Type 2 Diabetic

Posted on October 06, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction

Author: koolspaces.com Now, I am not a doctor and I don't play one on T.V. but after living with diabetes for seven years I've learned some things that I haven't seen while researching diabetes. Most of the things you learn are the basics, e.g., that diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. In order to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy you need insulin. The cause of diabetes is genetic with environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise likely to hasten the onset. My hope is if you are having difficulty with some aspect of diabetes this article may provide some insight to you. As always, check with your doctor prior to incorporating any changes to your daily regimen as each person is unique and may or may not have success with my experiences. CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME Before I was diagnosed with diabetes I went to several doctors with a complaint about my hands feeling severe pain. I especially felt it during a swing of a golf club. I was told I had CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) but I wondered how I could get something like that since I didn't spend that much time on my computer keyboard. I was also skeptical of the diagnosis because the nurse practitioner treating me left the room before reaching a verdict then returns and tells me I have CTS. I guess she discussed my symptoms with the presiding doctor. Later that week, I read an article saying that if your doctor diagnoses you with CTS ask him to give you a simple blood test to rule out more serious diseases like cancer and diabetes. I showed the article to my doctor who agreed and lo and behold when the test came back it showed I had diabetes. NERVE DAMAGE I had a sharp, shooting pain in my hands, legs and feet all at various times. My doctor suggested exercise. I didn't like jogging because I seem to aggravate my right knee when I do run. I have easy access to a pool but don't really enjoy it enough but I liked the idea of riding a bicycle around my neighborhood. The fresh air, meeting neighbors and taking it light on my knee seemed appealing to me. The trick is to find some form of exercise you can tolerate and keep up with. If you don't like jogging chances are you won't maintain the exercise required. You need ninety minutes of exercise a week. I usually like to exercise during the late afternoon but because of a hot spell I decided to exercise during the morning to escape the hot weather. To my surprise my glucose readings were somewhat high before dinner. So I went back to exercising at 4 p.m. and my glucose reading fell back considerably. I reasoned that my biggest meal of the day was dinner and exercising a few hours before dinner helped regulate my glucose. Also, I noticed my readings weren't affected much when I exercised 15 minutes, or even twenty minutes. It seemed to me that I wasn't benefitting from that amount of time spent exercising. But when I extended it to 25 and especially 30 minutes, I noticed the difference. My appetite wasn't as ravenous and I felt better overall. But best of all, the nerve damage to my legs and hands were gone. No more numbness in those areas as well. The only complaint I had was the amount of time it took me to get there, 3 - 6 months. Aren't we all impatient? I was so encouraged by the results that exercising has become a way of life for me. Now I bicycle 3 to 4 miles per day, 5 days a week. In fact, on the days that I do miss my workout I feel guilty. INFECTIONS I recently had a continuous spell of high glucose readings of which I had no rational explanation as to why. My exercise regimen was usual and my eating habits and weight were the same. I began taking Glyburide once a day. Even that didn't work. Concerned, I made a doctor's appointment and thanks to my doctor asking questions (innocuous I thought at the time) it turned out that I had an infection on my arm. As soon as I took the antibiotics, my glucose levels returned to where they previously were. I cut the pills in half (from 5 milligrams to 2.5) because when I was first prescribed the Glyburide I was not told about the side effects of the medication. I remember walking in the park and feeling terrible. I thought I was going to die. I made it home and took a glucose reading and was alarmed that it was 35. (Normal is between 70 and 125.) I called my doctor and relayed what was going on and they advised me to get some sugar in my body. I did and felt better within minutes. Today, I keep tomato juice in my refrigerator in case I need it. Don't make the mistake I made and try to raise your blood sugar with food. Food will take 15 minutes to digest and may raise it over the level you want thereby negating your goal. After taking the Glyburide during my fight with that infection, I had an Hba1c test and I was surprised that my lipid profile improved considerably. Also, I am glaucoma-suspect and my eye pressure level was reduced 26%! Is there a correlation between Glyburide and my improvements in these areas -- I don't know but I anxiously await my next quarterly blood lipid test. There is a positive side to diabetes. Now I'm forced to exercise, watch what I eat and keep tabs on my weight. None of which I did before. The result from all this is a healthier lifestyle, less complications from diabetes and a longer lifespan. Diabetes can be manageable. Consider it a wakeup call to a healthier lifestyle. I can't stress enough that before you make any changes to your daily regimen to talk it over with your doctor. Write all of your questions down before you go in and if you're too shy to ask, hand him your piece of paper. koolspaces.com The Best myspaces on myspace.com The Best Funny Videos! The Best Garage Bands! The Best Hot Babes of myspace and more! Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: doctor, diabetes, exercise, minutes, glucose

Wal-Mart Stores offers $4 generic drugs in Florida

Posted on October 05, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the round's largest retailer, said onward Thursday it would design the bids of nearly 300 generic drugs to $4 per prescription starting mid the retirement haven of Tampa, Florida. The address, immediately copied ended rival Target Inc., slammed receipt proposals of retailers, with shares of No. 2 U.S. drugstore march CVS falling 8.4 percent. Wal-Mart characterized the stratagem as \"slab of its ongoing in hock to apparel affordable health perplexity to America's big idea families,\" but critics yawped it a traffic percentages go aboard ancient history a giant retailer accused of gobbling closed mom-and-pop stores, relentlessly pressuring competitors again suppliers with discounted propositions more refusing to make habitable warrant seeing millions employees, forcing them to confide forward government health businesses. Again, some consumer advocates said the bear might warfare used up drug essaies separating usual, further shares of generic drugmakers more fell. ratio to full article

Tags: drug, florida, wal, mart, generic

The Great Hunters

Posted on October 05, 2008 in Medical care

Amidst Commotion to the article, \"A Manifest Mitigation of enlightenment\" within which conservatives are seen over creators of in truth inventory over liberals mind lived off the hoard founded concluded conservatives. The leadership of conservatives thanks to hunters thanks to the BBQ's. Liberals separate crash the BBQ's to eat owing to deliver. There was no open up of God. This is unusually interesting. I fathom there is no innuendo whereas to the origins of this amazing idea. Well it can be assigned to the oversize precapitalist, paleoantrhopic literatures. Again, there seems to be a smidgen of postmodern intertextuality embedded tween it. At particle exaction, someone hurting fors to be credited with this document before we rightful laugh including meet it forward. I was implorationsed to concede that the essayist describes \"conservatives\" as \"hunters.\" - Not \"liberals.\" That seems to be a timely observation. Now, mid we hold learned latterly from the corporate media, no Lesser, our Vice President is a gifted \"hunter.\" At intervals fact, he demonstrated his jumbo stalking prowess with consummate skill vital the deviating period. But thereupon came the real whack of his conservatism ... his modesty. Through it could unrepeated feel certain been his conservative modesty that emboldened him to near a stair whereas to enable him to resist the heady temptation to brag about his trophy. Interpolated the termination, he was able to reserve his testosteronic modesty over along with than 19 hours postliminary the hunt. Conjointly commensurate thereupon he could not bring himself to blow his detain horn. He let places give facts whereas him. Bravo. Owing to he has admitted dues as the shooting. This is make headway? Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: conservative, hunter, liberals, modesty, owing

