Archive for May 2009
CHILDCARE/TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN: MOTION SICKNESS
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 | 12:50 amSome children feel nauseated when travelling long distances in a car or by boat. This usually begins around 5 years of age and may last a lifetime. Special medication can be used to prevent motion sickness but should be given strictly according to directions. If your child suffers from motion sickness:
• do not let him read while travelling in the car;
• sit with him up the front of a bus;
• open the window while travelling;
• make sure he always travels facing forward;
• do not give him a heavy meal before travelling;
• on a boat, have the child keep his eyes on the horizon as much as possible.
In the car
On a long car journey with your children, make sure that you stop frequently to let them stretch and run a little, or to have a drink or a snack. Children hate being cooped up for long periods of time.
Choose your roadside stops carefully, and keep an eye on your children, particularly if there is a lot of traffic around. Take games and toys along with you that are appropriate for children to play in the car. If your child suffers from motion sickness, it is best for him to avoid reading or writing in the car.
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(posted in General health)
SUPER MARITAL SEX: SEX AND THE HEART: SOME RECOMMENDATIONS OF THUMB TO APPLY TO THE ISSUE OF HEART DISEASE AND SEXUALITY
Monday, May 18, 2009 | 7:03 amDon’t watch or feel for symptoms. They will get your attention if they occur. If they do (tightness in the chest, chest pain, shortness of breath), don’t panic. Just slow down, hug, rest, and talk. Report these symptoms to your doctor, but remember, many such symptoms are insignificant or not as pronounced as you may think. Always call the doctor, but do not jump to conclusions. Don’t lie there alone and worry. Share with your partner. Your doctor will probably reassure you anyway. If you coming to worry, both of you should watch as the partner with the heart ðãîblems exercises vigorously under carefully monitored medical conditions. Have the doctor explain to you what all the tracings mean. Healing can be takin8 place in the heart even when there are some abnormal findings, even when symptoms persist. Symptoms do not necessarily mean a setback in healing. If you still worry, suggest that the doctor send the spouse with the heart problem home with an ambulatory heart monitor attached. Have sex record when you had sex and any symptoms you might have had, and go together to discuss the results. You will probably be very relieved.
Your doctor will prescribe an exercise program. The days of staying in bed after a heart attack are over. Activity heals, but only at a medically monitored and prescribed rate, and that includes sexual activity.
If you have pain, ask about using nitroglycerin, long-acting nitrate preparations, or other medications. Be sure to ask when and how these medications should be used. Some should be taken at regular intervals, while others should be taken several minutes before sexual activity.
Remember, there is much more to sex than intercourse. Talk with your doctor about all of sex or he or she might assume that sex equals coitus. No single sexual activity is more dangerous than any other.
The spouse with the heart problem does not need a spousal nurse. He or she needs a loving sexual partner who expresses his or her own sexual needs vigorously and honestly. If the patient sees your comfort and freedom, he or she will learn the same approach. The patient must learn to protect himself or herself, and attempts by a spouse to protect the heart patient typically backfire into more fear, loss ot self-esteem, and even resentment. Don’t let any disease take the heart out of your sex life.
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(posted in General health)
YOUR MARITAL HEALTH/SEXUALITY FROM ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE: ELLISONIAN SEX
Monday, May 18, 2009 | 5:18 am Ellisonian sex, then, is a male-driven, female-responsive sex of intense and rapid sexual energy buildup in the male and slower, more generalized, somewhat less urgent response in the female. Orgasm was the ultimate goal, but touching, particularly for women, was enjoyable if not necessary. The penis and its spontaneous erection was the center of male sexual response, and the clitoris with its connections to the vagina and the uterus was the center of female response. Marriage was a natural manifestation of the desire for prolonged companionship, but might have to be augmented by some type of sexual variety to keep it alive. Men acted and entered, women reacted and received. In spite of this mechanical-sounding emphasis, Ellis was a new romantic who valued closeness and tolerated deviation from “the normal.” Paul Robinson states, “Havelock Ellis is the most unambiguously Romantic of the great modernists … at the heart of his sexual writings stands the same union of physical and emotional energies that one finds in Keats and Schlegel.”
Ellis’s work confronted a guilt and fear about sex that permeated daily living. To save ourselves from what he saw as our innate sexual sickness, the Reverend Doctor Sylvester Graham suggested that we rid our diets of meat, animal products, and all spicy foods. Graham suggested that these caloric corrupters be replaced with, of course, nutritious Graham bread and Graham crackers. He was joined in his concern for the digestive sexual degeneration of American by Dr. John Kellogg, who invented corn flakes to save us from too much snap, crackle, or pop in our sex drive. The first modern perspective on human sexuality and its relationship to intimacy offered a freedom from this type of restrictive, fear-inducing approach to sex. At the same time, however, Ellis’s views about sexual energy, male and female differences in sexual response, and the power of sexual variety are still present today, and they strongly influenced the work of Alfred Kinsey, the pioneer of a second perspective on sexuality.
