Welcome to The blog is about health and gives useful information on health and disease.
Add a few paragraphs about your company's products and services here.
You can change this introductory text by editing "home.php", or simply delete that file and then either set a static page, or show your latest news on your homepage.
Latest News
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*
Posted: April 28th, 2009 under General health - No Comments. Tags: General health
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*
Posted: April 23rd, 2009 under Women's Health - No Comments. Tags: Women’s Health
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*
Posted: April 23rd, 2009 under General health - No Comments. Tags: General health
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*
Posted: April 23rd, 2009 under Arthritis - No Comments. Tags: Arthritis
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*
Posted: April 23rd, 2009 under Weight Loss - No Comments. Tags: Weight Loss
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*
Posted: April 23rd, 2009 under Weight Loss - No Comments. Tags: Weight Loss
MELDING MIND AND BODY: NOW IT’S UP TO YOU
When the examination is complete and all the impressions and data have been collected and evaluated, I sit down with a patient to begin summing up. The patient is given copies of my findings and impressions, test results and other information. We review the material, and I explain the various options or programs I have worked out to enhance their health. We meet again to review their progress and fine-tune their health program, if necessary. My friends, you’re at the same point as my patients: you’re at a crucial turning point in your life. You’ve learned about your “doctor within,” the immune system, Super Foods, affirmations, stress handling, “wogging” and more. You’ve digested the ins and outs of the Immune For Life program. I’ve given you the information: the rest is up to you.
I could write a library of books on the immune system and the “doctor within.” But all the words, arguments, principles, lists and diagrams in the world won’t do a bit of good until you decide to take the steps necessary to protect and strengthen your “doctor within.” I’ve given you the pieces; it’s up to you to assemble them into a beautiful picture of lifelong health and happiness.
Yes, you may have to make many changes in your diet, your outlook on life, your exercise habits and so on, and that can be intimidating. I tell my patients to take it one day at a time. For example, every time you sit down to eat, think about how food helps or hurts you. Are there Super Foods on your plate? Which items should be removed from your diet? Which healthy foods can you eat instead? When you feel yourself becoming angry, ask yourself if this blowup is absolutely necessary for your safety and well-being. Review your progress before going to bed at night. Have you improved your diet? Are you becoming more of a stress handler? Did you exercise vigorously today? If you’ve made strides today, pat yourself on the back. If not, don’t get upset. Remind yourself that the changes I’m advising you to make are vital, and think of ways to make tomorrow a positive day for your health and happiness.
*153\80\8*
Posted: April 21st, 2009 under General health - No Comments. Tags: General health
EXERCISING YOUR IMMUNE: FROM GRUMBLER TO ENTHUSIAST
Mr. Green learned how beneficial walking can be when he flew in from Georgia for evaluation and treatment. He was suffering from heart trouble, weakness, fatigue, depression and general aches and pains. Since it would take about two weeks to give him a very thorough examination and design and implement a program for him, he and his wife checked into the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, a few blocks away from my office.
The first time he came to my office he leaned heavily on his cane, grumbling about having to “walk so far from the parking lot” next door. I examined him and determined that walking would be safe and beneficial. He laughed. “Walk? I can’t walk from my bed to the bathroom!”
I put my foot down, figuratively speaking, and insisted that he walk from my office to the corner and back before he got in his car—a distance of about 50 yards. It took five minutes and a great deal of effort to cover the short distance, but he finally made it.
“I’ll do it again tomorrow,” he grumbled to me as he and his wife got into their rented car and drove off.
I don’t know why he walked to the corner and back again the next day; he seemed to hate making the effort. But he did it, twice. The following day he insisted I join him for a walk around the block during lunch. “I practiced last night,” he said with a grin. As we walked, I noticed he was leaning on his cane only lightly.
Mr. Green became quite enthusiastic about his walking. He wound up staying a full month at the Beverly Wilshire, coming to my office every day so I could monitor his progress and we could walk together. Soon he was taking four walks a day. As he shifted away from the Standard American Diet to one based on Super Foods, and continued to exercise, he began to feel increasingly better.
The Super Foods were very important, of course, but I think that exercise was the most important part of his treatment program; not because exercise is more important than diet, but because he was a businessman who liked to deal with things he could measure, and walking was a measureable and tangible achievement for him. Every day he told me proudly how many blocks he had walked the day before and what the running total was. By the end of the month he was able to walk 20 minutes without stopping, and without his cane. Before he left, he told me that learning that he could walk again had convinced him that he wasn’t a helpless old man.
I hear from Mr. Green occasionally. He now walks briskly for 25 minutes every morning. “Just like the doctor ordered,” he says.
