News for April 2009
BETTER QUALITY SLEEP TO EASE AND PREVENT BACK TROUBLE: WHAT SLEEPING POSITIONS ARE BEST?
This is another one of those seemingly simple questions for which there’s no simple answer, especially when you consider that no matter what position you choose as you drift into sleep is not going to be maintained throughout the night as you move about.
However, while you have relatively little control over what positions your body will adopt of its own volition while you’re asleep, there are some things you can do that will help ensure that your back is going to derive the maximum benefit from your night’s rest. Here are some suggestions from the NBPA and other experts:
A good supportive pillow is important. Remember, that the main purpose of a pillow is to provide support for the neck rather than the head, and ideally your pillow should be such that it helps keep the neck vertebrae in a straight line with the vertebrae of the back. While most people do need a pillow, one that is too thick or too many of them can provoke neck pain.
If (as far as you know or from what your bed partner may have told you) you lie mostly on your back while you’re asleep, you may find that you get a better night’s rest by placing a pillow under your knees or supporting your legs from the knees down with cushions.
If you spend any time awake in bed, do change positions now and then.
Getting in and out of bed requires special care as it’s quite easy to set off back pain by doing this too hastily. The NBPA recommends: “When getting into bed, sit on the edge, lower your body onto the elbow and shoulder, draw up your knees until your feet are on the mattress, then roll your body over to face the ceiling. Reverse the procedure when getting out – and bend both knees.” Naturally, always move slowly and deliberately, and particularly so when getting up in the morning. Your back is often at its most vulnerable at that time because joints do tend to stiffen when they are not being used. While rest can help your spine in many ways, being mainly immobile while asleep can also leave it very stiff and perhaps painful when you wake.
*49\124\2*
Edited: April 29th, 2009
MAKING ST JOHN’S WORT PART OF AN ANTI-DEPRESSANT LIFESTYLE
Live in rooms full of light
Avoid heavy foods
Be moderate in the drinking of wine
Take massage, baths, exercise and gymnastics
Fight insomnia with gentle rocking or
the sound of running water
Change surroundings and take long journeys
Strictly avoid frightening ideas
Indulge in cheerful conversation and amusements
Listen to music
advice to melancholics -A. Cornelius Celsus, 1ST century ad
It is typical for us humans to expect everything to fly into our mouths without work, art, effort, grief and suffering. But all of this is not God’s way; rather, it is His will that we should work hard for our food and that we should want to support both ourselves and those around us.
Paracelsus, I493-I54I
There is an old joke about a bookseller who is trying to sell a book to a student. ‘It will do half your work for you,’ he claims. ‘Great,’ says the student. ‘I’ll buy two copies.’ It is only human for us to want to have all our work done for us or all our problems solved by a simple remedy such as a pill. The bad news – and, of course, it is not really news at all – is that wondrous though a pill may be, St John’s Wort included, it will not cure all that ails you. The good news is that there are so many ways to help yourself, many of them quite painless and even pleasurable, as the advice of A. Cornelius Celsus above would suggest. Celsus was the doctor to the Emperor Tiberius, a cruel, powerful and frightening man, and the gentleness of Celsus’ advice was perhaps as much politic as it was wise. Paracelsus, an outspoken man, fearless and impolitic in the conduct of his own life, had no qualms about expressing himself frankly. If you want your life to be better, you need to exert some effort to make it so. In my own dealings with depressed people I have found many ways in which modifying elements of one’s life can contribute enormously to an anti-depressant lifestyle that works beautifully in conjunction with anti-depressant medications, including St John’s Wort. In this chapter we will consider some of the many ways that you can help take control of your life and conquer your own depression.
*65\75\2*
Edited: April 29th, 2009
WHAT IS EPILEPSY? THE DEFINITION OF AN EPILEPTIC SEIZURE AND DOES EPILEPSY STOP?
In someone with established epilepsy, the EEG between seizures may also show abnormal discharges which are not apparent to the doctor in terms of observed behaviour, nor are they associated with any change perceived by the person with epilepsy. Although the abnormal discharges of the EEG are clearly a fragment, as it were, of a seizure, they are not usually regarded as seizures. Our definition of an epileptic seizure, therefore, is a paroxysmal discharge of cerebral nerve cells apparent to the person and/or an observer.
