Health News Blog provides coverage of current health news.

posted by admin on Apr 21

If you stay on tranquillizers for long periods, even if you are not dependent, here are some of the risks you run:

Depression

Some doctors argue that the reason for the depressing effect of tranquillizers is that when anxiety is controlled underlying depression manifests itself. This does not explain why some people who have neither anxiety or depression before drugs, become depressed when they take them.

Change of Personality

Relatives often complain that the user has become ‘moody’, irritable and distant. After withdrawal many users have said, ‘Now that I feel myself again I realize how different my personality was when I was on the pills’.

Chronic Vague III Health

This is common particularly in long-term users. They complain of lethargy, digestive upsets, and pains and aches. They often look the same too. The hair is lank, the eyes glazed and the complexion is pale or a light muddy colour.

Increased Risk of Accident

Statistics show clearly that there is an increased risk of accident on the road, operating machinery, and in the home, during benzodiazepine therapy. This may be because of lack of co-ordination, loss of concentration and memory lapses.

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posted by admin on Apr 21

Planning withdrawal

Everyone asks this and there is no simply reply. For some it takes weeks, others months, but it may be up to two years before all the symptoms have completely gone. That does not mean that you are going to feel ill all that time, but that a few persistent symptoms may linger.

You may feel less able to cope with stress for six months or more after withdrawal. It is important to realize that this state will not be permanent. Some people go back on their pills at this stage thinking there will be no further improvement.

If during the recovery time you have a serious crisis in your life it may be necessary to take an anti-anxiety drug for a short time (preferably not the one from which you have withdrawn). Many have done this and have still successfully completed withdrawal when life has settled down.

Your positive attitude towards withdrawal and taking care of your general health can speed up recovery. Some people carry on with their work all during withdrawal.

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posted by admin on Apr 21

AT FORTY-TWO, Dale Spender was stunned to be experiencing menopausal symptoms. ‘It’s like a fever,’ the feminist author and academic told her friends when the flushes took over her life. ‘I’m so hot, and burning and nauseated, and then so cold and shivering. One minute I want to take all my clothes off, the next I need a coat. It’s unremitting, happening several times an hour.’ Restaurants were out of the question, sleepless nights a frequent occurrence. Work was impossible, and there were so many things she couldn’t remember that she thought she had senile dementia. When she complained about the problem, people were generally unsympathetic.

‘I thought you would be too busy,’ one friend said disappointedly. ‘Oh, come on, snap out of it. Find something interesting to do,’ said another when she tried to describe

how desperate she had become. Always one to put her friends’ prejudices to the test, Dale altered her stance. When asked about her health she began to say, ‘I’m not very well. I have a fever. Hot and cold flushes. Memory loss. I can’t go out anywhere. I can’t sleep. It’s awful . . . and it’s called malaria.’ Now everyone rushed to comfort her: ‘Poor you. Do you have something to take for it?’ Friends who had previously advised her to take nothing for her flushes quickly changed their tune.

Eight years later Dale said it still made her angry that the treatment that helped to relieve her ‘malaria’ was hormone replacement therapy, widely known as HRT. It is not surprising that she was angry. This independent woman had, after all, spent thirty years of her life taking hormone pills, first for contraception and then for menopause.

Before deciding to embark on HRT she gave just about everything else’ a try, but to no effect. She also had an altercation with one (male) GP who, when asked to explain the mechanics of hot flushes and HRT, said: ‘Your thermostat isn’t functioning properly and the pill fixes it.’ She refused to pay a medical fee for what she considered to be ‘electrical appliance’ advice and consulted another (female) GP, who admitted that she didn’t know why a woman’s temperature should rise in these circumstances. In any event the therapy proved successful: the flushes were banished and her life was restored.

Making the decision to go onto HRT was not difficult in the end. ‘I think I would have considered suicide eventually, not only because of the relentless symptoms but because of the unsympathetic treatment I got.’ The really difficult part was, and is, living with her decision. ‘I don’t like taking any drugs, including HRT, even though I’m down to the minimal dose. There’s also something inside me that’s quite perplexed that the flushes and sweats should be part of nature. In so

many other areas, if your body is given the right exercise, good food, and is not overstressed, it responds accordingly. The return of symptoms, when I take a break from HRT, makes me feel so powerless. And the fact that I’m still regularly pumping these pills into my body is a source of stress in my life.’

