Health News. Lots of resources and information

She expects me to kill all insects, catch all mice, and seek out the source of any sound in the night. Why me? I hate bugs, am afraid of mice, and would die of fright before any burglar could shoot me.

HUSBAND

Okay. But I’m the medical corps. All cuts, bruises, bangs, and bumps come to me. I hate blood. I just pour on peroxide, and squeeze tissue on all wounds. If he had a heart attack, I’d pour peroxide on him.

WIFE

Does your marriage have roles that are clear and of long standing, essentially unchangeable, so rigid that almost every problem is solved with marital partners filling and living up to their expected and assigned roles (order)? Or does your relationship lean more toward unclear, ever-changing roles, with each problem resulting in conflicts, readjustments, confusion, and role-reassignment (disorder)? Toward 0 is toward high order in your marriage and toward 10 is toward lack of order. There are not high scores or low scores (and 10 is not of more value or better than 0).

The woman at the deserted dinner table finds herself in a relationship of order, predictable role assignment and expectation. She prepares the dinners, calls the family for dinner, serves the dinner, and cleans up. Sexually, her role is to respond to her husband. He sees her as “broken” sexually due to what he perceives as her lack of spontaneity and passion, when in fact he is part of a highly ordered system that places both of them in their respective roles.

The wife accepts her husband’s role as “fourth child,” serving and cleaning up after him as much as her children.

When audiences hear the story of this couple, women get angry with the wife for her passivity and with the husband for his sexist ignorance. Men get angry at the husband for his neglect of his wife and his fitting the cliche role of “couch potato” and “boy child,” and at the wife for her maternal tolerance of her husband’s infantile and selfish behavior and her failure to represent herself. What these audiences are really bothered by is the “stuck system,” the unbending order that traps both partners in an unfulfilling marriage. Too much order (0) or total lack of order (10) always disrupts systems in nature, for there is no adaptability.

The husband in this couple felt he was responding to his wife’s sexual needs, but was in fact responding to his own misperceptions and misreadings of his wife’s needs for closeness and personal attention. “If she wants it, we do it. Where and when she wants it. I never turn her down” was the report of the husband.

The wife felt totally responsible for sex. “If I don’t mention it, we probably won’t do it. I find myself trying so much to guess when he needs it that I can’t tell if I ever need it.” They were trapped by their order, not in charge of it, not planning and adapting together, not aware of and responsive to a natural rhythmic flow that characterizes all of living and the Tao of marriage.

Systems thinking is relatively new in our culture. Give yourself time to understand it and how it applies to marriage and sex. It’s a new way of viewing marriage and sex, but it is the only way you will find super marital sex.

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Psoriasis is a miserable complaint because there is no cure and as it doesn’t kill anyone, it doesn’t have the “glamor” to attract money for research.

Few doctors see psoriasis as a challenge to their therapeutic skill and many leave their patients to their own devices, yet many people have turned away from life, hiding their skin and themselves from an insensitive world because of this disease.

Psoriasis is a skin disease of unknown cause. The fault appears to lie in the superficial skin cells which are produced too rapidly. The rash is usually dry, reddened and covered with silvery scales.

It is common on the extensor surfaces, such as the elbows and knees. It is also common on the lower back and can affect the hair and the nails and, sometimes, can affect the whole body. It may or may not itch.

Psoriasis usually starts in the teens or early 20s, but may appear for the first time in the elderly or it may develop in young children.

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These stronger cortisones, if used on the face may cause an acne-like rash around the mouth — peri-oral dermatitis — so the older hydrocortisone, which is weaker, is preferred for use on the face because it doesn’t have this side effect.

The pituitary gland at the base of the brain is the master gland producing hormones which stimulate the other endocrine glands to produce their own specific hormones.

A rise in the level of cortisone from taking tablets has a feed back or dampening effect on the pituitary. It produces less of its stimulating hormone and so normal production of cortisone from the adrenal is shut down. Cortisone is necessary to enable the body to deal with situations of stress.

Prolonged use of cortisone may upset this balance between the pituitary and the adrenal and so if the body is subject to stress, such as an operation, the adrenal may not have the capacity to produce hormones to deal with the stress.

After a prolonged course of cortisone, should an operation be required, a temporary cover of cortisone over one or two days may be necessary.

Short courses over one to two weeks can safely be stopped abruptly and the body rapidly regains its ability to produce the natural hormone.

Those on prolonged courses of cortisone should be given the smallest possible dose.

It has been suggested that if the total dose is given every second day in the morning this mimics the body’s natural morning surge of cortisone, and then on the second day, when it is not given, the body may produce its own.

Addison’s disease is failure of the adrenal gland — cortisone must then be taken for life.

