BABY AND CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES: HEAD ROLLING, HEAD BANGING AND ROCKING
Towards the end of the first year many infants resort to strange habits, such as banging the head, rolling the head or rocking the head and body when lying in the cot. Often this is more common when they are tired and as they are about to fall asleep. Many finally drop off into slumber.
Some infants pull at their hair, others knock and bruise themselves, particularly their arms. It may be an indication of boredom, or relief from tension. It has been related to adults drumming a desk with their fingers, or tapping the floor with their toes, or making other rhythmical movements when under stress.
Some parents fear the child may be mentally defective, or that the child is masturbating.
Treatment
It is worth having the infant examined by the family doctor if fears are held for his mental state. If the child obviously relates well to others and is making satisfactory mental and physical progress for his age, mental disorders can usually be ruled out. Most cases tend to settle down. Simple methods to prevent the child from mechanically injuring himself are worthwhile, such as padding the sharp edges and corners of the cot. Sedative medication is often prescribed, but this gives only temporary respite and is virtually useless. Most cases settle down in due course as they become older, and the problem automatically vanishes.
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OATS
(Avena sativa)
This grain, common in the Western diet, has become fashionable in recent years for its bran’s ability to control cholestrol levels in the blood. It is the inositol in oat bran, a B-complex vitamin, which helps to increase the blood’s ratio of high density lipoproteins to the cholestrol-rich low density lipoproteins. While the miraculous properties of oat bran may have been exaggerated, a deficiency of inositol can certainly lead to a significant increase in blood cholestrol levels.
As a source of fibre, oat bran is considered superior to wheat bran as it will not scour the bowel. In cases of severe bowel irritation however, laxatives such as psyllium should be used instead.
Oats in their wholegrain and rolled forms are an excellent source of protein, Vitamin B1, calcium, iron and silicon. The aforementioned inositol also aids the body’s absorption of zinc. A tea made of oat straw is sometimes recommended for chest and skin complaints. The skin toning properties of oats are widely recognised and oatmeal is an ingredient in many natural facial scrubs and face packs.
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COMMON CAUSES OF ANXIETY: SEXUAL CAUSES OF TENSION
Sexual Causes of Tension-At the present time there is a tendency to lay great emphasis on sex, and the tensions of both young and old are often ascribed to some disharmony in their sex life without due consideration of other factors. This line of approach is particularly common with the amateur psychologist. In evaluating the situation it is well for us to realize that sexual conflicts are in fact a very important cause of anxiety, but that conflicts in other areas are also important, and that anxiety often results from a summation of stresses arising from various problems.
There is another factor which makes it difficult to assess the significance of sexual troubles as a cause of anxiety. People have a tendency to give socially acceptable explanations for things. A man is working hard at his office; there are many difficult problems, and he has to work late at night. He will readily tell you this is the cause of his anxiety, and in a way it is true enough; but he does not readily discuss the tension he feels as a result of his being involved with his secretary. The patient often gives these false explanations quite knowingly for the simple reason that he is too ashamed to admit the real cause to the doctor. In other cases, the patient is too ashamed to admit the true cause even to himself. In these circumstances he believes that he is speaking the truth when he gives the socially acceptable reason as the cause of his trouble.
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PAIN IN THE NECK-HELPING YOURSELF WHEN YOU’RE ALONE
Now although massage usually works best when you’re being soothed by the hands of someone you know and trust — and even better when it’s someone you love—it’s perfectly possible to give yourself fingertip massage of the forehead, if you’re all on your own when a headache begins. If you sit in your most relaxed position, you’ll probably find that you can soothe quite a lot of pain away. It’s also possible to massage your own scalp. This usually works best if you make the skin move under your fingers.
Stiff necks and aches at the nape of the neck are rather more of a problem, of course, because you can’t massage your own spine. If your shoulders are stiff and aching, you can ease a lot of tension by rotating them gently round and round. Imagine you have a pencil stitched on to your shirt so that it lies neatly along the shoulder seam, and you’re using it to draw a circle in the air. Rotate one shoulder and then the other. Make sure your shoulders have dropped into their most relaxed position.
