Friday, July 1, 2011

Bipolar Disorder Treatment

This psychological disease is best treated with medications although many of these exhibit mild to severe side-effects among the patients. Always consult a certified psychiatrist who prescribes the most suitable drug in accordance with the status of illness as well as overall health of the affected person. Other methods are psychotherapy and lifestyle management.


Mood stabilizers
These keep symptoms of bipolar disease under control by preventing manic episodes. The most effective of them are:
  • Lithium
  • Anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine and valporic acid
Lithium
Lithium salts had long been used as the foremost treatment for bipolar disease. These were first discovered an Australian psychiatrist Dr. John Cade how published a report in 194 that revealed the powerful impact of lithium upon the mind of bipolar patient. Two salts used are lithium carbonate and lithium citrate. The former is used frequently whereas the later is sometimes given. It also reduced the risk of suicide, suppressing or eliminating such extreme feelings or plans.

Side-effects: Although lithium has proven to be highly effective but it carries these:
  • High blood pressure
  • Constipation
  • Water retention that all salts mostly do
Precaution : It is imperative to get patient’s blood tested on regular basis in order to determine exact lithium level in the body since the dose given as therapy can be have toxic effects.

Anticonvulsant medications
Valproate and carbamazepine are particularly used as an alternate or in adjunctions to lithium in many cases. Some doctors prefer these more than lithium owing to their relatively less negative effects. Moreover latest researches reveal that anticonvulsant together with lithium slats can be more helpful in curing the disorder.

Antipsychotic drugs
These include:
  • Olanzapine
  • Quetiapine
  • Risperidon
These are also given to patients whenever needed.

Other options
More options are psychotherapy, family counseling, psycho education and lifestyle management.

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Blastoma Cancer Treatment

Blastoma is a form of cancer that is caused by blasts the term associated with precursor cells malignancies. The examples are:
  • Neuropblastoma
  • Retinoblastoma
  • Hepatoblastoma
  • Medulloblatoma
  • Nephrobalastoma
  • Pancreatoblastoma
  • Neuroblastoma
  • Pleuropulmonary blastoma
The disease usually affects children.

Normally cancers among children are not so common that makes it hard for the doctor to treat the illness. They just go for a treatment based on previous observations, those methods that worked well in already affected children. The fact is, over 60 % of the children are treated as a part of a clinical trial.

Affected children are kept in specialized cancer center to ensure his health is improving. Sometimes only one pediatric oncologist works for the recovery from cancer bust mostly a team is formed to carry on the process in collaboration with one another. Various available options are:

Chemotherapy
It is among the most common methods used to cure any cancer. Similarly, Blastoma is also treated with the use of drugs that destroy the cells of the tumor. It is delivered through blood to target all lump cells in the entire body of the child. The treatment may be given in hospital or outpatient clinic. This therapy is especially helpful for patients with Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB).

Surgery
The purpose of a surgery is to completely remove tumor cells. In case, the tumor is too large to be removed, the surgeon treated after chemotherapy. Apart from any benefits, surgical treatment has some short-term as well as long-term side-effects.

Radiation therapy
High-energy x-rays or other particles are used to kill the cells of tumor. External beam radiation therapy is the most common type.

The side effects are:
  • Skin problems
  • Gastrointestinal disturbances
  • Fatigue, tiredness, weakness
Most of these effects go away shortly after the treatment is over.

It is imperative to consult an expert oncologist in order to get the right treatment, single or multiple from the above mentioned options.

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