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(posted in General health)
GENITAL WARTS AND LYMPHOGRANULOMA VENEREUM
Monday, May 18, 2009 | 12:03 amWarts on the genital area are like warts elsewhere. They are due to a virus infection, but when on the genitals are usually spread by sexual contact. Podophyllin applied locally clears them quickly but can irritate normal skin. It should not be self applied but left to the doctor to treat.
Cauterisation by the application of intense cold from applying liquid nitrogen or by heat from an electric diathermy is also effective.
The warts may occur on the penis, the vulva, in the vagina, around or in the anus.
This virus may be one of the causes of cancer of the cervix.
This condition is also rare in Australia and seen mostly in the tropics. It develops some one to three weeks following exposure. Initially there is a painful blister which ulcerates and then the lymph glands in the groin become involved, swell, develop abscesses and may discharge pus. The tetracycline drugs are also effective for this condition.
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(posted in General health)
EYESIGHT – GENERAL INFORMATION
Friday, May 15, 2009 | 2:55 amDistance vision is normally tested from six metres.
The Americans test vision at 20 feet, and use this number rather than metres.
Thus normal vision for Americans is 20-20, while for us it is 6-6.
So a person who can see only the top letter at this distance has 6-60 of normal vision.
Similarly, the second line of letters should be seen by a person with normal sight from 36 metres.
If you can read no further than this, then your vision is 6-36.
Similarly, with the other lines which are equivalent to 6-24, 6-18, 6-12, 6-9 and 6-6 is normal vision.
Near-vision is tested by means of the Jaeger types, which simply consist of the ordinary printers’ types from the smallest upwards.
In hypermetropia or long-sightedness, the person complains of difficulty with near-vision, while his distance vision is good.
In the eye, the ciliary muscles constrict the lens and enable it to focus the light. However, the constant strain of doing this may cause headaches.
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(posted in General health)
WEIGHING ‘COST AGAINST ‘BENEFIT’ WHEN CHOOSING TREATMENT – CONTROLING SYMPTOMS OF CANCER
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 | 7:10 amThis leads me to a very important point—for every successful cancer treatment a price must be paid. Some treatments are much more ‘costly’ than others, some are much more effective than Others. What is important is the balance between ‘cost’ and effectiveness. To judge the possible cost you need to know about the nature and likelihood of any inconvenience, disruption to normal lifestyle, financial cost, and side effects. To judge the possible benefits you need to know both the aim of the treatment—whether control of symptoms of cancer, temporary control of the cancer or permanent cure—and what the chances are of achieving that aim. You need to weigh the nature and chance of possible ’success’ against the possible cost. If there is considerable possible benefit, you may think a considerable cost is justified. For little benefit you would probably not be prepared to pay a great ‘price’. You cannot assess any treatment without knowing both sides of this balance— the likely cost and the likely benefit.
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(posted in Cancer)
CHOOSING YOUR TREATMENT – INTRODUCTION (IMPORTANT DECISION)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 | 7:01 amIf you’ve read this far, you are obviously keen to understand your disease. You are prepared to face the reality of being an adult person with a serious illness. You don’t want to be treated like a helpless young child. You deserve and expect explanations.
That’s great, as far as it goes. But I hope very much that you are not content to stop at that. I hope that you take it one step further, and use this understanding and knowledge as a stepping stone that enables you to make your own decisions. I can well imagine you are doubtful about taking this further step. Perhaps you’re thinking: ‘It’s nice to understand what’s happening, but surely it’s easier and safer to leave the decisions to the experts’?
I know that’s what you’ve been taught to believe. I know that’s what you want to believe. But I also know that enormous numbers of cancer patients have suffered because they have believed it. I know that a great many cancer patients undergo unpleasant and pointless tests and treatments because they unquestioningly accept the decisions of experts—both medical doctors and other practitioners. I also know that it is extremely difficult for patients who do want to make their own decisions to get the necessary information. These are my reasons for writing this book. I don’t want you to suffer in this way. I hope that by the end of this book you will understand why the decisions of experts are often not the best decisions for people with cancer. I hope you will believe that you are the best person to make decisions about yourself. I hope you will have enough confidence and understanding to ask the right questions and get the information you need to make the best decisions for you.
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(posted in Cancer)
BREAST FEEDING – GENERAL INFORMATION
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 | 6:41 amThe composition of breast milk creates a low pH in the bowel and this favors colonisation with the lactobacillus bacterium which keeps out the bacteria which can cause infection.
Because breast milk is ideally suited to the baby’s digestion there are few digestive upsets in the breast fed baby.