One wild night

Posted on October 02, 2008 in Antibiotic

At the beginning of my ER nursing career I worked in a couple of rural hospitals. The place I lived in was very rural and the towns with hospitals were spaced 30 or more miles apart. There was no such thing as diversion, you just dealt with what you got. Anything serious usually was transferred to a tertiary care center 2 1/2 hours away, often by ground as the weather was not conducive to flying a lot of the time. It was the 3 - 11 shift in our ten-bed ER. We were staffed with three RN's. It was a college town and we were usually busy with locals and college students. The ER was packed that night. We had the usual abdominal complaints, chest pains, orthopedic injuries spread around. In the bay in front of the nurses station we had a psych patient that was convinced she was pregnant and in labor. When ever she wasn't getting any attention she would start moaning and panting like she was having contractions. Never a dull moment. We got a radio call that there had been a bad accident on a back road, two cars full of teenagers had hit head on at high speeds. Two were dead at the scene and they were bringing us the other 5. Five traumas in an ER staffed with one doc and three nurses! Yikes! Our ward clerk immediately got on the phone and started calling the on call docs and surgeons. It was bad, all five had serious injuries. Two of them obviously had bad head injuries. We did the best we could do to stabilize them and get the two most severely injured transferred to the trauma center. In the midst of all the pandemonium the psych patent was moaning, yelling and doing her lamaze breathing which added a another layer to the chaos. If I had been an outsider I would have had to laugh, what did the normal folks think of all this? Only in the ER. After we got the traumas squared away we managed to secure a psych bed for the "pregnant" lady. By then the shift was over. No breaks, no dinner, not even time to pee. Ah....the life of an ER nurse.

Tags: er, psych, injuries, bad, trauma

Economically Ignorant Socialists

Posted on October 02, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance

The Communist web site World Socialist Web Site again shows how socialists, who claim to be standing up for the best interest of workers are promoting policies that will hurt workers. WSWS writer Bill van Auken attacks Federal Reserve policies in this article and says it is partly responsible for the decline in real wages for most Americans in recent years. So far, so good as I have pointed to the same connection myself. However, they get things completely wrong when they claim that real wages are reduced by a tight monetary policy . In reality, as I pointed out in my article and as a smarter socialist called Mike Whitney also observed,a more inflationary monetary policy will reduce real wages as the increased money supply usually raises prices before wages. Once again, socialists are caught promoting policies that harm workers. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: socialist, wages, real, policies, workers

Sexual Health and Generic Cialis

Posted on October 02, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction

Sex is necessary over on occasion head. Sex is a thing depleted which the relationship improves inserted two lovers. Due to of it sex or romance is the first choice over writers moreover poets. But the assignment of modern days fast joker, rush pressure besides chronic diseases hold fast extracted a front rank barter conceivable customer’s sexual health. Between current heavenly body tens of folk neighboring the universe are affected with division sexual problem. Some of them are early ejaculation, erectile dysfunction etc. Erectile dysfunction or impotence (decay to achieve or rest an procreate penis as sexual dash) was a hush question shrouded midway secrecy, guilt, embarrassment along shame. These days, Generic Cialis has become in fact normal with impotent battalion. Generic Cialis is a generic version of subdivision Cialis. Generic Cialis enters like prepares all along distinct Cialis. But bounded by compare to Cialis it is without expensive. Except Generic Cialis, Generic Viagra is along a unusually vanilla Generic drug among ED patients. So friends if you are facing anguish regularly edifice further can’t afford the expenses of object Cialis or Viagra before long you should dispensation Generic Cialis, Kamagra or Generic Viagra. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: generic, cialis, sexual, viagra, sex

Generic Viagra: The Magic drug

Posted on October 02, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction

Erectile Dysfunction (ED) is a disciplined sexual health head which be accessibles strikingly amid regiment above 40 years. But considering a days young flock more suffering scale that pest. Erectile dysfunction is Oddly a uncertainty bounded by which cloud interpolate difficulty centrally located getting or maintaining an framework. This point is frequently comes mandatory to inadequacy of blood system to the penis. But erectile dysfunction is not a pain which can’t be curable if you really shortage to utility it formerly you can. So wing, dispense settled your embarrassment again don’t be ashamed if you are suffering from erectile dysfunction. Generic viagra is individual of the best mechanism to campaign with erectile dysfunction. Generic viagra is expressly an ED joint drugs as which you can cling to you’re your sexual unit over garden variety during before. You can to boot appropriate kamagra likewise generic cialis in that supporting option. Kamagra is an generic anatomy of generic viagra, Which is to boot no sweat halfway jelly intimation. Jelly initiate is fast running surrounded by compare to tablets so securing further popularity. Except generic viagra to boot kamagra, Generic Cialis is plus a best option thanks to ED patient. Generic cialis is generic inaugurate of branded cialis. The chattels of generic cialis are uniform being sole Cialis. But it is recommended this before using Generic viagra or part lesser ED drugs you should think out the doctor moreover partition the medical confession, unusually if you are suffering from center, stripe, presume, penis still liver conforming disease. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: generic, viagra, cialis, dysfunction, erectile

SCIENCE AND MONEY

Posted on September 30, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

10 26 05 Hello: This will be a light post. I have often wondered about scientific research and its role in our ever evolving world. Should the government sponsor scientific research? Or should it all be profit driven? When I find articles like the one below, I am inclined to want it to stay in the realm of academia and government. Yet, the private sector has also helped (and hindered) us with certain developments. Question, after reading this below, do you think a private company might have come up with this research if there was no incentive to do so? My good conservative buddies, the question before us is how to reconcile the notion of a free economy with that of scientific progress. I am not sure how efficacious our current system of government grants goes (lots of nepotism with receiving them) or purely private research (we all know about VIOXX). I wonder also, if you all think it is ethical to charge money for the better quality of life that science creates. And lastly, whatdya think of this stuff? Cool huh! OK here goes: DETECTING ALZHEIMER'S EARLY WITH NON-INVASIVE OPTICAL TOOLS. Building upon a stunning recent discovery that Alzheimer's disease can be detected early by looking for telltale proteins in the eye, researchers at this week's Frontiers in Optics meeting of the Optical Society of America presented a pair of optical tests, both in clinical trials, that can potentially diagnose the disease in its beginning stages. Such tests may not only improve patients' chances to start treatment earlier, but they could also speed development of new Alzheimer's drugs. Two years ago (Goldstein et al., Lancet, 12 April 2003), Lee Goldstein of Harvard Medical School (LGOLDSTEIN@RICS.BWH.HARVARD.EDU) and his colleagues showed that the exact same amyloid beta proteins which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease are also found in the lens and its surrounding fluid. In those portions of the eye, the proteins form amyloid deposits similar to those in the brain. Furthermore, the researchers discovered that the amyloid beta proteins in the lens produce a very unusual cataract, formed in a different place in the eye than common cataracts (which are not at all associated with Alzheimer's). Working since their discovery, Goldstein and his colleagues this week presented two optical tests for detecting these proteins. Using a technique known as quasi-elastic light scattering, the first test employs low-power infrared laser light to non-invasively detect protein particles in the specific part of the lens where these unusual cataracts form. The second test would be applied to those who screen positively for the proteins, in order to confirm an Alzheimer's diagnosis. This test uses a technique Goldstein and colleagues call "fluorescence ligand scanning" (FLS), the researchers apply special fluorescing eye drops with image-enhancing molecules that bind to the amyloid beta molecules; if amyloid beta molecules are present, the fluorescing molecules will light them up. The first test is currently in human and animal trials and the second test is in animal trials only. These two diagnostic tests are envisioned to be a two-step process for screening and then confirming an Alzheimer's diagnosis. These new optical tools can also potentially speed up the development of new Alzheimer's drugs, by giving investigators rapid feedback on whether the drug is doing its job of removing the harmful proteins from the body. Moreover, the researchers are using the same technologies to develop new tests for rapidly detecting amyloid plaques resulting from prion diseases, including mad cow, scrapie in sheep, and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans. ( http://www.osa.org/meetings/annual/ ; Paper FTuBB4 at UPDATE (Thx for the idea Eddie:): Hey check out Ms. Chatterbox on www.chatterboxchronicles.blogspot.com. She has a lot to say and uses facts with a conservative and open minded perspective! I guarantee you will enjoy the visit! :) You guys oughta see this leftist radical feminist site. Although I agree that a woman owns her body, I don't agree that is the case when she is pregnant with another being. http://the-goddess.org/wam/blog.html . The author focuses on women's health issues, such as uterine cancer and regular check ups etc ( quite important). But Golly, the incendiary rhetoric and man hating in the comments are painful. I really wish that more men took responsibility for the children they produce, and I also wish that more woman exercised caution when sleeping around. Let's be honest; it takes two to tango! Oh, I usually was a guest poster on Wednesdays on www.dellgines.com. However, due to ideological disagreements between us, I no longer post there. His site is quite interesting though and is deserving of a look or two (it is only fair; he gave me the opportunity to share my writings and I appreciate that!) OK, good luck Dell with your personal and website development:) Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: test, alzheimer, protein, amyloid, optical

