Archive for the “General health” Category
PLASTIC SURGERY FOR SKIN: THE UV GREMLINS INSIDE
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 | 8:51 am
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SODIUM-RESTRICTED DIETS FOR PEOPLE WITH HEART DISEASES: PREPARATION OF FOOD
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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CHILDREN’S VISION PROBLEMS: SIGNS, CARE AND TREATMENT
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 | 4:00 amSigns and symptoms
There are clear symptoms that may indicate poor vision. If your child habitually tilts his or her head or looks out of the corners of his or her eyes, if the eyes cross or move away from normal, or if the child squints or is excessively sensitive to bright lights, there could be an eyesight problem. Holding objects close to examine them, failure to recognize familiar people at a distance, headaches following use of the eyes, problems in school, and a dislike of reading may also signify poor vision.
At birth, a baby who has normal eyes can focus on an object and visually follow movement. If an infant’s eyes seem to make random, searching movements, he or she may have defective vision.
Vision can be tested at different ages in a variety of ways. During the first week of life an infant should be able to fix his or her eyes on a bright light. By two months of age, the child’s eyes should follow that light as it moves through a 180-degree arc. By seven or eight months the child should be able to recognize and respond to facial expressions. After age three, a child’s eyes can be tested by having him or her focus on charts that use pictures or the letter E pointed in different directions. Finally, around age five or six, the child’s eyes can be tested using a standard Snellen eye chart.
Home care
Precautions
• A child who cannot see the television screen from a distance or who holds books close to the eyes may be nearsighted.
• A child’s vision should be checked annually, beginning no later than age four.
Medical treatment
At each annual eye checkup, your doctor will examine your child’s eyes inside and out with an ophthalmoscope, and test the child’s vision using a chart of letters in rows of diminishing sizes. If an abnormality is suspected, your doctor will refer your child to an eye specialist for more detailed examination and correction of the problem.
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