The NBC National News, quoted the Washington Post in March 2000 about the concerns that the FDA had over the mixing of supplements and conventional medications. There was concerns that millions of people are taking supplements (considered herbs, homeopathic, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes and some diet products) and having reactions when they mix these things with common and prescribed medications.

I have studied this phenomenon for over 20 years and do know for a fact that with conventional medications, these reactions are quite common. The AMA is calling for the FDA to reverse their ruling on supplements implemented in 1997.

Is this really the best approach?

Many Universities across the nation have closed their Ethno -botany and Botany labs, disallowing many with the gift in this field to aid in the search for new cures, and to determine which plants will have adverse reactions when combined with other chemicals

A good example is the treatment of Gout.

Mediations that are prescribed by traditional medicine are normally Allopurinal or Zyloprim and Colchicine (which, by the way, is a homeopathic remedy from the bulb of the Autumn Crocus) which decreases the reaction that causes uric acid in the blood. Allopurinal and Colchicine can be enhanced by a specialized diet and the elimination of some supplements that can cause an elevation of certain enzymes in the diet. Both of these drugs can also cause serious side effects and toxicity when taken in high doses and/or for a prolonged period of time.

The deficiency of certain nutrients can provoke an attack of gout, people who take antibiotics can increase the risk of an attack and a persons diet can certainly influence not only the severity of an attack, but the frequency of attacks.

There are other reactions that need to be taken into account also, and the is that Allopurinal and Colchicine has a negative effect on the liver after 6 months of use, which will make it harder for those drugs to work effectively. If you also add some supplementation, even a regular multi-vitamin into the system when the liver is already struggling to keep up with the demands of the system, this can cause an adverse reaction to the liver, in part because the liver has to work harder to absorb the micro-nutrients given in the multi-vitamin.

The balance between conventional medicine and alternative medicine is a delicate one. Right now, both schools of thought refuse to work together, and the general public is who suffers.

For some who suffered from allergies when Seldane was prescribed, this was a very concerning issue. When taking Seldane, patients were not told that taking the medication along with certain micro-nutrients could prove to be fatal, and was in a few cases across the United States.

In 1993, the New England Journal of medicine published an article in which researchers estimated that as many as 60 million people had participated in alternative medical care. A follow-up study to that one, which appeared in a 1998 issue of JAMA, estimated that the number of visits to alternative practitioners had increased more than 47 percent between 1990 and 1997 and that expenditures in 1997 for alternative medicine services exceeded 21 billion dollars.

In our small town we had a family practitioner that took care of the community needs. He was a wonderful man that always gave of his time, energy and knowledge freely. A week after he was diagnosed with Gastric Carcinoma, he called me for advice. I asked him why he would call me and ask me for help. He told me that he had watched the patients that he had diagnosed with this same disease die slow, painful and miserable death, even while they were on conventional medications. He said he knew that the traditional medications and protocols didn’t work, he had diagnosed cancers, informed the patients, watched them slowly die and he wanted something else. I treated him for 9 months; the cancer did not advance in that time, it didn’t go away either, but it didn’t advance. I asked him to do both treatments together, traditional and integrative, but he refused. He had a friend that was a Oncologist and this friend finally convinced him to try some clinical trials at a couple of Universities. In order to do that, the family doctor had to come off all other protocols that he had been taking. They waited a few weeks for the nutrients to leave his body, then started him on a a protocol called PP6 and Thalidomide. A few days after the first treatment, he told his closest friend, “I’ve killed myself”. Within a few weeks, he was totally incapacitated. He passed away some 5 months later, in sever pain and agony.

It’s not always conventional medicine at fault….A cancer patient in N-stage was being treated by both conventional physician and naturopathic physician. Because the patient had been put on Prednisone he had become edemic. The Naturopath told the patient to come off the drug immediately, and then left town on a business trip. I got a call a few days later, the patients breathing was labored and he had fluid in his lungs. The massage therapist that called explained what had happened. I told her to call the man’s medical physician immediately, the reduction of Prednisone is not suppose to be halted immediately without the patient undergoing repercussions . The patient paid the ultimate price for the bridge between alternative and conventional medicine. There is so much that can be integrated into both schools of thought and treatment. These stories are why the public is turning to other methods for treatment, most do a combination, which, as the previous story illustrates, can be detrimental to health, unless the health care giver has a knowledge of both fields and an understanding of the chemical reactions that can occur. It is always best to be responsible for your own health and treatment. No health care professional should be given total and complete control over another man’s life. The need for knowledge is a necessity when deciding to integrate different methods of treatment for the health care provider involved, it could mean the difference between the life and death of a patient.

D.S. Epperson is the top formulator for Home Blend Gourmet / South Pacific Health, a leader in the functional food industry in the U.S.. With 20 years of experience in Nutritional Biochemistry, she has written reference books on botanicals and manufacturing of medicines from botanicals, and published articles on health, fitness and foods. She has formulated over 240 formulas and inventions for health, the environment and agricultural uses, and continues to research and study microbial advantages in nutraceuticals and functional foods. Generating Pharmaceutical Sales before Marketing Authorization

According to Jennifer Lyons’ chart, she’s just a bad slip and fall who’s lucky enough to be on her way to a full recovery.

