Anemia Treatment - Ferrous Ascorbate Vs Ferrous Sulphate

Anemia is a simple condition of Iron deficiency in blood. To be more precise Anemia is decrease in number of red blood cells (RBCs) or less than the normal quantity of Hemoglobin in the blood. Because Hemoglobin (found inside RBCs) normally carries oxygen from the lungs to the capillaries, It's deficiency will leads to hypoxia (lack of oxygen) result in symptoms like weakness, Fatigue etc.

Recently I came across a story where doctors suggested a patient to have Ferrous Ascorbate. I went to pharmacy and found that it is quite a costly medicine. Then I started studying little bit about it, why Iron should be so costly.

Ferrous Ascorbate contains Iron salt as well as Ascorbic acid (which is Vitamin C) and Vitamin C act as catalyst in absorbing the iron. And Ferrous sulphate doesn't contain Vitamin C, which makes it little less effective. This is one of the main reason why Ferrous Ascorbate is costly though Ferrous sulphate is cheap.

So one simple thing can be done is, increase your Vitamin-C intake and take Ferrous Sulphate. To increase the Vitamin C, you can consume daily a Lemon, Aamla or Oranges, if you can't get that regularly, Ascorbic acid comes as chewable tablet also, like Limcee Chewable (500Gm) which comes only for 17-18 Rs for 10 tablets.

And usually both comes with Folic acid as a combination which is absolutely fine to take at any point of time, as Folic Acid is also a kind of Vitamin only.

During Pregnancy

It is absolutely safe to take any of the medicine.

Side Effects

Here is a little catch in this. Ferrous Ascorabate is known to have just a mild headache and chest pain, which can be considered as almost No side effect, though Ferrous sulphate can cause constipation and gastritis. So if you have constipation or gastritis related problem, do not go for Ferrous sulphate. But if you are healthy, there is no point in wasting extra money. One more thing Patients who are allergic to sulphur, should not take Ferrous sulphate as well.

Cost Comparison

Ferrous Ascorabate (Orofer Xt by Emcure) average cost 98 Rs for 10 tablets.

Ferrous Sulphate (Fesovit by GSK) average cost 40 Rs for 10 tablets + Limcee average cost 20 Rs for 10 tablets = 60 Rs for 10 tablets.

You save minimum of 40% :)

Onion Juice for preventing hair loss

The scientific name of non-scarring hair loss condition is called as "Alopecia areata". Onion Juice for Hair Loss and greying Hair is an effective medication and it works in a little long term like month or two months. Current therapeutic options for Alopecia areata are limited, and there is no effective prevention for recurrent hair loss.

Onion juice helps by providing nourishment and circulation to the hair follicles.  It also kills germs, parasites, and is helpful in treating some fungi infections, all of which can aid in prevention of hair loss. So onions are also effect in treating some minor fungal infection in scalp, dry or itchy scalp. 

One study from the Journal of Dermatology found that just after four weeks of using onion juice, 74% of individuals with alopecia areata experienced significant hair regrowth. Within six weeks of using onion juice, 84% of the individuals were reported to have hair regrowth.

How to Use

1. Get some fresh onion (better is smaller/medium in size)
2. Just peel the onion, cut it in half and put it in the juicer and crush them
3. Put them in a sieve cloth and extract the liquid
4. Apply the liquid on your scalp, you can also apply blended onion, No problem
5. Keep it half and hour to one hour
6. Wash you hairs

Few other points

1. While applying it might stink a little, but try to avoid it, because it will have awesome results.
2. You have to be consistent while doing it, at least 4 times a weeks and see the results in a month.
3. You can also add fenugreek paste to condition your hair simultaneously.
4. If you want to maintain the natural color of your hair, mix the onion blend with adequate amount of mustard oil.
5. Just for change and different nutritional value, soemtimes you can also add eggs, honey, fruits, oils.
6. If you want another remedies for Hair loss, try coconut milk.

Source : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22042611

Cold, Fever and Headache

Bangalore whether is something really allergic, in office from last 2 weeks, one or other person in our team is catching us with these kind of symptoms.

1. Cold (Running nose)
2. Fever 
3. Headache
4. Body Ache

These are the clear symptoms of allergic and viral initial attack. Normally if a person is having good immune system, our system antibodies should be able to fight them and recover. But as an alternative I've seen many times, a simple course of medicine can treat you in one or two days.

If you have minor symptoms, not so high fever (above 100), then take an anti-allergic + anti-inflammatory.

The best possible I know is "Sinarest", or "Cheston cold". Taking 2-3 tablet, morning, evening and save yourself from cold wind, put cotton in your ears, drink warm water and consume good amount of vitamin C fruits. You should be able to recover by this.

