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Minggu, 17 Juli 2011
Kebebasan Berekspresi (di) Internet
Internet telah banyak membantu manusia dalam segala aspek kehidupan sehingga internet mempunyai andil penuh dalam kehidupan sosial. Dengan adanya internet apapun dapat kita lakukan baik positif maupun negative.
Internet sebagai media komunikasi, merupakan fungsi internet yang paling banyak digunakan dimana setiap pengguna internet dapat berkomunikasi dengan pengguna lainnya di seluruh dunia. Media pertukaran data, dengan menggunakan email, newsgroup, ftp dan www (world wide web – jaringan situs-situs web) para pengguna internet di seluruh dunia dapat saling bertukar informasi dengan cepat dan murah. Sperti halya saya yang lagi buat ini..hehehe
Media untuk mencari informasi atau data, perkembangan internet yang pesat, menjadikan www sebagai salah satu sumber informasi yang penting dan akurat. Kemudahan memperoleh informasi yang ada di internet sehingga manusia tahu apa saja yang terjadi. Bisa digunakan sebagai lahan informasi untuk bidang pendidikan, kebudayaan, dan lain-lain. Nyari apa aja langsung dapet..
Tetapi Pertumbuhan Internet yang tinggi tersebut juga berefek pada meledaknya tren social media di Indonesia. Social media seperti Twitter dan Facebook menjadi tujuan kebanyakan orang Indonesia untuk berinteraksi sosial di Internet, tidak ketinggalan juga media lain seperti Youtube maupun Blog. Tercatat bahwa Indonesia merupakan pengguna Facebook ke-2 terbesar di dunia dan pengguna Twitter ke-3 terbesar di Asia namun dengan aktivitas tweets terbesar sehingga tidak jarang topik-topik dari Indonesia sangat sering menjadi Trending Topic di Twitter, Indonesia juga dijuluki sebagai ibukota twitter dunia. Tidak hanya Twitter dan Facebook, pengguna blog pun mengalami peningkatan walaupun tidak signifikan dengan jumlah sekitar 2.7 juta pengguna, serta Youtube yang cukup banyak menghasilkan artis-artis baru dari Indonesia.
Kalo bagi para remaja seperti saya
Berdasarkan suvey di Amerika Serikat membuktikan jika berselancar di dunia maya, bermain game online, dan bermain situs jejaring sosial justru baik bagi perkembangan remaja. Digital Youth Project yang disponsori MacArthur Foundation selama tiga tahun berhasil membuktikan internet baik bagi perkembangan remaja. Proyek yang dilakukan selama tiga tahun itu melibatkan 800 remaja dan orang tua untuk mengetahui peningkatan kemampuan teknologi remaja. Hal ini juga mematahkan anggapan para orangtua yang menyatakan bermain internet hanya membuang waktu saja. Hahahaha
Kalo buat Pendidikan
Internet merupakan sebuah layanan yang memudahkan kita menambah wawasan, berkomunikasi, dan juga memudahkan kita untuk mencari suatu bahan yang mungkin sulit dicari secara nyata. melalui akses dunia maya internet ini, kita dapat menambah wawasan, berkomunikasi jarak jauh dan juga mencari informasi yang sangat kita butuhkan. Dalam dunia pendidikan internet dapat membantu siswa untuk mengakses berbagai informasi dan ilmu pengetahuan serta sharing riset antarsiswa terutama dengan mereka yang berjauhan tempat tinggalnya.
Dampak Negatif
Bentuk-bentuk cybercrime sebagai berikut :
Hacking – Usaha memasuki sebuah jaringan dengan maksud mengeksplorasi atupun mencari kelemahan system jaringan.
Cracking – Usaha memasuki secara illegal sebuah jaringan dengan maksud mencuri, mengubah atau menghancurkan file yang di simpan padap jaringan tersebut.
2. Parnografi
Anggapan yang mengatakan bahwa internet identik dengan parnografi, memang tidak salah. Dengan kemampuan penyampaian informasi yang dimiliki internet, pornografi pun merajalela.Untuk mengantisipasi hal ini, para produsen ‘browser’ melengkapi program mereka dengan kemampuan untuk memilih jenis home-page yang dapat di-akses.Di internet terdapat gambar-gambar pornografi dan kekerasan yang bisa mengakibatkan dorongan kepada seseorang untuk bertindak kriminal.
