Herbal Health

We proceed with the relaxing mental exercises in exactly the same way as. The only difference is that in the case of pain we have to go a little further, but the principles are just the same. For instance, in discussing phobic anxiety we saw the importance of gradually testing ourselves in the phobic situation. If our phobia concerned going into shops, we went into shops, little by little, easily and naturally, and all the time we concentrated on keeping our calm and relaxed state of mind. We follow the same procedure in dealing with pain.

In doing this there is one point which we must be clear about. The idea of testing out our reaction in the phobic situation by going into the shop seems to us a perfectly natural and common-sense thing to do. But when we come to testing ourselves with pain, we are likely to feel complicated about it. We would rather avoid it as something unnatural and not quite nice. We must not do this. It is just as natural and sensible to test ourselves with pain as it is with anxiety; and it is a very important step in overcoming our pain, just as it was with phobic anxiety.

We let our bodies relax; we feel the calm that goes with it; we feel it all through us, in our body, in our mind; we let ourselves go; we let go and we drift; we drift in the calm of it, the natural calm and ease that is all through us. We practise this until we can do it quite easily and naturally. Then we do it in increasingly uncomfortable situations. This is the beginning of our use of the relaxing mental exercises in the direct control of pain.

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Q. Are piles very common in this country?

A. They are. They are really dilated blood vessels, like varicose veins in the back passage. They swell up, largely if the person is constipated and must strain. They mainly remain inside the anal valve, although larger ones sometimes prolapse to the exterior. Others develop at the anal margin and often become painful as a clot forms and fills the vessel.

Q. Are there any symptoms?

A. Often there is bright red bleeding with a bowel action.

External ones may be painful, especially if they suddenly enlarge. There may be some irritation and itch.

Q. What about diagnosis and treatment?

A. Any bleeding from the bowel demands a proper examination by the doctor, especially in older persons aged 45 or more. Many cases of so-called piles have turned out to be a cancer of the rectum or colon. He will do a manual examination and look by direct vision with an instrument called a proctoscope, sigmoidoscope or maybe the colonoscope. Checking for cancer is essential every time.

Provided piles are the diagnosis, relieving constipation is essential. Daily use of unprocessed bran is good therapy. Add two tablespoonsful to your breakfast cereal or stewed fruit each morning. Most cases readily respond to this. Hot and cold sitz baths often give relief. The insertion of suppositories is also beneficial. Clotted external piles are treated surgically, with incision and clot removal. Persisting large bleeding piles are also removed surgically, either by surgical dissection or rubber band ligation and cryotherapy. Results are invariably satisfactory. Prevention of recurrences is best carried out with a high fibre diet.

Q. So we come to the end of our little volume.

A. I hope our readers have found it interesting and informative. Our last piece of advice is to take notice of symptoms. They are often the signals of internal disease. Ignoring them may be dangerous.

If there is any query, visit your doctor. He is there ready and willing to offer assistance. A proper medical history, plus examination with appropriate investigations is the best way to have internal disorders diagnosed. Treatment will follow. Today medical therapy has reached a high level of success. Treatment, whether it be via drugs, dietary advice, surgery or alternative methods, can bring relief to most conditions. Early diagnosis, even in serious diseases such as cancer, will lead to prompt treatment and in many cases a satisfactory outcome is possible. To delay is unwise.

Use this book as it is intended. To supplement what your doctor tells you, to help you seek early medical attention from the experts. We leave it up to you and wish you good health for many years ahead.

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TROUBLESOME MISERIES-MOODINESS

Adolescence is renowned for moods and boys are just as moody as girls. People always say, ‘Oh well, she’s an adolescent. She’s bound to be moody.’ Which is annoying if you are in a very good temper and on top of the world but often it’s true. Your teens are the most likely time when you’ll be sorting out what kind of a person you are, or want to be. Some lucky people know all along. They and their parents seem perfectly contented with things as they are and nobody urges them to change their ways or alter their character. Others have to think things out at length, and decide whether they’re going to be what they want to be or what somebody else wants them to be. This is often very tricky and can lead to a lot of heart-searching, misery and depression, particularly if you don’t really like the way you are and know what a battle it will be to change yourself.

If on top of that your moods change abruptly, simply because a period is on the way, then your life is even more complicated and you can often find yourself in the middle of a blazing row you hadn’t really intended, or with a broken romance, or in a pitched battle with a

teacher — all made worse by the feeling that you can’t cope with any of it.

