Teeth are for biting and chewing food, not for tearing packages open, pulling tags off new clothes, undoing knots or cracking nuts! We have all probably been guilty of using our teeth as a multi-purpose tool, but we should give our teeth much more respect. Although your teeth are strong, they will crack or chip with misuse. Here are some habits we would love you to try to give up once and for all:
Chewing ice Many people habitually chew on ice, which can cause gum injuries or even broken teeth. Sometimes the damage is severe enough to require a crown. If ice chewing is a part of your routine, try sugarless gum instead. If you need to crunch something, try baby carrots or apple chunks. The urge to chew ice can also be symptomatic of iron-deficiency anemia. This is common form of anemia affects approximately 20 percent of women, 50 percent of pregnant women, and three percent of men. Iron-deficiency anemia is usually caused by inadequate iron intake, blood loss (from menstruation or surgery), or an increased need for iron (common with pregnancy or lactation). Iron is essential to the oxygen-carrying function of the blood. Without enough iron in your blood, your red blood cells (hemoglobin) cannot provide adequate oxygen supplies to your body tissues. You end up feeling tired and listless, and your skin may look pale. As anemia worsens, it can produce an irregular heart rate because your heart pumps additional blood to make up for the low level of oxygen. Anemia should not be left untreated. Whatever the cause, the bottom line is, do not chew ice! If you find it difficult to stop the habit, contact your physician. Using your teeth as a scissors Many people use their teeth to cut through string, open packages or remove tags from clothing. Of course, this is very bad for your teeth. In particular, if you use your teeth to remove the plastic “strings” that affix price tags to clothing, you might find yourself with a small divot in one of your teeth. This can lead to cracking and fracturing of the tooth later on. Always use scissors! Using toothpicks improperly Used properly, a toothpick can be a great tool to remove food from between your teeth when you do not have floss handy. But if you are aggressive with the toothpick, it can injure your gums or break off between your teeth. Use toothpicks gently, do not chew on them, and be sure to use the rounded ones, as they are less likely to damage your gums. Chewing pencils, pens and other hard objects Your teeth were meant to chew food, not writing utensils. Pencils, pens and other things that do not belong in your mouth can fracture teeth, leading to otherwise unnecessary dental repairs. Besides, you do not know where these items have been, so why would you put them in your mouth? If you feel the need to chew, stick to sugarless gum.
As you can see, misuse of your teeth could cause chips and fractures, resulting in unnecessary dental work. It is not that we do not want to see you in the dental office. Your dentists just do not want to have to treat you in preventable situations! Please try to avoid using your teeth, unless it is for biting or chewing food, of course!
Posts Tagged ‘Blood Loss’
Phlebotomy is the process of piercing the flesh with a needle in order to enter a vein and extract blood from the body. This is also known as venipuncture. The terminology comes from the Greek word “phlebo” meaning vein, and “tom” meaning cut. Most often the blood is used for diagnostic (testing) purposes and at times this process can be done to replace blood loss (transfusion). Regular phlebotomy is undergone by patients who have too much iron in their blood or are producing too many red blood cells. Removal of blood decreases the excess level of iron in the red blood cells.
You may have faced a situation in which you needed to donate blood, or perhaps took part in a blood group test. You may have realized that you did not experience any discomfort or pain when the needle was inserted into the vein to draw blood, or even while it was being removed. The person who administered this procedure to you was, in fact, a Phlebotomist trained in phlebotomy.
A Phlebotomist is a person who has the ability to find a vein beneath the skin, inject the needle and extract blood with ease, even within seconds. They also monitor blood pressure and pulse in situations like blood transfusions or blood donation at the blood banks. Phlebotomists are integral and vital members of the healthcare team, as the blood they collect is used for diagnostic testing which helps the physicians to make informed decisions. They also act as life guardians with their services at the blood banks encouraging blood donation campaigns.
Phlebotomy is safe when done by a well-trained professional. The phlebotomist bears in mind factors such as the bruising of the skin where it is punctured, inflammation of veins, and possible chances of infection at the punctured sites while performing venipunctures or skin punctures. The skin puncture is done using finger sticks wherein small blood samples need to be collected. In the case of infants, a heel stick is used. At times it may be required to draw blood from arteries or capillary beds; a specimen which is easily done by these trained professionals. phlebotomists may at times be required to ascertain stool and urine sample collection and testing. Phlebotomists do not administer drugs or any intravenous fluids that require injections.
In the United States the phlebotomists are unlicensed medical care professionals, except in the state of California. In California, licensing is mandatory for phlebotomists in order to work with any clinical laboratory, hospital, research institution, public health clinics or blood bank.
