Lifestyle Choices

All cancer is genetic. That is to say, that in order for a normal cell to convert to a cancerous cell, a genetic mishap must occur. These genetic mishaps, or mutations, occur quite frequently and are usually of little consequence unless the event occurs at a critical location on one of the chromosomes. A single mutation does not lead to a cancer. Cancer results from two to three separate events over time. (more…)

However, if your cancer treatment is completed and you feel an unexplainable anxiety even though your trials are apparently over, read on.

These feelings are common and occur, in part, because the end has come to the frequent visits with your various doctors, which can serve to comfort—giving you the tangible evidence that someone is watching over you and your health. But, aside from that, you may be struggling with the fear of recurrence that many women experience at this time. Remember, during the treatment planning process, you want to develop a plan to optimize your chance of cure and to carry out that plan. When done, it is time for you to go on with your life. (more…)

How to work between the webbing of fingers

The webbing between fingers has many important reflexes, several of which are “assistants” to other reflex areas, such as the neck, sinuses, eyes, ears, and all sensory organs. You will work these reflex areas by placing the first finger and thumb of the opposite hand over and under the webbing. With a pinching, rolling technique, gently work the reflex points next to the small muscles, and up against the bones underneath the skin. Work between all fingers. You will be surprised at the tender spots you find here. (more…)

I have only roundabout evidence regarding HRT in breast cancer survivors. For example, we know that younger women who have had breast cancer and then go on to become pregnant, with the associated high levels of estrogen and progesterone, do not have a worse prognosis or earlier relapse of breast cancer than women who do not experience a pregnancy. If estrogen can theoretically stimulate breast cancer growth, why do I see breast cancer appear in older postmenopausal women who are not on HRT? This is a fairly frequent occurrence, and most of these cancers are hormone receptor positive, yet they are growing in an estrogen-poor environment. This seems to counter what we know about the environment that is conducive to breast cancer, but this is just another reminder of how much we do not understand about this disease. (more…)

The following is a list of lifestyle adjustments that could improve the quality and length of your life:

• Go for a regular medical check-up.
• Keep a record of your and your family’s medical history.
• Avoid pollution as far as possible.
• Try to live in a crime-free area.
• Have your home and workplace tested for radon.
• Live within 50 km of a hospital or emergency unit. (more…)

Consultation Room Etiquette

Need for Privacy

If the patient seems hesitant about speaking to the psychiatrist, it could be that there are things he wishes to discuss in private. If you sense this could be the case, excuse yourself from the consultation room. Your presence may hinder disclosure of sensitive information. It goes without saying that after the consultation, you should not check with the professional what had been discussed in your absence. Most, if not all, caregivers I have dealt with do not have such a problem. (more…)

Arrange for Early Psychiatric Appointment

The most important thing you can do for the depressed person is to help him get a psychiatric referral. This could be self initiated or made by a doctor at a polyclinic or by the general practitioner. Early treatment leads to early recovery from the illness.

Patients may feel apprehensive about contacting the clinic. If so, you may wish to assist in making an appointment and accompanying the depressed person to the doctor. (more…)

You Are Not Alone

Many teens suffer from depression, therefore you are not alone. There are effective treatments and hence no depression is a hopeless case. You need to be patient with yourself. It takes time for the mind to heal just as it takes time for the body to heal. Wishing that the depression will disappear is not going to work. It will not go away immediately but it will, eventually. Continuing with treatment and therapy will ensure that that day will come even sooner. In the meantime, try to relax yourself, sort out your feelings and thoughts, and allow your mind and emotions to recover. (more…)

If feelings become so painful and overwhelming that you feel like harming yourself or others, you need to get help right away. Speak to a parent, an adult or a doctor. Ring the

SOS or teenage helpline for crisis counselling. In the meantime, the following suggestions can offer some solace until you find someone you can talk to:

Many teens who have attempted suicide (and survived) say that they did it because they had mistakenly felt that there was no other solution to the problem they were experiencing. At the time, they could not see another way out — but in truth, there is always a way out, even if they could not see it there and then. No matter how horrible you are feeling now, these emotions can, and will, pass. (more…)

There are many self-help activities that can help elevate the mood of seniors:

• Mild exercise — going for a walk is a pleasant way to pass time and keep the blood circulating and the joints supple.
• Music — listen to one’s favourite songs and sing along. Better still, invite friends for a sing-along session. It is more fun when done in the company of others. (more…)

In Type Z diabetes, there is at first no shortage of insulin. In fact, early in the disease, there is more than usual. Yet, despite the insulin making its presence known in the muscle tissue, the muscle remains deaf to insulin’s messages, no matter how many are sent, and does nothing to stimulate the uptake of glucose or the storage of glycogen.

