Archive for August, 2008

Adrenal Fatigue

These days it seems that many people are overwhelmed by stress and fatigue. It is a growing complaint doctors are hearing from patients. Adrenal gland dysfunction can be the root cause of such symptoms as fatigue, weakness, feelings of being run down, metabolic disturbances, immune system problems and thyroid gland disturbances. Constant stress (both physical and emotional), disorders such as Cushing’s syndrome and Addison’s disease, as well as poor nutrition are ways a person can succumb to disruption of proper adrenal gland function. The adrenal glands lay just anterior to both kidneys and are responsible for production and secretion of special steroidal and peptide hormones. Despite their relative small size they are non-the-less very important glands. The hormones responsible for maintaining blood pressure and acting as excitatory neurotransmitters are produced from the inner most part of the gland called the medulla. The outer aspect, the cortex, secretes other classes of compounds called steroid hormones.

The adrenal gland hormones play a critical role in human immune function and maintaining a balance of serum electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium. Disturbance of this gland’s function can have a profound impact on a person’s health, while total shut down or suppression of the gland can cause death.

There are several tests that can be conducted to determine if there is adrenal gland insufficiency or dysfunction. One can measure levels of such hormones as hydrocortisone (cortisol), aldosterone, epinephrine and ACTH in blood or even urine studies. Serial saliva measurements of cortisol throughout the day are another helpful tool. Imaging studies such as MRI and CT-scan are also helpful in revealing the presence of adrenal gland tumor or atrophy. The average amount of cortisol produced by the adrenals is approximately 10-15mg per day. There is a tight balance for too little or too much of these hormones often cause problems.

Once adrenal gland dysfunction is established there are some treatment options that include nutritional support for the milder cases. For severe cases, such as Addison’s Disease very potent glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid drugs are usually prescribed and the patient is monitored very closely for high potassium levels, low sodium levels and conditions which can be life threatening in times of stress (as in pneumonia or another serious infection). Those on high doses of steroids like prednisone need to be cautious and watch for adrenal suppression.

For milder cases caused by stress Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) has been helpful. I however do not recommend taking this as a supplement without proper testing. While it is available over the counter, it is too strong a compound to be taken without physician supervision. Serum levels of DHEA-S guide dosing of this hormone. Extract of licorice (Glycyrrhiza) offers support of the adrenals due to its effects of reducing the breakdown of hydrocortisone in the body. Once again physician supervision is suggested when using glycyrrhizin products as they can be harmful at high doses.

Pantothenic Acid (vitamin B-5) is also helpful since it is a precursor of acetyl CoA and acetylcholine. Vitamin B-5 is necessary for the biosynthesis of adrenal hormones. The amino acid L-theanine, which is found in tea, has been shown to increase levels of the neurotransmitter GABA and is often helpful as a calming agent. L-theanine plays a role in reducing stress, thus indirectly affecting adrenal function.

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) is a modulator of chronically elevated cortisol levels resulting for heavy exercise and stress on the body system. Vitamin C attenuates and influences cortisol levels as well as imparting anti-inflammatory properties. Finally, Melatonin, an antioxidant hormone, released by the pineal gland that regulates the circadian rhythm and sleep, has an affects the pituitary-adrenal axis. Even low doses of Melatonin increase serum DHEA-Sulfate to cortisol ratios in test subjects according to a couple of scientific trials.

Occasionally a naturopathic physician will recommend glandular extract replacement therapy. This should be entered into carefully. Strict supervision of doses and treatment should follow. A theoretical risk (albeit miniscule) is that of “mad-cow” disease from taking such animal products. However, there has never been a reported case.

The combination of prescription and/or non-prescription adrenal support compounds is something that is customized for each patient. There are varying degrees of Adrenal fatigue that require a variety of supportive therapeutics. Always consult a knowledgeable physician.

© 2004

JP Saleeby, MD offers services in telemedicine at http://www.saleeby.net and is assistant medical director of the Emergency Department at Liberty Regional Medical Center. He can be reached for comment at jpsaleeby@aol.com. You can view his blog at http://www.docsaleeby.blogspot.com for more articles and bio.

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Unmasked

Stay at home today… at your writing altar. No one will see you being yourself. Write flamboyantly in the breeze of these hours. Be intimate. Your notebook will capture your muse.

Juice an orange in a glass citrus squeezer.
Hesitate over a chocolate. Twirl your tongue into the depths of its liquid centre.
Claim a drinking vessel. Lips respond to fine bone china with floral fluttery… eyes have an affair with unabashed roses.