3. Violence And Gore
Kekejaman dan kesadisan juga banyak ditampilkan. Karena segi bisnis dan isi pada dunia internet tidak terbatas, maka para pemilik situs menggunakan segala macam cara agar dapat ‘menjual’ situs mereka. Salah satunya dengan menampilkan hal-hal yang bersifat tabu.
4. Penipuan
Hal ini memang merajalela di bidang manapun. Internet pun tidak luput dari serangan penipu. Cara yang terbaik adalah tidak mengindahkan hal ini atau mengkonfirmasi informasi yang Anda dapatkan pada penyedia informasi tersebut.
5. Carding
Karena sifatnya yang ‘real time’ (langsung), cara belanja dengan menggunakan Kartu kredit adalah carayang paling banyak digunakan dalam dunia internet. Para penjahat internet pun paling banyak melakukan kejahatan dalam bidang ini. Dengan sifat yang terbuka, para penjahat mampu mendeteksi adanya transaksi (yang menggunakan Kartu Kredit) on-line dan mencatat kode Kartu yang digunakan. Untuk selanjutnya mereka menggunakan data yang mereka dapatkan untuk kepentingan kejahatan mereka.
6. Perjudian
Dampak lainnya adalah meluasnya perjudian. Dengan jaringan yang tersedia, para penjudi tidak perlu pergi ke tempat khusus untuk memenuhi keinginannya. Anda hanya perlu menghindari situs seperti ini, karena umumnya situs perjudian tidak agresif dan memerlukan banyak persetujuan dari pengunjungnya.
Internet, kata yang tidak asing di telinga setiap orang, terutama para remaja yang senantiasa bergaul dengan mewahnya dunia yang berteknologi, mewah, dan praktis, Internet bisa didapatkan dimanapun kita berada, dengan bermodalkan telepon selular yang memiliki koneksi internet, internet dapat diakses dengan mudahnya melalui telepon selular dimanapun kita berada, atau jika tidak, di setiap sudut kota pasti terdapat sebuah warung yang menjual jasa internet atau yang biasa disebut dengan “warnet”, dengan adanya internet, akses atau jalan terhadap penyampaian informasi-informasi yang ada didunia ini dapat diambil dengan mudahnya seraya membalikkan tangan atau mengejapkan mata, banyak ilmu pengetahuan yang begitu melimpah disana, informasi mengenai apapun dapat kita temukan di jagat internet ini, para remaja tidak luput dengan yang namanya informasi dan ilmu pengetahuan, internet ini adalah media yang paling efektif dan mudah untuk didapatkan dan diakses oleh siapa saja dimanapun, walaupun tak dapat dipungkiri bahwa karena adanya kebebasan ini dapat terjadi pula penyalahgunaan fasilitas internet sebagai sarana untuk kriminalitas atau asusila.
Para pelajar yang baru mengenal internet biasanya menggunakan fasilitas ini untuk mencari hal yang aneh-aneh. Seperti gambar-gambar yang tidak senonoh, atau video-video aneh yang bersifat “asusila” lainnya yang dapat mempengaruhi jiwa dan kepribadian dari siswa itu sendiri, sehingga siswa terpengaruh dan mengganggu konsentrasinya terhadap proses pembelajaran disekolah, namun demikian tidak semua siswa melakukan hal yang demikian, hanya segelintir pelajar yang usil saja yang dapat melakukannya karena kurang memiliki rasa tanggungjawab terhadap diri pribadi dan sekitarnya, namun pada umumnya internet digunakan oleh setiap pelajar untuk mencari atau mendapatkan informasi.
Hal ini dapat menjadi sebuah motivator terhadap pelajar untuk terus berkembang dan juga dapat berfungsi sebagai penghancur (generasi muda), remaja adalah makhluk yang rentan terhadap perubahan disekitarnya, dia akan mengikuti hal yang paling dominan yang berada didekatnya jadi kemungkinan terjadinya perubahan yang drastis dalam masa-masa remaja akan mendorong kearah mana remaja itu akan berjalan, kearah positif atau negative tergantung dari mana di memulai.
