April 28th, 2009
Symptoms: Most often there are no symptoms.
Possible symptoms: Headaches, pounding heartbeat, shortness of breath during exercise, flushed face.
Home care: High blood pressure must be diagnosed and treated by a doctor.
Precautions
- Your child should have regular checkups, and the doctor should measure the child’s blood pressure during each examination.
- High blood pressure can be dangerous if left untreated.
Although it has been known for decades that high blood pressure (hypertension) occurs in infants and children as well as in adults, many people are not aware of this fact. A baby’s normal blood pressure at birth is about 80/40 systolic pressure over diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure is the pressure the heart pumps out with; diastolic pressure is the pressure required to fill the heart with blood. The blood pressure then rises gradually until, by the time the child is a teenager, it is about 120/80. If the blood pressure is substantially higher than that, a child is considered to have high blood pressure.
The most common cause of transient (temporary) high blood pressure in children is emotion -fear or worry, for example. Persistent high blood pressure can be caused by kidney disease (tumours, obstructions, infections, nephritis); adrenal and testicle tumours; defects of the heart or a major artery; overactive thyroid; medications such as steroids or ephedrine; extreme overweight; and, eating too much licorice. “Essential hypertension,” the most common cause in adults, may be hereditary and has no known cause.
*112/84/5*
Categories: General health
Tags: General health
April 23rd, 2009
After a meal, glucose produced by the breakdown of food (digestion) is absorbed through the wall of the intestine into the bloodstream. At this point, there is, quite naturally, a high level of glucose in the blood. Your body takes what it immediately needs for energy and then produces insulin from the pancreas in an attempt to reduce the excess. Glucose that is not used immediately for energy is changed into glycogen and stored in the liver and muscles to be used later. It’s this finely tuned system that usually keeps the glucose level in your blood at a healthy well-balanced norm.
To maintain this balance, your body works in a similar way to the thermostat on a central heating system. Just as the thermostat clicks into action as temperatures rise or fall, so your natural ‘thermostat’ clicks into action as glucose levels rise and fall. When your ‘thermostat’ recognizes that there is too much or too little, your body takes action:
• When the glucose level falls too low adrenalin is released by the adrenal glands and glucagon is produced by the pancreas. Glucagon works in the opposite way to insulin and increases blood glucose by encouraging the liver to turn some of its glycogen stores into glucose to give us quick energy.
• If the blood glucose level stays low for a period of time, hypoglycemia – low blood sugar – can occur. Symptoms include irritability, aggressive outbursts, palpitations, forgetfulness, lack of sex drive, crying spells, dizziness, fears and anxiety, confusion, inability to concentrate, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, muscle cramps, excessive sweating and excessive thirst.
• Alternatively, when the glucose level rises too high, insulin is produced by the pancreas to lower it. If the blood sugar level remains too high, this causes the symptoms of hyperglycemia – high blood sugar level. The extreme form of this is diabetes. With this condition, insulin is supplied from outside the body by injection to bring the level down. The greater your weight, the higher your risk of developing diabetes. Obese people have a 77 times higher chance of developing it.
During a normal day, the amount by which your blood sugar level rises and falls depends on two main factors: what and when you eat or drink.
*35/73/5*
Categories: Women's Health
Tags: Women’s Health
April 23rd, 2009
Though Vietnam, the war most commonly associated with today’s cases of PTSD, was more than 20 years ago, that doesn’t mean that you should expect that all these wounds are healed. “You can learn to live with PTSD, but it never fully goes away,” says Mendel. In fact, when researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center surveyed World War II prisoners of war and concentration camp survivors a few years back, they found that about one-third of them still suffered from nightmares and depression more than 45 years later.
What may be more disturbing is that many veterans who seemed to have escaped the worst of PTSD from the Vietnam War are just now beginning to surface with symptoms two decades later. “Many of these men and women came back from the war and completely immersed themselves in their careers, working until they were exhausted every day to numb the pain,” says Weber. “But now that they’re hitting their fifties, they can’t work like they used to and they’re losing this coping mechanism. I’m seeing lawyers, physicians, and people from all walks of life who have been extremely functional who are just now breaking down.”
Since PTSD increases your risk for suicide, it’s important that you seek treatment as soon as you notice symptoms, says Weber. “We can’t cure it, but we can make it much easier to live with.” Here’s what you should know.
Watch the triggers. If you’re diving for cover at the sound of a helicopter, that’s an obvious sign of PTSD. But some of the things that trigger the onset of the disorder are more subtle, says Mendel. “The losses you experience as you age can bring back all your old unresolved feelings of emotional trauma and trigger PTSD symptoms in the present.”
