EXCESSIVE BODY HAIR – GENERAL INFORMATION
Shaving is probably the most used method and can be done by a blade or an electric shaver. While most women seem happy to shave their legs and under their arms, they have a reluctance to shave their faces, perhaps because it seems unfeminine.
Many still believe shaving tends to increase hair growth and to make it coarser. Tests have shown that hairs cut across by shaving have a stubbly appearance and feel, but do not become thicker or harder.
Chemical means of removing hairs are available and effective. They may irritate sensitive skins and have little benefit over shaving, except that the regrowth does not feel as rough as after shaving.
Plucking the hairs is the most popular means of reducing the number in the eyebrows and is effective elsewhere. It is painful and may lead to irritation of the follicles.
Electrolysis or burning out the hair follicle by an electric current is a popular method of treatment. If the hair follicle is destroyed, there should be no regrowth and permanent cure results, but this is not easy to achieve.
Repeated treatments are usually necessary and some hairs in their “resting” stage may not be destroyed. This method may lead to inflammation and even to scarring or an increase in pigmentation.
So there is no one satisfactory method of clearing those unwanted and unsightly hairs.
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General Health
EXPRESSIONS USED TO DESCRIBE EFFECTS OF TREATMENT – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE THE BEST DECISIONS (PART 3)
What can we conclude now? You have cancer and that is bad news, whichever way you look at it. There are probably difficult times ahead of you, whatever you do. If you meekly accept all your practitioner’s recommendations, it is likely that life will be much less pleasant for you than it could be. If you try to make your own decisions, it is likely that you will have difficulty getting the cooperation and information you need from your practitioner. Seek support from family, friends, nurses, social workers, or other practitioners. Trust your own judgement and gut feelings about what is right for you. Don’t let your practitioner talk you out of your decisions with medical jargon, scientific explanations, bullying or sweet-talking. These are techniques that authority figures such as fathers and teachers use with children. Switch to a practitioner who doesn’t do this, if possible. If not, just remember that you are not a child and that they can only hold a position of power and authority over you if you let them.
Here is a thought that might help you a little. Every time you refuse to let a practitioner treat you like a helpless child, you make it that tiny bit easier for the next patient to do the same. It is only through pressure from patients like you that doctors and other practitioners will be forced to change their approach, I believe this is the most important way in which you can use your disease to help future patients.
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Cancer
THE G.I. FACTOR AND WEIGHT REDUCTION: THE NEED FOR EXERCISE
A ‘fast metabolism’ is not necessarily a matter of luck. Exercise, or any physical activity, speeds up our metabolic rate. By increasing our kilo-joule expenditure, exercise helps to balance our sometimes excessive kilojoule intake from food.
Exercise also makes our muscles better at using fat as a source of fuel. By improving the way insulin works, exercise increases the amount of fat we burn. A low G.I. diet has the same effect. Low G.L foods reduce the amount of insulin we need which makes fat easier to burn and harder to store. Since body fat is what you want to get rid of when you lose weight, exercise in combination with a low G.L diet makes a lot of sense!
Why exercise keeps you moving. The effect of exercise doesn’t stop when you stop moving. People who exercise have higher metabolic rates and their bodies bum more kilojoules per minute even when they are asleep!
The body loves to store fat. It is a way of protecting us in case of famine. In the midst of plenty we are building up our fat stores.
*103\42\4*
Diabetes
FAT LOSS: COUNTERACTING ENERGY SPARING ADAPTATIONS
The loss of body fat can lead to a range of physiological outcomes which, in turn, affect the further loss of body fat. Physiological adaptation to weight and fat loss can be divided into predictable changes (such as the decline in RMR in response to the loss of lean mass) and adaptive changes (where the body actively works to reduce the rate of weight loss). Dr Rudy Leibel and his colleagues from Rockefeller University in New York have tried to quantify the adaptive changes in lean and obese people as they lose weight. For a 10 per cent weight loss, they found that total energy expenditure declined by about 450kcal, of which about half could be explained by the changes in body composition and half could be considered adaptive.