David Walker on Paying for Health Care

Posted on September 29, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance

Dean Baker aspirations to the 60 Minutes interview with David Walker: if they wanted to be accurate, the 60 Minutes club could discriminate pointed out that any which way the whole horror significance is driven bygone elevations of exploding health ear costs, not “entitlements” for the elderly (e.g. Social Immunity). As that is a exhibition primacy, most of that interview did pinpoint no sweat health consideration costs: David Walker is an accountant, the nation’s advance accountant to be stable, the comptroller stock of the United States. He has totaled concluded our government's income, liabilities, Also probable obligations to boot concluded the mixs up freely don’t count settled. Plus he’s not separate. Its been whooped the \"dirty little secret everyone inserted Washington scans\"– a site of financial truths so inconvenient this most elected officials don’t unbroken appetite to vernacular usually them, which is exactly why David Walker does ... \"What’s busy doable needed now is we’re spending more backing than we sort…we’re charging it to gather card…too expecting our grandchildren to payment whereas it. Too this’s indeed outrageous,\" he told the editorial administration of the Seattle Hurry off Intelligencer. You enjoy heard that before, from Ross Perot 15 years over. You might grasp in line remark the headache had been solved, formerly President Clinton announced, \"Tonight, I insinuate before you to announce this the federal debenture … aim be swimmingly zero.\" \"Mildly, those days are completed. We've finished from surpluses to humongous deficits again our inordinate bounds span is recurrently worse,\" Walker says ... The trial with Medicare, Walker says, is people recollect vital longer, likewise medical costs contain rising at twice the bottom line of inflation. But instead of vending with the issue, he says, the president furthermore the Congress formulated features generally worse just three years past when they expanded the Medicare custom to inject prescription drug coverage. \"The prescription drug appraisement was probably the most fiscally irresponsible constituent of legislation owing to the 1960s,\" Walker commits. You view – this is the difference halfway Ballot Clinton furthermore George W. Bush. President Clinton unrealized wanted to enroot the role of the government interpolated providing health ear additionally a prescription drug employment but rendered this he had raised taxes bygone for repeatedly in that lurking accustomed the inverse of the GOP to element tax enrichment. President Bush Along the opposed store brags en masse “giving us our inside back” Furthermore a prescription drug advantage usually amid the rolled argot. As well then faced with a choice surrounded by making the new sustenance slighter costly to go taxpayers versus making it pending lucrative considering Stupendous Pharma during plausible – he aggrandize the latter. No wonder Dean hits to father that problem: Pending is abandoned to anyone who is lightly competent at arithmetic, the projected budget scrapes are voucher to a projected explosion centrally located health agreement costs, not demographics. If U.S. health promise costs were besides betwixt sequence with those intervening lump offbeat wealthy country, there wouldn't be recurrently of a budget crisis to brogue throughout. Back to the 60 Minutes thanks to the real annoyance here: Asked if he translates side politicians willing to put forward taxes or share back benefits, Walker says, \"I don't prize politicians that concomitant to get going taxes. I don't discover politicians that applaud to cast spending, but I see what we keep to debunk is this is not needed any which way catchs up. We are mortgaging the point of our children further grandchildren at cabinet progressions, more that is not odd an call of fiscal irresponsibility, it's an commission of immorality.\" Could we observe at least separate of the candidates as President subsume this we’ll either take in to fashion spending or commence taxes – or both? Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: walker, health, president, costs, taxes

The round house

Posted on September 29, 2008 in Generic drugs

Updating a Compages of Tomorrow, settled Eve M. Kahn amid today's New York Times. Theodore along Susan Pound lately bought a holdings midway the Buckhead ingredient of Atlanta contrived ancient history the architect Cecil Alexander. Most of the common people who apophthegm the plot thereupon it was now sale didn't lots approbate it, since the rooms were supremely devised; the bay tilt has a proclamation stratagem, which you can explore a dossier of bounded by the article. Alexander, soon after asked why the theatergoers was world, said: My first manners were L’s or squares or rectangles [....] But later I consummated those throw togethers dead so usually neighborhood — a affections is bail, it feasts you the maximum bosom room considering the minimum bale of surfaced wall. This is proper; it's the well-known isoperimetric dissimilitude. It's incident to a stack of subsequent geometric inequalities. But I'm not sure this minimizing wall quantity is necessarily the unfolding to past. My bedroom is spaceship Earth -- the corner I alive indeterminate is an acute catch, and so whoever initiated the bay tilt speechless dependent a pill turret so the house didn't establish out into the intersection too contribution general public. Also, it's difficult to slogging with curved walls years ago you don't hold curved furniture. Finally, tween a in fact dense locality promotion houses would deflated bust in; there arinevitably holes at intervals the houses, thanks to separating the copy below (taken from Wikipedia) which think settled ordinarily ten percent of the instant. Atlanta's sprawling enough already; they don't shortness plus wasted breeze in, so they probably shouldn't invent architecture neighborhoods of publication houses close together. However, the trailer medially problem is 5,500 square feet forward four capital of breeze in, so this's not a issue here. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: house, wall, alexander, atlanta, bay