Know your strengths. “Don’t for a minute think that you’re less of a man if you’re having trouble dealing with your trauma,” says Weber. “PTSD isn’t a weakness; it’s a mental condition with physical components. And you owe it to yourself to get help for it.”
Walk the wall. A visit to the Vietnam Memorial wall can help, says Weber. “You can go and reconnect with your feelings. You can allow yourself to feel. That’s very important for men who have been disconnected from them for so long.”
Take yourself in context. “Don’t make the mistake of judging what you did in combat by current values,” says Weber. “Re-frame your actions in the realm of combat. What you did in the context of that situation was okay. You were doing your job.”
Find an open ear. You may have felt that you couldn’t talk to the people close to you because what you had seen or done seemed too horrible, says Mendel, but there is something very cathartic in finding someone who will listen. “It’s best to find someone trained in veteran counseling for that kind of discussion,” she notes, “since not just any counselor is prepared to deal with hearing the horrors of combat.”
Admit addictions. “Substance abuse and trauma go hand in hand,” says Mendel, “If you’re using alcohol or drugs to drown your pain, a group like Alcoholics Anonymous can help. But you’ll likely also need counseling to deal with the trauma you’ve been suppressing. The route of relapse in substance abuse is often a trigger of unresolved trauma. This is why counseling on the traumatic events is necessary to avoid relapse.”
Hang on. Right now, most therapists use a combination of medications to ease the symptoms of PTSD, says Weber. “But new drugs specific for the condition are being developed as we speak. We should have much better medications in the next few years.”
*123/36/5*
Categories: General health
Tags: General health
April 23rd, 2009
There is one side-effect which is, in fact, advantageous and well worth mentioning. In almost all cases of the extract being used for the relief of symptoms of arthritis the patients concerned, whether human beings or animals, display a beneficial change in their overall condition. In human beings this is usually described by the person involved as ‘a feeling of well-being’ and a desire to be active. In animals a change in attitude and vigour is easily noticeable. Horses tend to become more vibrant, collected, and more anxious to be out doing something. Dogs and cats become active and fit, even if they are old and generally tired.
During some of the clinical trial work on human subjects being done in a hospital in Europe, the doctor in charge of the trials recorded that one of the most difficult aspects to quantify in regard to the mussel extract treatment was this feeling of well-being induced in the patients. This effect is quite valuable since it tends to help with the general recovery of the person by its psychological influence.
It is also reported that this feeling of vitality also occurs in arthritics who do not respond to the mussel extract treatment.
In all fairness it should be pointed out that this vitality effect may not be limited to the use of the mussel extract. Other preparations from sea organisms may also indicate this feature. The vitality effect of the mussel extract preparation in horses who were being treated for lameness was such that some racing stables and trainers began to use it as a condition booster for racing animals. Results of this type of use were good and some horses of only moderate racing form improved to the extent that they became top-rated animals on the New Zealand circuit. One was sold to owners in the U.S.A. where it recorded excellent speed trials.
Not for one moment is it being suggested that the mussel preparation or any other preparation from the seas, is going to make animals or people capable of doing things which they were not already capable of. However, if a preparation improves the condition of an animal or a human, and makes them feel vibrant and anxious to do things, and then they will make every effort to do their best in whatever sphere of activity they are involved. Thus, the racehorses, having been relieved of pain and stiffness in the legs, would tend to give their best performance quite naturally.
There are similar stories of cats, that after having to drag one or more limbs across the floor for months and showing reluctance to exercise, were once more outside catching birds; and of dogs, reluctant to be taken for a walk because of pain and immobile joints, that, after treatment for only one week, were bouncing about by the door waiting to go out.
There is nothing surprising in these reports if considered in the logical way. Take away pain and stiffness; induce a feeling of vitality, and what else can be expected but action!
*18/48/5*
Categories: Arthritis
Tags: Arthritis
April 23rd, 2009
Dealing with eating disorders would be easy if all we had to do was say, “Eat normal-sized, healthy meals at regular times and you’ll be fine.” While the prescription is basically correct, nothing is that simple.
Remember, anorexics often don’t think they are sick. Instead, their illness is their identity. Thinness makes them special. They are thus poorly motivated to accept treatment. Patients often agree to gain weight just so they can get out of the hospital. Once out, they may starve themselves all over again.
