Health News

If our attention can be distracted we obtain respite from our pain. It would seem that our mind can only hold one topic in consciousness at a time.

If our attention can be diverted away from our pain on to some other matter, then we are no longer conscious of our pain. A child falls and hurts himself. He cries with pain. Mother picks him up, and looking out the window says, “Oh, I thought I saw a rabbit under that bush.” The pain ceases. If his attention is diverted only momentarily his pain returns. But if his mother can maintain his attention for a few moments, while the painful stimuli settle down, then there is no return of the pain.

The same tiling happens with us adults. The patient with arthritis says, “I am better when I am doing something. I am really better at work; the pain does not worry me so much then.” We often make conscious efforts to divert our attention from pain by going to a show, watching TV or by conversation with our friends. The difficulty, of course, is that our brain gives a very high priority for attention to pain of any severity. It therefore usually requires something of real urgency to divert our attention. This is seen in soldiers wounded in battle who continue to fight with little awareness of their wound. In a similar way injured football players often finish the game before they are fully aware of the extent of their injury.

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Q. The mouth, tongue and lips are very obvious parts of the body, both because they are readily visible and also because they have an enormous nerve supply which makes disorders here fairly uncomfortable. At least this is fortunate for it brings it to the attention and increases the chances of seeking proper medical help. What are some of the more common problems in this area?

A. There are several which are worth discussing. First let’s talk about cold sores, these have been in the news for the past few years and affect nearly everybody. Cold sores are also known as herpes simplex and appear in the form of multiple tiny blisters. Herpes simplex may occur on the lips but is more common in the area surrounding them. It is caused by a virus HSV-1 and sometimes this can rapidly spread and become a serious disease necessitating urgent medical attention.

Q. What about treatment?

A. A new antibiotic called acyclovir, which will soon become available in Australia, is said to be curative. Apart from this the application of ice to the sores, ideally before the blister appears, for about 60 minutes often helps. This is called cryotherapy ( = cold treatment). The drug idoxuridine (‘Stoxil’) may help if applied very early before blister formation, and another called poridone iodine (‘Stoxine’) may help. Otherwise, simple methylated spirits applied every hour and antiseptic are about all that is left. Avoid too much sunshine or foods to which you are allergic.

Q. Some people seem to suffer from a horrible looking black tongue.

A. A dark brown to black coating can occur on the surface of the tongue. It is common after treatment with antibiotics and merely means that the superficial layers of cells on the tongue are not being shed (desquamated) as they normally are. It disappears without treatment soon after the course of antibiotics has been completed.

Rinsing with hot, salty water (1 tsp salt in glass of hot water) 3-4 times a day assists if the condition feels unpleasant and unhygienic.

Q. What causes little clear coloured lumps to occur inside the lips. Quite a few people seem to develop these.

A. These are called mucous cysts or mucocoeles.

These usually occur as a single, simple swelling on the inner side

of the lip the shape of a pea. It may gradually increase in size and is due to a blockage of a mucous gland. Sometimes a swelling of a blood vessel in this area can simulate a mucous cyst. If the cyst is proving troublesome (such as when eating) it may be removed surgically by the doctor. It is excised (often under local anaesthetic) and sutured or the base diathermied to check bleeding. Because of the copious blood supply to the mouth, tongue and lips, bleeding can sometimes be profuse but this is readily checked during any surgical operation.

Q. I guess many mothers have to cope with a facial injury when her child happens to sustain a fall.

A. Injuries to the tongue, lips and mouth are common. A very common injury is with children who slip from scooters and wheeled toys onto a hard surface. A tooth is commonly forced through the tongue or lip. With any injury in this region bleeding is usually profuse. It indicates that a vast network of blood vessels exists to bring blood to this region. In most instances, simple cleansing of the injured part with cool water, plus pressure (e.g. with a fabric pad, such as a handkerchief or gauze swab) for 10-15 minutes will usually check this. Deeper wounds may need suturing (stitching) by the doctor. Any dirty wound (on any part of the body) needs an anti-tetanus injection. The doctor usually does this automatically. With the widespread use of immunisations from an early age, many children and adults are already protected against tetanus. But a “booster shot” may be required if none has been received in recent years.

Q. Are many people troubled with foreign bodies in this part of the system?

A. Yes. One of the most common is a fish bone which can easily become stuck in a large protruding tonsil. Alternatively it may become lodged in the throat or in any part of the oral cavity. Removal is essential. Often it may be seen without difficulty and, with a little dexterity, simply removed. No further treatment is required. Professional help is sometimes needed if it is hard to find or remove.

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Apart from the methods outlined above, you may also be able to lessen the extent to which you feel pain by making changes in your diet, as modern medical research has underlined the long-known fact that some foods have properties that can reduce how strongly you perceive pain.

