Iris signs, from which a disease state can be diagnosed, are differentiated

(a) By their colour

(b) By their shape

The shape of iris-signs varies considerably, and in the early stages of study easily produces difficulties of interpretation. I will here attempt to write fully and exhaustively on the description of each type.

1. Lines: One has to differentiate white and dark lines; short, long and zigzag lines. Short white lines are usually found lying in contiguity one with another, and are signs of inflammation affecting the organs concerned. Long white lines are those which are not limited to one organ area, but run over several areas. They are indications of neuritis with pain, or of neuralgia. They begin in the iris-wreath, or even at the pupillary margin, and run towards the outer border. If these lines run in zigzag fashion, the patient will be found to complain of cramp-like pains. Such a zigzag line in the heart area is the sign of a cardiac neurosis (or irritable heart = D.A.H.). The patient will complain of the occurrence at times of severe palpitations. If one finds in the point of a zigzag line small black dots, then a danger of paralysis of the affected organ is indicated. (Nerve paralysis.)

Dark lines in an organ area are indications of nervous weakness.

2. Flakes and Clouds: These are always white to yellow-white. They appear as signs of an acute or chronic inflammation of the mucuous membranes (catarrh). The signs are usually seen in the form of small flakes directly around the pupil (inflammation of the gastric mucous membranes), or in the form of larger flakes or clouds in the mucous membrane zone (Minor zone 5), in the sectors for lungs, thorax, peritoneum, frontal sinus, etc.

3. Wisps: can be white, yellowish or dark. They are larger than clouds and flakes, and not so intensely indicated. They take in the entire organ area (e.g. as in uterine catarrh), or an entire zone (e.g. the muscle zone in general muscular rheumatism). White wisps are signs of an extensive tissue-inflammation.

Dark wisps appear when the indicated organ has become weak in reaction (often observed in the area for uterus). White wisps become yellowish in the transition to the chronic state, and in the course of time even brown. They appear as brownish or brown depositions in the superficial iris layer, and largely conceal the true basic colour of the iris. There are irides which are almost completely covered with this brownish deposit, and patients with such irides are persons who incline to stiffness and gout. In such cases the predisposition is hereditary, but these brown deposits are also to be seen as such in acquired conditions.

4. Lacunae: signs of weakness. Lacunae appear wherever the iris fibres diverge in small or large arcs and thus expose the second darker iris layer. They are indications of organic weakness. One must differentiate:

(a) Open lacunae—when the iris fibres do not again converge towards the outer iris rim and join up. These signs signify that the defect is still in the early stages, not yet closed, and that therapeutics have yet to influence it.

(b) Closed lacunae, when the iris fibres reunite towards the outer rim of the iris, thus forming an oval sign. A closed lacuna is the sign of a completed disease process. Closed lacunae may be acquired, as well as inherited.

There are many variously shaped lacunae, which all have a special meaning. Angerer and Schnabel have written on them in great detail.

5. Honeycomb signs: are lacunae in which small white lines provide a honeycomb appearance by running lengthwise and across within the lacunae. These indications suggest contraction of the organ (atrophy), with hardening and scar-tissue formation.

6. Black dots: and also oblong or jagged small black lines, suggest tissue-disintegration, loss of substance, ulcers. Where ulcers are healed, a fine white line surrounds the black sign—the

so-called healing ring.

7. Transverse signs: or ‘adhesion’ signs, are very fine white lines which run obliquely across the iris structures. They are also referred to as ‘cobweb’ signs. They are indications of adhesions and agglutinations, and are often found in the pleural area and in the caecal area. If the transverse signs are covered with a small white cloud, then an acute inflammation is indicated, and the patient complains of pain.

8. Radii Solaris: are radiating furrows in the iris tissues which are wider at the base and taper towards the outer rim. They can commence either at the pupillary margin or at the iris-wreath, and radiate towards the scurf rim. If one is seen in the brain area, then as pointed out by Angerer, a cerebral weakness is indicated. If appearing somewhere in the remaining iris area, it indicates that the organ in which sector it appears is affected by nerve weakness.

9. Wedge signs: are small black signs which are directed with their bases towards the

iris-wreath. If such a sign is seen in the heart area, then the possibility of sudden death occurring must be considered. If appearing in the kidney areas, then a condition of contracted kidneys is indicated.