Also, although thinness makes them proud, many anorexics feel that at their core they are rotten, unlovable people. Therapy might mean exposing the horrible “truth” of their rottenness to an unsympathetic stranger. Given this fear, who wouldn’t resist treatment?
Bulimics are often more receptive. As Lisa’s story indicates, a bulimic’s loss of control often impels her to seek help. Many welcome the chance to learn how to restore control over themselves and their eating.
Resistance springs not just from poor mental attitudes but from the physical consequences of the disorder as well. In anorexia, for example, the starvation itself may cause disturbed thinking. And some bulimics are so uncomfortable with any amount of food in their stomachs that even a small meal triggers the urge to vomit. Therapy that requires her to eat can cause physical as well as emotional discomfort. It takes time to get used to eating correctly again.
You need to work through the problem of resistance with your daughter. You both need a lot of support to reduce your fears- fears that are very real for both of you.
*52/35/5*
Categories: Weight Loss
Tags: Weight Loss
April 23rd, 2009
For most people, vacations and plane travel are times to sit back and relax. For 48-year-old Kathleen Rayson of Munich, Germany, they’re a signal to start moving.
Kathleen, her husband, Tom, and their son, T. J., journey to Florida twice a year to spend time at their second home in Sarasota. In the past, Kathleen barely moved on the 9/i-hour flight from Germany to Florida, and she consumed anything that the airline attendants offered her, because there was nothing else to do.
To make matters worse, Kathleen’s activity level didn’t improve much when she touched down. “I didn’t do any formal exercise in Germany, but I was up and down the four floors of my house dozens of times a day, and I always biked to the food shops,” she says. “In Florida, I sat in a ranch house and drove everywhere.”
Kathleen suspects that all the inactivity pushed her weight upward. “Of course, when I was back home in Germany, all that high- fat German food didn’t help much—nor did the German beer,” she says. By January 1998, she reached her top weight of 184 pounds. “I had kind of been accepting my weight gain, but what that scale said was really a shock,” Kathleen recalls.
Trying to slim down in a country that’s known for its sausages and potatoes was, to say the least, a challenge. But Kathleen worked on reducing her fat intake and eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. For exercise, she joined a fitness club where one of the personal trainers on staff customized a workout regimen for her that included toning and cardiovascular routines. She also attended aerobics classes. By the time she arrived in the United States that summer, she was down 22 pounds.
She didn’t want to lose ground by being idle in Sarasota. “Instead of sitting around all day, my husband and I walked every morning for an hour, then used free weights and did situps for another half-hour,” she says. “The activity curbed my desire to eat.”
On the flight back to Germany, instead of just sitting, Kathleen got up and exercised six times. She went into the galley and did deep knee bends and ran in place. She also walked laps around the big 747. She repeated the routine about every hour. “I didn’t gain a pound that trip,” she says. “And what a great way to beat the boredom!”
Now 40 pounds lighter, Kathleen takes her walking shorts with her wherever she goes, even if it’s a weekend trip to London to visit relatives. And she always stands up and moves around the plane. It not only prevents boredom and improves her circulation, it stops her from eating.
WINNING ACTION
Traveling? Take your workout with you. I’ve learned that exercise doesn’t have to take a vacation. Pack a pair of comfortable walking shoes and take a brisk walk every day. I’ve found that going for an early-morning walk in a new city is the best way to really get to know it and feel like you’re actually there, even if you’re on a business trip. On long flights, walk around the plane cabin and stretch.
*106\89\8*
Categories: Weight Loss
Tags: Weight Loss
April 21st, 2009
Before you read through the rest of the book and embark on the Immune For Life program, I’d like to leave you with a final thought that may help you, not only with the program but with every other part of your life as well. That, my friend, is enthusiasm. Whatever you do, do it with enthusiasm. There’s nothing like joyous exuberance to raise your endorphins and brighten your outlook. We can all use a generous dose of sparkling joie de vivre.
Here’s a prescription I give my patients: a prescription for enthusiasm. I encourage all of my patients, even those who are happy and healthy, to add this to their lives.
Enthusiasm is the extra bit of magic that makes your affirmations and visualizations even more powerful. It’s well known that thinking enthusiastically can make the most depressed person feel elated, excited and optimistic. I tell my patients to look into the mirror every morning and tell themselves that they are enthusiastic! That they walk, talk and act enthusiastically, and that they feel enthusiastic.
It’s a great prescription, and it really works. For best results, use it over and over again. Enthusiasm is nontoxic and has no harmful side effects.