Arise and walk. Take a tour of your home. Linger over childhood photos of yourself when your heart palpitated like a spring rabbit.

Stride over your back yard. Fingertips investigate. Fists are earthmovers. Palms rock-a-bye an acid green worm. Spread yourself on the prickles of lawn. See things… a basking beetle receiving the sun on its polished brown shield. Giggling baby tomatoes fatten. Silly plantings are remembered.

Mystery is your instructor. Slip out to the local library; search the children’s section for wonderland, drifting away with the improbable, transfixed as a child. Perch on a red stool — become the ruler of the toadstool ring. Burst home with an armful of books and read them on your tummy. Blankets, pillows and speckled cookies encourage distant thoughts to assemble themselves; you never know what might happen.

Newsagents are your stop for magazines to seize and carry home on a wet day with nougat chocolates. The display of glossy subjects from kittens to writing is quite an investigation. Be alert for new ones. Sharp scissors will cut out pictures to paste into a Thinking Book. Some have a secret story within them — a magnifying glass explores the details. The Thinking Book is a large spiral sketchbook… portly, with thick paper, and strewn with doodle people that appear by their own decision.

Art supply shops are hard to leave. Buy watercolour tubes, shaped squirrel brushes, boards, pencils, and of course fountain and nib pens with twinkling glass bottles of ink in black and oxblood, and do not resist moonlight violet… whatever your muse craves. Michelangelo stands near. Sketches of characters translate to stories and a spurt of crimson paint reminds you of something you meant to write about one day.

Bookshops are for deep diving. There are oodles of identities and ideas here. Turning over the bejeweled cover that glows with a raised amethyst title, you find personalities, settings, names, tastes and emotions that you can absorb and store for future consideration. Buy notebooks that glow, sparkle, quiver… either splendid or sensible. Of course you have your perfect pen, but think of a frog and lily jug filled with every sort of instrument, including a parrot quill, because each one places you into a guise.

Part the sequined curtain of the Crystal shop and be hoisted away with incense. Inhale new books; fall into crystal spheres; hear music that levitates you over to the onyx eggs. On the way, your eager eye passes a beckoning book: “Be Your Own Wizard” — silken robes rustle past your face. Dreamcatchers gather nightmares and turn them into fables of dread. Ornate tarot cards call you to hazy worlds. Mists of coffee are calling. Time to go. Seesaw out with turquoise rune-stones engraved in gold.

Teashops cannot be bettered for victims and perpetrators. Who is that man slurping Irish Breakfast while penning notes with emerald ink? Why does the freckled blonde with the cherry earrings laugh? Stab a fork into some more zingy lemon meringue pie.

Tonight you will be reading lines written by the unmasked you… jottings of memories — far gone summer holidays; friends that used to be; pyjamas on Saturday morning. Scrutinize the pavements of life and fill many notebooks; all of which will be of particular use when you need “fiction”.

Esmerelda Jones - EzineArticles Expert Author

Esmerelda Jones… writer of desires

Victoriana, Victorian Swoon & Erotica, Gods & Goddesses: The Wisdom And Pleasures of Ancient Greece, Classic Romance, Poems For The Passionate, Bushrangers, Ghosts I Have Known, Crystal Ball Clairvoyant.

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E-Gold

E-gold is a digital currency, used extensively on the Internet for making payments in exchange for goods and services.

It is one of the first digital e-currency providers, having started in 1996. E-gold accounts are backed by actual physical gold, dollar for dollar. You can take delivery of the physical gold if you wish, although there is an additional handling charge.

The E-gold e-currency is tied directly to the value of gold, so it’s not possible to use outside influences to affect the value of it… unless one has the ability to affect the spot price of gold. Being tied to the price of gold, e-gold accounts fluctuate up and down with the value of national currencies as they move with the spot price of gold.

While gold is the most popular precious metal digital currency in use, E-gold also offers the platinum, palladium and silver precious metals as digital currency.

Funding an e-currency account is the job of a third party called a Market Maker. A market maker is a merchant who exchanges national currencies for e-currencies, and places them in your online currency account. Similarly, they will buy your ecurrency and pay you in your national currency when you wish to exchange your egold for currency.

You can fund an e-gold with paypal, or buy e-gold with a credit card if you wish, though the market maker will charge up to 15% to do so. This is largely because of the cost to him of fraudulent charge backs.

E-currencies are now accepted fairly extensively by online merchants in exchange their products and services, mainly catering to people, who for whatever reason, don’t have or can’t get, a credit card.

