Health related information and news from around the world.

LIVING WITH HIATUS HERNIA

Author: admin

Food, drink and gastric acid are normally prevented from backing up into the esophagus by a ring of muscle that encircles the top of the stomach. This mechanism fails in the condition known as hiatus hernia, resulting in a permanent liability to inflammation of the esophagus by gastric acid, a painful complication known as esophagitis.

Writing in the Lancet (1:158) about his personal experience with hiatus hernia, a physician stresses the need to remain upright after every meal and never to bend over, even momentarily, until the stomach’s contents have moved on into the intestine. One learns by experience when this occurs. Although it is easy to remain upright during the day, it is much more difficult to do so when asleep at night. Never take a sedative in the hope of sleeping through the discomfort that will result from lying down too soon after a late meal. Under these circumstances, the physician has found, it is better to sit up half the night, if necessary, until the meal has settled. Better yet, he suggests, avoid late meals entirely.

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NIGHT SHORTSIGHTEDNESS

Author: admin

Many people who have perfect vision in daylight have difficulty in focusing clearly upon distant objects at night. Known as night myopia, this problem often begins with headaches and fear of driving after dark, the American Family Physician (31#6:105) reports.

The trouble is that vision is usually tested either in daylight or in strong artificial light, conditions under which night myopia cannot ordinarily be detected. Of course, if patients tell the eye doctor that they are having difficulty in seeing after dark, appropriate tests can then be made.

Night myopia must not be confused with night blindness, a temporary disorder of the retina that is due to deficiency of vitamin A. Night myopia is permanent and occurs in those who, even by day, are almost, but not quite, in need of spectacles for distant vision.

For mechanical reasons, when the lighting is poor, the lens has more difficulty than usual in changing its shape to focus upon objects at a distance. This is because the iris widens in the darkness to admit more light into the eye and thereby gets in the way of the moving lens. Night myopia is easily treated with spectacles that need be worn only when one is driving after dark.

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CHOLESTEROL: FISH OIL PRODUCTS VARY

Author: admin

Not all Omega-3 fish oil products are the same, even though the amounts of their cholesterol-lowering components (EPA and DCA) do not vary. Like old-fashioned cod liver oil, these products also contain some vitamin A and vitamin D, and in many cases some vitamin E as well.

If a product’s label states that it contains 2 percent of the RDA (recommended daily allowance) for vitamins A and D, this is acceptable just so long as one is not already obtaining large doses of these vitamins from other sources.

However, many of these products contain quite a lot of vitamin E — as much as 6 percent of the RDA per capsule. This is a cause for concern. By taking 10 capsules of fish oil daily, one would get 60 percent of the RDA for vitamin E. That much vitamin E, added to the amount one gets from other sources, could easily be excessive and give rise to internal hemorrhaging. As we stated above, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), the major cholesterol-lowering ingredient of fish oil, already has a blood-thinning effect that could make internal bleeding in response to trauma more likely. By adding vitamin E’s effectto this, we increase the risk of bleeding.

Some fish oil products, such as Maxepa, Proto-Chol and Promega, however, are free of vitamin E and seem to be more refined; their higher price can therefore be justified.

To be on the safe side, furthermore, it is advisable to limit one’s intake of fish oil capsules to no more than 10 a day. This much EPA, Drug Therapy (11′#2:53) reports, does not prolong the bleeding time (a test that measures the likelihood of internal hemorrhage). However, twice that number of fish oil capsules (20) every day does prolong the bleeding time beyond normal. We should take this matter very seriously because the Eskimos, whose diet contains large amounts of EPA, are protected from the dangers of cholesterol (such as heart attack), but die most often from bleeding within the brain (cerebral hemorrhage). Be careful, therefore, to buy only those fish oil capsules that are free of vitamin E and take no more of them than 10 each day.

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BLOOD PRESSURE-MEASURING: FALSE BLOOD PRESSURE READINGS

Author: admin

Many elderly people thought to have high blood pressure (BP) may instead have false hypertension, or pseudohy-pertension, the American Family Physician (32#2:242) reports. There are a number of reasons why this could be the case.

