Weight loss and diet plan for a healthy lifestyle.

Salt adds flavor to food and has always been highly prized.

Packaged and take-away foods contain a lot of salt which seems to blunt our taste so that we require large amounts or we think food lacks taste.

There is some evidence that an increased intake of salt may be responsible for an increase in the cases of high blood pressure.

It is not suggested we should avoid salt but that salt intake should be reduced. We may miss it for a few weeks until our taste buds recover from the years of excessive intake.

Professor Morgan, professor of medicine at the University of Newcastle, has estimated that, in a population with a high salt intake, the incidence of high blood pressure related to salt intake will be 20 per cent, whereas those on a reduced intake will have an incidence of only five per cent. A low intake will reduce this further to between one and five per cent.

Reducing salt intake is an easier and cheaper method of controlling blood pressure than having to take drugs.

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The patient may misinterpret this and believe that the drugs are depressing him, so he stops them; the anxiety again surfaces and depression recedes.

But the condition is unlikely to improve unless the doctor can recognise that the underlying depression is the more important problem and the anxiety is only a manifestation of it.

There are now two types of drugs for the treatment of depression. These lift the depression and bring the patient back to normal. Then he is in a position to sort out his problems or seek counselling.

The tricyclic anti-depressants are slow to work, taking weeks to show effect. However, if stopped, their effect can be lost in two to four days.

They can make the person drowsy, constipated and dry in the mouth. They may cause sweating, shaking, blurred vision and occasionally slowing of the urinary stream.

The possibility of these symptoms needs to be explained carefully to patients so that, if they do occur, the patients will not abandon treatment. Most of the side effects disappear within two to three weeks. This is usually just after the therapeutic effect has begun.

The other major anti-depressant drugs are the MAO inhibitors. Mono-amines are a group of chemicals like dopamine and S-HT.

Psychotherapy or counselling is usually necessary as well. Counselling often implies the giving of advice but psychotherapy is more than this.

It really means teaching the patient to become aware of himself, what motivates him and what factors led to his depression.

Learning to recognise and cope with these can lift the depression and lead to emotional health.

A few of the tranquillising drugs have some form of anti-depressant action as well and may be of benefit in those cases of depression with marked anxiety.

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These severe symptoms are due to the production of toxin by the invading germ. An antitoxin is available to neutralise this poison and the bacterium which causes diphtheria will usually respond to antibiotics.

Are your children up to date with all their immunisations? Perhaps I should also ask: are you, also up to date?

These injections can be given by your local doctor, or you might have them, free of charge, from your local council.

Do you have neighbors who are migrants and, speaking little English, may be unaware of the availability of immunisation in this country?

A neighborly and perhaps life-saving act would be to talk to them about the advantages of immunisation for their children. If it appears they do not understand you, it is very simple to pick up the telephone and call the Interpreter Service, which will translate your message at once.

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It is useful to think about cancer treatment as falling into two quite different groups. There are cancer treatments which can drastically change the natural course of the disease (that is, change the eventual outcome) and there are those which cannot. I he first group includes all treatments which offer the possibility of a complete and permanent cure. The second group consists of treatments which temporarily arrest the cancer but hold out no chance of an eventual cure. You should insist that your practitioner tells you whether or not it is possible that the proposed treatment will cure you.

This is not to say that treatments from the second group are not sometimes worth having. If your cancer is temporarily arrested, this may result in you feeling better and perhaps living longer. In deciding whether or not the inconveniences and discomforts of treatment are worth the trouble, you need to know what is on the other side of the scale—the potential advantage. Many people who would put up with very unpleasant treatment if there was a chance of being cured, wouldn’t consider having the same treatment for the sake of a few more months before still dying of cancer anyway.

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There is a list of relative contraindications to HRT, that is those conditions in which you and your doctor will need to consider the balance between the risks and the benefits:

• Migraine responds unpredictably to HRT, and your doctor may suggest you try it for a month or two to start with to see how it affects you. If you develop migraine for the first time during or after the menopause, then it may be

Some women find it returns during the days in each month when they are taking progestogen. Unfortunately, in these cases, changing to a different type of progestogen will probably not bring much improvement.

