Health Issues is a general health based blog concentrating on multiple health topics.

SEXUALITY, ILLNESS AND HEALTH/SEX AND CELL DISEASE (CANCER): CHEMOTHERAPY AND SEXUALITY

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Chemotherapy and sexuality: Most forms of chemotherapy are designed to boost the body’s own natural defense against fast-growing cells that are out of control. In the process, chemotherapy may result in side effects related to some destruction of your own healthy fast-growing cells (like the lining of your stomach or your hair cells). You can do much to reduce the sexual side effects of chemotherapy by conditioning yourself. Listen to pleasing music or smell a pleasing odor during chemotherapy treatment. The music or odor might become “paired” with the chemotherapy, and the sound or odor itself might actually help the chemotherapy by making it more effective with less of a dose. The principle at work here is the classical conditioning done by Pavlov, who taught his dogs to salivate to a bell. In this case, you are teaching your own defense cells to respond to music or an odor. This technique is still in the experimental stage, but there is no harm in trying it. Anything that doesn’t hurt the treatment program could help it. Here are some issues related to cancer and chemotherapy.

1. Some chemotherapy may alter menstruation, fertility in men and women, and hormonal patterns related to human development, particularly during adolescence. Ask your doctor about the side effects in this regard. Just ask out loud, “What might this chemical do to my sex life?”

2. The whole process of chemotherapy and its administration is not conducive to comfort. You may become depressed as well as have other physical symptoms. Get a strong support system and make sure the setting in which you receive your chemotherapy is one that you can at least tolerate. Listen to music, fantasize, play relaxation and imagery tapes. Help out the process! Go to your own internal pharmacy of natural healing chemicals.

3. it is not true that all chemotherapy causes infertility. Some types can, but not always. Teenagers I have interviewed sometimes assume that their chemotherapy makes them safe contraceptively. This is not true. Talk it over with your doctor.

4 The cell-disease patients I interviewed felt a stronger need than ever to be touched, held, stroked, and loved, and the more invasive the treatment, the stronger was the need. Never forget the power of the healing touch. “I can’t say why or how, but his touch just soothed me after the chemotherapy.” The wife reported that her husband could actually cancel out some of the side effects of her treatment. She continued, “He was on a sales trip once, and I had my treatment. I got sick as a dog. The next time, he was home. If we make love, like that time, I just don’t get the nausea. Can that happen?”

There are forms of cell disease for every part of the body, but the principles above apply to each. If we take the fourth perspective of sexuality, we avoid the trap of a genital/breast focus on sex. When we avoid that trap, we have ample options to protect our sexuality. No disease destroys sharing, and sharing in the absence of the energy buildup and discharge model cannot be destroyed by cell disease. If we give up our sexuality at times of illness, we give the disease a power it does not have on its own.

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YOUR MARILAL HEALTH/THE SUPER SEX RESPONSE MODEL: DESIRE

Monday, May 18th, 2009

DESIRE: This term refers to frequency of sexual interaction. It does not mean “wanting” sex, only how many times you and your spouse are sexually intimate. With this use of the word “desire,” a systems orientation is necessary because it refers to interaction, not a drive state. “Low” desire and “high” desire are relative terms indicating a couple’s report of how often they are sexual together. You will understand more about this way of using the word “desire” by learning about the other nine phases of sexual response.

“You have absolutely no desire,” said the wife. “You have sex but you don’t really want it.”

“Well, you want it, you have desire,” responded the husband, “but you don’t really have it, you don’t enjoy it.”

You can see the danger in “assigning” sexual motives. I have found it helpful to use desire simply and directly as a number, a count that means nothing but number and certainly is not a symptom of the presence or absence of sexual interest or arousal.