Those who have undergone vocational training, graduated in phlebotomy or spent approximately two years in the field should enroll in a certification course. This will help with proficiency in human anatomy, technical skills, interpersonal skills, lab safety rules, as well as compliance with CDC & OSHA requirements. In addition, many other pre-requisites such as blood collection techniques, specimen record management and data entry maintenance for the purposes of report generation, will be covered.
The phlebotomist is an important member of the medical team and this fact is evident in compensation statistics. The median salary drawn in the U.S. is $29,040. Coupled with the pay, is the flexible work hours that make this profession even more exciting.
Better known as blood surrogates/substitutes, artificial blood serves two main purposes like filling the fluid volume and carry oxygen and other gases in blood through the entire cardiovascular system. It should be noted that nothing could replace the human blood since it performs innumerable other functions apart from these. So the accurate term for the product performing first function could be volume expanders and the gas carriers could be named Oxygen therapeutics.
In simple words, Volume expanders are certain passive materials which raise the blood quantity. They are of two types, mainly colloid based like Voluven, Haemaccel, gelofusin etc. and crystalloid based where Ringer’s lactate, normal saline are examples. The case of Oxygen Therapeutics, they function as a substitute for the oxygen carrying ability of the body fluid. Common examples are Hemopure, Oxygent, PolyHeme and Perftoran. Depending on the mode of the transport mechanism, Oxygen therapeutics fall into two main streams called per fluorocarbon based and hemoglobin based.
Volume expanders are common and easily obtained in markets and they are mainly used for first aid and in case of trauma. Consider the case of trauma and when there is a loss of blood, there arises a necessity to prevent blood loss. Another requirement is the substitution of lost amount of body fluid. And the remaining RBC’s can provide oxygen for the tissues.
Oxygen Therapeutics is employed to imitate the oxygen carrying ability of normal blood. But the modern science find it difficult to develop a completely efficient therapeutic and hence two fundamental approaches has been installed to assemble an oxygen therapeutic. Now, per fluorocarbons (PFCs) a chemical compound that transports and gives out oxygen is made use of. The frequently used PFC is per fluorodecalin. Their main property is that it will not get assorted with blood and hence there arises a need to produce emulsions that are made by dispersing minute droplets of PFC in water. This emulsion is then mixed with antibiotics, vitamins, nutrients and also salts, thus making an emulsion that consists of some 80 different types of constituents and that will perform a lot of the important purposes of body fluid. They are just 1/40 the size of the diameter of the Red Blood Cells and this minute structure will help them to seep into the very minute and dead capillaries where normal blood flow is almost absent. The per fluorocarbon solutions can transport oxygen; hence the mammals and human beings could survive by just breathing the liquid per fluorocarbon solution, termed the liquid breathing.
It is to be noted that 33% of the entire Red blood cell mass is consisted by the Hemoglobin. The Hemoglobin-associated materials are termed HBOCs (Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carriers). As red blood cell contains certain other substances other than the hemoglobin it is quite difficult to extract hemoglobin alone from blood. If used, it will end up in a condition called renal toxicity which could be considered fatal. By making use of the following processes like self linking, polymerization and encapsulation hemoglobin could be extracted and could be used in a safer way too. Fluosol-DA-20, the only approved HBOC by Food and drug Administration, is now banned with its least success and the increase in the number of side effects.
The artificial blood seems advantageous in different walks of life. As discussed earlier, the small size of oxygen therapeutics will seem superior to normal body fluid and hence it could lessen the number of transfusions which is being increasing day by day.
If such a system is employed nobody needs to become much fearful about the hazards during a blood transfusion like the spreading of AIDS and anthrax viruses.
In case of trauma or in certain battlefields the blood surrogates or the blood substitutes find wide varieties of applications. In future, let’s hope that no patient dies due to unavailability of blood.
The main advantage of blood substitutes is that it could be stored for much longer time as compared to the transfused blood. It is capable of using at anytime with a tension free mind.
The major merit of artificial blood is that it supports instantaneous full capability for the transport of oxygen, a contradiction to blood which is transfused that need some 24 hours to arrive at complete oxygen transport ability because of the depletion of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate.
Iron is in abundance in nature and in our food, so why is iron deficiency anemia as common as it is? Is everyone who has low iron levels diagnosed with Anemia? How is iron deficiency determined? How do I know if I’m getting enough? First we need to gain some basic understanding about iron and how we can become deficient.
What does the body use iron for?
