I have both Fibromyalgia and Sjögren's Syndrome (both are rheumatoid disorders) and my doctor has me on Methotrexate and Plaquenil. The former is an oral chemotherapy, the latter, oddly enough, was originally used to treat malaria.
I'm no pharmacologist, but I think those two drugs keep my white blood cell count down to an almost "normal" level.
I hope this helps you ^_^
Selenium may be useful for treating several autoimmune diseases, especially lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It has been discovered that patients suffering from RA have low selenium levels.
Information about autoimmune disease can be obtained from your doctor. Womenshealth and Childrenshospital websites offer a lot of useful information on this topic.
The use of stem cells to treat autoimmune diseases remains experimental at this time, but I am optimistic that this will eventually be a useful form of treatment, once the details are figured out.
It helps scientist see the disease better so that they can diagnose it
Ibuprofen, the active ingredient in over the counter medications such as Advil and Motrin, as well as some prescription medications WILL NOT GET YOU HIGH! It is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, it is useful for treating minor aches and pains, fever and headache.
By studying Infectious Diseases we learn how they are incubated, growth of the disease, how they are spread, and what drugs or treatments are useful in treating them. By doing this we can hope to reduce suffering and perhaps eradicate the disease.
Antibiotics kill the bacteria but not the people by affecting parts of the bacterial system that humans do not share. Viruses use the person's own systems to do most functions and so not have the same or as many targets for the drugs. There are some antiviral drugs but now as many as antibiotics.
A Gram is simply looking for the presence of peptidoglycans in the cell wall (Gram positive bacteria have them). This is useful for physicians attempting to characterize an infectious agent, and narrows down the possibility of species which may be diagnosed.
it slows down brain impulses
a third degree AV node block
particularly useful for their effectiveness in treating Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections
Not all medications are broken down by the stomach or intestines - these are the drugs you can take via pill. Some medications actually rely on the stomach to break them down or change them slightly because the drug in the pill is the inactive precursor form and the body has to change it to the active drug form.