Health News Blog provides coverage of current health news.

A twenty-six-year-old woman was frigid, but that was not what she came to consult me about. She had been married for three years to a man twelve years older than herself, and she desperately wanted a baby. She could not become pregnant. She had been very fully examined by gynecologists who could find no organic reason as to why she could not conceive, and she was told it must be because she was so tense.

She became pregnant about six weeks after starting the relaxing exercises, and subsequently gave birth to a baby girl. This of course was a rather dramatic outcome. I expect the cynics would say that it was mere coincidence. But the patient and her husband believe beyond all doubt that learning to relax had allowed her to conceive. I think that they are probably right in this, as anxiety can cause contraction and blockage of the tubes down which the ovum has to pass.

Loss of Strength-When we are in normal physical health we are often unaware of the degree to which anxiety affects our bodily strength. This is so because in normal health we have an abundance of strength for our usual needs and our strength must be reduced quite a lot before we come to notice it.

This was very well shown in the case of a twenty-one-year-old student. The lad has a very severe congenital deformity of his heart, so that he can just manage to walk from one classroom to another without becoming breathless. At examination time he developed quite severe anxiety. Besides the usual feeling of tension and apprehension, his general bodily strength was affected so that he could no longer walk without becoming breathless, and in fact his strength was so reduced that he tended to become breathless in normal conversation. He learned to do the exercises. His anxiety was relieved, and he regained his former level of physical strength. His mother later wrote to me, thanking me again, and saying he had passed all his exams.

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Nutrition is a relatively new science, barely 30 years old. It has already made impressive gains in knowledge. But we have only scratched the surface. In coming years nutritionists will discover and identify many new vitamins and other nutritional factors which will play an important role in your health.

Therefore, one who does not suffer from any specific disease or deficiency but who is interested in food supplements for prophylactic or preventive reasons—that is for health protection —should not take any vitamins, minerals, or other isolated factors. But he should use natural food supplements, such as brewers yeast, kelp, bone meal, rose hips, cold-pressed vegetable oils, cod liver oil, wheat germ oil, etc. These are all natural, unrefined foods, rather than isolated vitamins or minerals. When you take them you will be benefiting not only from all the known vitamins and other nutritional factors, but also from all the unknown, as yet undiscovered, factors. Moreover, in such natural food supplements all the vital factors are present in their naturally balanced combination. This is important for two reasons. First, this will assure their full biological activity and maximum assimilation. Second, it will prevent overdosage which, as in the cases of vitamins D, A, and certain vitamins of the B-complex, could be quite dangerous.

The above remarks are made in reference to relatively healthy people. In the case of disease, however, the use of isolated vitamins and other nutritional factors could be not only justified but, in many cases, absolutely essential.

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A convulsion which occurs in association with any illness, usually an infection, which causes a rise in temperature (fever), is known as a febrile convulsion.

Febrile convulsions are not a type of epilepsy. In the past it was thought that febrile convulsions could lead to epilepsy but this is now generally believed only rarely to be the case. There are at least three subgroups of febrile convulsions:

(a) The first and largest subgroup is made up of children who have seizures in response to fever as a result of an individual susceptibility that is usually inherited. These children develop normally and have normal EEGs and normal brain scans. This is the group which constitutes ‘true’ febrile convulsions.

(b) The second subgroup comprises children in whom the fever or high temperature acts as a trigger that unmasks epilepsy. In these children, seizures or fits without a fever soon develop and the children then can be seen to have definite epilepsy. Magnetic resonance imaging in these children usually shows subtle structural abnormalities, often in one temporal lobe. Before their first febrile convulsion, these children may have been developing more slowly than most children.

(c) A very small subgroup comprising children who convulse with fever due to meningitis or encephalitis—meaning respectively an inflammation or infection of the membranes covering the brain, or of the brain substance itself. Obviously it is critically important to recognize this subgroup in order that energetic curative treatment can be started as soon as possible.

