Health On The Blog

Avandia is a prescription drug that is used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. It can be used alone or in combination with other diabetes medications. It increases the response to insulin made in the body without stimulating more insulin production.

Other activities like diet control, weight loss, and exercise should be tried as an attempt to control diabetes before starting with Avandia. This medication works best if combined with exercises and proper diet.

People under the age of 18 should avoid Avandia. There are several chemical ingredients like rosiglitazone maleate, in Avandia. Anyone allergic to such substances should avoid this drug.

Your doctor should be made aware of your health conditions, before prescribing this medication. For example, if you have any heart disorders or history of heart failure, you should let your doctor know.

Furthermore, if you have juvenile diabetes (Type 1), a history of diabetic ketoacidosis, or diabetic eye disease known as Macular Edema, you should make this information available to your doctor.

If you have any sort of liver problems, a blood test is recommended. If you are taking any other diabetes medications such as Troglitazon make sure your doctor is aware of this. Better to be safe than sorry.

Any woman who is pregnant or attempting to become pregnant should not take it. At present there is no data to indicate whether or not Avandia is harmful to unborn children. But why take that risk. You should also avoid taking this while breastfeeding. Remember to consult your doctor about choices of birth control, since intake of Avandia may lead to unwanted pregnancies.

Bear in mind, that Avandia can react with the other drugs and produce unpleasant side effects. Therefore, you must let your physician know about all the medicines (OTC drugs, vitamins, or herbal supplements) you take, to avoid any potential risk of side effects.

Like any other drug, Avandia comes with a list of possible side effects. Avandia causes fluid retention and people with heart problems increase the risk of heart failure by taking this medication. Swelling due to fluid retention could occur as well. Be cautious, if you notice symptoms such as swelling of ankles or legs, shortness of breath, rapid increase in weight, or excessive fatigue, with no apparent reason, tell your doctor right away.

Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar may occur. Some symptoms of this include, dizziness and shakiness.

Apart from fluid retention, Avandia also retains extra body fat resulting in weight gain. It also promotes ovulation resulting in higher chances of becoming pregnant. This is more common in premenopausal women.

Liver related problems could be a major side effect. Get a blood check done to make sure that everything is right with the liver before taking Avandia. In fact, get the check up done, during the course of taking Avandia, to make sure no problems have cropped up without your knowledge. Nausea or vomiting, abdominal pain, unusual fatigue, loss of appetite, dark colored urine, yellow skin or yellowing of the whites of the eyes are some of the common symptoms of Avandia. If you notice any of these symptoms, visit your doctor as soon as possible.

Disclaimer - The information presented here should not be interpreted as or substituted for medical advice. Please talk to your doctor for more information about Avandia.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

The Author: Heather Colman

During my recent visit to a local pharmacy to buy some allergy medicine, I noticed a profound trend while looking at some of the over-the-counter (OTC) products. About half of all the products, on their packaging, were touting that they either contained natural ingredients or used some sort of alternative healing modality.

The use of herbs, vitamin supplements, and homeopathic medicine is growing because of the multitude of side effects associated with conventional care. For the purposes of this discussion, let us take a closer look at each of these different types of natural products and some examples of products in each category.

Herbal medicine has been around longer than any other form of treatment. Ancient man used plants for almost everything, including food, shelter, and even clothing. So, they turned to their botanical resources for treating disease as well. Man developed herbal medicines by observing animals, and then through trial and error, they would assemble random concoctions of various plants until they found the remedy that worked best.

The most popular herbal remedies include echinacea, ginger, and ginkgo biloba. Echinacea is very adept at stimulating the immune system when the patient is suffering from an acute viral or bacterial infection. It is often found in cold remedies. Ginger has been demonstrated to reduce nausea and vomiting (and is used in most hangover cures). Ginkgo biloba helps combat various diseases of the circulatory system, and has also been shown to help treat people suffering from depression and even Alzheimers. Basically, there are a lot of herbs that do help treat certain conditions, but on the whole, herbal remedies do not seem to be as effective as conventional medicines and should only be used as a supplement to conventional treatment if the patient is severely ill.

The next category of natural remedies is the vitamin supplements. Between herbs, vitamins, and homeopathic products, vitamins are probably the least effective form of treatment when dealing with acute illnesses or serious medical conditions. The most popular vitamin supplement on the market today is Airborne, which is currently the number one selling OTC natural cold remedy in the United States.

Airborne is an effervescent tablet that contains a blend of vitamins, minerals, herbs, and amino acids. Following a powerful endorsement on the Oprah Winfrey show, sales of Airborne skyrocketed. Airborne was designed to prevent the common cold. So, it is not a treatment medicine. However, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that ingesting a bunch of vitamins and minerals can prevent the onset of cold symptoms. In fact, one of the ingredients in Airborne, echinacea, which we touched upon earlier in this article, has been shown to be effective for treating an acute infection, not necessarily for preventing it. Also, Airborne contains 1000 mg of vitamin C, which most experts agree is not safe to take. Daily ingestion of this much vitamin C can lead to a wide variety of medical problems, such as kidney stones and other noxious ailments. Airborne has not undergone an independent study to confirm its effectiveness.

The last, and perhaps most important, category of natural medicine products that we will discuss is homeopathic medicines. Homeopathy is probably the best system of natural medicine, hands down. Simply put, it is a system of medicine that treats disease with tiny amounts of natural substances that mimic the symptoms of the condition being treated. For example, a homeopathic remedy for treating the common cold may contain a diluted concentration of substances that if present in high quantities, would cause you to become congested and develop a sore throat. But, because the medicine contains a highly diluted amount of the substance, it does not actually make you sick; instead, it causes your immune system to activate so that your natural defense mechanisms will kick into high gear and fight off any cold viruses you might have in your body.

Homeopathic products, when formulated properly, do not produce side effects because the ingredients are so diluted within the mixture that no effects are produced from the substances themselves. The ingredients in these brands often have an X or a C after them to indicate how many dilutions were done for each ingredient. Also, treatment with these sorts of products has been demonstrated to actually prevent recurrences of certain diseases over the long-term. Some of the best manufacturers in this category include Boiron, a French manufacturer with annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and Liddell, a small American company whose products are sold primarily in health food stores.

So, next time you stop by the pharmacy, take a closer look at the ingredients for the various natural medicines on the shelf. You should try to stay away from vitamin supplements. You might want to try some herbal remedies depending upon your condition, but the homeopathic products are probably the best way to go. Also, you should consult your physician or a pharmacist before buying any medicine that you have never tried before, even if it is sold over-the-counter.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

The Author: Jim Pretin is the owner of www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make email forms.