Blood Pressure Treatment Through Vaccine-How it works

How much better would life be for a hypertensive person if you could simply have a vaccination for high blood pressure and do away with the nuisance of your daily tablets?

In a trial which was carried out earlier this year a group of 72 people (65 men and 7 women with an average age of 51 years 6 months) who were suffering from mild or moderate hypertension were injected with a low dose (100 micrograms) vaccine, a high dose (300 micrograms) vaccine or a placebo. This process was then repeated after four weeks and at the end of three months.

Two weeks after the final injection it was found that the people given the high dose vaccine were showing a fall in excess of 5 mm Hg in their systolic blood pressure and nearly 3 mm Hg in their diastolic blood pressure.

Possible more significant, it was also found that the usual, and possibly dangerous, spike in blood pressure that happens in the early morning between 5 am and 8 am was also down considerably by 25 mm Hg systolic and 13 mm Hg diastolic.

The trial patients all tolerated the vaccine without problem and there were no safety issues during the trial.

The trial vaccine, which is called CYT006-ANgQb, is designed to work in the same way as the existing drugs and so may clearly be an alternative for those people whose high blood pressure is now controlled using ACE inhibitors or AT-2 receptor blockers.

So what about those people whose blood pressure is currently being controlled with the alternatives of beta blockers (such as Sectral, Kerlone, Blocadren, Ziac, Tenormin, Toprol XL, Betapace, Lopressor and Zebeta) or calcium channel blockers (such as Norvasc, Cardizem, Calan, Sular, Tiazac, Vascor, Lotrel, Adalat, Procardia and Verelan)?

Of course, it is early days yet and further trials will be necessary before we see a vaccine in everyday use for the treatment of high blood pressure. However, if the researchers are correct, it seems likely that this vaccine is going to be effective for a lot of sufferers, whatever the treatment currently being given.

Naturally time will tell, but this is clearly an extremely encouraging development.

Tea is a widely consumed beverage across the world. It is an integral part of everyday societal life.  Not only is tea a nature’s wonder herb, but a stimulant, too. Of late, this herb has been receiving a lot of attention from the media. Tea has existed since centuries in countries like China, Japan, India and Sri Lanka. Its potentiality in promoting health has received world-wide attention.People across the globe are turning to this ancient herb to re-discover its magical benefits. This herb contains protective, anti-oxidant and revitalizing properties. Today it is cultivated across the world especially in tropical and subtropical regions

Latin name – Camellia sinensis
Sanskrit Name – Shyamparni/Chaha

The degree of processing of this plant determines whether the tea would be green, black or red variety.

• Green Tea: It is the least processed amongst all the available varieties of teas. It is simply steamed quickly before packaging.
• Black Tea: It is partially dried, crushed and fermented.
• Red Tea: It is similar to the black tea wherein partial drying, crushing and fermentation processes are carried out.

But the most popular varieties as are:

a) Black Tea
b) Green Tea

The major constituents of tea that contributes in establishing its distinctive identity as a beverage include caffeine, Poly-phenols and essential oil, theanine (an amino acid unique to tea), vitamins, minerals, and methyl-xanthines. Pantothenic acid and riboflavin are active principles present in its leaves. Kaempferol and Quercetin are active principles present in the fresh leaves and green tea. It contains fluoride essential for strong teeth. and contains half the amount of caffeine found in an equally-sized cup of coffee. It is devoid of calories – which is Good News for Health Conscious individuals!!!

Recent research has depicted anti-oxidant properties (i.e. cancer fighting properties) in the herb-especially Green Tea. Extensive clinical research studies have been conducted to establish its efficacy.

