Archive for April 29, 2009
THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PAIN:
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 4:35 amTHE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF SUDDEN UNEXPECTED PAIN
This is a different clinical problem again. The difficulty with sudden unexpected pain is that the pain is likely to get out of hand and overwhelm us. It is then easy to be overcome with distress before we can compose ourselves. It happens in the case of an unexpected blow, a broken bone, a burn, or even a severe sprain.
Our studies in the self-management of pain help in two ways. If we have learned something of the approach and have had some experience in the mental exercises, we do not react so drastically to sudden pain. This has been my own experience, and a number of patients have volunteered a similar observation. In the second place, if we should find that we are suddenly threatened with loss of control in this way, we now have the means to bring ourselves quickly under control and restore our composure.
As in each of the other aspects of pain and anxiety, we work to bring our principles of
self-management more and more into our everyday life. So when we experience some sudden and unexpected pain, even if it is only of minor degree, we immediately restore our composure by momentary mental relaxation instead of giving vent to our feelings as we have done in the past. Be warned that there is a good deal of false teaching by psychiatrists and those who should know better that it is good to give vent to our emotions and feelings. If we give vent to our feeling of pain, we too easily become distressed, and the intensity of the pain is increased.
Four years ago a dentist came to me. He has a degenerative condition of his backbone so that the nerves are pinched as they come from the spinal cord between the bones. He suffered sudden unexpected twinges of acute pain as well as quite severe chronic pain. His work as a dentist with the long hours on his feet and the necessity of leaning forward over the patient made him very vulnerable to this condition.
He has learned to control the pain. He is still working full-time. Between patients he occasionally lies down in a side room for a few minutes to re-establish his mental and physical relaxation.
A seventy-two-year-old single woman was referred to me in the hope that I might be able to help her with the pain in her tic douloureux. This is a shockingly painful condition characterized by sudden jabs of acute pain in the side of the face. The first attack had come on eleven years previously, but this had settled down. She was now subject to continual jabs of pain when she was talking or eating. On occasions the pain was excruciating. Three years previously she had developed trigger points on the face and tongue, and if these were touched, it would precipitate excruciating pain. At night if she moved in her sleep and the bedclothes brushed her face, pain would be precipitated in this way.
She was a very courageous, stoic woman, and I have no doubt that at times she experienced really terrible pain. However, she wanted to avoid the orthodox treatment by injection or the operation of cutting the nerve, both of which leave that part of the face without feeling and so open to injury.
She was a particularly good patient, as are many people who are in extreme pain. I only saw her on four occasions. She then claimed that she could reduce the pain to quite bearable proportions; and she did in fact allow me to touch the trigger spots, which previously had been so exquisitely tender.
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(posted in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid)
PIGMENT DEPOSITS IN THE IRIS: LIPOFUSCIN: THE ‘WEAR AND TEAR’ PIGMENT
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 3:35 amThis Fe-free pigment can appear in the iris in a range of colours varying from light yellow to black-brown. It is formed within the ganglion cells of the Nucleus niger and Locus ceruleus, and appears mostly as ‘wear and tear’ pigment in old age. However, it can also originate from protein metabolism without such regressive changes.
Lipofuscin (never melanin) is a constituent of the extra-pyramidal system. In the Zona reticularis of the suprarenal body, lipofuscin can be recognised microscopically as a dark brown colouring in conditions of old age. Although lipofuscin is described as a product of old age, it can also exist as a degeneration product in young people and as a sign of exhaustion of particular organs, hence the terms: liver-, renal- and pancreas-pigment.
At this point, I would like to include the group of rheumatic-gouty deposits. In my view, the duration of the condition can be assessed from the colour of the signs. The longer the disease has been present, the darker is the colour of the pigment.
Even though the above-mentioned pigments are topolabile, the presence of the flecks in the different zones of the iris can still be assigned to definite organ systems. If the light reddish pigment, as described in detail in the literature under the term—Nux vomica pigment, appears in the stomach and intestinal zone (first major zone), then it shows that a condition of fermentation affects these organs. If the discolouration extends outwards beyond the iris-wreath, then other organ systems can be affected.
The yellow to brown deposits which extend from the iris -wreath to the outer margin of the iris (Berberis pigment) indicate general disease of the body (Maubach: Reibekuchen-iris). In this case, the condition arises from a gouty disposition of hereditary origin. Indications of the acute phases of gout appear white, and generally lie next to dark signs in the bone area (fifth minor zone).
The pigments described as liver-, renal- and pancreas-pigment are likewise found in the ciliary zone.
Pigment deposits may appear in the iris if an organ is affected. However, since the differences of colour and localisation of pigment-flecks are insufficient for diagnosis, one must look for other signs in the organ areas of the iris in order to reach a definite opinion. Iridologists have been concerned with iris pigment-signs from the first beginnings of irisdiagnosis, commencing with Liljequist and continuing with Attila von Peczely, Schnabel and Angerer. In spite of their extensive works, there still remains a wide field for further research.
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(posted in General health)
TREATMENT FOR THE ACHING MISERIES: PROGESTOGEN
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 2:25 amHowever, there are synthetic forms of progesterone, called progestogens, which can be in pill form. The trouble is that you can’t depend on getting the same results with a substitute as you can with the real thing. If you take progestogen, your body will cut back rather than increase the amount of progesterone it will produce. And remember the object of the exercise is to provide you with more progesterone. However, doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital who treat their patients with progestogen, under the trade name ‘Duphaston’ are pleased with their results. They claim that this drug can relieve many of the symptoms for a majority of their patients. Unfortunately, the picture isn’t entirely rosy. I feel it’s only right to warn you that Duphaston can and does have some unpleasant side effects for some of the women who take it. On the other hand, doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital are encouraged by the success of their trials of this drug, which they say helped seventy per cent of their patients.
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(posted in Pain Relief-Muscle Relaxers)