Apparently there has been a somewhat silent debate raging behind the scenes at the FDA over the diabetes drug Avandia, where some felt that it was a definite cause behind several occurrences of heart attacks in patients who were taking

it every month (which is clearly unacceptable), and others felt that the studies that were conducted to determine this were not in fact, conclusive.  Avandia is actually still a best selling drug, and at one point it was actually the most successful, top selling drug of all.  You can see why the debate was raging, there was a lot of money at stake if this drug were suddenly pulled from the market,

and of course there was a lot of financial interest in it staying on. A panel decision did find that patients should have been warned more about the increased risk of heart attack while on the drug.

In 2007 though, a cardiologist did a study that suggested that Avandia was hurting patient’s heart health, and the drug’s sales of course went way down in response to such a shocking finding.  Doctors who agree that Avandia has substantially

increased patient’s risk of heart attack are really pulling for patients to go with a different diabetes drug called Actos, which does not exhibit the same risks as Avandia does.

So, what does this mean from here? Well, obviously I’m sure sales of the drug will go down even further from here, although they still have millions of patients on their roster and are still making a nice profit on it. The FDA has not outright ordered that it be pulled from shelves yet, but we’ll see where it goes from here.

There are quite a few people who feel it should be totally removed from the market, but there are also people who believe that the finding s are not conclusive enough to take that drastic of an action, and that diabetes patients and their doctors should still be given a choice of drugs, including Avandia.

I’ve seen L-Tyrosine in the stores before, along with a dozen other supplements that I’m really not sure their purpose is in the human body, and it can get really confusing as to what supplements you should take, what you already have enough of in your diet, and what is just plain overkill it seems.  You could take every supplement under the sun and still be missing some “important nutrient”, so I wanted to dig a little deeper and see what L-Tyrosine is typically used for, both as a supplement to the diet, and as a part of the body’s natural chemical makeup.

First of all, most people get enough, or synthesize enough, L-Tyrosine, just by eating their regular diet, so supplementation is usually not recommended unless by a doctor for a particular syndrome or health issue. However, that does not mean that this amino acid is not important to your body.

Some of the therapeutic uses that people have used tyrosine for are depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, ADD and anxiety disorders, parkinsons disease, and even weight control.  It is a precursor to several neurotransmitters that are important to mood and energy levels though, so the depression and fatigue syndrome theory may be partially on base.   These neurotransmitters include dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine.

It’s difficult to say whether it helps with any of these for real, because most of the evidence that it has helped people is anecdotal and no real studies have been carried out that I could find, but it certainly may be worth more research if you’ve been investigating this supplement for some particular health symptom you are experiencing.

Some people swear by it, that it has helped them with all the above mentioned disorders, so that makes me think there is something to it. I did not find any reported negative side effects, so if you have any of the health problems mentioned, you may want to do some further research on your own and see if maybe L-tyrosine may be a good supplementation for your diet.  It also may assist with proper thyroid function, as some claim.

I have had asthma since I was about eight years old.  I remember very clearly my first asthma attack, because it was such an unexpected experience for me, and I had no idea what was happening to my body.  I think that the panic I felt at not being able to fully breathe correctly only added to the severity of the attack.

I also remember being on and off some medications and inhalers for my asthma, which I regret now because I know the harm that these inhalers can do to your lungs, and also to your heart if you use them often since most of them speed up your heart rate in one way or another.  I really wish I had known about some of the great herbal asthma remedies we have available to us today.

One thing that always used to really get my asthma going was when I did anything outdoors in the winter time that took physical exertion. We all had cross country skis when I was younger, because we lived out in the country and we had a campground right next to us that was deserted in the winter, and grape vines and an apple orchard, it was the perfect place to cross country ski.

Some people actually only get asthma when they exercise, and I’m not sure if that’s termed a different type of ashthma or if they’re all the same, but for me, I could be standing still and get an asthma attack.  I have outgrown it quite a bit now, and only have an occasional mild attack. It’s usually stress related for me, so I’m convinced there is a huge phsychological aspect to this condition.

