Technological developments in the area have led to a number of different machines now being available for directly or indirectly measuring body fatness. Some of these are extremely expensive and would not be used in the normal day-to-day counseling situation. Others are now becoming more portable and more accessible and provide at least an opportunity for adding to other measures. The current range of machines include: underwater weighing, bio-impedance analysis, etc.
Bio-impedance analysis (BIA). BIA, which measures body fatness through electrical conductivity of body tissue, was introduced in the 1980s. A tiny imperceptible current travels through the water compartment of the body, which is proportional to the fat-free mass (FFM), there being very little water in fat. The more FFM, the more current is conducted. The impedance (or resistance to electical flow) is then put into an equation in the BIA machine to calculate the percentage of body fat. BIA machines are now small and portable and usually involve the wiring of electrodes onto the limbs of the body. The electrical current is slight and nothing is felt by the person being tested.
New developments have now led to BIA measures being combined with ordinary weight scales. By standing on the scales an undetectable electric current is passed through the soles of the feet and a measure of body fat is computed along with body weight. The combination of the two provides an increased diagnostic potential. A good deal of research has been earned out with BIA and comparisons with other measures such as near infrared analysis (NIR, see below) and other criterion measures. Indications are that BIA is significantly affected by fluid content of the body, and although reasonably valid, has a low reliability if not measured under similar conditions on each occasion.
*68\186\4*
Diabetes (or diabetes mellitus, if you prefer the full technical name) is inherited by baby. If affects the way the body handles the main ( omponents of food, the protein, fat and carbohydrate elements. A hormone called insulin is normally produced by the pancreas, a gland situated near the intestinal system. In the diabetic child, it is believed an abnormal kind of insulin is produced, which fails to perform its normal function of converting sugars into a form in which they may be stored. But it also seems to interfere with the way in which food in general is handled by the body.
Early in life (the first few months), the mother may notice that her baby is very thirsty, drinking a lot of fluid (and often wanting more), and passing fairly large quantities of urine. Instead of a normal weight gain, the baby may actually lose weight, despite a fairly good appetite. The child seems continually tired, and fatigues easily. Crampy pains in the limbs or body are common. In some cases, the baby may dramatically slip into unconsciousness (< ailed a diabetic coma).
In older children in whom the disorder has not been treated, there may be a reduced rate of growth and poor development. There may be psychological problems. As such children grow older, more and more symptoms will gradually appear, and damage to the blood vessels and various organs takes place.
Treatment
Usually, an alert parent will soon detect abnormal symptoms and will seek medical advice. There are many tests, some simple screening tests which will soon give an indication of the problem. The urine is tested for sugar (or ‘glucose’, as the doctors say), and frequently there is plenty present. Blood tests are more accurate and will indicate if there are elevated levels. A test called the glucose tolerance test usually confirms the disorder. Various other investigations may be suggested.
Treatment is usually very satisfactory and will be worked out on an individual basis for each patient. For childhood diabetes, the use of insulin is usually necessary and may be necessary for the rest of the patient’s life. Parents are taught how to administer this, and soon become experts. Later on, the young patient will also learn how.
Special instructions will be given on food intake. There will be certain restrictions, and these will probably vary according to the nature and extent of activity of the child. Insulin needs may vary with exercise, and certainly if an infection takes place more insulin may be needed.
Most children with diabetes will be under the regular attention of a specialist or may attend the diabetic clinic of a major hospital which has the full facilities for treating the patient on a long-term basis.
In Australia diabetes is fairly common. There are believed to be between 75 000 and 100000 known diabetics; add to this the number of undiagnosed cases, and the figure is high. Many diabetics do not come to notice until their thirties or forties, or even later. This is called maturity onset diabetes. It is the most common kind. Patients are harbouring the disorder, but it is silent and for many years may cause no symptoms. Later in life, it may be diagnosed by chance when a patient visits the doctor for some unrelated condition and a urine test is carried out by the physician.
