YOUR CHILD’S HEALTH: THE WORKING MOTHER
May 19th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
In Australia only a minority of married couples are of the traditional model, in which father goes to work, while mother stays home with the kids. Women are now an important part of the workforce. Dual incomes have become necessary for many families to maintain their standard of living. Many couples work full-time, and this can create pressures for the family, with many parents facing the difficulties of juggling childcare and full-time work. Inadequate provision of day-care facilities compounds the problem.
For a working mother in particular, the burden can be immense, especially if her partner is unwilling to share responsibility for looking after the children and the house. Some mothers feel guilty that they have chosen, often out of necessity, not to follow the traditional role of staying home and looking after the children. Many will have grown up in households where the mother was always there with milk and cookies when the children came home from school. Breaking away from this tradition can be difficult, and many working mothers have genuine concerns about how it will affect their children.
Working full-time when you have a family requires excellent organisation. The time you do spend with your children needs to be ‘quality time’, that is, time when you are available for them. Part of this organisation process may include spending one evening a week cooking meals in preparation for the coming week. These can be wrapped separately and stored in the freezer till required. Delegating is a useful way of distributing the labour. Don’t be ashamed to ask people for support, and accept any offers of help, be it with preparing meals or picking the children up from school.
Flexibility at work makes things much easier for the working mother. Some employers, however, are still unwilling to see their employees as having lives outside work. Hopefully this is changing, with more and more opportunities for flexitime, job-sharing, and part-time work becoming available. There has been a gradual increase in the number of workplaces which have on-site daycare facilities. This can be reassuring, as well as convenient for parents.
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OUR MARITAL HEALTH/SEX AND PROBLEMS OF DAILY LIVING: FOR LOVE AND MONEY
May 18th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
You would think we would be able to deal with money. There isn’t much of it anyway. We spend more minutes on money than we have money. I wish we got paid to worry about money. We’d be rich.
HUSBAND
There are several books that trace the relationship between love and managing money. Carol Colman’s book Love and Money explores some of the patterns that evolve in marriage related to financial issues. Money seems to be the great quantifier of worth in our society and even in our marriages. Earlier in this chapter you read about the man who had sexual problems because of his wife’s higher salary. Several of the couples reported problems in this area.
Here are some of the adjustments couples made to issues of money and sex. Discuss these and the other problem remembering that super marital sex is a process, not a goal.
The Banker: This spouse feels that his or her entire self-esteem is measured by his or her control of the family finances. He or she controls the checkbook, saving books, all shopping, buying, allowances, and investments and seems to get more enjoyment out of a balanced checkbook than a balanced love life. Super marital sex cannot survive if partners exclusively assume any one marital task.
The Client: This is the spouse who is married to the Banker. He or she may criticize the lack of money, poor investments, missing checks, the size of the grocery bill, but make little effort to share the financial responsibility. The Client defaults financially, and so ends up defaulting sexually, feeling unfulfilled but helpless to correct the problem because the spouse “is responsible.”
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SUPER LOVE FOR SUPER SEX/LOVE-MAP LANDMARKS: DESCRIBE A “SEX REHEARSAL”: SEX PLAY YOU ENGAGED IN WITH SOMEONE OF YOUR OWN GENDER
May 18th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
Same-gender sex play is common, and most spouses could remember a specific time when they engaged in such behavior. Think back to your own sex play with a same-gender person, perhaps a sibling, a cousin, a neighborhood friend?
“That’s easy,” one wife reported. “We had a breast-comparison contest. My best friend and 1.1 must have been about fourteen or so, and so was she. It started out with looking, then she touched mine and I touched hers. It wasn’t like sex excitement like it is an adult, but a tingling sensation. I imagined she was a boy. Somehow we kissed. She stuck her tongue in my mouth, and I started to spit. I spat until I was dry.”
This wife had mentioned a concern that she might be homosexual, not an atypical concern of the wives. She felt guilty even now, and added that “I’m still curious about other women’s breasts.” She was converting natural curiosity and arousal to fear and misunderstanding. Love maps can take wrong rums when we compare what happened to us in our natural learning with what we fear might happen to us.
