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ENJOYING A HEART-HEALTHY DIET: THE DIETARY FOUNDATION

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:18:13 +0000

The same dietary modifications that you’ll need for controlling your cholesterol will pay off in additional dividends. Without even thinking about kilojoules, cutting back on fat will help you lose those kilos you’ve been meaning to shed. If you’re diabetic, you’ll find it a lot easier to keep your glucose levels controlled. In the long term, a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet can also provide protection against cancer.

The best news is that the dietary changes necessary for good health don’t mean deprivation. You’ll find yourself eating as much as you want, never feeling hungry, and indulging in tasty treats that you’ll find mouth-wateringly delicious.

Hearing numbers regarding your foods can be bewildering. What does it mean to eat 30 per cent or 20 per cent or 10 per cent of your kilojoules as fat? Some nutritionists and certain publications have tried to illustrate such numbers in terms of teaspoons of fat. But have you ever seen fat listed in teaspoons on a package of food? There’s an easier, far more practical way to deal with all this.

First let’s assume that like most Westerners you now consume about 40 per cent of your kilojoules as fat. That means that an awful lot of your food has a significant amount of fat in it. Compare that with populations in the world who eat much less fat, about 15 per cent, and have virtually no heart disease. The Heart Foundation of Australia has long recommended a 30-per cent-fat diet, but while that may be fine for others, it’s just not effective for those of us who already have heart disease. On the other hand, a diet calling for only 10 per cent fat will be unacceptable for most people to follow for any length of time. While that may be very effective, it’s just not very practical.

I propose a 20 per cent fat diet. This comes close to the levels of fat intake in countries which are nearly free of heart disease. It allows a delicious choice of foods which can be enjoyed not only at home but while dining out in restaurants and at the homes of friends and relatives.

But, again, you won’t see percentages of fat listed on food packages or in magazine recipes. What you will see listed is the amount of fat measured in grams. That’s something we can all get a practical handle on for our own purposes.

Bear with me for the next few paragraphs and you’ll have your personally tailored prescription for gram intake to achieve a 20 per cent fat diet. We’ll start with the kilojoules you need daily.

The average, moderately active man needs about 145 kilojoules to maintain each kilogram of body weight. A very active man may need more kilojoules to maintain his weight. Less active men, and most women, will require fewer kilojoules. A middle-aged, moderately active woman, or a less active man, may need only 110 to 120 kilojoules to keep weight at the current level. Thus to determine your daily kilojoule needs, multiply either 145 or a greater or lesser number by your ideal weight. Notice that I say ideal weight. We’ll discuss that in a moment.

Let’s take an average man who weighs 68 kilos and is moderately active. He walks regularly, plays an occasional round of golf, and engages in leisure activities other than just watching television. He needs 145 kilojoules per kilogram to maintain his weight. Here’s his calculation:

68 X 145 = 9860 kilojoules/day

What if you’d like to weigh 68 kilos, but right now you tip the scales at 77 kilos? By consuming 9860 kilojoules daily you, our reference man, will feed only your ideal 68 kilos. Little by little, but in a very satisfying process, those extra kilos will come off. You’ll feed only your ideal weight; those extra kilos will be starved away.

Now that we know that our male example needs 9860 kilojoules daily, let’s assume that he’s going to get heart-healthy and consume 20 pet cent of those kilojoules as fat. The calculation is simply to multiply the daily kilojoules by 20 per cent.

9860 X .20 = 1972 kilojoules consumed as fat

While carbohydrates and protein supply only 17 kilojoules per gram, fat provides a full 38 kilojoules. Thus to translate those abstract kilojoules into practical grams, we do the next calculation of dividing our kilojoules consumed as fat by 38, the number of kilojoules in each gram.

1972 ^ 38 = 52 grams

There we have it. Out reference male example will want to consume no more than 52 grams of fat daily. That’s something he (and you and 1) can easily keep track of regularly.

Of that total amount of fat, no more than one-third should be saturated. The balance should come from polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats. More about that in the coming paragraphs.

Of course, you’re not yet familiar with the number of grams of fat in foods. Begin by reading the labels on packages. Look at the labels on milk cartons, bread packages, TV dinners and almost every food that’s processed by a manufacturer. Next, familiarise yourself with the number of grams of fat found in commonly eaten foods including meats, fish, cheese and the like which are not processed when you buy them in the supermarket. Take a look at Table 6 (page 320) for a brief overview. For a listing of the fat, cholesterol, kilojoule, sodium, fibre, iron and calcium contents of foods, refer to the book Calorie Counter by Allan Borushek; it’s available in most bookstores or pharmacies.