Remaja yang kesehariannya bergaul dengan internet akan lebih tanggap terhadap perubahan informasi disekitarnya karena ia terbiasa dan lebih mengetahui tentang informasi-informasi tersebut sehingga dia lebih daripada yang lainnya. Tetapi selain itu, remaja yang memiliki kecenderungan pada hal yang negatif justru sebaliknya, dia akan nampak pasif karena hanya
diperbudak oleh kemudahan dan kayaan informasi dari internet tersebut.
Dalam hal ini yang dapat dilakukan oleh pengguna Internet adalah memilki kesadaran pribadi terhadap etika berinternet, artinya bahwa pengguna Internet jangan sampai salah dalam mengartikan Kebebasan Berekspresi yang menjadi haknya, apalagi sampai melakukan tindakan-tindakan yang melanggar hukum, karena sebagai warga Negara tentunya terikat dengan hukum dan perundang-undangan yang berlaku di Indonesia. Oleh karena itu diperlukan suatu tindakan dari pengguna Internet sendiri untuk menyukseskan gerakan Internet Sehat, namun gerakan tersebut tidak akan berhasil jika tidak dibarengi oleh sikap mental dan kesadaran dari para pengguna Internet sendiri dalam menyingkapi kebebasan berekspresi. Pengguna Internet harus sadar dan bertanggung jawab terhadap konten Internet yang diakses atau disebar olehnya. Pengguna Interent juga harus bijak dan dewasa dalam memanfaatkan Kebebasan Berekspresi di Internet. Pembinaan sejak usia dini dari keluarga tentang kesadaran berinternet sehat juga sangat diperlukan karena keluarga merupakan pilar utama dalam menyukseskan erakan Internet Sehat untuk menuju masyarakat Internet yang cerdas.
Jika kita berbicara masalah manfaat itu bisa berarti luas. Berekspresi di internet dapat menemukan nasib ekonominya. bisa terkenal dan juga bisa diguakan sebagai tempat berbisnis. tapi juga bisa sebaliknya, bisa menimbulkan masalah!
jadi silahkan berekspresi di internet dan rubahlah dunia dengan internet..
INTERNET SANGAT MENYENANGKAN..
Kamis, 09 Juni 2011
Minggu, 13 Februari 2011
High Blood Pressure Cause, High Blood Pressure Symptoms, High Blood Presure Treatment
"I Can't TAKE Anymore!" |
High Blood Pressure Cause
The cause of high blood pressure is unknown in most cases. What we do know is that it is more common high pressure jobs, being overweight, getting older, high salt and fat diets, smoking, and heredity.Blood pressure is measured as two numbers - systolic and diastolic. Systolic blood pressure is the pressure of blood in your blood vessels as your heart claps, and the diastolic number is the pressure when your heart relaxes between claps. A normal blood pressure is less than 140/90 (top number is the systolic and bottom is diastolic).
In 5% of cases high blood pressure can be traced back to kidney disease, structural problems with blood vessels and disorders in the regulation of hormones which regulate blood pressure.
High Blood Pressure Symptoms
- Throbbing headaches
- Blurred vision
- Nausea and vomiting
- Ringing in your ears
- Right sided chest pain
- Swollen feet
- Mini-stroke
High Blood Pressure Treatment
Significant lowering of blood pressure in mild high blood pressure can be done through simple things like: regular exercise, eating a low grease and salt diet, and quitting smoking. But for moderate to extreme blood pressure, chemical intervention through medication each day as necessary. Such as:- Diuretics - work on the kidneys forcing you to pass more urine. This loss of body fluid lowers your blood pressure. The most common of these is hydrochlorothiazide.
- Vessel Dilators - tell your blood vessels to relax and open wide making blood flow easier and at a lower pressure. Common examples would be calcium channel blockers such as felodipine and amlodipine.
- Sedatives - relax your blood vessels and slow your heart rate e.g. methydopa
- Ace Inhibitors - these agents interfere in angiotensin hormonal regulation of blood pressure.
- Beta Blockers - slow your heart rate reducing blood pressure e.g. metoprolol, atenolol and bisoprolol.
It is very important that once you start these medicines that you do not stop on your own or allow them to run out. If you do, you are putting yourself at risk of a stroke or heart attack. These medicines do not cure high blood pressure. They control it. When you stop suddenly, the pressure escalates rapidly. These medications are generally lifelong.
