Posts Tagged ‘Treatment’

Asthma sufferers may benefit from daily pills

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

A new study has found that daily pills may be a better treatment for asthma sufferers, reports the UK’s Rye & Battle Observer.

According to the news source, researchers from Canada’s McMaster University, along with those from several institutions in the UK, performed a study with 650 patients that compared leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA pills) with the typical steroid inhaler. While both treatments produced the same results, patients reportedly felt once-a-day pills were a simpler option.

“This study looked to test [LTRA tablets'] use in a real-world setting rather than under the strictly controlled conditions of an experimental trial,” said the news source. In everyday conditions, 65 percent of patients adhered well to the pills, while 41 percent were able to adhere to inhaled steroids, a contrast which researchers determined to mean that the tablets may be a better option.

Although the results of the study were not extraordinary, they confirm that asthma sufferers can safely use daily pills as an alternative to inhalers. The Daily Mail reported LTRA pills as “wonder drugs,” but patients should be aware that they controlled asthma just as well as inhaled treatments. The only significant difference that researchers found was in the patients’ preference for the maintenance of their condition.

Inhaled steroids like Ventolin, Advair and Singulair are the most common treatments for Healthetreatment users with asthma. Readers with this condition: Given the option of a daily pill, which treatment would you prefer? Leave us a comment and let us know.

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Posted in Asthma, Conditions | No Comments »

Alternative treatments for osteoarthritis

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis – more than 27 million Americans are afflicted with the inflammatory condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a degenerative joint disease in which one’s cartilage wears away, allowing the bones to rub together. Osteoarthritis can be very painful, and while NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like Advil can help to alleviate aching, there also exists a number of complementary treatments that can provide some relief.

Loren Fishman, Medical Director of Manhattan Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York City, suggests taking up yoga. Synovial fluid is the lubricating substance that surrounds joints and protects the bones from rubbing together, and yoga helps improve circulation of that fluid, thus potentially reducing pain. Similar practices to try include Feldenkrais and the Alexander Technique, both postural exercises that are gentle on the body.

A portion of patients may benefit from acupuncture. Although research has shown that this procedure is generally ineffective for those with osteoarthritis, a landmark 2003 study revealed positive results for those with osteoarthritis in the knee. Fishman says that it is good for relieving pain, but it does not reduce inflammation.

The Huffington Post reported that mixing supplements of glucosamine, a natural amino sugar that works with connective tissue like cartilage, and chondroitin sulfate, which helps cartilage retain water, could be a combination for success. Not only has it been known to alleviate pain and inflammation, but it may help slow the progression of osteoarthritis in some patients. Further research must be done on this complementary treatment, but preliminary studies support the claim that glucosamine sulfate helps rebuild cartilage.

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Posted in Alternative Treatments, Arthritis, Conditions, Osteoarthritis | No Comments »

Alzheimer’s research hits major milestone with new guidelines

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

The fight against Alzheimer’s Disease has hit a major milestone this week, as the National Alzheimer’s Association (NAA) announced the first new guidelines for diagnosing the condition in nearly 30 years. The new set of criteria could help reach victims early on, including those that do not yet exhibit signs, according to CNN.

What many people do not know is that the disease can begin many years before symptoms arise, which in the past has made it difficult for doctors to detect in the early stages.

Dr. William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer at the NAA, recently told the news provider that biological changes in the brain affecting thinking patterns could be monitored and used to develop medications for early treatment of Alzheimer’s. He has the hope that future drugs could aid in the prevention of dementia.

While there are currently therapies that slow the progression of the disease, the new guidelines are designed to track symptoms and treat the patient before they have the chance to become demented.

Thies emphasized that this is just the beginning of what could be revolutionary in Alzheimer’s research.

“There’s no doubt that finding people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s Disease are going to depend on finding new biomarkers that are indicators of the first changes in brain biochemistry. The fact is that we know some of those changes already, but we do need to know more about their time course and when they occur in the disease and how long they last and how they change. That knowledge is being acquired as we speak,” he told CNN, also noting that he thinks it will be some time before senior citizens will be able to benefit from routine screenings.

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New melanoma treatment extends life expectancy

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

There has been a major breakthrough in the skin cancer world, as the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug for advanced melanoma in 13 years, which is said to extend the life expectancy of patients with this condition, according to The Associated Press.

Yervoy, by Bristol-Meyers Squibb, is a new medication intended to treat late-stage or metastatic melanoma, reports the news source. Although there are other drugs for the same condition, Yervoy is the first that has been proven to prolong patients’ lives. Studies have shown that the drug extends people’s lives by up to four months, however, it was only beneficial to a small percentage of individuals that took the drug.

“Clearly this is not a home run, but it’s a solid base hit,” Tim Turnham of the Melanoma Research Foundation told the AP. “And because we see other things in the pipeline, we think this is the first in a series of important new therapies for melanoma.”

Yervoy, known by its chemical name ipilimumab, is different from chemotherapy in that it uses the body’s own immune system, rather than outside chemicals, to battle cancer cells. According to the news provider, CTLA-4, a molecule that hinders the functionality of white blood cells, is effectively blocked with the medication so that the immune system can work as it normally would.

The drug is administered intravenously and has side effects that include diarrhea, rash, fatigue and colonic swelling.

“I think the direction this is headed is toward intervening earlier, when patients’ immune systems are still intact, rather than waiting until they are so sick,” Dr. Anna Pavlick, director of the melanoma program at New York University, told the AP.

The American Cancer Society reports that approximately 68,000 Americans were diagnosed with skin cancer in 2012.