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THE JOY OF PERFECT HEALTH: VIRUSES

Monday, May 18th, 2009

With regard to viruses, most of the “facts” made available to the general public are simply not true. Viruses are not alive. This is official. They cannot move, do not have any metabolism, cannot multiply and do not have any attribute whatsoever associated with living organisms. They are simply very complex organic compounds (nucleic acids), created and modified as a result of the activity of surrounding living cells. Some of the above compounds (viruses) could be quite toxic. Bacteria can use viruses as food. Our cells use and produce viruses in the metabolic process.

The above facts indicate, that ever-present viruses and living bacteria in our body are in perfect symbiosis with it in a healthy state (the fact widely accepted by medical science) and therefore they are not the cause of disease.

When we are healthy, there is hardly any food for bacteria in our body, except in the intestines. Bacteria live there happily, helping us greatly to break down and absorb complex food as well as to dispose toxins. If our diet is healthy, we have only “friendly” bacteria, which are perfectly adapted to feed on and break down such food for us.

All bacteria are under the strict control of our mind-body system. Medicine says that our “immune system” is functioning properly.

However, when our body becomes damaged, poisoned, overloaded with toxins, it makes an effort to dispose of and/or break down dead matter and toxic deposits, wherever they may be accumulated. Modern medicine knows very well which toxins are accumulated in which organ. For example benzene goes directly and accumulates in the thymus gland. Bacteria from the intestines are allowed to enter the bloodstream and are transported to the disposal site. Very quickly these bacteria adapt to the local conditions. The bacteria most adequate to these conditions is created and the toxic/dead organic matter is transformed by it, hopefully for easier disposal by the body.

When the toxic sites are large, the population of bacteria explodes. Different types of bacteria will be adapted to the current condition in this part of the body. Bacteria in large amounts may create additional toxins which usually do not help us and cause certain symptoms, enabling us sometimes to identify their type. In this scenario, bacteria are not the cause of the disease, but they simply take advantage of any initial pre-existing toxic state in our body. Killing bacteria with antibiotics sometimes gives relief, because you give your body more time to restore the balance, reducing the rate at which toxins are neutralised and excreted.

Medicine has already tried the concept of sterile (bacteria free) body. It was shown beyond doubt, that it does not lead to a good health at all.

In view of the above, the statement that viruses or bacteria cause disease is therefore no more accurate, than saying that flies cause garbage.)

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KIDNEY STONES – STAGHORN CALCULI

Friday, May 15th, 2009

They are large and irregular and are called staghorn calculi because of their shape. They may destroy part or all of the functioning kidney structure before detection.

Other stones are formed from uric acid when this chemical is increased both in the blood and the urine in gout.

A stone usually signals its presence by causing pain. This may occur when the stone attempts to move from the pelvis of the kidney.

A large stone lying in the pelvis, or irritating the area where the ureter or tube which carries the urine from the kidney to the bladder arises, can cause a constant dull pain in the loin and in the front of the abdomen just below the ribs.

If the stone enters the ureter and attempts to move down, it can cause severe pain.

Ureteric colic is regarded as being the most severe pain we can experience. It comes in spasms and may be felt in the loin, down the front of the abdomen and even into the testes and the front of the thigh.

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BACKACHE – AFFECTING MOST PROBLEMS

Friday, May 15th, 2009

Let me make it plain that there is no such thing as a “slipped” disc, although patients and some doctors still use this term.

I think it is wrong, because it is not a proper explanation of what is happening and gives rise to the impression that something “slipped,” can be “put back.”

Most problems that affect the back involve the lower portion.

There are five lumbar vertebrae in the small of the back and these join to the sacrum, a triangular bone just above the buttocks, consisting of five vertebrae fused together.

Most back problems arise from the discs between the fourth and fifth lumbar and the fifth lumbar and first sacral vertebrae.

Prolapse of the disc can occur when the back section of the elastic outer disc ruptures and allows the inner core and portions of the elastic tissue to move backwards and press against the spinal cord or the nerves which come from it.