10. Contraction rings (Nerve rings)—earlier called ‘Cramp-rings’—are concentric interruptions of the iris fibres which are especially seen in the second and third major zones. Three or four of these rings are often to be seen lying next to one another. They indicate circulatory disturbances in the tissue, and disturbance of lime metabolism. Interruptions in the continuity of the nerve ring indicate cramp-like pains in the organ sector concerned (gall-bladder, uterus, heart, legs, etc.).

With these contraction rings one must also consider the zone in which they appear. If they lie in the blood zone, then there will be disturbances in the large blood and lymph vessels. If they lie in the bone and skin zones, then one must expect to find disturbances in these organ systems.

11. Local dilatations and contractions of the iris-wreath and the intestinal zone. Contraction of the iris-wreath towards the pupil signifies a pressure or compression from outside affecting the intestine, e.g. from a tumour or swollen or displaced organ. Dilatation of the iris-wreath in round arcs, suggests a flabby state of the intestines. Pointed and jagged dilatations suggest colicky pains.

12. Dark skin zone: indicates a suppressed excretion. A milky-white scurf rim (arcus senilis) is a sign of arteriosclerosis.

13. Signs of death: imminent:

(a) A black wedge-sign in the heart area

(b) Completely solid black scurf rim

(c) A perpendicular-oval pupil

14. Besides the iris signs described, one must also consider whether the iris rim displays a normal circular form. In severe organic diseases the iris rim is flattened in the appropriate organ area. Pupillary deformations are also of great diagnostic importance. I would here refer to the very informative work of Schnabel: Ophthalmo-Symptomatology.

*11\78\2*

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Posted by admin on April 29th, 2009 :: Filed under General health

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MAKE USE OF YOUR SAFETY OFFICER

Fortunately, women at work now have a possible ally, created by the recent Health and Safety At Work Act. By now, most work places should have Safety Officers, and they are the people to approach if you think your job is particularly hazardous or you can see ways of cutting down the accident rate. The Act means the general public have become more aware of the need to prevent accidents rather than patching up the results afterwards.

The Safety Officer could be the person to arrange for’ adequate rest rooms for women who suffer from the cramps and need somewhere quiet to relax until they have recovered, particularly if you can help him or her to see how much the rest would improve efficiency and production. Some firms have already given an excellent lead. I know one merchant bank in the City which provides model accommodation, with showers and a bidet in the cloakrooms and upholstered benches where any girl who needs to can relax in comfort. And although I’d agree that merchant banks are in a happy financial position, where they lead others can follow — eventually. Your Safety Officer may also be the person to approach about rearranging the work you do, so that you don’t have to tackle the most dangerous jobs at your most vulnerable time. Some firms may be able to fix this for you; others just won’t be big enough to be so flexible. But there’s no harm in talking it over. Often just being aware of the hazards helps you and those around you to avoid them.

Many women find that shift work is a considerable burden at period time. Some firms have already discovered for themselves that their women employees work better on an afternoon shift than they do on a morning one. But night shifts are a particular problem. It’s hard enough at the best of times for your body to adjust to the strain of being awake and working when it would much rather be resting and asleep. At period time it’s even more difficult. So if you can arrange your own shifts, try to fix it so that you are on days rather than nights before your period is due. You need more rest than usual at this time — not less. If the worst comes to the worst and you have to work nights during your period, then at least try to sit down whenever you can and put your feet up during your rest breaks. If there’s somewhere where you can slip away and lie down and relax during your rest break, that’s even better. But I know it isn’t possible everywhere and in every job.

Another serious cause of stress at work is the need for speed. Before a period many women slow down. There are already firms who recognize this and take it into account. But others have not yet learnt to cope with it. If you are your own boss, or you work on your own, at least you can slow down when you need to, but if you are a member of a team your variation of speed could upset a lot of people. Once again, it’s something that needs facing and talking about and once again your Safety Officer is probably the person to approach. Too much speed can cause stress which can cause accidents. You never know; a slower speed might turn out to be safer for a lot of people, not just you.