Pain at the nape of your neck can be eased in a similar way by rotating your head, rolling it slowly and gently round and round and at the same time massaging the top of your spine with a gentle pinching movement between thumb and fingers. Start at the nape of your neck and gradually move higher and higher up your spine until you reach your hairline. Both these exercises should help you to be aware of the places where your spine and shoulders are too tense for comfort, and help you to relax them into an easier position.
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THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF ALLERGIES: WAXES
Although many shoppers are unaware of the fact, certain fruits and vegetables are sold with a coating of paraffin wax. The wax on parsnips and rutabagas is so thick that you can scrape it off with your fingernail. But other so-called fresh produce, such as cucumbers, green peppers, and apples, are often sprayed with a light coating of paraffin to improve their appearance and shelf life. Not surprisingly, this petroleum-derived wax can contribute to the health problems of susceptible persons.
Some people think it is safe to eat such foods if they simply peel the wax away. But wax particles stick to the cut surfaces of waxed fruits and vegetables. To prove this, you simply have to peel a parsnip or other heavily waxed vegetable and then dip it into boiling water. Wax droplets may rise to the surface of the water, despite the fact that you supposedly removed the wax through peeling.
Peeling a commercial cucumber or apple is more effective in removing the wax. But these produce may still contain other chemical residues that can cause problems.
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DEHYDRATION IN CHILDREN
Dehydration is a serious loss of body fluids. It occurs when the body is losing more fluids than it is taking in. When an excessive amount of body fluid is lost, the body loses the water, minerals, and salts contained in the fluid. Proper amounts of water, minerals, and salts are essential to health and to life.
Several conditions may cause the body to lose an excessive amount of water, minerals, and salts. Diarrhea, vomiting, and excessive sweating are common causes of dehydration. Illnesses that cause excessive breathing (such as asthma) may cause the child to lose water vapor from the lungs. Illnesses that cause excessive urination (such as diabetes) may also cause dehydration.
The smaller the child, the more quickly dehydration can develop. In young infants, dehydration occurs as rapidly as 12 to 24 hours after the start of any cause of dehydration (such as diarrhea or vomiting). A child who is not losing extra fluids will rarely become dehydrated simply by taking in fewer liquids. Except in young infants and in children with diabetes, the kidneys can compensate for a smaller intake of liquids. However, a small intake of liquids in a child who is also losing fluids causes dehydration to occur even more rapidly.
Signs and symptoms
Except in a child with diabetes, a sign of dehydration is a smaller output of urine. A young child who goes six to eight hours without urinating, or an older child who does not urinate for ten to 12 hours, may be dehydrated. Other signs of dehydration include sunken eyes; drowsiness; rapid or slow breathing; and depression (sinking in) of the soft spot in an infant’s skull. The membranes inside the mouth may feel dry when touched by a finger. The skin may feel less flexible than usual when pinched between the thumb and forefinger.
Home cake
If a child shows any symptoms of dehydration, call your doctor. If the child is vomiting, stop the vomiting first. With any condition that causes fluid loss (including prolonged high fever), you should encourage your child to drink extra fluids. The best liquids to give a child with increased fluid loss are commercial fluids that contain proper salts and sugar. Other good liquids are gelatin desserts (liquid or gelled); weak tea with sugar; ginger ale, colas, and other carbonated drinks. Plain water is less helpful. Milk products should be avoided.
Precautions
• Do not give undiluted skim milk and boiled whole milk to a child who is losing fluids. Their salt and mineral content is too great for the child to tolerate.
• If symptoms of dehydration develop, contact your doctor. The younger the child, the more urgent the situation. Diarrhea in infants can be very serious.
• The amount of urine output cannot help detect dehydration in a diabetic child.
Medical treatment
Your doctor will diagnose and treat the condition that is causing dehydration. Your child may be admitted to a hospital to be given intravenous fluids and salts. The child may be tested for the amounts of salts and minerals in the body.
