The white light we “see” is in fact made up of all the colors blended together. Each color has a property of its own and you may have seen increasing publicity given to light as a treatment for skin problems like acne. When it”s projected from a TV or computer screen, you get both the EMR and light in the visible spectrum, often with a slightly bluish tinge. For the treatment of skin problems, blue and red are used. For the treatment of sleep disorders, blue and green are being used in a series of clinical trials. It”s perhaps slightly ironic, but those who felt an effect from television and computer screens were probably right, except that the effect seems to be beneficial if you want to change your sleeping times.

We know when to sleep because our internal clock is set to match the local daily cycle. If we move to different time zones so that morning is now night, this confuses us and we find it difficult to match local time for sleep. As a trial, a number of people were cut off from the world in rooms without windows or clocks. There was no way for them to tell how much time was passing. The research team kept them awake for fifty hours and then allowed sleep for eight. When awake, half were exposed to blue light, the other to green. All the participants were carefully monitored and it was found that both colors could reset the internal clocks. The only difference between the two groups was that dim blue and bright green lights were less effective. The relevant neurotransmitters and hormones responded more precisely to bright blue and dim green.

So, in all situations where the sleep problem is caused by the body”s circadian rhythms not being properly synchronised to local time, the use of light may well prove the best long-term solution. Although a drug like ambien can and does produce sleep “on demand”, there are always problems if you come to depend on a drug for any long-term solution. Ambien will always help you get needed rest, but the use of alternative methods is preferable. As counseling and therapy is expensive and often not covered by health insurance plans, the development of light treatment may come as a simple and cheap solution to sleep problems.

Muscle relaxants, as you may guess from the name, work by relaxing the muscles and relieving the pain associated with constant tension of different muscle groups. They are quite often prescribed for treating and relieving such degenerative conditions as arthritis or direct muscle injury. However, most doctors prescribe these drugs in conjunction with physical therapy in order to assure prompt treatment. The most commonly prescribed muscle relaxant drugs include carisoprodol, diazepam and cyclobenzaprine.

Types of muscle relaxant drugs

Soma

Soma is muscle relaxant available only through prescription that has carisoprodol as its main active element. In most cases the drug is prescribed to be taken three or four times daily regardless of meals. Pregnant or nursing mothers are forbidden to take the medication as it has potential hazard for the baby. The most common side effects observed with the use of Soma include such symptoms as increased heart rate, drowsiness, dizziness, vomiting and indigestion.

Valium

Valium is usually prescribed for treating anxiety disorders, however many physicians also prescribe it for relieving muscle spasms and pain due to its sedative and relaxing effects. It is also known to help with sleep disorders and depression. The effectiveness of Valium is usually decreased with the use of nicotine. The most common side effects reported with the use of this drug include dizziness, decrease of sex drive, diarrhea, indigestion and dry mouth.

Skelaxin

Skelaxin is prescription muscle relaxant medication that is based on metaxalone as its main active ingredient. In most cases patients are prescribed with a single pill three times daily to achieve the desired effect, Patients with liver, kidney or heart problems are advised to not buy Skelaxin. The most common side effects observed with the use of this drug include dizziness, indigestion, headache, drowsiness and change in mood. If you have yellow skin, abnormal bleeding or bruising, or convulsion when using Skelaxin you should stop taking the drug and seek medical assistance immediately.

Flexeril

Flexeril is muscle relaxant available only through a prescription that is based on cyclobenzaprine as its main component. Doctors usually prescribe taking it two to four times daily. Patients who suffer from heart problems, glaucoma, abnormal urination, or an overactive thyroid are recommended to not use Flexeril. Common side effects that may be experienced with Flexeril include such symptoms as dizziness, dry mouth drowsiness, and indigestion. In case you experience chest pain, odd heartbeat, fever or seizure you should stop taking the medication and seek for medical assistance immediately.

Yet, looking around the US today sees a different landscape. Fourteen states have passed laws allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Leading the way, as always, California has a proposition in the November midterms to legalize marijuana outright. What has happened to produce such a revolution? There are two answers. The first has been a general toning down of the rhetoric in favor of scientific debate. When marijuana was first criminalized back in the 1930s, the medical profession stood together and denounced the drug as a tool of the Devil, tempting people into sin and depravity. Today sees a significant number of doctors singing a different tune. First, a gesture to the traditional group: there is no doubt that smoking marijuana can and does cause lung cancer and, over time, there is evidence suggesting loss of memory and some brain damage. But there is also an impressive body of international evidence proving marijuana highly effective in giving pain relief. The use has to build up over at least six months. Once a stable concentration is achieved in the blood stream, it relieves chronic pain from arthritis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis and cancers.

