Chronic Stuffy Nose: Fungus May Be the Culprit

Chronic sinus infections associated with nasal polyps are incurable because doctors didn't have the foggiest idea what causes them. Nasal polyps are small finger-like, fluid-filled blisters, often associated with asthma and serious reactions to aspirin. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic found fungi in 96 percent of people with chronic sinusitis.

Allergy shots and antihistamines have never been shown to control the combination of chronic stuffy noses, nasal polyps, and sinus infections that do not vary throughout the season. Doctors treat this condition with cortisones that suppress the nasal discharge, headaches, and stuffy nose a little bit, but never cure the patient and may even set the patient up for a worsening of symptoms as the years pass.

The most common fungi are alternaria, penicillium, cladosporium, aspergillus, candida and fusarium. A sinus cat scan will tell whether a person has a sinus infection. If the cat scan shows fluid levels indicating a sinus infection, the doctor should order a fungus culture of the nose. If the culture is positive for fungi, the doctor should consider treatment with antifungal medication, even though there are no good studies to show the fungal medicines cure sinusitis, because the present treatment of cortisones works only in the short run, and shortens life by causing osteoporosis, high blood pressure and obesity. If the fungus infection is positive, the person should be treated with the appropriate anti-fungal medication such as Sporanox, Lamisil or Diflucan.

If your nose is stuffy during the pollen seasons in the spring and fall, check with an allergist. Allergy injections can help control your symptoms. If your stuffy nose started after puberty, you don't have allergies and your nose is stuffy 12 months a year, allergy injections usually are ineffective. Antihistamines and decongestant pills help to control your symptoms a little. Cortisone-type pills are highly effective but have side effects, such as obesity and osteoporosis. Cortisone-type nasal sprays are safer than the pills. Doctors are continuously searching for better ways to treat people with chronically stuffy and running noses.

Your nose is supposed to clean, heat and moisturize the air that you breathe. The inside of your nose is covered with a sticky mucous that traps dirt, pollen, mold and other pollutants and prevents them from reaching your lungs. Inside of each nostril are large ridges called turbinates that have large blood vessels in them. When the inner lining of one side of your nose fills up with pollutants, the blood vessels inside the turbinates enlarge and swell the turbinates so they stop air from entering that side of your nose and force you to breathe through the other side of your nose. Then small hairs called cilia in the lining of your nose sweep the mucous and filth toward your mouth where you swallow them and they pass from your body.

It is normal for you to breathe through one side of your nose and then the other. It is abnormal for the turbinates on both sides to swell at the same time and cause a stuffy nose. If your nose is stuffy in the spring and fall, you probably have an allergy and need allergy tests. If you have thick yellow or green mucous, you probably have an infection and need a culture and antibiotics. If you are exposed to irritants such as hair spray or smoke, that is probably the cause, and if your stuffiness is worse in the winter, the cause is probably breathing dry, cold air. If no cause is found, your doctor usually diagnoses vasomotor rhinitis which means that he doesn't have the foggiest idea what's causing your stuffiness and the only relatively safe and effective treatment offered today is daily use of a cortisone nasal spray such as Vancenase, Beconase or Rhinocort. More on stuffy nose, nasal polyps and fungus infections, plus journal references

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Heart Attack Risk: What The Tests Tell You

If you want to learn your chances of suffering a heart attack, ask your doctor to draw blood for C-Reactive Protein (CRP), the good HDL and the bad LDL cholesterol, small low-density lipoprotein, Lp(a), homocysteine. He will also check your blood pressure.

We used to think that heart attacks were caused primarily by plaques accumulating in arteries because of high cholesterol levels. Now we know that the inner lining of an artery must first be roughed up before plaques form, and infections are the most common cause of damaged inner linings of arteries. C-Reactive Protein is a blood test that measures inflammation or the swelling that occurs in arteries before plaques form. So C-reactive protein is one of the best indicators that a person is headed for a heart attack.