But to Jennifer, who is lying in bed with a broken mandible and broken limbs, nothing could be further from the truth. Jen was visiting the city on a business trip when her accident happened, and now she’s lying in a bed 2,000 miles away from her family. Although her husband is flying in later tonight, never in her life has Jennifer felt more disconnected. That is, until her nurse points out the revolutionary screen standing next to her bed. Even though she can’t move her mouth, two minutes later, Jennifer is catching up with her children.

Two floors down, Rebecca Forrester is also lying in bed with no family members around her. She’s in her eighties and the fall she took is already developing a complication ? pneumonia. Her daughter is working in Tokyo and will take a day to get to her side ? a day Rebecca may not have. With no telephones in this ICU, Rebecca knows if her daughter doesn’t make it to her in time, she may never be able to speak to her again. Until a nurses’ aide enters with a wireless web pad. A minute later, Rebecca and her daughter are talking.

In a growing number of hospitals nationwide, hooking up your patients has just taken on a whole new meaning. Whether via wireless web pads, or bedside units, patient Internet access is revolutionizing patient care and patient communication.

Originally conceived as a way to reduce boredom and facilitate patient education, the units quickly began to add other features including relaxation videos, local TV channels, video games and telephones, besides videos and information patients can access on specific healthcare issues. Feedback is already showing what medical professionals have suspected for years — people simply feel better when they’re active and connected with the world around them. Even video games ? just a welcome diversion for the rest of us ? help patients take theirs mind off pain, requiring less pain medication. But patient Internet manufacturers didn’t stop there. They also found a way to add a host of applications that increase bedside patient care in ways never before possible, by bringing the information age right to the bedside.

Many systems now integrate electronic medical record systems, bar code medication systems and even digital imaging directly into the web screen units. This means that doctors and nurses can do chart notes, look up lab results and in some cases order or dispense medications without leaving the patient’s bedside. The web screens also make it easy to view diagnostic images or go over them with the patient. Not only does this save time and energy, it increases patient privacy.

But for the patients, it’s all about facilitating communication whenever they need it ? with loved ones, with friends or even with work. Just because someone is hospitalized doesn’t mean they have to be isolated. For Jennifer Lyons, being able to communicate with her children means everything. Not only does she feel connected, because she can check in with them a few times a day, she feels more able to relax knowing that everything is fine at home.

As for Rebecca, she didn’t fare as well. The pneumonia took hold and her daughter was unable to get to the hospital quickly enough to be with her before she passed away. But with the wireless web pad and a little help from her nurses’ aide, Rebecca and her daughter spent the rest of the day writing back and forth, telling stories, sharing memories and making sure they said everything to each other, that they wanted to say. And to them, that made all the difference. Priceless.

For tools you and your staff can use to facilitate patient communication download a free copy of the Seven Steps to Successful Notification System, in PDF format, at the Next of Kin Education Project web site. Along with the Information Kit, you’ll find patient chart pages and notification worksheets using the Seven Steps, that you can purchase and customize to use as part of your own charting system. You’ll find them on the NOKEP web site along with reminder products like mouse pads, posters and coffee mugs, to keep the Seven Steps at your staff’s fingertips.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is responsible for overseeing the testing, manufacturing, and distribution of prescription drugs in the United States.

Drug companies in the United States operate in a free market and can charge whatever they want for their medications. The United States remains one of the few nations that do not regulate drug companies to help control costs. As a result, Americans are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money for prescription medications.

With the internet’s increased popularity as a source for goods and services, it was only a matter of time before Americans began to search for online sources of prescription drugs. The FDA is trying to do its part to safeguard the public from online pharmacies that may be less than reputable. Every market suffers its share of dishonest companies seeking to make a quick buck, but in the case of prescription drugs, the effects can be more serious than just loosing money.

The FDA has stated major concerns that people choosing to use an online pharmacy should be aware of. Among the most important is the need for a one-on-one physical exam by your doctor prior to taking any medication. Though a visit to your doctor is not always required by law, it is the smartest way to insure your safety, especially if you are taking a prescription drug for the first time.

Another concern is whether or not the drugs you are buying are FDA approved. You should only buy from pharmacies that supply FDA approved drugs (This applies only to pharmacies based in the United States. All U.S. pharmacies recommended on this web site advertise to sell only FDA approved medications).

The FDA also recommends that you check to see that the pharmacy posts their address and/or phone number on the web site, and that there is a means of contacting their pharmacist should you choose to do so.

It would surprise many to see that the FDA is not as close minded as you might expect with regard to Internet prescription drug sales. They recognize the benefits the Internet can offer individuals, such as convenience, privacy, and access to drugs for the disabled.

Their biggest gripe seems to be with the fact that many people will use the Internet to circumvent important safeguards such as proper supervision by a physician. Taking a prescription drug for the first time can cause side effects that may go unnoticed by the individual. A doctor might be able to spot these effects and adjust the dosage, or recommend you discontinue taking the drug.

The bottom line is that the FDA can only do so much. It will ultimately be up to you, the consumer, to be diligent and responsible when making choices regarding your prescription drug usage.