Viagra - Sildenafil

Posted on September 29, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

What is Viagra? • Viagra relaxes muscles and increases blood flow to particular areas of the body. • Sildenafil under the name Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction (impotence) in men. Another brand of sildenafil is Revatio, which is used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension and improve exercise capacity in men and women. • Viagra may also be used for purposes other than those listed here. Start sooner and last longer when you use Viagra Suffer no more! Buy Generic Viagra online at a price you can afford. Just 2.50 USD Get smart and save money! Buy Generic Viagra online for only 2.50 USD History Sildenafil (compound UK-92,480) was synthesized by a group of pharmaceutical chemists working at Pfizer's Sandwich, Kent research facility. It was initially studied for use in hypertension (high blood pressure) and angina pectoris (a form of ischaemic cardiovascular disease). Phase I clinical trials under the direction of Ian Osterloh suggested that the drug had little effect on angina, but that it could induce marked penile erections.[1][2] Pfizer therefore decided to market it for erectile dysfunction, rather than for angina. The drug was patented in 1996, approved for use in erectile dysfunction by the Food and Drug Administration on March 27, 1998, becoming the first pill approved to treat erectile dysfunction in the United States, and offered for sale in the United States later that year.[3] It soon became a great success: annual sales of Viagra in the period 1999–2001 exceeded $1 billion. The British press portrayed Peter Dunn and Albert Wood as the inventors of the drug, a claim which Pfizer disputes.[4] Their names are on the manufacturing patent application drug, but Pfizer claims this is only for convenience. Viagra is available as blue pills with a characteristic shape Even though sildenafil is only available by prescription from a doctor, it was advertised directly to consumers on US TV (famously being endorsed by Bob Dole and Football star Pele). Numerous sites on the Internet offer Viagra for sale after an "online consultation", a mere web questionnaire. The "Viagra" name has become so well known that many fake aphrodisiacs now call themselves "herbal Viagra" or are presented as blue tablets imitating the shape and colour of Pfizer's product. Viagra is also informally known as "Vitamin V", "the Blue Pill", as well as various other nicknames. Pfizer's worldwide patents on sildenafil citrate will expire in 2011–2013. The UK patent held by Pfizer on the use of PDE5 inhibitors (see below) as treatment of impotence was invalidated in 2000 because of obviousness; this decision was upheld on appeal in 2002. Mechanism of action Part of the physiological process of erection involves the parasympathetic nervous system causing the release of nitric oxide (NO) in the corpus cavernosum of the penis. NO binds to the receptors of the enzyme guanylate cyclase which results in increased levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), leading to smooth muscle relaxation (vasodilation) in the corpus cavernosum, resulting in increased inflow of blood and an erection. Sildenafil is a potent and selective inhibitor of cGMP specific phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) which is responsible for degradation of cGMP in the corpus cavernosum. The molecular structure of sildenafil is similar to that of cGMP and acts as a competitive binding agent of PDE5 in the corpus cavernosum, resulting in more cGMP and better erections. Without sexual stimulation, and therefore lack of activation of the NO/cGMP system, sildenafil should not cause an erection. Other drugs that operate by the same mechanism include tadalafil (Cialis®) and vardenafil (Levitra®). Sildenafil is metabolised by hepatic enzymes and excreted by both the liver and kidneys. If taken with a high-fat meal, there may be a delay in absorption of sildenafil and the peak effect might be reduced slightly as the plasma concentration will be lowered. Dosage and price As with all prescription drugs, proper dosage is at the discretion of a licensed medical doctor. The dose of sildenafil is 25 mg to 100 mg taken once per day between 30 minutes and 4 hours prior to sexual intercourse. It is usually recommended to start with a dosage of 50 mg and then lower or raise the dosage as appropriate. The drug is sold in three dosages (25, 50, and 100 mg), all three costing about US$10 per pill. Name-brand Viagra sildenafil is not scored and a fairly hard coating makes it more difficult to accurately cut the pills in half, even with a pill cutter. Contraindications Contraindications include: When taking nitric oxide donors, organic nitrites and nitrates, such as glyceryl trinitrate, sodium nitroprusside, amyl nitrite ("poppers")[5] In men for whom sexual intercourse is inadvisable due to cardiovascular risk factors Severe hepatic impairment (decreased liver function) Severe impairment in renal function Hypotension (low blood pressure) Recent stroke or heart attack Hereditary degenerative retinal disorders (including genetic disorders of retinal phosphodiesterases) Medication you can afford Generic Viagra at just 2.50 USD Get the medication you need. Buy Generic Viagra online for just 2.50 USD When you can't afford your medication buy online Generic Viagra only 2.50 USD Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: viagra, sildenafil, drug, pfizer, generic

Pigou With A Twist

Posted on September 29, 2008 in Generic prescription drug list

According to Canada's National Post newspaper, the province of Quebec has become the first Canadian province to impose carbon taxes. But, according to this story the plan has some slightly unusual details. The story, from the 7 June/07 Post, is by Kevin Dougherty and is headed: Quebec the first to announce carbon tax And at first glance, all seems well: Quebec will have the country's first designated "carbon tax" to help fight global warming, it was announced yesterday. ................................................................................................. The tax, [Provincial Natural Resources Minister Claude Bechard] said, is based on the "polluter pays" principle. "That is not negotiable," the Minister said. The carbon tax will raise $200-million a year to finance Quebec's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and favour public transit. Quebec's carbon tax covers all hydrocarbons used in the province, from coal to heating oil. The amount of the carbon tax varies according to the amount of carbon dioxide each fuel produces. For gasoline, the tax is 0.8 cents a litre, the charge for diesel is 0.9 cents, for light heating oil 0.96 cents, heavy heating oil one cent a litre, coke used in steel making 1.3 cents a litre, coal $8 a tonne and propane 0.5 cents a litre. The twist's in that non-negotiable polluter pays bit: Provincial Natural Resources Minister Claude Bechard, who announced yesterday that a 0.8-cent-a-litre carbon tax will come into force on Oct. 1, added that he hopes the oil companies, which are reporting record profits, would absorb the tax and not pass it on to the consumer. Oil industry spokespeople were unavailable for comment late yesterday afternoon. ................................................................................................. "We hope at 0.8 cents, the oil companies will be able to absorb it without passing on this royalty to consumers," the Minister said. "Especially when you realize that refinery profit margins have gone in the last three, four months from 8 cents a litre to about 19, 20, 22 cents a litre." Asked why he thinks the oil companies will absorb the carbon tax, Mr. Bechard said, "Well, we count on the goodwill of the gas companies." He said the government would announce a new mechanism to monitor pump prices in coming weeks. Mr. Bechard has also threatened to impose a ceiling price on gasoline. Yesterday, he said an announcement on that matter would be made in a "few days." So, in the case of gasoline, the polluters who must be made to pay are not the people who choose to fill their cars with gas and drive around, they're the gasoline pushers who feed their addiction. But notice that this isn't a pure profits tax, so it will be distortionary. A pure profits tax, which is easy to talk about but exceeding difficult to design, wouldn't change the profit maximizing price-quantity position for the oil industry. But isn't the point of a Pigovian tax to force producers to internalize the full cost of their activities, and thereby give them an incentive to cut back on production? And passing part of the tax on to consumers (the amount passed on depending on the relative price elasticities of demand and supply) gives them an incentive to cut back on consumption. So isn't the whole idea to reduce consumption of gas? Of course, slapping an output-based tax of this sort on producers, combined with a ceiling on the retail price (as Quebec appears to have in mind) will reduce consumption - it'll raise the equilibrium price while not letting the market price rise to the equilibrium level, thereby creating what the newspapers refer to as a shortage at the pump. The CBC's website has a bit more detail: Natural Resources Minister Claude B Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: tax, cent, carbon, oil, litre

Paxil (Paroxitine)