Iron is most commonly known for it’s essential role in the formation of hemoglobin, the substance in the red blood cells that carry oxygen. Hemoglobin is a complex molecule with iron in the center and is identical to chlorophyll in green plants except the iron is replaced with magnesium. Iron is also needed for cells to use oxygen to produce energy to function. This vital mineral is also needed for the immune system; deficiency makes neutrophils (one type of white blood cell) less effective. It is also needed to enable your brain to work properly. Another interesting role iron plays is in the detoxification of drugs and other toxins taken into the body.
What causes iron deficiency?
There is no particular elimination mechanism in the body for iron. It is mostly lost in bleeding, such as during menstruation and major injury, with a small loss from sweat, hair and dead skin cells flaking off and in the bile. What the body does is control the amount coming in, and 90% of iron is recovered and recycled. Recycling not an idea originated by man, but his creator. If the body needs iron it absorbs more, if it has enough it will stop absorbing it. Most people’s diet is abundant in iron. Deficiency usually comes from poor absorption, rather than from lack in the diet, although anemia can result from blood loss, and occult (hidden) blood loss such as hook worm infestation and bleeding ulcers. While iron in animal products (mainly from the blood consumed) is absorbed more readily, animal products require iron and other nutrients to detoxify the toxins they contain. About of 5 to 10% of the iron in food is normally absorbed. This can go up in times of extra demand such as menstruation and in cases of anemia when it can be as high as 45 to 64%.
The major cause of iron deficiency is vitamin C deficiency as well as anti iron substances in our western diet. Such as Tea and coffee which reduce absorption. Vitamin C is easily destroyed. An orange can lose most of it’s vitamin C within hours of picking. Processing destroys many vitamins, including up to 90% of vitamin C and most people’s diet is grossly deficient in fresh fruits and vegetable which are high in vitamin C. Vitamin C is essential for the absorption of iron. The digestive function is critical, low stomach acid, antacids can reduce absorption. Lack of intrinsic factor in the stomach prevents absorption. This intrinsic factor is similar in structure to B12′s intrinsic factor, and heme, the iron containing molecule in hemoglobin.
It is interesting to note that chlorophyll in green leafy vegetables have a similar in structure. Both heme and chlorophyll have the same structure, except that heme has iron in the center, chlorophyll has magnesium. Oxalates and phytates in food bind to iron but calcium causes it to be released. Again it is interesting that calcium is high in green leafy vegetables, especially Chinese greens. It seems to me that this is no accident! Iron must be chelated (bound) to be transported. Unbound inorganic iron feeds certain bacteria. Lack of phytate to bind free iron has been implicated in colon cancer. Phytic acid, also called phytate, is known as Inositol Hexaphosphate (IP6) (Inositol is a member of the B group of vitamins). This interesting substance binds to minerals. It has been thought that it prevents their proper absorption. This assumption has been shown to be incorrect. It does bind minerals in order to transport them and it appears that it releases them when needed.
Free, inorganic iron is toxic.
Iron will react very readily with oxygen causing substances which destroy cell membranes, including that of the gastrointestinal tract. Excess can cause a number of iron overload diseases. It can cause irritation to mucus membranes and bleeding, liver damage and renal failure. Many bacteria also need iron and unbound iron can cause bacteria to multiply. Overload has occurred in South African Natives from alcohol distilled in iron stills and cooking in iron cooking pot. This would have been inorganic free iron which would have caused GIT irritation. Too many blood transfusions can also cause Iron overload.
How is iron deficiency determined?
Iron deficiency Anemia is usually diagnosed by a blood test and looking at symptoms.
Pathology Blood Tests. A Hemoglobin count is taken from a blood sample and if the count is below a set lower limit, the person is considered to have iron deficiency anemia, if above a set upper limit, the person is considered to have an excess or iron overload. Symptoms are also considered of course. Now Pathology blood tests can provide very valuable information, however like any test done on anything it needs to be properly interpreted. The limitation is that all the test can tell anyone is what is happening in the blood at the instant the sample was taken. Also it tells what is in the blood, not the tissues. The blood can also be high in a mineral because it is bringing out from one place to transport it to another. In one case a lady had dangerously low Hemoglobin in her first test and before her second test, which showed normal iron levels, she had eaten a meal mainly of whole grains and used a lot of vitamin C. I must emphasis at this point that pathology blood test and Naturopathic blood test are looking at different sides of the picture. I have had people show low B12 in my live blood test when there Pathology Blood test showed normal B12. There was enough B12 in their blood at the time, but the overall average was low. A Naturopathic blood test is looking at the deficiency by how the blood cells were formed giving a long term picture, Pathology blood tests are looking at what is happening in the moment.