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Respiratory infections: children suffer the same infective illnesses of the respiratory system as adults, but infecting agents which cause only a mild “cold” in an adult may cause a severe infection, like croup, in a child.

Aspirin and paracetamol may be used to reduce a fever, paracetamol being better-tolerated and less dangerous for infants under 18 months.

Decongestant drops might be necessary to reduce the nasal swelling before feeding infants on the breast or by the bottle. It is difficult for them to suck if they have to keep pausing to breathe through the mouth. Decongestants also can be taken by mouth.

Cough suppressants should be used cautiously for babies. They are either ineffective or, if they work, may suppress the cough reflex.

An adult can cough voluntarily, but a small child can cough only on reflex, that is, when a plug of mucus irritates the bronchi. If this reflex is impaired, the child might not cough up this material and it might block the bronchial tube and lead to collapse of a portion of lung.

CROUP: Croup is an infection of the larynx or vocal cords and may involve the trachea and bronchi as well.

It is usually caused by one of the para-influenza viruses or the respiratory syncytial virus, but also may be due to bacteria.

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Your practitioner will know where your particular type of cancer usually spreads. This is very important in working out what tests are needed and what types of treatment are likely to be best. With many types of cancer, the first secondary growths to develop tend to be located in the lymph nodes closest to the primary cancer. Examples include cancer of the breast, colon and tongue. Sometimes enlargement of these nodes is noticed by the patient before there is any sign of the primary cancer.

Other types of cancers tend to release cells into the bloodstream right from the start. These include some types of lung cancer and bone cancer. For each type of cancer there is a typical pattern for locations of secondary growths. Cancers spreading through the lymph system often form secondary growths in the nodes closest to the primary. Cancers spreading through the blood often form secondary growths in the lungs, liver and bones. Although, of course, the blood goes to every part of your body, for some reason the cancer cells are much more likely to lodge and form secondary growths in some organs than in others. Thus, for example, the lungs, liver and bones are common sites while the muscles, heart and intestines are not usually affected by secondary growths.

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Yes, in the sense that we all lose bone from about the age of 35 or so. As men start with much bigger, stronger bones than women, they are much less likely to get it, and so are women who have big bones. You are most at risk of developing osteoporosis if:

• you had a menopause (surgical or natural) before about the age of 40 or 45

• you have a medical condition that requires you to take cortico-steroids in high doses for several years

• you have had a Colles5 fracture of the wrist after the menopause, following a comparatively minor fall

• you have suffered from anorexia nervosa or bulimia

• you had amenorrhoea (absence of periods) for several years during your normal reproductive years

Other factors which increase your chance of getting osteoporosis are if:

• you are white or Asian

• you are small-boned, light in weight, and slender in build

• your mother, grandmothers or aunts had it

• you finished the menopause 10 or more years ago

• throughout most of your life you have eaten a diet low in calcium

However, people who don’t fall into any of these categories can get osteoporosis.

These are mostly things you can’t do anything about. There are some things you can do something about which contribute to osteoporosis:

• smoking (which lowers the natural level of oestrogen, and brings on the menopause up to five years earlier than it would otherwise have started)

• drinking large quantities of alcohol (which reduces the absorption of calcium from the digestive system, and slows down the activity of bone-forming osteoblasts)

• taking little or no weight-bearing exercise (bones get stronger when they are well used, and weaken when they are seldom used)

• dieting so severely that your periods (and thus your oestrogen production) stop

• continuing to have a diet low in calcium.

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Each year hundreds of thousands of women worldwide have their uterus surgically removed, many find the experience a landmark event. Some feel very positively about it, others have mixed feelings, and some experience intense regret. Deciding whether or not to have a hysterectomy and which type is most suitable can be difficult, especially when the views of trusted advisers are in conflict. In the case of Lisa, aged forty-two, friends, relatives, her partner and doctor held strong but differing opinions about the merits and drawbacks of the procedure. Some were enthusiastic about it, others thought there were other options, such as endometrial resection, that Lisa should investigate before agreeing to the removal of her uterus. Still others were adamant that hysterectomy was only to be considered in the most exceptional circumstances which, they assured Lisa, hers were not. She felt confused, a feeling made worse by criticism from her doctor that she was talking to too many people.

The distress of women who, like Lisa, are in the invidious position of having to decide whether to have a hysterectomy or find other ways of resolving their problems is evident. Even women who have an intimate acquaintance with the anatomy of the female pelvis can find the situation daunting. For example, when Sydney gynaecologist Caroline de Costa was contemplating a hysterectomy in 1992, she was nagged by fears right up to her arrival in the operating theatre.