Diabetic coma
Occasionally the diabetic patient may slip into a diabetic coma. This may commence with marked thirst and passing a lot of urine frequently. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pains and dehydration may occur. Breathing may be long, deep and laboured, and there may be headaches, irritability and drowsiness. This may increase until the patient becomes unconscious. The skin is dry, lips very red, blood pressure low, and pulse rapid. It may be preceded by an infection.
Any form of unconsciousness needs prompt medical attention and this is no exception. The sooner the patient is taken to the emergency care ward of a large hospital the better. There proper investigation and treatment may be carried out, and there are full facilities for performing the necessary therapy.
Hypoglycaemia (‘hypo’)
Sometimes the diabetic may receive too much insulin, or may fail to eat the prescribed amount of food, or may exercise too vigorously, so that too much sugar is removed from the blood. This is called hypoglycaemia, meaning insufficient sugar (glucose) in the blood. Most diabetics (and their parents) are aware of this possibility and are usually cautioned well beforehand.
Symptoms include weakness, hunger, irritability, a faint feeling, perspiring, rapid pulse, mood changes, vomiting, feeling nervous, walking in an unsteady manner, feeling shaky and trembly; and finally the diabetic may be semiconscious. If left untreated this may lead to serious brain damage, and even death.
However, treatment is simple and very effective. Giving glucose quickly reverses the situation and symptoms may vanish. Sugar in almost any form is suitable, but never try to give anything by mouth to an unconscious patient. Patients learn to recognize the early symptoms and will usually carry glucose with them and self-medicate promptly if they feel symptoms developing. The sooner .m unconscious diabetic receives medical help the better, so taking .m unconscious person immediately to a large hospital may be the best action.
*92\87\2*
This simple-sounding disorder also has the impressive name of infectious mononucleosis (a name with which you can confound your friends and bank manager, I feel sure; you might even get an increased bank overdraft). It is caused by a virus called the Epstein-Barr virus, and is often contacted during childhood. In many cases, no symptoms occur then, but do in later years. The most common time for symptoms is in girls in the 15-25 age group. But nobody is immune. It is not highly contagious, and occurs in between two and six persons per 10000 of the population. Incubation period— the time elapsing between the time of infection and the onset of symptoms—is between 7 and 49 days.
Three main symptoms occur: a sore throat, swollen glands in the neck (and later elsewhere), and a fever. Often this is preceded by the patient feeling generally off-colour. The tongue and often the tonsils become coated with a creamy discharge. Breath is unpleasant, nose congested, and tiny lymph glands under the jaw and in front of the neck swell and become tender.
As the illness develops, the liver and spleen (two large organs in the upper part of the abdomen) swell, and tenderness in this region is common.
Lack of appetite, feeling unwell in a vague sort of way, lack of energy, aches all over the body, nausea, sweating and general abdominal discomfort are typical symptoms. Occasionally there is a red rash, especially on those who have been given penicillin. Sometimes a mild jaundice may occur (the whites of the eyes and the skin turn yellow). Depression, headaches, fatigue and inability to concentrate are common symptoms that often persist for many weeks, and often months. A simple blood test usually gives the doctor the diagnosis.
Treatment
This illness is a self-limiting one and invariably cures itself. It simply takes time. Bed, fluids and adequate nutrition are necessary. Small, attractively prepared meals, emphasizing foods the patient normally likes, are the best idea. Gargling the throat with warm salty water gives relief from the sore throat. Analgesics and antipyretics aimed at reducing elevated temperatures and relieving aches and pains are given. There is no single drug that will magically bring about a cure. Vitamins aimed at increasing the body’s general health and vitality are often prescribed. Proper medical supervision is recommended with any of the symptoms that suggest this disorder.
Infectivity is low but appears to be spread via the saliva; therefore, kissing and sharing drinking utensils should be avoided until the patient is cured.