Benefits of Drinking Herbal Tea:

• As a beverage and a stimulant
• Helps to fight against mutagenic agents i.e it contains anti-oxidant properties that prevents cancer.
• Helps to curb high blood pressure
• Prevents viral and bacterial infections in individuals
• Helps in delaying ageing process in individuals  
• Helps in improving and regulating the functions of the digestive and excretory systems.
• Helps to prevent occurrence of blood clots
• Helps in lowering cholesterol levels
• Helps in neutralization of enzymes that aid in the growth of tumors
• Helps to stimulate the immune system of an individual

Today, as part of this series, we present a recipe on how to prepare Herbal Tea from Chamomile herb which has been described below:

Chamomile Herbal Tea

Ingredients
1 ounce chamomile (Babunphool/Babuna)
2/3 ounce peppermint
1 ounce caraway seeds (Aniseed/Saunf)
2/3 ounce angelica (Babhool)

Use 1 teaspoon of the mixture per cup of hot water. Steep this mixture 10 minutes and strain.

Caution:  Never give an infant or young child a medicinal tea with peppermint in it. The menthol in the peppermint could have a reverse reaction.

Uses:

• For Gastric complaints
• For digestive disorders
• As a beverage and stimulant
• As an energizer

Dr Sameer Sippy

Latin Name – Momordica charantia
Sanskrit Name – Karvellaka
English name – Bitter Gourd

Amongst the several home remedies that are used in controlling diabetes, one of the most important ingredients that are widely used is bitter gourd. Its active principle is called as plant-insulin possessing hypoglycaemic or insulin-like properties. Charantin another active principle helps in reducing the sugar levels of both-blood and urine.

Bitter gourd should be liberally included in the diet of the diabetic. For reducing high sugar levels in the diabetics and subsequently leading a healthy lifestyle, Momordica charantia (Karvellaka) should be used in the following ways:

• Consuming bitter gourd juice about four or five in number on an empty stomach every morning
• The seeds can be added to food in a powdered form
• Preparing a decoction by boiling the pieces of this fruit in water
• By drying the fruit totally under the sunlight, crushing it and consuming it in the form of dry powder. To consume this powder, lukewarm water is used as Anupana (vehicle)
• Having bitter gourd cooked in original cow’s ghee for a period of three months will bring the diabetes down by a significant amount
• It can be cooked, boiled, sautéed or baked and eaten as a vegetable.

Try out this mouth-watering Indian dish prepared with bitter gourd as a chief ingredient given below

BITTER GOURD FRY OR STUFFED KARELAS (Andhra Style)

Ingredients

10 bitter gourds, ½cup ground nut (peeled & crushed);
6 dry red chillies; salt to taste & for boiling;
1½ teaspoon sour curds
1 tsp lemon juice;
2 tsp cumin seeds;
5 garlic pods
3 to 4 tbsp oil to fry
1 pinch turmeric

Method: 

• After washing bitter gourds, slit them from both sides. Boil them 1½ teaspoon with sour curds adding with ½ sp salt, lemon juice & turmeric for 5 minutes.
• Allow to cool, strain water & keep aside.
• Grind onion. Red chillies, ground nuts, salt, coconut powder, garlic coarsely. Fry it in oil till it gets fine aromatic flavour. Remove from the oil and squeeze bitter gourds & remove extra water.  
• Stuff the spices in each bitter gourd evenly. Place all stuffed bitter gourds in the same oil and fry them on low heat to golden crispy brown.
• Turn bitter gourds gently without splitting the spices. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice.

Dr Sameer

In the 1950s, cardiologist Leonard Cobb wanted to study the effectiveness of mammary arterial ligation (tying two arteries to increase blood flow to the heart), a procedure then commonly used to treat chest pain. Cobb performed the surgery for some patients; for others he just made a cut in the chest and bandaged them up again, though patients believed they had had the surgery.

The two groups healed at the same rate, and 90% of both groups said the procedure helped them.

This is the placebo effect: if you expect a drug, or surgery, or therapy to make you feel better, it probably will. The placebo effect is not imaginary: the improvements people feel are very real, though the effects are due to the power of the mind rather than the therapeutic effects of the treatment.