After taking 2-3 tablets also, if you are not able to recover, take a course of anti-biotic. The best possible I know for these kind of bacterial infection is penicillin family drug, "Amoxycillin" with clavenic acid, which is marketed by many but a very good one I know is "Clavam 650mg" by Alkem Laboratories. You should take at least 6 tablets of it as a course. 

When you take above medicine, it might cause you gastritis, so its better to take antacid along with them. Take "Rantec" after food. If you have little higher gastritis problem, take only 1 Omez in morning before food.

So as a medication

1. Cheston cold (2-3 times in a day, depending on your fever) after food
2. Clavam 650mg (2 times in a day for 3 days) after food
3. Rantec (each time you are taking medicine)

Avoid:

1. Cold water
2. Cover your ears and chest, wear sock while sleeping
3. No pickles and curd for sure
4. No sour items, No cold items

Also drink plenty of water. Before sleeping, using Carbol Plus near your pillow will help you in clear breathing. To recover fast, take Glucon D or TANG it contains glucose and vitamin C both. And take lots of fresh fruits.

Wish you good health :)

If you have any query, contact me.

Disclaimer: This post is for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.

Pain management - A basic idea of symtoms and drugs

Pain management is an art, You have to learn it and go through multiple cases and experiences. I have tried many drugs on myself, my colleagues and my family members as an experiment sessions and through all those experiments I kept learning. I know it's a vast topic but I can assert few basic things which are primitive to understand and quite safe to try.

First thing, we should know the origin and the level of pain. 
1. Muscle and Spasm pain 
2. Joint pain
3. Headache
4. Body ache
5. Stomach pain/Bowel syndrome
6. Back pain

A little bit of idea about class of drugs related to pain management.

1. NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs - All the NSAIDs differ in structure but they all have similar antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. NSAIDs work by blocking the cyclo-oxygenase (COX) enzyme, so inhibit production of prostaglandins and thromboxanes, which are produced as part of the inflammatory response. Some classes of NSAIDs are:

• Aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen
• Dicelofanac family of drugs - used to treat pain or inflammation caused by arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis
• Mefnomic acid drug family - It works by reducing hormones that cause inflammation and pain in the body

2. Acetaminophen/Paracetamol - One of the finest invented drug in medical science which works for almost everything without knowing how exactly it works.

3. Antispasmodics/Anticholinergics - Antispasmodic agents inhibit the action of acetylcholine. They stop the transmission of parasympathetic nerve impulses therefore lessen the spasms of smooth muscle, such as in the gastrointestinal tract and in the bladder. They are used to treat spasms or conditions with disturbances in the bladder or gastrointestinal motility.

4. Muscle relaxants - They are agents that reduce tension in muscles. Centrally acting muscle relaxants work by reducing the tone of skeletal muscle causing muscles to relax. These are generally used to relieve skeletal muscle spasms due to spastic conditions, and can be used to relieve musculoskeletal pain.

Now you just need a mapping which drugs is suitable for what kind of pain.

1. Normal muscle pain, minor headache, minor sore throat - Aspirin is good enough (Don't give it you kids, it may induce Reye's syndrome)

2. A littel bit more muscle pain, fever, body ache, sore throat, flu, headache - Paracetamol is awesome (marketed as Crocin, Dolo650, Calpol), Dolo650 and Calpol is better in terms of usages and safty for adult and as well as to kids.

3. Muslce pain - ACECLO-MR, ACENT-MR, ASOACT FORTE  (aceclofenac + chlorzoxazone + paracetamol)

4. Stomach pain - For common cause and stomach irritation,  You need an antispasmodics, like Cyclominol or Cyclopam, both contains Dicycloverine which is antispasmodics

4. Abdominal pain/Menstrual cramp - You need "mefenamic acid" drug, like MEFTAL-P is too good.

5. Joint pain - Required is something like non-steroidal antiinflammatory and antirheumatic products, which can be found in drugs which contains Diclofenac or Mefenamic acid,  like Meftal-Force (which contains paracetamol and Mefenamic acid), or Diclofenac + Paracetamol like Acetonac,  or Bindac by gsk, or Ibugesic plus, or Paracip plus by Cipla

6. Back pain - Diclofenac + Paracetamol works pretty well, if not then try Meftal-spas, if not then Mobizox (which contains Diclofenac + paracetamol + chlorzoxazone) which works extremely well, but these are not long term solutions

7. Headache 

First try Aspirin, then Paracetamol, then Ibugesic plus or Combiflam then try DART which contains caffeine also but don't take it much. If headache is persisting then you need to figure out root cause of it, don't just keep taking drugs.







