Herbal Health

Once a diagnosis has been made the gynaecologist should mark the size and location of all your implants, cysts, endometriomas and adhesions on a drawing or prepared chart of the reproductive organs. If you have any endometrial implants or cysts located outside the pelvic cavity such as on the bowel or cervix, the gynaecologist will make a note of the location of those implants and cysts somewhere on the chart. Similarly, if any other conditions, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, are found these will also be noted.

Because of the progressive and recurrent nature of endometriosis it is important that an accurate chart of your endometriosis be made at the time of your diagnostic laparoscopy. The chart will provide a record of the initial extent of your endometriosis that can be compared at a later date with the charts made during any subsequent laparoscopics so that an accurate assessment can be made of the progress of your condition.

The information gained from the laparoscopy and the chart is then used to rate the extent and severity of your condition. There are several formal classification systems which have been developed, the most widely known being a system developed by the American Fertility Society. These classification systems generally allocate a certain number of points to each implant or cyst depending on its nature, size and location and the total number of points is then used to classify the severity of the condition.

For example, according to the American Fertility Society’s classification scheme, a woman with a four centimetre endometrioma on one ovary, some adhesions on both ovaries and implants in the Pouch of Douglas would score a total of 30 points (20 + 2 + 2 + 6) which would be defined as moderate endometriosis (16-40 points).

However it appears that few gynaecologists in Australia use any of the formal classification systems. Their classification of the disease is usually based on their visual impression gained from the laparoscopy.

The four categories most commonly used to classify endometriosis are minimal, mild, moderate and severe. The terms stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV are also used occasionally. A brief description and diagram of a typical example of each category is shown in Fig.9 on p.56.

It is important to remember that the classification system only rates the extent and severity of your endometriosis and your classification does not necessarily bear any relationship to the severity of your symptoms. Minimal or mild endometriosis can cause severe symptoms while severe endometriosis can sometimes cause no symptoms.

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Filed under: Women's Health Tags: by admin Date 8 May, 2009
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The height of your bed from the floor is another major factor that

should be taken into account. The NBPA suggests that you should ask yourself two questions, both about your present bed and when considering buying a new one:

Can you get off and on the bed easily?

Is the bed of a height that will be comfortable for making each day and changing bedding?

If your bed is too low but otherwise perfectly okay, there’s no need to buy a new one as you usually can make it higher either by buying special extensions for its legs or, if it has legs that screw in, replacing these with longer ones. However, be sure that whatever you do will be solid enough to take the weight safely. For example, just placing a bed’s four legs on blocks of wood could mean that one of the legs may slip off eventually, perhaps making the bed suddenly tilt sharply while you’re asleep.

A bed that’s too high can be lowered by sawing its feet. Do be absolutely sure, however, that the resulting height will be the right one for you as cutting an inch or two off the legs is one thing, gluing the pieces back, quite another!

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Filed under: Pain Relief-Muscle Relaxers Tags: by admin Date 29 April, 2009
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Sometimes one type of psychiatric condition can mimic another. For example, an accountant in his mid-forties was referred to me for treatment of his low mood. He was very discouraged about his work, where he was constantly in trouble for procrastinating.

He was very intelligent and had no difficulty understanding the complexities of his clients’ finances but somehow he had insurmountable problems with deadlines. He would leave things until the last minute, stay up all night working crazily and would almost always succeed in getting the work done on time. But these last-minute all-nighters were becoming tiresome not only to my patient but to his associates as well. As a consequence he was under pressure to work in a more steady and even manner and he was depressed at his difficulties in doing so.

Careful questioning revealed that he had suffered from atten-tional difficulties since childhood, had never performed up to his potential and had always relied upon the intense pressure of deadlines and the prospects of failure to motivate himself to get anything done. In lectures and classes he would lose track of what the lecturer or teacher was saying. He was extremely distractable and often left tasks – particularly boring and unpleasant ones such as paperwork – half completed as his attention shifted to something which at that moment he found more interesting. I diagnosed him as suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD), prescribed Ritalin, a stimulant, and recommended certain behavioural changes in the way he approached his work. He responded immediately and favourably and his mood improved as well. He turned out to be someone whose depressed mood was the result of another problem which responded to treatments that were specifically helpful for that condition. An anti-depressant alone would have been unlikely to correct his fundamental problem, namely his attentional difficulties.