Today, it is routine practice in clinical trials to test how well any treatment works compared to a placebo. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) fails in this. Much of their ‘effectiveness’ is due to the placebo effect. That is why scientifically-trained doctors, who look to clinical trials for proof of effectiveness, routinely dismiss alternative medicines, even though people swear it works.

But, as Cobb’s experiment showed, even conventional medicine often works due to the placebo effect. CAM practitioners can also claim you should not mind how it works so long as it does.

But this does not really satisfy: if you know what you are receiving is a placebo, it will not work for you. And some medical treatments are really much more effective than placebos. Till we find a scientific cure for everything, quacks (and doctors) will continue to use placebos and get results too.

But most quacks will get less results than most doctors. Don’t you hate the uncertainty? But that is how science works. And the placebo effect still cannot cure AIDS or set a broken bone.

Susan Vinodh Pandian

Some more on placebos:

1. The power of the placebo

2. Is homeopathy better than a placebo?

3. Thrill-seekers are more sensitive to the placebo effect

4. Acupuncture fertility treatment is no better than a placebo

Sometimes it is, but not always. And sometimes,  we simply don’t know.
Some kinds of alternative medicine have been proven effective in controlled studies. Acupuncture helps relive pain. Yoga, art therapy and aromatherapy are good for stress. Ginger can reduce nausea, and turmeric fights infections. Others, like therapeutic touch, seem to be harmless.

Some seem to be harmful, and for others the evidence is mixed or simply hard to find. Colon cleansing as a detoxification and weight loss procedure can cause dehydration. Ayurvedic medicines sometimes heal, but they can contain harmful heavy metals, and because the manufacturing is not standardized, the amount of the effective substance can vary from batch to batch of the same medicine. So they are not always safe, and they may have side effects too (in fact, anything when taken in excess has ’side effects’, or harms the body, even water).

Many alternative medicines are not proven. This is important to remember if you are thinking of taking alternative or complementary treatment for something serious like cancer or AIDS. There are conventional treatments that have been proven to cure or improve the prognosis for these illnesses, even though they make you feel worse in the short term.

On the other hand, if you go for alternative treatments, you may not have to deal with going bald or severe nausea, but you are choosing to trust the unknown. No alternative/complementary treatment has been proven to cure serious diseases, and if you reject conventional treatment altogether you may be seriously risking your health.  Some people use alternative medicines as an adjunct to conventional treatment, but it is best to be open about this with your doctor because herbal medicines change the way other medicines work.

You need to investigate alternative medicines, just as you investigate conventional medicines. Nothing is totally safe.

Susan Vinodh Pandian

Read some more about alternative and conventional medicine:

1. About alternative and complementary medicines

2. Alternative medicine health news

3.  Debate on complementary medicine misleads patients

4. Is homeopathy a sham?

Many people swear by herbal supplements, and there is this idea that these supplements have no side effects. Often they are useful, but you need to be careful:

For one, anything if taken in excess can harm your body. In other words, it’s poisonous. Even ayurvedic and ‘herbal’ medicine and supplements. They are not standardised the way ‘western’ medicine is, and every batch of a medicine may contain different amounts of the effective substance. They also tend to contain heavy metals. So you should not overdose on herbal supplements, thinking it cannot harm you.

Two, if you have a serious illness – AIDS, hepatitis, cancer, kidney disease – your best bet is still  regular medicine. Many people in India distrust public hospitals and find private treatment too expensive, and so go to alternative medicine doctors, and some people really believe herbal treatment can cure them. But ‘western’ medicine is still the best we have for these diseases and many other problems (fractures, transplants, ).

You can use herbal treatment alongside regular treatment, but you should never forego regular treatment, especially for a serious disease.

