Latest Health News

MIND AND BODY: WONDER DRUGS

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:31:33 +0000

Chemotherapy is a very broad term which may well include antibiotics, but in popular parlance the latter term is usually reserved for penicillin, erythromycin, and numerous others, obtained from molds, soil bacteria, and other lowly organisms.

There is no doubt that these deserve the title of wonder drugs. Nevertheless they should be handled with discretion: there are many who have found that the antibiotics are two-edged swords. Some people have penicillin or other antibiotic allergy which can be a torture, harassing the body with a red itching rash or intestinal upset. But mankind, whether holding a medical degree or just shopping over the counter, persists in ignoring the fact that any agent, powerful and active enough to do good to the diseased body, can also do harm. The antibiotics have indeed proved themselves miracle drugs, but they are not universally efficient. They will not stop the common cold and the infections which we all get from time to time and call grippe, the flu, etc.

New brooms sweep clean and these new drugs are often more efficient at first than when the infectious bacteria have become used to them. For instance, so many persons have dosed themselves with penicillin to prevent gonorrhea that a “resistant strain” of gonorrhea has developed which will not respond well to penicillin. Then there are certain bacteria and mold-like organisms which habitually dwell in our bodies without doing harm, apparently because they are held in check by the tougher bacteria which cause our usual infections. When the antibiotics have killed off the toughs then the former Caspar Milquetoasts assert themselves and may do direful things to us while we have no way to check them.

The latest and exceedingly popular drugs are the hormones. Thyroid extract was used in the eighteen-nineties. Insulin came along just after the First World War. Since these two hormones have been observed over long periods of time, their virtues and vices are, we believe, well understood. We may almost sanctify them. As to the many other hormones which have been recognized and a number of which seem to have been produced in pure form, I think that I may characterize them by an old New England expression: ”All deacons are good, but there’s odds in deacons.”

One should be exceedingly careful in making definite statements about hormones. Cortisone was no sooner produced than it was modified. Hormones are powerful agents for good or evil. Our knowledge of them is increasing rapidly, which should, of course, make for good, but they are difficult to handle. Presumably they are going to be the drugs of the future.

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GENERAL HEALTH

COPING WITH EATING DISORDERS

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:30:18 +0000

Medical literature shows that 30 to 40 percent of food disorder cases persist for years. Among the famous women who say they have conquered food disorders are the actress Jane Fonda; Ellen Hart Pena, the wife of secretary of Transportation Federico Pena; and Princess Diana of England.

Officials of the National Eating Disorders Screening Program lined up 21 organizations of students and medical professionals. They include the American Psychiatric Association, the National Panhellenic Conference (sororities), USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Public Health Service, the American College Health Association, and the American College of Sports Medicine.

Catherine Baker, coordinator of Eating Disorders Services at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, is very sensitive to the subject. “At age 14,” she explains, “I developed an eating disorder for a few years because I had been assaulted. Eating disorders help us survive pain. I went through a deep depression. I hope the screening program will help students see that these behaviors hurt their lives.”

Becky Guiffre, a student at the University of Maryland at College Park, became bulimic at age 12. “I would not eat for a few days,” she says. “Then I’d gorge, then vomit 10 to 12 times a day. A specialist looked at the lining of my stomach: No lining was left. I can’t say I never mess up now. But, mostly, I am recovered.”

The National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, estimates that 5 million Americans (nine women for every man among them) have eating disorders. But there are hints of improvement, probably as a result of changes in diet and self-image. The psychologist Todd F. Heatherton and his colleagues from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, report a drop of almost 10 percent in eating disorders at Harvard/Radcliffe, where students were surveyed in 1982 and again in 1992. Still, they found that one woman in 10 reported symptoms of serious eating problems. Their findings appeared in the November 1995 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr. David Herzog, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and head of the Harvard Eating Disorders Center, is scientific director of the screening program. “Our culture demands thinness,” he says, “especially among women. If the screenings help us identify symptoms before conditions become full-blown, we can help people back to health much earlier.”

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GENERAL HEALTH

CHILD’S HEALTH/SKIN DISORDERS: COLD SORES

admin — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:24:07 +0000

Cold sores are quite common in older children as well as in adults. Cause

Cold sores are due to the Herpes simplex virus, which lies dormant in the body until it is activated by illness, sunburn, exposure to strong winds, or stress and fatigue.

Clinical features

Your child may complain of an itching or tingling sensation around the mouth, lips or nose, and tiny blisters may appear soon after. These usually crust over in 2-3 days but can become quite painful and interfere with eating and drinking. Cold sores generally disappear after 7-10 days, although some children tend to have recurrent episodes several times a year.