One thing about winter sports that really aggravates asthma is that the air is cold, and this makes it even harder for your lungs to process the air that is coming into them. Because of this, your bronchial passages constrict even more, and your body sort of seizes up more, making your back more rigid, which is common with asthma attack, you actually will get a sore back many times after a long asthma attack because of all the straining you have to do to breathe right.

You can help to minimize winter sports induced asthma by putting a scarf around your face to warm the air that you are breathing, this at least makes the air a little easier to breathe.  Not only does COLD air aggravate asthma, but because winter air is always minimally humid (moist) and is very dry, this also makes it harder for your lungs to process the oxygen coming in, so wearing something over your face may help this way as well, making the air more moist from the condensation of your breath.

Hair Revive - Review

I’ve tried quite a few hair growth vitamins and products, it’s kind of part of my job to experiment with various formulas, and I always like to be taking some sort of hair growth supplement to enhance my hair’s natural growth speed and also to enhance the look of my hair as far as sheen, thickness, resillience and that coveted healthy look goes.

As a vitamin supplement to strictly enhance the appearance and growth rate of my hair, since I don’t really have issue with hair loss per se, but I did notice that the fronts of my hair, where my “widow’s peak” I suppose would be considered, was thinning a bit a few months ago, so I am using a vitamin supplement now really to enhance the appearance of my hair.

I came across one online called Hair Revive. Although it had a somewhat cheesy label that looked like it should be from the seventies, I decided to give it a try since it had several of the ingredients I was looking for, including horsetail (silica) and biotin and a ton of chinese herbs and regular vitamins that are supposed to help with your hair health and growth.

It also was fairly well reviewed by it’s users. Of course there were a few mixed reviews, but that’s to be expected with most products of this nature since they work so differently depending on a person’s existing health, diet and lifestyle and their individual chemical makeup.  Anyways, I bought a couple bottles, which I figured would last me around two months since you had to take a whopping 4 pills a day, and they’re not small as I found out when I got them and opened my first bottle.

It’s been over two months, and I’ve been taking about two to four a day, depending on how I remember to take them that day, and I’m not sure I’m overly impressed yet. I don’t know if I should have taken four consistently every single day, but with the vitamin count percentages in them I almost worried that I would be overloading my body on some of the vitamins, so I took four only on some days.

I think that it has helped with my hair turnover a bit, as I notice that less of my hair falls out when I was it, and it may have improved my hair’s strength as well, as I notice it doesn’t break off or snap as easily when I’m brushing it.  I do notice a bit more sheen as well, but I still have days where my hair looks like a dry haystack, and I was kind of hoping this would be a little miracle in a bottle for that purpose.  Overall, they’re not bad, but I’m going to continue experimenting. They do have some great ingredients in them, definitely, and they are ingredients that are supposed to benefit your hair.

So, it does pay to contact your state’s congress man or woman about issues that you feel are important. I got a request, no doubt a form letter response, from the office of Sherrod Brown, one of our state’s senators here in Ohio, and he did say that he supported the DSHEA and would oppose any intent to overrule it should it come before the senate, although he does feel that supplements should be somewhat regulated for dangerous activities.

For those of you that didn’t see it, Senator John McCain is trying to set forth a bill to be approved that would most likely severely limit your free access and free choice to the supplements and natural remedies and herbal products that you have come to know and love. It has already undergone a lot of opposition, but no doubt the pharmaceutical industry and it’s supporters are going to love if this gets passed, then they are forcing people to take more drugs instead of trying natural alternatives.

So, please do contact your state senators and let them know that you oppose this bill.  It’s bill S3002, if you would like to let them know you oppose it. After all, they are representatives of their people, and if enough people don’t agree with something, it won’t get passed, so let’s all voice our opinions on this!