• 16Sep
    These two conditions are related in that patients with scleroderma (also known as systemic sclerosis) often suffer from Raynaud’s syndrome (or Raynaud’s phenomenon).
    Raynaud’s syndrome
    In general, Raynaud’s syndrome affects the arteries in the fingers, and sometimes in the toes as well. No one knows exactly what causes it. The arteries contract in spasm, and as a result the fingers go pale and numb. Then they turn blue and red in turn. They feel painful, tingling, and burning.
    In severe Raynaud’s syndrome (also commonly called Raynaud’s phenomenon), the hands and feet turn abnormally cold and there may also be symptoms of a disease affecting the circulation such as atherosclerosis, or the connective tissue such as scleroderma (systemic sclerosis) or lupus erythematosus.
    This condition can have serious side-effects. These include inflammation of the arteries of the fingers and toes, which could lead to a blood clot. A lack of blood in the extremities can lead to gangrene, or ulceration of the finger tips.
    Scleroderma
    Scleroderma is a rare disease affecting the body’s connective tissue – the stuff that supports, separates and protects the organs of the body. The connective tissue progressively hardens and contracts. No one knows the cause, but it is thought to be an auto-immune disease, where the body attacks itself.
    Strangely, it is three or four times more usual in women than in men. It most commonly strikes people in their thirties.
    Scleroderma can affect any part of the body, including the skin, heart, kidney, lung or oesophagus. It can be localized, or it can spread slowly throughout the body.
    Raynaud’s syndrome is sometimes the first sign of scleroderma, and the patient may complain of abnormally cold hands and perhaps feet. Later on, other symptoms appear. In time, the fingers begin to swell, look like sausages, and can be difficult to move. As the disease progresses, the skin becomes thickened and taut, and movement becomes difficult. Scleroderma is a very serious condition, which can be fatal.
    At the moment, both Raynaud’s syndrome and scleroderma are incurable, and without any ideal treatment.
    *41/60/5*

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  • 16Sep
    Dermatitis and eczema are terms synonymous with a red, scaly and often itchy skin condition. The whole process begins as an eruption of blisters, just under the surface of the skin and like many other medical conditions the cause of dermatitis is not known.
    Treatment consists of the topical action of steroid creams and ointments like Betnovate. Theoretically, the stronger the cream, the more frequent the application, the sooner dermatitis goes away and the longer it stays away.
    No treatment guarantees to keep dermatitis away for ever. It nearly always returns sooner or later. Exceptions to this rule include contact dermatitis where known chemical offenders can be avoided or where the dermatitis clearly relates to a group of food stuffs. Dermatitis is associated in many people with asthma, hay fever and perhaps certain food intolerances.
    Home Remedies
    Dermatitis often occurs in association with dry skin. Where possible use a steroid cream on active dermatitis and moisturizing cream on all areas of dry skin. Plain aqueous cream is appropriate. Many people with dermatitis prefer Sorbolene cream with an emollient.
    The use of soap is not necessarily a problem as long as the skin is covered with an emollient after bathing. Alpha Keri lotion and Hamilton’s bath oil are widely used products. Where possible avoid both cold and hot water as they irritate the skin. Luke warm water is preferred.
    Woolen clothing as well as synthetic fabrics also irritate the skin of dermatitis sufferers. Go for loose cotton clothes and avoid tight or ill fitting clothing. Children in particular find sand very irritating. Build no sand pits and don’t let them roll around at the beach.
    Nickel frequently triggers contact dermatitis in women especially in relation to jewellery. Ear piercing with the introduction of nickel keepers paves the way for a future sensitivity to all nickel jewellery. In many cases the rash occurs in places other than where the nickel is worn, serving to confuse the situation even further. For those women believing that their jewellery is too expensive to contain nickel, think again. Unless gold is 24 karat, nickel is present. The less the karat, the more the nickel.
    Diet is more often a problem in children with dermatitis then adults and it is customary to avoid eggs, orange juice and milk products. With adults an exclusion diet best determines if food stuffs aggravate the dermatitis. The offending agent is identified if three consecutive introductions of the substance trigger the dermatitis.
    *40/131/5*

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  • 02Jun

    For people living in close contact with a drug user or drinker, these signs are helpful. But many professional workers are not in such close contact. They may see the addict or the alcoholic only in the office, rather than in home surroundings. Addicts and alcoholics are past masters at putting on a good front when dealing with authority or people outside the home.
    The best way to find out if they have a drug or drink problem is to ask a family
    member – parents, partners, or sisters and brothers. These usually know enough about the relative’s way of life to realise what is going on, though they may be slow to use the word ‘alcoholic’ or ‘addict’ because they tend to look only at the meths drinker as alcoholic or the Piccadilly ‘fixer’ as an addict.
    If you are asking a family member, make sure it is someone stable. Addicts and alcoholics sometimes marry or live with people with the same problem. Sometimes a family feels
    stigmatised by the illness of one of the members and therefore denies the problem.
    In addition to asking the family, you may be able to get an idea of the problem from various records. In the later stages of chemical dependence, the addict or alcoholic often becomes ill, has difficulties at work, or difficulties with the law.