Read more about herbal medicine here:

1. Information about herbal medicine

2. Herbal beauty oils

3. Herbal menopause remedy debunked

4. Herbal medicine factory closes after its drug  causes death

One of Nature’s powerful anti-oxidants immune system boosters, and anti-aging hormones, MELATONIN-a natural substance-has been researched to be safe and free from serious side effects. Not a prescription drug, it is inexpensive and available in most health food stores. The latest medical findings point out the many possibilities in using this amazing hormone:

• Slow down the aging process
• Improve sleep
• Boost our natural defenses against carcinogens, stress and other external toxins
• Relieve depression and other mood disorders

Inhibit the development of cancer and act as an effective cancer treatment

• Reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke
  Stem the progress of Alzheimer’s disease

Yuvraj Singh credits knee surgery success to Dr Jatin Choudhary an expert in alternative therapy.

Smashing a remarkable century on his return from a serious knee injury was not something Yuvraj Singh even dreamt was possible. Back in October 2007 doctors had told him that surgery was his only option when he injured his knee during a warm-up session in Australia,  and that would’ve meant missing at least five months of international cricket.

Jatin Chowdhary understands a sportsperson’s compulsions and so advises alternate forms of treatment – a combination of physiotherapy, osteopathy that uses massage and bone manipulation and the ingham method, or reflexology, that is used to relax tension and improve nerves and blood supply.

Dr Jatin Choudhary said that , “A ligament that was missing started to reappear after 10 days of treatment.”

Dr Choudhary explains that “Physiotherapy helps in killing pain and muscle strengthening and the Ingham method searches out points through pulse. We locate points for Diseased parts are located and stimulate that part through needles, lazer, moksha and stimulators.”
For cricketer Yuvraj Singh, Dr Jatin is nothing less than a ‘miracle doctor’ having treated his career-threatening knee injury.

And that’s why he recommended the doctor to Sachin Tendulkar and tennis player Sania Mirza, who have also been treated by the Delhi-based doctor for sports injuries.

Stress Relief Through Alternative Medicine
 

According to some health professionals alternative therapies/alternative medicine used with the approval of your doctor may help ease restless legs syndrome(RLS).

Food Therapy

Medical studies advice people with restless legs to increase their intakes of folate which is found in dark green leafy vegetables says a New Jersey nutritional medicine specialist.

Massage Therapy

Place the palm  of your left hand on the largest part of your right calf. Your fingers should point toward your heel. Squeeze the muscle gently several times and gently release it. Repeat this for about five minutes and switch to your left calf and massage with your right hand.

Juice Therapy

A daily diet of asparagus or spinach juice which are rich in nutrient folate would keep your legs still at night, Calborn a certified nutritionist from Washington recommends mixing folate rich juices with equal amount of carrot juice and drinking the blend daily.
 Cure for restless leg syndrome

Transcendental Meditation techniques may reduce ADHD

A promising new study published in a reputed online journal states that the Transcendental Meditation technique may be an effective and safe non-pharmaceutical aid for treating ADHD among students.

A sample group of middle school students with ADHD who were meditating twice a day in school were taken for the study and after three months, researchers found that over 50 percent reduction in stress and anxiety and improvements in ADHD symptoms.

Significant improvements after transcendental meditation

Sarina J. Grosswald, Ed.D., a George Washington University-trained cognitive learning specialist and lead researcher on the study said that “The children showed significant improvements in attention, working memory, organization, and behavior regulation after the in-school meditation routine began. Grosswald said that “teachers reported they were able to teach more, and students were able to learn more because they were less stressed and anxious.”

Transcendental meditation techniques reduces stress

Prior research shows ADHD children have slower brain development and a reduced ability to cope with stress. “Stress interferes with the ability to learn and it shuts down the brain,” said William a clinical neuropsychologist and co-author of the study. So it stands to reason that the TM technique which reduces stress and organizes brain function would reduce ADHD symptoms.

A $2 million grant from the David Lynch Foundation (DavidLynchFoundation.org), will facilitate a third TM-ADHD study that would fully investigate the effects of the technique on ADHD and other learning disorders.
 Benefits of meditation/meditation therapy

Shaking legs or restless leg syndrome (RLS) can be cured with proper evaluation, diagnosis and treatment says Dr Sunil Sharma, Indian-origin director, Sleep Medicine Research, University of South Carolina.