• Women who are overweight can usually take HRT, but very overweight women have a higher-than-average level of oestrogen, and increasing this level with HRT can increase the risk of breast cancer. However, these women, because of their higher oestrogen levels, tend to be less troubled by menopausal symptoms, and are at low risk of developing osteoporosis.

• There is no reason why smokers shouldn’t take HRT, although some doctors advise them to give up smoking while they are on it. Smoking reduces oestrogen levels.

• Varicose veins are not usually connected with deep vein thrombosis, and if this is so for you then there is no reason why you can’t take HRT unless they are acutely inflamed (phlebitis). Superficial inflammation of varicose veins is not a contraindication.

Between 10 and 20 per cent of post-menopausal women have significant contraindications to HRT, and the majority of them have menopausal symptoms that cause them long- or short-term embarrassment or distress. They need treatment to cope with the hot flushes, etc, and to increase their sense of wellbeing, yet many doctors aren’t particularly helpful.

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Any major gynaecological surgery, such as an open myomectomy which entails a large incision and a general anaesthetic, will put sex off the agenda for at least six to eight weeks. This does not mean you cannot enjoy each other in intimate ways. The opportunity to give pleasure to each other through massage can help the recovery process. It can also help the sexual relationship in the longer term by allowing partners to communicate their sexual needs to each other and learn about each other’s sexual responses before sexual intercourse resumes.

One type of activity that most couples find enjoyable, starts with partners giving each other a general body massage. Hand cream or body oil, and an atmosphere that is warm and relaxed, will add to the experience. As the massage occurs, the partner who is being stroked and rubbed describes his or her feelings and desires. In this way each partner learns how the other likes to be stimulated and caressed and unexplored areas of communication and fantasy may be unearthed. The activity may continue to climax.

After a hysterectomy, hysteroscopy, laparoscopy, endometrial ablation or endometrial resection, the desire to give and receive love remains. Most people want to continue with intimacy — the challenge is to be flexible enough to manage this when some of the old ways of being intimate are on hold. Giving and gaining pleasure may be achieved by caressing, cuddling and enjoying each other’s company. The use of a hand-held vibrator on many parts of the body can arouse sensations in areas we do not usually think of as pleasure zones, such as the soles of the feet, the face and the lips. Intercourse can be resumed when bleeding or discharge has stopped and the pelvis feels normal. Depending on the type of procedure and the speed with which your body heals this may be anything from a fortnight to several months. A slow start to the resumption of love-making is usually the best approach, with genital touching and gentle penetration later. If you have any concerns, wait until the postoperative check-up to get the all clear.

Drug treatments which induce a temporary menopause may reduce a woman’s interest in sex and may cause intercourse to become less pleasurable because of a decreased output of secretions in the vagina. Fatigue due to hot flushes and sleep disturbances may also reduce sexual responsiveness. Overcoming these adverse effects calls for lateral thinking as outlined above. It will not occur overnight, so a medium- to long-term approach is vital.

Treatments for excessive bleeding, such as the Pill, progestogens, NSAIDs, danazol, and GnRH agonists are a mixed bag as far as sexual function is concerned. Some, notably progestogens and GnRH agonists, can cause a marked reduction in interest in sex; while others, such as the Pill, may produce little change.

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Ordinary stress is pressure exerted on us in our normal daily life. My car breaks down, my boss misunderstands me, I lose some money in my investment, 1 have an argument with my friend, I am going to sit an important examination tomorrow, and so on; these are normal events that we may have everyday. I am jealous, I am disappointed, I regret, I am frustrated, I feel guilty, I am frightened, and so on; these are feelings and reactions we can have in our everyday lives.

When we are under stress, a normal reacting mechanism in our body works to counteract the stress applied to us. Our body feels threatened, and we put ourselves on battle alert. We respond in two ways: with a biological reaction and with a psychological reaction. These two ways go hand in hand with each other, and both are protective mechanisms against the threat of imminent danger.

Biological reaction. Our body is immediately geared up for the stress, ready for Tight or flight’. Plenty of adrenaline is circulating, and our muscles are all tensed, our heart pumping hard, our blood pressure high so that our body is ready for the flight, our blood thickened and able to clot easily just in case we are injured or bleed in the fight, and our eyes wide open with the pupils dilated and staring at every move of the enemy. There is little chance of falling asleep when

there is imminent danger as we are on guard all the time.

