Senior Care Partners

Archive for January 4th, 2012

Insomnia is a sleep disorder. Sleep is a state of consciousnesses, which gives your body time to rest and build up your strength. It is characterized by an inability to sleep and/or inability to remain asleep for a reasonable period. Insomnia affects all age groups. Among older adults, insomnia affects women more often than men. The incidence increases with age. Insomnia can be a symptom of physical disorders, although for most of us it’s the result of tension, stress and anxiety — and of course the more anxious we get about our insomnia, the worse it gets. It is often caused by fear, stress, anxiety, medications, herbs, caffeine, depression, bipolar disorder or sometimes for no apparent reason. An overactive mind or physical pain may also be causes. Insomnia may be classified by how long the symptoms are present. Transient insomnia usually is due to situational changes such as travel and stressful events. It lasts for less than a week or until the stressful event is resolved. Short-term insomnia lasts for 1-3 weeks, and long-term insomnia (chronic insomnia) continues for more than 3 weeks. Chronic insomnia often results from depression or substance abuse. It is important to know that nearly everyone has problems sleeping at some time or other and it is thought that a third of people in the UK have bouts of insomnia. Newborn babies can sleep for 16 hours a day, while children of school age need an average of 10 hours. Adults usually need, on average, 7 to 9 hours sleep a night. As we get older, it’s normal to need less sleep. Most people over 70 need less than 6 hours sleep per night; and they tend to be light sleepers.

Three types of insomnia first is transient insomnia second is acute insomnia and last is chronic insomnia. It is not defined by the number of hours you sleep every night. Poor sleep quality can occur as a result of sleep apnea or major depression. Transient insomnia lasts from one night to a few weeks. Most people occasionally suffer from transient insomnia due to such causes as jet lag or short-term anxiety. Acute insomnia is the inability to consistently sleep well for a period of between three weeks to six months. Chronic insomnia is regarded as the most serious; persists almost nightly for at least a month. Chronic insomnia can lead to mental health problems such as depression, or misuse of alcohol or other medicines in order to gain sleep. Sleep apnea is a condition that occurs when a sleeping person’s breathing is interrupted, thus interrupting the normal sleep cycle. With the obstructive form of the condition, some part of the sleeper’s respiratory tract loses muscle tone and partially collapses. People with obstructive sleep apnea often do not remember any of this, but they complain of excessive sleepiness during the day. Central sleep apnea interrupts the normal breathing stimulus of the central nervous system, and the individual must actually wake up to resume breathing. Sometimes perimenopausal (the time leading up to menopause) women have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep; hot flashes and night sweats often can disturb sleep. Pregnancy also can affect how well a woman sleeps.

Treatment of insomnia should be individualized based on the nature and severity of symptoms. Most cases of insomnia inability to sleep or inability to sleep well at night. Lormetazepam, a short-acting benzodiazepine widely used for the treatment of insomnia. Rozerem is the very first insomnia treatment medication on the market that acts as a melatonin receptor agonist. Rozerem is just one of the many insomnia medications available on the market today. It is important that you discuss with your health care provider if prescription medications are right to treat your insomnia. Benzodiazepines drugs are relatives of diazepam (Valium) marketed as sleeping aids. Other drugs such as ethchlorvynol (Placidyl) are likely to produce neurologic side effects when taken. Barbiturates were formerly the standard sleeping pills, sold under such names as Seconal and Nembutal. Nonpharmacologic treatments for insomnia are considered effective if they decrease sleep onset latency or increase total sleep time by 30 minutes. Most treatment studies use patient-reported sleep diaries to measure outcome. Criteria used include total sleep time, sleep-onset latency, and number of nocturnal awakenings. A meta-analysis of 48 individual studies of behavioral therapy found stimulus control therapy to be effective and to be superior to progressive relaxation, imagery training, and paradoxical intention. Develop a regular sleeping schedule. Avoid daytime naps and stimulating activities just before bedtime. Avoid alcohol- it is a leading cause of poor sleep. Drink a cup of warm milk.

Penile yeast infection is commonly misinterpreted and is a much overlooked disease these days. This article illustrates their causes, symptoms, and natural treatments without drugs and unnecessary side effects. Current advances have made it achievable to get rid of yeast from the body by treating the cause and not just the very itchy effects and symptoms. At the end of this article, I provide a link that will let you know more about penile yeast infection.

Most men will go all the way through life not at all knowing that they have a candida or fungal infection as it is extremely complicated to detect because men are built different than women. Women will suffer from vaginal infection and this is the evidence that things are wrong in their body. While men will have completely no thought that they may have an infection until it creates other troubles with their health.

Generally, men are informed by their major half that she has a yeast infection, so the probability is he has it too. Most doctors will recommend an anti-fungal and suggest that the man takes it also, other wise he will give it back to her.

This is very factual and bad I am afraid, particularly if she has a vaginal infection. During sex, the male’s urethra is bare and susceptible to a male yeast infection from an infected female. The yeast can move up from the urethral canal and inhabit in the prostate gland.

Now you may not have troubles for years but prostate cancer and prostate troubles are affecting nearly every male at some point in their life. Consider it, boys and young girls do not get reproductive yeast infections as near as frequently as adults, do they? Boys also do not have prostate troubles or girls ever have to face a hysterectomy. This clearly shows that sex is a supplementary cause of infections.

Men who drink beer have been identified to carry skin yeast on their penis. They are generally totally unconscious they have a male yeast infection due to the outside temperature of the skin being about 77 degrees keeping the infection inactive. Before the female become aware of symptoms, she can pass it right back to the male and it can move up from the urethral canal settling in the prostate.

In certain cases, male yeast infections will be visible as a penile yeast infection that has dry cracked skin though the infection can occur most anywhere on the skin. When the man has an erection, this skin can crack and be tremendously hurting.

Here are few more common symptoms.

Men and boys normally face digestive troubles and all the related troubles as the number one symptom. The additional regular symptoms of male yeast infection are constipation, bad breath, bloating, indigestion, repeated intestinal gas, repeated diarrhea, very loose stools, sexual dysfunction, irritability and mood swings, tiredness or lack of energy, memory loss, jock itch, dry itchy flaky skin, athlete’s feet, and prostate troubles.

You may also grow a longing for sweets, pastas, chips, etc. Any of the foods that feed the penile yeast infection symptoms in view of the fact that the parasite demands to be fed, and you will more than liable to feed it, until you understand you have it, and do something about it.