FDA Pregnancy Category C Anti-Itch Drugs

December 9th, 2011

What Are Pregnancy Category C Drugs?

According to the FDA (the U.S. Food And Drug Administration), pregnancy category C drugs are drugs that were harmful for animal fetuses in studies on animals, but no harm for the human fetuses was proven, mainly due to lack of human studies. This means that it is actually not known, if pregnancy category C drugs are harmful for the unborn babies or not when taken by their mothers.

NOTE: FDA pregnancy categories are for the U.S. and Canada. Other countries may have a different drugs in different categories.

FDA Pregnancy Categories

  • Pregnancy category A: Drugs that were tested enough on pregnant women to be considered safe for the unborn babies
  • Pregnancy category B: Drugs that were not tested enough, but there were no harm for animal or human fetuses was proven in any study
  • Pregnancy category C: Drugs harmful for animal fetuses, but not for human fetuses
  • Pregnancy category D: Drugs with proven risks for the human fetuses, but there use by pregnant women may be still acceptable in life-threatening situations
  • Pregnancy category X: Drugs with so harmful effects on the human fetuses that they should not be used by pregnant women in any circumstances

FDA Pregnancy Category C Anti-Itch Creams and Pills

The following drugs (a non-complete list) were not proven to be harmful for the unborn babies, but speak with your doctor before use:

  • Amonium lactate (in creams)
  • Benzocaine cream (anesthetic)
  • Butoconazole vaginal (anti-fungal cream)
  • Calcipotriene cream (for psoriasis)
  • Camphor ointment (analgesic)
  • Coal tar (for psoriasis)
  • Gabapentin (pills, for shingles, herpes)
  • Pimecrolimus cream (for eczema)
  • Pramoxine cream (anesthetic)
  • Steroids (for eczema and certain other pregnancy rashes), only few examples:
    • Betamethasone (in creams, lotions)
    • Hydrocortisone (in creams)
    • Triamcinolone
    • Prednisone (pills)
  • Tacrolimus cream (for eczema)
  • Tretinoine cream (for acne)
  • Urea cream (for eczema, psoriasis)
  • Zinc oxide (in pastas, lotions)

Here you can read about anti-itch creams in pregnancy

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Overcoming muscle fever (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – DOMS)

December 8th, 2011

We exercise intensively and the next thing we know, we have delayed onset muscle soreness or in laymen’s terms, muscle pain. In some cases, this does not only occur a few hours after the activity but extends to two to three days even. What is causing this pain and how do we really prevent it?

The Culprit

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the swelling of the muscles felt after 12 to 48 hours following a resistance workout.

Many athletes believe that extended muscle soreness is caused by a build-up of lactic acid that can be mitigated by cooling down after the workout. Although lactic acid is responsible for the soreness felt during and right after, it is not the villain which causes next-day(s) of soreness.

The real villain here is instigated by the result of small tears in the muscle tissues. DOMS is experienced after a breakthrough of muscles’ use, and this often occurs to newcomers to weight training, sculpting, swimming or fitness classes. As well, we encounter DOMS when we have a sudden major change in our exercise practices. When our bodies accept the exercise as relatively new and foreign, to welcome it, we need change. With this, we step into a next level and stretch into the limit our muscles can normally handle. Tension in the muscles thus exists after exertion.

However, it is important to note that muscle soreness is not necessary for our muscles to grow. Conversely, this muscle damage should not be considered as a reliable indication of muscle growth or flexibility.

How to Treat Muscle Soreness

Sore muscles usually are damaged. As with any injury, sore muscles must be given time to heal. During this course, we can have nice body massages and ample hours of sleep, take regulated cold showers, consume more proteins and carbohydrates and include antioxidants to our diet.

But as the cliché goes, “it’s better to be safe than sorry.” We cannot always wait for time and do its job. To admit responsibility for our own muscles, we must act on ways on how to prevent this damage.

How to Prevent Muscle Soreness

We must perform warm-up exercises before any rigorous sports activity, such as stretching, doing yoga poses, running and jogging to increase heart rate. Warming up “grooms” our muscles well, activates energy systems and prepares us both mentally and physically.

After our workout, we cool down by doing slow movements of stretching again, slower paces of jogs to catch our breath and enable oxygen in the blood to travel at a stable and normal volume before a complete rest. We must feel and contain the gradual decrement of physical activity, to guide our muscles through recovery. This recovery means that the body has returned to a balanced state through the restoration of body fluids and replenishment of energy stores and muscle tissues.

Conclusion

Both warm-up and cool-down exercises are aimed to enhance flexibility, minimize discomfort and prevent injury. While the recommendations on this page are good starting points, you’ll get a lot more benefit if you have a trainer or workout instructor who can assist you. Ultimately, take this advice: “Don’t be a hero.” Take your routines easy initially and gradually build up the intensity of your workout

About Belle

Belle is the owner and blog editor of Lean and Fab Supplier. She is an athletic girl who loves running, gymnastics

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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Screening Questionnaire

October 20th, 2011

It is easier to detect COPD, experts in the field of health services showed a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease screening questionnaire. The questionnaires have questions that go 4-10. The fact is that, in reality, the questions can be easily understood by the patient, and they would have no problem in giving precise answers. And on the basis these answers doctors can have an exact idea of the physical condition and the disease, by which the patient has been damaged.
Inquire about the intensity and duration of symptoms that were felt in the last four weeks possibly the most important of these questions. Side by side the question trying to find out the precise smoking habit of the patient had or has is equally important.
It should be noted that the profiles of individual patients on given questionnaires varied. In fact, based on factors such as gender, age, Smoking and severity of symptoms etc., with the purpose of questionnaires are designed. Answers of these questionnaires help the medical professionals to determine the future course of action for a given patient. It was also noted that these questionnaires are, in fact, play a vital role in improving levels of COPD awareness among the mass people.
The guidelines provided these questionnaires are considered global standards for care and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease also emphasize the importance of it. These instructions are also the crucial point at which health professionals are invited to share the COPD screening questionnaires for medical professionals and medical devices in their vicinity.
A study was conducted in Europe and North America, more than a decade back, stresses the importance of screening questionnaire. This systematic study conducted showed that in about almost 87 percent of the cases examined, the questionnaire itself was able to precisely diagnose COPD.
Many studies strongly suggest that when the screening questionnaire used in combination with spirometry, the same would be of great help in early diagnosis of COPD. And the fact is that early diagnosis significantly slows the rate at which the disease progresses.

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