What is shaking leg syndrome or RLS?

RLS (restless legs syndrome) or the shaking legs syndrome is a real medical condition that can cause pain, frustration and exhaustion. It affects up to10% of the world population.

RLS results in an irresistible urge to move the legs, which is often accompanied by unusual or unpleasant sensations in the legs that may be described as crawly, creeping, tugging, or pulling. RLS can severely disrupt sleep and reduce quality of life because it most often occurs in the evening,

What causes RLS?

Researchers believe that RLS is likely to have different causes that may overlap. We do know that while RLS often runs in families, it also sometimes appears as the result of another condition.

A substantial number of women develop RLS during pregnancy. In addition, peripheral neuropathy, anemia, low iron levels, ends stage renal disease with dialysis, folic acid deficiency are all associated with RLS. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) may also be associated with RLS.

What are the Symptoms?

You have a strong urge to move your legs, which you may not be able to resist. The need to move is often accompanied by uncomfortable sensations. Some words used to describe these sensations include: creeping, itching, pulling, creepy-crawly, tugging, or gnawing. Your RLS symptoms start or become worse when you are resting. The longer you are resting, the greater the chance the symptoms will occur and the more severe they are likely to be. Your RLS symptoms get better when you move your legs. The relief can be complete or only partial but generally starts very soon after starting an activity.

Relief persists as long as the motor activity continues. Your RLS symptoms are worse in the evening especially when you are lying down. Activities that bother you at night do not bother you during the day.

What treatments are available?

There are many non-pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical therapies that help ease RLS symptoms. In addition to the four common drug classes that offer help for RLS, (dopaminergic agents, sedatives, anticonvulsants, and pain relievers), Benzodiazines are found very effective,

Other options available are as follows

You and your doctor can:

• Check for a vitamin or iron deficiency.

• Find an exercise schedule and physical activities that help you deal with RLS.

• Find activities to keep your mind

• Engaged when RLS presents itself.

• Discuss eliminating alcohol and

• Caffeine from your diet.

• Look at your diet to assure it is healthy and balanced.

• Identify habits and activities that worsen your RLS symptoms.

• Implement a program of good sleep habits.

• Dr Sunil Sharma’s advice to RLS patients is to improve sleep schedule and reduce the intake of alcohol, caffeine and tobacco, besides medication.

• A cold compress and massage of the affected parts can also help ease the painful sensation.

• For those seeking help, the US-based Restless Leg Syndrome Foundation offers online advice.

With proper evaluation, diagnosis and treatment, RLS can be cured.

Utilizing our sense of smell aptly and ably can have a profound impact on our physical and emotional state. Aromatherapy for stress relief has achieved ever-growing popularity because of this reason.

Aromatherapy for stress relief is a holistic therapy that involves the use of natural essential oils in promoting physical and emotional well-being. Such essential oils derived from natural plants has a calming effect on the central nervous system. Often aromatherapy is used in conjunction with other holistic practices such as acupuncture or therapeutic massage during which the essential oils are either massaged into the skin are placed under the nose for maximum effect.

Using aromatherapy for stress relief is quite common in spas across the world. But it is also offered through holistic professionals who practice aromatherapy in combination with other techniques or by itself. As more and more people find relief through non-traditional approaches such as aromatherapy for stress relief, western medicine has had to sit up and take notice, conceding that such practices may in fact do quite a bit of good in lowering blood pressure and easing depression.

Some of the more commonly used essential oils in aromatherapy for stress relief include sandalwood, lavender, jasmine, rose, and eucalyptus.

Physical and emotional responses to stress vary from person to person; and successful methods for eradicating that stress vary as well. While one person may find relief in a good workout at the gym, another may need a more “hands-on” approach. Aromatherapy for stress relief can be a wonderful way to take a break from the craziness of life and spend a few moments alone; often that is enough to release stress and keep it at bay.