Health News and Information

1-st day of fasting

Your mind-body system has been working all night, preparing the most urgent deposits for disposal. Your bowel should be full, despite the fact, that you cleansed it thoroughly only a few hours ago and that you have not eaten anything that night at all.

Go to the toilet and let your bowel empty itself. If you have difficulties, make a quick “single cycle” enema.

Go to work as usual. Do not eat anything at all. Drink as much water as you wish. Never let the water bottle out of your sight. It should be everywhere with you.

You can go to the sauna and spend 3 sessions of 10-15 minutes there, drying the sweat after each session with a towel. Do not go to a spa, unless the water there is ozonised and chlorine/fluoride free.

In the evening perform another enema.

2-6 day of fasting

No food. Water only. You should feel great. Your body just got rid of the huge amount of the most urgent waste deposit during the previous days. Your natural instincts and healing have been awakened.

If you feel that lack of food is indeed making you quite uncomfortable, you can add a teaspoon of natural honey into your water two or three times a day. Do not add honey to hot water. Lukewarm water is best.

Go to sauna if you feel like it. Do not do enemas every day, only when you feel that your bowel is full and your assistance is required. Do enema also when you feel sick. Your body tells you that it has some extra toxins ready to dispose, and some of them are being absorbed back, making you feel sick. Listen to your body and trust your instincts.

Go to work as normal. If you are physically active – do your jogging, squash or tennis as usual, but watch what your body is saying. You may have to adjust the intensity of your exercise.

Note how sharp your mind is, and how easily it is for you to solve problems. Use this. Study and read books, which you thought were too difficult for you. Engage in creative activities. Notice how many ideas spring to your mind.

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Because of the different behavior of melanomas at different ages it is believed some hormonal influence may play a part. Any change in a mole should arouse suspicion. The changes to watch for are if the mole enlarges, or itches, or bleeds, or ulcerates or if changes in its pigment get darker or even lighter.

Experts do differ about the correct initial treatment of the suspicious mole, and even when dealing with an established melanoma.

Some doctors would initially remove the suspicious mole leaving a normal area of skin around it then close the wound.

Should examination of the mole reveal it is malignant then a second operation is performed where a large section of skin is removed.

Some surgeons go further and remove the mole, a large area of skin and the skin which leads to the nearest draining lymph glands.

Because the common spread of melanoma is by the draining lymph channels to the lymph glands, these glands are removed as well.

Some surgeons believe this should be done in the one operation. Because the wide separation between the skin cannot be joined together by stitches, a skin graft is necessary.

Other surgeons believe their results to be as good by carrying out the primary removal of the melanoma and only the lymph glands if they show evidence of involvement such as by enlargement.

The difference in opinion arises because of the unpredictable behavior of melanomas.

It has now become common to use the cytotoxic drugs as well. These are drugs which kill the cancer cells present at a distance from the original site.

Treatment in the past was unsatisfactory and the outlook for melanomas poor. But, as with most cancers, the treatment has dramatically improved over recent years.

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Other factors in the environment are exposures to viruses. The hepatitis  virus may cause cancer of the liver in Africans exposed both to this virus and to another toxin. The Epstein-Barr virus may cause a cancer of the lymphoid tissue in Africans and cancer of the nose and throat in Chinese.

There are some cancers which may be due only to environmental factors. In this second group are tumors of the stomach and large bowel, the prostate, ovary, breast, womb and cervix and some tumors of the kidney and bladder.

This group forms about 40 per cent of male cancers and 60 to 70 per cent of female cancers. Some believe most of these cancers are due to exposure to industrial chemicals, others think they are mainly due to lifestyle.

Perhaps only about 6 per cent of cancers can be shown definitely to be due to work exposure.

The third group is mainly cancers of children and no association can be found with external factors, not that they may not exist.

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What you eat can change the course of endometriosis enough to make a difference in your life.

The effect of diet on the body is no longer just an issue of sustenance for survival. It is also a matter of health, and even longer life, we know, fairly conclusively, that high cholesterol levels affect heart function, high-fat diets may be connected to bowel and breast cancer, and that salt irrevocably influences blood pressure. Each year, there is more evidence of how certain foods and vitamins have the ability to fuel our immune systems, while other nutrients, or nonnutrients such as caffeine, can cause us problems.

Women with endometriosis, especially those who are enduring chronic pain, may not be eating correctly. This could be more from a lack of appetite or lack of energy than from a lack of knowledge as to what is best to eat. This may also be true of women with mild endometriosis. Nutrition affects recovery rates from disease, and the low-fat, low-salt, low-sugar diet and vitamin plan can make a difference.

Before we get to the actual diet plan, you should know why you will be taking minerals, vitamins, and selected nutritional supplements. These dietary changes will most benefit any woman with endometriosis.

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The total amount of ITV radiation reaching the skin at any given time is influenced by such factors as the season, time of day, latitude, altitude, and conditions of the immediate atmosphere, such as the presence of rain or clouds, and the degree of pollution.

