.05). In the setting of correlated survival observations, we recommend adjusting for the correlation of the observations to provide statistically valid and efficient results. Three of the identified factors-tobacco use, immediate implants, and implant staging-potentially may be modified to enhance implant survival.

Surgical complications – in addition to the usual risks of a surgical procedure, implantation can cause infection of the gums or bone and can damage the roots of neighboring teeth, the nerves leading to the lip or the sinus cavity. Skilled dentists rarely encounter these complications, but you face significant risks in the hands of an inexperienced practitioner.

For some people, particularly persons with loose or poor fitting dentures due to flat ridges, or persons with multiple missing teeth who need support for crowns and bridges, implants may be considered a more appropriate alternative to fix the appearance of missing teeth than dentures. According to the American Academy of Implant helps in accomplish some of the problems like reduce movement of dentures, bridges, and/or crowns, facilitate proper chewing, provide support and improved stability for removable dentures or fixed bridge work, approximate the “feel” of natural teeth better than dentures, promote “denture self-confidence”, as speech and appearance are often improved.

Procedures must be followed very carefully to have a successful implant. The implant surgery is done in two stages. First the dentist will insert the titanium post into the jaw by drilling a hole and inserting the titanium post. He will open up the gum and then suture it closed when the implant is placed in the hole. The dentist now will wait three to six months to allow the jaw bone to heal and make sure that the implant is accepted by the bone. Failure can cause a lot of problems for the patient later on.

Some experts believe impotence affects between 10 and 15 million American men. In 1985, the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey counted 525,000 doctor office visits for erectile dysfunctions. Impotence usually has a physical cause : such as disease, injury or drug side effects.

Any disorder that impairs blood flow in the penis has the potential to cause impotence. Incidence rises with age: about 5 percent of men at the age of 40 and between 15 and 25 percent of men at the age of 65 experience impotence. However, it is not an inevitable part of aging. Medical treatment using generic Levitra, generic Viagra and generic Cialis are now FDA-approved oral prescription medications for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men. It is available in 2.5mg, 5mg, 10mg, and 20mg tablets. In clinical trials in the general ED population, medications improved erections for a majority of men. A lot of men who took generic Viagra, generic Cialis and generic Levitra were satisfied the first time they used it.

The Fact is Impotence is usually treatable in all age groups and awareness of this fact has been growing. More men have been seeking help and returning to near-normal sexual activity because of improved, successful treatments for impotence. Urologists, who specialize in problems of the urinary tract, have traditionally treated impotence – especially complications of impotence.

Generic Viagra contains Sildenafil Citrate enables many men with ED to respond to sexual stimulation. When a man is sexually aroused, the arteries in the penis relax and widen, allowing more blood to flow into the penis. With more blood flowing in and less flowing out, the penis enlarges, resulting in an erection. generic Cialis Soft Tabs are a faster acting Cialis solution. A generic cialis Soft Tab is an oral lozenge, mint in flavor, containing pure Tadalafil Citrate that is placed under your tongue and dissolved. This method allows for the medicine to enter your blood stream much faster than digesting a pill. For men who need to wait 60 or 90 minutes when taking generic Cialis in a pill form, you can now experience results in 15 minutes or less when using a Soft Tab.

Take generic viagra about 15 minutes to 20 minutes before you plan to have sex. generic Viagra can help you get an erection if you are sexually excited. If you take Generic Viagra after a high-fat meal (such as fish & chips, cheeseburger or French fries), the medicine may take a little longer to start working. generic Viagra can help you get an erection when you are sexually excited.

Most allergies produce only uncomfortable symptoms although some of them may cause death. People need to be very careful if they have allergies. There are some people that will experience great discomfort when they eat anything which have this delicious fruit in it, If have a pineapple allergy. A great fruit salad could be very tempting, but someone with a pineapple allergy could feel awful soon after eating that salad. A pineapple allergy appears soon after eating something made with pineapple, but the problem may not be seemed a real mystery at first.

Sometime it may be hard to imagine that something so good could produce such a reaction. A person with a pineapple allergy might have a bright red rash soon after eating a wonderful dish with this tropical fruit. There are some substances in the pineapple that makes some people sick. People with a pineapple allergy can sometime eat canned pineapple to avoid this reaction.

Outside their own homes they may be offered only fresh pineapple. To avoid an adverse reaction, many people with a pineapple allergy will have to avoid the fruit completely.

Those with a Pineapple Allergy Should Consult Physician

People suffer from allergies in many different ways. Some of these allergies can be deadly and so any one with allergies should consult their physician. If a person suspects that they have a pineapple allergy, they should go to the doctor and explain the circumstances of any bad episode. Allergy symptoms often appear suddenly after eating and sometime those who are affected do not come to know what triggered the problem exactly.

The food look great before they start eating it so sometimes it is hard to imagine what triggered some awful symptoms. A doctor will be able to administer a series of tests that can pinpoint the source of an illness. These tests will help to identify a pineapple allergy or a latex allergy.

With the information, a physician will be able to prescribe a course of action or medication. A physician may recommend that a person with a pineapple allergy to eliminate the food from their diet completely. The doctor may recommend a course of treatment for the person who has an adverse reaction.

Allergies can be very troublesome, but there are many medications and strategies that can provide relief for those who suffer. Any one with an allergy can rest assured that they will be able to conquer the allergies that affects them.