    *127\116\2*

  • 02Jun

    Chemical dependence is a progressive illness, which over the years robs sufferers of their health, their happiness and often their lives. The longer it goes on, the more difficult it is for the sufferer, whether a drug addict or an alcoholic, to recover. In the early stages of chemical dependence, just as in any other illness, recovery is much easier than in the later stages when the addiction has taken such a firm grip.
    Yet many professional workers either fail to recognise the illness in its early stages, or for reasons of social embarrassment, wishful thinking, loyalty, or misplaced kindness, do not confront or let the problems confront the addict or the alcoholic. In this way, they rob a sick person of their chance of an early recovery.
    Failing to treat the illness in its early stages is not a kindness to the addict or the alcoholic. As we have said, it is like letting a woman with a small cancer lump in her breast go away untreated, leaving it to become a near terminal condition.
    The result is that the addicts and alcoholics get more and more damaged and sick. Society is giving them permission to continue on the downward path. They become more and more ill, and more and more desperately unhappy.

    *126\116\2*

  • 04May

    If I had to pick the one "most vital" immune mineral, it would be zinc. Study after study has shown that zinc rebuilds every area of our immune health. Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, a researcher at the Princeton Brain Bio Center, was the first to shed light on the amazing immune-positive effects of zinc, several years ago. Unfortunately, his work was largely unrecognized until recently, when scores of studies have confirmed his work.


    Dr. R. K. Chandra, an internationally acclaimed immunologist now working at MIT, treated a group of children suffering from a rare and deadly skin disease. All of the children had very poor immune responses, and they had very low levels of zinc in their blood. Remarkably, their immune responses returned to normal only a short time after these children began taking zinc supplements.


    I recently treated a patient for whom zinc spelled the difference between tragedy and hope. A sixteen-year-old named Jonathan was left severely brain damaged after a tragic auto accident. This once-bright young man was paralyzed, unable to talk or communicate, dependent on intravenous nutrition. He also developed raw, ugly sores on his arms, legs, and face. My tests showed two interesting facts: first, his immune system was severely weakened and couldn’t mount even an average immune response. Second, he had an abnormally low zinc level.


    I started giving him zinc supplements, and an amazing change occurred. Within three weeks, his immune response was back to normal, and the angry skin sores were well on the way to healing. He began to be able to eat solid foods. After three months, his weight had increased to normal, he had learned to use a wheelchair, was more alert and, for the first time since the accident, he could communicate with others.


    While zinc supplementation produces dramatic results in sick people, it also powerfully benefits those of us who seem absolutely healthy. For example:


    Zinc keeps crucial immune organs like the thymus and lymph nodes healthy


    Zinc boosts the number of your fighting T cells


    Zinc makes your T cells fight microorganisms more effectively


    Zinc strengthens your macrophages (scavenger cells)


    It is vital to get enough zinc daily because your body is able to store very little of this essential immune mineral. You do have reserves of several kinds of "strategic minerals" (calcium, iodine, and iron, for example), but scientists have discovered that the body has very small zinc reserves. Because of this, if we do not get enough zinc in our diet, or if factors in our lives deplete our small reserves, we may find ourselves with a deficiency of this immune power mineral.


    *50\242\2*

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  • 21May

    Use ‘time-out’. This removes the child from the action and ensures he will not get attention. Here are some strategies for time-out:

    • Pick a room for time-out. Usually the child’s bedroom is used, though it can be any room where he will be safe. Sometimes you can use the time-out technique in a chair in the corner of the room, although this is more difficult and used more in older children.

    • If your child is doing something of which you disapprove, warn him that if he doesn’t stop immediately, you will put him in his room.

    • Only warn him once — then act. Never warn and then fail to act on your warning. This undermines your whole strategy by creating uncertainty as to whether you are serious.

    • If he does not stop after the warning, take him to his room immediately. Do not explain to him why you are doing this — explanation at this time is a form of reinforcement.