*111\80\8*
Posted: April 21st, 2009 under General health - No Comments. Tags: General health
IMMUNE FOR HEALTH: SALADS
A salad is anything you want it to be. I’ve been served salads that consisted of 10 or 12 different sliced and chopped vegetables on a bed of spinach and lettuce. I’ve also eaten salads that were nothing more than a few slices of cucumber, one cherry tomato and a piece of iceberg lettuce.
I tell my patients to include at least four or five different kinds of vegetables in their salads. Which? My favorites are carrots, broccoli, cabbage, parsley, tomatoes, spinach, kale, collards, beet greens and onions. There’s also lettuce, cauliflower, jicama, mushrooms, cucumbers, celery, red and green peppers, okra, squash, radishes, sprouted peas, sprouted beans and sprouted lentils.
You can prepare the vegetables any way you like, from chopping them into big pieces to shredding them in a food processor. What do you top a salad with? Raisins, a few sunflower seeds or nuts, lemon juice or other fruit juice. But don’t ruin a healthy salad by covering it with fatty, sugary or oily dressings—that defeats the purpose. Special low-fat, low-sugar dressings are OK. Vinegar is also fine, if it’s not mixed with oil.
Fruit salads are mixtures of fresh fruits. You can eat a fruit salad as is, or with raisins or perhaps a few sunflower seeds. I like to chop up the fruit and mix it with low-fat cottage cheese, nonfat, plain yogurt, or Fairfax Hoop Dressing (see page 83).
With these notes on salads in mind, here are some salad recipes:
DR. FOX’S SUPER SALAD
1 2-inch wide slice of cabbage
2 leaves collards, large 1/3 cucumber, medium size
10 string beans 1/3 sweet red pepper
2 carrots, medium size 1/4 onion, white or purple, medium size
1 clove garlic
2 tsps. sunflower seeds
white pepper cumin
2 ozs. tuna, packed in water vinegar
This recipe requires a food processor. Wash all vegetables. Slice the ends off string beans. Crush garlic clove. Using shredding blade, shred all vegetables and garlic in food processor. Add sunflower seeds and toss. Add cumin and white pepper to taste. Break tuna into small flakes and sprinkle over the salad. Add vinegar to taste, and serve.
Try making this salad in different ways. Sometimes I use pineapple chunks instead of tuna and pineapple juice instead of vinegar. Or, try it with a tablespoon of low-fat cottage cheese instead of tuna.
Serves 2.
*68\80\8*
Posted: April 21st, 2009 under General health - No Comments. Tags: General health
ANTIAGING WITH IMMUNE FOR LIFE
According to the Scriptures, “Moses was 120 years. His vision was undimmed, and his natural powers were unabated. And Moses died.”
Moses lived young and strong to a very old age. He didn’t have a heart attack in his 50′s, nor did he suffer a stroke or any of the other problems that afflict and kill us so early in life. His supercharged “doctor within” kept him going strong until the end. That’s the way it should be for all of us. And that’s the way it can be!
In many ways, the Immune For Life program is an antiaging blueprint. It helps delay some of the ravages of aging, such as loss of eyesight and hearing, bent posture, arthritis and other ills associated with growing old. One of the most common causes of blindness is arteriosclerosis, a condition in which the tiny blood vessels feeding the eyes are blocked. And by the age of 50, most Americans have some type of demonstrable hearing loss, due to the clogging of tiny arteries in the ears. Adopting the Immune For Life program will help keep your arteries wide open, thus preventing this type of vision and hearing loss. Depression, arthritis and other signs and symptoms of aging can be slowed or prevented.
The Roman orator Cicero said: “Old age must be resisted and its deficiencies supplied.” The Immune For Life program is a big step in the direction of supplying the deficiencies and resisting the ravages of aging.
As far as we know, humans can live to a maximum of 115 or 120 years. The average American, however, lives for only about 70 years, and many of those years are miserable, filled with discomfort, disease, depression and fear. My goal is for us to live not only as long as possible but, even more importantly, as healthy as possible.
Our medical system tells us that it can cure many diseases, and it can. But I say it’s better not to get sick in the first place. Prevention is the real cure! It’s about time the medical establishment realized that there is no better therapy than staying healthy. Don’t let yourself get to the point where you need coronary artery bypass surgery, chemotherapy, kidney dialysis and all the rest. Concentrate on strengthening your “doctor within,” and health, happiness and longevity can really be yours.
Moses said: “I set before you blessing and curse, life and death. Therefore, choose life.” My friends, the choice is yours. I want all of you to choose life, good health and happiness. Be Immune For Life.
*24\80\8*
Posted: April 21st, 2009 under General health - No Comments. Tags: General health