Even if a person is indeed depressed, it is worth going to see a doctor to determine whether some other treatable condition may be present in addition to the depression. Shakespeare noted that ‘when sorrows come, they come not as single spies but in battalions.’ And so it is that depression is often accompanied by some other condition, such as a drug or alcohol problem, attention deficit disorder or an eating disorder. If these conditions are present they deserve to be treated in their own right with the appropriate treatment. People with more than one condition often require more than one type of treatment to get the best results.

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Filed under: Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid Tags: by admin Date 29 April, 2009
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The human brain contains about 100 000 million nerve cells, each of which is connected to many others—perhaps as many as 50 000 others. The brain is the organ of our thinking and of our memory. It integrates information from the outside world and so allows us to perceive objects and events around us. It organizes our response to these events by movements or other action. It organizes our social behaviour.

Messages are passed between nerve cells by the extraordinarily rapid secretion of tiny packets of specialized chemicals known as neurotransmitters. As a neurotransmitter acts on the next cell in a chain, a brief electric current is generated. These can be recorded by very fine wires placed next to or in a nerve cell, but they are not large enough to be recorded externally over the skin of the head. However, some cells act in rhythmic concert, and these rhythms can be detected as the electroencephalogram (EEG) over the skin of the hands by small electrodes amplified, recorded on tape or disc, and displayed on a moving strip of paper or screen.

Some messages received by a nerve cell are inhibitory—they dampen down the activity of the receiving cell; some are excitatory, enhancing its activity. The receiving nerve cell computes, as it were, these contrasting messages, which determine its own action.

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Filed under: Epilepsy Tags: by admin Date 28 April, 2009
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Hepatitis B, the type of viral hepatitis that is conveyed from person to person in “biological fluids,” is a potential risk of transfusions when the blood obtained from an unknown donor who might be a hepatitis carrier.

Normally, we would not expect to become infected with this virus merely by touching surfaces that have been contaminated with fluid droplets from a carrier, unless our skin at the contact site had been scratched, cut, or pricked (thereby simulating the conditions of a transfusion or injection). Now, however, the British Medical Journal (284:84) points out, the skin of eczema or psoriasis victims is so permeable that, even without injury, it allows virus particles to pass through into the body’s interior. To avoid such infection, therefore, the Journal article recommends that chronic skin disease victims should be immunized with the new Hepatitis B vaccine.

Since many other potentially dangerous microorganisms lurk in moisture droplets on all kinds of surfaces, particularly in public places, people with chronic skin diseases should make a habit of touching things away from home as little as possible and should carefully wash and dry the skin whenever such contact is unavoidable.

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Filed under: General health Tags: by admin Date 28 April, 2009
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Signs and symptoms

The key sign of a hernia is a bulge in one of the typical locations: just above the crease of the groin; in the scrotum of a boy; in the labia majora of a girl; below the crease of the groin; just above or below the navel; or at the navel.

A hernia in any of these locations is called a simple hernia if the contents of the sac can be reduced (pushed gently back into the abdominal cavity). If a hernia cannot be reduced, it is called incarcerated. Simple and incarcerated hernias often produce no discomfort or pain; they may merely cause a sense of heaviness. If the blood supply to the contents of the hernia is cut off, it is said to be strangulated. A strangulated hernia causes intense pain and swelling.

Home care

If there is any sign of a hernia, see your doctor.

A simple hernia can be temporarily reduced by gentle pressure while the child is relaxed – in a tub of warm water if necessary. Trusses and belts to keep a hernia reduced are useless and may be harmful or even dangerous. Strapping an umbilical hernia is considered of no benefit.

