Ишемическая болезнь сердца-Ischemic heart disease

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Tonsillitis refers to inflammation of the tonsils, and is part of the spectrum of upper respiratory tract infections in children.

Cause

Tonsillitis is caused most often by one of the common viruses, but sometimes it can be caused by a germ (bacterium). It is often impossible to distinguish between viral and bacterial infection. For this reason, many doctors will treat tonsillitis with a course of antibiotics, or even an injection.

Clinical features

The child will complain of a sore throat and sometimes of difficulty in swallowing. There may be a fever and the glands in the neck may be enlarged and tender. Very often he will have a headache, a runny nose and many of the symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection as described above. The symptoms usually improve after a few days and disappear within a week.

Sometimes the doctor may order a throat swab to determine whether a virus or bacterium is causing the infection, and occasionally a blood test may be helpful. No other tests are generally useful or indicated.

Treatment

If the infection is a viral one, no specific treatment is necessary. However, it is often difficult clinically to distinguish between an infection caused by a virus and one due to a germ, so the doctor will often prescribe a course of antibiotics. This is given in the form of a mixture, tablets or capsules to be taken by mouth. Very occasionally, if the child is sick or has difficulty swallowing, the antibiotics are given by injection, but this is not usually necessary.

General treatment is similar to that suggested for a cold. Gargling with warm salt water may ease a sore throat, as will frequent warm drinks and lozenges. Specific food (e.g. ice cream and jelly) has no proven value, except that the child enjoys it.

When to see your doctor

See upper respiratory tract infection (colds).

Prevention

There is no effective way to prevent tonsillitis.

*226\90\8*

A baby born before 37 weeks of pregnancy is called a pre-term infant.

Cause

The causes of most premature deliveries are unknown but certain conditions are associated with early labour. Malformations of the womb, an incompetent cervix, early breaking of the waters (premature rupture of membranes), multiple pregnancy (e.g. twins), and maternal diabetes or an acute illness in the mother, are all more likely to result in premature labour.

Clinical features

Premature babies are generally immature. They are smaller than full-term babies and usually require special care. Tiny babies may need intensive care. In general, premature babies are more prone to develop breathing problems, cardiovascular problems, anaemia, jaundice, feeding problems, low levels of calcium and glucose, hypothermia (low body temperature), and infection due to an immature immune system. With new sophisticated techniques available to highly skilled paediatric staff, most premature babies do very well nowadays, and do not suffer any long-term consequences. If your premature baby is at major risk of developing complications, he will usually be transferred to a hospital that has a neonatal intensive care nursery.

Nerve damage

If a nerve has been stretched during the baby’s passage through the birth canal, it may result in temporary weakness of certain muscles. This is more common in breech deliveries or if your pelvis is small and the baby is large. If the baby has been delivered by forceps, damage may have occurred to a nerve supplying one side of the face. The baby may not be able to move one side of the face very well. This usually improves without treatment after several weeks.

*59\90\8*

“I can’t help feeling that I am doing something wrong when I have sex. Years of upbringing can’t be overcome. I’m still a Catholic boy at heart.”

ANSWER: There is no need to overcome those important years. The idea is to incorporate your feelings and memories and values from those years into your sexual life. If this seems almost impossible, I suggest you consult a clergyperson. Examination of belief and value systems is a key part of developing super marital sex for all couples, so your orientation gives you a head start here. The challenge will be in learning a new sexuality that is comfortable and nonoffensive to you both. I can assure you that in the years I have been doing therapy, I have never encountered a religious system that prohibits sensitive, caring intimacy between married people. The problem is usually not the religion, but the religiosity, the way it was taught and not what was taught. We must learn to look for the deeper messages in our value system, the messages about and not against sexual intimacy.

*250\97\8*

We have discovered the ultimate reason for all diseases: poisoning of our body beyond its capacity to purify itself.

Nearly 100% of such poisoning comes from our diet. We basically poison ourselves, simply because we do not care about what we eat.

In view of the above, our diet requires a basic revision

The wisdom of many civilisations in the past was expressed in their diet. Two key items in the diet are common for all civilisations without exception, from ancient India to modern Georgia :

1. PURE AIR

2. PURE WATER (from the spring)

I have not heard anyone objecting to this. However, the word to which we should pay special attention is pure.

Unfortunately, the criteria for purity have become quite arbitrary nowadays. The prevailing doctrine is, that there is a threshold of pollution in the water, which is acceptable and safe for humans to consume. Medical Authorities generally accept and recommend the chemical treatment of water, leaving chlorine and other chemicals in it. Poisons are added

(fluoride), in the name of sterilisation and safety of supply, despite the fact that their toxicity is beyond doubt, and they accumulate in our body causing chronic diseases (arthritis). Municipal water also contains heavy metals from pipes, pumps etc., traces of herbicides, pesticides and other chemicals. It is very difficult to obtain information about the levels of such ingredients in our water from the relevant authorities. They would prefer that we do not know and believe that the water is OK.

Do not consume such water. Do not use it for tea, soup on even in cooking. Use water obtained from natural springs. Alternatively, filter the municipal water yourself. Do not use chemical filters. They may initially work, but eventually they may leave even more chemicals in the water you drink. The best are multi-stage paper and active carbon filters, with the final stage that uses a reverse osmosis ceramic membrane. The process of reverse osmosis imitates the function of a natural spring: water runs over a stone (ceramic element) and minute quantities filter slowly through. For home installation, the rate is quite slow: about half a litre per hour. There are systems available, which store about 10 litres of filtered water under light pressure, ready for the immediate use.

Note, that most of the beverages, including fruit juices from concentrates, contain municipal tap water. It would be much better if you squeezed the juice yourself from fresh fruits, or bought the frozen concentrate and diluted it yourself with spring or filtered water.