One reason that BP readings may be falsely elevated is that the patient has hardening of the arteries. One can find out whether the arteries are hard by feeling the pulse at the wrist while a BP cuff is pumped up on the same arm. If, when the cuff pressure has been raised high enough to obliterate the pulse, the tube-like form of the artery at the wrist can still be felt, this means that it has not collapsed below the inflated cuff and must therefore be abnormally hard. The true BP in such cases can be determined only by inserting a tube directly into the artery through a needle.

Secondly, BP readings may be increased by as much as 10 percent if, while taking them with a stethoscope, one presses the instrument too hard on the arm, the Western Journal of Medicine (141:193) reports. To get a true reading it is best to apply the stethoscope with merely a slight pressure. Although increasing the pressure does not alter the systolic BP reading (the upper of the two numbers), the diastolic reading (the lower of the two numbers) can be significantly raised, and it is usually the important one in gauging the effects of anti-hypertension treatment.

Thirdly, blood pressure readings taken with a cuff that is too small for the arm may be as much as 10 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) too high. This could easily result in a large-armed person taking medicine unnecessarily. According to correspondence in the New England Journal of Medicine (306:108), false high readings will not be made if the inflatable bladder in the cuff is long enough (when not inflated) to wrap at least three-fourths of the way round the arm. When a regular adult cuff is too small, a “large adult” or even a “thigh” cuff may be used.

Finally, many people are so nervous while their blood pressure (BP) is being taken in a doctor’s office that the readings are abnormally high. This reaction, Emergency Medicine (19#11:54) reminds us, often leads to the unwarranted diagnosis of hypertension when, in fact, the BP is perfectly normal. To avoid this problem, the reading could be taken repeatedly, at least five times over a period of five minutes or longer, until it stops falling.

All of these factors can result in people taking BP-lower-ing medication that they do not need. Not only is this wasteful, but it can make the patient feel light-headed, weak, and tired because, as a result of unnecessary medication, the BP is too low. To avoid this problem, therefore, anyone who is said to be hypertensive should learn to take his or her BPs at home, since one’s own readings are much less likely to be misleading.

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ALUMINUM IN OUR WATER

Author: admin

To survive after both kidneys have failed, one must either have a kidney graft or be treated by dialysis regularly for the rest of one’s life. Dialysis nowadays usually involves rinsing out the peritoneal cavity (the space between the intestines and the abdominal wall) with several gallons of fluid two or three times a week to remove body wastes which would normally be carried away in the urine.

Several thousand people have been dialyzed for many years, most of them without serious complications. Infection, of course, is always a threat, but can be treated with antibiotics. A much more serious complication, though, is permanent brain damage with mental deterioration, known as dialysis dementia. This, according to Lancet (2:190), occurs only in people who have undergone dialysis in certain geographical areas in Europe and America.

A mystery until recently, dialysis dementia (almost exactly like Alzheimer’s disease, but occurring at any age) is now known to be caused by traces of aluminum in the water from which the dialysis fluid is prepared. Aluminum is absorbed into the patient’s body at the time of dialysis and poisons the brain.

Kidney failure patients undergoing dialysis in localities where there is a lot of aluminum in the tap water ultimately suffer memory loss and other signs of brain damage. Even young people undergoing dialysis have this problem, but the effects may be reversible if treated early enough. The effect of long-standing aluminum build-up in older people, however, could well become permanent.

Even though aluminum is used for water purification in many cities, including all those where dialysis dementia has occurred, most of us do not get dementia from it (at least not early in life) because we drink only a pint or two of water a day. In contrast, when the water contains a lot of aluminum, kidney failure patients cannot avoid absorbing a very much larger amount of it from the several gallons of fluid which must be used in dialysis two or three times every week.

Many municipal water companies employ an aluminum-containing chemical get for water purification. Even though these companies may argue that mere “traces” of aluminum get into our drinking water, these amounts are nevertheless sufficient to bring on hip fractures and dementia in young people (in their teens, 20s and 30s) who must use large volumes of water for dialysis. Just think what this water could do to the rest of us more slowly over a lifetime!

Concerned and politically active readers might wish to ask about this in their hometowns and invite their water companies to discuss alternatives. Some major city water companies have already started purifying their water successfully without aluminum.

