BOTOX FOR YOUR BLADDER??
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved botox treatment for bladder control. By injecting the botox into patients’ bladders, their muscles will be relaxed, allowing their bladders to hold more urine.
This will make for some very interesting botox parties…
The face-freezing pharmaceutical injection Botox gained another medical use on Wednesday when the US government approved it for use in some patients with overactive bladders.
The new application was given the nod by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat people with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury who suffer from urinary incontinence and must manage it with medication or a catheter.
“Urinary incontinence associated with neurologic conditions can be difficult to manage,” said George Benson, deputy director of FDA’s division of Reproductive and Urologic Products.
“Botox offers another treatment option for these patients.”
The new method allows a physician to inject Botox into a patient’s bladder, where it relaxes the muscles and allows more urine to be stored.
Clinical studies showed such injections could decrease episodes of urinary incontinence for a period of nine months.
Botox, which is marketed by the California-based Allergan, is also approved for treatment of chronic migraines, severe underarm sweating, eyelid twitching and certain kinds of muscle stiffness, the FDA said.
The drug is made from a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. In other forms it can cause a deadly type of food poisoning called botulism, according to the National Institutes of Health. [SOURCE]
CANCER PATIENTS MUST EXERCISE TO PREVENT RECURRENCE
A new UK study has shown that exercising is key in preventing the recurrence of cancer in survivors. This challenges the recommendation that survivors should get more rest and take it easy.
All patients getting cancer treatment should be told to do two and a half hours of physical exercise every week, says a report by Macmillan Cancer Support.
Being advised to rest and take it easy after treatment is an outdated view, the charity says.
Research shows that exercise can reduce the risk of dying from cancer and minimise the side effects of treatment.
The Department of Health says local initiatives can get people moving. Macmillan’s report, Move More, says that of the two million cancer survivors in the UK, around 1.6 million are not physically active enough.
Adult cancer patients and cancer survivors should undertake 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week, the reports says, which is what the Department of Health guidelines recommend.
In the report, the American College of Sports Medicine also recommends that exercise is safe during and after most types of cancer treatment and says survivors should avoid inactivity.
It doesn’t need to be anything too strenuous, doing the gardening, going for a brisk walk or a swim, all count”Getting active, the report says, can help people overcome the effects of cancer and its treatments, such as fatigue and weight gain.
“The evidence review shows that physical exercise does not increase fatigue during treatment, and can in fact boost energy after treatment.” [SOURCE]