Blood cholesterol levels are still good predictors of heart attacks. Your bad LDL cholesterol should be under 100. If you have had a heart attack, your LDL should be under 70. Having high blood levels of a subfraction of the bad LDL cholesterol called small LDL increases your risk for a heart attack.

Another test called homocysteine also predicts heart attacks. When your diet does not provide you with adequate amounts of the vitamins B12, pyridoxine and folic acid, blood levels of homocysteine rise. There is a correlation between high homocysteine and damage to arteries, but so far we do not understand the mechanism.

Lp(a) is a genetic disorder that causes clots to form and so is a cause of heart attacks, particularly in younger people (men under the age of 40 and women under the age of 60.)

A heart-healthy diet makes it possible for many people to control cholesterol and blood pressure without drugs. More

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Fat Belly, Large Bones, Irregular Periods: Check for PCOS

One of 20 North American women suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) that often causes obesity, large bones and muscles, hair to grow on faces and bodies, male-pattern baldness, acne, irregular periods. It is a common cause of infertility and it increases their chances of developing diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and uterine cancer. A study from Italy shows that polycystic ovary syndrome can be cured with the diabetic medication, metformin (Glucophage), and a low-refined-carbohydrate diet. We have known about this condition for more than 200 years, but only in the last few years have we have found a cause and cure.

Exciting research shows that drugs and diets to treat diabetes and drugs to block male hormones can protect these women from developing diabetes, heart attacks, obesity and masculinizing traits such as hair on their bodies, acne, and large muscles and bones and that progesterone can protect them from uterine cancer.

A woman is born with about 4 million eggs. In a normal woman, each month one egg ripens and pops off the ovary to travel into the uterus. Women whose eggs ripen, but do not pop off the ovaries, have polycystic ovary syndrome. Their high insulin and male hormone levels cause the ovaries to make male hormones that cause acne and dark body hair. Glucophage, Actos and Avandia are drugs that reduce insulin levels and therefore, lower blood levels of the male hormone, testosterone. So does a diet that favors whole grains and restricts foods made with flour or sugar, such as bakery products and pasta. Drugs that block male hormones also reduce masculinizing traits, lower cholesterol and help the eggs to pop from the ovaries, but drugs to treat diabetes may be more effective. These women also are at increased risk for developing uterine cancer, so they are often prescribed birth control pills that contain progesterone and should try to lose weight when overweight.

If you think that you may have this condition, get a sonogram of your ovaries. Even if you don't have cysts, you could still have PCOS. Then you should avoid all bakery products, pastas, sugar-added foods and drinks, and fruit juices; and eat root vegetables and fruits only with meals. Base your diet on a wide variety of WHOLE grains, vegetables, beans and other seeds. Also check with your doctor to see if you are a candidate for Glucophage before each meal. Journal references

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Protect Knees: Weak Quad Muscles Risk Cartilage Damage

Doctors have known for many years that having weak
quad muscles (in the front of your upper legs) increases risk for
damage to the cartilage in your knees. A study from Purdue
University shows that strengthening these muscles slows down
knee cartilage damage and may even improve knee function
(Arthritis & Rheumatism, October 2006).
The researchers placed 221 adults in their sixties and
seventies either on a program of strengthening their muscles in
their upper legs or just moving their knees in a series of range-of-
motion exercises. The subjects exercised three times per week
(twice at a fitness facility and once at home) for 12 weeks. This
program was followed by a transition to home-based exercise for
12 months. Older people weaken naturally with aging, but the
range of motion exercisers lost more strength than those who
exercised against progressive resistance. The strength training
helped retain joint space, signifying that this group had less loss of
cartilage.
The knee is like two sticks held together by four bands
called ligaments. Strength training stabilizes the muscles that
support the knee and helps to prevent loss of cartilage with aging.
People with knee pain should get a diagnosis from their doctors.
Most will be advised to do exercises that strengthen the knee,
such as pedaling a bicycle or performing knee strengthening
exercises that involve bending and straightening the knees
against resistance. People with knee pain should avoid exercises
that jar the joints, such as jumping or running. More: Why arthroscopic knee surgery is usually useless

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Pre-Diabetes: Belly Fat Dangerous Even If You Are Thin

In Victorian times a large belly was a sign of prosperity and manliness, but now we know that having a lot of fat in your belly increases your risk for diabetes and heart attacks. People who store fat primarily underneath the skin in their bellies also store a lot of fat around their intestines and in their liver, It is dangerous to your heart to store a lot of fat in your liver.