When I first began to control my own cholesterol by keeping tabs on fat grams, I knew no more about those numbers than you do now. Within a remarkably short period of time, however, this all becomes second nature. You may not know that cheddar cheese packs about 10 grams of fat per 30 grams versus the 7 grams for mozzarella or Edam, but you’ll have a general idea that cheese has a lot of fat and that eating just 30 grams will account for a significant percentage of your daily fat-gram allowance. Pretty soon you’ll be selecting foods throughout the day and zeroing right in on your fat target without even consulting a chart or table. Millions have done it. Trust me.

But not all fat is the same. The difference is in the degree of saturation of the fat molecule. The more hydrogen atoms are attached to the fat molecule, the more saturated it is said to be. The more saturated a fat is, the more it tends to clog arteries. The saturated fats are solid or semi-solid at room temperature. The reason butter is harder to spread than margarine straight out of the refrigerator is that butter has more saturated fat.

Unsaturated fats fall into two categories: polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. The distinction comes, again, from the number of hydrogen atoms involved, or, conversely, how many spaces on the fat molecule are not occupied by a hydrogen atom. At first one might think, therefore, that polyunsaturated fats would be a far better choice than monounsaturated fats, since the former have more spaces unfilled by hydrogen atoms. For years, that was the consensus in the scientific and medical communities.

But there was one flaw in that reasoning. Many populations in the world consume a vast amount of monounsaturated fat in the form of olive oil, yet have very low rates of heart disease. To briefly summarise the many research projects that followed, we now know that monounsaturated fats can lower cholesterol levels as effectively as polyunsaturated fats when used to replace saturated fats in the diet. In fact, the monounsaturated fats may have a slight edge in view of the indication that they tend to reduce the bad LDL cholesterol selectively, leaving the good HDL untouched. Polyunsaturated fats tend to lower all types of cholesterol.

We’ll discuss specific fats and oils in the section of this chapter that deals with shopping and selecting foods. Needless to say, you’ll want to choose those with less saturated fats. But all foods contain a profile of saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. That’s true across the board, for butter as well as for oil. See Table 7 (page 329) for a comparison of fats and oils.

As much as we’ve heard about dietary cholesterol, and food manufacturers have rushed to satisfy consumer’s demands by advertising “Cholesterol-free” this and “No-cholesterol” that, it turns out that saturated fat raises cholesterol levels in the blood more than dietary cholesterol itself. Indeed, much of the advertising is sheer nonsense, since cholesterol comes only from animal foods, never from plant foods. Thus all olive oil and all peanut butter is cholesterol free.

Actually, by leaning towards foods of plant rather than animal origin, one can cut way back on saturated fats and can eliminate cholesterol entirely. There are only a few exceptions. Avocados, olives and nuts are high in fat and must be consumed in moderation. Again, don’t eliminate, but moderate. See Table 6 for specifics. And the so-called tropical oils—coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil—are high in saturated fats. Fortunately, as a result of consumer demands, manufacturers are removing the offending oils from their foods.

Unfortunately, they’re replacing the tropical oils with hydrogenated oils. This has led to something of a controversy. By adding hydrogen atoms to corn oil, soybean oil and so forth, manufacturers prolong the shelf life and consumer acceptance of their food products. But this makes those oils mote saturated, and thus more likely to raise cholesterol levels in the blood and to clog arteries. While the hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated soybean oil in a food is a far cry better than the tropical oil or the lard it replaced, it’s not as good as the pure soybean oil would be.

Some researchers aren’t as concerned about this, however, pointing out that one must be more careful in observing what really happens to those fats during the hydrogenation process. First, some of the polyunsaturated fats may be converted to monounsaturated fats; as we’ve already seen, that’s not at all bad. Second, not all saturated fats are as artery-clogging as others. The one most commonly formed saturated fat during hydrogenation, stearic acid, apparently has little or no effect on raising cholesterol levels in the blood and, it would be expected, has less tendency to block arteries.

But another wrinkle has entered the hydrogenation dilemma. Some researchers are now concerned that such molecular manipulation changed the naturally occurring cis configuration of the molecule to the abnormal trans configuration. Apparently the trans fats are more artery-clogging than the cis types. You can expect to see and hear more about this in the coming months and years, as more research is done. In the meantime, bear in mind that the amount of trans fats fed in experimental diets being quoted is far higher than almost anyone could possibly expect to eat, even on a very high-fat diet.

