БРОНХИАЛЬНАЯ АСТМА – BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

Май 8, 2009

ENDOMETRIOSIS: ALTERNATE THERAPIES

Filed under: Бронхиальная астма - определение. — Метки: — admin @ 9:00 дп

Alternate therapies oiler many possible avenues for alleviating the many problems associated with endometriosis. Uppermost among the benefits of these therapies, such as acupuncture, herbal preparations, yoga and other relaxation techniques, may be temporary relief from chronic pain. These medically unorthodox therapies appeal to those women with endometriosis who do not like taking prescription drugs or for those who like to supplement medications with pain-control techniques.

In the last fifteen years or so, there has been greater interest in investigating pain control through behavior modification, self-hypnosis, biofeedback, imaging, arid stress management techniques, for the endometriosis sufferer, especially the woman who has severe and chronic pain, such a program can guide her toward feeling more in charge of her body and her life. A good pain-control program will address the psychological as well as physiological realities of the disease. A number of pain clinics across the country are affiliated with medical centers, such as the Pain Management Center at UCLA in California, which operates an outpatient Pelvic Pain Program. Other clinics may be privately run. Finding a pain-control program is a matter of asking your doctor or inquiring at a large hospital or medical association.

A good measure of satisfaction comes from having some success with these alternate techniques, since many of them depend on your commitment to them in time, energy, and a sense of purpose. Unlike conventional medical therapies, they can be something of a challenge in this regard, but they are fascinating nonetheless. When you learn how to control pain without painkilling drugs, you will understand more about who you arc, while having as well the adventure of mastering a new discipline, such as behavior modification, meditation, or yoga.

Many of what are now considered alternate therapies were once the only source of practical medical treatments. They coexist now with supersophisticated surgical techniques (such as laser) and the nearly perfected drugs for treating endometriosis (such as the gonadotropinreleasing hormones, or GnRH). They remain popular, if not without an aspect of controversy attached to whether or not they work.

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SKIN CARE: HAIR AND NAIL DISORDERS

Filed under: Психосоматические заболевания. — Метки: — admin @ 8:32 дп

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.

Hirsutism, or increased growth of facial and body hair, is a common complaint amongst women attending endocrinology, gynaecology and dermatology clinics. The presence of fine vellus fuzz on the upper lip and chin is very common in women of all races. After the menopause this vellus hair is frequently accentuated by darker terminal hairs, which may appear interspersed among the finer hairs. There is considerable racial variation as regards hirsutism, with women of southern or eastern European extraction being more prone to excess hair, and women of Asian extraction —particularly the Japanese-being rarely affected. Often there is also a familial tendency to hirsutism.

When women are affected in those areas of the body which normally only develop hair in males, and particularly if this is associated with menstrual abnormalities, deepening of the voice, and frontal scalp recession, then there is most likely to be a correctable hormonal cause for this. Hormonal factors causing excessive hair growth include excessive male hormone production from either the adrenal glands, the pituitary gland, or certain rare ovarian tumours. Occasionally some drugs may be implicated—for example dilantin, streptomycin, penicillamine, diazoxide, psoralens, and corticosteroids. Most women however show no clinical evidence of an endocrine disease or hormone abnormality, and this finding can of course by confirmed with appropriate blood and urine tests. If there is any doubt, these tests should be performed after medical assessment has been sought. In those cases of hirsutism where no abnormalities are suggested or found, the cause is probably excessive sensitivity of the hair follicles to the normal quantities of circulating male hormones, or the manufacture of excessive quantities of male hormones within the skin itself. Stress is also thought to be able to cause excess hair production by stimulating the overproduction of male hormones via the pituitary gland, which has a close relationship with the brain.