When you eat, your blood sugar level rises. The higher it rises, the more insulin your pancreas releases to keep your blood sugar level from rising even higher. As soon as insulin does its job of lowering high blood sugar levels, it is grabbed by your liver and removed from the bloodstream. However, fat in the liver prevents liver cells from removing insulin from the bloodstream. Therefore, people who store fat primarily in their bellies also store a lot of fat in their livers, which prevents the liver from removing insulin, which causes you to have very high and prolonged blood levels of insulin.

You need insulin to prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high, but too much insulin constricts arteries to cause heart attacks. It acts on the brain to make you hungry. It acts on the liver to make more fat. It also causes the extra fat to be deposited in the liver, abdomen and underneath the skin in your belly, so you develop a beer belly. Extra fat in the liver causes a condition called fatty liver that eventually can send you into liver failure. This explains why storing fat primarily in your belly increases your chances of becoming diabetic or having a heart attack. More on insulin resistance; more on pre-diabetes

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Fructose is Not Better than Ordinary Sugar

Fructose is processed differently in the body than the far more common sugar, glucose. Glucose causes the pancreas to release insulin which drives sugar from the bloodstream into cells. Glucose causes fat cells to release leptin that makes you feel full so you eat less; it also prevents the stomach from releasing ghrelin that makes you hungry. On the other hand, fructose does not cause fat cells to release leptin and does not suppress ghrelin. This means that fructose increases hunger to make you eat more. Furthermore, the liver converts fructose far more readily to a fat called triglyceride, than it does with glucose. High triglyceride levels raise blood levels of the bad LDL cholesterol and lower blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol, which increases heart attack risk.

Large amounts of fructose appear to cause insulin resistance, impair glucose tolerance, produce high levels of insulin, raise triglycerides, and cause high blood pressure in animals. Not all of these studies have been replicated in humans, but there is every reason to believe that large amounts of fructose will have the same adverse effects. High-fructose corn syrup is found in almost all non-diet soft drinks and fruit beverages, and in a wide variety of processed foods. However, high-fructose corn syrup is no more significant as a dietary source of fructose than ordinary table sugar. It is only high in fructose compared to ordinary corn syrup.

Several recent studies show that drinking large amounts of soft drinks is associated with increased risk for obesity and that the extra gain in weight is not due just to the calories in the soft drinks. Calories consumed in beverages do not fill you up the way calories in solid foods do. High fructose corn syrup is the leading sweetener in the United States today, with 4.5 billion dollars worth sold each year. High-fructose corn syrup first appeared in the American market in 1966, and now the average American takes in 62.6 pounds per year. Check the list of ingredients in the foods you buy. More on refined carbohydrates

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Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Can Cause Muscle Pain

Some patients with high cholesterol levels are afraid to take statins because off fear of developing side effects such as muscle pain. A study from Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego reviews the latest data on side effects of statins. This review found that statin- induced muscle damage is more common in Asians, people who exercise, have had recent surgery, have kidney, liver or thyroid disease, or have high triglycerides. The incidence of muscle pain and damage from statins is extremely low in non-exercisers, three to ten percent in those who exercise, and very high in competitive athletes.

Most athletes refuse to take statin drugs because they train by taking a hard workout that damages their muscles. Then they must take easy workouts until the soreness disappears and muscles heal. When statins prevent this muscle healing, the athlete must train at reduced intensity for a much longer period of time. Brand names of statins include: Altoprev, Crestor, Lipitor, Mevacor, Pravachol and Zocor.
Journal reference for this article; more on statin drugs; lowering cholesterol with diet and lifestyle changes

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