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Copyright © 2005 :Russell Savige and DX-Currency-Trades.com This article may only be reproduced in full including this resourse box.
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Minimize the Daily Struggles by Focusing on the Bigger Picture

Today was a great day. Today I saw a young woman take a giant step in her life and move toward her purpose in life. It brought tears to her eyes and she GOT it. She clearly grasps her purpose for her life. It was the huge “Ah-HA” that she needed to get unstuck in her life and now it’s going to take action on her part to move towards that purpose.

This beautiful young woman is 28, is single, has two boys 8 & 10 and works full time. Her ex husband is not in her life and one of her boys has developmental delays. Since she had babies so young she never finished school but has worked ever since she had the kids. She’s smart, kind and a devoted mom. She’s respected at work and has a great support network of friends.

Lindsay is the type of women that men really like. She’s gorgeous, intelligent, warm and witty and very kind hearted. But Lindsay confided to me today that she often breaks off relationships when the men disappoint her in some way. She’s aware that her own insecurities and jealousies have made her push great guys away from her and she’s conscious that she might be close to doing that to her current boyfriend. He’s loving and devoted and she admitted that she is falling in love with him.

Our coaching session started out with her wanting to know how to handle her boyfriend and what to do about their future. I explained to her that if it’s been a pattern in her life then it’s more important to look at her and to build her own foundation than to focus on the externals with relationships that may or may not work. I explained to her that if she continues on the same path without changing anything, then she will get the same results.

I cut right to the core. I asked her “what about YOU?” What is it that YOU want? What is it that YOU have the desire to do? I explained to her that as she built her relationship with God, with herself, built her intelligence, got credentials, (physical, spiritual, and mental and emotional), then her standards would automatically rise. I explained to her that the more she grew herself, more appealing she’d become to herself that she would tolerate less bad behavior from others.

When she answered that she wanted to become a child psychologist and a behavioral specialist, her eyes welled up with tears. She said that ever since she was a child, she loved knowing kids that had challenges and intuitively understood the psychology and behavior of kids. In her job, she soaks up any information she can get her hands on that have to do with the kids she serves. She had told me that before but was continuing worrying about the day to day activities, bills and circumstances in her life which got in the way. I stated that lets not look at the obstacles yet, but let’s look at the goal and work backwards.

1. Her goal is to get a PhD in Psychology.

2. Her first step, then, is to finish her undergraduate work.

3. She will have to call the admissions directors to nearby schools and explain her situation.

4. She may need to get a referral to get into the school.

5. She may need financial assistance and might need to cut back on her hours at work.

6. Her next goals are to complete a Masters and a Doctorate.

7. In 10 years time or less, she will have a Doctorate degree and two kids who have learned more from a mommy that was dedicated to bettering herself than worrying about which man to date.

Lindsay left our session so excited. She did want to discuss the “relationship” issue again about whether she should tolerate some of the things she is tolerating and at that point, and because I know her so well, I enthusiastically responded, “blah, blah, blah, those are the types of distractions that are going to get in your way to getting what you want in life.” I encouraged her to focus again on HER, on what SHE needed to get in her life so she could be proud of the hard work she put in to accomplish a goal.

She ended with a huge smile on her face. She promised to get on the phone tomorrow to the admissions counselors and to get an appointment. She shared with me that she knew that it was her “purpose” to help others with their kids’ problems and challenges. We also discussed that she was going to “spend the time anyway, so you might as well spend it doing something useful instead of wasting it.”

Coaching Lindsay this morning was another reminder to me that there are MILLIONS of distractions in life and we have the ability to choose which ones to give time and energy to on a daily basis. We all have relationships that suck our energy, bills to pay, work to do, dishes to do, trips to take, friends to see and illnesses that slow us down, but when we identify our purpose, our mission and our vision for our life, it can act as a force within us, to open the doors to the path of our future. The hard work that we put in every day towards our goal adds up overtime to accomplishing our goal. When we accomplish our goal, our self esteem rises and opportunities find us.

The road to finding our mission in life is sometimes a rocky road but its well worth it. It is by taking responsibility for our OWN life that we grow up emotionally and can be used in the world to serve others. By keeping our big goal in mind, and our purpose in our heart, we can give less importance to the daily struggles that find us. When we’re able to find and use our gift, we grow. It is by serving others with our gift that we build our self esteem. And when we are serving others at full throttle and fulfilling our destiny, our lives matter deeply.