Dale Spender says that if there were any other way, ‘even taking an ice-cold bath each day’, she’d try it. In the absence of an acceptable alternative, and until she feels strong enough to risk another dose of flushes and sweats, she has decided to continue with HRT.

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posted by admin on Apr 20

Ionce knew a strong, healthy grandmother, 72 years young, who lived an active life, driving her friends to club meetings and to the store, working part time, running errands for her sickly neighbors. One day she told me she had had a cold for three weeks; it simply wouldn’t go away. When it persisted, I insisted she be thoroughly checked out. The diagnosis was grim: leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells.

I visited her in the hospital every day, horrified at the rapid progress of the disease. This once-vibrant woman lay in bed, too weak to move, mouth agape, eyes dull. Shortly before she died she said to me, “I was so healthy. Why did I get sick?” Unable to answer her question, I turned away, tears in my eyes. I had no answers for her. Neither could I offer any help. It was especially painful because this woman was my mother.

Like many people of her generation, she never thought about health or illness. Health was something you took for granted— until you lost it. Today we have a different approach, taught to us by painful experience. We’re learning that health is a treasure to be guarded, a single, precious flower to nurture and protect. The good gardener is rewarded with a wonderful harvest of health and happiness.

Ironically, we can thank disease for forcing us to focus our attention on health. In my 28 years of practicing medicine I’ve seen scares come and go. Fears of tuberculosis and polio were replaced by fright over heart disease and cancer. A new scourge, herpes, came into the picture in the early 1980s. Herpes hysteria had hardly settled down before it was nearly swept aside by the panic over AIDS (acquired immune-deficiency syndrome) and other immune-system diseases. New diseases seem to be popping out of thin air. Some of them we learn to cure. Others we can’t.

The patients who come to my office every day are frightened. “What’s going to get me?” they wonder. A heart attack? Cancer? A stroke? Diabetes? Will I be crippled by arthritis or made helpless by Alzheimer’s disease? Will I wind up in a hospital or a rest home, unable to care for myself?

Recently, a very attractive 39-year-old businesswoman, the sales director for a national cosmetic company, sat in my office nervously rubbing one hand against the other. The divorced parent of a ten-year-old boy, she travels extensively on business.

“You know what it’s like, Dr. Fox,” she said. “You get to a city, you’re running around all day; at night you go to your hotel, and you’re lonely. So you’ve got a ‘boyfriend’ you see 10, 12 times a year, or maybe you meet someone at a hotel. I don’t jump into bed with any guy, but I’m not married and I get lonely on the road. But not any more. I’ve been getting away from that in the past six months. I’m so scared of getting sick, of catching something that will wreck my immune system. I don’t care how lonely I get, I’m not doing it anymore. Not until they figure out a way to protect you from all those diseases you can catch. Not just AIDS, but all of them.”

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posted by admin on Apr 9

In accordance with effort and demand, cells use up nutrient materials during the day, which are replenished during the night. This is the normal rhythm of life. In the evening, when the cells have exhausted their supplies, we become tired. If we use up more energy than normal, the cells draw on their reserves. If the energy consumption is excessive over a period of time, we have to spend more than can be replaced during the night. The inevitable result of this mismanagement is a deficiency that gets progressively greater. The normal reserves diminish and are finally used up; the cells are now completely exhausted. We suffer from a kind of fatigue that is like a sickness, in time leading to a condition of painful tiredness. People who are constantly on the move, always doing something, can easily reach this state, and if nothing is done about it, or if it is stepped up by increasing the overexertion, this senseless condition can trigger a sudden reaction and suddenly snap, like a short circuit. This explains the cases of sudden death that may puzzle even the doctor.

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posted by admin on Apr 9

If we put a hot-house or indoor plant outside in the blazing summer sun, it will probably die. Remembering that the sun throws out powerful radiation can save us from experiencing such a disappointment. The sun’s rays consist of different wavelengths, a bundle of rays that can be likened to a cable made up of many wires, each one with its own frequency. We should not forget that the ray complex of the sun puts a great strain on plants, animals and humans. The effect can be illustrated by considering the sun’s energy in terms of electric voltage. For example, if a power point has been set for 380 volts and we plug in an appliance that is adjusted for 220 volts, the difference in voltage will create heat and can burn out the appliance. Similarly, a destructive effect can result in unhealthy plants because, figuratively speaking, the higher voltage will damage the weak plant. Instead of charging or invigorating the plant, the sun’s energy will destroy it. Plants that are damaged, maggoty or infected with insect pests will live longer if they are not exposed to intense sunlight, better still if they are kept out of the sun altogether.