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Clinton’s recent quadruple bypass surgery has been largely debated. Being on the South Beach Diet made everybody wonder how the former president’s illness advanced so much as to need to be surgically corrected. Some even blame it on the diet. Some wonder why the diet didn’t help avoiding surgery.

Fact is that, first of all, being on the South Beach Diet for a relatively short time or being on any other diet couldn’t work miracles and suddenly reverse atherosclerosis. It is true that recent clinical trials have indicated that with a reduced cholesterol level, reduced weight and regular exercise heart disease may regress but a longer period of time is required to restore what was built in decades. Studies show that coronary artery disease starts as early as childhood progressing throughout adolescence and childhood.

Then, there were other factors sure to worsen Clinton’s condition. In heart disease there are several risk factors that cannot be changed: age, heredity, gender. Older males with a family history of heart disease are more likely to suffer from it, and Bill Clinton fit the profile.

Stressful life contributed to a great extent to his illness, although he is known to exercise regularly. Among other benefits, exercise helps relieving of stress. But the former president overlooked other important aspects. His fondness for smoking and unhealthy foods worsened the situation. Since he started the South Beach diet he lost weight. Probably if dieting had been one of his priorities earlier in his life, his health would have improved substantially. Unfortunately, it seems that his doctors were not that persuasive! The result was that surgery was needed to prevent a heart attack.

Following the South Beach Diet (in a low-sodium version) on a long term basis, accompanied by an exercise routine and quitting smoking would be likely to help the former president to improve his health after his release from the hospital.

10 Tips for Responsible Medication Use

A neuroma is an inflamed nerve. In the foot, the most common place for a neuroma is between the third and fourth toes. The main nerve to your foot originates in the spine and travels down the back of the leg to the bottom of the foot and out to the toes. When the nerve becomes irritated, electrical or burning pain shoots out to the toes when walking. The second, third and fourth toes can become numb. There can be a sensation of walking on a lamp cord or a lump. Removing the shoe and massaging the ball of the foot can bring relief.

To help decrease the pain, try the following tips:

1. Rest. Every step you take aggravates the nerve. Decreasing the time on your feet will help decrease the inflammation. If you walk for exercise, try biking or swimming instead.

2. Avoid activities that aggravate the pain. Squatting, walking or running hills, climbing up and down stairs and carrying heavy items will increase the stress through the ball of the foot and irritate the nerve. Taking the stress off the nerve will help decrease the irritation, decrease the inflammation and accelerate healing.

3. Wear low-heel shoes. Any shoe (cowboy boots or high heeled dress shoes) will place excessive pressure on the ball of the foot. Keep the heel height below 1 inch.

4. Wear shoes with a wide toe box. If the toes are cramped together, this places pressure on the nerve, worsening the irritation. Your toes should have enough room to “wiggle”.

5. Wear rigid shoes. Wearing flexible shoes increases the force placed through the ball of the foot. A rigid shoe with a rocker sole will decrease the pressure on the nerve.

6. Ice your foot. Placing ice of the ball of the foot for 20 minutes once or twice a day will decrease pain and inflammation.

7. Use contrast soaks. Start with 5 minutes of heat, then apply 5 minutes of ice, then switch back to heat and alternate for 20-30 minutes. Contrasting between hot and cold will help decrease the inflammation around the nerve.

8. Place a neuroma pad in your shoe. A neuroma pad (similar to a metatarsal pad) can be placed in the shoe, under the ball of the foot. The pad lifts up the bones in the foot to help decrease the pressure on the nerve. The pad should be placed behind the ball of the foot.

9. Slip inserts into your shoe. Make sure the insert you buy is an orthotic. The device should be semi-rigid to help control motion in the foot. These can be bought at your local running shop or sports store.

10. See your podiatrist. If the pain persists after taking these steps, make an appointment with your podiatrist.

Signs of Suicide : Learn What They are and How to Deal with Them

Your dating site profile is the most important tool you have to find love online-and fast. It’s the identity that you put forward to other online daters, it’s what people see when they’re looking for people like you and it’s all you’ve got to make a first impression and pull in the proposals.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that all that lies between you and the end of your single days is the skill with which you complete your profile.

The kind of information that you’ll be asked to reveal about yourself will vary from service to service. Dating sites put a huge amount of effort into coming up with the right questions to make matching easy without putting off new members. Some sites for example, will ask you to tick just a handful of boxes and write one short paragraph. Others will have section after section that grill you about your personality, your interests, your hopes and your history.

In general, it’s a good idea to complete all the sections of a dating site profile however many they may be. You don’t have to do it all in one sitting and you can certainly come back to fill in the gaps later, but as long as you have spaces in your profile that remain unfilled you can give the impression of looking evasive and less than completely serious.

The good news is that the bulk of the profile won’t take long to complete. Even the most demanding sites don’t ask you to write more than three or four mini-compositions about yourself and your ideal date, and the majority of just about any dating site profile is always a series of checkboxes about your likes and dislikes.

Fill these sections in as accurately and as quickly as you can and move on. For the most part, cyberdaters skip right past these parts of the profile. They look too much like shopping lists. Mostly they help the site’s matching engine far more than the dater looking for a match. The fact that someone likes jazz more than rock, or comedies more than documentaries, doesn’t really tell you whether they’re going to like you-or whether you’re going to like them.