The story told by de Costa, one of the few gynaecologists in Australia ever to have had a hysterectomy, reflects the anguish and ambivalence of many women contemplating the procedure. One of her fears was that she would feel enormous regret for the loss of her uterus and for her inability to bear any further children. She told herself this was ridiculous — at forty-five years of age and with seven children spaced over twenty-four years, why not put an end to the increasingly long, heavy and painful periods she was experiencing more and more often? De Costa also had a prolapsed uterus, had postponed her decision for several years and felt it was irrational to delay having the operation any longer. Another lingering concern was how she would actually feel, within her abdomen and pelvis, once her uterus was removed. ‘Perhaps there was something my patients hadn’t told me,’ she thought. ‘Perhaps I will feel a kind of black hole between my bladder and bowel.’

The experience of contemplating a hysterectomy over a long time, then going ahead with it, brought home to de Costa the emotional turmoil that many women in the same situation go through. It resulted in a change in the way in which she conducted her consultations. ‘I am certainly spending more time now in discussion with patients in an attempt to allay these fears,’ she said after making a full recovery and returning to her practice.

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Addiction means an increased tolerance of the body to the drug; hence a higher and higher dose is required to achieve the same drug effect. The body also becomes physically dependent on the drug to function effectively. If the drug is withdrawn suddenly, the body craves it, and the person experiences a whole range of psychological and physical symptoms. With benzodiazepine about 20 withdrawal symptoms have been described. These include tension, sweating, agitation, muscle ache, and irritability, but the most important is ‘rebound insomnia’.

Insomnia is a subjective feeling and is influenced by many factors. The main component of insomnia is the distress felt as a result of not being able to sleep. People who say they are suffering from insomnia may in fact be getting enough sleep. But why do these people say they are not sleeping? It is because of the distress they feel when they are not able to fall asleep when they want to. These people who get enough sleep biologically and yet complain of insomnia.

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Phobias arise through the individual’s anxiety becoming attached to the phobic situation. This is rather similar to the way in which anxiety may become focused on some particular organ of the body and produce symptoms in it. Thus anxiety focused on the heart produces palpitation; on the stomach, dyspepsia; or on the lungs, asthma. In the case of the phobias we can often see quite clearly how the anxiety became associated with the particular situation. A child, punished by being locked in the broom closet, may develop a phobia of being confined in a small space. In other cases the anxiety becomes attached to the phobic situation through the mechanism of symbolism. Thus snakes and, to a lesser extent, mice, may represent important sexual symbols to some people, and a phobia of these animals may be a symbolic expression of anxiety which is in fact sexual in origin. However, bringing the patient to understand the cause of his phobia does not in itself relieve the patient’s fear.

For instance, during the war in some bombers the rear gunners were locked into the tail gun turret by themselves. Many of these men subsequently developed a phobia of confined spaces. They would prefer to keep the door of the toilet slightly ajar. Of course, they knew the cause of their condition, but this did not stop the phobia.

We can use our relaxing mental exercises in three ways in the self-management of phobias. In the first place we practise our exercises when we are not in the phobic situation. Let us suppose that we have a phobia about going outside. We practise at home when there is no particular occasion for us to go outside. We do the exercises—very relaxed and letting ourselves

regress—and as we do so we think:

Relaxed.

Whole body relaxed.

Relaxed and calm and easy in myself.

Easy in myself.

Easy in myself wherever I go.

The exercise is repeated quietly and easily several times a day.

The second way of using the exercises is slightly different. As we relax we visualize ourselves at ease in the phobic situation. In our present example it means seeing ourselves in the street quite relaxed and comfortable. We do it very completely. As we relax we see ourselves; then as we relax more thoroughly, we see ourselves with greater and greater vividness. We are aware that we are calm and comfortable, and all the time that we visualize ourselves in this way, we are relaxed and at ease in ourselves.

Relaxed.

Utterly calm and easy.

See myself go out the door,

I am calm and easy.

Down the street.

I can see myself.

Calm and easy.

Nothing disturbs me.

In the third method we bring ourselves closer and closer to the centre of the phobic situation. We go to the door. As we do so, we pause and capture again the relaxed feeling in our mind which we experience during the exercises. We go outside, relaxed and easy, and then we return. We repeatedly venture to the edge of the phobic situation. If we experience the slightest feeling of anxiety, we consciously recapture the relaxed feeling of the exercises. We do it easily. There is no panic. We do it little by little, more and more each day. The secret is that we do not allow anxiety to develop. Because of this, the conditioning process allows us to go further each day. Soon we are rewarded by finding that we are at ease in the phobic situation. But remember that this takes time, and requires a good deal of self-discipline.