The term Sciatica is a purely descriptive term and not a diagnostic one. The classic example I see of this is when I treat patients who have been told by their Doctor they are suffering with sciatica. This tells us nothing. If the same person had been told they were suffering with low back pain, they would probably have thought something along the lines of “I knew that before I came in” yet if they are told it is sciatica it seems to be more accepted.

The Sciatic Nerve is formed by nerve roots which leave the lower back. As they leave the lower back, they merge together to form the Sciatic Nerve, which itself then passes through the buttock area and then down the back of the leg. Officially, the Sciatic Nerve finishes around the back of the knee, where it divides into different nerves. However, for ease of reference, the term sciatica is used to describe any pain which passes down the back of the leg as far as the toes.

Therefore, if you were to see someone and they diagnosed you with ‘sciatica’ all they are really saying is that you have pain in the region of your sciatic nerve. The important thing to try and establish is why you have sciatica, not just the fact that you do have sciatica.

One reason you may be suffering with sciatica, is because the nerve roots which form the sciatic nerve are being aggravated. This may be due to a few reasons, but typically it will be either a bulging disc or one of the joints of the low back pinching them. If either of these potential causes begin to inflame the sciatic nerve, you will perceive pain. This pain maybe felt in the low back itself, or anywhere along the length of the sciatic nerve i.e. in the buttock or down the leg.

Another potential aggravating factor for the sciatic nerve is in the buttock area, and in particular where the sciatic nerve passes underneath or through the Piriformis muscle (it varies form person to person). If this muscle is particularly tight it can aggravate the sciatic nerve. Once again, this irritation may be perceived in the buttock itself, where the nerve is being irritated, or anywhere along the length of the sciatic nerve.

The above 3 examples I have given as potential causes of sciatica are not exclusive. There are other possible causes as well. It is just I feel these are the 3 most common. In addition to this, it is important to realize that all 3 would demand a different treatment approach, as obviously the cause of the sciatica itself are different with each one.

Finally, ‘sciatica’ can also cause sensations such as numbness, pins & needles and weakness. If you are feeling any of these signs and symptoms, it is best to have things assessed by a health professional. The chances are it is nothing to worry about and just a typical symptom of the sciatica you are suffering with. However, it is always best to err on the side of caution.

Some nutritionists estimate that up to 75% of all people have undiagnosed food allergies. They may not be allergies in the way that we commonly think of them – that is, we may not sneeze or get a rash, or go into anaphylactic shock. But they are allergies all the same, if these foods provoke a negative immune response in the body. A good example is lactose intolerance – sometimes called a ‘milk allergy’. People with lactose intolerance cannot digest one of the sugars that milk contains, and milk is harmful to their bodies. They might get a stomach ache, or they might develop a problem with phlegm in the lungs, windpipe or throat. Many people have a similar allergy to wheat or other grains, or to certain vegetables.

But what does this have to do with weight loss? Studies show that food allergies are a leading cause of weight gain. When you eat foods that you are allergic to, they aren’t metabolized properly, and your body will hold onto the calories in these foods for longer, according to one theory. Also, some nutritionists feel that there is a correlation between your food allergies and the foods that you crave or binge on. Often, they are the same foods. In fact, if you eat the foods that you are allergic to, you can develop an addiction to them. Apparently, this is often the case with wheat and other carbohydrates. Apparently, there are some people who are addicted to carbohydrates and sugar – if they eat just a little bit of these foods, they will lose control, and start to eat more and more. To make matters worse, these foods are not metabolized properly by those people, so the natural result is weight gain.

In most cases like this, the underlying cause may be an allergy to wheat and other grains. If you decide to eliminate these foods entirely, it will initially be difficult – just as it’s difficult for a smoker to stop smoking, or for an alcoholic to stop drinking. Once you do it, though, you will be able to reap the benefits. You will lose your urge to binge on these and other foods, and the weight will come off much faster.

If you are trying to lose weight, therefore, it is well worth your while to find out what your food allergies are, if indeed you have any. A naturopath will be able to help you discover this information, often using a process called ‘vega testing’. This may be a little costly, but as more people are doing it, the cost is coming down. At the end of the the visit, the naturopath will give you a printout of the foods you should avoid. You may be dismayed to find that some of your ‘favorites’ are on the list – but if you are committed to your health and weight loss, give it a try. You may be surprised by how little you actually miss the foods you are allergic to once they are gone from your diet altogether.

Some people are skeptical about this process and about the whole notion that so many people are allergic to common foods. Why would so many people have this disorder? It may seem strange – even counter-intuitive. Think about the great variety of foods we eat today, though. In the past, people generally stayed in the same part of the world in which they were born, and they ate the food that was indigenous to that region. Nowadays, that’s all but impossible. For one thing, people move around a lot more. Also, food doesn’t come from the region you live in – it comes from everywhere. Every food is available to everyone all the time, and that’s very different from what it was like in the past. Therefore, there’s a much greater potential for food allergies, because there are probably foods that you eat that your ancestors never would have seen. As a result, you may not have the necessary enzymes to digest them.

You could, of course, try to eat as your ancestors did. For many of us, though our ancestors came from a variety of places, and there’s no telling which set of genetics were passed on to us. Allergy testing, on the other hand, is individual, and may well give you the answers you need.