The Health Blog

Chest pain is a relatively common complaint during childhood, especially in older children and adolescents. Mostly it is nothing to be concerned about, and is rarely due to any serious underlying disorder. If a child complains of pains in the chest it is generally in association with a severe cough. This persistent coughing can strain the muscles of the chest wall. Another common cause of chest pain in young people is a ’stitch’ below the rib cage. This is a sharp pain which lasts several minutes and may come on after exercise. It is normal and does not signify heart disease. Heart disease is rare in children, and is associated with characteristic pains in thechest as well as other symptoms. If your child has fallen on his side or received a blow to the chest and complains of pains in the chest, he may have injured a rib.

When to see your doctor

if your child complains of chest pain which is severe;

if your child is also short of breath;

if your child has chest pain following an accident;

if the pain is worse on breathing deeply;

if your child also has a fever or is generally unwell;

if you have any other concerns or questions.

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Your immortality does not rest in some genetic relay race. What you give to this world will not be measured in amounts of DNA. Remove this “pass it on” motive from your problem and you will have less stress.

There are no magic postures for fertility. No matter what you may have heard, there are no secrets about fertility. Mutually pleasing sexuality and intimacy are important, however, and constant focus on fertility can rob your marriage of sexual joy and closeness. Talk with your doctor about the timing issue and make sure he or she is aware that you would also like to have sex as well as have a baby, have fun as well as fertility, to maintain your loving.    

Imagery helps. It is not just pop psychology to suggest that the mind is a powerful instrument for change. Both of you must enjoy the imagery of a child, not the focus on a problem, on succeeding. Talk “as if,” think of “when,” not “what will we do if we fail.”

Speaking of failure, it is important to be realistic. Sometimes, for reasons that are not always understood, couples do not have their own biological children. Planning for a future? together, for growth and joy and optional ways of parenting or giving back to the world, is important not as a surrender strategy, but as a viable if not the most desirable option.

Sometimes, in the focus on fertility, we forget the holistic approach to general health. While there are no magic vitamins or diets that automatically improve fertility, sound nutrition, exercise, prayer or meditation, balance between working and playing, and a large dose of laughter can help anything. Don’t forget these factors in your focus on fertility.

Sometimes, rarely, there are underlying marital or individual psychological problems that get in the way of, not prevent, pregnancy. For both the husband and the wife, unresolved marital and personal problems should be addressed in counseling. I’m not suggesting that personal psychological problems cause infertility. It’s just good common sense to look to your own and your partner’s own general life philosophy and happiness without blame but with support and interest in personal and relationship development.

Some of the steps in Chapter Eight have been very popular with the fertility couples. You may want to open up your own sex clinic and have some fun. You deserve it. Fertility counseling tires you out, angers you, and lets you down. I close this chapter with a report from one of the wives in the fertility program that summarizes the health and sexuality relationship.

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Men have two “areas” that are particularly responsive to sexual stimulation. Take time now to find these areas for yourself.

In the privacy of your bedroom, with the door locked, lie side by side naked as a couple. With the husband’s and the wife’s hand, find the little piece of skin that is on the underside of the penis running from the coronal ridge, the edge of the mushroomlike top of the penis, to the penile shaft. In uncircumcised men, it will be necessary to pull the foreskin out of the way gently to find this piece of skin. This is the frenulum, or F area, one of the most erotic of sexual areas for men. During intercourse, this area is typically deeply within the moist and warm vagina resulting in intense stimulation and eventual pelvic muscle contraction in men and little stimulation to women. The positioning of the F area for intense stimulation results in timing problems for many men, for they feel a loss of control when the F area is ’stimulated while their partner receives much less stimulation. Her Ñ area (or clitoral area) is usually not stimulated to the same degree as the male’s F area, so her orgasmic contractions are relatively delayed if not nonexistent.

A new posture, a posture of the future, allows a positioning of the F and Ñ areas together. This posture allows for long and intense stimulation that promotes both the organ part of orgasm and psychasm as well. Described in Chapter Eight, this posture allows for a juxtaposing of the F and Ñ areas.