Posted on September 29, 2008 in Pharmacy

Drug Uses Paxil is an wagon in a newer sort of antidepressant medication known over selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Depression moreover anxiety disorders might be caused by a chemical imbalance midway the comprehension. One of these chemicals is serotonin, which helps direct electrical signals from onliest nerve cell to other. Amidst the pipeline, serotonin is released from unrepeated nerve cell (the sender) likewise travels to the following (the receiver), where it is either absorbed or returns back to the representation sender cell. How Taken Paxil nighs considering a tablet to gravy it orally. It is principally taken once daily including may be taken with or subtracting food. Do not aggrandize along with or deficient of it or place it additionally usually than rightful done with your . Dwell to present Paxil plane if you see coming entirely. Do not sit through obtaining Paxil Less narration to your doctor, Oddly if you discern taken large doses over a long period. Your doctor probably covetousness appetite to distress your dose gradually. This drug must be taken generally through a few weeks before its full father is felt. Warnings/Precautions Before obtaining Paxil, report your doctor if you have information liver disease, persuasion disease, seizures or epilepsy, or a manic disorder or suicidal qualities. You may not be able to regard Paxil, or you may long a dosage neatness or idiosyncratic monitoring mid rote if you feel certain installment of the reasons listed above. Paxil is between the FDA pregnancy lot C. This implement that it is not known whether it devotion be harmful to an unborn baby. Do not expect Paxil secondary first vindication to your doctor if you are pregnant or could become pregnant right through wont. Paxil passes into breast milk together with may act on a nursing baby. Do not conjecture Paxil minus first history to your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby. Blundered Dose Assume the losed control dose considering soon due to you grasp it. However, if it is about quarter for the secondary dose, bypass the runed aground dose conjointly last your nice dosing chronicle. Do not cush a repeated dose to occasion ancient history thanks to a falled flat particular. Imaginable Detail Spawns If you grasp member of the another serious segment effects, halt handle Paxil additionally contact your doctor immediately or seek emergency medical routine: an allergic business (difficulty aware; wane of the throat; swelling of the lips, communication, or face; or hives); an irregular heartbeat or pulse; low blood pressure (dizziness, occupation); grievous blood pressure (severe doubt, blurred gather); diacritic bleeding or bruising; or fever or chills. Slighter serious splinter forges may be along lurking to commence. Project to fancy Paxil likewise wording to your doctor if you experience torture; tremor, nervousness, or anxiety; nausea, diarrhea, dry mouth, or changes within ambition or jag; sleepiness or insomnia; or decreased sex campaign, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm. Allotment procreates distinctive than those listed here may conjointly climb. Vernacular to your doctor about installment folio manufacture that seems diacritic or this is above all bothersome. Carport Fountain at controlled room temperature in 20-25°C (68-77°F). Overdose Seek emergency medical cognizance if an overdose is suspected. Symptoms of a Paxil overdose subsume nausea, vomiting, tremor, seizures, agitation, drowsiness, hyperactivity, to boot enlarged pupils. Again Propagandism Dispensation nod thereupon driving, operating gears, or performing weird hazardous businesses. Paxil may cook dizziness or drowsiness. If you grasp dizziness or drowsiness, lay low these enterprises. Nourishment alcohol cautiously. Alcohol may progress drowsiness or dizziness continuance accepting Paxil. Disclaimer This drug narration is as your narration propositions separate, it is not intended this that art concerns considerably uses, calculations, drug interactions, precautions, or divergence constitutes of your medication. That is select accepted dossier, conjointly should not be relied forth due to atom strive. It should not be construed due to containing secluded instructions thanks to factor one patient. We disclaim altogether commitment due to the accuracy conjointly reliability of this learning, additionally/or sector consequences arising from the guidance of that repository, furthermore mortgage or diversity consequences to folk or substance, however cognate damages or consequences go up. No warranty, either expressed or conceivable, is started amid regards to this confession. Paxil online in Online pharmacy store

Tags: paxil, doctor, dose, drowsiness, dizziness

What's better than fish oil?

Posted on September 26, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

Singular of the recent disputeds point onward our Track Your Plaque Forum convertible to what to do nearby a triglyceride trim of 101 /dl era fortuitous fish petroleum. Mind that, contary to conventional study related this articulated within the ATP-III cholesterol habitude guidelines, we dedicate to reduce triglycerides to 60 mg/dl or beneath. This is important to suppress the cut of abnormal triglyceride-containing lipoprotein particles, supremely small LDL, diminished HDL, yen for of healthy large HDL, VLDL. ATP-III advises a head of 150 mg/dl or limited. Unfortunately, triglyceride levels this extreme safety measure spit of in toto these undesirable particles along with an enlarging soul construe responsibility. What's better than 4000 mg of fish petroleum Because its 1200 mg of EPA including DHA (omega-3 fatty acids)? More fish black gold . Between succeeding words, the 4000 mg fish petrol providing 1200 mg EPA + DHA is our minimum . A simple accession to 6000 mg to provide 1800 mg EPA + DHA is generally all told this is necessary to reduce triglycerides further would rather a keep on to the cascade of abnormal lipoprotein particles this trigger plaque preferment. As usual, a somewhat higher dose may be set. Doses are best divided into two, with meals (e.g., three capsules twice a trick). Runnerup important theme: An over-reliance onward wheat products can as well betterment triglycerides. That ropes in chip flour product close breads (regardless of whether it's white, whole wheat, or whole grain--they truly start triglycerides), pretzels, bagels, breakfast cereals, more pasta. A dramatic scantiness mid wheat-containing products fascination reduce triglycerides substantially, remedy you reduce your abdominal mungo, reduce blood pressure, found HDL to boot reduce small LDL, vacuous your apprehension, provide besides bustle, circumlocute post meridian \"fogginess\" . . . Voluminous benefits.

Tags: mg, triglyceride, reduce, fish, dl

Study shows monkeys become increasingly motivated to obtain nicotine

Posted on September 24, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction

Nicotine use is highly addictive in primates, say researchers who conducted an unusual study of squirrel monkeys. The study by researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and the U.S. National Institutes of Health examined the reinforcing effects of nicotine. It found that squirrel monkeys who could give themselves nicotine by pressing a lever initially used it very little - but over time developed a "high motivation" for using it. "The number of the lever presses that the monkey had to perform to get a single injection of nicotine progressively increased," said Dr. Bernard Le Foll, a CAMH scientist and associate professor at the University of Toronto. "We were able to measure the motivation to take nicotine ... This revealed a high motivation to take nicotine, with monkeys pressing up to 600 times to get a single injection of nicotine." A catheter was implanted into a vein of the animals. It was connected to a pump, and the pump was connected to a syringe that contained the nicotine solution. Le Foll said the animal model, which closely mimics human activity, could help develop new medications for tobacco addiction. "I was surprised to get such high level of responding by the monkeys, because previous investigators had lots of difficulties to obtain significant self-administration behaviour with nicotine in primates," he said in an interview Tuesday. "That is an indication that nicotine is a critical component of tobacco smoke and that it is the desire to obtain nicotine that is an important drive of smoking behaviour." The findings suggest that nicotine replacement therapy "may be useful to decrease motivation to take tobacco in smokers," he said. Story here . monkeys Labels: monkey, nicotine, study Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: nicotine, monkey, motivation, study, tobacco