Excess hair, particularly facial, has always been thought of as an undesirable characteristic in women; although in men, for some reason, it is thought to denote virility! Witches are frequently illustrated with hair on the nose or chin. Grafitti often shows girls with moustaches, and so forth. Consequently many women become psychologically upset by being hirsute. This commonly results in such feelings as irritability, frigidity, masculine trends, and impaired sexuality. As a result, treatment is frequently sought. Here again, we have a situation likely to be exploited: these unfortunate women are very susceptible to the promises of complete and permanent hair removal. From the number of establishments advertising the myth of permanent hair removal, one can get some idea of how many women must be seeking the hairless face. The actual incidence of hirsutism is impossible to assess. However a survey of women students in Wales, in which the women were actually examined and questioned, showed that over one quarter had terminal hair on the face, and that in about 5 per cent of cases it was considered disfiguring.

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SOME WELL KNOWN DIET PLANS

Filed under: Без рубрики — Метки: — admin @ 6:26 дп

Diets in most books and magazines advocate energy restriction. Some, such as ‘The Complete F-Plan Diet’ and The Pritikin Program’, are based on credible information, incorporating a high-carbohydrate/fibre, low-fat eating plan, although they tend to be extreme and may be difficult to sustain for a lifetime. Less reasonable but readily available diets that either exclude foods or are based on unsupported claims include:

The Israeli Army diet. This is an eight-day cyclical diet (four by two days) of apples, cheese, chicken, then salad, that has nothing to do with the Israeli Army. It is low energy, nutritionally inadequate, unsound and boring.

The Mayo Clinic diet. This has occurred in various forms, all capitalising on the good name of the Mayo Medical Clinic in the United States. One of the many forms of this diet requires the dieter to eat lots of eggs, in the belief that the energy used to digest them is more than the energy provided. The Mayo Clinic has disowned this diet. Other diets have also used this premise that the energy used to digest and utilise a food will be greater than that provided by the food. This is NOT supported by research but has not stopped people creating many diets, inducting the celery diet and negative calories diet.

The Beverley Hills Diet’. The film stars in Hollywood who gave credence to this diet certainly had no idea of nutrition and neither did its author. It talked of fat-dissolving fruits, and how some other foods were not digested by the body but were trapped as fat. It is a dangerous diet: inadequate, unsound and contrary to any research.

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UTERINE FIBROIDS (MYOMAS): SPECIAL CASE

Filed under: Бронхиальная астма - определение. — Метки: — admin @ 3:52 дп

Lena’s main problem with fibroids was painful, heavy, dot-laden bleeding which occurred for eight or more days each month. After almost a year of putting up with this, she felt frustrated about the situation and was determined to do something about it. When a friend mentioned the possibility of a hysterectomy, she had strong reservations. She wanted to have a child, and her doctor agreed that a myomectomy (the surgical removal of fibroids from the uterus) was appropriate in her case. This was carried out successfully, leaving her uterus intact. Some years later, by which time Lena had given birth to a child, the fibroids recurred. This time they were even more troublesome causing pain and severe haemorrhoids as well as heavy bleeding. An internal examination revealed that the fibroids were more extensive and intrusive than they had been previously and Lena decided on a hysterectomy.

Before a diagnosis of fibroids is confirmed, other possible reasons for a mass in the abdomen should be excluded; for example, pregnancy or cancer of the cervix, endometrium or ovaries. To rule out pregnancy in a premenopausal woman, a sample of blood or urine is tested and a result obtained within minutes. To exclude cancer, several diagnostic procedures may be necessary. These include a Pap smear; a colposcopy, which entails viewing the cervix with a magnifying instrument called a colposcope, with or without removing a small sample of tissue (a biopsy) for subsequent examination; dilatation and curettage, in which the cervix is stretched or dilated and an instrument is inserted to scrape away most of the uterine lining; an ultrasound examination conducted via the vagina which produces an image of the uterus and other internal structures; and laparoscope a pelvic examination using a laparoscope (a tubular instrument with a light at one end and an eyepiece at the other) inserted through a small incision in the abdominal wall. Before committing to a diagnosis a doctor may also want to exclude other situations in which similar symptoms can occur, such as endometriosis, a pregnancy in a Fallopian tube, irregular placement of the uterus, bladder cancer, and ascites, which is an accumulation of fluid in the abdomen.