*40\96\8*

Most are related to the gastro-intestinal tract, but the cause may be apart from this. It may occur from other areas of the abdomen such as the gallbladder or the pancreas or the liver or it may be due to a rise in blood pressure.

It could even be due to the presence of circulating toxins, poisons or drugs in the system. The commonest cause of indigestion originates in the stomach. This is a gastritis or inflammation of this organ.

This may be due to infection either from contaminated food or passed on from another person. It may arise from irritation from too much food, too rich a food, or from such things as pickles or spices. It may be caused by the irritation of too much alcohol, tea or coffee or cigarette smoke.

It may be due to the irritation of the stomach from aspirin or the anti-inflammatory drugs used in rheumatism and arthritis. Or the gastritis may occur as the result of stress or nervous tension.

An ulcer may form in the stomach or the duodenum, which is the first part of the small bowel, and the symptoms of this may be exactly the same as with the gastritis.

*455/71/1*

These drugs are bacteriostatic — that is, they do not kill the germ but inhibit its growth, and the body’s own defence mechanism can then overcome the infection.

They still have some advantages in that they readily cross from the blood into the fluid inside the brain and spinal cord, which many newer antibiotics don’t. They are thus useful in treating bacterial meningitis, an infection of the covering membranes of the brain.

Insoluble forms, which are not absorbed, are used to sterilise the bowel.

Some people become sensitised to the sulphonamides and can develop an allergic rash or other allergic symptoms.

A recently developed antibiotic combines a sul-phonamide with an antibiotic of the tetracycline group, trimethoprim.

These complement each other’s action to a considerable degree and make the drug bacteriocidal in some circumstances — that is, it kills the germ rather than inhibiting its growth.

This antibiotic is marketed in Australia as Septrin and Bactrim.

*199/71/1*

Other studies examined lymphocyte activity among sufferers of endometriosis. In one such study, it was postulated that if an immune system misfunction were entirely the cause, women with endometriosis would show a higher incidence of infectious diseases and cancer. Increased illness, however, seems net to be a factor among the women who participated in this study. Newer experiments have focused on the effect of the cellular antigen CA-125, a cell that acts like a foreign substance in the body. How this antigen is produced by the body is unknown.

Two particular studies, one conducted by Dr. Donald Pittaway and colleagues at the Bowman Grey School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the other by Dr. Phillip Patron and colleagues at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, have both turned up evidence to show that women with advanced endometriosis had elevated levels of CA-125. as did women who had acute pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and unexplained infertility. However, patients with less advanced stages of the disease, and women who did not have endometriosis, tended to have similar and lower CA-125 levels. Still, these investigators believe, this antigen bears further study because of marked elevated levels of kin women with endometriosis. They are also looking for a possible test for detecting endometriosis by analyzing CA-125 levels, and antigenic proteins like it, in blood samples.

*24\43\4*

The four major types of skin infection are bacterial viral fungal and parasitic. These groups will be considered in turn and examples of the most common forms of infection described Bacteria live permanently on the skin surface, and are known as the permanent bacterial flora. In addition, transient organisms are constantly arriving at the skin surface but are usually prevented from multiplying by the normal defence mechanisms. Under certain circumstances either the permanent or transient organisms may become established, multiply excessively, and then cause disease or infection. The factors governing the host resistance or defence mechanism are several. Firstly there are the factors inherent in the skin itself, for example the amount of moisture or other secretions present, and whether there is a point of entry or an abrasion on the surface. Secondly there is the degree of interaction between the permanent flora and the invading organism. Finally, there is the factor of the various cellular and circulatory interactions provoked by the invasion. These may be influenced by the body’s general health or level of immunity.

*51\44\4*

Starches, because of their more compound nature, have been thought to be more slowly digested and therefore to offer great benefits in the treatment of disease such as diabetes and for fat loss. However, recently it has been shown that digestion and metabolism are not that simple. The speed with which carbohydrates are broken down and absorbed is not simply determined by whether they are ‘simple’ or ‘complex’ and another measure has been developed to classify this.

The Glycaemic Index (GI) is a method of classifying the glycaemic (i.e. blood sugar) response to carbohydrate-rich foods. Put another way, it is a measure of how quickly carbohydrate reaches the bloodstream. Foods can be tested and ranked according to a measure of their GI. The GI is calculated by measuring the area under the curve (of glycaemia) versus time, after consuming a food containing 50g of available carbohydrate by comparison with 50g of reference food (either glucose or white bread). Blood glucose testing is carried out every 15-30 minutes for 2-3 hours.

The lower the GI of a food, the flatter the curve of blood glucose response, meaning the slower this is digested and converted to blood sugar.

It does not necessarily follow that all sweet sugary foods will be quickly absorbed and therefore have a high GI. It is much more complex and depends on a number of characteristics of the food consumed, e.g.:

Type of sugar—Glucose (GI = 100) has a higher GI than fructose (GI = 20). Temperate fruits (e.g. apples, pears, oranges) have a higher fructose content and therefore lower GI than tropical fruits (e.g. watermelon, rockmelon, mangoes).

Nature of the starch—The ratio of two types of starches (amylose: amylopectin) can affect the GI of foods. Amylopectin is more easily digested than amylose. Therefore, foods such as legumes, with a high amylose: amylopectin ratio have a lower GI than rice which has a higher amylopectin content.

Processing and particle size—Food particle size is a determinant of GI. This is shown with bread processing. Whole meal bread has a finer texture than rye bread and thus a higher GI.

Cooking methods—Cooking affects the degree of gelatinisation of fruits and thus GI. Stewed fruits have a higher GI than fresh fruits.

Starch-nutrient interactions—Carbohydrate forms molecular complexes with fats and proteins. This happens, for example, in a baked cake where GI will be reduced.

Fat—Large amounts can reduce GI (e.g. in ice cream) and hence high-fat foods may have a desirable GI but still be undesirable in terms of energy content.

