Health News and Information

There are many different causes of constipation. By far the most common is a lack of fibre or bulk in the child’s diet. Some children hold back, often because they are too busy playing or it is otherwise inconvenient, so that stool accumulates and having a bowel movement causes discomfort and pain. Sometimes, especially in babies and toddlers, passing a hard bowel motion may cause a tear in the lining of the anus (anal fissure), causing painful defaecation and leading the child to hold back because of the pain. In this way, a vicious cycle is created, with holding back because of pain causing further constipation, which then means more pain. Toddlers may hold back during attempts at toilet training, so beginning this cycle. In rare cases, there are neurological reasons for constipation.

The child will have less frequent bowel movements than usual, and may complain of difficulty in passing a movement. Often there will be associated discomfort and sometimes pain on defaecation. In some children there is abdominal pain, usually in the centre of the abdomen around the umbilicus, and often spasmodic like colic. Parents will comment that the child is listless and has lost his appetite.

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WIND

Most young babies swallow small amounts of air while feeding, especially if they suck vigorously. If large amounts of wind build up in the gut, they can cause discomfort and crying, and increase the likelihood of regurgitation of feeds. When positioning your baby for burping after a feed, make sure that you support him in an upright position such as up against your shoulder or seated on your lap, or lie him prone over your lap and gently rub or pat his back. If he does not burp after 2 or 3 minutes he probably doesn’t have excessive wind.

WEANING

Weaning your baby from the breast is often a difficult decision to make. Timing may depend on various factors, and is usually best guided by the baby himself. As he is introduced to solids his appetite for the breast may decrease. Some mothers choose to wean their babies after 3-6 months, or upon returning to work themselves. Try not to rush into weaning; it is often a gradual process, and with a little juggling you can continue some breastfeeds even though you are working. You may need to express breastmilk once or twice a day and have someone else feed your baby while you are at work. If you do decide that it is time to wean your baby, talk to your maternal and child health nurse or doctor about how to approach it. A gradual change-over period is usually recommended so that both you and your baby have time to get used to the transition.

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SPECIFIC SEXUAL PROBLEMS: With the complexities of metabolic and neurochemical reactions that accompany grief, it is ot surprising that specific transitory sexual problems can result. Fatigue, failure to eat and exercise, and disruption of sleep and other life schedules can impair sexual reflexes. If both partners are aware that time will usually take care of the problem, sexual function will return to normal as the grieving response diminishes. If, on the other hand, the sexual problem is viewed as “just another crisis related to the loss,” it may become more established in the sexual interaction pattern, a permanent side effect of the misunderstood grief response.

LOSS OF SEXUAL SELF-ESTEEM: Grieving is a de-energizing process that must take place whenever a relationship ends. When life energy decreases and the bereaved partner feels weak, drawn, and listless, she or he may also feel that personal sexual attractiveness has been lost. During grieving, there may be a period during which self-care and attention to hygiene, dressing, posture, and general self-presentation are ignored or neglected. The bereaved partner may present this “grieving mask” to avoid intimacy, to hide from what he or she perceives as premature, even insensitive sexual overtures. When others seem unattractive to the grieving person at this time of loss, it is easy to neglect one’s own physical appearance.

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Love is the most basic, natural of all feelings. If the world would only give love a chance, return to its natural love state, we could save the world from this mad dash into global disaster.

HUSBAND

During the major blackout in New York City some years ago, people shined flashlights down from their apartments to help those below find their way. At the same time, looters and muggers were on the loose to an extent never before imagined, even in New York. Which is the “natural state,” the aggressive capitalizing on human misfortune or the caring, helping motivation of the apartment dwellers? The answer is that both states are natural.

Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz suggested that aggression is basic to human nature. Anthropologist Ashley Montagu speculated that human cooperation and caring have an evolutionary base. Dr. Reuben Fine describes what he calls “love cultures”: harmonious, sexually open, contented, and happy places where aggression, if present at all, is directed to outside forces and spirits. Freud felt that love and aggression were both characteristic of human nature.

Theorists and researchers have been unable to support the conclusion that any one human characteristic or experience is more natural than any other. To assume that “love will out” is to be unrealistic. The effort must be to maximize our efforts to teach, encourage, and nurture love, not trust in its evolutionary advantage.