    • Leave him there for 5 minutes, then go and tell him he can come out of his room. Treat him normally after the time-out — do not talk to him about the event.

    Time-out is especially effective for aggressive behaviour such as hitting or biting.

    Have appropriate expectations that are relevant to the age of the child, and remember that children differ from each other in temperament. Some children will inevitably be more active and curious than others, and may be more likely to test limits more often.

    Do not blame yourself for your child’s behaviour. While it is true that some parenting practices may reinforce undesirable behaviour, parents do not cause a child’s behaviour problems.

    Behaviour is always more difficult to manage when you are not in your home. Parents often report that their child plays up when they are visiting friends and relatives, or out shopping, for example in the supermarket. The principles of behaviour management are exactly the same as outlined above, although it is much more difficult to carry them out consistently. It is understandable that parents may feel embarrassed in front of friends or strangers, and be reluctant to maintain the principles of behaviour modification.

    *173\90\8*

  • 18May

    Betty had worked extremely hard on her recovery. She had been able to return to work three months ago and was really happy to be back in the workforce. Although she’d had the occasional bad day, Betty was able to work through them and she had begun to feel that she had finally recovered. That was until last week. Now Betty was beginning to think the disorder was returning. Her anxiety was increasing and the attacks had returned. She knew that returning to work had been stressful, but she was happy in her job. She couldn’t understand why the anxiety and the attacks were back. To all intents and purposes life was normal. Her husband and children were fine. Although Betty realised it was hard to run a household and work at the same time, she felt it was worth the extra effort. Her father’s death two months ago had been traumatic but she felt that couldn’t be the reason. Betty wondered if it was the argument she had had with her mother and sisters. The issues had still not been resolved and each time they were together the atmosphere was quite tense. She knew the anxiety and the attacks were making her feel tense, but she couldn’t understand why they had come back. Betty thought that she needed to be more aware of what was causing stress in her life!

    *87\94\8*

  • 18May

    The purpose of looking at norms is not to say that all children have the same needs and can be neatly categorized. Because you are reading this book, it is safe to assume that your child does not fit the pattern outlined. It is also safe to say that you are not pleased and you sense something is going wrong. The purpose of this section is not to make you feel worse about yourself or your child.

    Norms are very useful to pinpoint problem areas—to help you establish where you are now. Using the norms, you can begin to look at your situation realistically. You will have something to compare your experience to besides, “When you were a child…” and “None of my children….”

    Norms are also useful in setting realistic goals. When the problem is solved you will have clear comparisons for determining how far you have come. Read this section with these thoughts in mind.

    *16\67\8*

  • 18May

    Breathing extra oxygen will make you feel easier, whatever the reason for your breathlessness. Ask about this if the reason for your breathlessness cannot be corrected, or if you feel that the cost of trying to correct it is too great for the likely benefit, or while you are waiting for treatment of the cause to work. It is quite feasible to have an oxygen cylinder at home and it also comes in small cylinders which can be fixed to a wheelchair or carried around fairly easily.

    Feeling very breathless can be extremely frightening and stressful. You may find it very hard to relax or to sleep, even with oxygen. Having somebody sit with you may help. Taking a sedative is another possibility. In considering whether to take sedatives you should understand that they could make your breathing and coughing less efficient. This is a cost that you may well be prepared to accept, especially if your cancer cannot be cured and the reason for your breathlessness cannot be relieved. Some doctors take this choice out of their patient’s hands, either by prescribing a sedative without telling them or by refusing to prescribe one even when the patient asks for it. The choice should be yours. Insist that your doctors prescribe nothing without your agreement. Tell them if you would prefer to be either more alert or more drowsy than you are. You have the right to choose, even if the choice to be more drowsy could mean that you don’t live quite as long.

    *210/40/1*

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  • 15May

    Headache is probably the commonest symptom from which we all suffer. It may be due to physical and emotional causes.

    Some headaches can all be classified and singled out as having a specific name, such as migraine.

    There is often an overlap between the different types and sometimes two or three different forms may be present in the one individual.

    Many headaches are caused by stimulation of the pain-sensitive nerves in the wall of the blood vessels both inside the brain and in the scalp.

    These are vascular headaches and include migraine, cluster headache, the headache due to a hangover and even that associated with toxic states, such as fever.

    Some are due to muscle contraction and this includes the common tension headache and the very rare headache due to eye strain.

    It also includes pains around the temple due to spasms of the masseter muscle which moves the jaw when we chew and is caused by an imbalance of the bite.

    *400/71/1*