Another hormone which comes from the pancreas, in cells which live very near to those which make insulin, is glucagon. Whereas insulin is the hormone of plenty, glucagon is the hormone of scarcity: so when glucose is taken into the blood from the intestine during digestion of starchy foods, insulin is secreted and glucagon secretion is inhibited. During the night, when there is nothing left in your gut to absorb, glucagon secretion increases and insulin secretion is inhibited. (more…)

When I was a child growing up in Portsmouth, the naval town on the south coast, and we saw someone who was grossly obese, my mother would say pityingly, in a knowing stage whisper, ‘Trouble with their glands, dear.’ In those days Portsmouth was full of sailors of all nationalities and anyone who was very fat was unusual. Now, when I go back to my home town forty years later, the sailors have all gone and people who are very overweight are so common as to be unremarkable. The attitude to these heavyweights has also changed. They are no longer the subject of pity, but of a kind of loathing. Fat today says greedy, slothful and self-indulgent. As I will show you, hormones and obesity and intimately bound together. Trouble with your glands is indeed part of the obesity equation, including a gland that has only in the last decade been discovered to be secreting hormones — fat itself. (more…)

Anything that increases the sticking of cells to the skin or the secretion of sebum can cause acne. The three main influences are hormones, diet (and medications), and the products you use on your skin.

Hormones

These are those magical chemicals that are secreted by your endocrine glands to regulate your metabolism, your sexuality, your growth, your cycles, your mood and your reaction to stress. The hormones that affect your skin come primarily from your sexual organs and from your adrenal glands, the latter of which become more active when you feel either excitement or anxiety. When the adrenals are stimulated they produce more hormones. (more…)

Sexual healing brings changes in how you experience sex that may take some getting used to. Sex isn’t the same for you now as it was before you began healing. While many survivors feel happy about the differences, as with any major change in life, they often experience some disappointments and sadness as well.

Sexual healing can bring with it the loss of some things we enjoyed, even if they were bad for us. If we used to passively withdraw from sex, we may miss how easy it was to avoid sexual situations. It may seem a burden to have to tell a partner directly that we don’t want sex. Similarly, if we used to become overexcited by sex and engaged in it compulsively, we may miss the “high” we used to get. (more…)

This is the most important step of all, for no house can be a real home unless those who live there hold ideals that are kind, noble, and good. Without high ideals it is easy for even the best of homes to drift apart. There must always be some things that will hold the family together, such as family worship, in which all the members may share. These happy occasions are not likely to come by accident but must be carefully planned by the parents. (more…)

A great many of my patients do not really know what stress actually is. They think that it’s an outside force causing them to feel tense. But that’s not stress — that’s a stressor. Stress is a person’s negative reaction to a stressor.

For the most part, people have a negative reaction to stressors when they feel that their stressors are greater than their ability to deal with them. When they feel like this, they see their stressors as threats. On the other hand, if they think they can handle their stressors, they usually see them as challenges and generally enjoy grappling with them.

If you now feel as if your life is full of threats, instead of challenges, you are experiencing stress. If your degree of stress is severe, it’s going to be quite difficult for you to live a balanced, healthy lifestyle free from compulsion, including the compulsion to overeat. (more…)

Stop Killing Yourself, Dad!

Men, let’s stop putting off that all-important medical checkup. Why not make an appointment right now? Better still, let your wife make it for you. She has even more to lose than you have in this. It is time to see your doctor.

Stop driving yourself so hard. You need more rest. Don’t try to whip up those jaded nerves and flagging muscles by using stimulants. These only cover up the problem. They never solve it. Alcohol, especially when taken to excess, is definitely harmful. The man who is wise will leave it alone.

For the same reason it is better not to smoke, particularly if you are looking forward to enjoying a long life free from disease. It is no secret that cancer of the lung is becoming more common every day. Men seem to be particularly susceptible to this disease. Those who get it are almost always heavy smokers. Primary cancer of the lung hardly exists among those who do not smoke. (more…)

Elderly people have trouble sleeping for the same reasons as people from other age groups. But there are additional factors.

• Chronic illnesses. The elderly often suffer from chronic mental and physical illnesses that make it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep. For example: An enlarged prostate is often associated with a frequent need to urinate. Dementia may be associated with confusion and heightened fear after dark (known as sundowning). Painful conditions such as bone fractures due to osteoporosis (especially in women), arthritis and vascular disease can make sleeping difficult. Depression, quite common in the elderly population, often causes insomnia as well.
• Medication. Older people have stronger reactions to medication. Notable effects that these medications such as tranquillizers and hypnotics, have on the elderly include frequent nightmares, insomnia and hypersomnia. (more…)

There are some fascinating differences in the sleep habits of men and women.

• Women sleep four minutes less than men on workdays and fourteen minutes less on days off.’ Women sleep forty to fifty minutes less than men if they cater to the needs of a baby or toddler.
• Scientists have discovered that there are differences in the circadian rhythms of males and females. The fraction of sleep is larger in women. The temperature rhythms are identical in males and females; the sleep-wake rhythms are significantly shorter in females.” “Women have shorter periods of deep (non-REM) sleep than men, making them more vulnerable to ‘tossing and turning’ bed partners and fitful babies.” (more…)

If you have trouble falling asleep, or if you wake up a number of times at night, or if you wake up earlier than you would like, or if you always feel as though you need a nap during the day, or if you fall asleep while watching TV or while waiting for a traffic light to change, you might very well have insomnia. If so, you’re not alone. Fifty per cent of the population have experienced insomnia, the most common sleep disorder.’

Those with insomnia experience an insufficient amount of sleep, or do not feel rested after having slept. This often impairs social and occupational functioning, and can be accompanied by feelings of restlessness, irritability, anxiety, daytime fatigue and tiredness.’ Transient or short-term insomnia lasts no more than a few nights to two or three weeks. It can be caused by any of the following: (more…)