Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

Hair Loss

An otherwise fit young lady went to see her doctor because she had developed a band of baldness, extending from ear to ear all the way over the top of her head. From the history and examination, the physician concluded that her alopecia (the medical term for baldness) most likely resulted from the friction and pressure exerted by a pair of heavy earphones through which she listened to music while jogging. Anything that fits tightly on the head while, at the same time rubbing against it, may cause hair to be worn away at the site of frictional contact, a letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (252:3367) reports. Hair re-grew quickly on this young lady’s head after she switched to lighter earphones.

Baldness and Beta-BIockers

Although beta-blocker drugs are used for high blood pressure and for the prevention of angina pectoris (chest pain originating in the heart) and, as a group, are now one of the most widely prescribed types of medication, it is not yet generally known that they are sometimes responsible for a considerable loss of hair.

The journal Cutis (35:148) reports a 62-year-old man who had always had a healthy head of hair but who, over a period of six weeks, gradually lost most of it. Shortly before this occurred, he had started taking nadolol, also known as Cor-gard, the new long-acting beta-blocker medicine. The cause-and-effect relationship between his use of this drug and the hair loss was not immediately recognized because he also had a scaly itching scalp. Since he had assumed that the itching, scaling scalp was caused by dandruff, he had treated the symptoms with a tar-containing shampoo.

Both the hair loss and this dermatitis cleared up soon after he stopped taking nadolol, so that his scalp slowly regained its normal appearance over the next three months. Hair loss, both j on the scalp and body, although uncommon, has occurred with most beta-blocker drugs.

*132\143\2*

read comments (0)

Many factors may contribute to constipation, the American Family Physician (27#1:179) suggests, including lack of exercise, decreased appetite and thirst, and too great a reliance upon commercially prepared low bulk foods. When not disease-related, constipation should respond readily to taking extra fluid and bulk with every meal and, if necessary, a stool softener medication such as Colace, Doxidan, or Surfak.

These drugs are not effective alone and must always be taken with bran, or a lubricant (such as mineral oil), or both. When bran is added to the diet, calcium, phosphorus, and iron are trapped in the gut by the undigested cellulose. This could be a factor in the bone thinning in some of the elderly, who already have difficulty in maintaining a positive calcium balance. Calcium and iron supplements are therefore essential if one is taking bran. Also, since mineral oil traps fat-soluble vitamins, one should try to compensate for this by taking mineral oil and vitamins at different times of day.

*99\143\2*

read comments (0)

Those who become permanently short of breath because of chronic bronchitis and lung damage after decades of heavy smoking have what it called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Ultimately, they become blue in the face (when the lungs no longer allow the blood to obtain all of the body’s oxygen needs) and develop heart failure. Fatigue and weakness then develop in the overworked muscles of the chest making matters even worse.

In searching for ways to strengthen breathing and counteract the respiratory muscle fatigue, physicians have discovered that theophylline, the time-honored medication for asthma, has a consistently useful effect, the New England Journal of Medicine (311:349) reports.

Taken twice daily in doses of 500 mg for one week, theophylline improves the strength of the diaphragm and the efficiency of respiration. This effect is enough to cause marked improvement in COPD patients and is maintained for at least three weeks, even after the drug is discontinued.

How often theophylline courses need to be repeated remains to be established. Theophylline, incidentally, is an ingredient of coffee and tea, which also contain the closely related chemical, caffeine. It, too, improves the efficiency of respiration and the strength of the muscles, including the diaphragm.

*68\143\2*

read comments (0)

Although gout is known to result from uric acid crystallizing out of the blood into the joints, no one knows why only certain joints are involved, or why the disease varies in intensity from time to time regardless of how carefully one avoids foods that raise the uric acid blood level. Experts have suggested, therefore, that other unknown factors may trigger attacks of gout as well.

A rheumatologist from one of the major university medical centers recently wrote to the editor of Lancet (1:1181) suggesting that vitamin A and alcohol may be additional factors that, working together with uric acid, could bring on gouty arthritis in certain joints. Just a slight excess of vitamin A in the diet makes the blood uric acid rise much higher than it otherwise would, the rheumatologist reports. Furthermore, he states, quite normal doses of vitamin A can act like overdoses if, in addition, one takes several alcoholic drinks regularly every day.

Even by itself, when regularly taken in excess, vitamin A can cause pain in the feet, ankles, wrists, or shoulders. This is due to swelling and thickening of the bones, especially at their surfaces, along with calcium deposition in the ligaments and muscles attached to them. Since these changes can mimic gout, the rheumatologist suggests, many people who have been told that they have gouty arthritis may really be suffering from the effects of moderate but regularly taken doses of vitamin A and alcohol.

Rather than just taking gout medication, therefore, such persons might do better if they also reduced their vitamin A intake to avoid overdosage and took fewer alcoholic drinks as well.

*37\143\2*

read comments (0)

During hot weather, heat stroke fatalities occur 12-15 times more often in the elderly than in younger people, the U.S. Pharmacist (9#6:23) reports. The elderly are more prone to heat stroke because they cannot very easily get rid of their excess body heat by sweating.

For body heat to evaporate, enough blood must circulate through the skin to support extra sweating. If the heart cannot easily pump that much blood, or if the blood volume has become depleted by dehydration, insufficient blood reaches the sweat glands. As pointed out in the previous section, dehydration is commonly caused by a diuretic (“water pill”) drug that is being taken by people with heart failure or hypertension to increase the urine output. Several other drugs, including some stomach medicines and antihistamines, have a skin-drying effect that may also interfere with sweating.

So, in very hot weather, even if they are feeling well, older people should spend more time in air-conditioned places and avoid sitting in direct sunlight, particularly if they are taking any medication. If exposure to heat is unavoidable, they should try to compensate by drinking more, and (since exertion generates heat) by becoming much less physically active. Geriatrics (41 #5:108) recommends that when older people begin an exercise program in warm weather or after traveling to a warmer climate, they should limit the intensity and duration of the exercise at first and only gradually increase it over a period of 10 to 14 days.

*6\143\2*

read comments (0)