A few checkboxes though are important. When you come to tell the world the age range of the person you’re looking for, it’s important to be realistic. Many men in particular like to think that because there are so many women on the Internet, they can use it as a way to meet women half their age. That’s not impossible but at best it’s going to need a long wait and at worst, it’s going to be a compete waste of time.

Internet dating can bring all sorts of people together. It can certainly match people up who are looking for something very specific-and even a little unusual. But when you begin looking for someone online, you want your profile to be as inclusive as possible. Once the emails come in, you can then start to focus on the most attractive responses. If you’d like to meet someone in their early twenties for example but would also be happy with someone in their mid-thirties then it’s best to choose a wide age range that casts a big net than focus on one particular group and change when you feel you’re not having any luck.

When it comes to describing your own age range though, honesty is always the best policy. There’s always a temptation for cyberdaters in their early-somethings to shave a few years off and slip back into an earlier decade. It happens a lot (and it’s a good reason to be suspicious of people who claim to be aged 29 or 38 etc.) But it’s just not worth it. At some point you will have to spill the beans and spilling them in front of someone you really want to impress is far worse than being honest to someone you haven’t met and might never meet. If the passing single really doesn’t want to date someone your age, it’s best not to meet them at all than date them and get the rejection face-to-face.

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However you like to do it, dating is a dangerous game. Not talking to strangers might be sound advice to give to kids but as a strategy to stop being single, it has at least one obvious drawback. Unless you want to marry your cousin, finding someone to settle down with will involve making eye contact with total strangers, engaging them in conversation and meeting them one-on-one.

There are two obvious dangers here. The first is that your new friend might appear to be a complete charmer but could actually be a cold-blooded philanderer with a record of heart-breaking. They’ll think nothing of leading you on, playing games and trampling over your emotions. That’s bad enough and you’ve probable had enough of people like that already.

The second danger is even worse, even if it is a great deal rarer. The attractive stranger that you meet in the bar could actually be an escaped convict from the local sanatorium. Instead of finding someone who makes you feel safe and secure for the rest of your life, you pick someone up who’s going to put your safety at risk and require you to take out a series of court orders and new alarm systems.

Although the chances of meeting someone like this online is extremely small, it is worth making the effort to be cautious. In this chapter, we’re going to talk about how to steer clear of this second group and stay safe online.

Anonymity Cuts Both Ways

When you meet someone in a bar, the initial pick-up is as much a safety check as it is a check-out. If you spot someone attractive sitting alone at the table next to yours, before you even give them a look-before you make any kind of contact at all-you observe them for a few minutes to see how they behave with the waiters, by themselves or with people who pass by. If they are rude, arrogant or just downright unpleasant, it doesn’t matter how much of a looker they are, you’re still going to look right on by. Only if you’re sure they’re normal, civilized human beings do you try to make eye contact, pluck up the courage to face rejection and make your move.

And once you do make that move, you’re always looking out for little signals that tell you that the person you’re talking to is less than normal. There are all sorts of clues to help you do that: the way someone dresses, the way they talk and their body language to name but a few-and you notice all of them without even realizing that you’re looking for them.

A cowboy hat and a Texas drawl for example, tell you instantly where someone is from and where they stand in the country’s cultural divide. Bleached hair and sentences that end with ‘dude’ tell you much the same. Nervous twitches, roaming hands and peculiar scratching all say something about the person you’re sizing up and help you make a decision about whether you should make a date or make an excuse.

Face-to-face, you’ve got a ton of different signals that tell you huge amounts about the person you’re thinking of chatting to.

Online, you’ve got nothing to go on but what the person puts on their profile and writes in their email.

“Unlike real-life relationships where you have some idea of what a person drives, what they really look like, how they live, etc., online you have none of that,” says Lisa Hupman, a veteran cyberdater who set up WildXangel.com, a website that warns other daters about the dangers in online dating. “You give more trust than is actually due because you have no choice.”

And the reason you have no choice-or more accurately, little choice-about the level of trust you give is that the main tool that protects you online is the same thing that protects the occasional nutcase who roams the Web: anonymity.

There is no way for two people who exchange emails online to know the real identities of the people they’re writing to. The email you receive lands in an inbox located on the site.

The name you choose is one you create and should bear no relation to your real identity.

As long as you don’t let your real, full name slip out before you’ve built up a certain amount of trust, you start an online relationship fully protected by the fact that the person who writes to you has no idea who you are, where you live or how they can get hold of you outside the site.

When you date online, the dating identity that’s doing the looking exists only on the Internet. There’s a complete barrier between your online self and the real you-and that barrier is your best protection against any wacko you might be unlucky enough to meet online.

If you have the bad luck to meet a loony at a dating site, as long as you’ve kept your identity a secret, there’s no way that they can bother you in real life.

Of course, that works for them too. Because there’s no way for you to check the identity of someone you meet online, you’ve got no idea whether the doctor who sent you an email got his or her degree certificate from Harvard, as they claim, or ordered it from a website in Romania. You’ve got no idea if they were really working for the Peace Corps for the last two years or spent that time sewing mailbags in a state penitentiary. And you’ve got no idea whether the person who described themselves as passionate will leave you alone once you tell them you’re not interested or hang around outside your front door waiting for you to come home from work.

