Health related information and news from around the world.

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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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.

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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.

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The major organs of the urinary system are the kidneys and the bladder, attached to each other and the outside of the body by tubes. Strictly speaking, however, the process of urination, the removal of wastes from the body, begins at cellular level. As all cells function, converting food into energy and repairing body tissue, they produce wastes which must be flushed out of the body. These wastes are secreted into the blood stream and carried to the kidneys where they are separated from the blood once more, ready for excretion. The two kidneys, situated in the lower part of the back, and protected by a layer of fat, contain hundred of kilometres of minute tubes called nephrons. Visible only under a microscope, the nephrons each contain a network of tiny capillaries where the exchange of fluid from the blood to the urinary system takes place. As the blood flows into the kidneys through the renal artery and through the capillaries in the nephrons, the fluid is temporarily separated from the solid blood components such as red and white blood cells. The blood cells remain inside the capillary walls. Once the fluid has passed down the stem of the nephron, most of it, containing the body’s requirements of water, amino acids, glucose, minerals and proteins is returned to the circulating blood. The remaining substances like excess water, salt, urea and uric acid are excreted from the kidneys as urine. The urine travels from each kidney down tubes called the ureters to the bladder. Just as it feels when full, the bladder is a bag-like organ which expands to collect and store the urine trickling down from the kidneys. When about 200-300mls of urine has collected in the bladder, pressure receptors in the bladder wall send messages to the brain, conveying the desire to urinate. In a toilet trained human, the brain can control the relaxing of the sphincter, the muscle which holds the bladder shut. When the sphincter is relaxed, a series of muscle contractions in the diaphragm and abdomen help the bladder empty itself. The urine passes out of the body via another tube called the urethra.

It’s easy to see, therefore, how common infections of the urethra and bladder, known respectively as urethritis and cystitis, can easily spread via the ureters into the kidneys. Known as pyelonephritis, this bacterial kidney infection causes pain in the lower back and sides and fever, as well as the symptoms of cystitis: a raging thirst, the frequent need to urinate and burning pain during urination. Tests of the urine may show up blood cells and pus.

Quite different, rarer and much more serious, is the kidney disease known as nephritis. This occurs when the antibodies in the bloodstream attack the tissue of the kidneys. Symptoms include limited amounts of red, brown or cloudy-brown urine, water retention, headache, backache and high blood pressure. If not seen to by a qualified medical practitioner immediately, nephritis can lead to kidney failure.

Kidney stones result when urine is too highly concentrated. Uric acid or calcium suddenly falls out of solution and crystallises into small stones in either the kidneys or the ureters. Short, sharp pains in the back and abdomen result. The patient should cut down on their intake of calcium and those in hard water areas may even need to drink filtered water to lower the mineral levels in their blood. A naturopath will probably prescribe tonics containing gentle diuretic herbs like dandelion and bearberry (uva ursi).

For general good kidney health make sure you drink plenty of fresh water daily. Dehydration in hot weather concentrates the urine and makes the development of stones and infections much more likely. Empty your bladder regularly and cut down tea, coffee and alchol.

Difficulty or strain when urinating can occur in men when the prostate is enlarged.

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