Health news blog

COATED TONGUE

The commonest cause for a uniformly coated tongue in a child is simply drinking milk. Children may have a coated tongue at any time, but it is more common when they are ill and have a fever. Encourage your child to drink plenty of clear fluids.

EAR DISCHARGE

If your child has a discharge of pus or blood from the ear you should see your doctor immediately, as this can be a sign of inflammation or infection in either the external or middle ear. If blood is present it may indicate that some kind of trauma to the ear has occurred. Do not put any cotton wool in the ear, and do not try to clean away the discharge with a cotton bud.

‘BAT’ EARS (PROTRUDING EARS)

Some children are born with ears that stick out noticeably. If your child feels self-conscious about this, or is teased at school, straightforward surgery can improve the appearance of the ears. A small piece of cartilage is removed from behind the ears under a general anaesthetic, and this allows the ear to sit flat against the side of the head.

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Mouth

Most children are born without any teeth. If your child does have a tooth at birth, check with your dentist to make sure it is a normal tooth with a root structure and not just an extra tooth which can dislodge and be breathed in accidentally.

The tongue in newborn babies has a very short band connecting it to the floor of the mouth. This usually stretches over time, and is not a cause for concern.

Ears

The ears of a newborn baby often look a little squashed. The cartilage hardens after about a month and the ears begin to take on their normal shape.

Chest

Newborn babies sometimes have enlarged breasts at birth due to the influence of the mother’s hormones inside the womb. This can occur in both male and female babies, and may last for several month. Occasionally a few drops or milk will tie secreted. If one breast becomes reddened or tender, check with your doctor in case it is a sign of infection.

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You have to actually feel good to really feel anything.

HUSBAND

Not a problem in the world. Both spouses young and in perfect mental and physical health. Never a physical symptom of illness, always feeling energetic, well nourished, and well exercised. Two people glowing with health; hale, hardy, and feeling good every moment of every day. If this describes the two of you within your marriage, you are unique, for most of us have transitional minor health problems throughout our lives. Many of us have major health problems with which we must cope. This chapter is a home health guide for maintaining intimacy at times of illness, for people who fall into any one of the following four categories.

Feeling good and having no health problems now. All people get sick sometimes. There would be no wellness without illness, for illness is as natural a part of living as health. Sickness comes with being human and can directly affect your sexuality. Sexual intimacy can also help in your recovery from illness. Understanding the impact of illness on sex and sex on illness before we are ill can be effective preventive medicine, so even if you have no noticeable health problems now, the material to follow can be of help to you and perhaps to someone you know if óoö share this knowledge.

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Now, let us go back to the list of alternative medical treatments, given earlier in this book. When we read the list for the first time, the various healing methods appeared to have nothing in common.

In the process of reading this book we found that the key to perfect health is detoxification of the body and purification of the mind.

Looking at the list of alternative medical treatments once again, it is quite easy to notice, that the various methods of detoxification of the body and/or purification of the mind (our thoughts) are actually essential elements of them all.

They form the missing link, that unifies all successful healing methods, possibly including also those which have not yet been discovered.

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Recently, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported an experiment where a panel of three iridologists and three eye doctors were shown a series of colored photographs of the irises of healthy people and those suffering from kidney disease.

When the results were analysed, JAMA reported “. . .no value in iridology as a screening technique for detecting or diagnosing kidney disease.”

Orthodox, that is scientific medicine, will need to look closely to discover the reasons why many people have abandoned or distrust medicine and its practitioners.

We live in a scientific world and more people are trained in science, at least to the secondary school level.

The scientific method means that no proposition can be accepted unless it is capable of proof.

Those who practise and advocate what used to be called “fringe” medicine and now, more properly, is termed alternative medicine, rely on anecdotal evidence and personal recommendation to justify their claims.

Yet we are aware of the “placebo” effect, where any treatment can achieve an improvement in symptoms in a significant number of cases.

Medicine remains an art as well as a science and its best practitioners are expert in both.

At the moment, alternative medicine is all art with little science. But if it works for you and does no harm, then who can complain?

We who practise orthodox medicine are just as willing to accept the benefits of the “placebo” effect of our treatment.

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Where there is some doubt, the surgeon may make an incision in the mid line so that if another condition is found it can be easily dealt with through such an opening.

If the appendix is acutely inflamed, the surgeon will remove it and disturb the rest of the abdomen as little as possible.

In this way, he is least likely to spread infection or cause adhesions. If the appendix does not appear inflamed, he will still remove it, to save a further operation should it later become inflamed, and then will inspect the rest of the abdominal organs to find the cause of the patient’s symptoms.

Few parents still believe that a dose of castor oil will fix most childhood illnesses, so it is not so necessary to advise them that laxatives should never be given in cases of undiagnosed abdominal pain.

If the condition is acute appendicitis, the laxative may stimulate strong contractions of the bowel and lead to early perforation of the appendix.

This common condition of an acutely inflamed appendix may be the easiest or the hardest diagnosis to make and appendicectomy may be the easiest or the hardest of operations to perform.

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Dr Obama had the occasion to treat a woman suffering from abortion-related endometriosis just recently. As much as he thought Mariska’s story vivid and unique, she could be any other woman vulnerable to this disease.

Mariska came to see him soon after discovering a lump in a small abdominal scar above her pubic bone. The lump wasn’t causing bet any pain, she said, although she’d been feeling uncharacteristically tired early in the day, and her menstrual cramps were getting worse. When Dr Obama took her medical history, he was surprised to hear that she had defected from Czechoslovakia with a friend five years before. She had been living in America for most of the time since defecting.