It would be nice if there were a checklist that you could go through when you meet someone online. If they mentioned ‘knives’ more than three times in the first email, you could tick a box. If they mentioned that they served multiple sentences for violent crimes, that would lead you to tick another box. If they talked about their friendship with the Unabomber that would strike them out.

But it’s not that easy.

The best way to keep yourself safe online is to follow three simple rules: keep your anonymity as long as possible; remember that if something feels wrong, it probably is; and cut them out quick and completely as soon as you smell something fishy.

1. Keeping Your Name (And Everything Else) To Yourself There’s no reason at the beginning of an online relationship for you to say who you are, where you work, where you live, what your telephone number is or any other identifying detail that you might later regret.

When you start exchanging emails, you can chat about your hobbies. You can talk in general about the kind of work you do. You can say that you like walking in Central Park or heading out to Sequoia. But tell someone you’ve never seen, never met and whose real name you don’t know that you live at 123 Killmenow Road, Apt. 103 and it’s certainly possible that you’ll have reason to regret it when you find yourself looking for a new apartment.

In a later chapter we talk in more detail about what the first couple of emails of an Internet relationship are supposed to do. At this stage though, it’s enough to say that what they’re not supposed to do is draw out personal information that would allow your new pal to find you offline.

If someone asks for a phone number, you can tell them politely that you’d rather hold onto it for a while. If they ask exactly where you work, you can just say a big law firm in the city or a clothes store in town. If they ask, in their first email, for your address, you can delete their message, add them to your blocked members list and tell the website that this person looks a bit suspicious.

2. If Something Looks Wrong, It Probably Is… That’s because on the Internet, it pays to be suspicious.

The vast majority of the people you meet online will be as honest, direct and truthful as the people you meet offline. It’s unlikely that you’ll come across many angels who will lay out their entire life histories, warts and all, right at the beginning, but it’s also very unlikely that you’ll be unfortunate enough to come across any axe-wielding psychopaths or the stereotypical man masquerading as a woman-or vice-versa (most of those seem to have run off with Netscape in the early days of the Internet).

For the most part, you’ll find that the vast majority of fibs you encounter on dating sites tend to concern age, weight, income and of course photo, with ten-year-old graduation photos passing as up-to-date snaps.

That’s certainly bad enough but it’s not a threat and you can decide, when you uncover the real story, whether the truth has been stretched beyond the bounds of forgiveness.

You can also get a feel for when someone’s lying online-even if you can’t see the way they behave when they’re spinning you a story and you can’t hear in their voice that not even they believe what they’re saying. It’s hard to keep a story straight and there are often little inconsistencies the tell you that something isn’t quite right.

If someone born in 1974 for example, talks about having been in their current job for twelve years and their previous job for fifteen, then that should set alarm bells ringing. If a potential date who claims on their profile never to have been married mentions a stay with ex-in-laws, that should raise a red flag. And if someone says they don’t like spending time with the police that should send out a serious warning.

These are exactly the kind of tell-tale signs that tell you that something isn’t quite right. And when you get those signs, it’s always a good idea to trust your instincts.

3. Cut Them Out Quick We’ve already mentioned that you might come across two different kinds of deception online: the more common truthful economies that exaggerate positive qualities such as youth or wealth at the expense of complete honesty; and the total lies that obscure a character that likes to stalk, harass or otherwise make life miserable for their unfortunate victim.

When you come across the first type-and there’s a fair chance that you will come across the first type online, just as you’ll come across milder forms offline too-you can decide what you want to do. If you’re dealing with just a mild little exaggeration you might be willing to forgive them their trespasses (just you might be hoping that people will forgive you yours).

But if you get the feeling that the person you’re dealing with is even close to being on the dangerous side, the best thing to do is cut them out quickly.

Just about all dating sites allow you to block emails from members who are bothering you. Add them to your blocked list and if you’ve managed to keep your identity details secret, that should be the last you hear from them.

Don’t even think twice about it. With millions of people searching for singles online, with such a huge reservoir of people to choose from, there’s absolutely no reason for you to take any risks at all on the Internet. The dangers are just too great and the alternatives too many for you to bother with them.

The moment you see even the slightest hint of a red flag waving, cut, run and move on to the next likely prospect. There are far too many fish in the sea for you to waste your time and your safety swimming with the sharks.

Millions of people have used online dating sites without ever coming across the slightest hint of danger, risk or deception. If you do see a flag, it’s more likely to be the light pink of a couple of years shaved off a birth date than the throbbing red of a Glenn Close looking for a victim. While it’s perfectly possible-and even easy-for someone to misrepresent their qualifications online, it’s no less easy for you to protect yourself from any danger and look for someone more honest.

To keep safe online, and to protect yourself from nasty surprises such as lying Lotharios and deceptive divas, you’ll need little more than common sense and a sensitive nose for the whiff of deceit.