‘True’ febrile convulsions, as defined in (a) above are common: 2-4 per cent of children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years will have at least one febrile convulsion. The most common age is between 12 and 20 months. One should be careful about accepting a diagnosis of a ‘true’ febrile convulsion in a child aged less than 6 months or older than 5 years—they are more likely to have epilepsy triggered by fever. Girls are more likely than boys to have a febrile convulsion. Up to a third of children, who have had one, will have a second febrile convulsion before the age of 5 years.

Most of the convulsions are tonic-clonic (grand mal), and last less than 4-5 minutes. This type of febrile convulsion is called ‘simple’. ‘Complex’ or complicated febrile convulsions are ones that involve only one side of the body, last longer than 15 minutes, or are followed by weakness or loss of use of one side of the body. These ‘complex’ febrile convulsions are uncommon and account for no more than 10-20 per cent of all ‘true’ febrile convulsions. Complex febrile convulsions are more commonly seen in children in the other two groups—(b) and (c) described above.

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One must be alert to the earliest symptoms of stomach cancer that distinguish it from peptic ulcer. These include weight loss with nausea, indigestion, and upper abdominal discomfort or pain right after meals. This timing is important, since simple peptic ulcer pain is usually relieved by food, while cancer pain tends to be brought on by meals, or is suddenly made worse by them.

Early stomach cancer produces pain similar to that of ordinary peptic ulcer, and we must be careful not to delay surgery (which can cure about one case in three) while we continue trying medications. The trap, according to the British Medical Journal (286:149) is that cancer pain may be largely relieved (at least temporarily) by antacids or the drug Cimetid-ine (Tagamet). Also, because so many gastric cancer patients have previously had a peptic ulcer, they may assume that a new bout of pain is merely a recurrence.

Quite apart from the danger that Cimetidine is masking stomach cancer symptons, there is also the possibility that Cimetidine may actually induce stomach cancer by reducing acidity and thereby permitting growth in the stomach of bacteria that form carcinogenic nitrosamines. People who are taking this drug should be aware of these dangers and consult their physicians at once if they have a question about symptoms.

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Signs and symptoms

In a child who has sickle cell disease, almost all the hemoglobin in the child’s bloodstream is hemoglobin S. The child may often show symptoms of anaemia, which include weakness and constant tiredness. In certain circumstances, such as when the child has an infection, a sickle cell crisis may occur. These crises may also occur for no apparent reason, or as a result of flying in an unpressurized airplane or travelling to altitudes over 2,000 meters. Other stresses on the body such as injuries or surgery can also cause a sickle cell crisis. In a crisis, the abnormal red blood cells are destroyed rapidly, causing severe anaemia. At the same time, other sickled cells may lodge in the blood vessels and cause fever, swelling of the joints, and severe pain. Sickle cell crises can damage body organs and such damage can eventually cause death.

To find out if a child has this disease, a blood test called»sickle prep” is first performed to look for sickled cells in the blood. If abnormal cells are found, a more complicated test is done to separate the types of hemoglobin in the blood. The amount of hemoglobin S compared to the amount of normal hemoglobin will tell if the child has the trait or the disease.

Home care

Sickle cell anaemia requires medical treatment.

Precautions

• All black parents, and any other parents who know there have been cases of sickle cell disease in their families, should have their children tested for the problem before they are a year old.

• All infections should be treated immediately, and high fevers should also be reported to the doctor right away.

• A child with this disease should have frequent checkups and may need special treatment before having dental work or surgery.

• A child who has sickle cell trait needs no special treatment.

Medical treatment

Each year, the doctor will carefully examine the child’s liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, nervous system, and eyes. The doctor will probably prescribe antibiotics immediately if the child gets any infection. Blood transfusions may be needed to prevent anaemia, and a vaccination against pneumococcus bacteria will be given as a precaution.

In a sickle cell crisis, the child should be hospitalized. Intravenous fluids and pain medications will be given until the crisis passes.