Some recent work in Australia shows that minor tears in the surrounding elastic tissue can allow the fluid portion of the inner core to leak out. This fluid is highly irritant and can cause inflammation of the nerves as they come out from the spine.

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HOARSENESS IN CHILDREN

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Symptoms: speaking or crying in an unusually low pitch; inability to speak above a whisper; voice loss.

Home care:

-    Have the child rest his or her voice.

-    Encourage the child to inhale steam and drink warm liquids.

-    If hoarseness is caused by an allergy, antihistamines prescribed by the doctor should help.

Precautions

-    Consult the doctor if the hoarseness is severe or persists longer than two to three days,

-    Note that babies are sometimes born with soft larynxes. This may give a hoarse note to the baby’s cry, but it is nothing to worry about and usually disappears after six to eight months of age.

Anything that interferes with the normal vibrations of the vocal cords can cause the cords to swell and produce hoarseness – distortion or loss of the voice. In children, the most common cause of hoarseness is abuse of the voice by screaming. Hoarseness can also be caused by croup, laryngitis, or an allergy. More rarely, the condition can result from diphtheria, injury to the larynx (voice box), or a foreign body that the child has inhaled.

Extreme hoarseness can cause total temporary voice loss. Repeated hoarseness leads to the formation of tiny, wart like growths on the vocal cords. In children, these growths are known as “screamer’s nodes.” When they occur in adults they’re referred to more politely as “singer’s nodes.” Either way, they can cause the hoarseness to become a chronic condition.

Note that a baby may be born with a soft, underdeveloped larynx that collapses partially each time the baby takes in a breath; the baby makes a crowing sound (congenital laryngeal stridor), and there may be a hoarse note to the baby’s cry. This condition should clear up without treatment, and you don’t need to be concerned about it.

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SELF-HELP PREVENTION: DEPRESSION

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Depression is a highly complex condition that can be defined in many ways. To the man or woman in the street it is often taken to mean ‘the blues’ or ‘feeling low’, but at the other end of the scale doctors see people who are really ill with depression, which is still the biggest single cause of suicide.

However we define it, depression is extremely common-in fact it is the most common psychiatric condition in the western world. Between 8 and 15 million Americans are being treated for it at any one time, and it is the biggest single cause for admission to mental hospitals in the western world. Women seem to be more commonly affected than men, but this assumption is being seriously questioned as it now appears that men may simply show their depression in other ways-the main ones being anti-social behaviour, alcoholism and sexual misdemeanors.

There are two types of depression. The most common by far is the ‘endogenous’ kind. This occurs for no apparent reason though as we learn more about the condition more and more causes are being recognized. The second type is ‘manic’ depression. In this disease the individual suffers bouts of being highly active and sleepless and bouts of deep depression.

The signs and symptoms of depression are many, and surprisingly it can be a difficult diagnosis to make when the picture is not clear-cut. Many depressives have few mental or psychological symptoms and go to the doctor with physical complaints which are in fact a manifestation of their depression. The main signs of depression are: sadness; a slowness of thought; feeling worse in the

morning and brightening up as the day progresses; trouble getting off to sleep, and waking early in the morning (4 or 5 a.m.); a poor appetite for sex and food; a loss of interest in life generally; a lack of interest in things that used to be of value (e.g. hobbies); self-neglect; loss of self-confidence; a sense of guilt and worthlessness; anxiety; irritability; a tendency to cry easily; a fear of being left alone; a fear of death; a sense of hopelessness; extreme weakness and tiredness; delusions; and suicidal thoughts.

Some of the commonest physical symptoms are: tiredness; itching; weakness; dizziness; palpitation; blurred vision; a tendency to drop things; burning pains in the limbs; abdominal pains; nausea; constipation or diarrhea; ‘can’t draw a good breath’; facial pain; excessive sweating; food ‘sticks’ in the throat or gullet; aches; and pains and cramps in the legs. In one study of people complaining of symptoms for which no cause could be found one in ten were clinically depressed and half had been ill for more than ten years. Many had had numerous operations and investigations-most of which were quite unnecessary.

