Health News and Information

COMMON THEMES IN ALCOHOLISM TREATMENT: DEPENDENCY ISSUESOne of the most provocative points Wallace makes concerns dependency issues. Many articles, and indeed whole bookSj have been written about dependency and alcoholism. Sometimes the alcoholic is depicted as a particularly dependent type who has resolved conflicts inappropriately by the use of alcohol. It is doubtful that this point of view should be taken as a theoretical framework for the development of alcohol treatment programs. However, it must be noted that many alcoholics do tend toward stubborn independence versus indiscriminate dependence in their relationships. They seem to have an evil genius for attracting the very people they don’t need— ones who, in fact, are harmful to them. The need for loving relationships, the development of unsatisfactory ones, and the consequent pain and misery are responsible in an unusually large number of instances for relapses. The alcoholic needs, maybe more than most, to realize that people are all interdependent to some degree. The trick is to recognize the dependent need, and to ask, 1. Upon whom should I be dependent? 2. For what? 3. At what cost to me? These questions should be asked in regard to all the relationships, not simply the primary love one. It may well turn out that dependency is being channeled into one relationship instead of spread out more effectively. Once these questions are squarely faced, selectivity and judgment stand a better chance; the extremes, with their threat to sobriety, can be more successfully avoided.Another issue may well be encountered by single alcoholics, or those caught in unhappy marriages. It is not uncommon for them to find themselves “suddenly” involved in an affair or an extramarital relationship. With a little bit of sobriety, they are very ripe to fall in love. This may have several roots. They may be questioning their sexuality, and the attentions of another may well provide some affirmation of attractiveness. Also possible is that with sobriety comes a sense of being alive again. There is the reawakening of a host of feelings that have long been dormant, including sexual feelings. In this sense, it may be like the bloom and intensity of adolescence. A romantic involvement may follow very naturally. Unfortunately, it can lead to disaster if followed with abandon. The counselor needs to be alert to this general possibility, as well as the possibility of being the object of the crush.*106\331\2*

DIETS AND ASTHMA: VITAMIN CSodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid are both excellent natural antihistamines and they also exert a strong antiviral effect. More alkaline forms of vitamin C, such as calcium ascorbate, are much better for anyone suffering from asthma and certain other conditions. They may be inadvisable in some cases of breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, but on the other hand, when vitamin C is prescribed in the treatment of many ‘mood’ problems, especially anxiety and depression, calcium ascorbate is an excellent choice. It is also an excellent form of vitamin C if you drink too much alcohol.Below is a list to help you avoid some possible side effects of ingredients found in some of the most popular supplement formulas. By reading the labels before buying, you will be able to avoid formulas which contain substances that are not optimal for your particular situation and choose the ones that will maximise the expected benefits.Ascorbic AcidThere are practically no side effects from even massive doses of oral vitamin C. In the form of ascorbic acid, excess intake can cause diarrhoea but other forms, such as calcium ascorbate, ester C and sodium ascorbate, are better tolerated.Oral vitamin C, in its various forms, is actually used to provoke diarrhoea during the treatment of severe illnesses, especially viral ones. This is known as the ‘bowel tolerance’ method.While there are no contraindications for vitamin C as such, there are different ways in which various types of vitamin C can be used to the best advantage and a few cases where some types of this vitamin should not be taken at all.The first consideration is that vitamin C of any kind is more efficient when taken in powder form than when taken as tablets or pills.BioflavinoidsApart from the ability of these compounds to protect and enhance the absorption of vitamin C, and from their effects on circulation, bioflavinoids are important factors in ameliorating and preventing cataracts. They are an essential part of protection against hardening of the blood vessels and thus help to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.The only time taking these nutrients presents a problem is when the individual is allergic to citrus fruit (from which they are derived) or has a salicylates intolerance. If not, they are an ideal supplement for asthmatics.*44\145\2*