“So help me, I could just kiss you,” said the wife. “So kiss me. I’ll help you,” said the husband. Love needs all the help it can get. It will never make it on its own.

“If he doesn’t love me anymore, there’s nothing I can do or he can do about it,” the wife reported. “You either love someone or you don’t. It’s a basically natural feeling, like hunger or sex.”

“At least give me a chance to make it happen again,” replied the husband.

“I don’t see how,” she replied. “You have exploded at me for years, and I have seen nothing but anger in your eyes. There’s no room for love there.”

The wife had taken the either/or orientation to love, that it is natural and that the presence of any other emotion means that the natural love either was never really there or is crowded out by less “unnatural” emotions of anger or distrust. All emotions are human, and the systems orientation to loving I have been describing does not exclude or favor any one aspect of our humanness.

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The tonsils are two collections of lymphoid tissue lying either side of the back of the throat. They form part of a ring of similar tissue in this area. They were put there for a purpose and we need a very good reason to remove them.

The tonsils and other lymphoid tissues act as a barrier to infection. They contain white blood cells which devour and destroy bacteria and viruses. They are also an important part of the immune system, helping in the production of antibodies to fight off infection.

Sometimes they become infected. Acute tonsillitis commences with a sore throat and often a high temperature, and the lymph glands in the neck are usually swollen. The tonsils are enlarged, reddened and sometimes covered with spots of pus. The usual cause is infection with the streptococcus germ.

Unfortunately sore throats due to either bacteria or viruses, are common. But this is a pharyngitis, or infection of the throat, rather than a specific infection of the tonsils. It is important to note the difference.

The streptococcus germ remains very sensitive to penicillin, and this is the treatment of choice.

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I’m just as guilty as the rest of my colleagues. So let us all — general practitioner, specialist, salaried doctor — give the patient communication and reassurance, as well as expert advice.

Then we can take any criticism because we and our patients will know that this criticism is no longer justified.

When most people talk of “doctors”, they usually mean “medical practitioners”.

It may come as a surprise to learn that most

“doctors” do not have doctoral degrees from a university. The title “doctor” is a courtesy one.

How does one become a medical practitioner?

To practise medicine in Australia a person must be registered as a medical practitioner by the medical board in the state in which he wishes to practise.

The prerequisite is a medical degree from an approved university.

All the Australian universities are “approved”, as also are those of Britain, and most of the universities of the British Commonwealth. But not all.

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Because of the vaccine and the large number of children who have received it, the pattern of epidemics every second year is not seen.

Those children whose immune system is deficient due to other disease, or who are receiving cortisone, are not usually immunised but the risk to others is minimal.

Rubella and measles can be dangerous diseases for different reasons, but both are now preventable by the use of safe vaccines.

Sometimes the pancreas, an organ which lies high up in the abdomen behind the stomach, is involved and, occasionally, in women, the ovary may be affected. These complications are uncommon, however.

Treatment of mumps is non-specific and consists of rest and analgesic drugs like aspirin or paracetamol to lower the fever and to relieve pain. Antibiotics are not necessary.

After puberty, males who develop mumps should be closely watched in case orchitis develops.

An effective vaccine is now available. It may be given alone or combined with the measles vaccine.

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By working out strenuously every day, one becomes fit but not necessarily healthy, the Physician and Sportsmedicine (11#6:156) points out.

Fitness is the ability to perform such feats as running a four-minute mile, while healthiness means being able to remain comfortably active well into old age.

To be healthy, one must engage in activity, such as walking the dog for a few miles, always using stairs rather than elevators, even just gardening, regularly every day. Health, of course, also involves such things as not smoking, having a sensibly balanced diet, and not letting one’s waistline grow too large.

Remember, those who are fit are not necessarily healthy as well, and may bring on arthritis or develop heart attacks by running. Obviously, it is best to be both healthy and fit, which is possible if one starts working toward these goals early enough in life and does not overdo the strenuous exercise.

However, if one must choose between them, health is more desirable than fitness. Nowadays, as more and more people give up jogging, it is important for them to continue with regular health-promoting activities instead.

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