DEAR DR. DONOHUE: You’ll think I’m an overprotective, helicopter mom, but I am never at ease when one of my three young children has what I think is just a cold. I have no idea if they need to see a doctor for something that could be more important. Can you give me some pointers on how to tell a simple cold from something that requires medical treatment? — J.K.    ANSWER: your question isn’t silly. most people wonder if their cold symptoms are indicative of something more serious, but they don’t want to run to a doctor unless they are.    Adults can have as many as four colds a year. Children have even more, and older people have fewer. Older people are more immune to cold viruses because they have been exposed to many of them during their lives. They have developed antibodies and are somewhat immune. Young children, who have had less experience with cold viruses, are not as immune.    Rhinoviruses constitute a large viral family that is the most frequent cause of colds. there are more than 100 different strains of this viral family. That’s one reason it has been so frustrating trying to develop a cold vaccine.    Typical symptoms of a common cold are dripping nose, sneezing, a mild cough, nasal congestion and a raw, slightly sore throat. One of the most important signs separating a cold from a more dangerous respiratory infection is the lack of a fever. A cold lasts from four to nine days. People usually stay somewhat active with a cold, and that includes kids.    Influenza, on the other hand, always produces a fever. Its cough is hacking and quite constant. Muscle pain and headache are present. People with the flu, including children, are not active. They want to lie down and forget about the rest of the world.    DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am an 86-year-old woman with a swallowing problem. Food catches in my throat and makes me cough. An hour to two later, it dislodges and finds its way back into my mouth. it smells bad.    My doctor has looked into my mouth and throat, and says he sees nothing wrong. He advises me to eat only soft foods and to drink lots of water when I eat. I’m convinced something is wrong. what do you think is going on? — B.W.    ANSWER: your complaint has the trappings of Zenker’s diverticulum. It’s a pouch that has formed in the back of the throat. People with a Zenker’s diverticulum have great difficulty swallowing due to the kinds of symptoms you describe. Liquids go down with ease; solids don’t. the Zenker’s diverticulum entraps them and ejects them later — most of the time.    A diagnosis is made by having a person like you swallow some barium and then have an X-ray taken. the barium finds its way into the diverticulum. Doctors with special scopes also can uncover one.    You need to see an ear, nose and throat doctor.    DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I felt a lump in my right breast. My doctor examined it and sent me to a surgeon, who ordered a mammogram. after the mammogram, he did a breast biopsy. the report said I had a fibroadenoma. the surgeon said it isn’t cancer, but wants me to have a repeat mammogram in three months. Why? — E.D.    ANSWER: Fibroadenomas are not cancer. the lump they produce feels rubbery and can be moved around with ease. Cancers are usually hard and fixed in place.    the follow-up mammogram was ordered to be absolutely certain that the lump is not changing, something that should give you even greater assurance than you now have.

    * * *Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from rbmamall.com.

    (c) 2011 North America Syndicate Inc.    all Rights Reserved

For you all who has oral herpes/cold sore/fever blister and got your true first outbreak (means you didnt have HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibodies beforehand). how painful/severe was the symptom, how long, and what were the recurrences like? how long before the recurrences gets less? Did you have to be hospitalized/off from work?

An allergy refers to an exaggerated immune response in response to bodily contact with certain contaminants. It is exaggerated because these foreign substances are usually seen by the body as harmless and no response occurs in non-allergic people. Allergic people’s bodies recognize the foreign substance and one part of the immune system is turned on. Allergenic substances called “allergens.” Examples of allergens are pollen, dust mites, molds, danders, and foods. In order to understand the language of allergy, it is important to remember that allergens are substances that are foreign to the body and can cause an allergic reaction in some people.

Read more and also visit the

Allergies occur when a person’s immune system erroneously attacks the allergen as an invader and produces immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to fight these substances. these antibodies when certain cells in the body to release chemicals such as histamine in bloodstream.

These chemicals affect your eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin or gastrointestinal tract and cause allergic symptoms such as sneezing, itchy eyes and runny nose. every time you are exposed to the allergen, an allergic reaction be triggered.