The main way of counteracting the adaptive reductions in energy expenditure is through physical activity. This has been shown in several studies to counteract the energy sparing effects of dietary restriction. It does this by increasing energy expenditure both during and after exercise and by maintaining lean body mass. Studies examining exercise, however, have not always been convincing, possibly due to the difficulty in getting people to comply with the exercise regimens that have been set for them. There is still enough evidence to suggest that exercise can help with those who do comply and indeed may be the most effective form of continuing fat loss in the maintenance stage. There is little argument amongst scientists that diet appears to have the most immediate effect on fat loss, but it is now also becoming increasingly clear that exercise should be the mainstay in any fat loss maintenance program
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Weight Loss
THE FATE OF FAT IN FOOD
Fatty acid molecules travel through the blood as either FFAs or as triglycerides OTGs) which is a group of three fatty acid chains joined by a glycerol molecule. An analogy may be footballers
roaming the streets on their own, or joined by a team manager. Triglycerides cannot get directly into the fat cell because their molecules are too big, so the team needs to be broken down into FFAs and glycerol units like the footballers having to pass single file through the door into a nightclub. Once inside the nightclub (fat cell), they join up with the glycerol into a ‘team’ again and are stored as TGs.
Keeping the nightclub analogy, our footballers have to get past a doorman. In the fat cell, the main ‘doorman’ is the hormone insulin, which is formed in the pancreas and secreted into the bloodstream in response to a rise in blood sugars. Before a meal (low insulin), the doorman has the exit open allowing FFAs to leave to supply energy for the body. After a meal (high insulin), the doorman closes the exit and opens the entrance to allow FFAs to enter. Insulin also activates an enzyme, lipoprotein lipase (LPL) in the fat cell. This acts like a ‘spruiker’ outside the nightclub touting for business. Adipose lipoprotein lipase (ALPL) breaks FFAs off the TG so that they can enter the fat cell.
Insulin also acts as a doorman for the muscle cell but here the functions are somewhat different because he has two entrances to control. Before a meal he has the ‘fat door” open to allow FFAs into the muscle cell to provide it with energy. He also activates muscle LPL which breaks down the TG teams passing by to allow FFAs to get through the door. After a meal, he closes the fat door and opens the ‘glucose door’ so the muscle switches from running on fat to running on glucose. (Interestingly, if the muscle needs a lot of energy such as during exercise, the glucose goes straight in through another door that insulin has no control over.)
Basically, when the body needs more energy than is currently available from food, triglycerides in the fat pool are broken down into FFAs plus glycerol and sent to the muscle via the bloodstream to help out. It’s as if someone has run into our ‘nightclub’ and called all the footballers out to help out in another building down the road. The process is triggered by another enzyme which, like all enzymes, causes a reaction but doesn’t take part in that reaction. Hormone Sensitive Lipase (HSL) is the enzyme involved in this removal of fats from the fat pool. It does
so under orders from a range of chemical ‘alarmists’ in the bloodstream, particularly the catecholamines, or hormones secreted from the adrenal glands at the top of the kidneys. The catecholamines, therefore, facilitate lipolysis, but inhibit lipogenesis. Insulin, on the other hand, facilitates lipogenesis, but inhibits lipolysis.
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Weight Loss
BABY AND CHILDHOOD INFECTIOUS DISEASES: POLIOMYELITIS
The prevention of poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio, is the conquest of the current quarter of a century. Once a disastrous and diabolical disease with a high mortality rate, and an even higher harbinger of partially paralysed bodies, it is now seldom seen in the acute stage. Until the mid-1950s it regularly left a trail of wreckage and havoc on the Australian population, and in fact in all Western countries, to say nothing of the appalling disasters it wrought in the developing lands.
But in the mid-1950s, all that changed. The sudden development of a suitable and highly effective vaccine by Dr Salk, and mass immunization campaigns, brought the disease to a sudden halt. Since then, Salk injections have been largely replaced by Sabin oral vaccine, and this is currently recommended for all babies from the age of two months. The death rate from polio plummeted, and the figure has been zero for several years now.
But it will remain this way only as long as parents are vigilant and continue to have their infants immunized along the recommended lines. Polio is still as rampant as ever in the Third World, which is not very far from Australia’s shores. If our national immunization rates fall, then polio could rapidly make a come back in Australia. It is perfectly feasible that it could even return to the pre-vaccination days and again become a major killer and paralyser. It is unlikely that, if the present trend for vaccination against polio continues, many doctors (or anybody for that matter) will witness a case of polio during their lifetime. However, it is worth knowing the symptoms, if only to alert parents to the horrid consequences if they happen to become careless in not arranging for a child to receive the proper course of immunization.
