Depression:Signs,Causes,Symptoms,Treatment,

                                                                     Depression:

Introduction-
Depression is the mental illness where a person is not able to concentrate in his/her daily activities. When the concentration of this illness keeps increasing, the patient can arise tendencies of suicide and sees no worth for his/her life.Depression can affect anyone, of any culture, age or background. About twice as many women as men seek help for depression, though this may reflect the greater readiness of women to discuss their problems.One thing that may make it hard for doctors to recognise depression is that people with depression often complain of physical problems, commonly headaches, lethargy, stomach upsets or joint pains, rather than low mood, sometimes because these can be significant symptoms, but sometimes because they find it difficult to admit to feeling emotionally distressed for reasons they may not even be able to identify. But this can be psychosomatic.

Signs and Symptoms-
Those who suffer from signs of depression and related disorders may know the warning signs symptoms of depression all too well. They also know that these disorders tend to manifest themselves as repeated episodes of the depressive condition with the typical patient having many distinct episodes during their lives.Signs and Symptoms vary accordingly with individuals but the most common among patients sufferring from depression are as follows:

1. Difficulty sleeping or other disruptions of sleep patterns

2. Overwhelming feelings of anxiety and/or sorrow at inappropriate times
3. Loss of interest in pastimes formerly enjoyed
4. A sensation of hopelessness, lack of self esteem and feelings of guilt
5. Fatigue and overall lower energy levels
6. Loss of appetite or abnormally large appetite, leading to weight loss or gain
7. Suicidal thoughts and recurring thoughts about death
8. Irritability, restlessness and short temper
9. Memory lapses and an inability to concentrate
10. Difficulty in maintaining close or romantic relationships


Depression signs can derail careers and relationships, cause school work to go downhill and lower quality of life. The feelings of despair, sadness and frustration can make it impossible to function normally and relate to others. In many cases, depression goes undiagnosed due to the stigma borne by mental illness or failure of medical professionals to correctly diagnose or treat the problem.

Causes--
As like the signs and symptoms do vary according to individuals so as the causes. But most frequently, the environment where the person grows or spends his/her childhood plays major role. We learn to live from where we spend our childhood. The base of what we are now, is our childhood and the surroundings and environment around us. So, if a person has experienced negative environment in growing phase, this can be the good cause for him/her to be sufferred from depression. Technically, a chemical imbalance in brain due to these reasons is the cause. But the major risk factors for depression are;

Age

Though major depression typically occurs in people between the ages of 25 and 50, those over the age of 65 are particularly vulnerable for various reasons.

Gender
Women are about as twice as likely as men in the United States to be diagnosed and treated for depression. About 20-25% of women and 12% of men will experience a serious bout of depression at least one time in their lifetimes. Among children, depression seems to happen in equal numbers of boys and girls. Then, as the sexes reach adolescence, girls tend to become more depressed than boys do. This gender imbalance with major depression continues into older age.
Women are both historically more likely to seek treatment for depression and negative feelings that may be occurring, such as feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness, though even more recent stats show an increasing number of men seeking self improvement therapy sessions.

Marital Status
People who are unhappily married, separated or divorced have high rates of major depression. The rates of major depression are considerably lower for those who are happily married.


Risk factors do not ensure that someone will develop a depressive episode, and everyone has the susceptibility of developing depression from time to time. Risk factors are just a way of saying that of those that had the worst depression symptoms the listed features were present as well.

Treatment-
Depression treatment usually targets tthe particular chemical imbalance and tries to correct it. However, doctors realize that depression treatment can often have side effects as the medication is strong. A study in Canada found that the bones of patients undergoing depression treatment were less dense than others, leading to brittle bones.



-Natural foods in the Treatment of Depression -
Cardamom and asparagus are two natural foods that are used in depression treatment. Other foods known to be beneficial in the treatment of depression include lemon balm, cashew nut and rose petals. It is also recommended that drinking a lot of water - at least eight glasses a day - and cutting down on (or preferably cutting out) red meats can support the treatment of depression. “Cooling foods,” such as many citrus fruits and most vegetables, are also thought to be useful in the treatment of depression because they bring down acidity levels in the body and so keep the mind calm.


-Supplements and Vitamins for the Treatment of Depression -
Vitamin B has been shown in trials to be very beneficial in the treatment of depression. It tends to increase serotonin, a hormone known to improve mood, levels in the brain. Omega 3 is also very beneficial in depression treatment as it keeps the spirits high. It must be remembered that certain situations can hinder the effective absorption of vitamins and minerals into the body; for example, vitamin absorption decreases with age. Always consult your physician or health professional for tips on optimizing supplement absorption in the treatment of depression.


-Holistic Treatment for Depression -
Depression treatment should also include breathing exercises, workouts and relaxation exercises. Deep breathing has proved to be useful, as has meditation. Other alternative treatments include aromatherapy, massages, reflexology and acupuncture. Depression treatment has to take a holistic view so that all the visible symptoms of can be addressed.


Therefore a combination of conventional medicine, alternative treatment, and good nutrition are recommended for the effective treatment of depression.

