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.

*477/71/1*

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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Sharon’s instincts about her condition were right from the start; she would have been better off searching for a specialist in endometriosis. Specialists are a good bet because they have experience in treating endometriosis on a regular basis, frequently are involved in research on the disease, and are more skilled with the laparoscope.

*46\43\4*

1. Diagnosis of a mole as being of the type that is statistically more likely to become malignant; such a mole would be the large, hairy ‘bathing trunk’ naevus.

2. The presence of changes suspected to be malignant.

3. The occurrence of functional changes within the mole. These may be irritation, trauma, or infection.

4. Cosmetic reasons. In this case removal is only successful if the result improves the appearance of the individual. The choice of surgical technique is therefore important.

There is absolutely no foundation for the widely-held misconception that surgical interference with a mole will cause it to become malignant. This may have arisen from the result of inadequate treatment of what in fact was already an early malignant melanoma, not a simple mole. All doubtful moles should be excised with an adequate margin and submitted for pathological examination. No moles should ever be simply destroyed by cauterization or similar treatment without adequate pathological examination. Removal for cosmetic or functional reasons does not necessarily have to be complete. Elliptical excision and suturing may be avoided and a very satisfactory cosmetic result obtained by a shave excision. This entails shaving the mole off flush with the skin surface, and stopping bleeding with light electro-desiccation.

*73\44\4*