The bottom line is to keep all fat intake as low as practical and possible. That’s especially true for saturated fats.

But what about cholesterol? A maximum of 300 milligrams should be consumed daily, no more than 100 milligrams per 4200 kilojoules eaten. But even that’s not good enough for someone who needs to lower his or her elevated cholesterol, especially those individuals who have established heart disease. For those of us in that situation, the ceiling should be 100 milligrams daily, certainly no more than 150 milligrams.

Actually that’s not so hard to do. When you get rid of the saturated fat in animal foods, you automatically get rid of the cholesterol. By switching from whole milk to skim milk you go from more than 10 grams of fat to a mere fraction of a gram. At the same time, you drop from 30 milligrams of cholesterol to only a fraction in a 250 ml glass. Choose a cheese substitute over the regular cheddar, and the cholesterol is completely gone.

Take another look at Table 6 and notice the amount of cholesterol in the foods you’re likely to eat. It’s not all that difficult to limit yourself to 100 to 150 milligrams of cholesterol daily.

You’ll be happy to learn that previous listings of cholesterol in shellfish were inaccurate. Clams, oysters, mussels and scallops are actually very low in both fat and cholesterol. Crab and lobster are extremely low in fat, and have a fairly reasonable amount of cholesterol. Only shrimp (prawns) are relatively high; but they’re virtually devoid of fat. Eating 115 grams of shrimp (obviously not deep-fried) will not exceed your cholesterol limit for the day.

The cholesterol-laden foods to avoid or completely eliminate are egg yolks and organ meats. Fortunately there are a number of very acceptable egg substitutes on the market. Remember, too, that egg whites have absolutely no cholesterol and virtually no fat. And very few of us will bemoan the loss of liver and kidneys and brains from the diet!

While discussing cholesterol, it might be worth noting that even though dietary cholesterol does not elevate cholesterol levels in the blood as much as saturated fat does, it might have problems of its own. Dr Jeremiah Stamler of Northwestern University in Chicago has found that cholesterol has an artery-clogging tendency above and beyond raising levels in the blood. He currently believes that cholesterol intake constitutes a separate and independent risk of atherosclerosis. For those of us whose arteries are already blocked, that’s a real consideration, and another reason to stick with the 100- to 150-milligram daily limit.

Since cholesterol is found only in animal foods, when we reduce the saturated fat by cutting back on those foods, we also limit our cholesterol intake. The foods that are particularly high in cholesterol, though relatively low in saturated fat, are egg yolks, shrimp, squid, crayfish and organ meats.

I can just picture the look of doom and gloom on your face by this point. “Damn it, I won’t be able to eat the kinds of foods that I love. Who wants to live like that?” I wish that you could see the way my family and I eat! That would completely change your attitude, and fast. We love meatloaf and mashed potatoes, pizzas, hamburgers, omelettes and all sorts of things that are probably your favourites as well. But we take advantage of the tricks I’ve learned over the past few years, along with the new foods that have hit the market recently. Believe me, my way of eating represents zero deprivation.

After writing The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure, I received hundreds of letters. Many admitted that they were amazed that they could reduce their cholesterol levels so effectively without feeling at all deprived. You can do it also. Maybe you’ll even write me a letter yourself. Send it to me at PO Box 2039, Venice, CA, United States 90294.

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Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol

ENJOYING A HEART-HEALTHY DIET: TESTING FOR CHOLESTEROL

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:17:34 +0000

It’s important to realise that your cholesterol level can vary considerably from day to day and month to month, even if you don’t change a thing in your diet. Unlike an absolute number such as your body temperature at exactly 98.6°F/36.7°C (unless you have a fever), cholesterol levels represent a range from the low end to the high end. Daily variability may range a full five per cent in either direction.

Thus if your cholesterol reading comes in at 5.2, it might mean that it could be 5.4 or 4.9 tomorrow. Or, of course, that number could represent the high or low end of your particular range.

Moreover, a number of things can influence your count. Stress plays an important role. Accountants demonstrate a higher cholesterol level prior to the tax deadline; it drops back down once the deadline passes. Medical students have shown a cholesterol increase just before major examinations. Even world-class athletes concerned about an upcoming event will experience a rise in cholesterol levels.

An illness can cause fluctuation, so it’s best not to have a test done when you’re suffering from the flu. Women will show a variation during their menstrual period. Your level will be higher in the winter than during summer months.