Precautions

• A strangulated hernia is a medical emergency that requires immediate (within hours) surgical correction. Signs that a hernia has become strangulated are swelling; severe pain; and sometimes nausea, vomiting, and extreme weakness or collapse. If any signs of a strangulated hernia appear, take your child to a doctor or hospital emergency department immediately.

• Never attempt to reduce a strangulated hernia.

Medical treatment

Surgical repair is required for all except umbilical hernias. An umbilical hernia usually cures itself. Since inguinal hernias often appear on both sides, the surgeon may correct both sides even though only one side is visibly herniated.

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Filed under: General health Tags: by admin Date 28 April, 2009
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Soya is probably the best-known genetically modified food. Up to 60 per cent of processed foods contain soya, including bread, biscuits, pizza and baby food. Lecithin, contained in many foods, is also made from soya. Just what proportion of that 60 per cent is now genetically modified we do not know, but we can probably assume that it is quite considerable. Other genetically modified foods on sale in the UK are maize, tomato paste and cheese containing chymosin (genetically modified rennet used to harden the cheese).

Since September 1998, manufacturers have been obliged to label products containing genetically modified DNA. However, this labeling only applies to genetically modified soya and maize (corn) products and only where protein or DNA can be detected in the final product by laboratory screening. Foods containing soya oil, refined starches, and additives (such as emulsifiers and lecithins) are excluded. Greenpeace estimate this means that 90 per cent of foods containing genetically modified products are unlabelled. Since the latter part of 1999, because of public opposition to GM foods, supermarkets have been claiming that they have less than 1 per cent GM foods on their shelves and they are trying to go lower than that.

Genetic engineering involves manipulating the basic DNA of a plant or animal. This happens naturally in evolution of course, but with nature in charge the process normally takes hundreds if not thousands of years. It is this process which ensures that the fittest of the species survive. But the gene manipulation that humans are now tinkering with bypasses evolution, and we don’t know as yet what the price will be. In order to smuggle these new genes across the species barrier, scientists use infectious agents (viruses and bacteria).Then the antibiotic-resistant genes are used as genetic markers to allow the scientists to track the movements of these new genes. In one instance a nut gene was inserted into a soya bean and people with allergies to nuts became allergic to the soya milk. This would have posed a very serious risk for anyone with a nut allergy who would have had no idea that the soya milk contained a nut gene.

Even the scientists disagree violently as to the value and dangers of genetically modified foods. So the only sensible thing to do is to try to avoid them when you shop for food.

The Vegetarian Society has announced that, from August 1999, all foods bearing the ‘V symbol will have to be free from genetically modified products. Provamel, the market leader for soya products in the UK, have stated that their foods are free from genetically modified material and have implemented a system to trace the soya from seed to final production. Also, at the moment, if a food is labeled organic it is not genetically modified. My advice is to avoid genetically modified foods where possible by buying organic and reading the labels. If we as consumers consciously do not buy these foods then eventually there may not be a market for them.

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Filed under: Women's Health Tags: by admin Date 23 April, 2009
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When the Levee Breaks

That mean old levee sure does make us weep and moan-especially when it breaks. Flash floods can happen anywhere there are streams and sewers. And in the time it takes to soft-boil an egg, rising flood waters can hit peaks of 30 feet or more. Take flash flood warnings very seriously. You only have minutes or seconds to act.

Get high. A flood watch means that a flood is possible. A warning means that it’s coming very soon. When you hear a watch, move your furniture and valuables to higher floors in your home and fill your gas tank. If you hear a warning, be ready to evacuate the area and find higher ground on a moment’s notice, according to the American Red Cross.

Abandon ship. “If you’re in your car, do not drive into the water. I don’t care how shallow it looks,” implores Johnson. Cars are easily swept away in just two feet of water. If the water’s rising quickly around your car, get out and climb to higher ground.

