In mid February of this year (2008) the American College of Physicians (ACP), the second largest doctors group in the United States, released a statement urging that the use of marijuana by patients with certain diseases be reconsidered by the U.S. Government.

Currently some states; Montana, Oregon, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington, Maine, and Vermont, have medical marijuana laws. Ann Arbor, Michigan and Columbia, Missouri have local medical marijuana measures

The federal government still lists marijuana, used in any form, as illegal. The US Supreme court ruled against the use of medical marijuana saying that federal agents can arrest anyone who plants or uses marijuana, even if their health care professionals advised use of the plant could be beneficial.

The physicians group said additional research is needed to clarify the therapeutic effects of marijuana and determine standard doses and the method of delivery. One active ingredient has been isolated from marijuana by the drug industry and has been proven as an effective pain killer. The ACP statement reads “ACP encourages the use of non-smoked forms of THC (the main psychoactive element in marijuana) that have proven therapeutic value.” Additional research will not be possible without the support of the US Government, and the government discourages research on marijuana for medical use according to the doctors group.

Marijuana is a member of the hemp family and it was not illegal in the United States until the 1937 “Marijuana Tax Act”. History records ‘reefer madness’ was prevalent in the United States during and after the great depression and the act did not make it illegal to grow the product, it simply taxed the farmer to the extent that they could not afford to grow the plant. The law was not discriminating and applied to all hemp products, not just the intoxicating variety of hemp. Citizens lost the availability of many hemp related products as a result of this law.

The marijuana variety of hemp has intoxicating properties. So does the opium poppy. Codeine and morphine, which are used extensively for pain control, are derivatives of opium. Both codeine and morphine are used after surgery, and prescribed regularly by physicians for pain control. Perhaps, as has been suggested by many people from all walks of life, the lack of a medical marijuana law is more political than health related.

Marijuana may not prove to be any more effective for medical purposes than other substances, but the research should be allowed to prove or disprove its value.

Alternative Medicine – Medical Marijuana – Myth or Reality? | Health News

Related posts

• Could smoking pot raise testicular cancer risk? (0)
• Sequencing of virus DNA may help fight common cold (0)
• Science News / Breast Cancer Costs Poor People More (0)
• Researchers Report Stem Cell Advance (0)
• Rapid HIV evolution avoids attack (0)

A recent study published in the Oxford University Press journal Brain reports that when stroke patients in Finland listened to music for a couple of hours each day, their verbal memory and attention span improved significantly compared to patients who either received no musical stimulation or who listened only to stories read aloud.

These findings support growing research pointing to the benefits of music and music therapy for conditions including autism, schizophrenia and dementia. However, “this is the first time music alone has been shown to have a positive effect on victims of brain injury such as stroke” said the study’s lead author Teppo Sarkamo, a psychologist at the Cognitive Brain Research Unit at the University of Helsinki.

The trial, conducted between March 2004 and May 2006, involved 60 patients whose ages averaged just under 60. All had recently experienced a stroke of the middle cerebral artery in the left or right side of the brain, which is the most common type of stroke. Most had problems with movement, as well as cognitive processes such as memory and focusing their attention.

Sarkamo and colleagues started working with the patients as soon as possible after they had been admitted to the hospital. “We thought that it was important to start the listening as soon as possible during the acute post-stroke stage, as the brain can undergo dramatic changes during the first weeks and months of recovery and we know these changes can be enhanced by stimulation from the environment,” Sarkamo said.

The patients were randomly divided into three groups. All participants received standard rehabilitation treatment. One group listened to at least two hours of their favorite music each day, mostly Finnish or English-language pop. The second group listened to audio books, and the third group to neither.

The 54 patients who completed the study received a battery of cognitive and psychological tests that showed a vast improvement. Three months after their stroke, the verbal memory of the music listeners was boosted by 60 percent, by 18 percent in audio book listeners, and by 29 percent for those who listened to neither. “These differences were still essentially the same six months after the stroke,” said Sarkamo.

The music listeners also had a 17 percent improvement in their ability to focus attention. In addition, the music-exposed patients experienced less depression than the other two groups.

“These differences in cognitive recovery can be directly attributed to the effect of listening to music,” Sarkamo said. He continued by saying that “furthermore, the fact that most of the music (63 percent) also contained lyrics would suggest that it is the musical component or the combination of music and voice that plays a crucial role in the patients’ improved recovery.”

“We can’t say what is happening in the brain, but based on previous research and theory it may be music listening could actually activate the brain areas that are recovering,” Sarkamo said. “Music might also in some way activate more general mechanisms that repair and renew the brain’s neural networks after stroke.”

