Drugs used to prevent asthma are seen as increasingly important. They act either to reduce the effects of inflammation, which is the main underlying cause of the disease, or to minimise the effects of some of the cells in the airways which contribute to the inflammatory response. The drugs used for prevention include: Sodium cromoglycate (Intal) This is inhaled on a regular basis, irrespective of whether the child has symptoms or not.

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WIFE WITH ARTHRITIS

Some of the symptoms that come with the various forms and degrees of arthritis include numbness, joint pain, weakness, fatigue, and some muscular atrophy. The primary effect on sexuality seems to be in sexual movements that accompany intercourse.

Of the 118 patients with some form of connective-tissue disorder or arthritis, 26 had stopped having sex. Fatigue and pain were the most frequent reasons given. I learned in the interviews, however, that most of these patients were trying to have sex at night or in the morning. These two times are typically the most painful in the cycle of symptoms for most arthritis patients, particularly patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

I suggested the following steps for the husbands and wives with arthritis in the couples group.

1. Try a warm bath or shower before sex. The temperature of the water may lessen some of the pain in the joints and make movements easier.

2. .Change the time of day you try to have sex. Late morning and early afternoon seem to be good times for less severe symptoms for my patients, but find your own sex time. Don’t be bound by the nighttime trap.

3. Use warm compresses even during sex. Apply them just prior to posture changes, and incorporate them into the sex play.

4. Try the posture of the future. Mounting and thrusting are not sexual prerequisites.

5. If what you are doing hurts, don’t only stop and change the activity, but discuss it later. There may be ways to make adjustments. Symptoms are always changing. What does not feel good today might feel great later.

6. Emotional state can affect some forms of arthritis directly. The stress of anxiety, fatigue, and work or family pressure is as damaging as postural pressures. Look to your emotional posture as much as you look to your sexual position.

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Men in my interviews reported different types of physiological orgasms as well. Some felt more of an “opening” sensation similar to that of the A-frame orgasm, while others felt the contractive response of the tenting type.

“I definitely know when I come. I feel this tensing, then a series of pulsations,” reported the wife.

“I feel like that, too,” said the husband. “It’s like I’m going to come, then I come. It is just like strong pulses in the groin.”

The physiological orgasm was the emphasis of the first three perspectives, with a focus on the body response rather than “psy-chasms.”

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Please let me point out, that the original principles of orthodox medicine essentially support the view, that the patients should be able to seek another opinion.

A growing number of people, especially when confronted with a diagnosis of a disease considered “incurable” by orthodox medicine (such as advanced cancer for example) turn to alternative forms of treatments, which were proven through centuries. To the surprise of orthodox doctors, many of such patients succeed in greatly improving their state of health and surviving for many years, against all predictions and expectations based upon medical statistics.

The alternative techniques include, among others :

• Acupuncture

• Massage

• Herbal therapies

• Nutrition and diet

• Fasting (an extreme form of diet)

• Ayurvedic (ancient Indian) therapies

• Spiritual healers

• Oxygen and ozone therapies

• Meditation and relaxation therapies

• Radionics and electro-magnetic therapies

• Going to famous mineral springs in the mountains (Lourdes in France for example), drinking the water and bathing in it.

• removing some blood from the body

• going to bed and inducing sweating

• taking sauna

This list is probably not complete, but nevertheless, just by taking a look at it, it is hard not to notice the extreme diversity of healing techniques. They range from purely physical methods concentrating on the physical body (herbs, diet, oxygen, massage, physiotherapy etc.) to purely spiritual methods, totally ignoring the physical body (spiritual healing, meditation etc.). Several techniques (Acupuncture, Ayurveda) combine the extraordinary accurate and detailed knowledge of both the mind and the body.

To me, the most striking is the absence of surgery. I think, there is a reason for it. The design of our body is actually perfect. The mind-body system as a whole has been designed to function perfectly, to defend itself against disease, and to rebuild any damaged parts for as long as we wish. Our wise ancestors did not try to improve the design by removing or changing parts.