NOTES ABOUT DIABETES
1. One of the insidious side effects of diabetes is a threat of gangrene and possible amputation of the foot or lower leg. Dr. Wilfred E. Shute says that this can be successfully prevented, and the condition can even be corrected when the feet are already affected, with large doses of vitamin E, taken internally.2. Blueberry leaf tea has been used for centuries in folk medicine for treatment of “sugar” diabetes. One cup of tea three times a day is the recommended dose.3. Cactus pads (“de-spined” cactus leaves of Tuna and Nopal Cactus), are used by American desert Indians as a diabetes “cure.” It has been reported that cactus pads contain a huge amount of natural, organic insulin. Cactus pads can be eaten raw or cooked. Mexicans eat these de-spined leaves, with chili sprinkled on them, as a part of their regular diet. Also, Sinita (Sinita Organo), cactus plant native to Sonora, Mexico, contains natural insulin and is used widely to treat diabetes.4. To correct an advanced diabetes by biological, herbal and nutritional means may take a long time. Milder cases normally respond well in a shorter period of time. If patient is using insulin or other related drugs, they should not be withdrawn abruptly, but the drug dosage should be decreased gradually as the blood sugar values improve, and the reaction of insulin withdrawal should be closely supervised by a physician.5. Diabetic retinopathy, diabetic vision problems and gradual deterioration of eyesight, is one of the most common complications of diabetes. Oral doses of thyroid hormone extract with large doses of B-complex vitamins, vitamin С and digestive enzymes have been used successfully to treat diabetic retinopathy.
*4/103/5*

HEART SAVERS: SURGICAL TECHNIQUES AND DRUGS Many doctors insist that the artificial heart is too complicated and too expensive to be practical, except for a few patients. So research teams, including Dr. Kantrowitz’s and others at the Cleveland Clinic, at Stanford and Harvard Universities, and in Hershey, Pennsylvania, are racing to complete cheaper and simpler pumps that will give the heart partial assistance. Several of these devices already have been implanted in patients with otherwise poor chances of survival. About a third of them have survived.The hottest development is called the L-Vad – Left Ventricular Assist Device. It replaces the left side of the heart – which does most of the pumping – with a mechanical pump. A couple of hundred have been installed to help the patients in the waiting period to get a human heart transplant. The FDA has approved a model that can be installed permanently. If the partial heart is as effective as the total mechanical heart, treating bad heart damage will be relatively inexpensive and safe.While artificial hearts still seem the stuff of science fiction, heart transplants have become frequent lifesavers. For more than a decade now, surgeons have been replacing sick hearts with healthy ones. Dr. Norman Shumway of Stanford University has had the greatest success – more than 50 percent of his heart transplant recipients survive. And a drug called cyclosporine, which prevents rejection of the foreign heart, has increased Dr. Shumway’s success rate to 85 percent.But donor hearts are scarce, because they must come from healthy people who died of brain injuries. Unless scientists can find a way to transfer hearts from other species, transplants may never become widespread. Each year only 2,000 hearts become available for transplant. Experts say that heart surgeons could use 10,000.However, doctors have developed ways to open or bypass clogged coronary arteries. Such arteries are the result of atherosclerosis, a disease in which fatty deposits coat and narrow the channels of the coronary vessels leading to heart pain and often to heart attack.The most common method, coronary bypass surgery, became the chic surgery of the 1980s. In 1964, Drs. Michael De Bakey and Edward Garrett of Houston did the first such coronary artery plumbing job on a human being. They removed a length of vein from a patient’s leg and used it to bypass the clogged section of artery. It promptly relieved the patient’s heart pain, and he survived 9 years.Today, 250,000 persons a year undergo coronary bypass surgery. The patients include two former secretaries of state: Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig. For a while, doctors argued over whether bypass surgery prolonged patients’ lives, although most agreed that it relieved heart pain.”About 80 to 85 percent survived 10 years after their surgery,” he told me, “and half of the people under 65 years of age are working full-time.” Physicians can also stretch partially clogged arteries with a procedure called balloon angioplasty. Again, they use the long catheter with a tiny balloon at the end. They work the catheter into the artery, blow up the balloon, and stretch the opening of the artery.Other new drugs can prevent heart attacks, heart pain, or both. One chemical, called a beta-blocker, opens up the coronary arteries and reduces the heart’s need for oxygen. Studies show that patients treated with beta-blockers suffer less pain, have fewer heart attacks, and survive longer.Even newer are the calcium channel blockers. They also open up arteries and reduce the heart’s oxygen use. But their life extension properties are not yet proved. Both types of drug dramatically drop blood pressure; this, by itself, can prevent heart attacks.Finally, you may be able to prevent or reduce your risk of heart disease if you stop smoking, increase exercise, and cut down your blood cholesterol level by eating less animal fat.While medical science cannot yet give you a foolproof prescription to prevent heart attack, it has shown you ways to increase your chances of doing so by changing your lifestyle. And the magnificent progress in coronary medicine and surgery has given you a better chance of surviving heart disease – pain-free.*7/266/5*