Early symptoms are often vague. They may simulate an oncoming bout of the flu, and the patient may seem to recover temporarily. But a recurrence of fever, backache, neck stiffness, nausea and vomiting may supervene. This may ‘smoulder’ for several days, perhaps up to a week.
Then suddenly the major symptom occurs: paralysis. It may accompany the fever. It is often very variable, ranging from minor weakness of a single muscle group, to severe debilitating loss of function of any section of the body. The most important is the respiratory system; if this is affected, death may be imminent unless immediate emergency facilities are available. These entail the use of an artificial respirator, and its use for an ongoing period of time may be essential to maintain life.
Treatment
Symptoms such as those mentioned above, occurring in an unvaccinated child, require the urgent attention of the doctor. Prompt treatment may be essential to preserve life, especially if the breathing mechanism is affected. Treatment must be carried out in hospitals where the attention of experts is available and full facilities aimed at preserving life are available. This is no game for amateurs or do-it-yourself methods at home.
Younger generations of parents have only heard about polio. With the passage of time and the paucity of cases heard about, stories of the disastrous consequences of yesteryear often fall on deaf ears. And as the likelihood of contracting polio seems minimal there is a general tendency for young people to be complacent. ‘It can’t happen to me or to my child. It’s history … old hat… something in granny’s day.’ All too often apathy can set in. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security and neglect to have your babies immunized against this potential killer. It is simply not worth the risk.
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General Health
THE FIRST MONTH
Activity
Baby actively thrusts arms and legs about willy nilly in a playful attitude. Movements of the arms, hands and legs are largely reflex actions. For example, when you rub your finger gently over the baby’s palm you will notice how the baby will automatically, reflexively grasp it with curled fingers. If the baby’s head is unsupported, it will flop backwards and forwards loosely. If left lying on the abdomen, the baby will try to lift the head or turn it to one side so that breathing is not obstructed. Supported in a sitting position, the baby may try to hold the head in line with the body for brief periods of time. Fingers are quite often kept clenched. If an effort is made to keep them open, the baby will automatically tend to close them. The baby may hold an object for a short time but generally drops it after a few seconds. There is a tendency to stare at things, but no effort made to reach out and grab them. The two eyes tend to be co-ordinated in their movements.
Talk
The baby tends to cry a good deal, this being a method of gaining attention as well as filling the lungs with oxygen. The baby also makes little noises in the throat. If spoken to, he or she tends to respond.
Mind
The 1-month-old baby prefers to sleep most of the time, being attentive for only about ten per cent of the time. There is little facial expression, and the baby tends to give a vague stare during waking hours. He or she seems to prefer patterns to look at, rather than be attracted by colour or brightness or size of objects; familiar objects, such as parents, tend to give a little excitement. However, at this age the baby cannot concentrate on any single object for long, tending only to pick it up automatically if it comes into the range of vision but readily letting it. slip out of view without making an effort to retain it—when a person walks past, for example. The baby tends to look up and down at objects, or from one side towards the centre of the line of vision. If objects reappear within a few seconds the baby may remember them.
The baby becomes alert to the value of crying for attention, likes receiving attention, and will tend to stop crying if held and cuddled, or if seeing familiar faces, such as mother’s. Reflexes tend to become more efficient and effective.
Relationships
The baby dislikes pain and will let you know about it by crying. He also responds to comforting, and ceasing crying quickly indicates the desire to be comforted when in distress. Occasionally the baby will react to a smiling face, and may return the smile; a familiar voice may also bring a response. The baby will tend to look at mother’s face, looking intently into her eyes, and if obviously distressed may quieten down. The response to changing a wet nappy is often remarkable.
Baby tends to adjust to the person holding him or her, to mould to the body for a more comfortable union; the little one may pluck at the person, curling fingers reflexively around parts of their body such as their fingers. During feeding the baby may suckle noisily, grasping at the breast and nipple actively.