The most common symptoms and signs associated with allergies are: …

1 Running nose2 Sneezing3 Congestion4 watery, tearing eyes5 itchy eyes, ears, lips .. , Neck and palate6 Sinus pain7 Coughing8 short breath

Allergy Reduction: …

But there are some things that will reduce or eliminate the chance of your becoming allergic. these include lottery of birth: being born into an allergy-free family significantly reduces the risk of developing a allergy.

Plenty of vitamins C and E and omega-3 polyunsaturated oils (primarily in certain oily fish), with a large nuclear family, letting children be children and let them get dirty every now and then – get down and dirty as the immune system is running at full volume, can help reduce the chances of acquiring allergies.

Controlling Allergies:

Most allergies are easily controlled, but some individuals develop severe reactions from early age.They may have infantile food allergies (usually cow’s milk, eggs and nuts) is usually associated with extensive eczema. these people need continued close monitoring and managed care, they may seek the help of many people health professionals.

Most suffering an allergic reaction to food, pets or the environment know how to manage their allergies and do it very well. but the regular check-ups with a specialist is always recommended so that the condition can be monitored and controlled, and any new medical techniques or drugs used.

posted by Adam on 21 Feb 2011 at 10:06 am

This is a terrible study, and worse, the media is making false statements which are nowhere to be found in the study. This was a study of people who were “tired” or “depressed,” and intentionally restricted the sample. This was a purely political study financed by insurance and by government.Most people with CFS find out their limitations and understand what level of activity they can withstand without relapsing.CFS patients have 30% less blood volume, have marked mitochondrial dysfunction, both of which can lead to congestive heart failure. They have multiple co-infections with herpesviruses EBV, CMV, HHV and often have others such as pathgenic mycoplasma, chlamydia pneumoniae, and intrusion of enteric bacteria into the blood due to high levels of inflammatory cytokines. They have high antibodies to many bacterias and viruses at levels which healthy people just do not have. Their RNaseL enzyme system is engaged at fighting viral replicated at levels healthy people just don’t have, and it borrows from the cellular energy needed to maintain normal levels of activity.Telling CFS patients to exercise their way out of illness makes about as much sense as telling a person with a severe cold to get on an exercise bike and go really fast until they get better.They have marked irregularities in cytokines, abnormalities in natural killer cell counts, and markedly decreased natural killer cell cytotoxicity. CFS patients can lose nearly all of their ability to kill latent viruses — scoring worse than HIV/AIDS patients. by contrast, severe depression combined with smoking has a small fraction of the effect on the immune system.

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Studies have shown that

is possible, systemic lupus erythematosus the effect on the nervous system. Patients with lupus may be confusion, difficulty concentrating, headache, fatigue, stroke or other signs that indicate the involvement of the nervous system.

Studies have shown that the nerve can be damaged when antibodies attack nerve cells or blood vessels. it is known that the nervous system requires an uninterrupted flow of blood that are needed to supply oxygen and nutrients to tissues. when this blood flow will be slowed or interrupted, the nerve cells are unable to function normally, and it seems symptoms. the symptoms vary depending on where the tissue damage is situated.it is good to know that the nervous system contains three parts. the central nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord, peripheral nervous system nerve fibers, which are set needed for skin and muscle energy for sensation and movement, and the third part is the system autonomic nervous system, which aims to cable to regulate peripheral nerves and innervate the internal organs.

Inflammation of blood vessels in the brain that appears to 10% of lupus patients is a disease of the central nervous system vasculitis.this usually requires hospitalization and high doses of corticosteroids. Some of the symptoms that appear, are high fever, seizures, psychoses and rigidity of meningitis-like neck. If not managed aggressively, the central nervous system vasculitis is quickly on to stupor and coma.

People with mild to moderate systemic lupus erythematosus may experience cognitive dysfunction. it is a series of symptoms that occur about 50% of these patients, and we can mention fatigue memory problems, feelings of confusion and difficulty expressing thoughts. In a neuropsychological test or a test positron emission tomography, these symptoms are clearly documented.it we know that can cause cognitive dysfunction and to go himself, but no optimal treatment is available. Furthermore, it is unclear what the reason for the symptoms that occur. the management of cognitive dysfunction is frustrating and often a person rates in developing countries coping strategies may be useful.