But don’t throw your hands up in despair. All this means that you shouldn’t trust a single number. That’s especially true for those who’ve just had a heart attack or bypass surgery, both of which can result in an abnormally low count. To have an accurate assessment of your cholesterol level, you should consider the average of at least three separate tests. If your cholesterol test comes in at well over 6.5 each of those times, it’s quite certain that you have a problem to contend with.

There’s been a bit of media publicity regarding testing accuracy. So how can you be sure of your own measurements? The most accurate cholesterol tests are performed in hospital laboratories, where the equipment is regularly serviced and calibrated for both accuracy and precision. Fingerprick tests such as you might see at a shopping mall or supermarket are fine as a way to monitor your levels, but you must realise that they will probably not be as accurate as those processed at a fully equipped laboratory. On the other hand, if the equipment is properly maintained and the personnel are well trained, one can expect a quite accurate measurement from a fingerprick test.

Regardless of the site or method of your test, you can take certain steps to ensure accuracy. If your doctor orders a laboratory test, he’ll probably want a full lipid profile; that is, a complete breakdown of total cholesterol, HDL and LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. Fasting 12 to 14 hours prior to the test ensures an accurate measure of the triglycerides, and that number is used to calculate the level of LDL in your blood. Fasting is not required if only the total and/or HDL cholesterol will be measured.

Foods eaten the day before a cholesterol test will have little effect on the results, as long as the 12- to 14-hour fast is observed. The effect of a high-fat, high-cholesterol meal takes two to three days to show up in the cholesterol count.

If you have a fingerprick test, rest seated for about five minutes prior to blood drawing. Make sure your hands are warm so that the technician will not have to “milk” a drop of blood from your finger. Such milking results in inaccurately low tests. If cold hands are the result of inclement weather, keep your hands in your pockets during your five-minute rest. If they are cold as the result of stress, take those five minutes to do some deep breathing or biofeedback.

How do your cholesterol levels match up with others in the population? Compare yours with the tabulations in Tables 5A-5F (pages 316-18).

Women should note that their HDL levels typically are much higher than those for men. While a high total cholesterol count may be an initial cause for alarm, it may be balanced out by a very high HDL level. It is an unfortunate reality that many women today are being treated aggressively, perhaps even with drugs, for elevated cholesterol measurements when those elevations may be largely due to high levels of the protective HDLs.

Why might your cholesterol level be high? While we’ve heard so much about diet during the past few years, your eating habits may not be the only reason for cholesterol elevations.

Indeed, a significant part of the problem was inherited from your parents and grandparents. Some people are simply more genetically programmed to produce large amounts of cholesterol in their livers. Eating a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet just makes matters worse.

Other medical conditions also play significant roles. Hypothyroidism can result in cholesterol elevations. So can diabetes and menopause. Moreover, certain medications, such as antihypertensive drugs, can raise cholesterol levels. Your doctor will want to take all of these into consideration in diagnosing your own condition. But to effectively control your cholesterol, you have to play the principal role.

*108\85\2*

Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol

THE SICK BABY AND CHILD: APPARENT LIFE THREATENING EPISODES (ALTE)

admin — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:09:15 +0000

A number of babies have these episodes, which in the past have sometimes been called ‘near miss SIDS’. The baby is found limp, sometimes blue, sometimes unconscious or unresponsive and not breathing. Varying degrees of stimulation seem necessary to revive him, ranging from noise or gentle movement of a limb to full blown resuscitation including mouth to mouth. This is obviously a very frightening event for parents, and these babies are usually admitted to hospital for close monitoring and investigation.

The causes of these episodes are varied and include: convulsions (fits); choking episodes, sometimes due to gastro-oesophageal reflux (food coming up from the stomach and going down the wrong way); cardiac arrhythmias, where the heart loses its rhythm; apnoeic episodes where the baby ‘forgets’ to breathe, which is usually due to an immature central nervous system. Most often, no cause at all is found.

The relationship between ALTE’s and later SIDS is uncertain. If a cause is found for the episode, this is treated. If no cause is found, the parents are assured that it is unlikely to happen again. Sometimes an apnoea alarm is used for a time in case the baby stops breathing again. This is a mat containing wires that sense the movement the baby makes when he breathes. If the movement stops for a predetermined period of time, then an alarm is triggered. However, the use of apnoea alarms is not without its problems. They are not 100% reliable, and great anxiety is engendered in parents, who often say they lie awake at night listening for the alarm to go off.