Brain Tumor

                                         Brain Tumor

Brain is the only integral part of our body by which we are in this state. It is the only organ which can't be transplanted hitherto instead other organs like heart,kidney,eyes can be. It is by this organ which differs us from other living things and give us potential to control them.

Instead of its limitless gift to human kind, it itself is also not secure. It can be attacked by many ailments. When we are being attacked by physical illness, there wont be too much effect in brain but if its being attacked, our physics also gets effected.

Introduction:

The brain is a soft, spongy mass of tissue. It is protected by the bones of the skull and three thin membranes called meninges. Watery fluid called cerebrospinal fluid cushions the brain. Human brain controls the central nervous system (CNS), by way of the cranial nerves and spinal cord, the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and regulates virtually all human activity. A brain tumor is a mass or growth of abnormal cells in the brain. Brain tumors produce a variety of symptoms, ranging from headache to stroke. There are two types of brain tumors: primary brain tumors and secondary brains tumors. Primary brain tumors can be cancerous or noncancerous. Primary brain tumors include any tumor that starts in the brain.

Symptoms:

Symptoms of brain tumor vary according to where its located or originated. Some basic symptoms will be described as follows-

Frontal lobe – Tumors in the Frontal lobe can cause the following: changes in personality or intellect, lack of co-ordination especially in walking, some weakness usually in one side of the body, some speech difficulties.

Parietal lobe – Tumors in the Parietal lobe can cause the following: difficulty in understanding words reading and writing, problems with movements especially co-ordination of movements, disorientation 
numbers and calculations, weakness on one side of the body.

Occipital lobe - Tumors in the Occipital lobe can cause the following: vision impairment especially on one side.

Temporal lobe - Tumors in the Temporal lobe can cause the following: Fits, strange feelings like fear or familiarity like dé jà vu, unusual smells, blackouts, difficulties with speech, memory problems.

Cerebellum - Tumors in the Cerebellum can cause the following: Co-ordination affecting walking and speech, unsteadiness, involuntary movement of the eyes - flickering, vomiting and nausea, neck stiffness.

Brain stem - Tumors in the Brain Stem can cause the following: Unsteadiness usually unstable walking, Facial weakness can be one-sided smile or eyelid that droops, vision issues usually double vision, speaking and swallowing difficulties.

The cause of primary brain tumors is unknown but there are many possible risk factors that could play a role. Exposure to some types of radiation, head injuries, and hormone replacement therapy may be risk factors, as well as many others. Secondary brain cancer occurs in 20–30% of patients with metastatic disease and incidence increases with age.Surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy are the treatment methodologies

Prevention and Cure:

1. Anti-convulsive such as phenytoin to reduce seizures.

2. Surgery is the usual treatment for most brain tumors. 

3. Support groups are beneficial in brain tumor. 

4. Radiation therapy usually is given five days a week for several weeks.

5. Corticosteroids such as dexamethasone to reduce brain swelling 

6. Osmotic diuretics such as urea or mannitol to reduce brain swelling and pressure.

Apart of this medications, the patient must be emotionally supported. 

Brain Tumor Treatment Centres:

In the US, about 180,000 women develop it each year.The disease can also occur in men, although cancer of the male breast accounts for less than 1 in 100 cases. The risk of it increases with age, doubling every 10 years.

The disease is most commonly diagnosed in women over age 50. Very few women under age 30 develop it. Despite the rise in incidence, there has been a small drop in the number of deaths in the recent years and only about one-fifth of cases prove fatal. This reduction is due to improvements in treatment and the increased use of mammography for screening, which means that tumors can be detected early, when they often respond well to treatment. For brain Tumor Treatment Centers please visit here

Social problems for BPAD patients

BPAD or Bipolar Disorder is the kind of mental malady which can shortly be said as mood disorder due to swinging. Till now, there is no proper reason of what specific cause of this mental disorder but it has been proved that, electrical impulses in the polar of  brain changes rapidly due to this disease. Diseases which affects our body doesn't not necessarily have that impact in the society which a mental malady has.
Mad, Lunatic, Insane, Mentally ill, Psycho are some of the terms which our society has named to this illness instead of helping the needy. No one wants to be like this, and we should know this is as like other disease which can be controlled if not cured totally.
As the name suggests, Bipolar disorder is the condition where the patient experience various episodes of depression and mania at the same time. Initially in the starting phase, one goes to the state of depression where suicidal tendencies are common and it can convert anytime in maniac phase or simply euphoric. Depression and mania are totally opposite in terms and in real also. This severe mood swing in brain leads to Bipolar Disorder. When in medications or in treatment, the patient can be cured and his mood can be reverted to previous state by medicines like lithium carbonate (lithoril or lithosun), sodium valporate (valprite) etc. These medications actually stabilize the mood of patient making it in one condition.
Apart from these medications, the patient needs love, care, respects and co-operation from family members and society as well. With medications, the patient must be given positive counselling course so as to live normal life as before. Anyone can be suffered by this ailment. So, we must change our attitude regarding mental diseases and contribute as much as we can to decrease the percentage.