Fibre—This depends on type of fibre. Insoluble fibre appears to have no immediate effects. However, soluble fibre (e.g. guar gum) can decrease the rate of absorption of glucose and hence decrease GI. Fibre supplements will not have the same effect because the fibre is not packaged into the food. Resistant starch will also lower the GI of a food.

Taking these properties into account we can see why, in Table 9.3, wholemeal bread has a higher GI than rye bread and a pineapple has a higher GI than an apple. GI is not a simple function of the sugar content of foods and detailed tables showing the GIs of a wide variety of foods are now available.

There are day-to-day variations in GI due to physiological effects, and the GI of component foods can predict the likely effect of a meal. Sydney University studies have shown that low-GI foods may be beneficial for fat loss as they decrease hunger ratings. Due to the slower absorption of low-GI foods, they may result in less rapid fluctuations in blood glucose and appetite changes for some individuals.

Australian researchers are leading the world in GI research. For more information on this evolving topic, please refer to The GI Factor by Sydney University’s Professor Jennie Brand Miller.

*104\186\4*

It is usual for the partner to have a sperm test before the woman undergoes any testing.

The reason for this is that a sperm test is a simple procedure and certainly the most convenient of all fertility tests.

A sperm analysis is carried out to see if sperm are present, how many there are, how many are moving (motility) and how many are normal (morphology). The analysis also establishes if there is an infection in the reproductive tract and whether there are any sperm antibodies present. The testing of these factors will give a guide to your partner’s potential for fertility.

The sperm sample must be taken to the testing laboratory within an hour of collection as a delay may harm the specimen. Most infertility experts advise that intercourse should be delayed for at least three days before the sample is taken as a shorter period may affect the volume and sperm numbers.

A recent illness can affect the quality of the sperm, so if your partner has had a cold or flu recently it may be advisable to repeat the sample if the results are not favourable. Your doctor will advise if this is necessary.

Some medications may also affect the quality of sperm so, again, advise your doctor if your partner is on any medication.

*94\83\2*

CT scans (computerised tomography) and ordinary X-rays are of no value in the diagnosis and monitoring of endometriosis. Ultrasound can have a role in some situations.

Ultrasound involves the use of high frequency sound waves to create an image or picture of the body on a screen or film. Over the last decade it has been used increasingly in the diagnosis and management of a number of gynaecological and obstetrical conditions, including the detection of ovarian cysts and determining the age and size of a foetus in early pregnancy.

Ultrasound has a limited role in the diagnosis and monitoring of endometriosis. At present, the machines used are not sensitive enough to detect small implants and adhesions. They can only detect cysts greater than two centimetres in diameter and determine their size and location. Ultrasound cannot determine the nature of a cyst nor can it distinguish it from other types of cysts or conditions.

Ultrasound should not be used as a substitute for laparoscopy to diagnose endometriosis. Its use is limited to confirming the existence of a cyst felt during a pelvic examination and determining its size and location prior to surgery. In some circumstances ultrasound may be used to help monitor the change in the size of a cyst after a laparoscopic diagnosis has been made.

*35\83\2*

Zinc is one of the most important minerals in our diet and has antioxidant properties. Two hundred enzyme reactions in the body require zinc, some being the production of protein and tissue. This is why it is such an important mineral for growth and healing.

It is important for healing wounds and skin disorders such as acne and herpes, formation of the bones, the health of the immune system, slowing down the aging process, the sexual development of adolescents and the sexual function of men.

Men can lose up to 1 mg of zinc each time they ejaculate. Zinc may help prevent the enlargement of the prostate gland as it is believed to regulate the metabolism of testosterone.

It is also now thought a zinc deficiency may contribute to anorexia nervosa.

There is a deficiency of zinc in Australian soils and so there is a need to both eat foods which are high in zinc and to supplement the diet with zinc up to 15 mg a day. Signs of a deficiency include: white spots under the nails; skin disorders such as acne; slow healing of wounds; retarded growth and slow sexual development in children, loss of appetite, confused sense of taste, smell and sight; low resistance to infections indicating poor immune response and low sex drive which could lead to prostate problems in later life for men.

Diabetics excrete zinc excessively. Alcohol inhibits the absorption of zinc from the gut and alcoholics always have a zinc deficiency. Vegetarians are also prone to zinc deficiency as a result of a high roughage diet and poor absorption of the mineral from the gut.

Zinc is found in eggs, liver, oysters, beef, chicken, fish, wheat, rice, legumes, corn, Brazil nuts, sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds.

*83\69\2*

One major difference between sadness and depression is that the latter is often accompanied by changes in biological functioning. These biological changes are among the most reliable tell-tale signs of depression, and when doctors and therapists look for depression they carefully inquire about changes in sleeping, eating, weight and sex drive. You should certainly pay special attention to these important behavioural functions in evaluating whether you are depressed and, if so, how severely depressed you are.

In depression, sleep is often disrupted. Some depressed people have trouble falling asleep; others toss and turn or wake during the night; and early morning waking, often with difficulty returning to sleep, is very common. Sleep doesn’t seem to have its usual renewing properties and people are often left feeling tired during the day and desperate at night for sleep that stubbornly refuses to arrive. Some depressed patients sleep too much, at times for hours each day more than is normal for them and yet, once again, find that no matter how much they sleep, they still don’t end up feeling refreshed.

These two patterns of sleep disruption – insomnia and oversleeping — may signal two distinct types of depression, one representing a state of hypervigilant overarousal and the other a state of torpid underarousal. These patterns may reflect exaggerations of different types of response to stress.