“We just unzipped each other’s pants and reached in. I touched his penis and he touched mine. Then we watched each other pee,” reported one husband. “I think he is probably a fag now as an adult, because he was the instigator.”
There are societies in which the absence of homosexuality activity during sexual development is viewed as abnormal. One such society is the Sambia tribe of New Guinea, where all young boys are expected to live temporarily with males, ingesting semen as a counterbalance to their drinking of mother’s milk. Only after this act takes place can they truly become men. We must look far beyond our own ethnocentrism if we are to begin to leam about the evolution of gender orientation. Certainly, sex play with the same gender is almost universal in our own society, and fears about it only block further healthy love mapping.
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VARICOSE VEINS – TREATMENT
May 15th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
This skin may break down to form an ulcer, and these varicose ulcers are notoriously slow to heal.
Treatment therefore is worthwhile.
In the past, for varicose veins below the knee injections were used, but the results were poor. Operation is considered the treatment of choice.
Here, the large saphenous vein, which runs from ankle to the groin, is “stripped.” An incision is made in the skin at the ankle, a cut made in the vein, and a flexible metal rod is inserted through the vein and pushed up to the top of the vein at the groin.
Where this vein joins the main vein of the leg it is tied off, the metal rod is then attached to the vein, and the surgeon, grasping the rod where it has appeared through a cut in the groin, pulls the vein upwards, turning it inside-out and “stripping” it.
This tears off the small branches of the vein along the way.
While the surgeon is carrying out this procedure, an assistant is applying a firm bandage from the toes upward to put pressure on the leg and reduce bleeding.
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EMPHYSEMA – INTRODUCTION
May 15th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
Lung tissue consists of many small, thin-walled air sacs, called alveoli.
Air is carried down the bronchial tubes to these air sacs, and the gases, oxygen and carbon dioxide pass to and fro across these to the blood in the thin-walled capillaries.
In emphysema, there is a reduction in the number of alveoli and an increase in their size.
This reduces the total surface area of the air sacs, and as the gases are exchanged across the surface this leads to a reduction in the amount of available lung tissue.
The main symptom of emphysema is shortness of breath.
As well as this distension of the air sacs, there is usually an associated spasm or constriction of the bronchial tubes, which makes it difficult for the air to move in and out.
There are many causes of emphysema — usually several acting together.
It is a disease which appears to run in families. It may occur in the young, although it is more common in the late middle-aged and the elderly.
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PURPURA – GENERAL INFORMATION
May 12th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
The Schonlein-Henoch syndrome or anaphylactoid purpura is essentially a disease of childhood usually at around the ages of five to seven.
It is believed to be an allergic type reaction occurring some weeks after a respiratory infection and, in this respect, resembles rheumatic fever.
The lesion is an inflammation of small blood vessels and affects many organs. The skin is almost always involved and small bleedings under the skin produce the small red marks called purpura.
The joints, the gastro-intestinal tract and the kidneys may also be involved.
No treatment appears to be effective, but, in most cases, the disorder slowly resolves over six to eight weeks. About 5 to 10 per cent may go on to develop chronic kidney inflammation.
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CHILDREN’S HEALTH: TOOTHACHE
April 28th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
In common with earaches and the onset of labor, children’s toothaches always happen at the least convenient time – after pharmacists have closed their doors and doctors and dentists have closed their offices. A toothache can be caused by an injury to a tooth, an infection between the gum and the tooth, or an abscess of the root of the tooth due to extension of a cavity (even a filled one) into the tooth’s pulp.
Signs and symptoms
The source of a toothache is obvious if the gum near the tooth is red, swollen, and tender, or if a cavity is visible. If the source of the pain is in doubt, tapping gently with a tongue depressor or the handle of a spoon will cause sharp pain in the tooth responsible.
Home care
Temporary treatment is to ease the pain of the toothache with aspirin or paracetamol. An ice pack on the jaw may help, but heat may make the toothache worse. Call your dentist.