There may be obvious recognition of parents’ voices, but for the most part there is a vagueness about the baby’s stares. He or she may lie impassively for many hours, and when awake tend to stare into space without obviously concentrating on anything. The baby tends to sleep, wake up, cry, make little noises and eat, in a very disorganized manner.
At this age, the baby likes to have two feeds at night and five or six during the day. There are two to four bowel actions each day.
*2\87\2*
General Health
ENDOCRINE DISORDERS AND THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM: GLANDS WITH INTERNAL SECRETIONS
Apart from the genital glands and the pancreas which have been described elsewhere, the following glands belong to the endocrine system:
i. Pituitary
ii. Pineal
iii. Thyroid
iv. Parathyroid
v. Thymus
vi. Suprarenal
i. Pituitary: which lies in the sella turcica, is recognisable by iris changes in the brain sector, locally as follows—right iris 60-2′, left iris 58-60′—in the muscle zone.
There are no muscles in the brain, so the skeletal zone representing the base of the skull reaches as far as the blood zone. Thus, for example, in a case of fracture of the base of the skull the signs of damage are observed in the blood zone, here lying closer in towards the iris-wreath than would be the case with skeletal injuries of other parts. The bones of the cranial vault are represented in the skin zone.
The recognition of a disturbance of the pituitary is of greatest importance, since the pituitary is the regulator of all the remaining organs of internal secretion.
The disease-signs are shown as follows:
Lightening—as sign of over-activity, very often with a similar lightening in the areas for the corresponding sexual organs.
Pituitary tumours show clearly as dark tumour-signs extending width wise, as is characteristic of tumours of other organs.
In the iris, the pituitary area lies opposite the suprarenal area, indicating the close connection between these two organs. When one of these glands is shown in the iris, indicating abnormal disturbance, then one considers the possibilities of cure. If both organs are registered then the slightest condition must be attended to.
ii. Epiphysis (pineal): according to many other authors, the gland has its place in the iris according to the indication made on the topographical chart. I can give no iris sign for
disturbance of this gland.
iii. Thyroid gland: shows in the right iris at approx. 14′-17′ and left iris 43′-46′ in the sixth minor zone. In the case of hyperfunction, a lightening of the area appears. A thyroid hypofunction is recognised by a darkening of the area.
Clinically, there is more or less a definite picture of myxoedema with hypofunction, which in its lighter forms is more widely distributed than is generally diagnosed. In thyroid disturbance the heart can register in sympathy, and the heart area must be thoroughly scrutinised. In most cases one finds lacunae, eventually in association with white lines. Therefore, appropriate cardiac medicinal support should not be omitted. A close connection also exists between the thyroid and the abdomen (Premenstrual syndrome).
iv. Parathyroid glands: as is well known, the parathyroid glands lie behind, or near to the thyroid glands, and so we also find the iris signs in the thyroid gland areas, rather nearer to the iris-wreath. The signs are very difficult to recognise. With these organs one rather relies upon the clinical symptoms of tetany: von Recklinghausens disease, and also the significance of the contraction-rings in the iris.
v. Thymus gland: the thymus gland shows its sign in the following areas—right iris 43′ approx., left iris 17′ approx.—in the fourth and fifth minor zones. In the same place, though rather more peripherally (fifth minor zone) lies the mammary gland position. One may easily
distinguish these two signs since the mammary gland itself only develops fully when the thymus has atrophied.
vi. Suprarenal glands: these glands, whose functions have only in recent times been fully investigated, have their areas next to the kidney areas directly adjacent to the iris-wreath—right iris 30′-32′ approx., left iris 28′-30′ approx. If the suprarenal areas are lighter, then the indication is one of over-activity. We find these signs in rheumatic conditions together with an overlay in the entire muscle zone of whitish to yellowish clouds.
A dark weakness-sign (lacuna) in the suprarenal area indicates a suprarenal insufficiency. If these conditions have already occurred, one also finds besides the suprarenal sign, a lacuna in the heart area and a large dilatation of the iris-wreath.
*26\78\2*
General Health
THE MIND’S RESPONSE TO ANXIETY
When more messages are arriving than the brain can properly handle, we have anxiety. Our mental apparatus becomes keyed up in an effort to cope with the situation. There is an increase of available mental energy, and this mobilized energy of the mind provides the force which produces all the various psychological symptoms of anxiety.