When people (or animals, for that matter) are stressed, a part of the brain known as the hypothalamus activates a stress-response system, which results in release of certain hormones from the adrenal glands, particularly Cortisol. In addition, the fight-and-flight part of the nervous system, known as the sympathetic nervous system, is activated. These changes result in arousal and vigilance, qualities that are necessary for combating stress, and are associated with decreases in sleep and appetite. The type of depression associated with decreased sleep and appetite and weight loss may represent an exaggeration of these arousal responses. Evidence to support this theory is found in the form of elevated Cortisol levels in the circulation and other signs of overactivity of the stress-responsive hormonal system in these depressed patients.

The heightened arousal and vigilance that are part of our normal response to stress should be time-limited in order to be most effective. Ideally, such responses should kick in following a stressful situation, such as the loss of a loved one, a physical challenge or an important deadline, and taper off when the stress has been successfully handled or resolved. In depression, the stress response may be triggered either by a definable stress or by some unknown factor, but whatever its original trigger it then takes on a life of its own, persisting long after the stress is over. Consider, for example, a person susceptible to depression who is told that he has lost a large sum of money on the stockmarket, whereupon he plummets into a deep depression. If that same person is told a week later that his stockbroker has made a mistake and that he has actually made a lot of money instead of losing it, will his depression immediately disappear? Probably not. Such is the nature of depression that once it gets going, it can continue indefinitely. As you can imagine, this wears the system out and the person is left feeling exhausted and depleted.

The second type of depression – the one associated with oversleeping, overeating and weight gain – may represent an exaggeration of the energy-conserving responses seen frequently in animals. The hibernating bear, for example, goes into a state of low activity and torpor designed to conserve its energy and resources. Such shutting down of bodily activities enables the bear to make it through a winter of severe weather and scarce food. Most people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), many of whom compare themselves to hibernating bears, experience this second type of depression and tend to oversleep, as well as overeat and gain weight, during their winter depressions.

Withdrawal and seclusion often occur in animals as a response to stress or injury as part of the recovery process. An injured lion, for example, will retreat to its lair until its wounds have healed before venturing back out into the savannahs and exposing itself to the dangers of the wild. An infant monkey separated from its mother initially goes into a state where it cries out pitifully, which was termed the stage of protest by John Bowlby, a pioneer in the area of separation and loss. Later the infant goes into another state that Bowlby called detachment, where it withdraws from contact with other animals. It has been suggested that these stages are ways by which the animal adapts to the loss of its mother. Initially, it makes noises, which would have the function of attracting the attention of the mother, who might not be far away. After a while, however, if the mother has not responded, the infant goes into a state of withdrawal at this point and waits until another parental figure might chance to come along. In the course of evolution, it has probably proven far more adaptive for the infant not to carry on crying, which might attract a predator, and instead to go into this detached state. There is a final stage that has been described in such separated infant monkeys – a stage of reattachment, whereby the infant will reattach to such a new parental figure that might arrive on the scene. Over the millennia, certain adaptive behavioural changes to injury and loss have evolved so as to maximize the chance of survival. It has been suggested that some of the behavioural and physical symptoms of depression may represent disturbances of the normal biological systems responsible for mediating such adaptive responses.

When an animal is stressed, the emphasis is on survival, as well it should be. Having sex is the last thing that will be on that animal’s mind. And so it is that with the depressed person, the sex drive diminishes and may shut off completely. Every aspect of sexual functioning may be affected – arousal, enjoyment of sex and the capacity to function. Needless to say, this does not much help the self-esteem of the depressed person, which is already at a very low ebb.

So we see that in depression there may be an exaggeration of some of our very useful responses to the stresses and challenges that life deals us. When these responses – such as hypervigilance or excessive withdrawal – go too far, they hinder rather than help our ability to adapt. They continue for much too long and we are unable to turn them off by an act of will.

If your sleeping, eating, weight control and interest in sex are disturbed and this has been going on for more than a few weeks, consider the possibility that you may be suffering from depression.

*56\75\2*

How to heat a home according to sound, ecologic principles is a topic beyond the scope of this book (see “Suggested Reading”). However, certain basic guidelines can be given to those responsible for this area of domestic life. First, it is a good idea to have a heating engineer recheck the efficiency and safety of the heating system periodically. This will minimize undetected leaks or breaks in the system and save money, as well as trips to the doctor.

If a chemically susceptible person has a gas-fired heating system, he has to consider changing it, or changing houses, regardless of the immediate cost. The reason is that it is difficult for a susceptible person to remain in anything resembling good health if he is subjected to the fumes of such a system.

An oil-fired heating system may also present a danger, since the fumes of the oil and its combustion products can often make their way into the living quarters of the house. If the oil is accidentally spilled, it is almost impossible ever to remove it, and fumes and odors will continue to contaminate the vicinity of the burner and beyond.

The ideal solution is to remove the heating unit from the house and locate it in a separate area or building of its own, so that only the hot water pipes enter the house. Installing electric heat, with or without solar heat, is another alternative.

For those in apartment houses who have a choice, it is best to live as far from the boiler room as possible. Steam or hot water radiators, on floors other than the ground level, are fairly good ecologically. It is a good idea to clean the radiators periodically and to give them an especially thorough cleaning in the fall before the heat is turned on.

*107\110\2*

Not long ago, a Bulgarian political refugee in London died three days after a mysterious stranger jabbed him in the leg with a sharpened umbrella tip. Autopsy revealed a minute hollow pellet deep in his wound that, it was believed, contained a fatal poison.

From the nature of his slow death, it was determined that this substance was ricin, an intensely toxic substance (more poisonous than snake venom) present in the castor oil bean. It is not present in castor oil but remains in the bean “cake” after the oil has been extracted. The cake can be rendered safe for human consumption by cooking and is used as staple food in several parts of the world, including Mexico.

Mexicans and Caribbean islanders employ the attractive looking castor oil bean to make necklaces and other jewelry for the tourist trade. According to Toxicology, there have been serious reactions and deaths when people have eaten one of these beans or have merely crushed one in their fingers and subsequently put their fingers in their mouths. Ricin causes drastic purging with bloody diarrhea, shivering, fever, violent vomiting, and shock. Even a minute trace in a scratch can be fatal. So, when shopping abroad for trinkets, avoid buying castor oil bean jewelry.