Part of home treatment is prevention. Your child should see a dentist regularly, beginning at age two or three. The child should brush his or her teeth at least daily and use dental floss. Through adolescence, fluoride must be provided each day. If you live in an area where the water is not fluoridated, supplementary fluoride is needed. Talk to your dentist about this.
Precautions
• Take your child to a dentist regularly to avoid any emergency situation involving a toothache.
• Do not apply heat to the site of a toothache.
Medical treatment
Your doctor may prescribe a pain killer or an antibiotic if an infection is present, but treatment of the tooth is left to the dentist.
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PREVENTION AND HEALTH: VENEREAL DISEASE (VD)
April 23rd, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
Venereal disease is a family of infections involving the genital organs. They are, by definition, caught by having sexual contact with another person but in reality this is too narrow a way of looking at the problem, as we shall see.
VD (otherwise known as sexually transmitted diseases-STDs) is a fast-growing problem. Gonorrhea, for example, is the second most common infectious illness in the world after measles.
VD is becoming more of a problem for several reasons. First, society’s changed attitudes over the last twenty years or so have encouraged young people to have intercourse at a younger age. The babies born in the 1950s and 1960s are now teenagers and young adults and this group are exceptionally active sexually. Premarital sex is more commonplace than it used to be-a change particularly involving women. Most surveys show that over 90 per cent of women are not virgins when they go up the aisle. Half of all US women who have never been married have had more than one sex partner, compared with just over a third fifteen years ago. The divorce rate is rising steadily; more adults are choosing to remain single or are postponing marriage for various reasons; and so the list of changes goes on. All of this has led to increasing numbers of individuals having sex with larger numbers of partners than ever before.
Women and newborn babies bear the major brunt of this epidemic of venereal infections. One in every twenty babies born in the US has an infection with Chlamydia, and of the infected group half will develop conjunctivitis and one in five pneumonia. Early syphilis, until recently a rare disease, is once more appearing in women of childbearing age. If early syphilis is untreated in pregnancy 40 per cent of the infants will be still-born, born prematurely or die prematurely. Another 40 per cent will have congenital syphilis. Such a woman has only a one in five chance of having a normal, healthy baby.
As many as three in every 10,000 babies are born with herpes. Half die very early in life and a quarter of those who survive will be damaged. Three in every 200 babies are affected with cytomegalovirus and one in seven of them will be deaf, retarded or suffer eye defects. Nearly 5,000 babies a year die from beta-hemolytic streptococcus-a proportion of these infections are probably sexually transmitted.
Pelvic inflammatory disease is the most common serious complication of chlamydial and gonococcal infections. These diseases cause 25,000 ectopic pregnancies (pregnancies that occur outside the womb in the fallopian tubes), 213,000 hospital admissions, 115,000 major surgical operations, and 900 deaths, per year in the US alone.
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PREVENTION OF BRONCHITIS AND EMPHYSEMA
April 22nd, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
• Stop smoking. Given that bronchitis is an inflammatory condition of the airways with an excessive production of mucus, the best preventive is to stop smoking if only because the smoke itself damages the air passages, so adding to the problem. Early bronchitic changes can be reversed by stopping smoking and, of course, other problems connected with smoking will go too.
There is plenty of evidence to show that children of parents who smoke have more chest infections than other children, and a London study of 10,500 schoolchildren found that even as early as 11 their lungs are being seriously affected. Those smoking up to six cigarettes a week suffered from colds and coughs and were more likely to be short of breath after exercise than the non-smokers. Obviously stopping children smoking is a major preventive measure against this vast problem.
A study of British doctors was started in 1951. By 1964 it had been found that the death rate from chronic bronchitis of those smoking up to 14 cigarettes per day was seven times that of non-smokers and of those smoking 15-24 daily, twenty times. In various studies pipe and cigar smokers come out better than cigarette smokers as regards bronchitis, and those who have only ever smoked pipes and cigars have a risk only very slightly greater than non-smokers.