GYNECOLOGICAL CANCER GUIDE: VULVAThe vulva includes all the external genitals and the perineum (the tissue between the vagina and anus), the lips of the vagina (the labia) and the clitoris (which is responsible for orgasm in the vast majority of women). On the inner side of the lips of the vagina are a number of glands responsible for lubrication during intercourse.The skin of the vulva is covered by ‘squamous’ tissue, just as in the cervix, but the outside surface has a thick covering of keratin that is there to prevent entrance of bacteria since it forms a physical barrier on the surface of the skin. Cancers of these squamous cells are the most common form of cancer of the vulva, being present in over 80% of cases, whilst the next most common cancer would be a ‘melanoma’, which is a cancer of the skin pigment bearing cells.There seems to be two forms of squamous cancers of the vulva, the first being found more commonly in older women (unifocal). This is usually a cancer in one area and apart from chronic irritation and perhaps an association with a skin condition called ‘lichen sclerosis’ (a thinning of the skin, which is very common in older women, and which ultimately may be associated with the development of vulva cancer in up to 7% of cases) no precipitating factors have been identified. The second occurs in younger women (multifocal), and these cancers may be present in more than one area on the vulva. It is thought now that the same virus responsible for cancer of the cervix may be responsible.Melanomas of the vulva can occur at any age, but again are more common as a woman grows older. They usually present as a pigmented or dark area on the surface of the vulva and have a great likelihood of spreading early to the lymph glands. To detect a change in colour or other abnormality, a woman should have regular vulval examinations either through self-examination with a mirror or by her partner or a doctor.If cancers of the vulva are not treated early, then bleeding, discharge and pain eventually occur. Vulva cancer can spread to the lymph glands in the groin, and then to the pelvis eventually spreading to lungs and bone. Local spread of the cancer can be very uncomfortable and very difficult to treat. Pain and difficulty with sexual intercourse usually are the most common symptoms. Some women experience a persistent itch in the clitoris area that is often mistaken for thrush.*7/144/5*

THE APPROVED DINNER FOR ARTHRITISThe RECOMMENDED DINNER begins with oil-bearing soup or broth. You can then enjoy your steak, but pay attention to how it was prepared. Broiled steak is best for arthritics. Broiled medium rare, from a lean cut of meat. In this manner your body will receive all the vitamins and proteins.Raw fruit (like apples or peaches) can be eaten for dessert. Chew them well and reap their harvest of minerals and vitamins. Use fruit in season, but not the citric variety. In essence, this article has endeavoured to show how many oil-free liquids can destroy the balance in a so-called “balanced diet.” By shifting “conflicting” liquids to their proper place in each meal, you can double your chances to recover from arthritis.Just beware of detrimental liquids, particularly excessive quantities of water. The correct use of water by arthritics is so important that we are devoting a whole chapter to this vital subject.*32\146\2*