Asthma Cause, Asthma Symptoms, AsthmaTreatment
Asthma is caused by widespread, reversible, inflammation of your lung's airways making them narrow. To grasp this asthma information we need to take a microscopic look at your lungs.
The reason your airways narrow in asthma is because of inflammation. You already know what inflammation is if you've ever been bitten by a mosquito. The bitten area reacts to the irritant mosquito saliva by swelling, itching, and reddening. A similar thing happens when you breathe in something your lungs find irritating. The lining of the airways swell, minuscule muscles in the airways contract clamping down the size of its branch, mucous making is stepped up to help wash it out, and white blood cells come to the area to destroy the substance. The end result is a narrowed, noisy airway. But unlike the mosquito bite which only affects one area of your skin, when you breathe in something it gets spread to all of your airways so your whole lung is affected. That's what makes asthma so dangerous; with all of your airways suddenly trickling air to the 'leaves' you find yourself suffocating. This is called an 'Asthma Attack'.Symptoms of an Asthma Attack:
In very young children/ babies, doctors are reluctant to label asthma on a first episode of wheezing (as there are other causes of wheezing besides asthma) especially if the child is suffering a flu at the time. The term 'reactive airway disease' is preferred until more episodes of wheezing are demonstrated related to allergens.
In an adult or child with new wheezing a chest xray may be done to rule out some of the many other non-asthmatic causes of wheezing like a child who has breathed in a peanut, pebble etc. or emphysema in an adult.
If you are a mild to moderate wheezer, you are placed on a nebulizer with oxygen to help your breathing, and a bronchodilator to open your airways. Periodically you are then reassessed by listening to your chest with a stethoscope and repeating the peak flow meter. After repeated nebulizations with unsatisfactory improvement, a chest xray is done to rule out other causes of wheezing from asthma and admission to the hospital for overnight nebulization and observation considered.
Severe asthma cases are immediately obvious. These persons come in unable to carry on a conversation, their whole body shakes as they try to breathe, they can't pause to blow on the peak flow meter or score poorly and their chest sounds are very noisy. These patients are treated much more aggressively.
If the person has exhausted to the point that they are no longer able to breathe, an endotracheal tube attached to an artificial lung is inserted through their mouth into their windpipe and the machine continues to breathe for them. In other cases nebulizations and supplemental oxygen are carried out as before (1), blood tests are done (2) one of these being from an artery in the forearm to measure the levels of gases such as oxygen (3). An IV is also set up and injectable bronchodilators such as aminophylline given (4). Oxygenation of the blood can also be determined with a finger probe (5). Periodic review is done as before, and if poorly responding admission to hospital done.
The purpose of inhalers is to send a chemical message to narrowed airways to reopen. They can be packaged as a liquid or powder. Liquid inhalers use compressed gas to blow them as an aerosol into your lungs. Dry powder inhalers use your breath to pull them into your lungs as a medicated dust cloud.
One bad thing about the dry powder inhaler is that it's difficult to tell if you've actually breathed in anything - there's nothing to taste, feel, or smell while you can immediately tell if a gas inhaler is empty: it feels light, if you spray it in the air you see no spray, and if you put the older canisters in a bowl of water it will float like a log and sink when full.
There are three other methods of getting asthma medication to your lungs: tablets; syrups; and injections. The first two make use of your digestion passing the active ingredients into the blood through the stomach, which then carries it to the lungs i.e. it's slower than an inhaler but the drug will linger around the lung for a longer time. Injections are used in severe asthma at hospitals to deliver high medication concentrations quickly to the lungs. The big disadvantage of all these methods is that instead of medication reaching only the lungs as with inhalers, the entire body is exposed making side effects more likely. Syrups have a special place in very young children - when inhalers are difficult to use - and in adults who don't like, or can't swallow tablets but need more than an inhaler to control their asthma.
Your lungs are like an upside down tree. In fact, you can feel the trunk in the front of your neck as the Adam's apple in males. The trunk divides over and over again like branches and twigs behind your breast bone. The leaves at the branch ends are where air swirls and gases exchanges with your blood. |
One important difference however, is that this 'tree' is hollow. When you breathe you suck air through the trunk, past the divisions, and ultimately to the 'leaves', or alveoli, where your blood takes up the oxygen it needs and gets rid of carbon dioxide created from burning your food for fuel.
