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NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS OF APPETITE CONTROL
The concept of the satiety cascade implies that the effect of any given food will depend on its own unique nutrient composition. This poses a number of questions;
• how do the different nutrients in food contribute to satiation and satiety by suppressing hunger?
• will the suppression of hunger reduce energy intake or cause a compensatory increase at meals eaten later?
• do different nutrients affect fat loss or gain?
Keep in mind that many of our ideas about the nutritional aspects of appetite control come from studies on laboratory rats. These can be far removed from the real world of takeaway pizza, so we need to be cautious when extrapolating these animal findings to humans.
Unlike excess dietary fat intake, which has a clearer relationship to gains in body fat, the various factors that influence appetite may vary greatly between individuals. Let’s look at the evidence for different nutrients.
Myth-information. Meal replacement biscuits are generally high in energy and fat. They would only work if they could control the intake of food later in the day—and they don’t!
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Posted: May 8th, 2009 under Weight Loss - No Comments.
FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS IN CASE OF ENDOMETRIOSIS: FRUSTRATION
Before you were diagnosed many questions no doubt regularly crossed your mind, including:
Am I neurotic
Are these symptoms all in my head
Is there anything really wrong with me
Do I have a low pain threshold
Why am I unable to cope with period pain when my friends have no trouble
Why do I have to spend so much time laid up in bed suffering
Will I have to suffer and tolerate this period pain until I reach menopause.
These questions probably bring a wry smile now, but when we consider the difficulty many women with endometriosis had in getting a doctor to acknowledge that something was really wrong, it can be seen that pre-diagnosis is an extremely difficult and emotional time.
Those suffering dyspareunia often ask what causes them to have pain during intercourse. Those who are infertile cannot understand why they cannot get pregnant.
It is common to feel frustrated with your partner, family and friends before endometriosis has been diagnosed because you are unable to tell them what is wrong with you, why you are in so much pain, why you are feeling tired and depressed.
Some women are in pain for just a few days each month and look perfectly well for the rest of the time, and it can be difficult for those close to you to accept that there is something wrong. They may not take your pain seriously or may misinterpret your inability to take part in social gatherings and leisure activities, labelling you as lazy or trying to opt out. Sometimes your pain may have been interpreted as a quest to get sympathy and attention. Some may have accused you of being lazy because your pain has rendered you tired and incapable of doing your usual daily chores.
Students have found that they have been accused of trying to get out of school work, study or exams. Few of us have been lucky enough to escape those days when the pain has disrupted time at work, school or home. Unfortunately, teachers, employers and partners may not be sympathetic to your illness and you feel frustrated and isolated.
There are also times when doctors have frustrated us because they have refused to take our symptoms seriously by saying: ‘It’s a woman’s lot’ or ‘You’ll just have to learn to live with the pain’ or ‘It will get better once you have a baby\ Then there is always: ‘You won’t have any more period pain once you reach menopause’. Not reassuring news!
None of these quotes will be of any comfort to those wanting an answer to a problem that could well plague them for their reproductive years.
Partners too can be frustrating at times. Even those who are understanding and have the best of intentions can drop the odd stinging remark here and there. Some ask if you really love them because you have refused intercourse — yet again — because you are simply in too much pain. Or perhaps you are not in pain and would like to keep it that way for at least one night!
For those women who already have children, endometriosis can put a strain on their relationship. No child likes to see its mother unwell and in pain. For younger children it is difficult to understand why mummy is grumpy and moody; for the older ones it can be annoying when mum is out of action and not available to tend to their needs.
It is important that you continue to seek a correct diagnosis. You know your own body, and you are the best person to recognise if there is something wrong. Do not be fobbed off. Try not to be discouraged. Keep searching and exploring until you have an answer.
And if that means that you have to insist on investigations and tests to reveal the problem, insist!
You must remember that severe period pain, painful intercourse, backache and heavy bleeding are not normal. You do not have to put up with it.
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Posted: May 8th, 2009 under Women's Health - No Comments.
HOW IS ENDOMETRIOSIS DIAGNOSED: CA-125
CA-125 is a substance known as cancer antigen 125 which is produced by the endometrium and is found in the blood. It was discovered while researchers were trying to find a test for ovarian cancer.
Researchers found although it was present in extremely high levels in some women with ovarian cancer, raised levels were also found in some women with a range of gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis, adenomyosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, unexplained infertility and during pregnancy and menstruation. In an attempt to find a reliable blood test for endometriosis researchers have been investigating the levels of CA-125 in women with endometriosis. They have found that the levels in women with minimal and mild endometriosis are no different to those found in women in general but the levels in women with moderate and severe endometriosis are generally significantly higher.
Unfortunately, the CA-12 5 test is not yet sufficiently accurate to replace laparoscopy as a general test for the diagnosis of endometriosis because the levels are not raised in all women with endometriosis and because the levels are raised in a range of conditions other than endometriosis.
For now, the most useful role of the CA-125 test appears to be in monitoring the progress of the disease after a definite diagnosis has been made. The levels of CA-125 appear to rise as the disease worsens and fall as the disease improves. Therefore, it may be possible to use repeated CA-125 tests to help determine the real effectiveness of drug treatment or to determine whether or not the underlying disease has worsened, improved or recurred, thereby avoiding the need for repeat laparoscopies.
The CA-125 test offers the most promise as a diagnostic test for endometriosis but further work is necessary before it will be accurate and reliable enough to be used by gynaecologists for the diagnosis and monitoring of endometriosis.
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Posted: May 8th, 2009 under Women's Health - No Comments.
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.
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Posted: April 29th, 2009 under Pain Relief-Muscle Relaxers - No Comments.
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.
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Posted: April 29th, 2009 under Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid - No Comments.
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.
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Posted: April 28th, 2009 under Epilepsy - No Comments.
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.
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Posted: April 28th, 2009 under General health - No Comments.
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.
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Posted: April 28th, 2009 under General health - No Comments.
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.
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Posted: April 23rd, 2009 under Women's Health - No Comments.
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.
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Posted: April 23rd, 2009 under General health - No Comments.