About the connection between headaches and hormones

In a given year, 18 out of 100 women age 12 and older experience at least one migraine headache, a misfortune that strikes only 6 pecent to 7 percent of men. What’s behind the difference? The answer, in a word, is hormones, but the explanation is far from complete.

The role of hormones

Many factors contribute to headaches for both men and women, including family history and age. Women, however, often notice a relationship between headaches and hormonal changes. Headaches often begin around the time of a girl’s first period and accompany menstruation regularly throughout the reproductive years. Birth control pills and hormone therapy also can trigger headaches. During pregnancy, headaches often become less bothersome. The simple explanation? The hormones estrogen and progesterone — which play key roles in regulating the menstrual cycle and pregnancy — may affect headache-related chemicals in the brain as well. Higher estrogen levels may improve headaches, while lower estrogen levels can make headaches worse. Read the rest »

About cytochrome P450 genotyping test

The cytochrome P450 genotyping test (CYP450 test) predicts how your body will process (metabolize) certain antidepressants. The CYP450 test is one of the newer entries in the emerging field of pharmacogenomics, or personalized medicine.

Before the CYP450 test, doctors had little way of knowing how you would respond to a particular antidepressant — whether you would develop troubling side effects, for instance, or whether the medication would even be of benefit. By analyzing how specific genes in your liver break down medications, the CYP450 test may remove some of the guesswork.

The CYP450 test isn’t yet widely available. But as genotyping tests such as CYP450 become more well-known, they may offer better options for the treatment of depression. Read the rest »

About 5 ways to reduce cholesterol

1. Lose excess pounds

Carrying some extra pounds — even just a few — contributes to high cholesterol. So losing as little as 5 to 10 pounds (2.3 to 4.6 kilograms) can help reduce cholesterol levels.

Start by taking an honest look at your eating habits and daily routine. Consider your challenges to weight loss — and ways to overcome them.

If you eat when you’re bored or frustrated, take a walk instead. If you pick up fast food for lunch every day, pack something healthier from home. If you’re sitting in front of the television, try munching on carrot sticks instead of potato chips as you watch. And, look for ways to incorporate more activity into your daily routine, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Remember that adding physical activity, even in 10-minute intervals several times a day, can help you begin to lose weight. Just be sure that you can keep up the changes you decide to make. Take stock of what you currently eat and your physical activity level, and slowly work changes in. Read the rest »

Normal Weight – Healthy Weight

Despite appearances to the contrary, more than half of normal-weight Americans have a high percentage of body fat. And, like their overweight contemporaries, this makes them susceptible to heart disease, diabetes and other metabolic disorders, a new study says.

Men whose body fat is greater than 20 percent and women whose body fat is greater than 30 percent are suffering from “normal weight obesity,” Read the rest »

Allergy Immunotherapy Helps Control Asthma

Oral allergy immunotherapy — in the form of drops or tablets — is effective at reducing asthma symptoms and the need for asthma medications in children who have what’s known as allergic asthma, a new study finds.

The findings bolster hopes that these oral medications might someday replace injections, never a hit with kids.

Commonly known as allergy shots in the United States, allergy immunotherapy works in a manner similar to vaccines — essentially re-educating the body’s immune system so that it doesn’t overreact to harmless substances such as pollen or dust mites. While this therapy can be effective, it’s currently only available via injections in the United States, and usually involves at least one to two shots a week for three to six months, making it a less-than-popular alternative with children.

Oral immunotherapy is available in Europe, but has yet to gain Food and Drug Administration approval in the United States.

The new study reviewed nine studies that looked at the use of so-called sublingual (oral) immunotherapy in children with asthma. A total of 441 kids between the ages of 3 and 18 who had been diagnosed with allergic asthma were included in the studies. Allergic asthma means that asthma symptoms can be triggered by exposure to an allergen, such as dust mites, pollen or mold.

Two hundred and thirty-two children received oral immunotherapy and the remaining 209 got a placebo.

The dosing schedule varied depending on the study and whether drops or tablets were used. Canonica said that during the maintenance phase of immunotherapy, drops or tablets were given three times a week. The average duration of the studies was 12 months. The most common allergen treated was dust mites. Grass mix and pollen were also included in one study each.

The researchers found that those taking sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) had significantly fewer symptoms and needed to take less asthma medication. Not enough of the studies included measurements of lung function for the new study to assess whether SLIT affects lung function significantly.

Additionally, SLIT appeared to be better tolerated than allergy shots. The chances of a severe reaction are less with oral immunotherapy than with the injected type, according to an allergist/immunologist at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.