Merav Knafo

Merav Knafo is the co-founder of LookBetterOnline.com. LookBetterOnline offers an easy and economical solution to the problem of sub-standard online dating photos. Available in over 6000 cities in the US and Canada, all the photographers they employ are pre-screened, are specially trained and will make you look your best! You get 12 great images that are the perfect size and resolution for your profile - and for no additional charge, their staff will recommend the best photos to use!

Do your photos do you justice? If they aren’t working for you, they may be working against you.

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Now you all know I have become a bit cynical in regards to dating lately. Especially since my last burn. Now I feel like I am getting over it, got the closure and now I am moving on. But the hurt still raises it’s ugly head every now and again. A little reminder will pop up every once in awhile. I got to the point where every time I would think about the ex, I would say to myself he must be thinking about me, then I think, good let him wallow in it. I will be just fine. So it has been a little over a month and a half. Since I found out what kind of man he was. I have decided to try to put myself back out there. Every time I go through a bunch of crap with a guy, I sit and think, I should’ve stayed with my ex- husband, at least I know all his faults and his positives too. Well that lasts all of about 5 minutes and then I get over that too. He is a good guy, but it didn’t work for a reason.

So now it is time to move forward not backward. Me, being a little adventurous decided to try a dating service. An on- line dating service. On- line dating worked for my sister and her now husband, so why shouldn’t it work for me? Why not give it a try. I would like to say the name of this dating service but I won’t, not just yet anyways. It has been just over a week and it took a little time to come up with some matches that I was personally interested in. Now this will be a new thing for me and involving my writing because I am taking you along with me every step of the way. We will see what happens. I have at the present, about 7-8 matches, and by matches I mean people the dating service seems to think I am compatible with. I like this service so far for a variety of reasons. You have to do profiles and they match you based on that, plus you have to correspond through their site for a while so that seems safe for now. There have been two guys in particular who I am interested in, but we will see. For some reason I always pick older men. Go figure. I just prefer older men I guess. Older men seem to be more grounded I guess. They also seem to know what they want and are usually not into playing games. Except the last guy I dated he was older and such a player.

Well you all will be kept up to date, because I can’t do this alone. I am more leery now and yes a little afraid. One good thing about me and my dating is, I never get my son involved, with any of the men. I did it one time and I will never do it again until I know for sure I have met my one and only. I never wanted to have my child involved. Everyone should really think about that. I mean your kids have already went through enough with the split with you and their father or mother, there is no need to let them get attached and get hurt again. Please just consider what I am saying regarding that. The kids shouldn’t be involved until it becomes a done deal really and you know with 100% certainty that you want to be together. Good- luck to all of you singles out there. I hope you find love and happiness. God Bless.

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Today there are about 70 million Americans with arthritis?that’s one person out of every four who suffer both pain and the expense of this crippling disease. In one year alone, arthritis will be responsible for over half a billion dollars in lost wages. The economic consequences of arthritis are important to review because each year, arthritis takes a devastating financial toll on our society.

Over the course of ten years, arthritis related work loss has been associated with a 37% drop in income for arthritics ? all those without arthritis had a 90% rise in income over the same period of time!

If you?a friend?or a relative has arthritis, it’s important to know that early treatment can help sufferers continue with their normal daily lives and remain productive members of the community.

The term “arthritis” is derived from the Greek: “arthron” meaning “joint” and “itis” meaning inflammation. Arthritis is a word that describes over 100 different conditions, some involving inflammation and others not.

Arthritis is not a single disease. It encompasses about 100 different conditions, that affect joints and that pose unique problems for diagnosis and treatment.

Some common types of arthritis include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, pseudo-gout, ankylosing spondylitis, polymyalgia rheumatica, psoriatic arthritis, Reiter’s disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and fibromyalgia.

Most types of arthritis involve joint inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury or infection.

For an example of inflammation, take a simple scratch?your body automatically releases chemicals that cause fluids to accumulate and white blood cells to gather around the area of the scratch. As your body fights foreign substances and bacteria, inflammation?redness?heat?swelling?and pain occur at the sight of the injury.

In arthritis, unfortunately, this natural defense mechanism goes awry. Elements from the blood designed to fight infection and repair injury attack the body instead.

And, unless this inflammatory process is halted, it will continue to attack the body and cause joint destruction.

So you can begin to see how treatments that just relieve the pain associated with arthritis ? but that do not reduce inflammation ? may not adequately treat this disease.

Getting proper treatment early on is important?because proper care can help arthritis sufferers lead more active and comfortable lives.

Yet many people with arthritis delay going to a physician. Either they have fear about going to a doctor or they feel that nothing can be done for arthritis. Other reasons include the notion that all arthritis medicines are harmful or arthritis is just a normal part of aging.

Some people try unproven remedies which also delay proper diagnosis and treatment.

Since arthritis may evolve gradually, people often ignore its early warning symptoms or signs. These include persistent pain, tenderness, or swelling in one or more joints?symptoms that should not be dismissed as signs of age.

Other warning symptoms are joint pain and stiffness?especially when they appear in the morning.

Low back pain is one of the earliest symptoms of arthritis. For people over the age of 60, arthritis is the most frequent cause of low back pain.

The activity of arthritis varies unpredictably. Symptoms are cyclic in nature and seem to come and go.