About 20% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus Lupus experience headaches. this is manifested by severe headache is migraine related and is often in people who have found Raynaud’s phenomenon. as a treatment, it is worth the same as in tension headache or migraine used, and sometimes corticosteroids.

We know that about a third of patients with lupus, a false positive syphilis test positive anticardiolipin antibodies or a test.this increased clotting time as lupus anticoagulant or antiphospholipid antibodies have known. About 1 / 9 patients with lupus develop blood clots in various parts of the body, called antiphospholipid syndrome.If blood clots occur in the nervous system, they can cause a stroke, and symptoms of stroke are the painless onset of neurological deficits without signs of active lupus . If suddenly appears, you must take medication to thin the blood. We can point to the low-dose aspirin, heparin or coumadin.

Among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus there is a percentage of 20% who have the syndrome and fibromyalgia. These patients, pain in the soft tissue, tender points and increased in most cognitive dysfunction, decreased concentration, lack of stamina and sleep disorders. For the treatment include antidepressants, counseling and physical therapy if needed.

It was found that drugs used to treat lupus erythematosus, symptoms can develop as the lupus.Psychosis of central nervous system can occur due to malaria in very high doses, headache, dizziness, and rare cases the symptoms of meningitis are caused by inflammation. even if a patient uses corticosteroids, it may seem, mood swings, psychosis, depression, anxiety, confusion, crises occur when high doses and blood pressure-lowering drugs may be associated with depression or loss of libido.

One study found that people who can both lupus and Sjogren’s syndrome vasculitis or predisposed to develop cognitive dysfunction. Sometimes, the proteins can circulate in the blood can cause hyperviscosity, cryoglobulinemia syndrome.Plasmapheresis or filter the blood to alleviate this complications.Sometimes, pronounced decreases in platelet count can with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or lack bleeding.People be assigned to protein or protein-SC can clot, bleed, and those with lupus, idiopathic thrombocytopenia, and renal failures.

In lupus peripheral nervous system, causing brain nerves blurred vision, drooping eyelid (s), tinnitus (n), facial pain and numbness occur dizziness.Symptoms or tingling in the arms or legs, if there is inflammation of blood vessels supplying the peripheral nerves . it may also show symptoms of other conditions as lupus and electromyogram and nerve conduction tests are generally useful to determine whether symptoms are from a different cause. Corticosteroids are treated for inflammation of the peripheral nerves.

It is important to tell your doctor if you experience symptoms of the nervous system. it is possible that these symptoms of lupus, by a drug or a particular aspect of your life. the doctor will ask you experience the symptoms, it will conduct a physical examination and laboratory tests including blood chemistry panel, blood count and urinalysis. In addition, diagnostic tests such as sedimentation, ANA, anti-DNA, anti-ribosomal P and complement are useful to determine the nervous system are involvement.There neurodiagnostic tests include CT and MRI of the brain, brain waves or electroencephalogram taps.In cord and some hospitals, it can be studied by PET led scans.the cord fluid for cells, components of proteins and antibodies anti-neuron. In patients with cognitive dysfunction, neuropsychological tests can be useful.

The treatment of lupus nervous system depends on its source and can immunosuppressants, anticoagulants, antibiotics, steroids, antidepressants, counseling or surgery. If it is obvious difficulties in diagnosis, a rheumatologist and / or neurologist should be involved in your care. We saw that for many people with lupus, a disease of the nervous system of fully reversible.