The challenge is to find that passion, joy and connection in the world. Our challenge is to find the reason why God created us with the certain talents, joys, concerns, beliefs and dreams. When we discover that, we have discovered a meaningful life!

Mary Gardner, The Charisma Coach, helps people get connected to their purpose in this world, find the connections and contacts they need to get started and she helps them become powerful so they can accomplish great things in the world. Her website is http://www.marygardner.com

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Choosing Ladies Mountain Bikes Made Easy

Mountain biking is a popular sport for men, women and children. It is especially popular in the US, UK and Australia. Most popular retailers such as GT and Kona have a ladies mountain bikes range which is specifically built for women. These models have smaller and lighter frames to improve handling and performance for ladies. Enhanced ergonomics means these types of bikes are also more suited to the female posture to avoid injuries and enhance comfort. When choosing a bicycle the most important thing to consider is the terrain that it was built for. Most bicycles are more suited to certain surfaces and this could make a big difference to your ride so when selecting a mountain bike please keep this in mind. It is also important to choose well known brands as their frames are more likely to be higher quality than the rest due to years of manufacturing experience. With more women taking part in this sport nowadays, more mountain bike manufacturers are adding a ladies range so this should not be a problem. If you are looking to buy ladies mountain bikes at the lowest prices, we recommend checking out BuyMountainBikes.net to compare the latest ranges on the market today.

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Will Smaller Companies Be Forced out of the Gaming Laptop Sector Too

Until fairly recently, gaming laptops were traditionally custom made by select companies. Despite the fact they weren’t amazing sellers they did have great margins. Everybody wanted this kind of notebook computer, but it was too pricey. They were basically the best laptops that the technology could provide at that time. Despite the excitement caused I do not believe they were good sellers because I don’t believe buyers would buy laptops as an alternative to desktop computers as they were overpriced. The primary companies have lately started taking advantage of massive opportunities in gaming laptops, so that is all transforming.

Compared to the smaller system builders these companies know they can generate even more cash. These manufacturers have probably been losing a bit of money on cheap units so this should be a welcomed opportunity. Why would anybody buy laptops like this? I guess big manufacturers have the marketing resources to teach them that. I don’t know what this will do to littler retailers but it will have a detrimental effect on them. I’m fairly confident that the multinational manufacturers will attempt to squeeze the small ones out. I think buying from a familiar brand additionally gives the perception of added value for money.

The laptop computers being launched by branded companies are all contending for the best laptop computer status. This surely should give a bit of encouragement to the smaller system builders. The custom made service is a big benefit to the potential purchaser. These picky potential customers are generally very well educated with the technology and can check each of the specs individually. In comparing specifications and looks, these purchasers generally favour the former.

This is all excellent from the publics perspective.A tactic that the local companies could utilise is to lower markup into shift greater numbers of system. Who is to say what will occur. I’m really not sure anymore. The best laptops are more often then not going to be expensive to be honest. The large manufacturers have already entered the gaming laptops division so we will have to look and observe what happens I guess.

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Abortion

If a pregnant woman’s child is killed during an attack, the law says the unborn child is murdered, therefore the attacker will go to trial for murder.

But if a woman chooses to have a abortion, the government has given her the right to legally murder her child.

Should a mother have the right to choose death for her child,when after the child’s birth she can choose the option of being a parent or adoption?

Our laws seem to have a double standard for life. How can our government make laws to take away the innocent human lives that the courts have sworn to protect? Lives that may be taken because they are inconvenient to others.

A criminal has the right to a lawyer,and a fair trial.
A unborn baby who’s heart beats fighting to live has no legal rights.

The voice for the child

Listen to my heart beat

You have a choice to make,
Only you will decide my fate.
Life or death,
There is not much time left.
The decision is yours alone,
Listen to my heart beat like a song,
There isn’t a bigger heart ache
for you to know,
Than to live with the mistake,
That you let me go,
Listen to my heart beat
as you decide my fate,
My life is your choice to make.
There are those who tell you a lie,
They say it’s alright for me to die,
Is my life so easy to take?
Listen to my heart beat,
before you decide my fate.

Bio Of Judy Arline Puckett

I am currently residing in Monroe, La.
I begin writing at the age of 11, and I’m 54 now.
I am the mother of three and the grandmother of five.
I love creative writing, poetry, digital art, art, photography, jazz, and blues music.
I write poetry and lyrics on every topic. War, peace, love, heartache, religion, and abortion, which I oppose.
I hope to write meaningful and worthwhile words that will touch hearts and make a difference in life.

“A poet is the voice for those who are without words.” -Judy Arline Puckett

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