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The meals and the recipes that follow do not contain milk, wheat, or eggs. (For other recipes, consult Allergy Recipes, The American Dietetic Association.)

Because commercially prepared baby foods may contain additives, sugar, starch, or salt used to enhance their texture or their taste, it would be advisable for a mother to prepare her own baby foods. To do that, she needs a food mill, a strainer, or an electric blender. A food mill will puree fruits and vegetables and separate out seeds, cores, and skin as it does so.

A strainer can be used to puree soft fruits and vegetables. A good blender will puree meats, vegetables, and fruits. (Before pureeing fruit in strainer or blender, peel, core, and remove seeds.) When the baby is old enough to eat strained solids, a mother can adapt his meals to those of the family by taking out the baby’s portion after the food has been cooked (but before adding seasoning and spices) and then pureeing it.

Some easy methods for preparing baby foods are outlined here.

Fruits: Bananas need only to be mashed with a fork. All other fruits should be cut up into small pieces, steamed until soft, and pureed.

Vegetables: All vegetables should be cut into small pieces, cooked, and then pureed.

Meats, poultry, and fish: These can be baked, broiled, poached, stewed, or braised, but not fried. They should be cooked, skinned, and de-boned, cut up, and pureed. Fish (even fillet) should be carefully checked for bones before pureeing. Cooked, cut-up lamb, veal, beef, and pork can be pureed in a blender.

Other foods: Soup is a good choice. A cup for the baby should be taken out before spices are added, and, if necessary, it can be pureed.

Baby foods must be prepared with clean hands (to prevent any spread of harmful bacteria) and clean, freshly washed utensils. Unused portions must be covered and refrigerated immediately; they’ll keep for three days. Spoonfuls of the prepared foods can be dropped on a foil-covered tray and then frozen; they’ll keep for one month in the freezer.

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Looked at simply, these procedures can firstly increase the number of eggs released in any one cycle. (In IUI it can be two to three eggs. In IVF it can be two to eight eggs.) Secondly, these techniques can shorten the distance between your eggs and your partner’s sperm.

Fertilisation can take place inside or outside the body, depending on which procedure is used:

•    In IUI the sperm are put in the womb so fertilisation is inside.

•     In GIFT the sperm and egg are mixed together outside the body but fertilisation takes place inside.

•     In IVF the sperm and egg are put next to each other in the dish so fertilisation is outside.

•     In ICSI the sperm is put inside the egg so fertilisation is outside.

There are a number of different assisted conception treatments available. I will start with the Tow tech’ ones and go on to the more complicated treatments. Unless there is a medical reason not to, I suggest you embark on assisted conception by trying the low tech treatments first. The others are really a last resort. But your choice may be determined by your medical history. For instance, if you have blocked tubes you will need to go straight to IVF, while a partner with an extremely low sperm count will need to go straight to ICSI. Age is another factor. After the age of 35 the success rates for all procedures decline. As IUI has a lower success rate than IVF, a woman over 35 will probably be better advised to go straight for IVF.

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What is it?

We all have a drive to have intercourse or some kind of sexual outlet and this drive varies in intensity throughout our lives. Younger people on balance have more drive and at every age what we actually end up doing is the result of the balance between our natural drives and our cultural inhibitions.

Any discussion about ‘poor’ sex drive is difficult because you have to be sure about what you are comparing yourself with. If you are making comparisons with a mythical ‘norm’ you imagine being present in society, you could be in for trouble because the range of normality in sexual matters is so great. If you are comparing yourself with yourself that could be more sensible but even so is difficult because we all experience normal variations in how much we feel like sex.

Males are at the peak of their sex drive in the late teens and women probably in their thirties, but there are many variables that operate in quite normal, healthy people to alter their sex drive, even from day to day.

What causes it?