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AGE EXTENDERS: HEALING HERBS
Protecting against aging. Sometimes it seems like everybody’s anti this or anti that. Well, that holds true for some herbal remedies, too. Grape seed, for example, is antioxidant. Oxidation is basically the body’s equivalent of rust, at the cellular level. It tears down, weakens, and ultimately kills cells that make up our skin and tissues-a process associated with aging and degenerative diseases. Antioxidants, which are found mainly in fruits and vegetables, help counter the cellular wear and tear. How much grape seed should you use? Follow the instructions on the label, says Dr. Tyler.
Ending constipation, reducing cholesterol, guarding against colon cancer. All you have to do is drink slime. That’s right. Nice, slimy psyllium in water. Take it flavored or unflavored. Take it as raw husks (which you’ll find at the health food store) or as ground-up seeds like those contained in the commercial preparation called Metamucil (which you’ll find in the supermarket, along with less-expensive generic versions). Use psyllium daily, says Dr. Tyler, with water and other liquids. Lots of liquid-that’s key. This bulking fiber, used daily or more often, gently pushes wastes through the intestinal tract. “It acts like a giant sponge going through the gut, swabbing it out. And it tends to remove carcinogens before they can have much effect,” Dr. Tyler says. As an extra added bonus, psyllium can cut cholesterol, too. For regularity, though, you have to use it, um, regularly. Follow the instructions on the label.
Feeling mote vital. Studies show that taking ginseng, along with a multivitamin, lifts spirits and, in general, makes a man feel better, Dr. Tyler says. It’s a tonic. Of the many products on the market, the concentration of ginsenosides may vary. Buy a standardized extract that contains 4 percent of the active ingredient ginsenosides, and follow the dosage on the label, he says.
An herb called Siberian ginseng, which really is not a member of the true ginseng family, works similarly, says Terry Willard, Ph.D., herbalist. Dr. Willard suggests taking from 500 to 1,000 milligrams of Siberian ginseng twice daily.
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BEFORE OPERATION ON BREAST CANCER: PREPARATION FOR ANESTHESIA
You will be told not to have anything to eat or drink for at least 6 hours before your operation (‘nil by mouth’). The reason for this is that any food or drink left in your stomach when you are anaesthetized could cause you to be sick and to choke on your vomit.
While you are still on the ward, you will be given your ‘pre-med/, if you are to have one, and any medicines you normally take. You will then be taken to the operating theatre, probably on a hospital trolley. You may go first into the anesthetic room or straight into the operating theatre to be given your anesthetic.
The anesthetist, or an assistant, will ask you several questions to confirm your identity and make sure that you are the right person in the right place. Your identity bands will also be checked. Many people have many types of operations each day in a hospital, and these checks, which may be repeated, are essential to make sure no mistakes are made.
The anesthetist will then fit various monitoring devices to watch over you while you are asleep. A probe may be attached to your finger to measure the amount of oxygen in your blood; some sticky pads may be put on your chest so that your heart beat can be recorded on an electrocardiograph; and a cuff may be put around your arm to measure your blood pressure. All these monitoring devices enable the anesthetist to make sure that the anesthetic remains effective and that you remain well during surgery.
A plastic cannula will be put into a vein in the back of your hand, and any drugs will be introduced into your body through this.
Once the anesthetist is happy with the readings from the monitors, your anesthesia can start.
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ASKING ABOUT ENDOMETRIOSIS
Is endometriosis becoming more common?
There is much debate as to whether or not endometriosis is becoming more common.
Some gynaecologists believe that there has been an increase in the actual number of women who have endometriosis. These gynaecologists believe that the condition has become more common because women are having fewer children and having them later in life-two factors which they believe predispose women to developing endometriosis.
Other gynaecologists believe that there has only been an increase in the number of women being diagnosed. The rate at which endometriosis has been diagnosed has certainly increased over the last 30 years, particularly since the introduction of laparoscopy in the early 1970s. This does not mean that the condition is more common than it was 30 or 40 years ago. It is more likely to mean that the condition is being diagnosed more frequently because the introduction of laparoscopy has made it much easier to diagnose and because there is a greater awareness and recognition of the condition by the medical profession.