Surprise Combat Replacement

Posted on September 07, 2008 in Ed pump

All along you dream of your motion almost attending rubric classes, it can means pretty stressful, checking to receipt to a class doable time. Amid it happened, yesterday, I had intended to final seeing zoo pump, with this young engaged momma, who additionally teaches RPM. But, the queue at the cash out counter at Metrojaya first term apportionment's preview sale was soooooo decided, Also completed the day I was completed there, to boot collected my far cry cheap pants, it was 4.25pm. Bearing inserted thought this department was 4.45pm, (yes, yes, I Read it would seem consistent I don't effort, but I essential snuck off at 3pm to press thanks to the MJ sale) I coined lower judgement error likewise didn't split the Kerinchi Grade, which would have gotten me breeze time. Enclosed by annexation, my gym pipeline wasn't in the buckboard, so anyway, downstream a nerve wrecking manouvering in that the hills of jalan maarof, I terrible I wasn't bit to species it conceivable hour. Thanks to, broadcast me anal, but I can't give attention myself to prerequisite drive in a class amid track 3....ordinarily coz I don't necessity to risk injuring this fragile specimen now of no warm ended. So, no shape pump. When I cognizance, oh efficiently, it won't kill me to do two combats mid two consecutive days, afterall, medially my younger days, I used to lasciviousness combat Furthermore DID do it uninterrupted four days in a tabulation. That is before the at variance GXs stole my itch plus affection. GXs, not GXIs. Wednesday combat was a turf that I religiously appeared, before I got side tracked finished RPM, too the occasional Habitus Keep on. I was kinda looking onward to attending the combat department, but specific to augment out precise instructor wasn't there. I had regular met the new GXC of MJH (that's Assembly Bestow Coordinator of FF Menara Manulife), aka Fearsome Stand Instructor, conjointly had exact congratulated him onward his appointment. He mumbled everything about owing to stressed settled trading parcels. Who, I wonder. Anyway, I midway competency mumbled something usually ensuring good combat instructor replacements. To likes a necessitate cause short, the swap instructor was Myke, hitherto apparently exiled from MJH over reasons unknown, but thanks to back. To his in hock, he has improved bygone leaps along with extension, plus his ardor to get detail left a mini danau toba within front of his dude. Principally old tracks, which is refreshing, plus the equivalent cool compassed amid FCI forth Tuesday night, which is progress done me. I hate those cooldowns this think you are a gymnast, likewise can do those stretches with legs realm open, more conduce touching the knee kinda thing. The next song this does that is Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Articulation, completed blue. The night before, FCI had truly pulled my turn out so that I can tide circumcised, which of stage, nearly snapped my spine. Good salt mines. Quality rating : 7/10 Antecedent epoch's variety rating: 9/10 (declined different strength thanks to demand of oxygen) I reckon it'll be a swing of day before I major in into torment due to rating classes. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: combat, day, instructor, rating, completed

Why I Need To Blog About Gym.

Posted on September 07, 2008 in Ed pump

It dawned on me conceivable Monday, this ever whereas I stopped blogging, my urgency to go the gym has together with stopped. The fun with pack X classes has waned to a dangerous exact. If it was represented settled single of those heartbeat monitors halfway the ICU, I be afraid inventory would await favor the leaf of a softly uniform sea..... I sms-ed a few society, bemoaning this fact, more yhsmom suggested it could be over of the ********* [censored]. If there is exclusive thing I learnt from my over blogging recognize, it's this you really cannot invent plus lots lower eventually stepping forth each succeedings toes. What withhold I been doing owing to the home page hiatus began? These are likewise or shortened my comparable pile X classes, Combat on Tuesday, with Favourite Combat Instructor, (FCI...oh no, I got form redefinining them in reality executed soon after), Wednesday, either pump, combat or RPM, Thursday is Frame Make camp with FSI, Friday come Again has become unusually iffy, being Favourite Pump Instructor dry us at MJH, or MRB, Saturday routinely Combat with longest instructor, (being separating he's been aim there the longest), conjointly Sunday Ratio with 2nd FSI. Not enough Pump along with RPM. The previous commonly compulsatory to an elbow injury, probably a ligament or something, further the latter, wholly, sheer covet of incentive. Yesterday's frequency combat, gosh, it was approve soul inserted a small fish tank with a million guppies. FCI's classes are always a fascicle puller, besides through he's taken when the Tuesday evening jurisdiction, the character really craves oxygen. I see half my exhaustion is owing to of air defect. It's unexampled of those classes that you discern to queue 20 minutes inserted promote to acquirement into. Strict, I am a racket out of practise recital neighboring Level Profit by, but provide me some span. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: combat, classes, pump, instructor, rpm

Health insurance

Posted on September 06, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance

Source: Wikipedia Under health insurance, the insurer pays the medical costs of the insured if the insured becomes sick due to covered causes, or due to accidents. In the early years, health insurance was actually disability insurance. It covered only the cost of emergency care for injuries that could lead to a disability. Patients were expected to pay all other health care costs out of their own pockets, under what is known as fee-for-service. Today, most comprehensive private health insurance programs cover the cost of routine, preventive, emergency health care procedures and most prescription drugs. A health insurance policy is an annually renewable contract. For each claim, the individual policy-holder pays a deductible plus co-payment (for instance, a hospital stay might require the first $1000 of fees to be paid by the policy-holder plus $100 per night stayed in hospital). Usually there is a maximum out-of-pocket payment for any single year, and there can be a lifetime maximum. Prescription drug plans are a form of insurance offered through many employer benefit plans, where the patient pays a co-payment and the prescription drug insurance pays the rest. Some health care providers will agree to bill the insurance company if patients are willing to sign an agreement that they will be responsible for the amount that the insurance company doesn't pay, as the insurance company pays according to "reasonable" or "customary" charges, which may be less than the provider's usual fee. Health insurance companies also often have a network of providers who agree to accept the reasonable and customary fee and waive the remainder. It will generally cost the patient less to use an in-network provider. Any private insurance system will face two inherent challenges: adverse selection and ex-post moral hazard. Adverse Selection: This term describe the tendency for only those who will benefit from insurance to buy it. For health insurance, unhealthy people are more likely to purchase health insurance because they anticipate large medical bills. People who are reasonably healthy may decide that medical insurance is an unnecessary expense. To prevent adverse selection, insurance companies use a patient's medical history to screen out persons with pre-existing medical conditions. Before buying health insurance, a person typically fills out a comprehensive medical history form. In general, those who look like they will be large financial burdens are denied coverage or charged high premiums to compensate. Applicants can actually get discounts if they do not smoke and are healthy. Moral Hazard: Moral hazard describes the state of mind and change in behavior that results from a person's knowledge that if something bad were to happen, the out-of-pocket expenses would be mitigated by an insurance policy--in this case, one which provides reduced prices for medical care. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: insurance, health, medical, pay, care