The whole area of SIDS, ALTE’s and apnoea alarms is complex, and advice about home monitoring and other aspects of prevention of SIDS is best obtained from the local children’s hospital or your doctor.

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PREGNANCY/EVERY DAY LIFE: ANTENATAL CARE AND DIAGNOSIS

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:26:15 +0000

We strongly advise that throughout the course of your pregnancy you have regular antenatal (before birth) check-ups, to monitor that all is going well. These are usually routine and involve physical examination as well as blood and urine tests and ultrasound. The advantage of regular check-ups is that if any problems arise during the pregnancy, they can be diagnosed and treated promptly.

In certain circumstances your doctor may recommend more involved tests, which are used to identify certain congenital or hereditary disorders in the foetus before birth. Before you undergo any of these tests, we strongly advise you to discuss the details with your doctor. You and your partner may experience a lot of stress making decisions about having tests, waiting for their results, and then being confronted with what to do if they reveal an abnormality. Talk about it beforehand, and make sure you both understand the full implications of these tests.

*44\90\8*

YOUR MARITAL HEALTH/SEX AND PROBLEMS OF DAILY LIVING: INSTITUTIONAL INSANITY: THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF SEX

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:56:12 +0000

Well, as far as I’m concerned, we will never have sex again. You know why? Because we aren’t. I mean, we don’t exist. There’s no us. The insurance company says so. I wrote to them and they said we never were insured with them. I guess I have been sending bills to outer space for these last eight years, then. They are slowly driving me insane, but I could never get into a mental hospital. I either don’t exist or I don’t have insurance to cover it. One or the other.

INVISIBLE HUSBAND

Most institutions seem to be able to accomplish only with gross inefficency some of what they are designed to accomplish and with remarkable efficiency the exact opposite of what they are supposed to accomplish. Schools cause what some researches refer to as’ ‘pe-dogenic illness,” actual mental or physical health problems related to just being in school. Hospitals cause what are referred to as “iatrogenic” health problems, negative effects on health due to being in the hospital. Telephone companies struggle with “disconnections” even though they are supposed to help us connect, reach out and touch somebody. Car companies produce “lemons,” banks issue “false statements,” and most recently our national government reportedly has been dealing in what some politicians call “disinformation,” even though our entire democratic system is based on information.

The only strategy currently available to couples to cope with institutions is to reduce the number of them we deal with and to learn to play by the rules of the ones we must deal with. It may not sound at first as if keeping careful, accurate records has much to do with sex, but only by organizing your own files regarding the complexities of daily living will you be able to free yourself from distractions that can lessen sexual activity and enjoyment.

In the counseling program, couples were taught to do a monthly joint review. The stress of year-end or tax-time record organizations can overpower any sexual interest. The small-step approach helped the couples feel a sense of control over the endless record-keeping and required institutional-response requirements, and such control removed some of the pressure and distractability from their intimate relationship. One afternoon each month, both spouses readied themselves for the frustration of re-creating the past four weeks of activity. Sharing the responsibility reduced blame and guilt, and

the monthly adjustments eliminated year-end panic that resulted in family arguments, accusations, and feelings of carrying too much of the burden.

The couples also were taught to share all record-keeping responsibilities. At first, this task was awkward and led to arguments about whose style of organization was best. With practice and patience, the mutual approach took pressure off the marriage. It also lessened the fear of having to deal with such issues alone for the first time should something happen to the partner.

Unless you attend to and plan together for the never-ending institutional requirements of daily life, they will rob your marriage of the opportunity to relax and enjoy itself. A small-step, shared approach worked well for the thousand couples.

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SURGERY AIMED AT PREVENTING OR RELIEVING SYMPTOMS – LIFE THREATENING

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:02:32 +0000

Secondly, some of these situations are life threatening, for example, the bowel obstruction. In these situations the operation achieves two things—as well as temporarily getting rid of some symptoms it may also temporarily prolong your life. This is not necessarily a good thing, given that the operation does nothing to change the extent of your disease. Unless you are having treatment which could cure you, you will still die of cancer sooner or later anyway. It is possible that to die sooner of a bowel obstruction could be better than to do so later of some other complication of cancer.

If your situation is not life threatening, for example, a broken bone or a spinal cord under pressure, your decision is relatively straightforward. You basically need to find out simply what difference the operation is likely to make to the quality of your life. What chance is there that pain will be relieved? What chance is there that you will be able to walk after the operation? How soon after? How long would you be in hospital? What is your chance of surviving the operation? What will happen if you don’t have the operation? Is there any other way of relieving the symptoms?