These variations are related both to the scattering of the UV radiation in the atmosphere, and to the distance the radiation must travel through the atmosphere. This distance depends on the position of the sun. Hence, the lower the angle of the sun above the horizon, the greater the atmospheric distance which must be crossed. Therefore, at noon in summer, with the sun almost directly overhead, the UV radiation is the most intense. Of the total UV radiation received from the sun on a midsummer’s day, about 66 per cent of the energy is received between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The ozone layer present in the atmosphere also plays a major role in the absorption of this radiation. The thickness of the ozone layer varies, there being, for instance, a thinner layer in the tropics than elsewhere. As a result the intensity of UV radiation is approximately 15 per cent greater in the tropics than in other places. The ozone layer thickness also varies with the seasons (except in places close to the Equator), It is thickest in the winter and thinnest in the summer, which is why the effects of sunlight are more intense during the summer months.

At high altitudes the effects of UV radiation are greater, because there is less atmosphere to absorb the sun’s rays. Furthermore, in the presence of snow this is augmented by reflection. Contrary to a commonly held belief, water does not reflect but in fact absorbs UV radiation, so that one may become burnt even under the surface of water. Similarly, on an overcast or foggy day. considerable UV radiation will be transmitted by scattering.

Careful studies have shown that in Australia, in the midday summer sun, the earliest onset of burning for those with fair untanned skin, will occur, on average after 12 minutes. In the United States, under similar circumstances, the average time is 20 minutes. Other controlled studies have shown that various environmental factors play an important contributing role in determining the extent of the damage produced by UV radiation. These include wind, temperature and humidity. It has been convincingly shown that a combination of wind, heat and humidity will enhance the injurious effects of this radiation; on their own. however, these factors have no observable effect.

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As the menopause approaches, eggs are produced by the ovaries less regularly, leading to irregular levels of oestrogen and then to an overall decline in the average amount of oestrogen produced each month. (The number of ovarian follicles, and the egg cells they contain, decreases steadily from birth onwards, accelerating after about the age of 35, until by the time of the menopause, only a few egg cells remain.) As ovulation becomes less frequent, the ovaries produce no more progesterone, the lining of the womb no longer thickens each month and periods cease.

Eventually, the time comes when the ovaries produce almost no oestrogen or progesterone, although they continue to produce hormones called androgens. Androgens (of which testosterone is an example) are hormones that produce male characteristics, but these androgens definitely belong in the female body, and influence general health, sexuality and muscular strength. Some androgens are converted to oestrogen in the body’s fat cells, so women with more fat produce more oestrogen after the menopause and may have fewer problems with hot flushes, vaginal dryness and osteoporosis than thinner women. So there is some advantage in having that extra body fat! The disadvantage is that overweight women may produce too much oestrogen, and run an increased risk of developing cancer of the womb or breast. Although all women will be producing some oestrogen from the adrenal glands, there is not enough after the menopause to keep bones strong, prevent menopausal symptoms and protect against arterial disease.

Until the menopause, a woman’s natural level of oestrogens is very much higher than her natural level of androgens. Once the menopause has passed, oestrogens fall to a very low level but androgens continue to be produced; this may explain why older women sometimes develop increased facial hair and their voices deepen slightly.

The coming of the menopause doesn’t mean you are now ‘unfemale’, or unfeminine, or old, unless you let it affect you that way. If you tell people you feel less female, they will start to view you that way; if you start to look, behave and dress like an old woman, people will treat you as old. There are so many advantages to reaching the time of the menopause, it would be a pity to let society’s view of older women spoil it all. You have now left behind you the difficulties of looking after young children, you are almost certainly more confident and self-assured than you were 20 years ago; your periods have ended, and with them premenstrual tension, pelvic aching, cramps, tampons, and the need for using birth control. You are probably better off financially than when you had children and a building society to support, and as family responsibilities lessen there is more time for new interests and activities. The end of fertility does not mean the end of your attractiveness as a person; it can mean a whole new era of your life dawning, full of possibilities for fulfilment that were unattainable when you were younger. In the days when most women didn’t live that long, the menopause meant old age; now women have at least another 30 years left to live, years full of new opportunities.

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Inflammation of women’s reproductive organs is referred to as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). When the Fallopian tubes are affected, the condition is called salpingitis. Pus produced in the tubes or other organs in response to the inflammation may interfere with their normal function and result in symptoms of abdominal pain, fever and tenderness. Any one of a number of micro-organisms may be responsible for PID and it is thought that these are sexually transmitted. PID tends to occur in women who have had many sexual partners or women whose partners have had many sexual partners.

Prompt treatment of PID with antibiotics can bring rapid relief from discomfort. Recurrent episodes of PID can, however, result in irreversible damage to the Fallopian tubes (causing problems with fertility) and persistent symptoms. Techniques to clear blocked Fallopian tubes and restore them to good health are sometimes successful in restoring fertility and reducing pain. These techniques include hysteroscopic tubal cannulation, falloposcopy and microsurgery. If severe PID is resistant to treatment and the woman concerned has no desire to become pregnant in the future, removal of the uterus, ovaries and Fallopian tubes may be considered.