The biological reaction to stress developed way back in the course of evolution, but is still very important in present day life; for example, in a boxing competition or when soldiers are fighting in combat Or when attacked by a burglar, we have to either ‘fight’ or ‘flight’.

However, in most modern stress situations the biological reaction becomes a burden. Physical action is normally not required. If your boss misunderstands you, you become very uptight and are ready to explode. But in most cases, even if you want to, you are not going to give him a black eye, as this is a civilized world. This biological reaction generates a lot of energy, which we are unable to release. We feel distressed. Continual, chronic, modern stress can be harmful to the body. We are flooded with excess adrenaline, and we have a greater chance of falling victim to a heart attack or stroke. This is because, during the biological reaction to stress, the blood pressure is high to increase the energy supply through circulation, and the blood will clot easily to stop bleeding if this is necessary. Some authorities recommend an aspirin a day to thin the blood, so as to prevent heart attack or stroke, as both can result from a clot in a vital blood vessel; in the case of a heart attack, it is a clot in the coronary artery supplying the heart muscle, and, in the case of a stroke, it is a clot in an important artery supplying the brain.

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At the age of fourteen a boy became increasingly fussy about things. He developed a number of fads, particularly about having proper exercise and special foods. If anything should happen to interfere with these matters he would fly into a terrible temper. He would become quite beside himself in rage. On many occasions he threw food on the floor, smashed crockery and did wilful damage to furniture and household articles. He frequently hit his mother. However, both parents were extraordinarily tolerant of these outbursts which continued with increasing severity. In spite of this grossly disturbed behaviour he did remarkably well at university entrance examinations, and obtained honours at the end of his first year. Nevertheless, the violence of his outbursts increased with greater damage to property and further assaults to his mother. So much so, that at the age of twenty he was certified to a mental asylum. After nine months in the asylum his parents were told by the authorities that nothing more could be done for him, and that he would probably spend the rest of his life in a mental asylum.

At this stage it was arranged that he should be transferred to a private hospital under my care. However, he had grown to rely on the security of the mental asylum, and he steadfastly refused to leave, and the authorities would not compel him to do so. This strange state of affairs

continued for several weeks. Then he suddenly decided to go to the private hospital.

It was all very difficult. He was edgy and unco-operative and for the most part refused any medication. His knowledge that at any time he could return to the mental asylum where he had felt secure did not help matters.

I eventually brought him to do the relaxing mental exercises. His tension was gradually reduced and he became more co-operative. In a couple of months he was well enough to leave the hospital and live in a flat of his own. A few months later he was able to resume at the university. The present indications are that he will finish his course with quite a brilliant scholastic record.

This has happened to a lad whose parents were told that he would have to remain in a mental asylum for the rest of his life. It became possible solely by the reduction of his general level of anxiety by the practice of the mental exercises.

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Patients afflicted with arthritis are usually in a condition of exhaustion and chronic fatigue. Studies also reveal that most persons with arthritis have been under severe stress for prolonged periods before onset of the disease.

In order to give an intelligent answer to the question: “Can injuries and stress cause arthritis?”, we must first agree on the definition of the word “stress.”

In a way, all diseases are caused by stress. That is, if we give the word “stress” a meaning which modern medical thinking has given to it in recent years. According to the greatest authority on stress, famous Dr. Hans Selye, of the University of Montreal, Canada, stress could be defined as anything that harms or damages the body. Stress is not only what the general public means when it talks about the “stresses of modern living.” Included also are such things as bacterial and viral infections, insufficient or unbalanced diet, inadequate sleep, lack of exercise, and nutritional deficiencies. Of course, anxiety, mental exhaustion, and constant worries and fears are more commonly understood forms of stress. But such things as x-ray, most drugs, constipation, polluted air, toxic residues in foods, fever, tissue damage (by sprain, blows, or cuts), pain, poor appetite, bad digestion, sweating, vomiting, etc. are all forms of stress

Now, when man is in perfect health, enjoys adequate nutrition, has a strong, healthy body and mind, possesses a clean bloodstream, and has all the vital organs and glands in tip-top working condition—most, if not all, injuries and stresses can be easily overcome, needed repairs can be made quickly, and no. serious deleterious aftereffects are left. In other words, if you are healthy you don’t get sick! But how many of us can qualify for the above description of perfect health?