*250/40/1*

HYPERTENSION – GENERAL INFORMATION

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:19:25 +0000

A stethoscope is placed over the artery at the elbow. As the pressure in the cuff is reduced, it will fall below that in the artery and a sound as the blood pulses through is heard through the stethoscope.

This records the systolic pressure. The same measurement can be taken by feeling the pulse at the wrist.

The recording of the diastolic pressure is still subject to disagreement. Some doctors record it when the sound in the artery is no longer heard; others record it when there is a change in the character of the sound as it becomes muffled before finally disappearing.

The recording machine may either have mercury in a tube or be of the aneroid type using a spring as in the aneroid barometer.

Machines are now available which record the sounds electronically. Recently, these and ordinary sphygmomanometers have been advertised and sold directly to the public.

I must say I do not approve of this. Not because I wish to preserve some mystique of the doctor, but because I believe that one needs special training to be able to interpret the results.

*438/71/1*

ALCOHOL – GENES

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:34:42 +0000

So what do we do? Throw up our hands and say it is designed by fate?

No. Not every man, whose father gave him a certain set of genes, will develop alcoholism and neither does every child who inherits an allergic tendency develop asthma.

Some alcoholics drink that way right from the beginning and get into trouble at an early age. Others seem to slowly develop their problem over many years.

What every problem drinker has in common is that he drinks too much. There is evidence to show that the more freely alcohol is available the more people drink. The more people drink, the greater the number who get into trouble.

It is, therefore, the opinion of experts who study alcoholism that we should be thinking of making alcohol harder to get.

This doesn’t affect the alcoholic, because he will get it just the same but, for the average person and for the potential alcoholic if it is not available, they tolerate the lack.

All the world’s experts agree that the maximum amount of alcohol which anyone can drink without detriment in a 24-hour period is less than eight to 10 standard drinks.

Moderation has a lot going for it.

*184/71/1*

ENDOMETRIOSIS: EXPOSING THE HIDDEN DISEASE

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:46:27 +0000

Endometriosis has been studied by scientists over the years, all of them seeking an absolute answer to the question every sufferer of the disease asks her doctor: Why me? One theory, proposed by a Dr. Sampson in the 1920s, is still widely accepted by the medical community; it is discussed fully in the upcoming chapter. Sampson’s theory provides an explanation as to how the endometrial implants find their way into the abdominal cavity, but not why the implants stick to organs and grow.

This is the crucial question: Why do implants “take” with some women and not with others? Such is the continuing mystery of endometriosis.

Four basic causes:

• Hereditary factors. You will be more likely to get endometriosis if close female relatives have had the condition, too.

• Immune system stress. Endometrial implants may be more likely to proliferate when this infection-fighting system is weakened.

• Hormone levels. Higher estrogen and prostaglandin levels are associated with more cases of endometriosis and pain from the disease.

• The embryonic theory. One supposition is that you are born with the condition in a dormant state. If the internal environment is right, endometriosis will “take” and grow.

No one knows precisely what combination of factors in what degree will create endometriosis, but I strongly believe that heredity and immune system stress are two major influences. One we cannot change, but the other—immune system stress—can be altered.

*8\43\4*

PSYCHE AND THE SKIN TREATMENT: DRUGS

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:16:01 +0000

The only accurate record of the amount spent on drugs to induce relaxation is kept by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Research Department. During the financial year 1978-79 Australians spent 17-75 million dollars on tranquillizers, sedatives, and hypnotics. The cost to the Government in rebates was 19-7 million dollars.

Unfortunately patients and many doctors have come to regard mood-altering drugs as a panacea for all kinds of social, physical and emotional ills. Interestingly enough, many people who would not think of taking alcohol do not seem to mind taking the various psychotrophic drugs available. Nevertheless, the most widely-used drug of all in our society is alcohol. It brings pleasure and relaxation when used carefully, yet misery and destruction when yielded to.

We believe that there is a place for placebos—pills that contain no medication but that nevertheless work because the patient believes they will work. In fact, many ‘genuine’ drugs an? capable of curing people in part because of what is called a placebo effect. Bogus pills, or clinically inappropriate ones, are just the beginning of placebo medicine. Any treatment which has no definable curative powers but which nevertheless improves the patient’s health, qualifies as such. This goes for the miracles at Lourdes, and other examples of faith healing. The best placebo of all, in a way, may well be a good doctor-patient relationship.

*34\44\4*