Doctors do not usually recommend removing fibroids if they are not causing problems, and it is estimated that this is the situation for most women who have them. In these women, fibroids tend to be diagnosed during a routine check-up, usually causing suspicion because the uterus is larger than expected but there is no evidence of pregnancy. If a doctor feels a firm, irregularly shaped mass when conducting an abdominal examination, the likelihood is that one or more fibroids are present.

When suggestions are made about removing fibroids that are not producing symptoms, this may be because of concerns that their further growth could make later removal difficult, or could result in serious complications by pressing on nearby organs. Of course doctors do not have crystal balls and predicting which patients will experience a worsening of their symptoms requires a good deal of guesswork. If this is the reason given for hysterectomy, it should be closely questioned. It is reasonable to remove symptomless fibroids if they are blocking the cervix, protruding into the uterine cavity or closing off the Fallopian tubes. Recent estimates suggest that fibroids are involved in about one in fifty cases of infertility in Australian couples.

The cause or causes of fibroids are uncertain although it is clear that stimulation of the myometrium by oestrogen promotes their growth and development. When oestrogen levels are high, as occurs during the reproductive years in general and pregnancy in particular, fibroids tend to increase in size. When oestrogen levels fall, for example after menopause, fibroids tend to shrink. During the past decade, further valuable insights have emerged. Studies of large population groups show that fibroids are much more common in women from certain racial groups. Black women in the US, for example, are three to nine times more likely to develop fibroids than comparable White women. Suspicion has fallen on genetic factors and pelvic infections, but it has also been suggested that a predisposition to fibroid formation occurs in obese women with above-average levels of blood glucose and growth hormone. Oestrogen and growth hormone are synergistic, meaning that their combined effect is greater than the effect of either hormone acting alone. Women on the Pill and those who smoke cigarettes seem to be less likely to develop fibroids.

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LEARN TO SLEEP: MULTIPHASIC PATTERN

Filed under: Причины возникновения бронхиальной астмы. — Метки: — admin @ 3:28 дп

Sleep is a modified innate activity. Young babies sleep for about 16 hours a day, waking up about five to six times in the 24 hours for feeding. This multiphasic sleep pattern may be the innate pattern of sleep. Gradually, as we become older, we learn to sleep more at night and to stay awake more in the day. At about one year of age, we wake up only once or twice at night, but stay awake most of the day. When we reach school age, we go to bed at about 8 p.m. and wake up at about 7 a.m. the next day. When we are adults, most of us sleep for seven to eight hours each night at one stretch. Hence, through learning, we change from a multiphasic pattern to a monophasic pattern of sleep. In some countries there is a sleep in the afternoon called the siesta or midday nap. Sleeping at two different times in the 24 hours is known as a biphasic sleep pattern and is more natural and refreshing than a monophasic pattern since it more closely resembles the innate pattern of multiphasic sleep.

Hence learning a sleep pattern is like toilet training. We learn to sleep at certain times of the night. Our parents expect us to sleep at night, and our teachers expect us to stay awake in class. We are modifying the innate ability to sleep in order to fit in with society, the majority of which shows a monophasic sleep pattern.

Nowadays, with the help of the sleep laboratory, we can demonstrate that there is a recurrent 90 minute sleep cycle, discussed in detail in chapter 5 on Two Kinds of Sleep. Every 90 minutes throughout the 24 hours there is a few minutes of sleepiness which has been called the 90 minute window. During this window we can fall asleep easily if we want to. Can this be a vestige of the innate multiphasic sleep pattern?

Since sleep is a modified activity and we learn to sleep when we are very young, various problems are created. We learn a lot of bad sleeping habits. Bad habits are certain behaviours we pick up and incorporate into our routine.

We watch television in bed, we eat in bed, we stay up late at night, and wake up at all sorts of hours in the morning. Yet we expect to be able to sleep well whenever we want to. If we want to have better sleep, these bad habits have to be unlearned and eliminated.

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