Sarkamo said that larger studies are needed to better understand exactly what is going on and that if validated could offer a cheap, easy additional treatment for stroke patients. “This could be considered a pilot study. It is a promising start.”

Alternative Medicine – Music Shown To Speed Recovery for Stroke Patients | Health News

Related posts

• The undead (0)
• Scientists uncover genetic risks for stroke (0)
• Data released early to show lung drug Spiriva safe (0)
• Broccoli ‘may help protect lungs’ (0)
• Worm ‘may help treat arthritis’ (0)

The oils used in aromatherapy are also derived from plants. They are considered ‘essential oils’. They are the result of distillation of the essences of assorted plants.

Among commonly used essential oils are: Roses, rosewoods and geraniums considered antiseptic with uplifting qualities; lemongrass and citronella are sedating and antiseptic; bergamot, clary sage and lavender are sedating; fennel, hyssop and sage ease congestion; lemon, pine and frankincense are anti-viral and antiseptic; rosemary and tea tree oil are expectorant and bactericidal; and clove, thyme and oregano are stimulating.

How do essential oils and vegetable oils differ? Essential oils will evaporate rapidly if exposed to air and must be mixed with a ‘carrier’ to be used for massage or aromatherapy. Sesame oil and almond oil are common carrier oils though other mediums can be used as a base for the essential oils.

Aromatherapy products – oils, candles, massage products, and diffusers, have a very large market in the United States. Displays of scented products will frequently have the products described as ‘relaxing, meditation, sensual, invigorating’ or other descriptions of what mindset that particular scent is supposed to produce.

Do they work? Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, an Ohio State professor, and colleagues conducted a study sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. This study was conducted in March 2008.

The study involved 56 healthy volunteers who had cotton balls soaked with either lemon oil, lavender oil, or distilled water beneath their noses for a period of time. Blood pressure and heart rates of the participants were monitored, and blood samples collected during the experiments were analyzed.

The research showed that lemon oil did produce a mood improvement. Neither lemon oil nor lavender oil produced a positive impact on the biochemical markers for stress, pain control or wound healing.

Kiecolt-Glaser, quoted by AFP “The take home message is that good smells may make you feel better, but you should not count on them to change our physiology.”

A health observer affiliated with foodconsumer.org suggested that the results of this study should be interpreted with caution. The study used healthy people. Common sense dictates that healthy people do not need treatment, whether from aromatherapy or other sources.

Though the study did not result in any findings to indicate that essential oils could be used for medical improvement, it also did not indicate that they would cause harm. A touch of lavender on your pillowcase and jasmine in a diffuser will make the room smell fresher, if it does nothing else; if it also lifts your mood and makes you happier, so much the better.

Alternative Medicine – Aromatherapy – Enjoyable but Not Medically Effective | Health News

Related posts

• Keeping tabs on blood pressure at home (0)
• FDA Bans Imports of 28 Indian-Made Drugs (0)
• FDA Approves Milnacipran for Fibromyalgia (0)
• Worm ‘may help treat arthritis’ (0)
• Woman is fitted with ‘bionic’ arm (0)

Timothy Garan, a 56-year-old musician, was removed from an organ recipient list because of his use of and dependency on marijuana, as well as other medical conditions. Some feel marijuana use could potentially prevent the organ transplant from being a success. His family physician had been prescribing the drug for pain relief, to help with his appetite, and as a sleep aid. Ganan is suffering from Hepatitis C which destroys a patient’s liver. There is no guarantee that a new liver would not eventually be infected with Hepatitis.

It seems that when a transplant committee is determining who to place on the transplant list there are very high standards. One of those is to consider the patient’s likeliness of alcohol or drug use, along with a host of other factors such as if the patient has other health problems. Alcohol can contribute to many liver problems, while drug use could potentially hinder the transplant recipient’s recovery.

A hospital transplant committee must consider the whole picture in determining the best choice for a recipient. In this case, they didn’t only consider the fact that Garan had grown dependent on the drug, but had to consider his other medical conditions.

Given the combination of these two factors, in addition to his failing liver, his chances of a successful surgery were questioned, and therefore the liver may not have been used for the best benefits.

The nation’s transplant system is run by The United Network for Organ Sharing, but they leave it up to the individual hospitals to determine the parameters around transplant candidates for their hospitals. Since marijuana has now been legalized by twelve states for medical use, but is still illegal by federal law, hospital committees have new hurdles to think through when setting their standards for the organ donation system. They must decide parameters around the situation of someone having used marijuana prescribed by a doctor and whether this will count against them when being chosen for transplant surgery.