One technique I have taught my patients for discovering the F area is as follows. The wife places her fingers just behind the scrotum, gently touching the fingertips to the perineal area or area behind the testicles. With her fingers in this position, the length of the fingers and palm will be in contact with scrotum and the shaft of the penis. With some adjustment of the hand, the lower wrist at the base of the thumb should be in contact with the frenulum or F area. Some men are able to feel their wife’s pulse in this position. It takes practice to develop this level of sensitivity,^but all men can learn this. Unlearning is necessary, too, for most men think that movement is sex, and pelvic thrusting is almost automatic in response to genital contact. Men can learn to lie still and feel. This technique is particularly helpful in learning psychasm. The man can practice this technique himself unless religious beliefs preclude self-stimulation.

The R area relates to the raphe, the line along the scrotum that you can see and feel. The skin on the scrotum is unique on the male body, and it can be sensitive as the labia, or lips, around the vagina. The wife can gendy rub her fingertips back and forth along the center of the scrotum, along the raphe line, and the husband will feel a pleasurable sensation. Again, he must learn to be still instead of active, to receive instead of do. The scrotal skin will seem to wrinkle and shrink as the testicles rise. Another suggestion is for the wife to run the top of her middle fingernail gentiy along this line from behind the scrotum to the front and up the penis. This kind of stimulation will help the man to integrate the scrotum and penis in a total-unit response, replacing the “end of the penis” focus most men have developed.

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When your body is poisoned, overloaded with excess food and toxins, your mind at all levels (from the sub-conscious to the super-conscious) is forced to assist emergencies arising in yarious organs of your body. This is an extremely low level of activity of the mind (a fight for survival), perhaps the lowest possible.

To understand better what I am talking about, I give you an example.

Consider that your house is on fire. Without any hesitation, you will direct all your undivided attention and efforts to this emergency. You will try to extinguish the fire, save as many items of value from the house, save yourself, your family and other people in danger. Your mind will be totally engaged in the emergency operation.

It is quite easy to imagine, that it will be impossible for you under such circumstances to direct your mind into a more subtle mode or to creative activity like writing a book, solving complex problem or programming your computer for example, when your house is on fire and you and your family are in danger. Imagine your boss phoning you in the middle of the fire with some ideas for you to work on. You will simply cut all conversation and attend the emergency immediately.

Now let us go back to your body. If it is not pure enough, your mind is busy attending “fires” in various organs. You feel dull and become tired quickly. You have difficulties concentrating. If your body is in the “healing crisis” (simply speaking you feel sick), the least you feel like doing is thinking. You simply cannot think ! Any request for thinking hard is like a telephone from your boss during the fire : your higher mind cuts all communications.

Similar effects can be observed after large meals, when you overload your body with food. According to medical science food should give you energy. But instead, you feel tired and sometimes even sick. Your mind is slow and tired too. Any request for thinking hard, returns as feeling of being sleepy and ready to rest.

In the other extreme, people aiming at the highest possible activity and development of the mind (to the point of complete enlightenment and unification with the entire universe) have to have very pure physical bodies. Masters of yoga in the Himalayas hardly eat anything at all.

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So what do we do if the airconditioning unit in our building harbors a legionella organism?

I don’t think we yet have the answer. The risk of infection appears to be small.

There are certainly worse diseases in Australia carrying considerably more risk than causing 27 cases over a two-year period, and we accept them without panic.

It would appear to be impracticable to test all air-conditioning units in all of our public buildings to see whether they harbor any germs.

We just do not have those sort of testing facilities, but, even if we did, and even if large numbers were shown to harbor the organism, the risk appears to be small, and we have, as yet, no technology to eradicate the germ from this area.

Research has shown the organism may also be present in other collections of water, and it may well be that these are more important than air-conditioning units.

Time will undoubtedly lead to further explanation about this new (or old but previously unrecognised) germ, and how it can affect our health.

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The question of consent may be waived in an emergency if the doctor, to save the life of his patient, carries out treatment.

Most of the problems arise with minors and are concerned with the doctor’s suggesting a form of treatment, such as blood transfusion, with which the parents cannot agree.

In these circumstances, in most States, the law allows the doctor to move to have the child declared a ward of the State and then to seek permission to carry out the procedure.

This may not be acceptable to those parents who have a moral objection to the treatment, but does seem to satisfy majority public opinion.