The increased rate of diagnosis could also be a reflection of the fact that nowadays women are less likely to accept that some of the symptoms of endometriosis such as period pain and heavy bleeding are a normal part of a woman’s life. Consequently they are more persistent in seeking a diagnosis-and treatment-for their symptoms.
What type of woman gets endometriosis?
Traditionally, gynaecologists have described the typical woman with endometriosis as being white, middle class, career-oriented, intelligent, a perfectionist, over-anxious, ambitious, obsessive, and underweight, in her 30s or 40s with a stressful career and who has deliberately delayed childbearing to pursue an education or career. Such a description is a myth, derived from the impressions and judgments of a few of the leading gynaecologists of the 1930s and 40s. Nevertheless, the myth has been handed down as fact to other gynaecologists. Not one of the descriptions has been scientifically proven and many have been refuted. With improved diagnosis-since the introduction of the laparoscopy – endometriosis has been found in the entire spectrum of women. However, some doctors still believe the traditional description or parts of it-and the preconceived idea still persists in many of the current medical textbooks and journals and popular literature.
Inaccurately, endometriosis is still frequently referred to as ‘the career woman’s disease’.
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PREVENTIVE MEDECINE: COPING WITH STRESS
A large number of people harbour negative feelings such as hate, distrust and resentment, sometimes holding on to grievances for years. These feelings work away inside them to make them ill even though the source of the problem is often someone else. Whilst serious grudges and really intransigent problems may need professional insights and expertise, many such negative emotions can be overcome by individuals themselves once they realize that they are doing themselves more harm than anyone else. The starting point is to realize that the past is done and gone and that nothing can undo what we have done. The aim should be to come to terms with what has happened and then try to make amends for it in some way. Often simply having the strength to say ‘sorry’ after many years can lift a burden off your shoulders. Sometimes such feelings are best put down in writing rather than discussed face to face, or it may be better to open the door in writing and then meet to talk it out. Very few people can throw a heart-felt apology back in someone’s face and if time has healed the emotional wounds even a little then things can go very well from there. It was a wise man who said, ‘He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass’
The secret of all attitudes, beliefs and behaviour is to know yourself and to have insights into these facets of yourself. This can be very difficult but there are excellent books that can help. Perhaps one of the best is ‘I’m OK-You’re OK’ by Dr Thomas Harris. A few sessions with an insight-trained counselor of some kind can also be invaluable in opening doors for you which then alter the whole way you think in the future. It pays to listen to what good friends say too. There are few people who will be really honest with you in life and, ironically, your partner may not be the best person.
So many emotions, types of behaviour and beliefs are destructive and harmful to us that it is a shame that so little is said about all this in health education of all kinds. It should really be a major strand of preventive medicine-the benefits would be enormous. The burden on doctors would fall dramatically if they were trained to deal with their patients in this way-giving insights into their personalities as an explanation for their ill health. Alas, few doctors are capable of doing this and those that are have too little time to exploit their skills. Hopefully there will soon be a shift away from dealing with the obvious complaints to dealing with the underlying personality problems that produced them in the first place.
If you doubt the importance of the personality in illness and health, think of all the major diseases that we are heir to. Smoking, for example, has an enormous psychological component to it and most smokers won’t or can’t give up until they understand the underlying psychological mechanisms that make them do it. The problem with overeating is much the same. Both are oral pleasures for people who are arrested at the oral stage of their psychosexual development. Most VD is caused by promiscuous behaviour which could be prevented if the individuals concerned had insights into themselves and their actions. The majority of car crashes are in no way ‘accidental’ and neither are the thousands of unwanted pregnancies that occur each year. And so I could go on. And I haven’t even mentioned the obvious emotionally-based problems within marriages, families and working groups-all of which produce disease. The greatest tool of preventive medicine, then, is self-knowledge, and until our medical-care system comes to grips with this people will continue to injure and kill themselves quite unnecessarily.
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