• Drugs. The most commonly suggested culprit is the contraceptive pill. Research with dummy tablets given to women who thought they were taking the Pill, however, shows that this has been somewhat overstated as a side-effect of the Pill. Having said this, some women feel depressed or sexless on one particular type and yet are perfectly happy on another brand. Sleeping tablets, high doses of steroids, some drugs taken to relieve high blood pressure, diuretics (water tablets) and some angina drugs can all cause a loss of sex drive. Tranquillizers, in even quite moderate doses, produce indifference in some women and as a result they lose interest in sex. Given that so many women are taking tranquillizers this is an important cause of a loss of sex drive.

• Depression is a potent cause of a poor sex drive and given that it is the commonest psychological illness should always be considered in anyone (especially a woman) who goes off sex.

• Serious physical illness such as arthritis, kidney disease, chronic anaeimia and breast disease can all reduce a person’s interest in sex.

• Physical and mental exhaustion can have a disastrous effect on one’s sex drive. After having a baby, after an operation, or after many, even quite trivial, illnesses (such as ‘flu) many people go off sex because they feel generally Tow’ and run down.

• Stress is a common reason for a loss of sex drive. Any life crisis, from moving house to a bereavement, can kill one’s sex drive for a while.

• Bad experiences are a less common cause but an understandable one. A rotten relationship, a bad love-making episode, an abortion, being jilted, and so on, can all make certain people say, ‘To hell with sex-it’s far too much trouble.’ Such individuals go off sex for weeks or months but usually return to sexual activity eventually.

• Serious inhibitions produced in childhood and during growing up. Most of these reside in the person’s unconscious mind yet they restrict the pleasure the individual is able to get out of sex. Often their pleasure is so limited that they end up having very little sex drive at all.

• Falling out of love. One in three marriages goes wrong and possibly at some stage in every marriage there is a time when the couple don’t feel much for each other. At such times either one or both goes off sex.

• During an extramarital affair. This loss of sex drive occurs mainly because of the guilt involved. Some people go off sex with their regular partner during an affair partly out of fear that he or she will be able to detect some small difference in love-making which originated in their love-making with the lover. Sometimes a bad relationship outside the marriage can reflect on the marital one, and produce a loss of sex drive.

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Endometriosis is now being diagnosed more frequently in teenagers than in the past. But very little of the available information has been written with teenagers in mind.

Menstruation is a normal part of a girl’s development. Some girls start having periods at the age of nine while others do not have a period until they are fourteen or older.

At the time of their period some girls develop bad stomach cramps or pains. Because pain is nature’s way of telling us that something is wrong in our body it should not be ignored.

Many teenagers experiencing period pain are told that every woman has period pain and that it is quite normal. In fact, some women never have cramps while others only have mild discomfort. Many girls are told that they will grow out of their menstrual pain. Unfortunately, if there is any underlying problem causing your period pain, you will not grow out of it. In fact, in time it could get worse.

Others are told that everything will be OK once they have a baby — not very helpful advice for a teenager.

You should visit your GP if your menstrual cramps are so severe mat you have to take time off school each month.

Your GP will want to know how you feel throughout your menstrual cycle. Be sure to provide as much accurate information as possible. Write the details down beforehand if necessary. You will be asked how long your period pain lasts, how severe the pain is and whether it stops you from doing your normal activities. You should also be asked if you have any other problems at the time of your period, such as heavy bleeding, backache or pain when you go to the toilet.

If you are not asked these questions and you do have any of these problems then you must say so. If you are sexually active and have found mat intercourse is painful you should tell your GP as intercourse is not normally painful.

After your GP has listened to you and asked questions it may be suggested that you try certain tablets such as Panadol to help ease the pain.

It may also be suggested that you try taking anti-prostaglandins such as Ponstan or Naprogesic. Prostaglandins are substances in your body that help control the contraction of your uterus (womb). An imbalance of these prostaglandins may cause your uterus to contract too strongly and therefore cause pain. Anti-prostaglandin tablets may help to dampen down the effect of the prostaglandins and thereby reduce your period pain. Your GP may even prescribe the birth control pill. If you do not ovulate (produce an egg ready for fertilisation) your period pain may not be as severe.