*185\143\2*

Signs and symptoms

Heat rash consists of hundreds of tiny pinhead eruptions, each surrounding a skin pore. These eruptions may look like small pink or red bumps or like tiny water blisters. They are moderately itchy and may show scratch marks. If you look at the rash with a magnifying glass in good light, each dot of heat rash can be seen at the mouth of a pore from a sweat gland.

The rash usually appears on the cheeks, neck, or shoulders, in skin creases, and in the nappy area. It frequently appears if the child has been wearing a wet bathing suit. Hot humid conditions, perspiration, and overdressing are further clues that the rash is heat rash.

Home care

Infants and children are safest from heat rash in an air-conditioned environment. Keep a child with heat rash as cool as possible. Cool baths, or baby powder or corn flour applied lightly with a powder puff, help ease the condition. If the heat rash is on your baby’s face, rest the child’s face on an absorbent pad in the crib. During warm weather, using prickly heat powders may give some relief.

Precautions

• Be careful with powder. If a baby inhales a large amount of powder, inflammation of the lungs can occur.

• Detergents and bleaches in clothing and bed linens may aggravate heat rash.

• Bubble baths, water softeners, and oily lotions should be avoided.

• Do not overdress the child. The clothing that’s appropriate to the weather for you is also appropriate for the baby.

Medical treatment

A doctor’s treatment is not necessary. Heat rash can be adequately and safely treated at home.

*102/84/5*

It seems like we’ll do anything for kicks. Careen down rocky mountain trails on a bicycle? You bet. Strap skis to our feet and get dragged behind a boat? Sounds like a blast. Surprisingly (and fortunately), as reckless and dangerous as the activities we call sport may sound, they don’t often kill us. More often, they just beat the crap out of us.

Plenty of weekend warriors are injured in sports like basketball, bicycling, football, and Softball. They’re rarely deadly, but collectively, they report astronomical injury rates, which is where the trouble really lies. We hardly have to tell you that, even if injuries don’t kill you, they can sure take their toll on your body over time. And serious injuries, such as those to the head, neck, or back, can cause permanent debilitating problems like brain damage and paralysis.

“That’s why we encourage people to take just a few minor precautions during their recreational activities,” says Dr. Jeffrey Sacks of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

By following a few basic rules, you can put your safest foot forward next time you step out to play.

Put the beer on ice. Alcohol is an enormous factor in recreational injuries, Dr. Sacks says. So don’t be stupid. “When you’re drowning from a waterskiing incident because you’re drunk, that’s no accident. That’s preventable. Save the beer for afterward,” says Dr. Sacks.

Get in gear. “Some men always seem surprised by their concussions, as if you can’t bruise your brain playing backyard football,” Dr. Sacks says. “A helmet is the best protection you can get for riskier activities, especially football, biking, and other wheel sports like inline skating.”

Take charge. We have a whole industry devoted to “adventure travel” where people do relatively risky activities rather safely, says Dr. Alton Thygerson of Brigham Young University and the National Safety Council’s First-Aid Institute. “That’s because the folks in charge know what they’re doing. You can help prevent being another accident statistic by learning the fundamentals of an activity before you start, especially ones that involve some risk like water sports or mountain biking.”

*111/36/5*

The discussion of the side-effects of treatments in this section should not be seen as alarmist propaganda. It is important that this point be appreciated because, unfortunately, such techniques are used in some types of sales drives. The purpose of describing these effects in the following discussion is that they have a very important role in medicine. Discussion of; any therapy without including the side-effects involved is completely invalid. There is another reason. This is that one of the parameters which must be used in comparing the value of any therapy with any other is that of the side-effects. p r instance, if two treatments are equal in their effectiveness for treating a particular condition but one of them exhibited undesirable side effects, then the one which did not would obviously be a better treatment, even though it was, overall, no more effective.

As this book will be connected primarily with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis it will be appropriate to reserve the discussion mainly to these two conditions.

Salicylate therapy

Starting with rheumatoid arthritis, it is probably true to say that the most universally preferred therapy by practicing clinicians is salycilate therapy. Put into simpler terms this usually means aspirin, although other forms of the compound are used. An example of another form is sodium salicylate.

Aspirin is the name given to a compound known chemically as acetyl salicylic acid which is now produced by synthetic means. It did, however, originate in the bark of trees, and before methods for synthesizing it were devised, extracts from the bark of the willow tree were, used in the treatment of rheumatic diseases.

Using acetyl salicylic acid as an example of salicylate therapy, it will be convenient to refer to it in the name of aspirin. There are some variations in effect of the various salicylates but this discussion will be of too general a nature to consider these.

Generally speaking, aspirin shows three beneficial effects: it is an anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic and an analgaesic agent. It is almost certainly the drug in widest use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and has been used in this way since the beginning of this century. With its anti-inflammatory and analgaesic action it eases pain in two ways. One is by direct pain-relieving action on the central nervous system; the other is by reducing inflammation and thus relieving the pain created at the inflammatory site. It is possible that the anti-pyretic (heat or temperature lowering property) may only be applicable in fever conditions. The effects of salicylate therapy tend to be felt quickly, bringing rapid relief. The duration of relief, however, may not be more than a few hours, thus necessitating repeat doses at frequent intervals.