Here are some recent key findings:

Extremely promising results have been obtained with a diet specifically formulated to reduce many forms of chronic pain, including those resulting from back problems and joint dysfunction. Dr Samuel Selzer, of Temple University in Philadelphia, who headed the group that developed the special diet, however, warned: “Although this diet has brought great relief to many who followed it and it is safe for most people, you should always consult your doctor before you try it.” The pain-relieving diet consists of several components:

Increase your intake of complex carbohydrates – such as whole-grain foods (but excluding corn), beans, vegetables, and fruit -so that these account for about three quarters of your food intake; and

Avoid all fats and oils, including butter and margarine, as much as possible; and

Also avoid refined carbohydrates, including sugar, honey, and syrup; and

Keep as low as possible your consumption of processed or baked foods that contain a great deal of fats, oils, or sugar; and

While following the guidelines above, you should take three grams of tryptophan, an amino acid normally available from health foods stores, daily, dividing the total amount into six equal doses of half a gram each, one of these being taken at about three-hourly intervals. Tryptophan is converted by the body into serotonin, a natural pain-relieving chemical.

Follow the diet rigorously for at least four weeks. If after that time it has brought benefits and there has been less pain, then reduce the tryptophan to a total of only two grams daily. Assess the results again a month later; if progress continues, once again cut down on the tryptophan, this time to only half a gram a day.

Instead of taking tryptophan supplements, you can follow the diet above without the tryptophan, but make up for this by substantially increasing your intake of foods with a high tryptophan to protein ratio, these including soya beans, dairy products, fish, meat, and eggs.

Other food-related suggestions for combating pain:

The effect of aspirin will be accelerated if you drink a cup of strong coffee at the same time, according to research conducted by Dr Bernard Schachel of Yale University.

Eating chilli peppers can help reduce pain because they are an excellent source of capsaicin, a substance found by researchers at the University of Alabama to diminish many kinds of pain, especially chronic pains, including those associated with pinched nerves as in sciatica.

Easily available foods with proven pain-reducing properties include cloves, garlic, ginger, onions, and peppermint.

Many plant foods have a high content of salicylates, a sort of natural aspirin that has analgesic effects and can also combat inflammation. Good sources of this natural painkiller include cherries, prunes, blueberries, curry powder, dried currants and dates, paprika, and liquorice.

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Who lives longer, joggers or orchestra conductors? The answer, according to an editorial in Modern Medicine (53#2:21) is that, in this country at least, one hears of many more conductors, virtuoso violinists, and concert pianists than sportsmen not only living to a very ripe old age, but also remaining on the job right up to the end. Eubi Blake, 100; Karl Boehm, 86; Adrian Boult, 100; Arthur Fiedler, 86; Paul Paray, 93; Arthur Rubinstein, 94; Arturo Toscanini, 90; Walter Demrosch, 85; and Leopold Stokowski, 96, are a few examples.

How musicians manage to live such long and active lives is not understood, at least not from any scientifically-proven point of view.

Nevertheless, it is widely believed that arm waving activities while conducting, and upper body movements while performing, may provide them with the ideal form of exercise. Because our arms do not bear weight, we can wave them as much as we wish without damaging the joints of the elbows, and shoulders. Furthermore, the editorial writer in Modern Medicine reports, Dartmouth Medical School has recently shown that rowing is the best type of exercise, so far as maximal aerobic stimulation is concerned. Rowers, too, he reported, live to a very ripe old age.

Until the proof of this idea has been provided, he believes, it would be prudent for us to give it the benefit of the doubt by performing arm exercises every day and even “conducting” the music we listen to at home.

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Symptoms

Itching or burning in the anal or genital areas Bedwetting Abdominal cramps Inflammation of the vagina or bladder

Home care

-    Ask the doctor to prescribe a medication to get rid of the threadworms.

-    Keep the fingernails of the infected child cut and scrubbed to avoid spreading the threadworms.

-    Launder the child’s clothing and linens to kill the worms.

Precautions

-    If one member of the family has threadworms, all members (except infants and pregnant women) should be treated at the same time.

-    Do not blame a child’s case of threadworms on the family dog or cat; threadworms do not live in these animals.

-    Worm medications should be obtained only with a doctor’s prescription.

-    Be aware that threadworms may be the cause of recurrent inflammation of the vagina or bladder.

The threadworm, a distant cousin of the earthworm, lives only in humans and the higher apes. The adult threadworm is one-half to one centimeter in length, white in color, and about as thick as stout sewing thread. It lives in the large intestine and, moving with a caterpillar-like motion, comes out at night to lay microscopic eggs on the skin around the anus, the opening from the intestine to the outside. The eggs are transmitted from the anus to mouth on the child’s hands or by toys and food that the child has touched. The child then swallows the eggs. The eggs hatch into larvae, the immature form of the threadworm; by two to six weeks later the larvae have developed into mature, egg-laying adult threadworms and the cycle continues. Threadworms can be transmitted to other children and to adults in the same manner.