*43\87\2*
The name ringworm is misleading, because the ailment to which it refers is not caused by a worm. It is in fact a form of tinea, a fungal infection, and is also known as tinea circinata. The name refers to the fact that it causes a raised ring-shaped inflammation of the skin. Ringworms are most commonly found in warm, moist areas of the body such as the armpits, groin, and beneath the breasts. The skin becomes inflamed and tends to flake and peel. Ringworms can be intensely itchy and are highly contagious.
To avoid spreading the infection, care should be taken to avoid sharing clothing, towels and bedlinen. Keeping the skin dry will prevent further growth of the fungus.
Tea tree oil applied directly to the area is often beneficial. Antifungal ointments and powders are also available from chemists without prescription. Garlic, either eaten fresh or in the form of capsules, may also help the infection clear up.
Dietary habits which may help to reduce the incidence of ringworm and other fungal infections include the elimination of refined starches and sugars and alcohol from the diet, as fungi thrive on these foods. Diabetics are particularly prone to ringworm when their sugar levels are high.
*44\69\2*
Experience with St John’s Wort based on people entering research protocols and seeking help from psychiatrists tells us only about the way the herbal remedy is being used and is working for relatively severe clinical problems. But the large majority of people who have turned to the herb would probably not fit into research protocols nor see fit to consult a psychiatrist. How is St John’s Wort being used by the general public, and how is it working for the problems of everyday life? Those are questions that I wanted to answer and realized that in order to do so, I needed to survey the public directly. I did so by means of a questionnaire, distributed in health food shops and pharmacies both in the United States and in Germany, and posted on certain Internet newsgroups. The stories detailed in this chapter are derived largely from responses to this questionnaire, some of which I followed up with telephone interviews.
*19\75\2*
Sandra Casey was twenty-one years old when she entered the Ecology Unit. Her headaches centered around her eyes and forehead. They were steady in nature and accompanied by sensitivity to light. She had these headaches three
or four times a month, and each lasted for three or four days. While having a headache, she was unable to sleep or rest yet could take no medication, for medicine seemed to make her depressed.
Miss Casey had been diagnosed as having hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) several months before she came to the unit. She had been on a hypoglycemia diet which consisted of six small, high-protein meals a day. At first she felt much better on this diet, but eventually she became depressed and suicidal. (Doctors see many such cases of alleged hypoglycemia. The symptoms, including marked swings in blood-sugar levels after consumption of corn sugar, may frequently be the result of food allergies, not of true hypoglycemia, a point first noted by Dr. William A. Philpott of Oklahoma City.)
Another problem which Mrs. Casey had was what she called “attacks.” The first attack came after she took some hashish at the age of fifteen. She became very cold, and her limbs felt as if they were frozen all day. She thought she were going to die or go insane, yet a physician who examined her declared that there were no permanent effects from the drug.
Since that time, however, she had had frequent sensations of numbness, which would start in her back and radiate over her head. This feeling was quite difficult for her to explain; she said it was similar to having a bucket of cold water poured over one’s head. After the attack she became disoriented, depressed, and suicidal.
As stated, this patient’s symptoms ranged from localized physical reactions (minus-one) to more profound systemic changes. She complained of sore throat, phlegm in the back of her throat, chest pain, lightheadedness, and dizziness. Her abdominal bloating became so troublesome that she looked as if she were pregnant.
Because of her depression and suicidal tendencies, Sandra had been under the care of a psychiatrist and had been institutionalized for nineteen days. Antidepressive drugs made her even more suicidal. In fact, her suicidal thoughts were becoming obsessive, especially since her husband was a gun collector who kept arms within easy reach around the house.
She reported a craving for sugar and sweet foods in general and said she loved to go through a box of cookies at a single sitting. Not surprisingly, her strongest reactions in testing were to wheat, corn, peas, blueberries, beets and beet sugar, and other commonly eaten foods, taken singly according to the methods of the Ecology Unit. Commercial foods gave her a headache, cumulatively, after five meals.