The wishes of the parents cannot be automatically over-ruled; the doctor must obtain a second opinion and be able to show that his treatment is necessary to save life.

Some doctors are worried by the threat of later legal action should they accede to the wishes of their patient and withhold treatment which may be standard in the circumstances.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have prepared a standard release form waiving their rights to sue for negligence when they have withheld permission for treatment, such as transfusion, which the doctor considers necessary-

This approach is an attempt by the group to make known their wishes and to co-operate with the medical profession without compromising what is to them a fundamental belief.

A doctor may disagree with their beliefs, yet he must respect their right to hold and to practise them.

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What can I do to prevent endometriosis? Although endometriosis is rarely life-threatening, it affects life on two very critical levels—well-being and fertility. Women are often surprised by the differences they can make in ending the misery of endometriosis.

• Believe you cm make a difference. You will learn what you can do to alter your condition within these pages, but you must believe, in your heart, that you can do it. Then you have to take the first step. Beginnings can seem formidable and the goat may seem far away. Keep up your energy and motivation to reach the goal of offsetting the symptoms of endometriosis, reducing the pain, and, possibly, curing the disease and preventing its recurrence. This is challenging, but it can be done by taking one step at a time.

• Change your diet. Endometriosis responds so well to dietary changes, it must be part of standard treatment, along with medication, as indicated, for each woman. The endometriosis recovery diet follows shortly. It is based on evidence that certain foods, vitamins, and minerals affect both pain from menstrual cramping and hormone levels. The diet concentrates on putting your body in balance nutritionally and reducing pain the natural way Put very simply, it requires you to cut down on sugar, salt, and fat and increase your intake of complex carbohydrates, certain vitamins, and fiber.

Studies show that obesity promotes higher estrogen levels, which increase die chances of endometriotic cysts. Women on vegetarian diets have higher levels of estrogen and cholesterol in their stool than meat-eaters. Essentially, all the fiber they are eating helps eliminate excess estrogen and cholesterol from their bodies. This is one reason why you need fiber.

• Reduce stress. Stress-related accidents and illnesses account for about three-fourths of the time lost on the job. Why does this happen? Stress attacks start a domino effect in the body. Stress is far more than a pyschological irritant. During hard stress, the lymph glands shrink; the cortisone level is raised as the adrenal glands release more of this hormone and impair immune system functioning; blood pressure rises; the heart works harder; and the body, in sum, is left open to infection or stress-related disease.

There is much dispute about stress’s affecting or creating endometriosis. Some see the disease as a combination of known and unknown factors, all of them within the body itself—whether it is genetic predisposition or links to hormone production. These people, many of them sufferers of endometriosis, do not believe that stress has any real bearing on the condition, arguing that this places too much responsibility and “guilt” on the patient. Others, like myself, believe that this disease is connected in some way to the effects of counterproductive stress, such as fatigue, overwork, disruptive environments, discord among family members or friends, worry about money, career, love, and security for the future.

Dr. Christiane North nip an obstetrician and gynecologist and co-founder of a group practice. Women to Women, in Yarmouth, Maine, concurs. “I almost never sec a patient with endometriosis who does not have a number of adverse factors in her life, which may have affected the onset or progress of the disease.” she told me. As a woman doctor treating women, she says, “I feel strongly that stress is most definitely a component.”

Dr. Northrup thinks it is helpful for women to “rethink their goals” and do some “inner searching.” What does she mean? “Modern women want their lives to be an organic whole,” she said. “Ideally, this means home life is consistent with work life, rather like an intermeshed flowing whole. I think it’s common for working women to be hard on themselves and add the self-induced pressures of wanting that harmony and balance, myself included.

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Both hair and nails are derived from the epidermis, and both consist of the same dead tissue—the protein, keratin. Because of their derivation from the epidermis it is not surprising that diseases affecting the skin may affect the hair and nails as well. In addition, there are a number of disorders which are peculiar to the hair (including the scalp) and nails.

Hair loss may be temporary, when it is usually called alopecia; or it may be permanent, when usually called baldness. The most common form of temporary diffuse alopecia is that associated with the following conditions or circumstances:

acute mental stress

severe illness or injury

following pregnancy

stopping the oral contraceptive pill iron deficiency various hormonal deficiencies certain drugs rapid weight loss In these cases the hairs in the resting phase are the ones which are usually lost. As such the hair loss is temporary, and will right itself once the precipitating cause has been corrected.