For a start, it does help a little if you know it’s only temporary and that by tomorrow or next Wednesday or whenever you’ll be feeling and acting like a different person. It also helps if you can remember to relax, difficult as that is when you are in the thick of some emotional

battle — in fact, almost impossible. But if you can remember at least to unclench your fists, drop your shoulders or breathe in second gear for a bit, it could give you just the few seconds you need, either for a breathing space or even better, to call a halt. And if you try and fail, you’re no worse off.

It can sometimes be a help if your friends and allies know that this is all part of the miseries. But friends and allies should be warned! We are often very unreasonable indeed when we are actually in the middle of a mood. When we have finished a period and we are quite ourselves again it’s easy enough to admit that the mood was part of the miseries, but if they try telling us at the time, it could make things ten times worse. I have been told by girls who know that the very last thing they want to be reminded of is that they’re acting up because they’re female. As one girl said, ‘It’s so bloody patronizing! And of course it’s true —which makes it worse!’ So my advice to friends and allies would be to talk these problems over when everyone is calm and rational talk is possible.

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There are so many symptoms associated with the second kind of period pain, the aching miseries, or congestive dysmenorrhoea that nowadays doctors tend to lump them all together and call them the pre-menstrual syndrome or pre-menstrual tension, because they all occur in the days immediately before your period begins and clear up as soon as the period is under way.

You could suffer from dragging pain or an aching sensation low down in your abdomen or in your thighs or the lower part of your back; from headaches of various kinds including migraines or pain in your sinuses; from aching legs and feet; from a belly so swollen that you can’t do up your skirt; from sore and swollen breasts. Feeling bloated and putting on several pounds in weight is very common. So is fatigue, depression or inexplicable bad temper. Do you nag your family just before your period?

You could find that you become extremely clumsy all of a sudden or discover that you can’t see as well as usual; or that your sense of smell doesn’t seem to be so acute. Your hair may be greasy and lank and your complexion a ruin. You may grow a nasty crop of styes or boils. You may notice that you develop bruises on your upper arms or the tops of your thighs and just can’t account for them. You may get cravings for sweets or stodgy foods, when you’re normally a sensible eater. You may suddenly feel giddy or faint like some Victorian heroine. More seriously, you may find that if you suffer from hay fever, asthma or epilepsy, your attacks are more frequent in the days before your period.

It’s a long list and some of the things on it seem so far removed from what’s going on in your womb that it’s hard to see that they may be part and parcel of the aching miseries. Some of the symptoms are quite trivial. If the only thing you suffer from is a tendency to develop some odd bruises, you will not have much to worry about because they are not painful and won’t cause you any trouble unless you are wearing a swim suit. But many of the symptoms are serious, and deserve to be taken seriously. It’s just as well we don’t suffer all of them all the time!

Unlike the cramps this second kind of period pain doesn’t get better if you have a baby. Quite the reverse, in fact. It can often start after a pregnancy, particularly if you have had a condition called toxaemia while you were carrying. Once it’s started, it may get worse with each pregnancy. Toxaemia and the bloat are rather alike in some ways. Both of them give you swollen legs and ankles and make you look and feel puffy, with too much fluid in your tissues. Both can reduce you to exhaustion. Toxaemia is a great deal more serious than the bloat because it can affect your kidneys. As your kidneys are the filters that get rid of all the impurities and poisons from your body and from your unborn baby’s, you can see how important it is that they should function properly. The bloat may be unpleasant, but it doesn’t upset your kidneys. It’s just unsightly and uncomfortable.

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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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Eye complications (retinopathy)

The sensitive part of the eye that is responsible for vision is situated at the back of the eyeball and called the retina. The retina is composed of special nerve cells and these are supplied with blood by small arteries. In diabetes after many years, these arteries can become weakened and may leak blood or burst, giving small hemorrhages. Later on, scarring can take place and new blood vessels may develop and grow over the nerve cells, putting vision at risk.

The stage of mild blood vessel changes with small hemorrhages is called ‘background retinopathy’ and does not normally affect vision. It is said to develop in 60% of people after 15 years with diabetes and 90% of people after 30 years. These figures, which are based on adult observations, refer particularly to years after puberty. The early childhood years do not seem to count in calculating the duration of diabetes leading to complications. Perhaps the hormones that develop during adolescence and continue into adult life influence the development of complications.

These early changes may progress to more severe changes in some people with a risk of visual impairment. It is reported that after 15 years of diabetes, 5% of people with diabetes have developed this worsening of retinopathy and after 30 years, 8% have loss of vision.

The early signs of retinopathy can be detected during regular eye checks and if there are signs of deterioration or new vessel formation which would threaten vision, laser treatment (photocoagulation) can prevent further deterioration and preserve vision. Thus regular eye checks are important for a person with diabetes after the early teenage years.

