Calcium Channel Blocker

Calcium Channel Blocker is any of a group of drugs used to treat disorders of the cardiovascular system. Examples of disorders include high blood pressure (hypertension), angina pectoris (chest pains caused by reduced oxygen flow to the heart muscle), and irregular heartbeat. These drugs are also effective in treating migraine headaches.

Calcium channel blockers interfere with the movement of calcium in cells of the blood vessels and heart. This has the effect of slowing the heart rate and dilating blood vessel walls, thereby reducing blood pressure and easing the heart’s workload. It also increases the supply of oxygen-carrying blood to the heart muscle, providing relief from angina pain. Specific calcium channel blockers include diltiazem, nifedipine, and verapamil.

Calcium channel blockers are prescription drugs available as tablets and capsules. They are taken in one or more doses ranging from 5 to 480 mg per day, depending on the particular drug and the condition being treated. An injectable liquid form is typically prescribed in 5- to 10-mg doses. Effectiveness may not be apparent for two to four weeks. Because calcium channel blockers control but do not cure cardiovascular problems, they are often used in long-term therapy (months to years) even after symptoms are relieved.

Patients taking calcium channel blockers should not stop taking the drugs abruptly, as their condition may worsen. Exercise or other physical exertion should be approved by a doctor. These drugs have not been proven safe for use during pregnancy.

Potential side effects associated with calcium channel blockers include constipation, diarrhea, fluid retention, headache, nausea, and dizziness. The dizziness and headache will usually dissipate as the physician adjusts the dosage. Calcium channel blockers may interact adversely with other prescription medications such as digoxin, cimetidine, or various blood thinners.

Bronchitis

Bronchitis, acute or chronic inflammation of any part of the bronchi and bronchial tubes. The bronchi are large delicate tubes in the lungs that are attached to the trachea and carry air to smaller tubes in the lungs. Acute bronchitis is characterized by fever, chest pain, severe coughing, and often the secretion of sputum (mucous material coughed up from the respiratory tract).

The disease may be caused by the inhalation of irritant vapors or dust or develop from an upper respiratory infection. Acute bronchitis affects the branches of the bronchi and may develop into bronchial or lobular pneumonia. Chronic bronchitis, a serious and incurable disorder, may result from repeated attacks of acute bronchitis. Smoking is the main cause of chronic bronchitis and also has been found to cause acute bronchitis.

Treatment: Azithromycin, Cefprozil, Clarithromycin, Loracarbef, Ofloxacin, Trimethoprim, Bronchodilator, Theophylline

Asthma

Asthma, disorder of the respiratory system in which the passages that enable air to pass into and out of the lungs periodically narrow, causing coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. This narrowing is typically temporary and reversible, but in severe attacks, asthma may result in death. Asthma most commonly refers to bronchial asthma, an inflammation of the airways, but the term is also used to refer to cardiac asthma, which develops when fluid builds up in the lungs as a complication of heart failure. This article focuses on bronchial asthma.

Asthma attacks are caused by airway hyperresponsiveness—that is, an overreaction of the bronchi and bronchioles to various environmental and physiological stimuli, known as triggers. The most common causes of asthma attacks are extremely small and lightweight particles transported through the air and inhaled into the lungs. When they enter the airways, these particles, known as environmental triggers, cause an inflammatory response in the airway walls, resulting in an asthma attack.

Physicians typically diagnose asthma by looking for the classic symptoms: episodic problems with breathing that include wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. When symptoms alone fail to establish a diagnosis of asthma, doctors may use spirometry, a test that measures airflow. By comparing a patient’s normal airflow, airflow during an attack, and airflow after the application of asthma medication, doctors determine whether the medicine improves the patient’s breathing problems. If asthma medication helps, doctors usually diagnose the condition as asthma.

Identifying the specific trigger of a patient’s asthma is usually more difficult than the initial diagnosis. Triggers may be easily recognizable and consistent; for example, a patient may always develop an asthma attack when using a particular cosmetic or household cleaning product. When the triggers are more difficult to identify, doctors perform a series of allergy skin tests to help determine whether allergy triggers are responsible. Skin tests are not conclusive, however, because patients may have skin reactions to substances that do not necessarily trigger an asthma attack. Doctors may also use spirometry to evaluate a patient’s airflow before and after exposure to common triggers. Triggers that decrease airflow may be responsible for the patient’s asthma.

Although there is no cure for asthma, effective treatment is available for preventing attacks and for controlling and ending attacks soon after they have begun. Asthma medications are taken orally or inhaled in vapor form using a metered-dose inhaler, a hand-held pump that delivers medication directly to the airways. There are two kinds of asthma medications: bronchodilators, which reduce bronchospasm; and anti-inflammatory medications, which reduce airway inflammation.

Blindness

Blindness, total or partial inability to see because of disease or disorder of the eye, optic nerve, or brain. The term blindness typically refers to vision loss that is not correctable with eyeglasses or contact lenses. Blindness may not mean a total absence of sight, however. Some people who are considered blind may be able to perceive slowly moving lights or colors.

The three major causes of blindness in the world are cataract, trachoma, and glaucoma, accounting for over 70 percent of all cases of sightlessness. Cataract is an opacity, or cloudiness, in the normally clear lens of the eye that interferes with vision.

Birth Control Pill

Birth Control Pill or Oral Contraceptive is a drug that prevents pregnancy. Birth control pills are the most popular form of reversible contraception—that is, temporary birth control that, once discontinued, allows a woman to become pregnant.

Two types of birth control pills are available today: combination pills, containing the female sex hormones estrogen and progestin (a synthetic version of the female hormone progesterone), and progestin-only pills. Combination pills are the most popular. A woman takes a combination pill once a day for 21 days, followed by 7 days of a placebo (an inactive pill, often a sugar pill) or no pill. Combination birth control pills prevent ovulation (the release of an egg from the ovaries); thicken the mucus of the cervix (opening of the uterus) to make it difficult for sperm to enter the uterus; and keep the endometrium (lining of the uterus)from thickening so that a fertilized egg cannot implant in it.

Combination pills provide health benefits in addition to contraception. Women who take combination pills have a reduced risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer up to 15 years after they have stopped taking the pill. Combination pill users also have a lower incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease, ovarian cysts, fibrocystic breast disease (noncancerous breast tumors), iron-deficiency anemia, and ectopic pregnancies.

Like combination pills, progestin-only pills block ovulation, thicken the cervical mucus, and help prevent the fertilized egg from implanting. However, progestin-only pills are slightly less effective in preventing pregnancy than combination pills. Women who cannot take estrogen because of health problems, such as blood clots, can use progestin-only pills. Progestin-only pills are taken daily; there is no interval where a placebo or no pill is taken.

The pill may not be suitable for women with high blood pressure; heart, kidney, or gallbladder disease; a family history of heart attack or stroke; a history of headaches or depression; high cholesterol or triglycerides; epilepsy; or diabetes. For the first two to three months of use, the pill can cause a change in weight, nausea, and sometimes vomiting, headache, depression, tender breasts, and spotting or bleeding between periods. These side effects usually disappear with continued use.

Some medications, such as antibiotics, barbiturates, and antifungal drugs, reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills. The effects of some drugs, including diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, alprazolam, caffeine, and theophylline may be increased by oral contraceptives.