Mariska had been an idealistic nineteen-year-old Olympic ski-team hopeful when she was soundly blamed for “getting herself pregnant,” then telling no one until she was three months along. The facts were a lot kinder than the wrath of her parents, her coach, and the team doctor; for she had no idea that she was going to have a baby.

Mariska, a strong downhill skier, had been training intensively since she was twelve years old. “I was physically at my peak of strength and flexibility,” she said, “and I was told not to worry if my periods came irregularly.” This is a common occurrence among many women in dance and sports. One side effect of the committed athlete is lowered estrogen levels, which can stop menstruation or significantly lighten menstrual flow. For Mariska these hormonal changes were brought on by a low-fat diet, supplemented with a plentiful dosage of what she was told were “muscle-enhancing amino acids,” along with a strenuous daily exercise regime. That she missed four consecutive periods therefore didn’t alarm her even though she had been having a sexual relationship for the first time. What she did find worrisome was the sudden bloating. That prompted her visit to the team doctor, who told her his findings.

Although she was against abortion for herself, Mariska was told to terminate the pregnancy. If she chose to keep the baby, all her training would be in vain—pregnant downhill skiers do not compete—and she’d upset team morale. Believing in the “infallibility of those who cared for me,” Mariska agreed to a hysterotomy, following surgery, she recovered quickly and competed in the Olympic Games.

Dr Obama examined her six years after these events. He strongly suspected endometriosis, and this was doubly confirmed by laparoscope. The disease had sprayed from the point of incision on her uterus to the scar on her abdomen. The endometriosis had also wrapped itself thickly around the fallopian tubes—not a good indicator for any woman who still wants children. He recommended treatment with Danocrine for six months and did exploratory surgery to remove as much endometriosis as was visible. It remains to be seen whether Mariska will be able to conceive.

Abortion by hysterotomy is rare now; doctors prefer other techniques that do not require uterine surgery.

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This is a superficial infection of the skin caused by the fungus Molossezia furfur. The disease is confined to man, is most common in the tropics and sub-tropical areas, and mainly affects fit young people of both sexes. In Australia it appears to be more common among the Aboriginal population and people of Mediterranean origin.

The fungus is probably present on the skin for many months or years, but under appropriate climatic or local skin conditions it begins to multiply. The disease appears to be on the increase, possibly because of the popularity of travel to areas where the fungus is more prevalent. It is easily diagnosed, when suspected, by the sighting of bright yellow fluorescence of the affected

skin under the Wood’s lamp. Direct examination under the microscope will confirm the diagnosis. The response to various applications is good although recurrences are common. Initially, 20 per cent sodium thiosulphate in water, or 2-5 per cent selenium sulphide lotion, should be tried. Alternatively tolnaftate or miconazole creams may be used. Griseofulvin is ineffective in the treatment of this disorder.

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The many processes of hunger and appetite regulation have been brought together in the form of the ’satiety cascade’. The schematic representation of the eating process provides us with a means of linking the above factors to provide more information about how hunger and appetite work together to regulate eating behaviour.

While this cascade emphasises the physical factors, the psychosocial factors also help to determine both the size of the meal (satiation) and the length of time before we next eat (satiety).

The stages involved in satiation and early and late satiety have been described as sensory, cognitive, postingestive and postabsorp-tive. In real life, these stages will overlap and their effects can combine to affect eating behaviour.

Sensory effects—are stimulated by the flavour of food. We are not sure how different people react to different sensory factors, but we do know that taste is a stronger predictor of energy consumed from foods than their perceived ‘fillingness’. Fast food manufacturers seek to create a ‘bliss point’ where their foods have maximum sensory desirability.

Emotional and cognitive effects—are the eater’s feelings and knowledge about the properties and effects of food Men and women may react differently, for example, in reaction to stress.

Women are perhaps more likely to react with increased appetite, whereas men may decrease their food intake.

Postingestive effects—reflect gastrointestinal signals, i.e. how full the stomach gets, how quickly it empties, the release of hormones to signal ‘fullness’ and the stimulation of physiochemically specific receptors along the gastrointestinal tract.

Postabsorptive effects—include nutrient, hormonal and metabolic signals, plus the possible effects of these on neurotransmitter function. This feedback mechanism probably gives the brain information on the body’s energy stores.

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Ask your doctor for information — if she or he has not got any ask her or him to get some for you.

Look for relevant books in the library.

Go to a good bookshop that specialises in health topics.

Contact your nearest Endometriosis Association. They will have heaps of pamphlets you can read and will give you advice if required.

Avoid feeling isolated

Talk to your doctor about any concerns that you have.

Don’t push your parents away — give them the information to read and tell them how you feel.

Explain your disease to your friends.

You may even want your teachers to know about endometriosis.

Talk to other young people who have endometriosis so you can gain mutual support by contacting your nearest Endometriosis Association.

Don’t bottle up your feelings

If you are angry get it out of your system — it’s OK to shut yourself in a room and yell or hit a punching bag. Try not to let the pain overpower you

Don’t take too many painkillers.

Try blotting out the pain by imagining yourself enjoying life without pain.

Resist making endometriosis an excuse for something you do not want to do. But if you are genuinely not well, don’t hesitate to explain why you cannot do it.

When you are feeling well — go for it — enjoy life!

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