Kidney complications

Within the kidney, the blood is filtered to remove waste products which are excreted by the body as urine. This process of filtering takes place in fine structures called glomeruli, and in diabetes the glomeruli can be affected, either through the small blood vessels within the glomeruli or by changes in the structure of the glomeruli themselves.

Up to 50% of people may show signs of kidney involvement and some may eventually go on to show signs of kidney failure. At that time, a renal transplant may be necessary.

Early signs of kidney involvement can be found by checking the urine for traces of the protein albumin. Albumin is a natural constituent of blood and if there is an alteration in the kidney due to diabetes, some of this albumin may leak out into the urine. There are other causes why albumin may appear in the urine apart from diabetes. In childhood, some of these are of no importance but all need to be checked out.

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In our discussion of stress you will have noticed that there has been a recurrent theme that those things which we do in life, which are in tune with our natural biological heritage, are a help to us in the matter of stress. So it is with man and woman.

Our relationship of man and woman fulfils our biological needs at quite different levels. In carnal sex the massive discharge of nerve cells in orgasm temporarily relieves the individual of the tensions of stress. Sex as an expression of love has a similar effect. The tranquility of the togetherness which follows helps our brain to run quietly, allowing the integration of matters which were previously so disturbing. But our experience of man and woman in its effect on stress extends far beyond our physical intercourse together. All those aspects of our life which fulfill our biological needs make it easier for our brain to sort things out. Sleep, rest, leisure. And of equal importance is our experience of man and woman together.

In the simplest possible terms of biology, woman bears our child and nourishes the baby, while man provides food and shelter for both. Through this division of labour, and by the process of evolution, man and woman have developed certain qualities to suit them to their life’s task. Woman must understand the needs of her child before it can speak to her, so she has developed a natural understanding of others. Man, because of his biological role, has developed greater physical strength.

The basic biology of man and woman fits into our pattern of coping with stress in several ways. If this division of labour is our basic code of life, then our brain is doing things that it has learned to do over countless generations, and so has learned to do them without much hassle, and the tendency to stress is so much the less. This is a basic principle. But we must remember that patterns of life change, and sociological practices grow and develop from one generation to the next. Hence we have a tendency for woman to move from the biological creativity of the home to the material creativity of the outside world. At the same time man is moving towards a much greater participation in the care of the children. Both man and woman can benefit by this. Woman gains from her new vantage point to see wider horizons. Man gains by learning something of the intuitive skill of woman in handling others. But we must remember that these gains, great as they are to both man and woman, are valid only so long as the primary biological role of man’ and woman is still maintained as a basis.

This leads us further into the effect of the togetherness of man and woman in stress. Woman is strong in the intuitive understanding of others which she has inherited to help her with her children in their pre-verbal years. Man is strong in logic to help him as provider of food and shelter. The effect on stress comes through the closeness of man and woman together – the being with, the physical contact, the cuddle, the lying together – this physical closeness which brings with it our mental and spiritual closeness. In this man becomes aware of her intuitive understanding. He picks up something of it himself. And his brain runs profoundly quiet. Woman becomes aware of his strength. It gives her a sense of security, both physical and deep within her, and her brain runs profoundly quiet.

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“The writing is on the wall. Anyone can read it. There will be a take-over. That’s not the problem. The problem for me is that I shall be found redundant. Will be paid off. Thrown to the wolves. The wolves that would tear the flesh from your bones. Don’t know where I can turn. Very few jobs about in my particular field. Very few, and my age is no help. Can’t sleep. I jitter inside. Can see my work going off. That only means the sack is more certain than ever.

‘Had planned an overseas trip. Just the two of us. The wife and I. Every night she is reading about places to visit. Haven’t told her the worst. Haven’t told her the truth. Just vaguely suggested we put it off for a year or two. There’s a chill in the air. I just don’t know what to do.”

The major problem and the associated problem are clearly marked. He needs all the help he can get in the home, or he will come under stress and probably develop psychosomatic symptoms.

The kind of help that he needs is understanding. If she rails against his employers and the injustice they are inflicting on him, it will only increase his level of tension, and make his performance at work so much the worse. On the other hand, she may try to bolster his morale with talk of his ability and experience, and that he will certainly get another job, equal or better, just as soon as he wants it. If she talks like this, he realizes what she says is out of tune with reality, and the gulf between them is so much the greater.

If, however, she can communicate her understanding in that very simple and wordless communication of man and woman, his level of anxiety is reduced and his performance at work is so much the better.

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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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•     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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