In its mobilized state, the mind becomes very alert, too alert, so that all the time it- seems to be searching for the cause of its own disquiet. There develops a pathological over-alertness, and as a result the mind reacts to very minor stimuli which would not normally produce any response at all. Thus a noise which would normally go unheeded causes the anxious person to start. Then he feels irritated and upset in the knowledge that he has overreacted to a matter of little consequence, and his inner tension is further increased.
This over-alertness shows itself in many ways. The individual is on the lookout all the time. He is fidgety and cannot let himself go off guard. He cannot rest because his mind keeps him alert even when there is no need for it. It becomes hard to sit and watch television without getting up from the chair to relieve the tension within him. To relax and sit still becomes a near impossibility because all the time he is plagued with this distressing over-alertness of the mind.
We see, then, that this over-alertness is a natural result of anxiety. Sometimes, however, another type of reaction takes place so that the anxious individual is in no way over-alert, but on the contrary appears to be dulled and apathetic. This reaction may occur when the individual is confronted with overwhelming disaster on either a national or a personal scale. He is struck dumb. He is in a daze, unable to think or to move. Even when some purposeful action on his part would minimize the disaster, he still does nothing. This is a common reaction in times of war, particularly in the civilian population. It is seen in personal calamity as when an individual suddenly sees his home burned or his family killed in a road accident. This reaction is so
completely different from the primary response to anxiety by over-alertness that it requires some explanation. It comes about by the overactivity of the self-regulatory mechanisms of the body. There is a surge of anxiety with its accompanying over-alertness, but if this were too great the body would be overwhelmed and unable to respond effectively. To prevent this, the
self-regulatory mechanisms come into play and inhibit the anxiety reaction. It is thus the overreaction of the inhibiting mechanism that causes the individual to be dulled, apathetic, and unable to take effective action.
The same reaction may occur in less dramatic form. The student when confronted with an important examination usually reacts to his, anxiety by being so keyed up from over-alertness that the mind is flooded with too many thoughts that are often not well related to the problem on hand. In such circumstances it is not uncommon for the opposite reaction to occur. His mind goes blank, and try as he will, relevant thoughts to the problem simply will not come. We can now understand this paradoxical reaction to anxiety as due to the overactivity of the inhibiting mechanism. In a mild chronic form, over-inhibited anxiety may make the individual tired, listless, dull, apathetic, and unable to get going in his ordinary daily tasks. Because of his lack of initiative in doing things, such a patient often complains of depression. Furthermore he may say that he feels guilty because of his inability to work; but this reaction of inhibited anxiety is distinguished from true depression in that there is no real moral self-accusation as when the conscience is offended.
*3\57\2*
Anti Depressants
MEDICAL TESTS FOR CHILDREN: ECG AND EEG
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
An electrocardiogram, or ECG, is a recording of the electrical impulses of the heart. These impulses are what makes the heart beat in a regular rhythm. To make such a record, an ECG machine is attached to the patient with electrodes, metal plates that are placed on the arms, legs, and chest. These electrodes pick up the electrical impulses that move through the body. The impulses cause a needle in the machine to move on a piece of paper, as the paper moves through the machine. Where the needle touches the paper, it makes a line. The physician studies the pattern on the paper to see if the heart rhythm is normal.
The ECG does not hurt the patient, but it is important for the patient to stay very still while the recording is done.- All muscle movements, not just movements of the heart muscle, are caused by electrical impulses. Therefore, any movement can affect the ECG recording and give an inaccurate picture of the heartbeat.
An ECG is done to check for irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias), an enlarged heart, heart valve disorders, heart malformations, and many other heart disorders. The test can be done in a doctor’s surgery or an out-patient laboratory.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
An electroencephalogram, or EEG, is a recording of electrical activity in the brain. It is a painless procedure similar to an ECG. The metal plates known as electrodes are attached to the patient’s head and to an EEG machine. The electrodes pick up the brain’s electrical impulses. These impulses activate a needle, which traces the pattern of the impulses on a piece of paper moving through the machine. The physician compares the pattern on the recording to patterns of normal brain activity, and determines if there is an abnormality. Recordings from opposite sides of the brain can also be compared to see if the patterns match.
An EEG is done to test for epilepsy, brain tumours, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), and other brain disorders.
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General Health