Therefore, it is important to remember that any symptoms or signs of arthritis that last for more than six weeks ? no matter how mild ? should be checked by a physician. And, if symptoms are severe, then even waiting six weeks might be too long.

The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Joint inflammation is involved in both.

But, these types of arthritis differ in terms of?age of patients who are affected?the joints involved?the pattern of stiffness?and the potential for disability.

Close to 16 million Americans have osteoarthritis ? the most common type of arthritis. Although osteoarthritis can occur at any age, it most often begins in people in their 50’s and 60’s.

Osteoarthritis or degenerative disc disease is a disorder of cartilage ? the gristle that covers the ends of long bones. Cartilage is made of cell called chondrocytes which sit inside a framework made up of collagen and proteoglyens. Under normal conditions, chondrocytes make collagen and proteoglycens ? in other works ? they make the framework they sit inside. With osteoarthritis, chondrocytes behave abnormally and begin to make destructive enzymes such as collagenasese, stromelysin and others. These enzymes degrade cartilage?these enzymes also attract inflammatory cells which secrete substances called cytokines which cause further inflammation and damage to cartilage, underlying bone, and the joint lining.

This process results in progressive pain, stiffness, and loss of function.

Joint pain and stiffness are the most noticeable symptoms of osteoarthritis. Morning stiffness is usually brief lasting less than 15 minutes. Osteoarthritis usually affects weight bearing areas particularly the neck, low back, hips and knees.

It may also affect the fingers and hands and bony knobs may appear at the finger joints. The base of the thumb may also be affected. The typical pattern of osteoarthritis in the hands involves the distal and proximal interphalangeal (DIP and PIP) joints of the fingers, and the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint of the thumb.

Osteoarthritis is considered to be a degenerative joint disease. Along with inflammation, there is wear and tear on the inside of the joint.

This causes damage to the cartilage (the substance that forms the surface of the joints and works as a shock absorber). As the cartilage wears thin, the underlying bone is damaged. This process results in progressive pain, stiffness, and loss of function.

Osteoarthritis does not need to be disabling and with the proper medical care can be managed easily.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the other most common type of arthritis. It is more common in women and affects 7 million Americans?or one out of every five arthritis patients. It may affect any age group, although onset is most common in middle age.

Rheumatoid arthritis is usually characterized by heat, swelling, and pain in multiple joints in both the right and left sides of the body, including the hands, wrists, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and feet. Spinal involvement also occurs on occasion.

The typical pattern of rheumatoid arthritis in the hands involves the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints, the metacarpal phalangeal (MCP) joints, the wrists, and the elbows.

Unlike osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis can affect the entire body. People with this disease may feel sick all over?tire easily?lose their appetite?and lose weight.

In rheumatoid arthritis, the tissue that surrounds and nourishes the joints is attacked by the body’s immune system. The body mistakenly perceives its own tissue as foreign, and it reacts by sending special white blood cells and toxic chemicals called cytokines to destroy the foreign material. (The cytokine abnormalities that cause the damage in rheumatoid arthritis are different from the abnormalities seen in osteoarthritis.) This process of white cell migration and cytokine release damages the joint.

Although we do not know the cause of rheumatoid arthritis, researchers are investigating several possibilities.

Another interesting point about rheumatoid arthritis is that this disease can affect the internal organs including the lungs, skin, blood vessels, spleen, heart, and muscles.

If rheumatoid arthritis is not well controlled it can damage the joints irreversibly and cause serious disability.

To diagnose rheumatoid arthritis, the rheumatologist establishes the presence of joint pain and inflammation lasting at least six weeks and then looks for signs of the course of the disease that are characteristic for rheumatoid arthritis.

There are also blood tests that aid in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a series of flare-ups followed by a period where there are mild or no symptoms. Usually, the pain and disability of rheumatoid arthritis progresses gradually.

Morning stiffness generally lasts longer than half an hour and may last several hours depending on the severity of the condition.

Most forms of arthritis persist for the patient’s lifetime. Medication cannot usually reverse the bone and soft tissue damage caused by arthritis.

However, new methods of measuring inflammation and its response to medication and other treatments offer valuable information to physicians?and can help to evaluate the arthritis sufferer’s discomfort.

Magnetic resonance imaging is one such technique. This method using the effects that strong magnets have on water molecules to provide exquisite images of the interior of the body. MRI has been used to diagnose and also assess the degree of damage within joints of patients suffering from arthritis. It is also helpful for evaluating the effect of new drugs.

Although there is no cure for arthritis, proper treatment can help tremendously. The goal of arthritis treatment is to relieve the pain and stiffness due to the progressive destruction caused by inflammation, and to maintain or increase freedom of movement.

Among the advancements that have taken place in the medical treatment of arthritis are various disease-modifying medications that not only relieve symptoms but also help slow down the progression of disease.

Other advances include various cartilage sparing drugs, cartilage growing drugs, and also biologic remedies. These drugs act by blocking the destructive effects of enzymes such as metalloproteases in osteoarthritis and cytokines in rheumatoid arthritis. By targeting specific processes, relief of symptoms and healing of damage can take place with presumably fewer side effects.