Anything which increases the excitability of a group of nerve cells may cause a paroxysmal discharge. For example certain gases or chemicals, developed for use in war, are designed to cause disabling seizures amongst the enemy.
Does epilepsy stop? There is one encouraging point that all those with epilepsy must remember—the number of people who have epilepsy at any one time is much less than those who have had epilepsy in the past. An approximate estimate of the average duration of epilepsy can be obtained by dividing the average prevalence by the average annual incidence. This gives a figure of about 11 years. However artificial this figure may be, it underlines the point that epilepsy can and does usually stop. A great number of people with epilepsy fare better.
*4\188\2*
Edited: April 28th, 2009
SKIN PROBLEMS: CREEPING ERUPTION
Creeping eruption is the intensely itching skin disease caused by tiny parasitic worms (the larvae of insects) crawling around just under the surface of the skin. Wandering aimlessly, the larvae move about one inch daily, leaving irregular, red, slightly raised tracks in the skin rather like miniature mole tunnels.
Also known as Cutaneous Larva Migrans, this condition occurs when human skin is parasitized by the eggs of worms that normally infest other species (e.g: dog, cat, or cattle hookworms), the American Family Physician (35#6:163) reports. The same sort of situation arises when horse flies or deer flies lay eggs in human skin, but the resulting maggots that hatch and live there are much larger and cause “hot spot” lesions that resemble boils.
Larvae remain trapped under the surface of our skin only if their species are not adapted to ours. When “human” hookworms get into us, however, the larvae not only causes redness and irritation at the site of entry through the skin, but they soon move on through the bloodstream to the lungs (temporarily producing cough and bloody sputum) to settle ultimately in our intestines. There they develop into adult worms that cause us to bleed internally and become anemic. Only when parasites are in the wrong species are they unable to migrate and to complete their life cycles.
Fortunately, when any of these conditions is recognized, it can be cured with appropriate medications. The moral of this story, then, is to visit a dermatologist without delay if creams do not quickly take care of itchy red lesions of the skin.
*194\143\2*
Edited: April 28th, 2009
HERPES SIMPLEX IN CHILDREN: SYMPTOMS, HOME CARE AND TREATMENT
Signs and symptoms
Oral herpes (type 1 infection) causes multiple ulcers of the membranes of the mouth (lips, cheeks, tongue, and palate) or the eyeballs. The ulcers are painful and are accompanied by painful, red, swollen gums and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. The child’s fever may climb to 40.6°C. The canker sores have a distinctive appearance and are easily distinguished from other mouth sores such as gumboils. Canker sores are open, red ulcers which have a scooped-out appearance, unlike gumboils which protrude above the surface of the membranes. When oral herpes appears as fever blisters, the blisters can be mistaken for impetigo. Fever blisters, however, are usually more painful. To confuse the diagnosis, fever blisters may become further infected with impetigo.
Oral herpes lasts seven to ten days, but the virus remains in the body and may cause recurrent outbreaks. This recurrent condition is contagious each time it appears.
Genital herpes (type 2 infection) causes painful ulcers and blisters on the genitals. Like oral herpes, genital herpes is contagious when the blisters are present and often recurrent.
Home care
For oral herpes, give aspirin or paracetamol to relieve pain. Have the child eat bland, soothing foods such as ice cream, gelatin desserts, puddings, and milk. Encourage an older child to rinse the mouth with a mild table salt solution. Canker sores can be treated in older children with triamcinolone in dental ointment form, or with thick solutions of local anesthetic available from the pharmacy. Antibiotic ointment applied to fever blisters may prevent painful cracking and lessen the chances of impetigo developing. For genital herpes, warm soaks help relieve inflammation and pain. There is a drug that has been used by adults to lessen the recurring attacks, but this drug has not been tested in children.
• Herpes simplex of the eyeball is serious and requires the immediate attention of an eye doctor.
• Herpes can be severe in an infant. Adults or children with herpes should be kept away from the baby. If a baby contracts herpes, consult a doctor.
• There is no cure for recurrent herpes.