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“I must know that I am within reach of a toilet. This governs my life. Determines what I can do and what I can’t. Occupies my mind so that I can’t get on with other things. Ulcerative colitis. Ruining my life. All when I had so much going for me. Pills and diets, pills and diets. Nothing has helped. One surgeon wants to remove most of my colon and leave me with a colostomy! Oh God. Cuddling in bed with a colostomy bag!”

Ulcerative colitis is an infective condition of the large bowel with patches of ulceration. This produces irritability of the bowel causing pain, and diarrhea tinged with blood and mucus in the faeces. A vicious circle becomes established with the ulceration increasing movements, and the movements increasing the ulceration.

The movement of our bowel is under the control of the autonomic nervous system. Stress through its effect on the autonomic system may further increase motility and hinder healing. I have seen a number of patients who have dramatically improved their ulcerative colitis by the effective practice of intensive meditation.

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Blood pressure

“He took my blood pressure. It was just a routine examination. He pulled a face, and said, “You had better take these tablets. You don’t want to have a heart attack or a stroke.” Have been taking the tablets, but life is not going as well as it was. Don’t know what is wrong with me. Irritable. Depressed. Children get on my nerves.”

The physiological effect of the medication easily upsets the function of our brain cells, and makes us more vulnerable to stress.

In this case, it would seem that it would have been wiser first to try to control the blood pressure by relaxing procedures rather than immediately commencing medication.

Premenstrual tension

“For those few days I am difficult to live with. I know I am. But I don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.”

It is difficult for her to do anything about it because the change of hormone balance has caused disturbing impulses to be sent to her brain. These form a background which adds to other impulses, and so predisposes her to stress.

The situation is always complicated by psychological factors. We become conditioned to a situation. We expect trouble. Of necessity this very expectation sends further impulses to our brain and so adds to the effect of the hormonal imbalance.

What can we do? Of course, the orthodox approach is to take hormone pills to try to reduce the effect of the glandular imbalance. On the other hand, we can quite definitely reduce the psychological component by a relaxing approach. That is definite. But relaxation when it is carried out in meditative fashion may go further than this. It is no mystery that our mental state influences our glandular activity. A simple example is the way in which young women may lose their periods when they come under stress, and the normal glandular rhythm returns when the stress passes. In a similar fashion relaxing meditation may have a direct effect in restoring the glandular balance in the premenstrual phase.

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Rehabilitation Homes for Chronic Asthma

Denver has one of the largest institutes in the United States operating under the principle of parentectomy in their asthma rehabilitation program. There are many excellent asthma institutes throughout the country, in most major cities. Some of them do not require the child to live in, but try to provide help on an out-patient basis. These centers may set up small groups for weekly classes in physical fitness. The age limit is usually from six to sixteen, with groups selected according to age and severity of asthma.

Breathing exercises taught in these centers seek to:

a.     Teach the best use of respiratory muscles, especially the diaphragmatic muscle

b.     Teach how to use exercises to stop an asthma attack in its early stages

ñ.     Improve on exercise capacity d. Develop self-confidence

Breathing exercises are not curative. They represent only one additional tool to use in the management of asthma.

The Asthmatic Child at Camp and School

There are many asthma camps located in pollen-free areas which have a resident physician and which will keep a child all summer so that his return home coincides with the end of the allergy season. While at camp, the child must have an identification card containing his name, his phone number, his address, the name and phone number of his doctor, his blood type, his Rh factor, a list of his allergens, the dates of his immunizations, and an emergency kit to use for insect and bee stings. If he has eczema as well, he should avoid sweating (by controlling physical exercise) and excessive exposure to sunlight. He should swim in the ocean, but not in chlorinated pools. His desensitization program should continue while he is at camp.

The school of the asthmatic child should be an allergy-free place in which he may develop his personality, increase his knowledge, and learn to accept his shortcomings. While going to school in winter, he must be properly dressed, not with coarse woolen clothes, but with soft woolens* or synthetics, all of which must be taken out of storage and aired a few days before wearing. On cold days, he must wear a mask while in the street to avoid breathing frigid air. If riding a bus, he should sit near the driver where the fumes are less prevalent. In class, he should not erase blackboards or do cleaning chores that stir up dust or be near flowers, pets, or plants. His lunch should be prepared at home so he may avoid the foods to which he is allergic.