Don’t go in the water. If you’re in your house and the basement has flooded, don’t go downstairs to investigate. You don’t know what has happened to the electrical system. The water can be charged and you can get a good shock. Once all the water has cleared, don’t try restoring the power or heat yourself; you could start a fire. Call professionals.

The Eye of the Storm

When it comes to tropical storms, be thankful that you don’t live in Bangladesh. A cyclone on this island south of India wiped out 139,000 people in 1991. Another killed 300,000 in 1970. In other parts of the world, where we give these cyclonic storms pet names and call them hurricanes, the death tolls aren’t so dramatic, but the devastation is still enormous.

Shop for the season. If you live in a hurricane-prone area, you should keep your food and medical necessities stocked up during late summer and early fall-prime hurricane season. After a severe hurricane, you can go as long as seven days without power or transportation.

Listen to the radio. A watch means that a hurricane may hit your area. A warning means that it will. During a watch, make sure that your car has gas; that you have any important papers, IDs, and daily medications that you need; and that you have a well-planned escape route. When there’s a warning, bring garbage cans and other large objects inside the garage or house. Shut off water, electricity, and gas. Close your shutters or put up plywood over your windows.

Wait the storm out-completely. If you’re there when the storm hits, and you’re told not to evacuate, the safest place to be is underground, such as in a basement. Be sure to stay away from windows. Stay tuned to the weather on a battery-powered radio until authorities issue an “all clear”. Often when the storm seems to subside, it’s really only the calm “eye” of the hurricane and the worst is yet to come. Plus, just to make you feel better, tornadoes can follow hurricanes.

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Filed under: General health Tags: by admin Date 23 April, 2009
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Do the results last? This answer must be qualified by explaining the varying sets of circumstances which occur. What is regarded as a long time? What sort of results is being referred to? The easiest way to answer this whole question will be to outline the general reactions and characteristics involved when people use this product.

The majority of people begin to experience relief after about two to three weeks of taking the mussel extract capsules. The relief is usually in the form of a gradual but progressive daily reduction in pain and an increase in mobility. The subjects generally find that three to seven weeks of regular dosage produces a satisfactory condition which may last from a month or two to several years without any recurrence of symptoms. On the other hand, there are people who need up to fourteen or fifteen weeks of regular dosage before experiencing any benefit. Most of those who do benefit from this treatment have results which last for at least several months without any need to take more capsules. If a recurrence does occur, then a repeat dosage usually relieves the symptoms again within a week or two.

It is well known that people react in different ways to medication and the treatment under discussion is no exception to this fact. There are some who, having obtained a satisfactory relief of symptoms, begin to regress within a week of giving up the capsules. However, if these subjects take a small daily maintenance dose of one or two capsules they can remain trouble-free indefinitely. It is important to stress that the extract, taken in this way, is harmless, which is not the case with many medications.

We can therefore expect long-term relief from our treatment from the ocean. If, as in some cases, a repeat or daily maintenance course is needed. It is safe and does not involve hazards from side-effects. What sort of relief of symptoms are we to expect? Relief and benefit are relative in terms: a person who has just lost everything at the races and then finds enough money somewhere for a meal and the fare home might experience ‘relief’, but of a rather low degree!

Generally speaking, an excellent degree of relief can be expected. Once again, of course, people differ, but most cases should experience freedom from pain and the restoration of mobility. Let us look at the two ends of the scale of improvement.

At the minimum end of the scale there are cases where the patient has been on intensive drug therapy for many years and, as a result, is quite ill in many ways other than arthritis. By using the mussel extract under the guidance and care of a doctor some of these paints recovered to the extent that they were completely weaned off all drug therapy and maintained a reasonably stable condition. It must be pointed out that the patients are still crippled and deformed from the original effects of the arthritis and they still require regular medical attention.

The most dramatic thing about this type of case, however, is the change in the person’s appearance and health generally. Once a patient has been weaned off the drug therapy, the syndromes and side-effects created by this treatment begin to disappear and the result is a much healthier, though still crippled, person.