For more resources about lupus symptoms, please read this or even lupus-guide.com/systemic-lupus.htm lupus-guide.com/lupus-rash. htm

Tick-bite prevention strategies

Sources: Dr. Kevin Griffith, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Thomas Kerkering, infectious disease section chief, Carilion Clinic; Eric Day, Virginia Tech entomologist

How Lyme disease is diagnosed

The official word on how to diagnose Lyme disease from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• Doctor-diagnosed bull’s-eye rash greater than 5 centimeters; this usually increases in size three to 30 days after infection. (Not all patients will develop the rash or recall a tick bite.) Some patients develop additional lesions elsewhere on the body.
• Fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint aches and swollen lymph nodes. (In some cases, these may be the only symptoms of infection.)
• All criteria, with exception of rash, must be supported by a positive lab finding to be counted under CDC surveillance guidelines.
• A two-tiered blood test can be helpful in diagnosing the disease, but only after two to four weeks, after the antibodies develop. Early Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms and the possibility of exposure to infected ticks.

Lyme symptoms

Untreated, the infection may spread to other parts of the body within a few days to weeks, producing an array of symptoms including:

• Loss of muscle tone on one or both sides of the face (called Bell’s palsy);
• Severe headaches and neck stiffness due to meningitis;
• Shooting pains that may interfere with sleep;
• Heart palpitations and dizziness due to changes in heartbeat;
• Pain that moves from joint to joint.

The CDC does not acknowledge the existence of chronic Lyme disease, which advocates use to refer to what they believe to be a disabling post-Lyme illness that can cause arthritis, neurological and/or heart problems. But the CDC does concede the following:

After several months, about 60 percent of patients with untreated infection will begin to have intermittent bouts of arthritis, with severe joint pain and swelling; large joints are most often affected, especially knees.

In addition, up to 5 percent of untreated patients may develop chronic neurological complaints months to years after infection, including shooting pains, numbness or tingling in hands or feet, and memory problems.

“Most cases of Lyme disease can be cured with antibiotics, especially if treatment is begun early in the course of illness. however, a small percentage of patients with Lyme disease have symptoms that last months to years after treatment with antibiotics.

“These symptoms can include muscle and joint pains, arthritis, cognitive defects, sleep disturbance or fatigue. the cause of these symptoms is not known. There is some evidence that they result from an autoimmune response, in which a person’s immune system continues to respond even after the infection has been cleared.”SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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emedicinehealth.com/tuberculo…

The best way to know is to go to your local health dept to get a skin test for it….they are free.

Good Luck

The most common are night sweats, chronic cough(more than 3 weeks), fatigue, and unexplained weight loss. Diagnosis is done several ways. One is a skin test by which they inject a small amount of liquid between the layers of skin and it forms a bubble which recedes in a matter of hours. the person who is injected must then go back and have the site of injection looked at. if it is red and hard that means you have been exposed to TB and your body have antibodies to it. the follow up is then to have a chest x-ray done. sometimes cultures of the sputum are also performs. however, there is now a new blood test called a Quantiferon Gold assay study that can be done and will not only tell if a has been exposed to TB but if they have latent TB that was not detectable on x-ray.

For immediate Release Monday, December 13, 2010

Results from a government-sponsored clinical trial of inactivated 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine in people with asthma indicate that a single dose of vaccine was safe and induced a strong immune response predictive of protection. The findings also suggest that individuals over the age of 60 who have severe asthma may require a larger dose of vaccine. The study was cosponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), two components of the National Institutes of Health, and appears online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

"Asthma was the most common underlying health condition among those hospitalized in the United States with 2009 H1N1 influenza infection during the 2009-2010 influenza season," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "The results of this clinical trial show that the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine was safe and led to adequate production of antibodies thought to be protective against the virus. this is important because the H1N1 vaccine is one component of the seasonal influenza vaccine currently being distributed for the 2010-2011 influenza season."

People with asthma are at risk for developing severe disease when infected with the influenza virus. In addition, there is concern that the long term use of corticosteroids, which are used to control asthma symptoms and known to suppress the immune system, by people with severe asthma might affect their ability to mount a healthy immune response to the vaccine.

"this study shows patients and their doctors that it is safe and effective to get the flu vaccination while they continue to take the corticosteroid medications necessary to keep their asthma under control," says NHLBI Acting Director Susan B. Shurin, M.D.