Side-effects of salicylates

Taking a brief look now at the negative side of this particular therapy (the side-effects) it will be found that regular consumption of salicylates, even in small doses, may induce gastric problems. The most common and the most serious problem is gastric hemorrhage and ulceration. A lot of research has been carried out on this topic and it is believed that factors other than the straight consumption of salicylate can influence the degree of severity of this type of damage) For instance it would be fairly obvious to most people that the taking of aspirin on an empty stomach would be more likely to cause gastric upset and damage than if taken ink conjunction with a meal. However, the degree to which stress, such as tiredness, emotion, or perhaps exposure to adverse climatic conditions, may have an adverse effect is not known. The fact that stress conditions, in conjunction with aspirin, can lead to a marked increase in the severity of gastric damage compared with aspirin alone has been demonstrated in laboratory tests on animals.

If large doses of salicylates are being consumed, then in addition to bleeding and ulceration, effects such as nausea, dizziness, kidney problems and partial deafness can occur.

It must be remembered that people differ considerably in their reactions and responses to pain and to drugs, etc. Thus, there is no hard and fast rule as to the effect that a particular person might anticipate from a given amount of drug. As will already have been realized, apart from many external factors, it also depends very much on the individual and the situation involved.

*8/48/5*

A repeat laparoscopy, also sometimes known as a second-look laparoscopy, is performed some time after a diagnostic laparoscopy in order to monitor the progression of your endometriosis. It is most commonly performed for one of the following reasons:

• following a course of hormonal treatment

• continued infertility following surgery

• recurrence of symptoms

• persistence of symptoms following an apparently normal laparoscopy.

Following hormonal treatment

A repeat laparoscopy at the end of a course of hormonal treatment enables your gynecologist to see exactly how effectively the treatment has eradicated your endometriosis. The location and size of your implants and cysts can be charted and compared to the chart that was made during the laparoscopy performed before your hormonal treatment began.

If the repeat laparoscopy showed that the treatment had eradicated your endometriosis then nothing further needs to be done for the time being. If it showed that the treatment had only been partially effective then it might be worthwhile considering a continuation of the same treatment. If it showed that the treatment had been ineffective you will need to consider some other form of treatment.

Infertility

If you have had surgery in order to improve your chances of conceiving, a repeat laparoscopy may be recommended if you have not conceived within six to twelve months of the surgery. In this situation the laparoscopy will be performed to determine whether or not any adhesions have developed that may be reducing your chances of pregnancy.

Recurrence

A repeat laparoscopy is advisable if you have a recurrence of your symptoms following a period of remission, particularly if you are contemplating any treatment. You really need to know that the symptoms are due to endometriosis and not some other condition. In addition, it is advisable not to undertake any hormonal treatment unless you know that you definitely have endometriosis.

Normal laparoscopy

A repeat laparoscopy may be advisable if you have had persistence or worsening of symptoms that may be due to endometriosis, despite the fact that you have previously had an apparently normal diagnostic laparoscopy. It is now recognized that, in the past, a proportion of women with endometriosis were incorrectly diagnosed as not having endometriosis because their gynecologists did not recognize their atypical implants or because they had microscopic endometriosis.

*27/41/5*

One of the most fascinating avenues of biochemical research over the past few years led to the discovery that the body manufactures its own natural painkillers. These substances became known as endorphins, from endo (meaning “arising from within”) and morphine. Evidence suggests that endorphins play a direct role in regulating appetite and affect other functions such as pain relief, memory-even blood pressure.

Like a lock that accepts only a certain key, cells of the central nervous system have receptors that accept and respond only to particular endorphins. For example, it appears that one receptor involved in stimulating appetite (called the “kappa” receptor) is designed to work only with the substance known as dynorphin. Dynorphin molecules fit into the kappa receptors. Nerve impulses then travel to the hypothalamus, which interprets and relays them as hunger cues. Appetite is thus stimulated, particularly for sweet-tasting foods.

Scientists soon found that rats given morphine (which increases endorphin activity) and allowed to choose from among the macronutrients tended to increase their fat intake while ignoring the carbohydrates. The investigators then administered drugs known to block the opiate receptors. Doing so, they found, tended to suppress eating. They found the same effect in humans. They then theorized that use of opiate blockers (also known as opiate antagonists) suppresses appetite by producing feelings of fullness or satiety.

But what triggers the release of endorphins in the first place? Further experiments found that food deprivation or stress can play a role. In other words, if you are under stress-pressure at work or school, for example-your body secretes endorphins to control the damage. Some of those endorphins ease any physical pain you might be feeling, while others work to stimulate your appetite, especially for sweet foods. You may respond to these signals from your hypothalamus by gobbling down a slice of pie, for example.

But why should eating sugar help relieve stress? Why doesn’t lettuce (to pick a food at random) have the same effect?

As it turns out, the very act of eating sugar stimulates the opiate-releasing process even further. Not only does sugar make the body release more endorphins, it also enhances the ability of the receptor to bind with the substance-like oiling a lock to make a key work better. Thus, eating sweet foods does indeed relieve stress, producing feelings of relaxation and contentment by enhancing the amount of natural painkillers floating around inside the body.

You might have spotted the flaw in this otherwise tidy little system. Here’s the problem: When a person is under stress, the body releases endorphins that stimulate the appetite for sweet foods. The person then eats a candy bar. The sugar in turn stimulates further secretion of endorphins, triggering greater appetite and leading to more consumption of sweets. Where does the cycle end?

As you might have suspected, it may not end. Theory has it that some people with bulimia might be caught up in the vicious cycle represented by the opiate-receptor feedback loop.

A bulimic will typically skip meals in the belief that doing so will keep her weight under control. But skipping meals only defers appetite; it doesn’t eliminate it. Eventually the urge to eat becomes overpowering, leading to a binge. Food deprivation itself can trigger the release of endorphins, which in turn stimulate appetite. Thus a bulimic who deprives herself of meals causes her body to produce a powerful natural appetite stimulant.

Many a patient reports that her binges occur in times of stress. Research has shown that stress also cranks up the endorphin system. Finally, when a binge leads to consumption of high-sugar items-ice cream, cookies, candy-even more opiates are released, stimulating appetite even further, and the vicious cycle kicks into high gear. For many, the only thing that disrupts this process is a drastic measure: self-induced vomiting.