Injuries and undue physical strains to the joints or other parts of the body can contribute to the development of arthritis if the body is already in a debilitated state, suffers from serious nutritional deficiencies, and/or is overloaded with accumulated toxins. In such a case, the damaged joints or muscle can become the focal point of the disease.

Thus, injuries and stresses, per se, do not cause arthritis, but they may contribute to its development when the body’s resistance is lowered.

Dr. Hans Selye refers to arthritis as one of the “stress diseases.” Adrenal exhaustion from prolonged stress is one of the major causes leading to the development of arthritis. The pituitary and/or adrenal glands, due to prolonged stress and consequent impaired metabolism, are no longer able to function normally and produce cortisone, desoxycortisone, aldosterone, and other hormones. Severe hormonal imbalance will be the result which leads to a further metabolic derangement and severely lowered resistance to further stress from infections, drugs, toxic substances in foods, etc.

To make sure that injuries and stresses do not cause permanent damage and lead to the development of serious chronic conditions, such as arthritis, you must see that your general health condition and resistance to disease is always at the optimal level.

“Meeting the demands of stress,” as famed nutritionist Adele Davis calls it, should be your first consideration. This could be best done by adopting a new way of life as outlined in this book. The well-balanced diet, which will supply the pituitary and adrenal glands with all the nutrients necessary for adequate hormone production, is an absolute necessity. A diet rich in unprocessed fresh vegetables, fruits, grain, seeds, milk, and milk products will supply your glands with all the needed nutritional elements and keep your body well prepared to meet the “demands of stress.”

Let me remind you again that vitamin C is known as an antistress vitamin. Vitamin C stimulates the adrenal glands and increases the production of cortisone. Be sure that you get ample amounts of this vitamin, perhaps the most important one of all. Take up to 1,000-1,500 milligrams a day or even more when under an unusual stress or subject to injuries. Fresh and/or desiccated liver, brewer’s yeast, wheat germ, and wheat germ oil are other foods with antistress factors. They are rich in vitamin B-complex, including pantothenic acid, which is known to be an important antistress vitamin, especially in correcting the condition of adrenal exhaustion. Adele Davis recommends supplementing the diet with 400-500 milligrams of pantothenic acid daily, taken 100 mg. at a time, with three to four hour intervals, in times of stress.

Of course, many other vitamins and minerals could be considered as vital antistress factors, especially vitamins E, D, and A. Be sure that your diet is well supplied with all the necessary nutritional elements to keep you well prepared for the “stresses of life.”

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In the past, many new drugs were tested on their ability to stop experimental seizures in animals. This is what happened with drugs such as phenobarbitone, phenytoin, carbamazepine, and sodium valproate. Because such a drug’s action is not just on stopping seizures, other effects, some adverse, are common. More recently through biochemical and neurological research, a number of chemicals, have been identified which appear to have a crucial role in epilepsy. One of these, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), acts by inhibiting or stopping seizures. One new drug, vigabatrin, has been developed to increase the concentration of this substance within the brain, and so prevent seizures from happening. Other neurotransmitters called glutamate and aspartate can stimulate a seizure, or make a seizure more likely to happen. Lamotrigine is a new drug designed specifically to reduce the concentration of these substances in the brain and therefore prevent seizures. There are other drugs which are being assessed in a similar way, and which may become generally available in the next few years. Examples include gabapentin, oxcarbazepine, topirimate, remacemide, and zonisamide. It is to be hoped that such drugs

‘tailor-made’ to interfere with specific chemical processes will be associated with fewer

side-effects, and will therefore be safer, and more acceptable to patients.

Surgery-It is likely that the surgical treatment of epilepsy will increase over the next decade. This is because scanning and EEG techniques will become more advanced, and more widely available, thereby enabling the identification of subtle abnormalities within the brain responsible for seizures, some of which will be capable of being removed surgically. It is likely that more specialist centres will become established to perform such surgery, and the operations will be undertaken at a younger age.

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