In late 2009, NIH rapidly designed and sponsored a clinical study to determine the dose and number of doses of the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine needed to safely produce a protective immune response in people with asthma. NIH worked with the Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to acquire H1N1 vaccine for the study from a U.S.-licensed influenza vaccine manufacturer. The trial was conducted at NHLBI Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP) sites located at university hospitals and centers throughout the United States.

The design of the trial was similar to that of other NIAID-sponsored clinical trials of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccines in healthy adults. In these trials, a single dose of the vaccine containing 15 micrograms of the influenza hemagglutinin molecule — the main target of the protective antibody response — was found to be well tolerated and induced a strong immune response in most participants.

The study enrolled 390 people aged 12 to 79 years with asthma. Participants were divided into two groups based on the severity of their asthma. The first group exhibited mild or moderate asthma, and the second group exhibited severe asthma. For the purposes of the study, people with mild or moderate asthma were characterized as needing no or low to moderate doses of inhaled corticosteriods to control their disease symptoms. Those with severe asthma needed high doses of inhaled corticosteriods and frequently required oral corticosteriods to control their symptoms.

Half of the participants in each group received a 15-microgram dose of vaccine, and the other half received a 30-microgram dose, both by injection. three weeks later, each participant received a second dose in the same amount as the first dose. The vaccine, manufactured by Novartis by methods used to prepare each year?s seasonal vaccine, contained inactivated 2009 H1N1 influenza virus and therefore could not cause influenza infection.

The investigators measured the level of antibodies against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus in participants’ blood samples, which were taken three weeks after each injection, to assess the strength of the immune response.

The vaccine proved safe and effectively produced an immune response indicative of protection. In participants with mild to moderate asthma, and in most participants with severe asthma, a single 15-microgram dose was sufficient to induce a presumably protective immune response. The immune response after the first dose was not further improved after a second dose, indicating that a single dose was adequate. Participants older than age 60 with severe asthma had diminished immune responses to the 15-microgram dose of vaccine, but the 30-microgram dose gave an adequate response.

"We were not surprised that the older participants had less robust responses to the vaccine compared with the younger participants because immune system activity tends to decrease with age," says William Busse, M.D., a principal investigator of NHLBI?s SARP and professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. ?Based on these observations, physicians may wish to consider immunizing older patients who have severe asthma with the high-dose version of the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine, which contains the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus component.?

Safety data were collected and examined throughout the course of the study by investigators and by an independent safety monitoring committee. Participants were followed for any side effects they may have experienced from the vaccine, as well as for asthma attacks that occurred during the study. The vaccine did not exacerbate participants’ asthma. In addition, the vaccine was well-tolerated, and its safety profile was found to be the same as that obtained in other studies in which the vaccine was given to the general public.

Detailed information about this study can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov (clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00978120?term=H1N1+AND+asthma&rank=1) and on Questions and answers: NIH Trial of 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccine in People with Asthma (niaid.nih.gov/news/QA/Pages/H1N1VacASTHMAqa.aspx).

Additional information about NIAID-sponsored clinical trials of candidate H1N1 vaccines can be found on NIAID?s H1N1 Clinical Studies Web portal (niaid.nih.gov/topics/flu/h1n1/clinicalstudies/).

Visit flu.gov for one-stop access to U.S. government information on avian and pandemic influenza.

Also, visit NIAID?s Web portals for more information about flu (niaid.nih.gov/topics/Flu/) and asthma (niaid.nih.gov/topics/asthma/) and NHLBI’s Web site for more information about asthma (nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Asthma/Asthma_WhatIs.html).

For additional information about NHLBI’s SARP, visit the program Web site at severeasthma.org/SARP_home.html.

NIAID conducts and supports research — at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide — to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at niaid.nih.gov.

Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases, and sleep disorders. The Institute also administers national health education campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other topics. NHLBI press releases, information on NHLBI’s role in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and other materials are available online at nhlbi.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation’s Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit nih.gov.

Reference: WW Busse et al. Vaccination of patients with mild and severe asthma with a 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus vaccine. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. DOI: 0.1016/j.jaci.2010.11.014 (2010)