PharmaPassport Health Tips Blog

January 21, 2011

Causes Of Morning Headaches

Filed under: headaches — Tags: alcohol, cause of morning headaches, headache drugs, headache medicaton, headaches, migraine, sinus — sgordon @ 11:50 pm

Headaches can strike anyone, at anytime! They can occur as just one symptoms of a medical condition, or they can occur on their own. One thing is for sure, headaches are painful, distracting, and unwanted!

For those who suffer from morning headaches, they may be a result of any of the following ailments.

1) Sinus Inflammation- Morning headaches are likely caused by sinus inflammation. The pain is caused due to the inflammation of the sinus and normally worsens when you bend forward. As you bend forward, there is an increase in pressure in the sinus cavity.

2) Drinking: After a night of drinking, you may wake up with a headache. Alcohol consumption causes to blood vessels to expand, which can cause a headache.

3) Irregular Sleeping Patterns: Persistent headaches that occur in the morning have been said to occur in people who have difficulty sleeping.

4) Overdose of Headache drugs: The frequent use of headache medication can also cause morning headaches.

5) Pregnancy: Women who are pregnant may notice they suffer from morning headaches. This symptom of pregnancy is caused by hormone changes in expectant mothers. These changes cause an increase of blood flow and lead to the morning headaches.

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August 17, 2010

5 Dangerous Medication Mishaps

Filed under: alcohol,anxiety,headaches,health risks,high blood pressure,infection,insomnia,iron — Tags: alcohol, blood pressure, combining medicine, dementia, dizziness, injuries, iron, medicine, over-the-counter, overdose, prescription medication — Amanda @ 6:17 pm

100,000 people die each year due to medication mistakes and 1.5 million become sick or injured due to improper use. Many of theses deaths and injuries are accidental. It’s shocking that the public is unaware of how use prescription and over-the-counter medicines safely. Read about these medication mistakes and enlighten yourself on how to safely use medications.

Age - One mistake people make is that they forget to ask their doctor or pharmacist if certain medications are safe for certain age groups. Many doctors are still uninformed about medications that cause risks to elders and children. Older adults process medication differently, and they are at an increased risk of problems like dementia, dizziness, falling, and high blood pressure. Some drugs can increase these risks and are more likely to cause dangerous side effects in people older than 65. To avoid this problem, check with your doctor and the Beers List before taking any medication you are unsure of.

Similar Medications – Many medications have similar appearances or names causing medications to accidentally be misused. The doctor’s handwriting may be hard to read, or the name of the drug could be incorrectly placed into the computer. The pharmacist could even grab the wrong medicine off the shelf as most pharmacies are organized alphabetically. For example, it is easy to mix up Proloprim and Proferrin; however one medication is an antibiotic used to treat infections, and the other is an iron supplement. To avoid this costly mix-up, ask your doctor to tell you the name of the medication after he or she writes it down. After receiving your medication at the pharmacy, check the prescription label and directions to make sure you received the correct medicine.

Combining Medications with Similar Side Effects– All drugs have possible side effects, but if you take two or more medications at the same time without consulting your doctor, they can interact with each other and cause unwanted or dangerous effects. Some drugs, including ones that involve blood pressure and dizziness, can magnify the other’s potential effects. If you are taking a drug with the potential side effect of high blood pressure, and then you being taking a medication with the same possible effect, your blood pressure will become dangerously high. If you combine medicines that may cause dizziness, it can lead to falls and fractures. Before taking any combination of medicines, talk to your doctor about their possible effects and reactions with each other.

Combining Medications with Similar Components- It’s easy to accidentally combine medications with similar effects or properties. You might be taking one medication for pain, one for anxiety, and another for insomnia – but little do you know that they are all sedatives and can cause toxic effects when taken in large doses. The risk for overdose is highest in drugs that are designed to deal with the central nervous system. Narcotic painkillers and sedatives are examples of these. To avoid accidental overdose, tell your doctor before taking any new prescription medication about all prescription and over-the-counter medication that you are already using.

Mixing Alcohol with medicine – Many people don’t realize the dangers of alcohol in general, let alone the dangers of mixing it with medication. Alcohol can be a deadly poison when taken with painkillers, sedatives, and other medications. Many experts now believe that there should be no alcohol consumption with any medication because alcohol can decrease the effectiveness of any medication or increase the risk of side effects. Alcohol can cause a dangerous reaction with over-the-counter drugs like Benadryl and cough and cold medicines. The cough and cold medicines can also contain alcohol themselves – so you can end up with alcohol poisoning. Other drugs like antidepressants can cause a dangerous rise in blood pressure when mixed with alcohol, and some sedatives like Ativan or Valium can depress the heart rate enough to cause a coma when taken with alcohol.

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July 12, 2010

6 Tips for Migraine Relief and Prevention

Filed under: headaches — Tags: calcium, calcium deficiency, headaches, health, migraines, omega 3, pain medications, topamax — Amanda @ 8:59 pm

Migraines affect the lives of over 28 million Americans. The world health organization estimates that there are 303 million people worldwide who suffer from migraine headaches. These headaches are intense and can even disrupt peoples lifestyles. They seem to be caused by changes in the level of the hormone serotonin which shrinks the blood vessels. When serotonin levels are low, the blood vessels swell. The swelling can cause pain and migraine headaches. Here are some tips on how to prevent and relieve migraines.
1. Omega 3 –The tissue surrounding the brain becomes inflamed when you have a migraine and omega 3 lessens the cells reaction to inflammation. Take omega 3 everyday to help lessen migraine pain.