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Immunizations

Many countries have immunisation requirements which have to be met before they will let you in. The diseases that you are most likely to have to be protected against are tetanus, polio, typhoid and yellow fever. Smallpox vaccination is required by very few countries as the disease has been eradicated worldwide. It is always difficult to know exactly which immunizations you should have for any given country, especially as the regulations constantly change. Any IATA accredited travel agent (which is most of the reputable ones) can consult a master list and tell you exactly what is required, or you can phone your airline or the embassy of the country to which you are going. If you are pregnant, have a baby or suffer from a skin complaint see your doctor for advice about immunizations. Allow yourself a good month to make any health arrangements before going away. Last-minute immunizations will not give you such effective protection and may spoil your holiday because of a reaction.

Illnesses abroad

The most common ailment suffered by holidaymakers is diarrhea and vomiting. This comes about by consuming food and drink contaminated with food-poisoning bacteria and their toxic products. In this country we are very complacent about such bacterial infections because we have drinkable water and the climate does not favour rapid bacterial growth in foods. Most of these infections are simply ‘holiday tummy’ but you can also get more serious conditions such as dysentery or cholera. To be safe:

• Boil all drinking water (or use purifying tablets). It is a good idea even to use boiled water for cleaning your teeth.

• Boil all milk.

• Don’t just wash fruit and vegetables under water and then eat them. Use cooled boiled water to clean vegetables. Peel fresh fruit and avoid salads.

• Keep fresh and cooked food in a refrigerator.

• Drink mineral water or wine if you are unsure of the water and cannot boil it. Even with all these precautions you may still get diarrhea simply because of the change of food (perhaps to a more spicy diet than you are used to) or because your bowel has not got used to the new, quite harmless bacteria that come to inhabit the bowel when you eat and drink in another country.

• Wash your hands before eating anything.

• It is probably a good idea to take an anti-diarrhea medicine with you because it will cost much more abroad.

Malaria, often thought of as an exotic tropical disease, is being caught by increasing numbers of holidaymakers as package tours venture further afield. It is a very serious disease and can kill you. As there is no vaccination against malaria, you will have to cover yourself by taking anti-malaria tablets, even if you are only passing through an infected area. One mosquito bite is all it takes to get the disease. Anti-malaria tablets are available from chemist shops and airport chemists. You have to take the tablets before you go and keep taking them for six weeks after your return.

If you should get any illness at all after your return from holiday, tell your doctor at once where you have been and what health precautions you took before and while you were there.

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What is it?

Pain in the back, usually low down. According to statistics 5 per cent of the population of Europe suffers from back complaints at any one time. In the UK back troubles cause the loss of more hours’ work than do strikes and eight out of ten adults will seek medical help for back pain at some time in their lives. Approximately 88,000 people in the UK are absent from work because of back pain on any one day.

Back pain can be acute, even putting the person to bed for a few days, or chronic-making life miserable for years.

What causes it?

•     Psychological stress. Many people with back pain are highly stressed. Treat the stress and their back pain goes.

•     Injury. This is by far the commonest physical cause of back pain. A sudden, twisting injury, a blow, a fall from a height or the strain of lifting a heavy object wrongly can all cause an injury that produces back pain at the time or later.

•     Chronic trauma results from sleeping for years on a poor mattress.

•     Poor posture. Humans are upright creatures but the balance of the bones and muscles in the back is delicate – a combination of leverage, gravity and muscular contraction helps keep the system in normal balance. Also, the lower-back muscles seem to be rather weak to do anything very heavy. Sedentary occupations and a lack of physical fitness worsen this state further. A back that is continually subjected to mild strain also shows more signs of osteoarthritis later in life. Often the person displays poor posture, flat feet, a middle-aged tummy bulge and yet is free from symptoms until some, often quite minor, trauma breaks the camel’s back, as it were.

•     High-heeled and platform shoes are other culprits. They throw the body’s centre of gravity forwards, alter the angle of the pelvis and force the spine to adjust to a totally new balance position.

•     Poor lifting technique. Most people forget how vulnerable the back is and simply bend forward from the waist when lifting. This puts very considerable strains on the back.

•     Slipped disc. This is the commonest cause of severe back pain. About one in every 200 people is affected in a year, and two-thirds of them are men. The pain comes on suddenly and the sufferer finds it almost impossible to move freely. Many people find that the only way to get relief is to lie flat on the floor or on a bed. Rest is the best cure but local heat and painkillers are also helpful. Nine out of ten people experiencing disc pain for the first time will be better after three weeks in bed. An osteopath can often help at the early extreme-pain stage. If these measures don’t produce relief, or if there are complications, surgery can be the answer, but only about one in 1,000 back-pain sufferers need surgery.

•     Standing in a fixed position for too long can also be a cause of back pain. This can occur at work or, for example, when ironing, cooking or washing up.

•     Badly designed chairs or car seats are a hazard.

•     With today’s craze for running and jogging there is a real danger of back injury if you do not wear properly constructed sports shoes. These are made with highly shock-absorbent soles that take most of the punishment from the hard surface on which you are running

•     Insufficient exercise. This leads to weak back muscles and makes the back more liable to injury.

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