An asthma attack is when the branches and twigs of the lungs get inflammed and narrow. That narrowing is like the difference between blowing through a pipe (1) or a straw (2). Not only is blowing through the straw noisy i.e. wheezing, but it's also more difficult i.e. you feel short of breath.
The reason your airways narrow in asthma is because of inflammation. You already know what inflammation is if you've ever been bitten by a mosquito. The bitten area reacts to the irritant mosquito saliva by swelling, itching, and reddening. A similar thing happens when you breathe in something your lungs find irritating. The lining of the airways swell, minuscule muscles in the airways contract clamping down the size of its branch, mucous making is stepped up to help wash it out, and white blood cells come to the area to destroy the substance. The end result is a narrowed, noisy airway. But unlike the mosquito bite which only affects one area of your skin, when you breathe in something it gets spread to all of your airways so your whole lung is affected. That's what makes asthma so dangerous; with all of your airways suddenly trickling air to the 'leaves' you find yourself suffocating. This is called an 'Asthma Attack'.
The irritants which cause these events can vary from colds, allergies, perfumes, and many more as we'll see.
Symptoms of an Asthma Attack:
- Wheezing. The most obvious sign of asthma is a wheezing musical sound made by narrowed air passages.
- Chest Tightness like a large rubber band around the chest making breathing difficult.
- Coughing with or without sputum.
- Fast Breathing. As less air reaches the lungs you breathe faster to make up the deficit.
- Accessory Muscle Use. As an asthma attack gets worse the airways pushing air through the narrow pipes gets difficult. Muscles of your torso pitch in to help. This is seen as tugging motion at the pit of the throat (2), and sucking in of the belly just under the breast bone (5) and between the ribs (4) with each breath.
- Heart palpitation. As part of your body's reaction to less air and increased work to move air, your heart starts to beat faster (3).
- Posture Change. Note the shoulders in our female asthmatic above. As asthma gets serious asthmatics try to sit up and support their shoulders on outstretched arms with each breath as a brace to force air into their lungs. This is a sign of a serious degree of asthma and is called a 'tripod' stance.
- Gasping Conversation. Another serious sign is when an asthmatic can no longer keep up a conversation with you as they gasp to finish sentences.
- Skin Color Change. When an asthma attack becomes severe enough that too little oxygen reaches the body, the asthmatic can faint and around their lips and fingernails looks blue - blood with too little oxygen turns from red to blue. At this point breathing may slow or stop all together and no wheeze may be heard. This is an emergency.
Symptoms of an Asthma Attack in young children
In young children/ babies, breathing fast, nostril flaring, and sucking in beneath the chest are easy to spot and very good signs that your child is in trouble and to be taken immediately to a medical center for care. 'Wheezing is more difficult to tell and often gurgling throat noises are mistaken for it.The picture to your left shows an example of flaring of the nostrils in an asthma attack and is an especially good sign of breathing difficulty in young children. |
Types of Asthma:
Though the end result of asthma is the same - irritated airways narrowing - the causes of this irritation that trigger off an ASTHMA ATTACK vary from person to person i.e. one person might start wheezing when in a dusty room while another only wheezes when s/he has a cold. The following are the most common types of asthma:- Childhood Asthma. As its name suggests, this form of asthma happens as a child, and most kids 'outgrow it'. The reason why is like acne which doesn't bother you as a child but starts in your teen years - your body goes through a number of changes at this transition period making you not only look different but function differently too. Predicting if this will happen to your asthma is reasonably done by asking if your parents suffered from asthma too. If they did, and outgrew it, chances are you will too. The treatment of childhood asthma is no different to adult asthma as the causes are the same. What varies is the doses of medicines which are adjusted to body weight.
- Nocturnal Asthma. Nocturnal just means 'at night'. Some people wheeze mostly at night. The reason is that blood levels of epinephrine and cortisol drop at night to allow you to sleep. But these chemicals also keep your airways open. This type of asthma typically happens in the wee hours of the morning. A useful treatment for this is taking a steroid inhaler before going to bed or a long acting bronchodilator inhaler. This reduces the tendency of the airways to narrow as you sleep.. Another measure is to wash your bed sheets and pillow regularly and cover your bed with a zipped allergen guard as dust mites live on dead skin and produce an irritating stool that irritates your lungs as you sleep.