For the majority of teenagers the above treatments will significantly alleviate the pain. However, if none of these treatments help your pain then your GP should refer you to a gynecologist who specializes in treating women with complaints like this.

If your GP does not suggest that you see a specialist then it is OK for you to ask to see a gynecologist.

When you visit the gynecologist you will be asked numerous questions about your menstrual cycle. It will be necessary for you to be examined and the doctor may perform some tests to determine why you are experiencing so much period pain and/or other problems.

One of these tests is called a laparoscopy. This is an operation performed under a general anaesthetic where the gynecologist inserts a telescope-like instrument into a cut just below your navel. The gynecologist can then inspect your organs to see if anything is wrong.

During the operation it may be discovered that you have a disease called endometriosis.

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In a highly fluid society such as we now have in the West nothing stays still for long and change is possible. Twenty years ago hardly anyone of influence was talking or writing about lifestyle, but today specialist health magazines, articles in other magazines and newspapers, health food stores, books and self-help groups attract the serious attention of millions of people every year. People are at last starting to realize that they can’t go on abusing themselves and that simple changes can make a real difference to their life-expectancy in the future and their general well-being in the here-and-now.

Things are already changing for the better, especially in the US where change, both for good and evil, happens quickly. Both in the US and in the UK the consumption of tobacco, eggs, butter and cream is down and recreational exercise is greatly in fashion. Non-smokers have been vociferous to assert their right to breathe clean air, and no-smoking areas in public places are now the norm rather than the exception. There is an increasing awareness of the family’s role in promoting health and more effort is being put into the support of families in troubled situations. Of course, it is still a drop in the ocean compared with what could be done but it is a start.

Public views are changing on sexual promiscuity and the ‘anything goes’ attitudes of the sixties and early seventies are now gone. AIDS and genital herpes have made both the homosexual and the heterosexual communities less promiscuous and, given the current falling family size throughout most western countries, the problem for the future in the West looks like being under-population not the reverse. Public criticism of violence on TV and sex and violence on

videos for home consumption has had some effect on programming, and even the rise in violent street crimes associated with drug abuse, prostitution and pornography has slowed, if not reversed, in the US.

These valuable and positive changes have come about mainly for the following reasons. First, there has been a growing disenchantment with the ultra-permissive society which so obviously produced so much disease, and second there has been a slow but steady realization that even a rich country like the US can no longer afford to pick up the pieces of such self-destructive activities. Expenditure on personal and community health care now represents so large a proportion of the total national expenditure that even the ordinary person in the street is getting the message loud and clear. The total ill-health cost of smoking and alcohol abuse alone in the US runs at over 100 billion dollars a year. Such mind-blowing figures impress even the most sceptical. A new development in the US is a refusal by some managements to increase their company’s risk of having to pay out under workmen’s compensation or employer liability laws by declining to employ individuals who have unhealthy lifestyles.

Even among the general public concern is growing along these lines. Non-smoking life-insurance policyholders, for example, are starting to ask why they should pay increased life-insurance premiums to cover the other policy-holders who choose to smoke. Forward-thinking insurance companies are now offering reduced premiums to non-smoking and non-drinking individuals to take into account their reduced health risks and car-crash potentials.

With a growing realization that we have finite resources; with the slowly dawning truth that fossil fuels will run out in our grandchildren’s lifetime; and with a greater reluctance to generate wealth simply to squander it on insatiable ‘health-care’ systems, people all over the westernized world are beginning to question the old notions of absolute freedom and are starting to think more about social responsibility. Just as a heart-attack patient reaches his or her ‘teachable moment’ in the coronary care unit (the realization dawns that he or she has just missed knocking on the pearly gates), so too society is starting to realize that its ‘teachable moment’ is close.

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