anndody

Muscle pain is the most common side effect of cholesterol-lowering statins. By Harvard Health Publications Peek inside the medicine cabinet of an American over age 50 and you're likely to spy a statin. This family of drugs is good at controlling blood levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the so-called bad cholesterol. Statins reduce the chances of having a first or repeat heart attack or stroke and of dying prematurely of heart disease. They may also have other benefits that range from easing inflammation to battling memory loss and dementia. The six statins currently on the market are Crestor (rosuvastatin), Lescol (fluvastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), and Zocor (simvastatin). As medications go, statins are pretty safe. Most people take one without any negative consequences. Muscle problems are the most common side effect. About one in 10 people who starts a statin reports having muscle aches and pains. In most cases, these sympt...

What Can You Do to Help Control Your Pain? Your pain is unique. Only you know where your pain is located, how it feels, how much it hurts, how long it hurts and what makes it better. The key to getting the best pain relief is talking with your doctor and nurse about your pain. They will want to know how much pain you feel, where it is, and what it feels like. The First Step: Talk About Your Pain Telling your care team in detail about your pain is the best thing that you can do to assist in your cancer treatment. Sometimes patients don't receive the best pain treatment because they don't let their care team know about their pain. Patients may not want to complain, they may fear becoming addicted to pain medications, they may fear the side effects of pain more than the pain itself, or they may want to save their pain treatment options until they "really" need them. Each of these beliefs will hinder ...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older adults with knee arthritis may be able to reduce some of the load on their knee joint by walking with a cane, a new study suggests. Australian researchers found that when they had 20 knee arthritis patients walk with a cane, it lessened the force on the inner side of the knee joint with each step. All of the study participants were older than 50 and suffering from medial knee osteoarthritis -- a common form of arthritis that affects the side of the joint closer to the midline of the body. The findings suggest that the majority of people with this type of knee arthritis can reduce the "load" on the inner knee by using a cane, senior researcher Dr. Rana S. Hinman told Reuters Health. In theory, this could slow the progression of the arthritis, though that is not yet proven, said Hinman, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne School of Physiotherapy. "This may have implications for a reduced risk of disease progression ove...

It seems that every time we open a newspaper, we read about yet another danger from a popular pain reliever. Are there any safe options left to relieve our aches and pains? The most widely used pain and anti-inflammatory medications are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include popular brands like Motrin and Aleve and the various brands of aspirin. There was much excitement when COX-2-selective NSAIDs were introduced about 7 years ago, because they were associated with less gastrointestinal bleeding, the most dangerous side effect of aspirin and some of the other NSAIDs. By 2005, however, two of the most popular COX-2 drugs, Vioxx (rofecoxib) and Bextra (valdecoxib), were removed from the market because they significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular events. A recent study has suggested that the cardiovascular risk of Vioxx may continue for at least a year after the drug has been discontinued, a finding that's led some heart experts to recommend ...

The more than 300,000 Americans who die suddenly each year account for about 20 percent of all deaths in this country. Sudden cardiac death can often be prevented with an implantable defibrillator in people known to be at high danger. These include survivors of a heart attack, people with severe heart failure, and certain rare genetic abnormalities of the heart's electrical system. But defibrillators can't be implanted in everybody who might die suddenly. Who is most likely to suffer a sudden death? A recent study from Germany has raised serious doubts about the common assumption that sudden death most often strikes unexpectedly and at random in apparently healthy men. In a group of more than 400 victims of sudden death, the authors found that 40 percent of sudden deaths were in women whose average age was 76 years compared to 68 years among the men. About 67 percent of those who died suddenly had heart disease; all but 25 percent of them had suffered from prolonged symptom...

A tide of media articles over the past few years has made it clear that medicine is putting almost all its future hopes on genetics. But a small study from UCLA offers an intriguing alternative, one that could be just the tip of the iceberg. Researchers found that children and teenagers who described themselves as positive thinkers had higher thresholds of tolerance for pain. On the other hand, young subjects who had learned less positive coping skills (such as worrying about problems or turning to someone else for help) were less able to tolerate the application of pressure or heat to the skin, which was how pain was measured in the laboratory. The significance of these findings is that psychological attitudes changed basic physical sensations. It had already been shown that we don't all respond to pain alike. When asked to rate pain on a scale of 1 to 10, people who are subjected to the same stimulus come up with far different reactions. What feels like a 1 on the pain scale ...

Topic Overview What is neck pain? Neck pain can occur anywhere in your neck, from the bottom of your head to the top of your shoulders. It can spread to your upper back or arms. It may limit how much you can move your head and neck. Neck pain is common, especially in people older than 50. What causes neck pain? Most neck pain is caused by activities that strain the neck. Slouching, painting a ceiling, or sleeping with your neck twisted are some things that can cause neck pain. These kinds of activities can lead to neck strain, a spasm of the neck muscles, or swelling of the neck joints. Neck pain can also be caused by an injury. A fall from a ladder or whiplash from a car accident can cause neck pain. Some less common medical problems can also lead to neck pain, such as: An infection in the neck. Narrowing of the spinal canal in the neck ( cervical spinal stenosis ). Rheumatoid arthritis . What are the symptoms? You may feel a knot, stif...

Topic Overview Is this topic for you? This topic is for people with chronic pain caused by problems other than cancer. If you are looking for information on pain caused by cancer, see the topic Cancer Pain . What is chronic pain? Pain that lasts for 3 months or longer is called chronic. Pain is your body's way of telling you that something is wrong. It’s normal for you to have pain when you are injured or ill. But pain that lasts for weeks, months, or years is not normal. Chronic pain can occur anywhere in your body. It can range from being mild and annoying to being so bad that it gets in the way of your daily activities. Anyone can get chronic pain. It’s more common in older adults, but it’s not a normal part of aging. Older adults are more likely to have long-term medical problems, such as diabetes or arthritis , which can lead to ongoing pain. What causes chronic pain? The cause of chronic pain is not always clear. It may occur because brain chemicals that usu...