Treatment

Simple cold sores usually clear up without specific treatment. If your child is miserable, some paracetamol in recommended doses, may help to ease the pain. In general, creams or ointments do not help speed up the disappearance of the cold sores. Encourage your child not to scratch the sores, and to avoid kissing other people.

When to see your doctor

• if the cold sores are weeping or starting to spread. This may indicate

secondary, or bacterial infection, and antibiotic treatment may be necessary;

• if your child has a fever in addition to cold sores and is generally unwell

• if you notice sores inside your child’s mouth. This may be due to an initial herpes infection;

• if the cold sores prevent your child from drinking fluids as this may lead to dehydration, especially in younger children.

Prevention

Cold sores are highly contagious, so avoid having your child kiss other people. Avoid direct sunlight and exposure to strong winds.

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YOUR CHILD’S HEALTH CARE: MAKING YOUR HOME SAFE

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:07:57 +0000

Making your house safe has two main advantages. Firstly, it decreases the chances of injury to your child and secondly, it lessens the chances of breakages around the house and subsequent anger and frustration on the part of the parents.

When your child is aged about 6 months, just before the age when he becomes mobile, it is a good idea to work your way through the house consciously and systematically and make sure that it is safe for a young child. The checklist below may be useful. You can check off items with a pen as you do them. Do not wait until there has been an accident or breakage — do it now.

• Electrical outlets: put plugs on power points, and curly cords on electrical appliances; install safety switches.

• Cabinets: check kitchen and bathroom cupboards to make sure that poisons and dangerous materials are out of reach, especially those that are sharp, heavy or breakable. Consider locks for the doors of some cabinets, or the purchase of a medicine chest which can be locked.

• Doors: consider door barriers and latches for doors that restrict the child’s access to the outside or to rooms where he can get into trouble.

• Install fire guards, and check heaters and stoves to prevent burns and scalds.

• Place cigarettes, matches, lighters and ashtrays out of reach.

• Check furniture for sharp angles and corners.

• Consider using table mats instead of tablecloths.

• Re-position things that your child can climb on.

• Put away all fragile, breakable and precious objects.

• Safety barriers: put safety barriers on stairs (at the top and bottom).

• Window latches: consider window latches to prevent your child from fully opening them and falling or climbing out.

• Fire extinguishers: consider purchasing a fire extinguisher and have it handy in the kitchen.

• Smoke detector: install approved smoke detectors at strategic positions throughout the house.

• Swimming pool: make sure that the pool has an approved child-resistant fence all around it.

• Gates: make sure all gates around the house have child-resistant latches and/or locks.

• Poisons: make another trip around the house to make sure that all poisons, detergents, dishwashing powders and liquids, medicines, tablets, are safely out of reach. Check the bathroom, kitchen, laundry, garage and bedrooms especially carefully.

• Keep all plastic bags out of reach.

• Take the doors off old fridges in the garage

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OUR MARITAL HEALTH/OWNING AND OPERATING YOUR OWN SEX CLINIC: FINDING OUT WHO’S THE MATTER WITH US – SEXUAL PROBLEMS AT HOT TIMES IN YOUR LIFE

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:34:07 +0000

At those times when we are running “hot,” when we are feeling hostile, impatient, competitive, and suffering from “hurry illness, “we are in a phase of what I call maladaptive hyperarousal. My interviews indicated that asking about how people were “running” in this regard led to more information than asking how their genitals were working. In “diagnosing” your sexual relationship, ask first if the two of you seem on a “hot” cycle of personal and marital pressure: excessive responsibilities, and feelings of too much to do in too little time, of hyperreaction and agitation.

If you are running hot, your neurohormonal system runs hot too, and the biochemistry of your sexual system interferes with your natural sexual reflex system. These are the hot problems that might result:

MALE

Seminal seepage (losing ejaculate without contractions)

Hyperarousal

Ejaculatory urgency (feelings of not being able to control pelvic contractions)

Shortening of refractory period

Absence of psychasms

Diminished afterglow

Hypersensitivity of F- and/or and R-area response

Diminished contemplation

Pelvic reflex addiction or maladaptive hypersexuality (loss of intimacy)

FEMALE

Skene’s glands or urinary emission without contractions

Hyperarousal

“Emission” urgency (feeling of not being able to control pelvic contractions)

Shortening of refractory period

Absence of psychasms

Diminished afterglow

Hypersensitivity of G- and/or C-area response

Diminished contemplation

Pelvic reflex addiction or maladaptive hypersexuality (loss of intimacy)

All of these “hot” problems are natural responses to daily living styles. There is no reference to lack of orgasm or psychasm in intercourse because the couples reported that coital orgasm was not a major concern. They learned to focus on their feelings and interactions in the general sexual relationship and the interaction between sex and living. They were trying to learn “who,” not “what” was the matter with their sexual life.