- Allergy Asthma. An allergy is where your body overreacts to some substance around you. This type of asthma is associated with a runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, and dry or productive cough. Steroid inhalers are useful in this condition by 'calming' your air passages. Antihistamine type drugs also play a role. But the best method of control is to get allergy tested and then avoiding the offending substances. If you can't, allergy desensitization treatment may be beneficial. This works by exposing your body to minute amounts of the substance and working back up to normal amounts without a reaction.
- Sports Asthma / Exercise Induced Asthma. After exercise some people wheeze. This is believed to be a reaction to changes in temperature of air in the lung. It can be avoided by using a bronchodilator inhaler just prior to basketball, football e.t.c. and breathing through your nose until your body feels warmed up.
- Cardiac Asthma. This type of asthma is unlike the other types of asthma discussed so far. It is caused by a heart that is failing to push blood around the body at a satisfactory rate. This leads to congestion of small blood vessels and they leak. In the lung this fluid irritates the airways causing them to narrow and makes a bubbling noise called 'crackles' or 'creps'. There's a tendency to cough up pink frothy sputum. While standard inhalers will help to bring the wheeze under control you'll also need diuretics like Lasix and careful blood pressure control.
- Cold and Flu Asthma. Some persons wheeze when they have a sore throat/ flu. This is because the offensive flu virus irritates your lung's airways which then narrow. This will respond to your inhalers and typically the virus lasts only about a week. Bacterial bronchitis infections can also lead to wheezing and in this case addition of an antibiotic is beneficial - antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses so do not help in a viral infection.
- Occupational Asthma. This is a form of allergy asthma to something at your work place like smoke, dust, mold, or fumes. Sometimes it can be controlled by steroid inhalers and bronchodilators. If not, ventilating the area by opening windows or wearing a dust mask helps. If severe, you may be left with no option but to seek transfer to another area or job.
- COPD / Emphysema Asthma. Common in smokers, this type of asthma is caused by permanent loss of 'elastic-ness' of airways causing the floppy airways to narrow. It responds to asthma medications but symptoms tend to be daily and residual shortness of breath is common.
Asthma Test / Asthma Diagnosis:
A past history of other family members with asthma, sinusitis, eczema, or hay fever, and repeated wheezing which goes away after inhaling a bronchodilator is a good indicator of asthma. Occasionally when a diagnosis is unclear asthma can be showed by 'challenging' you with a special vapor such as methacholine or histamine which reproduces wheezing in an asthmatic but not a normal person.In very young children/ babies, doctors are reluctant to label asthma on a first episode of wheezing (as there are other causes of wheezing besides asthma) especially if the child is suffering a flu at the time. The term 'reactive airway disease' is preferred until more episodes of wheezing are demonstrated related to allergens.
In an adult or child with new wheezing a chest xray may be done to rule out some of the many other non-asthmatic causes of wheezing like a child who has breathed in a peanut, pebble etc. or emphysema in an adult.
Asthma Treatment:
Home
- Asthma Prevention. This means avoiding things which make you wheeze, and using your preventative steroid inhaler everyday. If you haven't wheezed in six months then a trial off of inhalers can be made.
- Asthma Allergy Testing. Learning what your asthma triggers are helps you avoid them. If you come into contact with them or expect to, you can take both your preventative and bronchodilator inhaler before the wheeze has a chance to start. This can completely abort or reduce the severity of an upcoming asthma attack. Common triggers are things like dust, smoke, colds, etc. For example, if you know that cat dander makes you wheeze and you were planning to visit Aunt Mary with fifty cats,before going over you should take two puffs of both your preventative and bronchodilator inhalers.
- Remove Asthma Triggers at home. This means keeping pets outside if allergic to furs, removing dusty carpets and drapes or regular vacuuming if allergic to dust, asking smokers to smoke outside, keeping an eye out for mold in your bathroom and around sinks.