Treatment takes the form of drugs, psychotherapy, or electro-convulsive therapy (ÅÑÒ). Each has its place but all the treatments have drawbacks and the best way of handling depression is clearly to prevent it, if at all possible.

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WHAT VITAMINS CAN DOM FOR YOU? VITAMIN B2 (RIBOFLAVIN) AND VITAMIN B3 (NIACIN)

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

VITAMIN B2 (riboflavin)

Functions: vital for a healthy immune system • plays a role in the metabolism (usage) of fats, carbohydrates and protein, as well as cell respiration and growth • necessary for the manufacture and repair of body tissues.

Deficiency signs and symptoms: dizziness • trembling • insomnia • lassitude • cracks and sores in the corner of the mouth

• redness of the mouth and palate • sore, red tongue • poor growth of hair, nails and skin • oily skin • eye problems including inflammation of the whites of the eyes, cloudiness of the cornea, unusual sensitivity to light, a burning sensation, a “gritty” feeling under the eyelids • dermatitis of the scrotum.

Vitamin B2′s enemies: light • excessive boiling of food • stress

• excess dietary sugar • alcohol.

VITAMIN B3 (niacin)

Functions: vital for health and maintenance of skin, mouth, intestines and nerves • necessary for the extraction of energy from carbohydrates, fat and protein • crucial for the conversion of the amino acid tryptophan into a neurotransmitter. Deficiency signs and symptoms: headaches • irritability • insomnia • fatigue • muscle weakness • loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting • diarrhea • skin eruptions • skin problems, such as dryness and scales • canker sores • the classic deficiency disease is pellegra, with symptoms of diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia and, in extreme cases, death. Vitamin B3′s enemies: excessive boiling of food • alcohol.

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TESTING FOR RELAXATION: LOOSENING = LEGS

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

Straighten out your legs in front of you, lock your knees and raise your feet off the floor. Hold them at about the level of your chair seat, toes pointing forward. Feel the tension in your calves, ankles, and in the front and outside of your thighs. Hold that position. Keep your toes pointed forward as you slowly count: one thousand … two thousand … three thousand … four thousand … five thousand … six thousand … seven thousand . .. eight thousand . .. nine thousand . . . ten thousand.

Slowly relax, lowering your feet to the floor.

Now take in a deep breath through your nose. Hold it for a moment. Let it out through your mouth, very slowly, taking at least five seconds to let it all out.

Take another breath … hold it … let it out slowly.

Again, lift your feet off the floor, knees locked, toes pointing forward. Hold tight and count: one thousand … two thousand … three thousand … four thousand … five thousand … six thousand . . . seven thousand .. . eight thousand … nine thousand .. . ten thousand. Slowly relax and exhale.

Take in a deep breath through your nose … a nice, deep breath.

Hold the breath for a moment. Now let it out through your mouth, very slowly, taking at least five seconds to empty your lungs.

Take another big breath, and fill up your lungs.

Hold it for a moment. Now let it out very slowly.

Your leg muscles feel relaxed. It feels good.

You’ve relaxed your whole body. Now go back to the neck and shoulders one more time. Push the neck down and slightly back. Raise your shoulders up into your neck. Hold them tight as you count: one thousand . .. two thousand . . . three thousand . .. four thousand .. . five thousand … six thousand … seven thousand .. . eight thousand . .. nine thousand … ten thousand.

Relax and take a deep breath. Hold it, then exhale slowly, taking at least five seconds to let it all out.

Another breath . .. hold it . .. let it out slowly.

Push your neck back down and your shoulders up one more time. Clench those muscles and count: one thousand … two thousand . . . three thousand . . . four thousand .. . five thousand … six thousand … seven thousand .. . eight thousand . .. nine thousand . .. ten thousand.

The muscles in your legs feel relaxed.

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