*55\177\2*

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Posted by admin on April 29th, 2009 :: Filed under Pain Relief-Muscle Relaxers

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How long. A mistake that is all too easy to make is to assume that because a child acts well, he or she is well. Taking a child off medication too soon can cause relapses and complications. The symptoms of an illness can subside long before the illness itself is over. The child’s earache goes away, the fever drops, the appetite returns to normal, and the parent thinks the child is well again. In fact, the healing process may barely have begun. Strep infections, for example, require ten straight days of antibiotic treatment. Some infections – urinary tract and ear infections, for instance – often take even longer, even though the symptoms may disappear in a day.

Therefore, instructions such as “Give for ten full days,” “Continue for two weeks,” “Give until finished,” are not just so many words. They are precise and necessary directions to you from the doctor. Consider such an instruction not as a request, but as an order.

How to. It’s best to let your child find out early that taking medication is just one of those things children have to do now and then. It is one of those situations in which you are the boss and the child doesn’t have a choice in the matter.

Every parent needs to know how to give a child medicine, and the parent who reports to the doctor that “my child just won’t take your medication” is forcing the doctor to resort to another method of treatment which may be less effective. In extreme cases, a child who cannot be medicated at home must be hospitalized so that the appropriate medications can be given by professionals.

A young child, approached in a reassuring and matter-of-fact manner, will usually accept medication without any trouble. There are ways in which you can make it easy for both you and the child.

Liquid medicine can be given directly from the spoon (after carefully measuring) – in fact, many medications designed for children are specially flavored so that they are not unpleasant to taste. An alternative method is to use a non-glass medicine dropper to squirt the liquid slowly into the child’s cheek. If you use this method you must be very careful not to direct the stream of liquid forcefully against the back of the throat and down the windpipe.

If the medicine doesn’t taste good, give the child a sweet treat afterwards to take away the bad taste (or disguise the medicine in a little stewed apple, ice cream, or juice). If you do this, however, make sure the child takes the entire portion.

Some infants and toddlers will accept medicine in the form of chewable tablets, or even regular tablets or capsules that can be swallowed whole. However, do not give pills and capsules to even a cooperative child under the age of five. Small children can easily choke to death on a bulky pill. If the medication for the young child is not available in liquid form, mash tablets or empty the contents of capsules into a small quantity of juice or food before giving them to the child. Again, you must watch to see the child gets the whole dose.

After the age of five or six your child can probably swallow tablets or capsules whole. You can help the child learn how to do this by taking advantage of occasions when he or she needs a nonprescription remedy – aspirin for a slight headache, perhaps. If the child is willing, show him or her how to put the pill on the back of the tongue and swallow it with a drink or with a half-teaspoonful of ice cream, stewed apple, or jelly. Whenever a child is taking a pill, watch to be sure the medication goes down smoothly and the child is in no danger of choking.

A final word: don’t ever try to fool a child into taking medication by saying it’s “a sweet” or “just like sweets.” Very many cases of drug poisoning have occurred in children who helped themselves to medications that looked or tasted like sweets. Many doctors even discourage the use of children’s vitamin pills that are sweet-flavoured, brightly coloured, or shaped like cartoon characters. Such products blur the distinction in the child’s mind between sweets and drugs and the child may make a tragic mistake.

*257/84/5*

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Posted by admin on April 28th, 2009 :: Filed under General health

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Anaemia occurs when there is too little hemoglobin in the blood. Hemoglobin is the substance that carries oxygen in the blood and gives the blood its red color. Normally, hemoglobin is contained within the red blood cells (RBCs). A child can be anemic because there are too few RBCs, because each RBC contains too little hemoglobin, or as a result of both conditions.

There are more than 30 types of anaemia, each with its own cause and treatment. The most common is iron deficiency anaemia. Anaemia can occur at any age. Some forms run in families; others are acquired.

Among the most common causes of anaemia are a poor diet that does not include enough of the nutrients needed to manufacture hemoglobin (iron, protein, folic acid, vitamin Bi2, and copper); the loss of blood by internal or external bleeding; a failure to absorb nutrients, even though they are eaten; the formation of abnormal (short-lived) RBCs; an inability of the bone marrow to produce RBCs fast enough; and the too-rapid destruction of normal RBCs within the body. In addition to the many diseases that are forms of anaemia, many other illnesses can produce anaemia.