What can you do if you think you have arthritis?

First, you can consult your doctor. This is important because medical issues are complicated and your doctor, who understands your health needs, can prescribe the best treatment for you.

The type of doctor who can best evaluate arthritis is called a rheumatologist. These are physicians who have completed four years of medical school, three years of internal medicine residency, and three years of rheumatology fellowship.

While arthritis can be a serious disease that can progress and cause disability, science has come up with some new answers for arthritis sufferers. It is now up to the arthritis sufferer to recognize early warning signs and symptoms and to see a rheumatologist. With proper medical care, the course of this crippling disease may change and people can help to be returned to fully active lives ? without pain and crippling disability.

Dr. Wei (pronounced “way”) is a board-certified rheumatologist and Clinical Director of the nationally respected Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center of Maryland. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and has served as a consultant to the Arthritis Branch of the National Institutes of Health. He is a Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology and the American College of Physicians.

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The most common cause of heel pain is plantar fasciitis (plan * tar fash* ee * I * tis). If you experience a sharp pain in your heel when you first step down in the morning, it is most likely due to plantar fasciitis. This type of heel pain may also occur as achiness at the end of the day in the heel or even burning pain in the arch. Plantar fasciitis can be associated with a heel spur, but this is not the cause of the pain. When the long ligament like structure (plantar fascia) on the bottom of the foot pulls on the heel bone over a period of time, a spur is formed. Only 50% of individuals with plantar fasciitis have a bone spur in their heel. The spur will never go away, but the plantar fasciitis will. Plantar fasciitis is typically caused by a new activity, a new pair of shoes, a worn out pair of shoes, a change of routine or change in job. Individuals with flatfeet or abnormal motion in the feet may have a higher chance of developing plantar fasciitis. Once you develop plantar fasciitis, you may find it very difficult to treat.

1. Identify the cause: There is typically a reason for the development of plantar fasciitis, but since the condition is not typically associated with an acute injury it may be hard to remember. Once the cause is identified, try to stop or modify the activity.

2. Decrease aggravating activities: Climbing up and down stairs, walking or running on hills, squatting, carrying heavy items and walking on uneven terrain all place excess stress through the feet. Decrease these activities by asking your spouse, significant other or friend for help with the kids or carrying heavy items. Avoid multiple trips up and down the stairs at work and home. Limit gardening to flatter more even terrain. Stop running and walking for exercise and try biking or swimming. Avoid the stair stepper, the treadmill and the elliptical machine at the gym.

3. Stop running or walking: Keeping up aerobic activity is important and cross training can help. Try biking or swimming. Most walkers hate the stationary bike at the gym, but this isn’t forever. Don’t drop your heel when you bike and try to avoid standing and climbing steep hills if you cycle outdoors. If you participate in spin classes, you may need to modify the class to avoid further injury to the foot. The recumbent stationary bike may place excess stress through the arch because of the position. The classic stationary bike may be more appropriate.

4. Try using an ice massage: Freeze a sports water bottle and place it on the floor. To decrease inflammation and pain in your arch, roll your foot over the water bottle for at least 20 minutes twice a day. Alternate between the frozen water bottle and a heating pad, at 5 minute increments, for 20-30 minutes a day, three to four times a week.

5. Stretch your calf: Before you get out of bed, wrap the towel or belt around the ball of your foot. Pull the foot towards you, keeping your leg straight. You should feel a stretch in the back of the calf, and this will also stretch the bottom of the foot. Stretch your calf throughout the day with the runner’s stretch and spend 5-10 minutes every evening stretching your calf.

6. Take anti-inflammatory medications: Anti-inflammatory medications will help decrease the inflammation that occurs in the fascia as a result of the stress and tearing. Make sure you decrease your activity level and stretch and ice as much as possible during the time you are taking these medications. Otherwise, you may end up only masking the pain. Take the medication with food and stop taking the medication if you experience stomach discomfort.

7. Wear supportive shoes: A supportive shoe will only bend at the toes. This step may seem logical, but many individuals don’t realize that their comfortable shoes lack support and may be contributing to their pain. Test your shoe by taking it, flipping it over and grabbing the toe area and the heel. Attempt to fold the shoe in half. If the shoe bends in half, then the shoe is not supportive. Don’t go barefoot. See the American Podiatric Medical Association’s (APMA) list of approved shoes at www.apma.org/ seal/sealaccategory.html.

8. Strengthen the muscles in your feet: Place a small towel on the floor and curl your toes on the towel as you bring the towel towards you. Place marbles on the floor and pick them up with your toes and place them in a bowl.

9. Wear orthotics: Prefabricated orthotics are inserts that fit into the shoe to help control motion in your feet. Controlling abnormal motion in the feet can decrease the stress and help the plantar fascia heal. Soft inserts available at the drug store may be comfortable, but they will not help control abnormal motion. Make sure the orthotics you buy are rigid or stiff from the heel to the ball of the foot.

10. See a podiatrist: If your symptoms persist, make an appointment with your podiatrist. Other treatments include prescription anti-inflammatory medications, steroid injections, night splints, physical therapy, cast boots, shock wave therapy and surgery. Luckily, very few individuals need surgery.

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