DIAGNOSING OCD: THE REMARKABLE CASE OF HOWARD HUGHESthe best example of the depths of despair and disability to which this vicious cycle can carry a person is found, amazingly, in the case of a man who was once the richest person in America. Howard Hughes was a brilliant businessman, a pilot who set aviation records, a movie producer who courted beautiful starlets. Yet for the last twenty years of his life he lived as a complete recluse, spending his days in the darkened bedrooms of fancy penthouses with a small army of guards to insure his privacy. Newspapers portrayed him as an eccentric genius, but after his death in 1976 it was revealed that his strange behaviors were entirely due to compulsions run amok. As a young man Hughes was, indeed, eccentric. Perfectionistic and domineering, he wrote pages of memos on inconsequential items. Friends knew that he had irrational contamination fears; they were not allowed to even touch his private refrigerator. Nevertheless, despite such peculiarities, Hughes was enormously productive and successful. All this changed in midlife after he was severely injured in the crash of an air force reconnaissance plane of his own design and subsequently became addicted to the narcotics that were prescribed for the pain of his injuries.Thereafter, Hughes’ life was dominated by compulsions. Afraid to eat, drink, be touched, wear clothes, or leave his room, he made his staff follow senseless, intricate checking and washing rituals that took hours and hours to perform. A typical memo to his staff, instructions for the “preparation of canned fruit,” entailed no less than nine painstaking steps. Step 3, “washing of can,” for example, read:
The man in charge turns the valve in the bathtub on, using his bare hands to do so. He also adjusts the water temperature so that it is not too hot or too cold. He then takes one of the brushes, and, using one of the bars of soap, creates a good lather, and then scrubs the can from a point two inches below the top of the can. He should first soak and remove the label, and then brush the cylindrical part of the can over and over until all particles of dust, pieces of the label, and, in general, all sources of contamination have been removed. Holding the can in the center at all times, he then processes the bottom of the can in the same manner, being very sure that the bristles of the brush have thoroughly cleaned all the small indentations on the perimeter. He then rinses the soap. Taking the second brush, and still holding the can in the center, he again creates a good lather and scrubs the top of the can, the perimeter along the top, and the cylindrical sides to a point two inches below the top. He should continue this scrubbing until he literally removes the tin protection from the can itself.
Every other step is comparably detailed. From step 5: “While transferring the fruit from the can to the sterile plate, be sure that no part of the body, including the hands, be directly over the can or the plate at any time. If possible, keep the head, upper part of the body, arms, etc. at least one foot away.” The memo finishes: “This operation must be carried out in every infinitesimal detail, and I would deeply appreciate it if the man would follow each phase very slowly and thoughtfully, giving his full attention to the importance of the work at hand.”Hughes’ germ obsessions, paradoxically, drove him to hoarding whatever might cause contamination. His urine and feces was stored in large jars. He lived out his years in a tortured, solitary manner, his OCD relieved only by fixes of narcotic drugs.The case of Howard Hughes is, indeed, very strange. Not only were his compulsions extraordinary, but it is almost unheard of for a person to develop such a severe case after age fifty. The objective observer must wonder whether Hughes’ caretakers were purposefully keeping him disabled in order to take advantage of his wealth. His ability to cope with obsessions was certainly compromised when they helped him become addicted to narcotics. His OCD, it would appear, was also markedly worsened when they carried out what was in essence an “anti-behavior therapy” program, fully assisting in all of his wild rituals. Most tellingly, these assistants never tried to get Hughes any treatment. A physician remarked after his death: “He would have gotten better care if he were a penniless wino who collapsed on skid row. At least some passer-by would have called the paramedics.”*12/338/2*

TESTS TO DIAGNOSE AND MONITOR CHRONIC HEPATITIS С (HCV) INFECTION Serologic AssaysThe detection of HCV antibodies is useful for screening at-risk populations and is recommended as the initial test for the identification of HCV in patients with clinical liver disease. Once individuals seroconvert, they usually remain positive for HCV antibody. Thus, the presence of HCV antibody may reflect remote or current infection.The primary serologic test used for the detection of HCV antibody is an enzyme immunoassay, which is relatively inexpensive, is reproducible, and carries a high sensitivity (99%) and specificity (99%). It can detect antibodies 4 to 10 weeks after infection. A negative enzyme immunoassay finding is sufficient to exclude the diagnosis of HCV infection in immunocompetent patients. However, the test can be falsely negative in those with immunodeficiencies or end-stage renal disease. A recombinant immunoblot assay is another serologic test for HCV, and this detects the antibody response to individual HCV proteins.
RNA AssaysAssays based on the molecular detection of HCV using polymerase chain reaction techniques can be qualitative or quantitative. A qualitative HCV RNA test should be used to confirm viremia in a patient with a positive enzyme immunoassay finding. This test can also confirm infection in patients with negative results on enzyme immunoassay in whom infection is still suspected. A single negative result does not necessarily exclude viremia, since viral levels may transiently drop below the limit of detection of the assay. Repeat testing should be performed to confirm the absence of active HCV replication if these instances.Quantitative assessment of the HCV viral load can help predict the likelihood of response to treatment (patients with HCV RNA levels exceeding 2 million copies/mL respond less well) and is useful in monitoring HCV therapy. However, these tests provide no information about disease severity or progression. Therefore, serial monitoring of viral loads in untreated patients is unnecessary.*82/348/5*

BARBER’S ITCHInfection of the skin of the face following irritation of an ingrown hair or the use of an infected razor, shaving brush or towels, by a common pus-forming germ called a staphylococcus. Some such infections are also related to ringworm contamination. Occasionally the trouble begins on the back of the neck, due to rubbing by a rough collar. Such infections are associated with bleeding and crusting. The condition is curable by the application of proper remedies, but control of such remedies- which are potent – must be left to the physician. Many states have laws regulating the sanitation of barber shops and the sterilization of implements following their use on each customer. The antibiotic drugs have proved most efficient in relieving barber’s itch but there is always the danger of sensitization to the antibiotic through its effect on the skin. The technical name for barber’s itch is sycosis which is not related to nor to be confused with the term psychosis, referring to a mental disturbance.*27/318/5*