Signs and symptoms

Most cases of anaemia produce no symptoms. However, tiredness, shortness of breath, rapid pulse, and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes) may be clues. If a child looks pale, check the nail beds, the inside of the eyelids, and the membranes inside the mouth for additional colorlessness. Also watch for these possible causes of anaemia: vomiting of blood; blood in the stools (red or tarry-black bowel movements); excessive menstruation; a grossly inadequate diet; chronic diarrhea; and exposure to poisonous substances.

If you think your child might have anaemia, see your doctor. The presence and type of anaemia can only be determined by laboratory tests. Periodic examinations and a medical history taken by a doctor can help detect anaemia early, an important factor in treatment. If one family member has anaemia, watch for symptoms in other family members.

Home care

Never attempt to treat anaemia yourself. The wrong treatment can be harmful and will make a proper medical diagnosis difficult. All children should receive a balanced diet to prevent anaemia caused by lack of proper nutrition.

Precaution

Iron overdosing is the second most common poisoning among children in this country. If iron supplements are prescribed by your doctor, keep them out of the reach of children. Some iron medicines are sweet, and children might mistake them for candy.

Medical treatment

To evaluate your child for anaemia, the doctor will give your child a physical examination, take a medical history, and test for simple total blood count. Your doctor may also need to take a reticulocyte (young RBC) count, platelet (a blood element that aids in clotting) count, and measurements of iron and of the iron-binding capacity in the blood. More extensive testing, if necessary, will include hemoglobin electrophoresis, sickle cell test, urinalysis, test of stools for hidden blood, examination of bone marrow, test for poisons, examination of the child’s parents’ blood, X ray of the intestinal tract, and blood chemistries. These tests will determine the type of anaemia.

The treatment prescribed may include adding supplementary iron and vitamins to the diet, a change in diet, and-though rarely-a blood transfusion. Iron or vitamin injections also are rarely called for and, if given, are administered for the first one or two doses only.

As treatment proceeds, be sure additional tests are scheduled to check on the effectiveness of the treatment. The proof of proper treatment is in the cure.

*11/84/5*

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Posted by admin on April 28th, 2009 :: Filed under General health

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Sometimes friends ask me to stay on for a meal at night after school, but I can’t because of my evening insulin dose. It is too far to go home just for an insulin injection.

Don’t let your diabetes routine spoil things for you. What are the options?

1.     Miss out on your evening dose that night. If it is a small dose and you are careful with what you eat and pretty accurate this might be all right. Check your blood glucose when you get home, and if it is high give a small dose of quick acting insulin before supper.

2.     Refuse the invitation and go home for insulin. Not a good idea. Even if you didn’t want to stay you shouldn’t use diabetes as an excuse.

3.     Ring up your parents and ask them to drive over with your insulin and syringe. This would answer your problem but would it be fair to ask? Only you (and they) could answer this.

4.     Stay for the meal and plan to have a modified dose of insulin when you get home. About two thirds of the usual dose at supper time would probably cover you satisfactorily, but check your blood glucose. You could need a little more of the quick acting insulin if it is high. I favour the fourth option but discuss it with your parents when the occasion arises.

I am going on a school camp. What should I do about blood tests and insulin?

The best way to enjoy your camp is to make sure you don’t have a hypo, or let your diabetes get out of control. Be prepared for activity, perhaps delayed meals and unusually late nights.

Take a good supply of syringes, an extra bottle of each insulin (in case of accidents) blood testing strips, urine-ketone strips and a good supply of carbohydrate exchanges, such as dried food, barley-sugar, other lollies and biscuits. It may be best to take the blood testing strips that don’t need a meter (BM Test Glycemie 20-800 or Glucostix).

Make sure a responsible adult knows about your diabetes and what to do if you have a hypo.

Make sure that your friends know that you will need insulin injections and may need extra food or sugar.

Divide your supplies of insulin and syringes into two packs. You carry one and a responsible friend or adult carries the other. A lost pack could otherwise spoil the camp.

Discuss what to do about blood tests and insulin in advance with your doctor. Here is my suggestion: Do a blood test when you get up. If it is low have some sugar at once while waiting for breakfast. If it is high and you don’t feel well check for urine-ketones. You could need extra quick acting insulin if ketones are positive but check in advance with your doctor how much you would give.