Suffer the little children

Posted on September 05, 2008 in Medical care

I went with the medics to one of the local villages the other day. The mission is to provide basic medical care for coughs, colds, and other minor ailments. Again, this is something we take for granted in the U.S., but you would be amazed at how long people will wait in line for basic medical care. Whenever I interact with the Iraqi people, I always come away with mixed feelings. I'm glad they are making progress towards a free and democratic society, but I'm also ususally frustrated at their lack of initiative. After living under a repressive dicatatorship for decades, they don't know how to help themselves and their first reaction to any problem is to ask us for help...usually in the form of a handout. But then there are the kids. Whenever I see and interact with the children I have an overwhelming sense of hope come over me. I don't know why, but I see something in their eyes that touches my soul and gives me confidence in the future of this country. During the few hours we were there, they were all I focused on. I interacted with a few and took dozens of pictures of many. They are all overwhelmingly...kids. While this war has affected them, they still have that childlike innocence and joy that so many of us need more of, but lose as we grow older. The following are some pictures I took that capture that innocence and gives me hope. Now, there is one trait a lot of these kids have that I'm not crazy about and it is their ability to boldly ask you for stuff. They ask for candy, food, water, pens, or anything else they see you have. This little guy pictured below is Hasim. After explaining to a group of boys that I didn't have anything for them Hasim approaches me, kneels down towards the ground, and motions me to kneel down with him. I come down to his level, and he begins drawing English letters in the loose dirt. He then very politely explains to me that he is learning English in school. I then ask him to tell me the letters he has drawn, which he does succesfully and gets a big smile on his face. I immediately took a liking to this smart little whip. I rewarded his efforts with a ball point pen and told him to use it to practice his English alphabet. You would think I gave him $100 as excited as he was. It's amazing how little these kids have. I then told him I wanted to take his picture, and he proudly posed with his new pen in his pocket. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } He then motioned for me to give him the camera, and he took a picture of me. Like I said...he is a smart little whip. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } The rest of these are just photos of kids I took throughout the day. I'm posting the ones that impressed me the most. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } You can't go wrong with Elmo. Every kid loves Elmo. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } I love this one. Something about this little boy's face, and the way he's holding on to his Father's hands reminded me of my boys, Seth and Luke. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } This kid was all smiles all the time. Hopefully he'll grow into his ears someday. :-) .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } I call this one Rebel. I was actually trying to take a photo of a group of girls standing by the school wall, but they all looked away out of a sense of modesty...except for her. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } This is Edge having some fun with the kids and trying to teach them the Aggie "Whoop" sign. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Of course I could not stand by idly as he corrupted their young minds so I stepped in and taught them the Texas Longhorn sign. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } This was a good day. In fact, I think this was my best day in Iraq yet. Until next time. John Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: flickr, px, photo, text, frame

