Chocolate Fights Coughs Better Than Codeine

Good news for chocoholics. The next time you come down with a cough, just pop a piece of your favorite treat and you'll get all the cough-suppressing effects of codeine syrup without the fuzzy-headed side-effects. Here's how it works.

Sweet Science
Professor, a respected authority on all things related to coughs and respiratory medicine, wrote tthat chocolate can soothe coughs better than codeine syrup by forming a sticky coating that protects the nerve endings in your throat that cause you to cough.

The viscosity of the melted chocolate coating also allows cough-suppressing ingredients naturally present in cocoa to come into contact with your ravaged throat nerves and calm them down, says Professor.

Smother your cough with yummy chocolate without the sleepy side-effects of codeine? It's almost enough to make you welcome winter.

How About Hot Chocolate?

Will drinking a cup of hot chocolate have the same cough-suppressing effect? Sorry, no. As cozy and comforting as hot chocolate might feel, the diluted chocolate solution does not have enough long-term clinging contact with the nerves in your throat to be effective. According to Professor, you'd be better off sucking on a piece of chocolate, letting it melt down slowly to coat your throat. We'd add, make that a piece of dark chocolate if you want to get the healthy benefit of natural antioxidants.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                
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Stay away from cough medicines containing codeine

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.

PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO VIEW MY BLOG-
HTTP:GSEASYRECIPES.BLOGSPOT.COM      

FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG

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Codeine, a widely prescribed painkiller, can also be purchased over the counter in preparations of cold/cough remedies but over consumption of such medicines can lead to a "confususional" state and loss of the ability to create new memories, says a new study.
There is little evidence showing benefits of codeine in cough remedies, and the risks associated with codeine use in over the counter cough suppressants may be "particularly unnecessary" because of the lack of evidence, the experts said.
An article in the journal BMJ Case Reports described the first published case of confusional state in a healthy 14-year-old girl attributed to excessive consumption of over the counter cough medicine that contained codeine.
Codeine intoxication symptoms often include central nervous system depression, respiratory depression, severe itching of the skin, and flushing. Confusion is a relatively unusual complaint.
However, in this particular case, the teenage girl experienced confusion and the loss of the ability to create new memories.
She falsely reported to have completed tasks, for example, by claiming to have showered when it was obvious to her mother that she had not.
She slept up to 20 hours a day, had a decreased attention span and suffered from intermittent headaches.
Before these symptoms, the patient experienced flu-like symptoms over a 15 day period, during which she was absent from school. She had been taking 2-3 spoonfuls daily of codeine cough suppressant, oral codeine phosphate, over this time.
The patient had not exceeded the recommended daily dosage of three-six spoonfuls, but she had exceeded the maximum recommended duration of usage of three days.
Each spoonful is equivalent to 15 mg of codeine, and the patient consumed a total of 450-675 mg over 15 days, instead of the recommended maximum dosage of 270 mg during any given course of treatment.
A urine test reported positive for codeine, and no other drugs were present.
The doctors warned that there have been many reported child and adolescent deaths following codeine use, and they concluded that "the combination of lack of efficacy, risk of acute intoxication and dependence, suggests that the use of OTC (over the counter) codeine preparations may be unwarranted."

Codeine can increase users' sensitivity to pain

 Using large and frequent doses of the common pain-killer codeine may actually produce heightened sensitivity to pain, without the same level of relief offered by morphine, according to a new research.

Researchers  have conducted what is believed to be the world's first experimental study comparing the pain relieving and pain worsening effects of both codeine and morphine.

The University's Professor , who is also a headache specialist , said codeine has been widely used as pain relief for more than 100 years but its effectiveness has not been tested in this way before.

"In the clinical setting, patients have complained that their headaches became worse after using regular codeine, not better," he said .

"Codeine use is not controlled in the same way as morphine, and as it is the most widely used strong pain reliever medication in the world, we thought it was about time we looked into how effective it really is," he said.

In laboratory studies, it was found that codeine provided much less pain relief than morphine, but resulted in the same level of increased sensitivity to pain.

"Pain sensitivity is a major issue for users of opioid drugs because the more you take, the more the drug can increase your sensitivity to pain, so you may never quite get the level of relief you need," he said.

 "In the long term it has the effect of worsening the problem rather than making it better. We think that this is a particular problem in headache patients, who seem more sensitive to this effect," he said.

"Both codeine and morphine are opioids but codeine is a kind of 'Trojan horse' drug ? 10 per cent of it is converted to morphine, which is how it helps to provide pain relief. However, despite not offering the same level of pain relief, we found that codeine increased pain sensitivity just as much as morphine," he said.

He said while more research is needed, these laboratory findings suggest a potential problem for anyone suffering from chronic pain who needs ongoing medication.

"People who take codeine every now and then should have nothing to worry about, but heavy and ongoing codeine use could be detrimental for those patients who have chronic pain and headache," he said.

"This can be a very difficult issue for many people experiencing pain, and it creates difficulties for clinicians who are trying to find strategies to improve people's pain," he said.

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

ps- those interested in recipes are free to view my blog-

http://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/

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http://Knee replacement-stick club.blogspot.com/

for crochet designs

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Risky Mix – cocktail of popular drugs may clod brain

Many people are unaware that dozens of painkillers, antihistamines & psychiatric medications-from drugstore can adversely affect brain function, mostly the elderly. Regular use of multiple medications that have this effect has been linked to cognitive impairment & memory loss.

Called anticholinergics, the drugs block the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, sometimes as a direct action, but often as a side effect. Acetychloline is a chemical messenger with a range of functions n the body, memory production & cognitive function among them.

The difficulty for patients is that the effect of anticholinergic drugs is cumulative. Doctors are not always aware of all the medications their patients take, & they do not always think to review the anticholinergic properties of the ones they prescribe. It is a particular problem for older patients, who are more vulnerable to the effects of these drugs & who tend to take more mediations overall.

After following more than 13,000 British patients for more than 2 years, researchers found that those taking more than one anticholinergic drug scored lower on tests of cognitive function than those who were not using any such drugs & that the death rate for the heavy users during the course of the study was 68% higher.

According to one researcher, it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of these deaths, though they took utmost precaution in giving doses of the said medicine.

According to another researcher, anticholinergics take a toll on bodily organs & systems like the cardiovascular system, although there are no studies to confirm it. Anticholinergics have also been implicated in the delirium that intensive-care patients frequently develop in the hospital.

A researcher has said, if one is taking one of the drugs, anticholinergic, for 60 days, and then one doubles the odds of developing mild cognitive impairment. According to Alzheimer’s Association, studies have shown that up to 25% of the patients who seek help have reversible disorders, including those caused by polypharmacy- taking a combination of medications.

The reasons why many doctors still prescribe medications with anticholinergic activities is that some are unaware of the medicines their patients are taking, and also the list of drugs with anticholinergic properties is a long one.

The heart drug digoxin, the blood thinner warfarin, the painkiller codeine & prednisone are considered mild anticholinergic. Those with the most severe effects include Paxil, Benadryl, a drug for overactive bladder called oxybutynin & the schizophrenia drug, clozapine.

 Drug                                common name

Digoxin                         lanoxin

warfarin                         anti-coagulant

 codeine                        Linctus, cough syrups

Prednisone                   cortico steroids

immuno-suppressants       wyslone, primacord, inhalers

paxil                                  paxil

oxybutynin                        analgesics

clozapine               clozapin