Otherwise have a slightly reduced dose of insulin because you will probably be pretty active at camp and need less insulin because it works more efficiently this way. Have extra carbohydrate during the day if you are very active, especially hikes or swimming.

If a meal is delayed have one or two exchanges at the usual time while you wait for the meal. Have your evening dose of insulin just before the evening meal, but reduce the dose to prevent a night time hypo.

Do a blood test before you go to bed. If it is low have an extra starch exchange to make sure that you don’t become hypoglycemic during the night.

With these precautions you should have no trouble – and your parents won’t need to worry about you either.

*96/54/5*

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Posted by admin on April 28th, 2009 :: Filed under Diabetes

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Home Free after 30

The United States may have a smaller proportion of J men joining the club of octogenarians than Japan, where w life expectancy is much longer than it is for most other folks on the globe. But studies show that if we can make it to the big eight-oh, we end up outliving 80-year-olds in Japan and many European countries.

If you want to increase your chances of making it into your seventies and beyond, the doctors from the esteemed Framingham Heart Study-a Massachusetts community-based health study of more than 10,000 men and women that has been in progress for more than 30 years-have a very simple prescription for men to follow-. Smoke less, keep your blood pressure in check, and exercise to strengthen your lungs and lower your heart rate.

Among 747 healthy 50-year-old men whom researchers began studying more than two decades ago, those who had lower blood pressure, smoked fewer cigarettes, and had lower heart rates and better lung function-both associated with cardiovascular fitness-were significantly more likely to see their 75th birthday than those who did not.

The Outer Limits

So what’s the longest you can expect to live once you’ve successfully navigated past childhood diseases, car crashes, and chronic diseases? Experts agree that you probably won’t live as long as the oldest people on record- about 120.

The only authenticated case of a man who’s ever reached this remarkable milestone was Shigechiyo Izumi, a Japanese man who made it to The Guinness Book of World Records for living 120 years and 237 days. More remarkably, Izumi continued to work until he was 105.

“Thousands of individuals will be able to make it past 100,” says Dr. Olshansky. “But our inherited program for growth and development leads inadvertently to a biological limit on life.” Evidently, that’s the price we pay for being a sexually reproducing species.

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Posted by admin on April 23rd, 2009 :: Filed under General health

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This is a kind of protein that both promotes and reflects inflammation levels in our body. It is elevated in the bloodstream in a number of varied diseases. New research has shown that elevated blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) are a major risk factor for heart disease, possibly being more significant than cholesterol levels. CRP is an independent marker for future cardiovascular disease, meaning even if you have a low or normal cholesterol level, you are at great risk of heart disease if you have high CRP levels. Your doctor can easily order a blood test to check you CRP level.

The New England Journal of Medicine published an article stating that inflammation is a better indicator of who will have a heart attack than high cholesterol. In this study almost 28 000 healthy postmenopausal women had blood tests and were monitored for eight years. The women with high levels of CRP were twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as the women with high levels of LDL “bad” cholesterol! A study done on men published in the same journal showed that men with the highest CRP levels had three times the number of heart attacks and two times the amount of ischemic strokes as men with normal levels. The really interesting fact is that the incidence was independent of other risk factors including blood fat levels and smoking!

The theory is that having high CRP levels means you have chronic inflammation in the walls of your coronary arteries. This inflammation makes it more likely that fatty particles and immune cells will be attracted to the artery wall in an effort to repair the damage. This sets the stage for the development of a fatty plaque and full blown atherosclerosis. High blood levels of CRP indicate that you are more likely to have a heart attack, and the higher your level, the less likely you are to survive that heart attack. Recent studies have also shown that high CRP levels increase the chance of an artery re-closing after it has been opened by balloon angioplasty.

What causes elevated C-reactive protein?

The following conditions are most likely responsible for high CRP:

• Chronic or acute infections.

• Autoimmune disease.

• Allergies.

• Obesity.

• Diabetes mellitus.

• Consuming trans fatty acids (hydrogenated vegetable oil) and oils high in omega 6 fats, such as soybean, corn, safflower, cottonseed and sunflower oils.

• Diets high in sugar, refined carbohydrates and high glycaemic foods, such as white bread, potatoes, biscuits and breakfast cereals.

• Cigarette smoking.

• Lack of antioxidant nutrients in the diet.