She left the hospital headache-free and in a normal frame of mind. Her problem was diagnosed as multiple food and chemical susceptibility, and her chances of recovery were excellent, provided she followed the recommended procedures. Suffice it to say, in summary, that headaches demonstrated to be on an allergic basis may be of any descriptive type—that is, any location, any degree of severity, with or without usual symptoms, nausea, vomiting, or other features. Although allergic headaches are far more commonly demonstrated to be on the basis of reactions to given foods and/or environmental chemical exposures, they may also be related to such allergens as house dust, pollens, and sometimes drugs. Indeed, I have seen patients whose treatment with such pain-relieving drugs as codeine accentuates their headaches.
As mentioned earlier, allergic headaches were described over a half century ago. Under these circumstances, there is no excuse for patients to be told to “live” with their headaches. When headache patients are investigated by means of proper techniques to demonstrate their environmental causes, to which susceptibility exists, most cases may be readily diagnosed and treated in the absence of drug therapy.
Finally, although headaches are sometimes said to be on a psychogenic basis, I have not been able to demonstrate such a relationship. If this exists, it must be exceedingly rare.
*71\110\2*
Sister Francesca came to me with a peculiar complaint. She suffered from aches and pains in her rib cage, on both sides, about six inches below her armpits. While aches and pains are commonly the result of allergylike problems, there were no organs in that particular part of the body which would be likely to give rise to them. I was confused, more so when I noticed that her associate, who had accompanied her to the doctor, was fighting back a smile as the sister related her problem.
I later found out the reason for the strange soreness: the sister had a habit of falling asleep every morning at Mass. As she began to snore, her fellow nuns on either side would crack her in the ribs with their elbows to wake her up again. This went on repeatedly during Mass, giving rise to her medical complaint.
Upon inquiry, I found that the chapel of her convent was directly over the garage which held the community’s five automobiles. I therefore arranged with the priests who drove these cars to leave all of them outside for a week and leave the doors of the garage wide open. They were sworn to secrecy, however, and Sister Francesca was never told anything about this arrangement.
That week, Sister Francesca attended Mass as usual, but was alert and awake all week, with no snoring and no sore ribs. Then, again without telling her, the priests were instructed to resume parking the cars in the garage with the door closed. On the next morning, Sister Francesca entered the chapel, took her seat, and promptly fell asleep. The other nuns awakened her as she began to snore.
It was a very convincing experiment, and from that point on the automobiles were kept outside the incriminated garage.
*41\110\2*
Tears form in the tear glands that lie above the eyeballs within the bony eye sockets. These tear glands continuously produce fluid that flows across the eyeballs and down the slender tear ducts that connect each eye with the nose (nasolacrimal ducts). The two openings into each tear duct are pinpoint in size and can be seen at the edge of the upper and lower eyelids, near the corner of the eye next to the nose.
In newborns, the openings into the tear ducts are often too small. These openings may be further blocked by the silver nitrate or other drops placed in the eyes at birth to prevent eye infections. Blockage of these openings may cause tears to flow out of the outer corner of the baby’s eye, even when the infant is not crying. Occasionally, instead of normal eye fluid, green or yellow pus will collect in the eye. This discharge will further block the tiny tear ducts.
If the nasolacrimal duct becomes blocked at the end inside the nose, tearing and possible infection will occur. Blockage at the nose end of the duct can be present at birth, or it may be caused by congestion from a cold or an allergy. When the nose end of the duct is blocked, the nasolacrimal sac between the eye and the side of the nose may swell with fluid and be visible as a distinct lump the size of a green pea.
Signs and symptoms
In infants, simple tearing of one or both eyes is so common as to be considered normal; it is harmless. However, if there is pus in the eye, redness and rawness at the outer coiners of the eyelids, or swelling of the tear sac (with or without redness), treatment may be needed.