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posted by admin on Apr 9

When cows have been inoculated against tuberculosis, on no account should their milk be drunk raw for at least four or five days. It would be best to discard such milk altogether, at least for human consumption. Unpleasant consequences from drinking this milk may be experienced, such as liver and digestive disorders, headaches and feverishness; those who live on a natural diet are especially affected. The strange thing is that the feverishness does not cause a loss of appetite and the affected person continues to eat normally. The problems can be counteracted with Echinaforce, Usnea and Urticalcin. It is advisable to stimulate elimination through the kidneys and liver, thus enabling the toxins to be disposed of. Be careful then, if you do not want to harm your health. The best thing you can do is not to drink this contaminated milk.

Dairy farmers who deliver milk from sick animals should think twice and consider the health of their fellowmen as more important than the small financial return they might gain. But it is unfortunately true that monetary advantages often take precedence over a farmer’s sense of responsibility.

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posted by admin on Apr 9

Stone fruit is known to be more digestible when dried than if eaten fresh. But whether fresh or dried, it is essential that we observe a few basic rules in order to enjoy these tasty fruits without having any problems.

Stone fruit cannot be stored in the cellar, nor would it ripen there. It should always be picked when fully ripe, and should also be ripe when bought. Partially ripe stone fruit causes problems, and also tastes unpleasant. Thus, anyone who buys unripe stone fruit will subsequently be disappointed and feel cheated. You will never see unripe apricots, for example, miraculously ripen. You can wait as long as you like, but they will not become juicy and sweet; rather, to your great dismay, they will shrivel up pitifully. Cherries should be ripe and what is more important, unsprayed, otherwise they will be harmful. When we eat fully ripe and unsprayed cherries together with some wholewheat (wholemeal) bread, chewing everything well, they will not cause fermentation and will exert a good influence on the liver. Another thing, we should never drink water while eating cherries, or immediately afterwards. This rule applies to all stone fruit. Remember, too, that this kind of fruit is not to be simply swallowed before being properly chewed, as is usually done. Stone fruit, if well insalivated will not give any trouble, as long as it is ripe and unsprayed. In the case of dried fruit (see below), it is also important to ensure that it is unsulphurised.

It is true that nowadays it may not be easy to follow through this advice if you cannot obtain your fruit from the right sources. Our own gardens, which we tend ourselves, will provide us with all we need, as will also the produce of farmers who look after their trees in an absolutely natural way, who pick and sell nothing but fully ripe fruit.

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posted by admin on Apr 9

It is best to avoid nutmeg, pepper and other hot spices and use safe and wholesome seasonings and herbs instead. Yeast extract, especially pure culture yeast extract, can be recommended since it is natural. Pure culture yeast extract contains the vitamin  complex and is about the best seasoning you can use. It is good as a sandwich spread or dissolved in warm water and added to soups and stews as a liquid seasoning. But it should never be boiled, in order to preserve its ingredients.

By now it should be self-evident to every reader that, as our daily bread nothing but crispbread, coarse-grained wholewheat (wholemeal) bread, in other words, bread made from flour of the whole grain, should be on our table.

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posted by admin on Apr 7

Worries, anxieties and fear engender nothing but agitation — and upset the proper secretion of digestive juices. A simple illustration will prove this point. An angry, aggressive dog will not digest its food properly. It will lie around listlessly, discontented and sullen, unwilling to eat its food when it is time to do so, actually refusing to touch anything. The dog’s organism is influenced by the mood forced upon it. Newfoundlands are known to lose their appetite when they feel sad or upset. But the animal takes a much more natural approach to the problem than we do. Instead of looking for some favourite food, the dog simply fasts; it does not eat at all until the disturbance has passed and it is well again. Years ago, fasting was customary for many people, but today most of us think we would die if we did not get our meals at the usual times. Only in times of privation do such people prove that their health is actually better than they had believed it to be. If it were not so, the enormous streams of refugees from war and famine would have few survivors. No, believe me, sensible fasting will not kill but benefit us, and will benefit the liver in particular.

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