At the other end of the scale, patients who have been bedridden, confined to a wheelchair, or who have needed crutches to get about, have regained their natural freedom of movement. There is no need to claim that these are ‘miracle cures. Most people are ‘average’ arthritics, displaying characteristic symptoms and showing a reasonable degree of improvement. It is, however, perfectly true to say that some people have been able to resume a normal life pattern after being severely handicapped. Quite obviously, these people could have achieved these dramatic results on any therapy which happened to suit their particular condition. It has happened that the extract has been just the treatment they needed. What has been of great significance is the fact that these dramatic cases have not been a temporary change. The results are still as good several years after they first occurred.

Between these extremes fall the majority of cases. Examples here would include people who can write or knit again after being unable to hold a pen or needles. Other cases showed a renewed ability to unscrew bottle tops, zip up the back of a dress and bend to fasten shoes, or hold a cup of tea without spilling half of it. One lady described her benefit by pointing out that she was able to get her children off to school and to cut sandwiches for their lunches. This may not sound very exciting to those who have never experienced the frustration and despair created when simple, everyday functions like these become impossible. To the person involved it is very exciting indeed and the degree of independence also restored is invaluable.

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Filed under: Arthritis Tags: by admin Date 23 April, 2009
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Eating disorders can arise from biological imbalances, emotional turmoil, and cognitive distortions. The best treatment is one that takes all of these components into account. Let me illustrate. Imagine a car with bad brakes careening out of control down a steep hill during the middle of a rainstorm. Behind the wheel is someone who never learned how to drive a car. A formula for disaster! Given unrestricted powers, how might someone intervene to restore control of the car?

Well, if we could somehow level out the hill so it was no longer as steep, the car would eventually roll to a stop. Perhaps, too, a mechanic could leap aboard and fix the brakes. At the same time we could broadcast a quick course in driver education over the car radio, teaching the driver how to relax and ease up on the gas. And by setting up a giant canopy, we could keep off the rain and reduce the slipperiness of the road surface.

As a biopsychiatrist, I see parallels between this scenario and the treatment of eating disorders.

The slope of the hill represents the physical, or biological, component. If I can “level off” the peaks and valleys (reducing the chemical imbalances, or decreasing the starvation or the bingeing and purging), I can return the patient to a more even course of eating. Medical therapy-the use of everything from controlled nutrition to certain medications-comes into play here.

Behavioral and cognitive therapies work to fix the way a patient behaves and thinks by showing her how to apply the brakes and bring her disordered habits under control.

By teaching her about the dangers of starvation or self-induced vomiting, educational therapy equips her with the strategies she needs to make sensible eating choices.

Individual and group therapies that address her feelings help her to ease up on the gas and stop supplying the emotional fuel that propels her erratic behavior.

Last, by improving her relationships with significant people in her life, for example, through family therapy, we might provide her with a dry surface, a road through life on which she can maneuver with greater confidence and stability.

Lisa’s story shows this principle in action. Medications helped her deal with the biological issues, including her depression. Behavioral therapy showed her how to change bad habits. Cognitive therapy helped her learn new ways to handle stress. Through individual and group therapy she explored her feelings and improved her relationships, and the “twelve-step” approach of Alcoholics Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous reduced her dependencies on alcohol and food. Though family therapy wasn’t an option in her case, many patients do benefit from this approach.

Treatment that focuses on one element and ignores others may be ineffective. For example, “talking” therapy in which disordered eating behavior is not addressed may lack a crucial ingredient for success. The twelve-step approach of Overeaters Anonymous may be doomed to fail if the patient has a biologically caused depression. For an anorexic, restoring weight without altering distorted attitudes may merely be a “quick fix” whose results won’t last over time. Similarly, fad diets or the megavitamin and food-allergy approaches may seem to work, at least temporarily, but their results are only a placebo effect that provides the passing illusion of a successful cure.

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Filed under: Weight Loss Tags: by admin Date 23 April, 2009
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