Disclaimer: This post for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.

How to treat yourself with common Cold, Flu, Viral and Fever

Trust me I have gone through this several many time and I have good experience of trying multiple class of drug to treat this.

A common cold is pretty common thing to happen ha ha ha, As an insight It is a group of symptoms in the upper respiratory tract caused by a large number of different viruses  may be more than 200. Though seasonal flu mostly caused by either influenza A or B viruses. But here in this post I am not covering influenza which is completely a different aspect of disease and so treatment. But I would like just mention that influenza virus is curable by a prescription drug Tamiflu. Common dude come back to the point...ok, ok.  Cold and flu is related with throat infection and sore throat also, So let me first clear the difference in these all terminologies.

What's the Difference Between a Cold, Strep Throat, and Tonsillitis?

1. A sore throat is often the first sign of a cold. However, a sore throat from a cold often gets better or goes away after the first day or two. Other cold symptoms such as a runny nose and congestion may follow the sore throat. 
2. Strep throat, which is an infection due to streptococcus bacteria, is another cause of sore throats and tonsillitis. With strep throat, the sore throat is often more severe and persists. 
3. Tonsillitis is a painful inflammation or infection of the tonsils, the tissue masses located at the back of the throat.

What is the treatment?

Few basic things, if you have cold and flu symptoms from more than 3-4 days then don't read this further and just consult a physician. Now there are two possible state of the symptoms, one is before getting consistent fever and other is after getting consistent fever. If you do not have consistent fever or if you have fever less than 100 Fahrenheit then possibly use of anti-inflammatory drug and precautions should be good enough to get cured but if you have fever more than or equal to 100 Fahrenheit and consistent then you should also take anti-infective. 

How to choose Anti-Inflammatory?

The best one I have seen to be performing is acetaminophen(or paracetamol) which as analgesic and anti-pyretic (ant fever) and works like wonder. But this is not enough because usually based on cough, cold, congestion, you have to choose the anti-inflammatory very wisely. Following are basic rules:

1. only fever - paracetamol is good enough
2. only cold, running nose - cetirizine is good enough
3. cold and mild fever - paracetamol + cetirizine
4. cold, chest congestion, fever - Cheston cold (by cipla) is too good which contains paracetamol + cetirizine + phenylephrine 
5. fever, cold, chest congestion, headache - Okacet cold (which contains caffeine also to induce the sleep), or Sinarest which is like too good drug for common usage.
6. fever, body ache, headache - paracetamol + ibuprofen (marketed as combiflam)
7. throat pain, fever - combiflam

In short Sinarest or Cheston cold is a pretty good but if you don't have much of cold and chest congestion then only paracetamol is enough. In case of throat infection which has induced the fever and cold, then paracetamol is enough but must do the gargling and take some logenze(like Tusq-D) for throat relief. In case of kids also Cinarest syrup is pretty good. Sometime if fever is not getting down you can try Paracetamol and Mefenamic acid which works much better mechanism to get the fever down. 

How to choose antibiotic?

As a suggested use of Anti-infective you can try Amoxicilin as a mild antibiotic, but for me Azythromycin  worked like wonder. But if you have taken these before you can try something more powerful as 3rd generation antibiotic like Cefpodoxime. 

Augmentin

The same kind of drug can be given to kids also as a syrup but the best one I have seen to be performing is "amoxicillin + clavulanic acid" whoseTrade names include Augmentin (by GlaxoSmithKline), Finemox CV (by Finecure Pharmaceuticals), Clavamox (by Pfizer), CLAMP (by Dr. Reddy's Laboratories), Advent (by cipla). Even an adult can try the tablet form of Augmentin as antibiotic but of course for kids you have to use syrup.

Before taking this medication, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs (especially penicillin).  Also tell your doctor if you have kidney disease or a history of intestinal problems. 

As a moderate cases I'll prefer to use Azythromycin, if you have higher level of infection then take 500mg tablets (only 3 tablets are enough as a course of anti-biotic), or else take 250mg tablets (only 6 tablets are enough). If you are taking 500mg then one tablet should be good enough, if you are taking 250mg then take 2 times in a day, so in both the cases, let it run for 3 days. And slowly try to observe that which anti-biotic suits you when, it can be quite personal. For me Azythromycin works better, but for my daughter when any infection happens,  "amoxicillin + clavulanic acid" works better. Your you should keep consulting the same doctor always so that your doctors keeps the track of which suits you better. And slowly you should always try to build a better immune system so that anti-biotic is not required. Take good amount of Vitamin C, D, B. Try to do good amount of exercise daily to increase you metabolism which essentially helps a lot in building immune system. 