Medical treatment
The doctor will probably prescribe eye drops to treat herpes of the eyeball. An experimental drug, Cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) is available to treat life-threatening complications of herpes, such as may occur in infants. If a child with herpes has a severely ulcerated mouth, hospitalization may be necessary for intravenous fluids to be given until the child can swallow normally again.
A Caesarean section (delivery by surgery) may be performed in the case of a pregnant woman who has genital herpes and whose baby might be exposed to the disease during a normal delivery.
*111/84/5*
Edited: April 28th, 2009
SOLUTIONS TO INFERTILITY: HORMONES AND BLOOD SUGAR
The key to the link between excess weight and reduced fertility lies in the way your blood sugar levels (which are controlled by your diet and eating habits) affect your hormonal cycle. If the first is not in balance, then your hormones (which control your fertility) may not work properly either.
This link was recognized by Dr Katharine Dalton, a pioneer in the treatment of pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), who discovered that her patients’ PMS symptoms were relieved by eating regularly. The ‘little and often’ approach to eating prevents the blood sugar levels from dropping excessively and stops adrenalin from being released. What Dr Dalton discovered was that this adrenalin blocked the utilization (or uptake) of progesterone in the second half of the menstrual cycle. This problem, ultimately due to poor eating habits, was causing the symptoms of PMS. The answer was to stabilize blood sugar levels by getting patients to eat properly and stop the adrenaline interfering with the progesterone.
Interestingly, when women with PMS are tested, their blood hormone levels, including progesterone, are no different from those of women without PMS. The difference is not that PMS sufferers have low progesterone levels but that, because of their low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia), their bodies cannot use the progesterone they have.
This discovery has huge implications for fertility and miscarriage problems. If progesterone is blocked in this way it reduces the chances of maintaining a pregnancy, since, this hormone is needed to maintain the womb lining at the very start of a pregnancy. Many women who think they are infertile may therefore actually get pregnant without knowing but lose the embryo early on because their bodies cannot use the progesterone they have. In such cases they may believe they are just having a normal period.
There is also a clear and well-established link between blood sugar balance problems such as diabetes, poor eating habits and excess weight. If you are not eating properly your blood sugar levels can zoom up and down chaotically. Not only can this have the hormonal effect observed by Dr Dalton but it may also spark off the sugar cravings, food obsessions and bingeing habits that make us eat even more of the wrong food and put on even more weight. So it is a vicious circle.
*34/73/5*
Edited: April 23rd, 2009
POSTWAR TRAUMA: SYSTEM OVERLOAD
William Tecumseh Sherman, the Civil War Union general famous for burning Atlanta during his “march to the sea” in 1864, first spoke those infamous words in 1879. Since that day, 618,582 U.S. soldiers have met their maker on the bloody battlefields of war. And that’s only half the story. The hell that lives on in the heads of those who make it out of war alive can be comparable to the conflict itself.
In the final analysis, it seems that if you’re going to make it through war, you have to survive on two fronts: one, the physical battle of combat itself, and two, battling the memories and mental anguish that follow.
We’re not here to tell you how to survive a war if, God forbid, we should have another one. That’s a job for the drill sergeants and medics. We’re here to give you the experts’ advice on how to survive after a war (or for that matter, any long-term life-threatening trauma) and how to live with the memories that can torment for decades after the last bomb has dropped.
Even if you’ve made it home safe and seemingly sound, you may find yourself waging a whole new war- only this time the enemy is you. As one anonymous Vietnam vet puts it, “My marriage is falling apart…. I really don’t have any friends….
I usually feel depressed…. Crowds bother me, so I stay out of malls. And I can’t go to the movies either…. Loud noises irritate me, and sudden movements or noises make me jump and reach for a weapon…. Most of the time I feel like a walking time bomb just looking for a place where I can go off. What the f*** is wrong with me?”
The answer, says Jack Weber, team leader and readjustment counselor at the Vet Center in Evansville, Indiana, is nothing. “That is a perfectly natural response to an absolutely unnatural situation,” he says. “It’s what we used to call shell shock during World War I and battle fatigue during World War II. Today, we know it as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and it’s a problem that lingers years, often decades, after a soldier comes home.
What happens is that you go through something so horrible and stressful that you disassociate from it, as though it were happening to someone else, says Sylvia Mendel, a trauma consultant in private practice in New York City.