*42/35/5*

Having discovered the secret of calorie-burning chores, Kay Black has never had a trimmer figure—or a cleaner, more organized house.

When Kay, age 55, recalls how she started losing weight, she laughs, “It was an accident.” Not that she didn’t wantto lose weight. Sure, she was carrying an unwanted 60 pounds on her frame; and of course she was tired of being mistaken for her daughter’s grandmother. But she simply couldn’t find the motivation to exercise.

Then Kay decided to organize her family’s books—all 5,400 of them—by cataloging them on her new computer. “I teach college geography, so I do a lot of reading,” she explains. “Besides, my family just loves books.” Each night, she’d carry several armloads upstairs, type up the data, and tote the books back downstairs. She’d stretch for 15 to 20 minutes to prevent next-day stiffness, then take a hot bath. By the time the project was complete, she had lost 5 pounds!

Kay decided that this was too easy not to continue. “Nothing breeds success like success,” she says. She stripped and repainted her daughter’s room and rearranged the attic. She shoveled snow in the winter and turned her garden into a “gym” in the summer. She took up walking, too, usually getting a 40- to 50-minute workout 5 days a week.

These days, Kay is a svelte 112 pounds, down from her heaviest of 172 pounds. Her family’s book collection is as organized as ever. And her house is so tidy that she’s even prepared for unexpected guests.

*96\89\8*

The stress phobic must snap out of his or her depression before progress can be made in dealing with fears of confrontation, rejection and failure. All the affirmations, especially those for happiness, success and self-respect, should be repeated over and over again every day. This affirmation, too, should be a part of the stress phobic’s daily regimen:

All things are now working together for health, happiness, success and love in my life. Each morning is the start of an exciting new day, a fresh new look at the world. Every day brings more opportunities for me to assert myself and make my world a wonderful place to be.

To help build confidence in their ability to deal with the stresses of everyday life, I often give this affirmation to my stress-phobic patients:

I am a confident and extremely capable person. People really respect and like me. I have interesting, worthwhile and challenging goals. I am a success!

*144\80\8*

The Walking President

President Harry Truman had a regimen of brisk walking. He walked at the Army pace: 110 steps per minute. Reporters would often follow, throwing questions at him as they huffed and puffed along. They used to complain that he was walking too fast for them, even though they were younger than he was. When he came back to Washington for a visit he was in his 70′s: the reporters who were following him on his walk still had difficulty keeping up with him.

The Formula for Success

Twenty five minutes of nonstop, brisk walking, four days a week, will boost your immune system, strengthen your heart and lungs, lower cholesterol levels, raise your HDL (good) cholesterol, tone your leg muscles, help control your weight and fight high blood pressure.

But 25 minutes a day, four days a week, isn’t enough brisk walking to burn 2,000 calories a week. That’s why it’s very important to combine your regular brisk-walking sessions with lots of spontaneous brisk walks to the store, around the neighborhood, up and down stairs, visiting your nearby friends and so on. Look for ways to add steps each day.

Walking Relieves Back Pain

Walking is actually good for your lower back. Standing up or walking is easier on your back than sitting down; the mechanical load is less. Most of my patients with lower-back pain report that regular walking helps relieve the pain. Furthermore, it helps reduce the distress and frustration that is caused by the pain.

Sometimes I have my lower-back-problem patients begin by walking slowly and gently, or walking only on soft, grassy surfaces. But soon, most of them are able and eager to walk briskly and get all the other benefits of this simple but very effective aerobic exercise.

*102\80\8*

Is the deficit of a vitamin or two all that harmful? After all, you never hear of anyone in this country dying from a lack of vitamin C or iron. Death certificates rarely state that the cause of death was nutrient deficiency. But as a physician I can tell you that many illnesses and deaths are caused by, or related to, nutrient imbalances. It may be lack of certain vitamins and minerals, or it may be excess fat, cholesterol or sugar that’s the culprit. A shortage or excess of even one nutrient can knock your immune system off balance. While your immune system totters, you’re more susceptible to disease. I’ve treated thousands of patients whose problems were related to a nutrient-starved immune system.

*59\80\8*

Our “doctor within” is also forced to deal with the multitude of environmental pollutants that abound in our chemical world. When I taught a class in Physical Diagnosis to a group of medical students, I used to paraphrase Hippocrates: “When you go to patients’ houses, you should ask them what sort of pains they have, what brought them on, how many days they have been ill, are their bowels working and what sort of food do they eat?” Today we have to ask an additional question: What toxins (poisons) are you exposed to in your home and workplace? We live in an environment saturated with man-made chemicals, many of them very dangerous to our health. They’re in our food, our air, our water, our homes, our clothes, our cars, our offices.

I see more and more people who are complaining of vague symptoms and recurrent illnesses that can be traced to the chemical poisoning of our immune system. Laboratory test results often show high levels of pesticides, solvents and other toxic chemicals in patients. Lead, mercury, chloroform, DDT, DDE and many other substances have a depressing effect upon the “doctor within.” Quite often the symptoms—fatigue, loss of energy, forgetfulness, personality changes, depression—give us only general clues as to the identity of the culprit.

How much is too much? When it comes to chemical poisoning of the body, we just don’t know. New chemical compounds are being introduced at a fast and furious pace. If scientists were to start conducting the rigorous tests they should have been doing all along, they would probably never catch up with all the new chemicals.

*15\80\8*

Medical science is never exact, for a variety of reasons. For a start everyone is different, both in the genes that make them what they are, and in the environmental conditions that shape them from birth. Those environmental conditions include childhood and adult illnesses, standard of nutrition, type of work, nature of relationships with other people, past medical treatments and present living conditions. A collection of patients also differ in their age and sex, two very important factors in health and illness. Their response to treatment is bound to differ for these reasons alone.