And finally the food, what to take what not to take?

Take food with lots of vitamin C, and fruits, and liquid stuff. And don't take pickle, cold things (like banana, cold water, cold rice etc.), try taking warm water only. You can eat anything you want but avoid cold things, try easy digestible, 

Disclaimer: This post for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.

Tips and Tricks - Home Remedies

I am sharing some home remedies that I have heard over the years from my aunts, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. The contributors of each of these remedies swore by their effectiveness and the degree of their conviction would put any amount of scientific data to shame. I am noting down my experience on the effectiveness of the ones that I have tried.

1. Rubbing sandalwood oil on chicken pox scars makes them go away completely. Contributor specified that it is only effective for new scars. Does not work on old scars. (My experience: Seems to work :))

2. A pinch of rock salt (kala namak) and a spoonful of ajwain boiled together in a cup of water relieves gas and bloating. (My experience: Really works for me :) )

3. One amla (Indian gooseberry) a day builds immunity and protects against colds and coughs. (My experience: I recall my mother giving us one amla murrabba (gooseberry preserved in sugar syrup) every day in winters. Don’t recall the effectiveness but this one makes sense because amla is a known rich source of Vitamin C, which is known to protect against common cold :))

4. A paste of ground red gram (masoor daal) and egg yolk applied regularly keeps skin soft and glowing and reduces acne scars. (My experience: Used for about 6 months. Seems to work :) )

5. Dried and powdered orange peels make an excellent face pack that keeps skin soft, glowing and free from all skin problems. (My experience: My roommate used this one regularly and it seemed to work very well for her :) )

6. Eating drumsticks and Bitter gourd (karela) builds immunity and can protect you from an impending infection. (My experience: Once tried eating drumsticks daily to avoid going down with seasonal flu. Did not work :( Maybe very long term use is required )

7. Putting few drops of mustard oil regularly in your nostrils provides relief from allergic rhinitis. (My experience: Have not tried regularly enough to comment, but it makes sense to me because the oil would probably form a layer and maybe that can control dust allergy :) )

8. A paste of fuller’s earth (multani mitti) applied daily on the face reduces acne. (My experience: Did not work at all. Made my skin dry, itchy and the pimples looked red and much worse. But I know a dozen people who say it worked for them, so I guess it depends on your skin type :) )

9. If you want to get rid of a zit/ pimple fast, crush some black pepper and apply on top of the pimple. (My experience: Itches and burns like hell. Had to wash off immediately before it could possibly work. I don’t recommend trying this one :) )

How to deal with Throat Infection

I live in Bangalore and Bangalore is little prone to Allergy and Infection. I keep a lot care of myself but throat infection keeps happening with me. So I am gonna share my experience of treating with throat infection.

There are multiple types of Throat infections such as Viral Infection, Pharyngitis, Tonsillitis, Strep throat but the most common is Viral, Strep and Pharyngitis. Different type of infections can be caused by different viruses and bacterias.

Symptoms are throat infections are :

1. Sore throat/Throat pain

2. Mild fever

3. Difficulty in swallowing

4. Headache

5. Body ache

Treatment:

The most important thing is first to do is Gargling. Gargling can be done with warm water and put a pinch of salt, but if your throat is highly infected better to use "Betadine" liquid, put some 3-4ml in 300ml water. If you don't have Betadine, you can use Dispirine tablet also. In fact in my cases my throat was once badly infected, then I put 2 Dispirine tablet in warm water and let is dissolve properly and I did gargling 2-3 times and magically throat inflammation came down pretty fast.

Apart from gargling, You can try these medicines :

1. Some Anti-Inflammatory : Nimesulide (but this banned now), so try Paracetamol + Ibuprofen (comes as Combiflam), only Ibuprofen wasn't effective in case of regular sore throat or higher level of infection.

2. Some Anti-Infective: Like Azytrhomycin or Amoxicilin or Cefpodoxime(cephalosporin). Azythromycin is moderately good one to use, but in case Azythromycin is not working use Cefpodoxime.

3. Any Antacid : Like Rantac (after meal) or Omez (Before meal) - Actually If you take antibiotic or Anti-Inflammatory it can cause Gastritis, so Antacid is necessary otherwise it's not required.

Apart from drugs, you should consume more Vitamin C rich foods like Orange, mausmbi, Lemon, Grape, Juice, Guava which will help to strengthen your immunity system that will help in recovering you fast. But if you have got fever also eat good amount of Apple and Pomegranate, that helps in your building energy reservoir. 

Wish you all the best :)

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Disclaimer: This post for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.