*9\96\8*

The law is set down for all citizens to obey and we as a learned profession do ourselves and the law a disservice if we attempt to bring it into disrepute.

Being called as a witness to court is a time-consuming business and if one is a witness to an accident, it may be a full day lost from work.

However, for most individuals this may happen only once or twice in a lifetime.

For those doctors involved in treating workers compensation or road accident cases, a court appearance may occur almost every week.

But doctors are involved with the law in many other ways.

Speed limits on the road are absolute, but if a doctor is travelling to an emergency and he exceeds the speed limit, he still breaks the law.

Should he be apprehended by a policeman, a simple and polite explanation will usually result in the policeman waving the doctor on his way or asking him if he requires a police escort.

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This nerve can be injured by tumors of the parotid gland or by operations in this area. As this is a motor nerve supplying stimulation to the facial muscles, interference with its function may lead to weakness or paralysis.

The most common cause of facial palsy is inflammation of the nerve.

The swelling causes it to be compressed in the bony canal it passes through to enter the face. Compression leads to loss of function.

In most cases the cause of the inflammation is unknown, although it is thought that some cases may be due to exposure to cold or a draught.

The condition, usually called Bell’s palsy after Sir Thomas Bell, who was professor of surgery in Edinburgh in the 1830s, usually comes on suddenly and may be partial or complete. The person often notices it on awakening.

The paralysed face is flat and without expression, the eyelid cannot be completely closed and food and drink may dribble from the side of the mouth.

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Signs and symptoms

Close observation will determine if your child is having trouble breathing or if the child is actually getting many full breaths of air in and out. Hyperventilation syndrome is never accompanied by cough or fever. There is no abnormal sound during breathing. Children who tend to hyperventilate may have repeated attacks.

Home care

It is important to remain calm and to reassure the child. Have your child breathe into a large paper bag held loosely over the mouth and nose. This will allow the child to re-breathe the exhaled carbon dioxide. Look for such causes as intolerable pressures or anxieties in the child’s surroundings – at home, at school, or in relationships with friends.

Precaution

• Hyperventilation syndrome can develop as a result of rapid, prolonged, forced deep breathing, which has become a party stunt in some circles. Encourage other kinds of games.

Medical treatment

A doctor will treat an acute attack the same as you would at home. Treatment of the underlying causes of hyperventilation depends upon investigating and analyzing possible sources of stress and emotional upset in your child. Psychiatric counseling may be advised for severe cases.

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Drowning occurs when a person’s lungs become affected by water so that he or she cannot breathe. It is often fatal. Although only a few hundred people drown each year in all western countries almost all are preventable. Three-quarters of all drownings occur in inland waters (lakes, streams, brooks and ponds), and domestic paddling pools are a real hazard. Three-quarters of those who drown are males.

Although the lives of many are saved because they can swim the ability to swim is not enough to prevent drowning. Many people who drown had no intention of going anywhere near water.

What causes it?

• Ignorance or disregard of danger. Water can be much deeper than it looks and conditions in open water cannot be compared with those in a swimming pool. Even a confident swimming-pool swimmer can find such water a surprise.

• Access to danger is a constant problem. Fences are broken, warning notices pulled down, and home pools unfenced.

• Poor supervision. Young children should never be left alone near water-they can drown in a couple of minutes and in a few inches of water.

Prevention

• Never let young children out of your sight when you are near water or deep mud.

• Empty paddling pools after use.

• Keep swimming pools fenced off and covered in the winter.

• Never leave a child alone in a bath while you go away to answer the phone, or the front door.

• Fence off garden ponds and check that a child can’t get into water butts.

• Never change or remove warning notices to do with water.

• Leave life-buoys alone in their proper place-you never know when they will be needed.

• Always wear a life-jacket when boating, even if you are a strong swimmer.

• Never fool about near, or run around, swimming pools.

• Never dive into the shallow end of a pool.

• Learn to swim really well and confidently.

• Look before you jump into a pool.

• Ensure that cess-pit covers are safe from small children.

• Beware of home-made rafts and boats-they usually sink quickly and are very dangerous.

• Don’t play in or around gravel-works, excavations or reservoirs.