Transplant recipients usually have to take medications to suppress their immune systems to help prevent infections. Marijuana seems to affect the immune system and could potentially make someone more likely to develop infections, one of the main causes of death in transplant recipients. Patients suffering from liver failure may retain marijuana for a longer time because of the failing state of their liver. The liver is a filter that removes substances from the body. When someone has a failing liver this could potentially lead to the drug staying in the body for days. Marijuana is a natural substance and has several side effects, such as sleepiness, and effects memory. Due to the drug being a natural substance it could potentially carry germs such as aspergillosis, a fungus that has the potential to cause pneumonia.

There have been situations where some hospitals’ organ donation committee has rejected applications where there are signs of substance abuse regardless of the reason. However, there are some that would allow six months of non-use and then will allow a patient to reapply. Currently there are about 98,000 patients on the organ transplant waiting list and only 6,000 receive transplants annually.

Hospitals feel that if someone were using a substance drug, even if marijuana is one of the least addictive drugs, it may be difficult for patients to no longer use the substance after transplant surgery. Use of the substance after surgery may harm the new organ and affect the way that a patient’s body reacts to the transplant. While it is hard for patients who are being denied transplants due to their past or present use of drugs, hospital committees have a hard task to determine the best scenario for an organ. They must consider all aspects of situations and choose the best candidate for each organ.

Alternative Medicine – You May Want to Rethink the Use of Medical Marijuana | Health News

Related posts

• Two anti-smoking drugs to carry mental-health warnings (0)
• Slow-Healing Bones May Get Boost From Drug (0)
• Sequencing of virus DNA may help fight common cold (0)
• Salt Contributes to Resistant High Blood Pressure (0)
• Mexico seeks to reassure over deadly swine flu (0)

Chamomile is a mild tea with a fruit flavor many have likened to the scent and taste of apples. Ironically, the word chamomile is derived from the Greek word chamaimēlon, meaning “ground apple” or “earth apple” and is made by drying flowers of the plant Matricaria chamomilla L. and steeping them in water for a few minutes, providing the drinker with a multitude of antioxidants. Chamomile could be called the physician of teas with a variety of uses such as calming stress, soothing anxiety and nervous disorders, inducing sleep at night, relieving stomach cramps, inflammation, skin irritations and gout, while boosting the immune system.  A new study followed chamomile’s progress in lowering certain conditions caused by diabetes.

Researchers from Japan and the United Kingdom reported their findings from giving chamomile extracts to diabetic rats once a day for three weeks. Published in the September 10, 2008 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry the study tracked the blood glucose levels in the rats compared to other diabetic rats that were fed a normal diet and not the chamomile extract. The University of Toyama in Japan and the United Kingdom’s Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research compared the findings between the two groups of rodents after 21 days. The rats who had received the extract showed a large decrease in their blood glucose levels. Scientists also noticed that the chamomile also triggered a response in two enzymes that can play a role in the decline of the body’s functions due to diabetes. The enzymes, which control nerve damage, cataracts, retinal damage to the eyes, and kidney damage were blocked in the rats induced with chamomile, leading the authors to conclude, “These results clearly suggested that daily consumption of chamomile tea with meals could contribute to the prevention of the progress of hyperglycemia and diabetic complications.”

The findings also might be a first step to scientists developing a drug with chamomile to prevent the common type II diabetes occuring in adults, but that news will have to wait.

Still, these results are preliminary and the transition from rats to adults hasn’t been made yet. The charity Diabetes UK’s Dr. Victoria King recommends more research of chamomile’s effects before perscribing daily cups of it with meals reinforcing good health such as, “Eating a healthy balanced diet, taking regular physical activity and adhering to any prescribed medicines remain key ways to effectively control blood glucose levels, blood pressure and blood fats. Good diabetes management will help reduce the risk of serious complications such as heart disease, stroke and blindness.”

Even if drinking a cup of tea with meals to lower your chances of progressing diabetes further becomes a recommendation sometime in the near future, neither scientists nor doctors will be advising only a “miracle cup of tea” as an alternative to eating healthy, keeping a regular workout routine or continuing with any prescribed medications. In the meantime, however, it’s not a bad idea to keep your body and mind in smooth working condition by steeping a bag or two, soothing your nerves, settling your stomach, and sinking into the couch for a calm night in.

Natural Health – Chamomile May Help to Relieve Diabetes Woes | Health News

Related posts

• Vitamin linked to brain shrinking (0)
• New devices help control diabetes better (0)
• New devices help control diabetes better (0)
• Higher cancer risk in HIV patients raises concern (0)
• Consumer Group Files Suit Vs Coke On VitaminWater (1)