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THE DESEXUALIZATION OF THE AMERICAN MARRIAGE: SEXUAL DIS-EASE IN AMERICAN MARRIAGE

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:10:48 +0000

You’d think it would be great for us in bed. But somehow we just don’t mesh. It doesn’t work out. It’s not a Dr. Ruth problem, jusi that something is missing.

WIFE

As a review of this chapter and to get ready for the following lessons in super marital sex, I have provided a brief quiz for you and your spouse. Discuss each item together and score your marriage on a 0-to-10 scale. Scoring 100 points could mean two things. First, you are completely free of the pressures on American marriage I have discussed. Second, you are cheating on this test! We all have these pressures. The idea is to begin to reduce them to make way for a super marriage.

This test and others you will be taking in this book are based on a scoring system of degrees, not yes or no. All systems, particularly marital systems, change. Just the fact that you are taking a test on your marriage changes your marriage. Score and discuss each item in degrees, trends, indications, not absolutes. It will take some time for you to get used to this type of scoring, but learning to see your relationship as an adapting system is a major step in strengthening your marriage and helping it function in harmony with the rules of all world systems.

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PNEUMONIA – CONCLUSION

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:52:02 +0000

Acute bronchitis, like most of the other respiratory infections, may be due to either viruses or bacteria. It usually involves the trachea or windpipe first and then moves down to involve larger and then smaller bronchi. It may follow such illnesses as measles, influenza, whooping cough or typhoid fever.

There is a moderate fever with a cough, initially dry and then productive of sputum and sometimes, a wheeze. The condition can worsen and lead to bronchopneumonia.

Chronic bronchitis is not an infective disease. It is a condition where there is a marked and chronic increase in the amount of secretion by the bronchial tubes. Sputum is coughed up continuously. The illness is caused mainly by smoking and atmospheric pollution.

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CORONARY – MAINLY TREATMENT

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:24:30 +0000

Coronary artery disease has reached epidemic proportions in most of the highly developed countries. The risk factors are well known, but we have not accepted them nor taken steps to reduce their influence.

Once this disease is established, the treatment is mainly medical. Over the past 15 years, a surgical technique to improve the outlook has been developed. This is coronary bypass surgery.

In the past, operations to transplant arteries from the chest wall into the heart were tried and then abandoned as of no value.

This new operation has proved to be worthwhile and around 1400 are being done in Australia each year.

There are three main coronary arteries and any, or all, may be involved in the atheromatous changes and narrowed.

What is done is that a vein, usually the long saphenous vein from the leg, is taken and implanted into the aorta. The other end is joined to the coronary artery below the narrowed portion.

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CIRCUMCISION – EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE

admin — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:23:13 +0000

Circumcision just before or during puberty may produce considerable emotional disturbance.

Some psychiatrists talk of the psychological shock to the infant circumcised without anaesthetic but this is difficult to prove.

Your doctor is not being irresponsible if he carries out your request to circumcise your son. Many doctors still consider this a necessary procedure. Others have no strong feeling either way and will agree to operate if the parents wish, but will not recommend it. Others are strongly opposed to circumcision and will not accede to the parents’ wishes. As in other areas of medicine, there are different views on what is correct treatment.

If circumcision has been the habit in your family, discuss with your doctor whether you should go ahead and have your son circumcised. You have the right to request it but your doctor also has the right to refuse if he does not think it necessary.

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YOUR CANCER YOUR LIFE – CHARACTERISTICS OF MALIGNANT TUMOURS (CANCER); INABILITY TO DIFFERENTIATE NORMALLY

admin — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:06:19 +0000

Cancer growths are made up of cells which belong to our body but which have stopped behaving in a cooperative and orderly fashion. The following four features apply (with a few minor exceptions) to all malignant growths or cancers:

1.The cells cannot differentiate normally.

2. The growth of the cells is, to a large extent, outside of the body’s control.

3. The cells can spread to other parts of the body (metastasize).

4. The cells can invade and damage nearby normal body cells.

There is a great deal of variation in the differentiation of cancers. Even with one cancer growth, some areas are more differentiated than others. This is one of the reasons why the pathologist might ask for another specimen if he or she has trouble making a definite diagnosis. The pathologist would be hoping to get a more differentiated specimen which contained more clues to the origin of the cells.

As a general rule, the more differentiated a cancer is, that is, the more closely its cells resemble those from which they originated, Wgt. more favourable the outlook. More differentiated cancers tend to grow more slowly, spread later and damage adjacent cells less than the undifferentiated cancers.

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