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Posted in Cancer, Melanoma, Skin Cancer | 4 Comments »

Mass. Ban of Pharmaceutical Dinners Ultimately Affects Patients

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

The other day I had an interesting discussion with my friend Joe, who is the general manager of a local restaurant. During a recent appointment with his primary care physician, his doctor spoke about Massachusetts’ ban of pharmaceutical dinners last year and how it has affected his quality of care.

Marketing codes in MA, which went into effect last July, ban the private functions that restaurants thrived upon and disallow pharmaceutical companies to offer free meals, gifts, entertainment and more to doctors; also, the meetings must be held in an office, hospital or training facility and not off site. These dinners hosted by drug manufacturers provided educational presentations about new treatments, information which is now more difficult to obtain.

In lieu of these dinners, drug representatives travel from hospital to hospital to educate doctors about new treatments. Joe’s doctor raised a great point: Who, especially in a busy office, has time to speak with drug reps in between patients? He certainly doesn’t, and the lack of convenient, informational dinners ultimately affects patients, as the same old treatments are prescribed over and over.

The patient-physician dialogue is becoming more equal as the ePatient movement builds steam. Massachusetts has some of the best hospitals in the world, and the strict marketing codes affecting its health care providers prove how important it really is to join the movement. Become engaged in your health by researching conditions, symptoms and treatments for a more educated, efficient conversation with your physician.

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UPDATE: Drug Makers Covered Up Knowledge of Diabetes Treatment Issues

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

As we previously blogged, studies published two weeks ago reported diabetes drug Avandia had significant cardiovascular side effects, prompting a debate over whether it should be pulled from the market. According to a documents obtained by the New York Times, Avanadia manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline performed a study on the drug in 1999 and the results were the same: the medication increased the risk of heart complications, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure and even death.

Data like this is required to be submitted to federal drug regulators, but the drug maker has spent 11 years covering it up.

The reason for the cover-up was for business only. GlaxoSmithKline would suffer a $600 million loss in two years’ time if the information was released, and they had no other marketable products to offer at that time. The Food and Drug Administration will meet today to discuss the ethics of further testing Avandia against its healthier competitor, Actos, and if it will cease production.

How do you feel about your health industry putting you at risk for a profit? With Healthetreatment, patients experiencing negative side effects can sound off as it happens and search for alternative treatments in our database. Real-time insight from patients, Healthetreatment can become an early-warning system for patients like you.

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Posted in Conditions, Diabetes, Medical Controversy | No Comments »

New Studies Raise Debate Over Diabetes Medication

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Two new studies published yesterday are adding fuel to the fire of whether Type 2 Diabetes medication Avandia should be pulled from the market.

Type 2 Diabetes is a condition in which the body is unable to properly respond to insulin, and Avandia helps increase the body’s sensitivity to the pancreatic secretion. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that the drug, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, increases the risk of cardiovascular complications, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure and even death up to 17 percent. Another study in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that Avandia can raise the risk of heart attack up to almost 40 percent.

Actos, a competing medication prescribed for Type 2 Diabetes, has not been found to have the same negative effects on patients, which raises the question as to why Avandia is still on the market if Actos is seemingly a safer alternative. Researchers have been trying to conduct a study comparing the safety of both treatments, however they are facing slow recruitment and critics questioning study’s ethics. The Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to hold an advisory committee meeting on July 13 to discuss the fate of Avandia.

With technology like Healthetreatment, we are able to deliver real-time post-marketing research (i.e, research performed after a drug has been approved by the FDA). At the very least, Healthetreatment is able to provide a mechanism to reach people taking a certain medication to take part in a survey or study. Are you currently taking any medications and experiencing side effects or complications? Tell us here, your insight could prevent others from unnecessary suffering.

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Posted in Conditions, Diabetes, Medical Controversy | No Comments »

Advancements in Cancer Treatment Reported at Annual ASCO Conference

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Over the weekend, the American Society of Clinical Oncologists met for their annual conference on cancer care and treatment with significant advancements in their research. Out of the 4,000 experiments presented, the most progress came from lung, breast and skin cancer research, in which the findings may alter the way some cancers are treated. Here are the biggest highlights:

A new chemotherapy drug presented for breast cancer may help extend the patient survival rate. Eribulin is made from Halichondria okadai, a form of sea sponge, and is intended for treatment in patients with advanced breast cancer who have been heavily pretreated. On average, patients in this study who were treated with Eribulin survived up to 2.5 months longer than expected, and experts believe the drug’s effects are powerful enough for it to become a standard breast cancer treatment.

A preliminary study of a new lung cancer treatment may help up to 10,000 patients if approved. Those with advanced non-small cell lung cancer may benefit from Crizotinib, which targets a genetic malfunction of the ALK gene found in a cancer cell. For the drug to work, the tumor must have a specific chromosome rearrangement. According to the ASCO, 5 percent of lung cancer patients will test positive for this mutation and will benefit from taking Crizotinib.

Melanoma only affects about 5 percent of skin cancer patients, but is the most fatal of all. A new treatment may help increase a melanoma patient’s life expectancy by almost 70%. Ipilimumab works in conjunction with the immune system, signaling the white blood cells to attack the cancer instead of the tumor. The treatment has shown to boost survival rate up to four months, a significant advancement considering the average expectancy for patients with melanoma is six to nine months.

Are you or someone you love suffering from cancer? Healthetreatment wants to know about your experience, especially if you have benefited from these oncological advancements. Visit our website and explore various lung, breast and skin cancer treatments members have shared with us so you can better understand the options you have in controlling your health and your life.

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Posted in Breast Cancer, Conditions, Lung Cancer, Melanoma, Skin Cancer | 3 Comments »