Hospital
Most hospitals have a section specialized for asthma treatment. When you get there you typically are first assessed by an attendant listening to your chest, taking your vitals and by asking you to blow into a peak flow meter (PFM).After taking a deep breath you place your mouth over (1) a card cylinder and blow out as hard as you can which forces an arrow along a scale (2). How far you pushed it is compared to how far you should be able to for your age and height and helps to determine how bad your attack is, and when repeated after treatment, how well you have responded. |
Severe asthma cases are immediately obvious. These persons come in unable to carry on a conversation, their whole body shakes as they try to breathe, they can't pause to blow on the peak flow meter or score poorly and their chest sounds are very noisy. These patients are treated much more aggressively.
If the person has exhausted to the point that they are no longer able to breathe, an endotracheal tube attached to an artificial lung is inserted through their mouth into their windpipe and the machine continues to breathe for them. In other cases nebulizations and supplemental oxygen are carried out as before (1), blood tests are done (2) one of these being from an artery in the forearm to measure the levels of gases such as oxygen (3). An IV is also set up and injectable bronchodilators such as aminophylline given (4). Oxygenation of the blood can also be determined with a finger probe (5). Periodic review is done as before, and if poorly responding admission to hospital done.
Asthma Medications
- Beta 2 Agonists/ Bronchodilators. Ventolin, Berotec, Airomir, Bronchomat, Bricanyl are examples of this class of asthma drug. They work by signaling muscles of your airways to relax and open easing air flow. They are the most powerful of the asthma drugs in an acute asthma attack. A major disadvantage with daily use is that airways can become tolerant and begin to ignore them so that you have to take more and more for the same effect. Some of the most complained of side effects from these drugs are hand tremors and racing heart - more common in the tablet and syrup forms as more reaches the rest of your body. These medicines are usually given as two inhalations three times a day as needed. In young children who cannot use inhalers, syrups are used varying from a quarter teaspoon in babies to two teaspoons in children.
- Anti-inflammatory Steroids. The steroids used in asthma are not the same ones bodybuilders use. These preparations work by 'sedating' your airways, making them less likely to react violently to irritants. They work slowly so are best at preventing an attack but not good at stopping a wheeze already present. And in order to work, you need to take them once every 12 hours. A big mistake many asthmatics make is waiting until they wheeze, trying them, then saying they don't work. It won't work at that point, but if you took it before you wheezed you may not have wheezed at all. Taken as an inhaler you can expect no major side effects as the doses reaching the rest of your body are miniscule. But the back of your throat may become sore and your voice hoarse. This can be prevented by sipping a little water after each inhaler use to wash the medicine off these areas. Taken as tablets or syrups for many weeks continuously can lead to a host of problems such as weight gain (bloat rather than muscle), susceptibility to infection, and slowed bone growth in children. For this reason, tablet or syrup forms of steroids are not typically used for longer than a week or two during which time very little side effects can be expected, even in children. Steroids inhalers are given usually as two puffs twice a day every day. As tablets they are given as 1 milligram per kilogram of bodyweight (including children) up to a maximum of 60 mg in adults for a week. Used for less than 10 days there is little risk of complications.
- Mast Cell Stabilizers. In allergies, one of the main chemical culprits for making you feel bleary eyed and stuffy is Histamine. Medicines like Intal, Cromolyn, and Singulair stop the cells that release this chemical inappropriately from being able to do so.
- Antihistamines. These drugs are your cold and flu relievers. They work by blocking the histamine signal that causes sneezing, runny nose, cough and itching. As many asthma attacks are closely related to allergies to dust etc. these medicines are commonly used with steroids and bronchodilators to bring an attack under control. They are usually given as syrups in hospitals but as tablets in the community. Examples are Actifed, Reactine, Histal, Claritine, Aerius and Claritine. The main complaint with these drugs is daytime sleepiness.
- Coffee and Tea for Asthma. The active ingredient which makes you feel good in tea is called 'Theophylline' and it's chemically related to the Caffeine in coffee. Both chemicals have a positive effect on dilating air passages in asthma. In severe asthmatics theophylline can be prescribed as a tablet preparation e.g. Theodur or given by IV in hospital. They are effective but bundled with many side effects: anxiety, tremor, difficulty sleeping, and loss of appetite. They are used sparingly in persons not given enough relief with traditional inhalers and as evening doses in persons who wake at night from asthma.