If you fill this prescription in the pharmacy of your mind, and fill it correctly, you will begin to feel better. Physical problems may require other prescriptions, but we can always benefit from extra enthusiasm. You’ll be rewarded with endorphins and the other good biochemicals that make you feel happy and healthy.
Through the years, having treated thousands of patients suffering from a wide variety of diseases, I have seen what a powerful medicine the positive, determined mind can be. I can tell you that happy thoughts are a tremendous shot in the arm for your “doctor within.” Using the “Dos and Don’ts” and affirmations in this chapter, using them with vigor and enthusiasm, will go a long way toward making you the healthy, happy and successful person you deserve to be.
*154\80\8*
Categories: General health
Tags: General health
April 21st, 2009
Now that we’ve looked at the physical exercises that strengthen your “doctor within,” let’s examine a very different kind of exercise. You do these exercises sitting down, but they’re just as important as all the others I’ve described.
I teach my patients a three-tiered program of Meditative Relaxation, designed to boost their “doctor within” and their immune system. The state of chronic stress so many of us live in depresses the immune system. These antistress techniques are designed to turn off the inappropriate production of those dangerous, high-voltage chemicals that are secreted during chronic stress.
Meditative Relaxation requires only 10 to 15 minutes, twice a day. Go into a room that has no telephone. Turn off the lights and close the curtains or shades. Tell everyone not to bother you.
Push a cozy chair up against a wall, and sit comfortably in that chair. Plant your feet squarely on the floor, just a bit in front of you. If you can feel your belt, tie or other tight clothing, loosen or unbutton the offending article. Put your hands on your knees, and you’re ready to begin.
I suggest you get the feel of the exercise by reading through the entire three-part program several times, out loud. If you desire, read the whole program into a tape recorder, and play it back when you’re ready for your Meditative Relaxation sessions.
*112\80\8*
Categories: General health
Tags: General health
April 21st, 2009
CRUCIFER AND CARROT SLAW SALAD
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup cabbage, shredded
1 cup cauliflower, shredded
1 cup broccoli, shredded 2 apples, diced 1/2 cup cucumbers, sliced 1/4 cup slivered almonds, raw
Toss and serve. If you like, make a dressing by pureeing 1 banana with 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup hoop cheese in a blender. Serves 4 to 6.
POTPOURRI SALAD
1 1/2 cups cabbage, shredded 1 cup carrots, shredded 1 cup celery, thinly sliced 1 cup white turnips, thinly sliced 1 cup cauliflower, thinly sliced 1 cup broccoli stalks, thinly sliced 1/2 cup radishes, thinly sliced 3 or 4 broccoli florets for decoration parsley
Arrange vegetables, except broccoli florets and parsley, in separate mounds on a serving platter. Decorate with broccoli florets and parsley.
Serves 5 to 6.
L.A. SPROUT SALAD
1 cup lentil sprouts
1 cup mung or azuki bean sprouts
1 cup alfalfa sprouts
1 cup celery, chopped
1 apple, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
Combine ingredients, mix and serve. Serves 4 to 6.
*69\80\8*
Categories: General health
Tags: General health
April 21st, 2009
Barely a day passes that I don’t read of a new study showing the effect of what we eat on our health. Research is proving that the Standard American Diet is dangerous to your “doctor within.” I tell my patients, however, that they can turn to an ancient book for a quick lesson in nutrition and health. In the biblical story of Daniel you will find a report of perhaps the first nutritional study ever made. In this story we learn that, although the king instructed his steward to feed Daniel and his three friends rich foods and wine, Daniel insisted on eating only vegetables, grains and water. At the end of ten days, Daniel looked healthier and better nourished than the men who ate the king’s diet.
Daniel knew that the fatty, sugary foods set on the royal table were unhealthy. Rather than subject his body to that disease-making diet, he ate nutritious vegetables and grains and drank pure, healthy water. Using the men who ate the king’s food as a control group, and himself as the experimental group, he demonstrated the benefits of a nutritious, low-fat diet.
Thousands of years have passed since Daniel’s nutrition study, but most of us are still eating the king’s rich diet. (You no longer need a king’s income to afford a king’s food.) Our Standard
American Diet, like the king’s diet, is loaded with fat, cholesterol and sugar, and it is low in complex carbohydrates. The S.A.D. is actually worse than the king’s diet, because we’ve added all kinds of toxic chemicals, plus large amounts of caffeine and salt, to our food. I tell my patients to learn to eat like Daniel ate. For when you dine at the “king’s table,” you’re asking for trouble.
*25\80\8*
Categories: General health
Tags: General health