*4/53/5*

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Posted by admin on April 23rd, 2009 :: Filed under Uncategorized

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Many of the features of OSA are not a direct result of snoring per se but are a consequence of obstructive events during sleep which cause blood oxygen levels to drop to dangerously low levels. The absolute priority given to the body’s need for oxygen can be put into perspective when we consider that a healthy human can survive without food for several weeks, survive without water for days, but will die within minutes of oxygen deprivation. Not surprisingly, snoring is the most prevalent symptom of OSA, occurring in about 95% of patients with the syndrome. A cluster of other symptoms is also very common and will be found to a greater or lesser extent depending on the number of apnoeas experienced in a night and the severity of oxygen deprivation.

Sleepiness

The patient with OSA is classically prone to daytime sleepiness, often found slumped in front of a television or at the table during a dinner party. Most alarming are those patients who seek help after falling asleep behind the wheel of a car or while operating dangerous machinery. The tendency to fall asleep during the day is attributed to poor quality sleep at night caused by arousals associated with each obstructive event. Anyone who has observed a patient with OSA will be aware of the repetitive nature of airway obstruction and the resulting sleep fragmentation. Airway collapse is followed by increasing respiratory efforts to overcome the obstruction and to relieve intolerably low blood oxygen levels (hypoxaemia). The degree of sleep disturbance probably relates to the severity of the apnoeic period; some patients experiencing a mild arousal from REM to NREM states, while others will be fully awakened by such an episode. Sufferers of advanced OSA are caught in a cruel cycle. The relentless process of obstruction and arousal many times a night leaves the sufferer sleep deprived, lethargic and irritable. He cannot help trying to make up for lost sleep at every opportunity yet it is sleep which sets in motion events such as loss of upper airway tone which in turn result in obstruction and arousal.

Personality changes and memory loss

Memory deterioration and an inability to concentrate are symptomatic of sleep apnoea. The reasons for this are not completely understood but it is suggested that they result from the cumulative damage of perhaps many years of hypoxaemia during sleep. The disturbed sleep patterns of OSA are also likely to result in such impairment, and there is little doubt that both hypoxaemia and sleep fragmentation contribute to the problem of impaired memory and learning ability. As a consequence of the social readjustments that have to be made and the behavioral and personality changes which may arise, these people may be seen in the first instance by Psychiatrists for treatment of depressive illness.

Physiological changes

The behavioral changes which become increasingly apparent to spouse and friends are accompanied by potentially serious physiological changes, particularly to the heart and circulatory system. Some of the changes occur rapidly in response to each of the many obstructive events during sleep. Blood pressure, for example, is normally slightly lower at night than during the day, but in OSA blood pressure rises during apnoeic periods. There can also be quite startling changes in heart rate when the hypoxaemia associated with obstruction induces a slower heart rate (bradycardia) followed by an increase (tachycardia) when normal breathing is resumed. Apnoea may also be associated with irregular heart beats or arrhythmias, which are potentially life threatening.

Superimposed over the transient yet dramatic changes which occur during sleep are several long term and persistent abnormalities. Blood pressure often remains high and may be the first measurable symptom observed at an initial consultation. Increased blood pressure and other changes to the blood circulatory system also affect the heart which may become enlarged in an effort to overcome the harmful effects of hypoxaemia on the cardiovascular system.

*11/51/5*

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Posted by admin on April 23rd, 2009 :: Filed under General health

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‘Illness behaviour’ is the term used to describe the way we respond to abnormal body signs and symptoms. Obviously this involves concepts such as how a particular person monitors his or her body and its functions, defines or interprets his or her symptoms, takes action and uses the health-care system.

‘Health behaviour’, in contrast, refers to patterns of response to health, when the person has no specific symptoms. This is an especially useful concept when thinking about prevention because a lot of prevention is done by an individual who is well at the time. Examples of such activities are regular medical and dental check-ups, screening and soon. A lot of research has been done on people’s views and beliefs in this area but the best is the Health Belief Model, which looks at the way an individual assesses the likelihood of a problem having serious consequences. It is really a sort of psychological cost-benefit analysis in which people do things according to how important they consider the consequences of not doing them. So it is that we weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of factors as different as wearing a seat-belt, exercise, nutrition, medical check-ups, clinical examinations, careful driving, sanitation and personal hygiene. According to the effect we perceive each factor as having on our lives (for good or bad) we make decisions about how to maintain our health.