Deficiency Symptoms
Fatigue, decreased exercise tolerance, behavioral changes, anorexia, and pica (compulsive eating of non-food items), cognitive and growth abnormalities in children, pale skin, inside lower eyelid, finger and toenails and gums, fingernails can be thin and spoon shaped; burning and red mouth and tongue; smooth, waxy, glistening tongue and gastritis. Please note, other factors besides iron deficiency can cause these symptoms. See a health care professional such as a Naturopath for confirmation.
How do I ensure I’m getting enough iron?
I consider the best supplement for iron deficiency is vitamin C combined with a diet high in iron rich foods such as parsley, pine nuts, legumes especially soybeans, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, whole grains and green leafy vegetables, especially Chinese vegetables. Vitamin C must be taken with bioflavonoids, vitamin E, and Beta Carotene otherwise it becomes a free radical in it’s self and can cause damage. Use plenty of vitamin C rich raw fruit and vegetables such as lemons, citrus, black current, red capsicum, rose hips, parsley, raw cabbage, pineapple etc. Because of modern Horticulture, it is unlikely to be enough. Don’t use ironware cookware on a regular basis. If you want to use an iron supplement, use one that is naturally derived, not an iron salt. Many common iron supplements can encourage bacterial growth. They also can cause constipation, so take measures to make certain your bowels are moving regularly, at least twice a day. Mineral deficiencies can be found by a naturopath using live blood analysis.
As we mentioned in other articles, endometriosis growing somewhere else other than the endometrium also reacts to hormonal signals of the monthly menstrual cycle, building up tissue by breaking it, and eliminating it through the menstrual period. As we know chemical cells salt play a very important role in some culture in treating some kinds of diseases. In this article, we will discuss how Calcarea Phosphorica (calcium phosphate, Ca3(Po4)) helps to treat endometriosis.
I. Definition
Calcarea Phosphorica (calcium phosphate, Ca3(Po4)), also known as phosphate of lime. it plays an important role for body growth and nourishment. It has been used in treating people with anemia in homeopathic medicine.
II. How Calcarea phosphorica (calcium phosphate, Ca3(Po4)) effects endometriosis
1. Anemia
Calcarea phosphorica is a homeopathic medicine that is said to helps increase the production of red blood cell and blood. It is essential for women with heavy blood flow during menstruation for replacing blood loss.
2. Tissue relaxation
It is also said to help support the body tissues, including the abdominal muscle tissue, thereby it helps to relax the muscle tension caused by hormone imbalance resulting in decreasing the menstrual cramps for women with endometriosis.
3. Coagulation
Calcarea phosphorica is also helps to support body tissues by blood clotting that helps to reduce excessive menstrual flow by helping the capillaries and blood vessels in the abdomen to clot.
4. Water retention
It also helps to stimulate waste disposal through lympathic functions thereby decreasing the risk of water retention caused by excessive sodium and deficiency of potassium.
5. Numbness and crawling
Numbness and crawling is caused by irregular function of tissues due to tension of nervous system. By improving the body tissues’ function such as muscle and blood flow, calcarea phosphorica helps to relax and reduce pain for women with endometriosis.
Anemia is a general term for a category of blood conditions that affect the red blood cells or the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin they contain.
In anemia, there is either a reduction in the number of red blood cells in circulation or a decrease in the amount or quality of hemoglobin. There are many causes of anemia, including severe blood loss, genetic disorders, and serious diseases. (See iron-deficiency anemia, pernicious anemia [vitamin B12-related], and sickle cell anemia.) Anyone with unexplained anemia should have the cause determined by a qualified doctor.
Some athletes appear to have anemia when their blood is tested, but this may be a normal adaptation to the stress of exercise,1 which does not need treatment. Further evaluation by a qualified doctor is necessary.
The symptoms of anemia include tiredness, headaches, and generally feeling irritable. These symptoms can be severe, but are sometimes overlooked by doctors who assume the symptoms are due to other existing conditions, or the after effects of medication. This means a person’s anemia could go undiagnosed and without treatment, and so the tiredness, headaches and irritation remain, getting worse with time. People who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer are all at risk of anemia.
It’s important to consult your doctor to ensure anemia is properly diagnosed, and not hidden underneath any other condition you have. If you find you’re suffering from anemia then it is important to supplement with deficient vitamins and minerals such as iron, vitamin B12, and folate. In the case of cancer, where the number of prescribed medications taken will probably be high, it is important to check for drug-vitamin interactions.
Don’t let anemia hide behind another one of your health concerns. Get the right supplements to fight both your disease, and the anemia hidden behind it.