Alopecia areata, where the loss is localized to one or more well-defined areas, is the most common type of hair loss seen in medical practice. There is sometimes a family history of it, and there appears to be a genetic association with some other conditions (known as auto-immune diseases) such as vitiligo (pigment loss), pernicious anaemia, and either over or under active thyroid disorders. There is often psychological stress or some emotional deprivation some weeks prior to onset. Although alopecia areata occurs at all ages the majority of cases are in children and young adults. It is estimated that there are about 100000 sufferers in Australia.

With this disorder patches of hair may be lost from any part of the body, although hair loss is typically limited to the scalp and beard areas. Symptomless bald areas up to a few centimetres in diameter develop, which may coalesce and produce the loss of all scalp hair (alopecia totalis) or even of the whole body [alopecia universalis). In the stage of active hair loss, very short, broken hairs shaped like exclamation marks may be found. These are not seen in the conditions which may, otherwise, be taken for alopecia areata (such conditions as ringworm and secondary syphilis). The prognosis for alopecia areata is good in the majority of cases, with most patients growing new, often initially white, hair within six to nine months. The longer the alopecia lasts and the larger the areas affected, the worse are the chances of satisfactory regrowth.

Small areas of hair loss which show evidence of regrowth are best left untreated. When improvement is slow or where areas are large, topical corticosteroids may be useful. Occasionally, they may be injected into the areas to promote regrowth, but this effect may be transient. Recently, various irritants and sensitizers—such as DNCB—have been used in an attempt to stimulate hair growth. It is important for patients or parents to fully understand what is known about the condition and its varied course. Considerable reassurance is frequently necessary, and recently a number of self-help groups have been set up to enable those involved to help one another and to seek further help both from the Government and the medical profession.

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The modem focus of eating plans for sustainable fat loss is a decrease in total dietary fat and an increase in the proportion of complex carbohydrates, followed in importance by a decrease in total energy intake. When assessing diet plans, these basic criteria need to be kept in mind. It is also important for health professionals providing advice to those seeking fat loss to know just how this is best achieved and to have an understanding of how popular diet plans manipulate the facts. The following is a review of some general diet plans.

Low-energy diets. These diets aim to provide 800-1200 kcal/day which is substantially lower than the resting metabolic rate of even very lean adults. The associated risks of the diet will decrease as the energy intake increases, but one of the main problems is dealing with hunger on these diets. The use of appropriately advised physical activity programs to support these diets is highly recommended.

When these reduced-calorie diets are based on regularly available foods rather than fortified products, there is a small risk of micronutrient inadequacy. Supplementation may be recommended, which would seem to defeat the purpose of creating a lifelong achievable plan that is nutritionally adequate. The needs of pre-menopausal women for iron and all women for calcium may not be met by these diets.

Many of the commercial weight loss organisations base their programs on this type of diet and include interventions in the form of a client attending a centre, a group meeting in community settings or home-delivered meals. The ready availability of frozen, pre-packaged meals for dieters in the supermarket is an area of concern, as these have little relevance to an overall rat loss strategy and are not concerned with nutritional adequacy.

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There are many reasons why hysterectomies are carried out, the most common being fibroids and unexplained heavy menstrual bleeding. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare studies indicate that fibroids account for about 6500 (22%) and heavy menstrual bleeding for about 5300 (18%) of the estimated 30 000 hysterectomies performed in Australia each year. In the US, fibroids are said to be responsible for as many as 30% of hysterectomies and a further 20% are due to excessive bleeding of uncertain cause. Other major reasons given for the hysterectomies performed in Australia are prolapse (7-21% depending on the type of hospital and State in which it is located), endometriosis and adenomyosis (6-23%), cancer (1-12%) and pelvic inflammatory disease (2-8%). Multiple reasons are given for the remaining hysterectomies.

While information is available about the number of women who have hysterectomies and the underlying reasons, much greater uncertainty surrounds the women who consider the option of hysterectomy but decide against it. It is probable that these women number many, many thousands.

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