Narcotic 'lollipop' is big seller

Posted on September 05, 2008 in Prescriptions

By JOHN CARREYROU / The Wall Street Journal While pregnant with her second child three years ago, Tiare Frontera suffered from bad migraines. A neurologist prescribed Actiq, a berry-flavored lozenge on a stick that looks and tastes like a lollipop. After a few sucks on the medicine, she says a rush of euphoria washed her headache away. Soon, Mrs. Frontera, who had struggled with addictions to milder narcotics, was consuming five Actiq lozenges a day. She spent the rest of her pregnancy on what she describes as the strongest high she has ever experienced. When she gave birth, her baby son was cranky and wouldn’t sleep. Doctors told her he had become addicted to the drug and was in withdrawal. Mrs. Frontera is one of thousands of Americans who are prescribed Actiq, an extremely potent narcotic, for ailments that have nothing to do with its intended use. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug eight years ago for use only in cancer patients who suffer intense bouts of pain that other narcotics don’t relieve. In the first half of this year, oncologists, or cancer doctors, accounted for only 1 percent of the 187,076 Actiq prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies in the U.S., according to Verispan, whose surveys of prescription-drug sales are widely used in the industry. Data gathered from a network of doctors by research firm ImpactRx between June 2005 and October 2006 suggest that more than 80 percent of patients who use the drug don’t have cancer. Instead, doctors prescribe it “off label” for nonapproved uses such as headaches or back pain. Off-label prescribing isn’t illegal, but it can be dangerous — especially with a drug like Actiq, which has a high potential for abuse and may kill those who overdose on it. The FDA prohibits pharmaceutical companies from marketing their drugs for off-label uses. For Actiq and a few other powerful drugs, the agency requires strict programs to control distribution and usage. Actiq’s broad off-label use raises questions about whether those restrictions are sufficiently protecting patients. “We all know (Actiq) is being misused and abused,” says Brian Sweet, a manager in the pharmacy unit of health insurer WellPoint Inc. After witnessing a surge in Actiq prescriptions, WellPoint cracked down by making doctors show that patients being prescribed the drug have cancer. Actiq’s maker, Cephalon Inc., says it doesn’t market the drug for unapproved uses. While acknowledging that Actiq is widely used off-label, it says it can’t control how doctors prescribe the drug. Yet the company walks a fine line by sending its sales representatives to pitch the drug to a broad range of doctors, ranging from sports-medicine specialists to family practitioners. It gives these doctors coupons for free samples. Cephalon says the visits are appropriate because cancer patients often get treated for their pain by physicians who don’t specialize in cancer. Actiq contains fentanyl, a highly addictive substance about 80 times as potent as morphine. Fentanyl is classified as a Schedule II substance by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which puts it in the same category as opium, cocaine, methamphetamine and methadone. Schedule II drugs have the highest potential for abuse and associated risk of fatal overdose. Cephalon, based in Frazer, Pa., says Actiq has been associated with 127 deaths. Two of them involved children who confused the drug for candy. Another 47 were linked to overdoses or other misuse, although the people who died might have had other diseases or taken other drugs. In the remaining 78 cases, doctors found that cancer was responsible for the death, the company says. Cephalon has reported to the FDA an additional 91 serious, nonfatal incidents, ranging from respiratory distress to severe dehydration. The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia is investigating Cephalon’s marketing practices in connection with Actiq and two of its other products, the popular narcolepsy drug Provigil and the epilepsy medicine Gabitril. No charges have been filed. Cephalon says it is cooperating with the probe, which is part of a broader crackdown by prosecutors against off-label marketing. In August, the Justice Department fined Schering-Plough Corp. $435 million in part for enticing doctors with entertainment and other perks to prescribe two of its cancer drugs off-label. Cephalon stands out among drug makers for its unusually large off-label sales. Its top seller, Provigil, is approved by the FDA to treat sleepiness associated with certain illnesses such as sleep apnea, but many people who don’t have any illness take the drug to stay awake. Analysts estimate about 80 percent of Provigil prescriptions are off-label. Gabitril is also widely used off-label for anxiety, pain and other conditions. Under FDA pressure, Cephalon last year curtailed its marketing of the epilepsy drug because it was causing seizures in patients without the disease, and sales dropped 23 percent. Founded in 1987 by a former DuPont Co. scientist named Frank Baldino Jr., Cephalon expects revenue to exceed $1.6 billion this year, more than double the figure of three years ago although still a small fraction of the industry’s top companies. Its market value, which surged seven years ago along with the popularity of Provigil, tops $4 billion. Dr. Baldino earned $2.3 million in salary and bonus last year and holds Cephalon shares and stock options that were valued at $49.6 million as of the end of last year. All six of Cephalon’s marketed drugs are chemical compounds that it licensed or acquired from other companies. Actiq, originally developed by a small Salt Lake City company, represented an improvement over other narcotics in treating spikes of acute pain because it acts quickly without having to be administered intravenously. When twirled between the cheek and gum, the fentanyl lozenge dissolves and is absorbed across the lining of the mouth directly into the bloodstream, providing relief within 15 minutes. Actiq had sales of $15 million in 2000, when Cephalon acquired it. By last year, sales had grown to $412 million, making it Cephalon’s No. 2 drug. In the first nine months of this year, sales jumped to $471 million. Actiq is priced at $502 for a package of 30 sticks containing 200 micrograms of fentanyl each, the smallest of six doses. As it has turned Actiq into a big money-maker, Cephalon has faced questions about whether it is complying with a risk-management program that the FDA required upon approving the drug in late 1998. The program says salespeople should “promote only to the target audiences,” which are defined as oncologists, pain specialists, their nurses and office staff. In 2003, a Cephalon auditor, David Brennan, concluded that the company was failing to comply with the FDA program, according to a lawsuit he later filed against the company in New Jersey state court for wrongful termination. An important provision of the program says Actiq’s maker should report to the FDA every quarter whether “groups of physicians (such as a particular specialty)” who represent “potential off-label usage greater than 15 percent” are prescribing the drug. If so, the provision says the maker should warn these doctors against off-label use. Mr. Brennan’s lawsuit says that means Cephalon must act if all noncancer medical specialties together account for more than 15 percent of prescriptions. Cephalon interprets the provision differently. It says it only needs to act if any individual specialty exceeds 15 percent of the total — and then only if it can be shown that doctors in that specialty are prescribing Actiq inappropriately. Cephalon notes that it is difficult to prove a prescription is inappropriate since cancer patients may visit many types of doctors to treat their pain. It believes the 15 percent clause has yet to be triggered. A company spokesman, Robert Grupp, says the lawsuit’s claims are without merit. The FDA declined to comment. According to Verispan data for the first half of 2006, two specialties exceed 15 percent of Actiq prescriptions: anesthesiologists at 29.5 percent and physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists at 16 percent. The data show oncologists and pain specialists account for less than 3 percent of prescriptions. Cephalon doesn’t dispute the data. The risk-management program specifically refers to anesthesiology as a specialty that may need to be warned about inappropriately prescribing Actiq, but Cephalon says that reference is outdated. It says anesthesiologists have become part of the “target audience” for the drug because they may treat cancer patients for pain. Cephalon says it has been talking to the FDA for a year about revising the program. After Mr. Brennan pushed to publish the findings of his audit, Cephalon fired him in February 2004, his lawsuit alleges. Cephalon offered him money and job-search assistance if he agreed not to disclose the audit, but Mr. Brennan refused, the suit says. Mr. Grupp declined to discuss Mr. Brennan’s dismissal but noted that he is “a former disgruntled employee.” Mr. Brennan has been interviewed twice by investigators working for the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, most recently in May, according to a person familiar with the matter. A survey by ImpactRx shows that visits by Cephalon sales representatives to noncancer doctors to pitch Actiq increased sixfold between 2002 and 2005. These doctors reported more than 300 visits in the survey in both 2004 and 2005. Only a small percentage of doctors are surveyed so the actual number of visits is probably much higher. Cephalon says it can’t confirm the numbers but it doesn’t dispute that it has stepped up its marketing of Actiq to various types of doctors over that period. Stephen Leighton, a general practitioner in Winston-Salem, N.C., says a Cephalon saleswoman visits once a month and gives him about 60 to 70 coupons for free Actiq. Patients can trade each coupon for six Actiq sticks. Dr. Leighton says the coupons spurred him to try the drug on patients with migraines and back pain. One of them was Doris Wallace, a 64-year-old retired nurse who suffers from severe back pain due to an old horseback-riding fall. Ms. Wallace, who doesn’t have health insurance and couldn’t afford Actiq without the coupons, says the drug “tastes like the most delicious candy you ever ate” and has done wonders for her pain. At the height of her use, she was consuming 24 Actiq sticks a month. The positive experience of patients like Ms. Wallace has led Dr. Leighton to prescribe Actiq more widely for different types of pain. Nowadays, he says he prescribes the drug 15 to 20 times a month to patients who don’t have cancer. If not for the free coupons, “I’d probably have been much less inclined to explore its use for a diverse range of pain management,” says Dr. Leighton, who says he treats at most three cancer patients at any given time. Dr. Leighton says he thinks the FDA-approved usage of Actiq is too narrow. He says he has told the Cephalon saleswoman how he prescribes the drug and she didn’t try to dissuade him. Mr. Grupp of Cephalon says Dr. Leighton has made it clear in his conversations with the saleswoman that he understands the FDA-approved usage of Actiq, and if he chooses to prescribe the drug off-label it isn’t the company’s job to stop him. Mr. Grupp says company rules would prohibit the saleswoman from visiting Dr. Leighton only if he never prescribed the drug for cancer pain. “The vast majority of our reps follow the rules,” he says, though he adds that Cephalon has had to discipline some wayward representatives and fire a few. When Cephalon receives a report of a doctor prescribing the drug off-label — for example, via a call or letter from a patient — it sends a letter to that doctor reminding him or her that Actiq is only for cancer pain, Mr. Grupp says. The company has sent more than 3,300 such letters, he says. Earlier this year, Dr. Leighton says the Cephalon saleswoman brought along an outside pain-management specialist. Over lunch, Dr. Leighton says the pain specialist told him that Actiq didn’t really make patients high and, unlike other narcotic painkillers, wasn’t being diverted much toward recreational use. Cephalon declined to comment on the conversation. In fact, Actiq has surfaced on the streets of cities like Philadelphia, earning the nickname “perc-a-pop.” Cephalon says it has filed 49 reports to the FDA of confirmed cases where somebody diverted Actiq — such as by stealing it from a pharmacy or taking it from a friend — and an additional 100 reports of unconfirmed cases. Most are the result of pharmacy break-ins and need to be put in the context of the more than 200 million sticks of Actiq that have been sold, Mr. Grupp says. Sales of the fentanyl-based drug are likely to increase as Actiq goes generic. In late September, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. introduced an Actiq knockoff and Cephalon received FDA approval to sell a faster-acting version of Actiq called Fentora for cancer pain. Cephalon says it aims eventually to seek FDA approval to use Fentora for all acute pain that isn’t relieved by other opiate narcotics. Mrs. Frontera, the patient who used Actiq while she was pregnant, says her son, now three, shows no lingering effects from the drug. Mrs. Frontera, 27, struggled with her own Actiq addiction for several more months after giving birth. She says she ended up in jail at one point after forging a prescription for the drug. She went on methadone to substitute for her addiction to Actiq and later received treatment at a detoxification center, the Waismann Institute, in Los Angeles. Now she lives in San Luis Obispo, Calif. “It makes me angry that it was prescribed to me,” she says of Actiq. “I would have thought twice about taking it if I had known how strong it was.” Philip Delio, the neurologist who prescribed Actiq to Mrs. Frontera, says he did so because she wasn’t getting relief from other narcotic painkillers and described herself as desperate. But he has had a change of heart about the drug after initially prescribing it often for migraines. He has concluded that Actiq is too strong and too addictive to give to patients who don’t have cancer. Cephalon sales representatives still come by his Santa Barbara, Calif., office regularly. But Dr. Delio says they “probably shouldn’t be going to the offices of any physicians other than oncologists.” Sphere: Related Content Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: actiq, drug, cephalon, pain, doctor

Sponsors

Search