A second major factor is the imprecise nature of diagnosis. Names may be given to diseases – ‘rheumatoid arthritis’, for example, or ‘migraine’ – but this does not mean that they are single, .clearly defined conditions, in the way that infectious diseases such as measles or cholera are. Doctors suspect that, although the symptoms look similar, there are a multitude of different disorders sheltering under such umbrella terms. One of the ways in which medicine advances is by-recognizing different subgroups within such diseases, and giving new names to the symptoms shown by those subgroups – ‘classical migraine’ and ‘common migraine’, for example. But in many diseases, there are no obvious subgroups, even though it is clear that the patients are not all the same. This is particularly true in food intolerance.

To overcome these problems in medical trials, it is important to study as large a group of patients as possible. Because the patients suffering from a disease can be so diverse, a new treatment may only be effective for, say, 10 percent of them. A study that only includes 20 patients should, in a perfect world, include two patients who will respond. But when numbers are this small, die laws of chance dictate that there could easily be no patients of this type in the group. So a group of 100 patients may be needed to give a convincing result -but such large-scale trials are costly and difficult to organize.

*103\180\8*

This experience provides a strong argument in favour of changing over to whole cereals, including whole wheat and whole rye. It is incomprehensible how students who have seen films or experiments showing what happens to pigeons when they are fed on refined rice can continue to eat the very food that is responsible for such devastating results. They seem blind and thoughtless in the face of the evidence. Why spend time and effort in tireless research if the findings continue to be ignored by the consumer? Is it not strange that the consumer often prefers to take the consequences and become sick, rather than make a change in his diet?

Remember that natural rice, also known as unpolished, whole or brown rice, contains nine and a half times more minerals than the polished, refined kind. It is these minerals that are of vital importance to us. Observations have shown that whole rice contains substances that keep the blood vessels elastic for much longer and it is for this reason that Asians seldom suffer from hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure.

Whole or brown rice should be prepared in the same way as refined rice, only do not pour away the rice water. The rice should be soaked in as much water as it is able to absorb and cooked in as little water as it requires to soften without the grains sticking together. Then the nutritional elements will not be wasted or lost. Brown rice can be served in a number of ways, and many Chinese and Middle Eastern recipes are excellent for this purpose.

*910/28/1*

In my discussion on wheat and wholegrain bread I highlight the merits of wholegrain products and how the various cereals grown in different parts of the earth are a useful source of food that does not perish easily. It was only a few decades ago when researchers discovered that wheat germ is, in fact, an excellent remedy; this equally applies, of course, to wheat germ oil. Since more and more people are rejecting the use of chemical medicines, physicians, naturopaths and physiotherapists are ever more compelled to turn their attention to remedies that are made from basic materials as nature provides them. Many competent and skilled researchers have been studying the oils contained in cereal germs, and have found that the remedial effects of wheat germ oil are remarkable.

*874/28/1*

Some time later I learned about the regenerative and curative effects of hot water treatments as used in Japan. The temperature of their baths surpasses that of blood temperature, and it is interesting to note that rheumatism and cancer are seldom heard of where these hot water baths are taken regularly. Some researchers even claim that swollen tissue can be rehabilitated if the water is kept 2-3 degrees Celsius above normal body temperature (39-40°G102-104oF). And when the temperature is raised 4-5 degrees higher, that is, up to 41-42°C (105.8-107.6°F), tumours are changed and in time dissolved, according to these researchers.

It is possible that these claims are somewhat exaggerated; nevertheless, experience has shown that ‘baths of increasing temperature’ make a positive contribution in the treatment of tumours, especially when the effect is heightened by the use of appropriate herbs. Many a malignant ailment can be prevented by their use, and the prevention of frightening diseases such as cancer has become a great necessity in our time. The Nature Doctor has already given some good advice regarding the prevention of cancer and here we add the further recommendation that you take a prolonged bath or Schlenz bath once a week. Its prophylactic effect can help to maintain your health. However, you should not simply be satisfied with knowing these things without acting upon the knowledge. That would be of little use to you. You should rouse yourself and apply the recommended treatment on a regular basis.

*838/28/1*

Some of the cress varieties used for food are garden cress {Lepidium sativum), watercress {Nasturtium officinale), nasturtium {Tropaeo-lum majus) and alpine cress {Hutchinsia alpina). In all, about 90 different varieties are known in the temperate zones of the earth. Some are used for flavouring, and most of them have a medicinal effect, although varying in strength.

According to recent research, cress (like horseradish) contains a kind of penicillin and is a great help in improving mouth and intestinal bacteria. Having a modest content of iodine, cress is a dietary remedy for thyroid problems. It is recommended as a remedy for scrofula, and when taken regularly it will reduce an inherent tendency to skin eruptions. At the same time cress is good for kidney problems; in particular, it helps to prevent the formation of kidney stones.

Cress on its own makes a wholesome salad, but it should also be added to other salads. In fact, it is very important that we avail ourselves of its medicinal values by eating it regularly. If you are in the habit of preparing vegetable juices daily for the sake of their vitamins, always add a little cress. The popular seasoning salt Trocomare contains various cresses among its ingredients which largely account for its fine aroma and taste.

*802/28/1*

Homoeopathic Aconitum and Belladonna should be in everyone’s medicine chest, for they are more frequently used than any other remedy for first aid. However, we do not recommend Aconitum tincture as it is dangerous, even though some doctors prescribe it for neuralgia caused by a cold, for gout and for rheumatism. There are other, safer remedies available that are just as effective. Aconitum is a mydriatic, that is, it dilates the pupil if it is put in the eye. Belladonna has the same property due to its atropine content. To achieve the best results, Aconitum should be given in the fourth decimal potency (4x), for stronger persons perhaps in the third (3x); five drops in a glass of water taken at hourly intervals will be enough.

*763/28/1*