“That’s why war victims sound like they’re reading from a script when they talk about combat,” adds Weber. “Combat also brings your physical stress response to the point of fatigue. You lose your stress response like you would an arm or a leg, and you just can’t tolerate stress anymore,” Weber says.
As a result, when you return to “normal” conditions, you can’t adjust. “Most often, you can no longer get close to people,” says Weber. “It’s like if you took all of your friends, and each day you lost one. You’d stop having friends. That’s what they do.”
Veterans often respond suddenly, and often extremely, to what are called triggers-sights, sounds, or smells that remind them of the war. “It could be something obvious like the sound of a plane or a helicopter, or something subtle like the smell of gasoline,” says Mendel.
“Sometimes the worst thing is the relentless nightmares,” notes Weber.
*122/36/5*
Edited: April 23rd, 2009
ARTHRITIS: ABOUT SIDE-EFFECTS OF MUSSEL EXTRACT TREATMENT
No adverse side-effects have been recorded in the research and studies carried out during the practical application of mussel extract capsules over the past few years. During this time hundreds of animals and thousands of people have been treated with the product.
One small factor that should be cleared up at this point is the statement so often heard, ‘Oh, it must be safe because it’s natural!’ This is, of course, not true at all! Just because something is natural does not mean either that it is ’safe’ or that it will not have adverse side-effects if taken as a food or a medication. Some of the most powerful poisons known are perfectly natural, and some of the most powerful activities come from aquatic organisms.
Thus it is not being suggested that the reason that the extract from the Green-Lipped Mussel is safe and does not have adverse side-effects is simply because it is of natural origin. The fact that the extract is of natural origin is, however, considered to have a very strong bearing on its effective action in relieving rheumatic and arthritic symptoms.
The sort of side-effects which can be experienced with orthodox drug therapy as used in the treatment of arthritis are gastric ulceration, hemorrhage, liver and kidney malfunctions, impaired hearing and vision, skin disorders and loss or premature greying of hair. The mussel extract treatment does not give any of these types of side-effects, which is a tremendous boost to its value in therapy.
It is fair to comment, however, that effects which might be described as unpleasant have occurred, though they have been associated mostly with an allergy and have been temporary. Some people, with an allergy to shellfish, have reported nausea, dizziness and even skin rash when they have taken mussel extract capsules. Upon ceasing to taken them, the condition has rapidly disappeared.
There have also been reports of some indigestion, diarrhea or constipation caused by the capsules, but such reports have been from relatively few people and the condition has been temporary. Serious side-effects have been absent with this substance which, as has already been said, gives it a considerable advantage over the orthodox drug treatments.
*17/48/5*
Edited: April 23rd, 2009
EATING DISORDERS: PRACTICAL TIPS ON HOW TO INTERVENE
Plan your strategy: Think about who should approach your daughter. The mother alone? The father? Both? Whatever your plan, be sure you present a strong, unified front.
Get your facts straight: Be sure your daughter does indeed have an eating disorder, and isn’t just spending too much time in the bathroom combing her hair. If you have doubts, bring them up in a nonjudgmental way. Keep at it until you are satisfied that your daughter is not endangering herself.
Know the problem: Bone up on the subject. Become as well informed as your daughter is.
Know the solution: Find out about treatment facilities in your area and meet with caregivers. If you don’t like their approach, keep hunting. A list of resources appears on page 216.
Choose your words: Think about what you will say. Rehearse it. Imagine the conversation and prepare answers to any objections.
Set the stage: Decide when and where to confront her. Don’t act on impulse. Wait for a moment of calm, a time free from distractions-not, for example, ten minutes before Thanksgiving dinner.
Plunge in: Once you’ve made your plan, stick to it. Every day you delay, the disorder gets worse.
Show your concern: Make it clear how you feel. Tell your daughter you love her but are concerned. Tell her she needs help, and why. If she says, “There’s no problem,” you can say, “I don’t accept that. I’m worried, and I just can’t look the other way when I see that you are hurting yourself.”
Make “I” contact: Focus on how the problem affects you personally. Say, “I notice that you spend a lot of money on food,” or, “I’ve heard you vomiting after dinner, and I feel very concerned.” Show her how you feel. Doing so, rather than telling your daughter that she is “weak” or “bad,” can reduce her tendency to be defensive.