2. Calcium– Calcium deficiencies can increase migraine symptoms. That’s why women are more susceptible to having migraines. Most women have low calcium levels during ovulation. The hormones that regulate calcium react with the high hormone levels causing low calcium levels and triggered migraines.

3. Preventative measures – There are several preventative prescription medications that are used to treat migraines. Topamax, for example, is a medication that prevents migraines from starting. Topamax cannot, however, treat a migraine that has already begun. There are other pain medications available for a migraine that has already started. Despite what you believe, over-the-counter medicines like Motrin and Excedrin are both great at reducing the pain of a migraine.

4. Ice Packs – Freezable neck pillows are perfect for wrapping around your neck where your migraine hurts. Ice packs work too. Migraines are different than regular headaches. In a normal headache, your blood vessels get smaller and tighter. With migraines, they expand and become more open. Putting ice on a migraine constricts the blood vessels helping the pain, but if you put ice on a regular headache you might find that it becomes worse.
5. Sleep – Sleeping your migraine off is the easiest way to get away from the pain. Sleep is often the best remedy for any minor illness.

6. Exercise – Exercise will improve your overall health – and the length and severity of your migraines. Many people who suffer from chronic migraines find that exercise makes their headaches more manageable and less painful.

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April 16, 2010

Top 3 Reasons for Your Headache

Filed under: headaches,neck stiffness,strained eyes,stress,Uncategorized — Tanveen @ 9:15 am

Is that throbbing headache back? No surprise. There are many things in our day to day lives that can activate headaches. Headaches can be very painful and thus cause you to become distracted,irritable and fast tempered. Try to avoid these top three causes for headaches.

1) Not Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
A good night’s sleep is vital to having a good day. If you get frequent headaches you should designate a time to go to bed and wake up. Making a schedule like this will eliminate headaches from too little or too much sleep. And yes, you can get heachaches from an excess amount of sleep because your body is not used to it. Taking a pain reliever will help calm your headache.

2) Strained Eyes
Computers, computers, computers. Well, I guess we can’t put all the blame on them. Computers are a part of our day to day lives. Many of us spend a great amount of time on the computer every day, or go on at least once. Sitting in front of the computer for long periods of time can cause muscle strain. Tight muscles, especially in the neck can cause headaches. Being on the computer for so long also strains your eyes. You should take breaks in order to avoid this from happening. As well, some people don’t know that they have a problem with their vision. If your eyes are straining to make things out, then it will cause a headache. Try getting your eyes checked. That might have been the problem the whole time.

3) Stress
Stress, whether it be big or small is a part of everyone’s life and it’s always going to be. Whether it be that looming list of things to do, or dealing with an unexpected problem. The key is to learn how to deal with stress. The best way to do this is to have fun and do things that you enjoy.

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March 25, 2010

Oversleeping: More Harmful than Helpful

Filed under: causes of heart disease,depression,diabetes,headaches,hypersomnia,obesity,Uncategorized — Amanda @ 4:05 pm

Oversleeping is another one of those situations that really does you more harm than good. Although it seems as though sleeping longer could benefit you, it has actually been linked to a number of medical problems, the most harmful being diabetes, and heart disease.

Many of us don’t know how much sleep we need as individuals to function our best. The average amount of sleep varies over your lifetime due to a number of factors such as age, activity level, general health, and lifestyle routines. If you are experiencing a period of stress, for example, your energy levels will decrease much faster than if you are not stressed therefore you will require more sleep. The average adult functions best after 7 or 8 hours of sleep, however there are many adults who find they only need 5 or 6 and others who need 9 or 10 hours of sleep to feel their best.

In order to determine the number of hours that your body requires for optimal function, keep a sleep diary. Record how many hours you sleep each night, the times you went to sleep and got up, how you felt in the morning, afternoon, and evening, if you had any bad dreams, and your general mood. The patterns you see will start to give you an idea of the number of hours you need.

Several recent studies have found that too much or too little sleep can be linked to many medical problems including obesity, diabetes, and even death.

Diabetes - In a recent study at the Boston University School of Medicine found that participants that had reported sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 9 hours a day had an 50% greater risk of diabetes than those who slept for 7 or 8 hours.

Obesity - In addition, another study found that people who slept for 9 or 10 hours every night were 21% more likely to become obese over a six year period than the people who slept for 7 or 8 hours. The relationship between sleep and obesity remained the same even after food intake and exercise were taken into account.

Heart Disease – A study involving nearly 72,000 women found that women who slept 9 to 11 hours each night were 38% more likely to have coronary heart disease than women who slept for 8 hours.

Death - Frighteningly enough, several studies have found that people who sleep 9 hours or more a night have significantly higher death rates than people who sleep between 7 and 8 hours a night.

Headaches - Sleeping longer than usual on a weekend can cause headaches. Researchers believe that oversleeping has an effect on neurotransmitters in the brain, including serotonin. People who sleep during the day and disrupt their nighttime sleep might also find that they are suffering from headaches in the morning.

Other studies have found that depression and back pain are also associated with oversleeping.

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