Home care
Simple tearing needs no treatment. The tears can be wiped away and the eyelids cleaned by wiping with a cotton ball dipped in sterile water. Call the doctor if the eye is red, pus is present, or the tear duct is swollen. Redness of the skin at the outer corner of the eye, redness of the eye itself, or the presence of pus may be treated with antibiotic eye drops prescribed by the doctor, often over the telephone. If the tear sac at the side of the nose is swollen, your doctor may teach you how to gently massage the tear sac. (Do not attempt to massage the tear sac without a doctor’s instructions.)
Precautions
• With home treatment, the eyes should improve within 24 hours. If there is no improvement, notify your doctor.
• If improvement is prompt, continue treatment until the eye is clear for at least two days.
• Repeated problems of eye tearing are common in infants; save the eye drops for possible future use, but check the expiration date on the label before reusing.
Medical treatment
Your doctor’s treatment is the same as home treatment. Your doctor can demonstrate the proper method of massaging the tear sac, if needed. If the condition continues past the age of eight months to one year, your doctor may refer your child to an ophthalmologist (an eye specialist) who may surgically enlarge the nasolacrimal duct under general anesthesia.
*66/84/5*
The main way our body gets rid of excess cholesterol is through our bowel movements. The liver pumps excess cholesterol that is not needed into the bile, which is stored in the gallbladder. Bile then enters our intestines through an opening called Vater’s ampulla and leaves our body in bowel movements. If there is not much fibre in our diet, we don’t drink enough water and are constipated, cholesterol in bile can get reabsorbed back into our bloodstream and we end up with high cholesterol levels. Therefore, one of the best ways to lower your cholesterol is to ensure that you have regular bowel movements.
The best kind of fibre for lowering cholesterol is soluble fibre. This kind of fibre becomes a gel-like consistency in the intestines, and it is able to bind with cholesterol and other toxins in our intestines and carry them out of our body. Good sources of soluble fibre include oats, legumes such as kidney beans or chickpeas, rice, barley, apples, strawberries and citrus fruits.
Another benefit of fibre is that it slows the absorption of sugar into our bloodstream when we eat some in our meal. This means that fibre lowers the glycaemic index of a meal. This is good for reducing your risk of Syndrome X or diabetes, both major risk factors for heart disease.
*9/53/5*
Research has shown that drinking alcohol causes a decrease in sperm count, an increase in abnormal sperm and a lower proportion of motile sperm.
Alcohol also affects a man’s fertility by changing his hormone levels because it can alter the way testosterone is produced and then released. Because alcohol affects the liver (the organ which normally clears out any excess hormones), a man who drinks alcohol may accumulate small amounts of female hormones (men produce ‘female’ hormones, just as women produce testosterone). These female hormones can lower sperm production and potency.
In addition, alcohol stops absorption of nutrients like zinc which is one of the most important minerals for male fertility. Zinc is found in high concentrations in the sperm. Adequate levels of zinc are needed to make the outer layer and tail and are therefore essential for healthy sperm. If you reduce the amount of zinc in a man’s diet, his sperm count goes down.
Finally, alcohol reduces fertility in mammals, and studies show that women who drink heavily may stop ovulating and menstruating, and take longer to conceive.
A study of 430 women demonstrated that drinking more than 5 units of alcohol (equal to five glasses of wine) a week could stop women conceiving. Researchers discovered that the women in the survey who drank less than 5 units a week were twice as likely to get pregnant within six months compared with those who drank more. A study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that women should be ‘warned to avoid alcohol when trying to conceive’.
The fact is that drinking any alcohol can reduce your fertility by half- and the more you drink, the worse the impact on your chances of conception.
Studies have also shown a strong relationship between alcohol and miscarriages. Women who have a drink every day have a much higher risk of miscarriage (2.5 times more) than non-drinkers. The same study found that if the woman was a drinker and a smoker her chance of a miscarriage was four times higher.
*5/73/5*