• Keep off frozen reservoirs and lakes.

• When at the seaside find out the times of the tides and be sure you don’t get trapped.

• Never swim immediately after a heavy meal.

• Don’t sleep on inflatables – you could drift out to sea.

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Functions: vital for a healthy immune system • helps protect body cells from oxidation (damage due to inappropriate combining of molecules with oxygen) • plays a vital role in forming collagen, the substance that holds the body’s cells together • encourages iron absorption • functions in regulation of cholesterol levels • necessary for proper functioning of the brain and nerves • important for health of capillaries and sex organs. Deficiency signs and symptoms: lassitude • weakness • irritability • vague muscle and joint pains • loss of weight • inflamed and bleeding gums • loosening of the teeth • hemorrages under the skin • bruising • the classic vitamin C deficiency disease of scurvy.

Vitamin C’s enemies: cigarettes • heat • excessive boiling of food • light • stress.

VITAMIN D

Functions: promotes absorption of calcium and phosphate. Deficiency signs and symptoms: nervous-system disorders • tooth decay • the classic vitamin D deficiency diseases are rickets (in children), osteomalacia (in adults) and osteoporsis (thinning of the bone).

Vitamin D’s enemies: anything that reduces the amount of sunlight you receive (such as smog and staying indoors all the time) interferes with vitamin D production by your body.

VITAMIN E (tocopherol)

Functions: vital for a healthy immune system • protects body cells against oxidation • helps control free radicals (unstable molecules in the body that can cause cancer and other problems). Deficiency signs and symptoms: nervous-system disorders • gastrointestinal problems • premature aging of the skin • dry, itchy skin • infertility • destruction of red blood cells in infants, leading to anemia.

Vitamin E’s enemies: mineral oil • cooking and processing of foods • heat • freezing • iron • chlorine.

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—Epiclitus

A young woman sat in my office and said, “Whatever I do turns out wrong. I’ve been on five or six diets, but I can’t lose any weight. I’ve gone to three colleges in seven years, and I’ll never graduate. All I can get are jobs as a clerk or waitress. Then I do a lousy job and get fired after a while. I make resolutions to study harder, to work harder, to get along with my boyfriend. Nothing ever goes right for me! I don’t even try anymore because I know I’m a loser.” Like millions of Americans, she is depressed and has a negative self-image. She “knows” she’s a loser. Her conviction becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as she fails at one thing after another.

These unhappy people often wind up in doctors’ offices, complaining of various aches and pains, if they’re lucky. The unlucky ones may have more serious problems, such as cancer. These people aren’t hypochondriacs suffering from imaginary diseases. Depression and unhappiness cause physical illnesses.

Other patients I see are angry, eager to take on the whole world, to get back at someone, to show everybody what’s what. Herb A. was like that; he couldn’t wait to make his old boss eat his words. -

“Dr. Fox, I’m going to make him so sorry he fired me!” Herb fumed. “He said I didn’t run my department the right way. Well, I’m going to get a job with a bigger firm, take over the whole company and run it my way. That’ll show him! I’m going to buy him out, too. Just so I can fire him!”

The only person Herb showed was himself. His constant state of anger drove his blood pressure higher and higher until he had a heart attack.

Unfortunately, these people aren’t alone in their gloomy thoughts. Tens of millions of Americans are depressed, angry, bitter and frustrated. Many of them turn to alcohol, tranquilizers and other prescription or illegal drugs. Thanks to the magic of chemistry, they lose themselves for a little while. But the real problems haven’t been solved; the depression, anger and self-doubt always return. Meanwhile, the drugs and alcohol are busy attacking their body, destroying their relationships, harming their ability to work, draining their bank accounts and deepening their anger and/or depression.

Many of the patients I’ve seen through the years have told me , that they can’t get through the day without a tranquilizer, a few drinks or some marijuana. When I ask them if the drugs and/or alcohol make them any happier, they shrug and say no, but at least they’re surviving. My goal for you isn’t merely survival; it’s living life to its fullest. Dimming the lights of thought and perception isn’t living.

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