Fight with worries

Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect approximately 19 million American adults. These disorders fill people's lives with overwhelming anxiety and fear. Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event such as a business presentation or a first date, anxiety disorders are chronic, relentless, and can grow progressively worse if not treated.

Fear and anxiety are a normal--even essential--part of life. They prepare us for danger, creating physiological changes that enable us to effectively respond to a threat. Fear is very straightforward. It arises in response to immediate danger, so it is usually unexpected, very intense, and limited to the situation at hand. Your response to the fear, such as jumping out of the path of an oncoming car, quickly resolves the situation.

As long as there's a good reason for fear or anxiety, and it doesn't interfere with the ability to work, play, and socialize, it is not considered a problem. But when anxiety takes on a life of its own and begins to disrupt everyday activities, the situation is no longer normal. A genuine emotional disorder is now at work... and it's time to see a doctor.

In many instances, medications are essential. If you suffer from mania, a major depression, or a paranoid disorder, medications may actually be able to restore you to your normal self. For other conditions, such as schizophrenia, medications control and modify symptoms to the degree that a person can stay in his community. Medications also ease the more distressing symptoms, allowing a person to engage in a therapeutic relationship and re-engage in the activities of her daily life. Sometimes a drug is a useful additional measure during particularly stressful times, perhaps in the initial stage of treatment or at a time of crisis. Those patients with thought disorders or hallucinatory experiences can be maintained only with appropriate antipsychotic medications.

Psychopharmacology, the treatment of psychiatric disorders and emotional distress with medication, has developed over the last fifty years, as our understanding of the workings of the brain has increased in sophistication. When medication is prescribed for mental and emotional illness, the most frequent goal is to restore the chemical balance within the brain, thereby restoring equilibrium to the entire system. Certain drugs function to address certain symptoms, such as when sedatives are prescribed for insomnia. Medications can work to slow disease processes, such as when anti-oxidants are used to treat Alzheimer's. Still other drugs control cravings and curb other problematic behaviors, such as taken to control alcoholism.

Psychologists, social workers, and counselors sometimes work closely with a psychiatrist or other physician, who will prescribe medications when they are required. For some people, group therapy is a helpful part of treatment.

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Stomatology and dental procedures

The permanent teeth are the second set of teeth that will last the rest of your life. They tend to be more yellow (and not just because of coffee) and are extremely hard. The final set of teeth is made up of 32 teeth, or 16 on each jaw. There are two central incisors for biting, two lateral incisors for biting, two canines for tearing and cutting, four premolars for chewing, and six molars for chewing.

If you're missing one tooth or all of your teeth, implants may well be for you. So long as you have enough bone in the area of the missing tooth to facilitate the anchorage of the implants, this procedure can yield terrific results. If you don't have enough bone for this purpose, a bone graft may be necessary.

If you're missing one tooth or all of your teeth, implants may well be for you. So long as you have enough bone in the area of the missing tooth to facilitate the anchorage of the implants, this procedure can yield terrific results. If you don't have enough bone for this purpose, a bone graft may be necessary. A procedure of building up the bone is known as Bone Grafting. Bone grafting is common with dental implants. The bone that is used is one of three types. The preferred bone to use is taken from other areas of your mouth or collected in a suction device as the drilling of the sites for dental implants occurs. Sometimes bone is taken from areas such as a hip (this requires an orthopedic surgeon and an operating room). The third source for needed bone is a synthetic type. This is the least preferred type of bone to be used for this procedure.

At some point or other in ours lives, most of us wind up with a cavity. In most cases, a cavity calls for your dentist to remove the decay and to fill in the tooth area that was removed. There have been a number of advances in the field over the past few years, so if you're one of the lucky ones and haven't had a cavity in a while, you should read up on what is available today so that you understand the choices available to you.

Composite resin fillings are applied in thin layers, and slowly built up to form the complete filling. A bright dental light will harden each layer before the next is applied. Once your filling is completed, your dentist will use a special paper, articulating paper, to adjust the height of your dental filling and that your bite remains correct. Your tooth is then polished.

In areas of your mouth that are under less stress, such as your front teeth, a cantilever bridge may be used. Cantilever bridges are used when there are teeth on only one side of the open space. Bridges can reduce your risk of gum disease, help correct some bite issues and even improve your speech. Bridges require your commitment to serious oral hygiene, but will last as many ten years or more.

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Lose weight smart

Obese people should be evaluated for medical consequences of their obesity. Motivated persons are encourage to enter medically supervised treatment programs that use a multidisciplinary approach to weight loss.

Medically supervised fasts are very low calorie diets which provide from 400 to 800 calories per day. While most of these diets are low in calories, the protein provision is very high. The purpose of these diets is to promote fat loss, not muscle loss. The high protein content helps prevent large losses of muscle tissue. Electrolytes, vitamins and minerals are also supplemented.

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is estimated to be present in up to 5 percent of teenage and young adult women. It is characterized by binge eating followed by purging and other behaviors such as vomiting. Laxatives, diet pills, water pills, exercise or fasting may also be used.

The medications most often used in the management of obesity are commonly known as "appetite suppressant" medications. Appetite suppressant medications promote weight loss by increasing metabolism and by decreasing appetite or increasing the feeling of being full. These medications work by increasing the serotonin and/or catecholamine - two brain chemicals that affect mood, appetite and metabolism.

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