Ibuprofen May Prevent Parkinson’s Disease & Alzheimer’s Disease

Feb. 17, 2010 -- People who take ibuprofen may be nearly 40% less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, according to a new study. Researchers found the pain reliever was the only one in the popular class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) studied that had any effect on risk of Parkinson's disease.
(see remainder of article on WebMD, here: http://www.webmd.com/parkinsons-disease/news/20100217/ibuprofen-may-reduce-risk-of-parkinsons?src=RSS_PUBLIC)

May 5, 2008 -- The long-term use of ibuprofen and possibly other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pain relievers may help protect against Alzheimer's disease, but it is still not clear if the risks outweigh the potential benefits.
(see remainder of article on WebMD, here: http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20080505/ibuprofen-may-cut-alzheimers-risk)

I saw the first article quoted above today and it triggered a memory of the other possible benefit of ibuprofen. I’ve been a long time ibuprofen user, since it’s prescription only days and have always found it to be the most effective and safest (for me at least, your mileage may vary) general and openly available pain reliever on the market. As more evidence starts to emerge about some of its non-primary benefits, I’m beginning to wonder when doctors will recommend daily maintenance doses in support of these healthy side effects. Obviously there are risks, but there are risks inherent with a daily aspirin regimen and hundreds of thousands of people (or more) do it daily.

I’d love to see some comments or feedback or even better, some medical research around this topic. Please, feel free to share!

Hi From Scarlett

Hi Everyone!

Like Mark, I'm really excited to share information on a topic that I am so passionate about. I, too, am not a writer, but hopefully the topics and information that we discuss will trump that fact. Please be patient as we get started and get into the zone.

First, let me tell you a little bit about me. I am a wife and mother, and my family means everything to me. I totally love gardening, sailing and the outdoors. I collect cook books and love to draw and paint ( basically anything arts and craftsy). My family is my number one passtime, and their health and happiness is first and foremost.

In this blog I want to share information on all areas of health and wellness. From diet and nutrition, supplements, exercise, detoxification, etc. My goal is to help all of us be as well informed as we possibly can.
Like Mark said, sometimes it will be product and book reviews, and other times it will be relevant articles on medical information.

Ultimately, we all want health, happiness, balance and well being. Hopefully, together we can learn and share information that will enrich our lives, our families lives, friends and our communities.


Scarlett

Welcome from Mark

Hi all!

I'm really excited to be writing to you. I'm not a professional blogger or a professional writer so I'll ask your forgiveness in advance if I'm not as well polished as some folks out there.

So if I'm not a writer and not a professional blogger, what am I? Well, first and foremost, I'm a husband (Scarlett's going to be introducing herself at some point) of a wonderful wife and an amazing almost-17 year old daughter. My wife and daughter are really the center of my world and I'm sure you're going to be hearing a lot about them in the future. I'm also an outdoorsy kind of guy; I love hiking, camping, geocaching, but I don't get out to do these things too much anymore. Being from Florida, (Tampa specifically), I'm used to warm weather year round, but since I've moved to the Pacific Northwest, I find I'm stuck inside a lot more often, mostly due to the weather, but also due to changes in lifestyle. And that's where this blog comes into play.

I'm also a guy who's spent too much time behind a desk in the business world over the last 20 years. Sadly, taking meetings and conference calls don't keep me healthy and in the last couple of years, I've had a couple of doctor visits that have scared me a bit. The blood pressure's been on the rise and the cholesterol numbers aren't quite as good as they could be and frankly, that scares me. The sad part is, I know a lot about health, exercise, diet and general wellness, but I've been finding that I haven't been paying attention to these things. It's time to take action before something really bad happens – I've got a family that counts on me and loves me too much to let anything bad happen to me, especially those things I can control!

So here I am. I'm going start this ongoing blog where I seek out and focus on the best health and wellness information I can find. We (meaning Scarlett and I – she's a certified health nut!) are going to cut through the hype and the mystery around being healthy and living a long and happy life. Granted, we may be a bit disjointed here as we get started, but hopefully comments and feedback from readers will help us adjust the direction of this little effort until we're on target daily. From time to time, we'll bring you book and product reviews, news from the world of supplements, nutrition and other medically relevant articles. Scarlett and I are big believers in the concept that health is self directed, meaning that YOU are responsible for your health and that your partners (doctors, dieticians, nutritionist, homeopaths, naturopaths, etc) are there to support you. What we want to bring you is information that you can use NOW to get results that matter to you.

So let's get started! I'm going to get Scarlett to introduce herself in the next few days, but in the mean time I'm going to start posting some key information that's relevant. So, I'll raise my glass (of reverse osmosis water!) and say,

Here's to you health!

 

Mark