Asthma Puffer Metered Dose Inhalers
This section will familiarize you with asthma inhalers.The purpose of inhalers is to send a chemical message to narrowed airways to reopen. They can be packaged as a liquid or powder. Liquid inhalers use compressed gas to blow them as an aerosol into your lungs. Dry powder inhalers use your breath to pull them into your lungs as a medicated dust cloud.
The design to your left is a gas propelled asthma inhaler. The gas and medicine are stored in the canister (1) which is held in your hand by the housing (2). After removing the dust cap, and shaking the canister, it is pressed down opening a valve at its base and releasing a jet of air and medicine (3) as you inhale. | |
This is a dry powder asthma inhaler. It does not need to be shaken. Its base is twisted (1) to load your next dose, the shaft is placed into your mouth (2) and the medicine sucked up as you breathe in. |
Conversely, gas inhalers need to be used with special care to effectively get the medicine into your lungs or it ends up at the back of your throat. The inhaler should not be placed into the mouth. | |
It is to be placed a few finger breaths away from your open mouth and triggered after shaking while breathing deeply in. Then hold your breath 3 s . Repeat. | |
Using Asthma SpacersChildren can't coordinate the above. Asthma spacers (1) work by blowing asthma medication into a confined space over the child's face. As your child breathes, it sucks in the medicated vapor. This can't be done with the dry powder inhaler. Spacers can also be used for adults. |
Asthma Nebulizers
One final note is the asthma nebulizer. This device uses an air pump attached to a mask filled with liquid bronchodilator and/or steroid and held over your face while you breathe. It delivers a continuous medicated vapor to your lungs and is very effective at home for moderate to severe asthmatics in which inhalers alone are not enough. Owning a machine is costly but a worthwhile investment and many pharmacies rent them cheaply.Diabetes Cause
Diabetes is caused by your body not being able to control its blood sugar level through insulin. Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that lowers blood sugar. Sugar in controlled amounts is neccessary for life but too is toxic. Type 1 Diabetes that starts as a kid is a result of no insulin being made. Type 2 Diabetes starts later in life and come from too little insulin being made or your body being insensitive to the insulin signal.
Insulin tells cells like your muscles and fat tissue to sponge up sugar from the blood. When the pancreas senses high blood sugar it squirts out insulin to lower it and protect your body from sticky sugar damage (glycosylation).
Kid Type 1 Diabetes is caused by your pancreas not squirting out any insulin to combat high blood sugar. It is caused by early destruction of pancreas cells by viral infections, autoimmune self directed attacks, or congenital absence of insulin cells. Once destroyed there's no cure. But scientists are experimenting at implanting new pancreas cells.
Adult onset Type 2 Diabetes is caused by either by a pancreas that's not squirting out enough insulin or insulin that doesn't effectively stimulate tissues to suck sugar from the blood. This form of diabetes is most often found in persons who are overweight.
Diabetes is a multi-factorial disease. It is caused by an interplay of several factors.
We do know however that careful diet low in refined sugars and starches, exercise, and weight control, lower your risk of developing diabetes.
Symptoms of Diabetes:
- Urinating often, waking several times at night to go.
- Extraordinary thirst.
- Rapid weight loss and ravenous appetite.
- Frequent or severe skin and vaginal infections with weak bugs like thrush, yeast, boils and ringworm.
- Coma if left untreated.
- Bad Breath that smells like nail-polish remover.
- Blurred Vision.
Diabetes Diagnosis
If your doctor suspects you have diabetes s/he will send you for a blood sugar test. You fast from midnight and have your blood tested the next morning before breakfast.Urine samples are traditionally used by doctors and clinics to screen patients for diabetes - a form of early detection. A dip-stick is placed into a sample of urine. If high in sugar the indicator changes color. Once diabetes is suspected, blood testing is used for confirmation.
Diabetes Effects
- Heart disease. Four out of five diabetics die from heart disease.
- Strokes are also more common due to higher cholesterol.
- Pain and tingling in fingers and feet. Prolonged high blood sugar is toxic to nerves.
- Lost sensation in feet leads to injury without awareness e.g. stepping on glass without pain.
- High blood sugar makes white blood cells lazy. This makes infections especially of the skin more common and severe.
- Cataracts and retinal damage.
- Kidney disease with protein spilling.
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