State the goal: Your goal is to get help; stay focused on this goal. Tell her, “I have looked into it and I know help is available. If you’ll see an expert, I’ll do everything I can to support you.” No matter how carefully you word it, however, an anorexic child will probably think you just want to make her fat. Reassure her that the goal is to overcome her fear of fatness and help her cope with difficult feelings.
Don’t criticize: Avoid commenting on her appearance. You may think you are making helpful statements, but she may take them as criticisms. For example, when you say, “You’re looking healthier,” she may interpret your remark as, “You’re getting fatter.”
Listen!: Listening is hard work. Your feelings may be so strong that you have to resist the temptation to interrupt or make judgments.
Acknowledge her fears: For her, gaining weight may be scarier than dying. She may be terrified of being cooped up in a hospital or of being force-fed. Don’t say, “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Better to say, “I understand how you feel. A counselor can help you conquer those fears.” Denying her feelings is something she does too much of already.
Be realistic: Treatment won’t necessarily cure the disorder. It can teach other ways to think and behave. “Cure” comes as the patient applies those methods over time in different situations. Also, some anorexics fantasize that they can eliminate symptoms without restoring weight. Not true.
Keep plugging: You may not succeed at first. Be patient. Don’t let the subject drop. If you keep at it, you add to your chances for success. Sometimes the danger to your daughter may warrant taking increasingly serious steps. Cut off her allowance; ground her; keep her home from school. If this doesn’t work, you may find it helpful to get professional guidance to develop another strategy.
Stop “enabling”: If you’re not helping your daughter, then you are enabling her to get worse. Shift the responsibility to her. If she binges, she must replace that food. Make her pay for it, too. If she makes a mess of the bathroom, she must clean it up.
Make yourself available: Make sure she knows you are there to help. Open the lines of communication-not just about her disorder, but about anything that concerns her. Tell her, “I know you’re going through a hard time, I’m here for you, I want to help.” Of course, families who aren’t very supportive can’t change overnight. They may need therapy themselves. But it’s worth the effort.
*51/35/5*
Edited: April 23rd, 2009
GET YOUR BODY MOVING: A FRIENDLY NUDGE GAVE HER STRENGTH
When Lynn Oatman sits down in her swivel rocking chair to watch television after a long day of work, she doesn’t stop moving.
Instead, the 48-year-old Liverpool, New York, woman picks up a pair of 3-pound hand weights and starts pumping. For about a half-hour during her TV time each night, she hoists the weights up and down behind her head to exercise her triceps, then curls them forward toward her chest to work her biceps.
Because she has filled her days with healthy lifestyle choices like this, Lynn has shed 60 pounds in 2 years, dropping from a size 24 to a size 14.
Back when Lynn weighed about 240 pounds, she was growing frustrated over her failed attempts to slim down. One evening over dinner, two friends told her that they’d noticed her unhappiness. Along with their candid observation, they gave her a 10-week membership in a weight-loss group. It helped spark a change in her life.
Through the weight-loss group, Lynn learned how to eat healthier. Her portion sizes got smaller, and her food choices shifted toward fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. “But I don’t exclude any foods,” she says. “That only leads to bingeing.”
For exercise, Lynn joined a fitness program sponsored by the university where she worked. The program’s instructors advised Lynn to start doing aerobic exercise. Now each morning, before she heads to her job as a secretary in the university’s law school, she works out for 1 hour and 15 minutes in the university’s gym. Most of her time is spent on a rowing machine and elliptical stepper, though she lifts weights, too.
“I’ve gone from somebody who could barely lift a 10-pound bag of potatoes to somebody who can bench-press 75 pounds five times,” she says. “It makes me feel powerful, and it’s the first time in my life that I’ve really felt physically powerful.”
WINNING ACTION
Turn your easy chair into a workout space. Keep a pair of small hand weights near the chair, couch, or other spot where you relax in the evening. As you unwind from your day, you can squeeze in more exercise while in a comfortable place. And keeping the weights there will serve as a reminder of your new, healthy lifestyle.
*105\89\8*
Edited: April 23rd, 2009