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With the help of the sleep laboratory we can now chart and record sleep patterns and study them later with the help of a computer. Two kinds of sleep are identified. The first kind is REM sleep, during which the eyes move rapidly under the eyelids and dreams are experienced. In the second kind of sleep there is no rapid eye movement. This is called non-REM sleep or NREM sleep. This NREM sleep consists of the four stages of sleep.

Sleep cycles. When a person falls asleep, he goes into NREM sleep, first entering the short-lived stage 1 sleep and then passing into stage 2 sleep. Stage 2 is the main stage and occupies about 50 per cent of the time spent in NREM sleep. He then goes into stages 3 and 4 of slow wave sleep. After 90 minutes from the onset of sleep he goes back to stage 2 sleep and enters the first REM sleep. The time up to the beginning of the first REM sleep is called the first sleep cycle.

The second sleep cycle starts with the first REM sleep, continues through the four stages of NREM sleep, and ends at the beginning of the next REM sleep. Hence each sleep cycle consists of some REM sleep and some NREM sleep, except for the first sleep cycle which has little or no REM sleep.

Each sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes and, as the night progresses, each REM period, and consequently each dream experience, lasts longer and longer, with the last REM stage in the morning perhaps lasting over an hour. This is why, when we wake up in the morning, we are very often in the middle of a dream. A normal sleep pattern will have four or five sleep cycles a night.

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As children we are all dependent upon our parents for our physical survival. So a pattern of accepting dependence is ingrained into us at an early stage.

Although we grow up into relatively independent adults, a need for some degree of dependence persists with us all. This is more obvious in the character of a woman, and has the biological function of allowing her to accept dependence when it is necessary for her during her childbearing period. On the other hand, the idea of being dependent on others may conflict with the aggressive and self-assertive aspects of a man’s personality. Such men want to be independent of their parents or their wife, but at the same time they feel the need for dependency. They are caught in the dilemma of unconsciously wanting dependence and at the same time not wanting it. As a result they feel a tension for which they can see no reason.

Another cause of tension concerns the need to have others dependent on us. It is not uncommon for an emotionally mature woman to marry a man less mature than herself. He comes to rely on her, and to be dependent upon her. She in turn enjoys giving this support from the fullness of her maturity. However, it often happens when the couple have their first baby, that the wife switches, and gives her dependence to her child. The husband becomes tense; he is not quite sure what has happened. Those around him may see that his anxiety is due to the loss of his wife’s emotional support, while he himself unconsciously saves face by not recognizing this cause of his tension.

On the other hand, a man who is a little immature may have fought hard to become independent of his parents in spite of his deep-seated wish to remain dependent. He succeeds, and has the feeling of well-being because his independence satisfies his masculinity. However, if such a man marries a mature, motherly type of woman, as he is often unconsciously driven to do, he may become tense again, because she, without knowing it, tries to develop a dependent relationship with him, which he unconsciously wants but at the same time strives to avoid.

In considering these different types of dependent relationships, it is well to remember that the mature person of either sex has a capacity both to give dependence to others and to accept some degree of dependence for himself. The man who would stand alone sees himself as the true picture of strength and maturity; but in reality he is a person who is not sufficiently secure to allow himself normal human interdependent relationships with his fellows.

A fifty-nine-year-old man who came to see me had always been extremely introverted and afraid of making a fool of himself in public. He had married a woman eight years younger than himself. She was a complete extrovert, and he saw in her all that he wished for himself. He developed a dependent relationship, but was unable to come close to her emotionally and was physically a poor lover. He covered up his feelings of inferiority with a good deal of aggression toward her. His wife eventually took a lover. He was shattered by the sudden loss of dependence, and he completely went to pieces, breaking down with acute anxiety symptoms.

The only thing in the world he wanted was to get her back. He worked conscientiously at the relaxing exercises. When his wife saw him more relaxed and without his former aggression, she abandoned her lover; and the story ends happily with the pair lovingly reunited.

They jointly sent a Christmas card with the note, “Christmas for us started on . . .” and then gave the date of their reunion.

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It is important to remember that there have been no head-to-head trials comparing St John’s Wort with the SSRIs in the treatment of depression. All reports of comparisons between the herbal and synthetic anti-depressants are therefore anecdotal. Nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned from anecdotes and one conclusion I have reached, based on many stories that there are certain people who do better on St John’s Wort than on the SSRIs. When both types of antidepressants are used in their conventional dosages, St John’s Wort appears to be superior to the SSRIs with respect to side-effects. Particularly, it appears to cause fewer sexual side-effects, less weight gain and fewer feelings of dullness in thinking or feeling. When used in their conventional dosages it is possible that the SSRIs may be more potent and I have encountered cases where they have reversed depressive symptoms that did not respond to St John’s Wort alone. In the currently planned multi-centre research study sponsored by the US National Institute of Mental Health, St John’s Wort and the SSRI Lustral are to be compared for the first time; It will be fascinating to see how they stack up against each other. In the meanwhile each depressed person will have to choose the type of anti-depressant – herbal or synthetic -best suited to his or her needs based on the information available and his or her own personal preferences.

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