Unfortunately, doctors and their patients tend to see health and illness rather differently Doctors are trained to identify illnesses and to treat them as individual entities, whereas their patients see health as a more global matter which governs their overall sense of well-being. Symptoms and other frank signs of illness are seen by patients in the context of how they interfere with the business of living. In other words, illness to most people has a lot to do with feelings.

Many studies show how people’s feelings influence their sense of physical well-being. People who complain of poor physical health are often depressed, feel neglected, have a low morale, feel alienated and are less satisfied with life than those not reporting poor physical health. Also, it is clear from many studies that psychological ill health and distress lead to a very much greater use of all kinds of health services. So psychological factors influence not only people’s views of their health but also how much they actually use health services.

The way we react to illness varies considerably with our personality type and from culture to culture. Some people are stoical in the face of illness, others matter-of-fact, and yet others hypochondriacal. Some people go straight to the doctor with the most minor of symptoms and others are reluctant to trouble him or her with even quite severe problems. The same person over quite a short time-span can react and behave in very different ways. Most studies of illness show that women go to doctors more readily and more frequently than do men. Just why this should be is not known. Perhaps there are real sex differences in many diseases (i.e. they are in fact more common in women); or women may have a lower threshold of tolerance to symptoms; they may be more likely to accept a symptom and seek help for it; they may be more interested in health; they may be more concerned that they keep well because of the considerable pressures on them to run and maintain family and home life; or they may be culturally conditioned to running (in a little-girl-like way) to an authority figure to sort out problems quickly. Whatever the reason-and it might be that none of these is correct-the difference is apparent very early. Studies have found that young “girls use child-driven school health-care systems more than do young boys. Wherever the truth lies, repeated research has shown that much of the disability associated with physical and mental illness is not the result of illness itself but rather the way the person responds to the condition and the way it is managed. For example, a lot of the aggressive behaviour previously seen with schizophrenia has been shown to be a result of the way that schizophrenics were dealt with by the authorities rather than as a part of the disease itself.

There are quite dramatic social and cultural differences in the way individuals and groups define illness and respond to it. Studies carried out in the US have shown that Jewish and Italian patients, for example, have been found to respond to pain in an emotional way-tending to make much of it-whilst the English and ‘Old Americans’ are more stoical and clear-headed about it. Irish patients more frequently deny pain. Whilst Jews and Italians appear to react similarly to pain, their underlying cultures are different. Italian patients seek relief from pain and seem satisfied when the pain is relieved, but Jewish patients seem to be more concerned about the significance of the pain for their future health. So pain relief may be what Italians need most but reassurance about the future may be what is most needed by Jews. Clearly this kind of information is essential if one is to plan any kind of preventive health programme.

*11/72/5*

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Posted by admin on April 23rd, 2009 :: Filed under General health

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Eating more can help you realize your weight-loss goals. But you have to be smart about it. If you coat your wonderful lunch salad with a high-fat dressing, it’s not so wonderful anymore. If you slather your whole-grain roll with butter, it topples out of the healthy category and into the not-so-healthy one.

The easiest and fastest way to teach yourself to eat smart is to keep a food diary. In a small notebook, write down exactly when, what, and how much you eat. Was the fish broiled or fried? Did you have one serving of ice cream, or two … or three? Was your baked potato topped with plain low-fat yogurt and chives or with butter and sour cream?

You may be surprised at how your perception of what and how much you eat differs from what really goes into your mouth. You may never have realized how many handfuls of M&M’s you grab from the office candy dish over the course of a day. Or that the bottle of cola that you drink with your lunch contains two servings rather than one. Or that your usual-size portion of fish is three times larger than it should be. All of those extra calories add up.

Learn to recognize portion sizes. Weigh and measure foods until you know what a serving looks like. And always read labels. You’ll be amazed at where you’ll find loads of calories lurking.

Eating smart isn’t about eating boring, tasteless meals—or not eating at all. It’s about eating only when you’re hungry, making healthful food choices, and controlling your portions. It’s about being aware of why you’re eating. It’s about feeding your body properly and feeling good about yourself.

*4\89\8*

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Posted by admin on April 23rd, 2009 :: Filed under Weight Loss

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