• Clean up polluted air. Most western countries are now more vigilant about smoke pollution than in the past and the Clean Air Acts in the UK (1956 and 1968) have undoubtedly played their part in reducing the toll of these diseases. The small fall in deaths from bronchitis and emphysema seen in recent years can almost certainly be put down to these measures. Local authorities were given the power to create smokeless zones. Such measures have made the old British ’smogs’ a thing of the past.
Vitamin A appears to be valuable for those who live in highly polluted air zones. Ozone and other air pollutants destroy vitamin A by oxidation, so anyone living in a polluted area should take more of the vitamin as a protective, especially in the winter months. Liver, herring, eggs, milk, margarine, butter and carrots are good sources, but the easiest way of taking this vitamin is in fish-liver-oil capsules.
• Breathing exercises are probably worth trying at the first sign of bronchitis.
• Take more exercise. One study of very severe bronchitis and emphysema patients who had only about 25 per cent of normal lung function left and were thus suffering from shortness of breath and limited activity, gave graded exercises in a training schedule on a stationary bicycle. When the tension on the bicycle was set to produce a feeling of ‘work’ but not ‘exhaustion’ at the end of the exercise, most of the patients felt better. At first the subjects were allowed only seven minutes on the bicycle but this was slowly worked up to twenty minutes. Exercise increases the rate of mucus production and makes it easier to cough up. People undergoing regular exercise like this report an improvement in their symptoms and are aware that the vicious circle of shortness of breath, no exercise, more shortness of breath, can be broken.
• All bronchitics cough and this is healthy. Don’t use cough suppressants-the phlegm ought to come up, especially if it is infected (yellow or green). Any remedy that helps bring up phlegm can be used, including exercise.
• Poor posture can make breathing less efficient, as may nervous tension. Be sure to learn to walk upright, shoulders back and with your back straight. Be careful about bad posture when seated too. Learn how to relax and how to breathe properly.
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HOW THE HANDS AND FEET AGE
April 9th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
The effects the aging process has on your hands are usually a giveaway to your age. Other parts of the body that show maturity can easily be altered with a face-lift or tummy tuck, but the telltale signs of age are always right there in your hands, not only in appearance but in their capabilities. Hands that are nimble in youth eventually become hands that may be unable to perform even simple tasks. However, arthritis is not necessarily a part of growing older, and I’ve seen many aging artisans who can still use their hands with great precision and skill.
Typically, as the hand ages, the skin becomes thinner and the muscles on the back of the hand begin to lose some of their tone. The veins and bones become more prominent, and the area between the thumb and first finger is especially prone to losing muscle. On the whole, muscular strength in the hand may decrease, but the decrease is gradual enough that, for most of us, our hands can function effectively well into our 80s and 90s.
Like the hand, the nails are a part of the body that provides a clue to the general health of the rest of your body. Many times, the first signs of an underlying medical illness, such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, show up in the nails. For instance, the nails of lung cancer patients begin to spoon, while the nails of people who have vascular disease frequently thicken or turn blue underneath. Many women use nail polish and other adornments as a cosmetic and a form of expression. Unfortunately, nail polish can mask possible medical problems that are evident in the nails and even create new ones.
Starting in your 50s, the aging nail may start to become brittle and gray. Polishes and nail treatments made with alcohol and formaldehyde can cause the nails to dry out even more. And artificial nails and many layers of polish can lead to a fungal infection in the real nails.
Even though your nails become drier and more brittle, you can preserve them by keeping them clean and well groomed. I’ve also seen many cases where nails have become stronger with intake of gelatin and vitamins, especially the B vitamins.
Feet don’t normally show the signs of aging as hands do, since they spend most of their time covered up and protected from the elements and sun. As a result, many of us tend to take our feet for granted. Indeed, the foot is often the part of the body that is least examined in the course of a regular medical exam. As a result, many people suffer from foot problems that are never diagnosed, such as warts and corns. Foot care is especially important for diabetics, because their poor circulation leaves them more prone to infections that can develop into a serious skin infection called cellulitis. It is also important for elderly people, since proper foot care can help prevent falls.
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