The second justification is fiscal. The sale of medical marijuana already makes a significant contribution to state funds through the tax system. In a recession, all contributions are gratefully received. If the outright legalization goes through in California, it is estimated the annual tax take will rise from about $200 million to $1.5 billion. It will also lead to a better system of regulation so that, like alcohol, its distribution can be controlled. None of this changes the need for “conventional” drugs to relieve pain. Tramadol in its different forms will remain the first response to moderate to severe pain. But in chronic cases, the continuing use of any drug can lead to dependence and the debate shifts. Which of the drugs is better when use may be indicated for years? In the fourteen states with Illinois perhaps about to join them, the option of marijuana rather than tramadol is there to be freely made. Legalization has undermined the criminal gangs and reduced prices. The quality of the product is also guaranteed whereas, on the street, marijuana can be cut with many strange and sometimes dangerous substances. This is the practical reality on the ground and there is no point in trying to turn the clock back. Pain management in these states now includes marijuana. For those who disapprove, tramadol and the other traditional drugs remain available.

All this was making the medical profession in China and India less than happy. Between them, they have centuries of medical texts documenting the use of almost every herb, root, fungus and spice as specific treatments for what are still common diseases and disorders. But the West kept reinventing traditional cures as modern drugs and patenting them. How was this theft of medical knowledge to be stopped. The problem was access. All the major texts were in old languages. So, over the last decade, teams of medical support staff have been working hard to translate thousands of Chinese and Indian medical texts into English. All these texts have been supplied to the USPTO in digital form. That’s why the officers responsible for deciding whether Pfizer’s little blue pills are sufficiently original to justify patent protection were excited to discover Yin Yang Huo (which translates as the Horny Goat Weed). This weed has been known to the practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for the last two thousand years. From its name, you will understand it is a treatment for erectile dysfunction. By a remarkable coincidence, it is also a naturally occurring version of the chemicals forming the basis of viagra. So, shock and horror prevails in the US as part of the patent protection for all the modern erectile dysfunction drugs is cancelled. Delight in China that another natural weed has been saved from the running dogs of Western capitalism. The TCM practitioners can continue to prescribe Yin Yang Huo without having to pay royalties to a Western pharmaceutical company.

Assuming you still to be awake, this interesting development in the erectile dysfunction market is likely to become a more common phenomenon as more translated texts are loaded into the database at the USPTO. Rather a lot of US companies are about to discover that there’s little that has not already been discovered somewhere in the world. As to those of you suffering from erectile dysfunction, supplies of Horny Goat Weed are difficult to locate in your average Main Street pharmacy so, until Chinese exporters respond to demand, you can still buy cheap viagra online. It has been the market leader since its launch ten years ago. It will no doubt continue to dominate despite the claims of the horny goat.

Now on to the news from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine which should bring some small encouragement to men whose erectile dysfunction is caused by diabetes. For the record, three-quarters of men with diabetes suffer some degree of erectile dysfunction. Once the nerve endings are seriously damaged, the impotence becomes permanent. Ignoring any issues about obesity which can be the reason for the late-onset of diabetes and, in its own right, contribute to the erectile dysfunction, the research team has been examining male biology at a molecular level. We have gone way beyond simple studies of muscles and blood vessels. That old electron microscope is finally earning its keep. The team has discovered molecular changes that may explain part of the reason for erectile dysfunction. If this experiment is repeated by other research centers, it will confirm a new way of testing who is at risk of erectile dysfunction and suggest new ways of targeting relief.

For those of you who worry about these things, the experiment to date has been on rats. No one wants to risk cutting open men at this early stage of the research. The team has identified significant differences in the levels of proteins between healthy and diabetic rats. In the latter, the collagen proteins connected to the development and maintenance of strength in muscles were down. The speculation is these molecular differences explain why arteries narrow and harden. There were also fewer proteins used to transport sex hormones.

Assuming the rat model is confirmed in volunteer men, this information can be translated into a simple blood test for hardening of the arteries generally and for the risk of erectile dysfunction in particular. Drugs can then be developed to increase the production of collagen proteins, which should then reverse arterial damage. While we wait for the march of science to move on, there is always cialis. This has moved to being the market leader in many countries around the world, consistently outselling the other erectile dysfunction drugs. Because it gives up to thirty-six hours of response when taken as needed, and is available for once-daily use, it has become the drug of choice. It works to dilate the arteries leading into the penis and achieves the desired erection. It is effective in men suffering relatively minor damage because of diabetes but, unless the diabetes is stabilized and the damage to the nerve endings stopped, no drug can keep on working. Early treatment for the diabetes is essential.

The answer to our quiz question is all to easy to give. As you will have noticed, the word causing all the trouble is soCIALISm. Websites depending on ads for erectile dysfunction drugs routinely scan words for the names of drugs. Who would have thought right-wingers would be censored because of erectile dysfunction.