On the one hand, we must make ourselves do it; on the other hand, we must not push ourselves so far that we become anxious.

As you read this, you probably think, “I have done all this before and it has not helped me. In the past I have tried like mad, and disciplined myself, but I am still the same.” I must remind you again that the success of this approach depends entirely upon using the regression which comes with our relaxation. I believe that to overcome a phobia by self-discipline in cold blood is almost impossible. On the other hand, I do know for a fact that many people have overcome phobias when they have used the regressed state of mind to help them.

Mild phobias about moths are very common. They are usually not very severe, and are often regarded rather in the light of a slight idiosyncrasy and a matter for jest. However, an

eighteen-year-old girl was brought to me with a severe moth phobia. She was in fact terrified of moths. The phobia was so bad that it was ruining her life. She was refusing to go out at night for fear there might be a moth in one of the street lights or in any place of entertainment.

While I was talking to her, she suddenly thought that I might have a moth in the cigarette box on my desk. She screamed in real terror, sprang from her chair, and rushed to the far side of the room.

Because of her anxiety I had difficulty in showing her how to relax properly. However, she eventually mastered it. Then, when she was very relaxed I was able to show her a moth without it disturbing her. Soon she was able to take a moth in her hand. I don’t think she ever really lost her dislike of moths, but her phobia was relieved of all its previous intensity and she was able to resume a normal way of life.

A young professional man had a severe phobia about leaving his home. As long as he was at home and his wife was there with him, he was relatively free from anxiety. But each morning when leaving home and going to work he would be stricken with apprehension and panic. He would sweat, and would be nearly overcome by the pounding of his heart and the feeling of his stomach turning over. Once he reached his place of work, the acuteness of his anxiety would pass until it was time to return home. He had had a great deal of psychiatric treatment without help.

When I last saw him, he still had not gained complete peace of mind, but he had learned to manage the worst of his anxiety on his travels to and from his place of work.

A middle-aged housewife had become tense. As long as she remained at home she was relatively comfortable, and she had come to make excuses for not going out. The short trip to the shops to buy her household goods was becoming increasingly difficult. Sometimes she would stand petrified before bringing herself to enter a shop.

She learned to relax. Her general tension subsided, and she returned to doing her shopping without anxiety.

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First, all exercises should be planned in accordance with the individual needs and capabilities of the patient. No two cases are alike and, consequently, only a general outline of the program can be given here.

As was pointed out before, the body afflicted with arthritis usually suffers from poor circulation, stagnation, and sluggishness. Restoration of the proper circulation is, therefore, essential before the body can effectively accomplish its own healing task. The bloodstream carries fresh oxygen and nutritive elements to all the tissues and organs of the body. It also carries toxic waste materials from the tissues to the eliminative organs where they are expelled from the system. Thus, effective circulation is imperative for successful results in any program of treatment for arthritis.

There are many ways to stimulate circulation, such as massage, alternating hot and cold baths, dry brush massage, etc. But physical exercise in the fresh air is one of the most effective ways to rebuild circulation. For this reason outdoor walking is the most popular form of exercise in all biological clinics.

Of course we should not forget that often a patient is in such a weak condition that he is unable to take any walks. Also, if joints are badly inflamed and painful no exercises should be taken at all-such a patient needs rest more than exercises. But as soon as pain has subsided, immediately a gradually increasing program of exercises should be initiated.

Outside walking is the simplest and most effective way to assist your body’s healing and health restoring processes. It will stimulate your glands to secrete more hormones. It will accelerate your metabolism and digestion. It will saturate your blood and all the cells of the body with fresh oxygen. It will assist your eliminative organs in their detoxifying work through the lungs, skin, and intestines. Moreover, a walk in the fresh air, especially in the woods or some other beautiful natural surroundings, will put you in good spirits, stimulate your thinking, and make you feel happy and jubilant all over.

In addition to walking, various other exercises could be used, such as deep-breathing exercises, arm and leg exercises, etc. All this should be adjusted to the condition and ability of the patient. When any particular joint or part of the body is affected it should first be exercised very slowly and, as the movements become freer, the exercises could be gradually accelerated.

To summarize the answer to the question: What exercises are best for arthritis?, I must say that all specific exercises of various joints, limbs, and other parts of the body should be carefully planned in accordance with the needs of each individual case and preferably under expert supervision. However, of far greater importance to the recovery of the patient are various forms of “natural” exercise in fresh air: walking, riding bicycling, swimming, dancing, horse riding, playing games, or any kind of suitable outdoor work, such as gardening. I am a firm believer in natural exercises that give you the benefit of physical exertion without much will effort while simultaneously giving you emotional and spiritual stimulation and enjoyment.

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