There are a number of old wives tales about breast feeding and the one most wrong is that the mother’s milk is not suitable for her baby. This is often invoked as a reason to explain some failure of the baby to gain sufficient weight. The baby may not be getting enough milk but with very rare exceptions breast milk is always right for the baby. Those exceptions are due to some rare diseases.
If there is a strong family history of allergy, that is with family members suffering from hayfever, asthma and eczema, then avoiding the foreign proteins of cow’s milk and other substitutes and sticking to breast milk will reduce the risk of allergy.
Breast feeding has many emotional advantages both for the mother and child and leads to better “bonding” between them. Almost every woman can breast feed if she wants to. This decision is best taken during pregnancy and should be strongly encouraged by the health care professionals with whom she comes in contact. Attention and care to the breasts and nipples during pregnancy prepares them for more successful breast feeding.
Of course, breast feeding, while entirely natural, may not always be trouble free. Some feeding mothers run into problems because of retracted nipples or may get a cracked nipple which causes pain.
The breast may become engorged with milk and painful, or the supply of milk may be inadequate. The baby may be premature or sick and have difficulty in sucking strongly.
These are problems which can all be overcome.
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(posted in General health)
ETHICAL ISSUES IN OBESITY TREATMENT: ETHICAL DESICION MAKING
Friday, May 8, 2009 | 7:44 amThe client. Your clients, like you, are hurhan beings with complex motives and needs. Some of these will be well-understood by the clients and some will be more apparent to others than to themselves. It is not usually ethically acceptable to take clients at face value, especially when you are dealing with potentially very complex issues.
What is this client asking for? Why does he or she want that? With personal issues such as health, fitness and appearance the client’s expression of his or her needs can easily be distorted by anxiety.
The woman in the above example who wishes to get a satisfying relationship by losing fat is unlikely to give this initially as her reason for seeking help. If she is partially aware of and embarrassed about her insecurities, she may deny this even if you ask directly about it. You need to take some care in considering what the initial request for help really represents.
What are his or her strengths and weaknesses? Consider what the client is and is not capable of achieving. Sometimes you can teach the skills and knowledge required. Sometimes the client already has these, so they can be left out of the program. Sometimes you can refer them to someone else who can offer better help or modify your approach accordingly.
What are the probable consequences of this client successfully losing fat? Of staying the same? You should consider whether the gains that can be reasonably expected would be a worthwhile return on the effort and cost involved. You should specifically take into account potential unwanted effects, particularly if the fat loss efforts are unsuccessful. This should include some thought about how the client and other important people in her life are likely to respond to the client losing fat and how they would respond if she regained it. The responses will not always be entirely positive.
What is this client’s history of obesity management? How have these past efforts affected them? Most clients have already made many efforts to lose fat. This history of efforts to lose fat makes up a powerful set of learning experiences that shape what clients expect of you and of themselves. Unless there is good reason to expect a different outcome, it may be unethical to repeat things that have been unhelpful in the past. It is almost certainly unethical to re-expose the client to something that has already been found to be harmful.
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(posted in Weight Loss)
THE G.I. FACTOR: THE CARBOHYDRATE/G.I. FACTOR LINK
Friday, May 8, 2009 | 6:44 amNewer studies are revealing that the physiological responses to food (how food acts in the body) are far more complex than was previously appreciated. What is true is that different carbohydrate-containing foods do have different effects on blood sugar levels.
Only in recent years have scientists begun to study the actual blood sugar responses to hundreds of different foods in real people, healthy people and people with diabetes. They gave them real foods—not solutions of sugars and starches in water. They measured the blood sugar levels at frequent intervals, for as long as two to three hours after the meal. To compare foods according to their true physiological effect on blood sugar levels, they came up with the term ‘glycaemic index’.
The glycaemic index (or G.I. factor as we have called it) is a ranking of foods from 0 to 100 that tells us whether a food will raise blood sugar levels dramatically, moderately, or just a little.
This research has turned some widely held beliefs upside down.
Secondly, they found that moderate amounts of most sugary foods (confectionery, ice cream etc.) did not produce dramatic rises in blood sugar as had always been thought. The truth was that foods containing sugar actually showed quite low-to-moderate blood sugar responses, lower than foods like bread.
So, it is time to forget the old distinctions that were made between starchy foods and sugary foods or simple versus complex carbohydrate. These distinctions are based on chemical analysis of the food, which does not reflect the effects of these foods in the body. The G.I. factor takes us nearer to a full understanding of how the body responds to carbohydrate foods.
The G.I. factor is a ranking of foods based on their overall effects on blood sugar levels. Blood sugar or blood glucose? Blood sugar and blood glucose mean the same thing, although the latter is technically more correct However, we use the term blood sugar in this book because It is more widely understood. ‘Glycaemic’ refers to ‘blood sugar’.
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(posted in Diabetes)