Aluminum also gets into our water is through acid rain. Sulfur released into the atmosphere from industrial smokestacks ultimately falls back onto the earth’s surface again hundreds or thousands of miles away in the form of sulfuric acid, which not only kills fish and vegetable life but also threatens man, the Lancet (1:616) reports. The acid reacts with substances in the soil, breaking them down from harmless complex molecules into simpler substances, some of which are salts of toxic metals, such as aluminum, mercury, and lead, which get into the surface water that we drink.

Although it is understood that these metals kill fish, there is still a lot of reluctance to accept the idea that they could be harmful to human beings as well. But since there is always the possibility of this danger for us when we drink surface water, we could try to help ourselves by drinking ground water from deep wells instead.

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FAMILY MEDICAL CARE: SIGNIFICANCE OF CHECKS

Author: admin

Every check is carried out for a particular reason. This is to make certain mother and the developing infant will remain safe throughout the pregnancy and will be well and healthy at the termination of the confinement.

Tests are never carried out haphazardly and just for something to do.

The weight measurements are important. The mother-to-be should not gain more than 0.5 kg a week. If she exceeds this, it may indicate an increased risk of subsequently developing eclampsia, one of the serious complications of pregnancy.

Similarly, blood pressure readings are very important. Many doctors regard a reading of 140/90 as the upper limit of normal. If pressure readings start to rise above these figures, it is a cause for concern and action. Once more, a serious complication of pregnancy is characterized by a sudden rise in blood pressure. The only way in which this can be recognized is by the regular readings carried out accurately on a systematic basis.

Urine tests seek out a substance in the urine called albumen, which is a protein substance. If this appears, it indicates that all is not well, and that immediate action is necessary. Once more, it can be the warning signal that serious medical complications may be starting, and action becomes imperative at once.

Blood checks are important. The haemoglobin level gives a clear, accurate assessment of the mother’s blood quality. This is done at the start. If it shows a reduced level, special treatment may be prescribed to bring it up to the normal level.

But a recheck later on is usually recommended. So, reassessments may take place occasionally, depending on what the doctor considers necessary.

From time to time, the doctor may consider other tests are needed. Whatever occurs, he will make certain requests depending on the situation at any given visit. Go along with these requests. They are all given in your own interest, and the best interest of your baby that’s in the making.

When everything finally turns out the way you had hoped, a lot of this will be due to your own efforts, as well as the efforts and recommendations of your doctor. So stay with his suggestions at all times.

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ALL ABOUT MARRIAGE: WHY MARRIAGES FAIL

Author: admin

Certain features seem to leap out, and over a number of years, I am certain that many reasons can be given as to why marriages disintegrate.

At least 30,000 couples are divorced annually in Australia, and the figure is rising. Why are there so many marriage failures? Can they be checked? Are there tell-tale symptoms which indicate trouble is brewing? Many marriage unions could be saved. Once signs of a rift are in evidence, sensible couples could do much to heal the breach and save their future.

In 1982 in Australia the appalling number of 44,088 marriages fell apart. Each year about 115,000 new marriages take place. This sadly means that around one in three fails to survive, and each year the picture is becoming depressingly worse. With relatively recent alterations in the divorce laws, in which divorce seems easier than ever before to secure, it seems inevitable that the figures will start to rise still higher.

How come so many persons, who are prepared to accept the responsibilities of marriage one day, exchange vows and pledge all sorts of things, suddenly change, and wish to opt out? There must be some underlying reasons.

What is even more important, how can a couple, in the early stages of marriage, make sure that they will stay blissfully wedded until “death us do part”? Is there any sure-fire way to success in the marriage game? Are there any obvious lessons that can be learned to avoid heading in this direction? If so, what are they? What advice can be gleaned from couples that have split up?

I have seen countless couples over the years as they have come into my surgery. I’ve watched little children grow up, and marry. I have watched with considerable interest to see what happens to them, how they make out, how they develop their future.

It is fascinating to see the success that many couples make of their lives. It is disappointing to see the abject mess that others (frequently those who should know better) make of their lives.

There is one feature that has struck me forcibly as I have observed, and each year it strikes me afresh: The way a child develops over a period of years is very often a replica of the way his parents live!

If a person is brought up by parents who have relatively well-set-out and strict moral codes, then the child will absorb these principles, and have similar ones. Indeed, it seems axiomatic that these are impressed upon his sensitive subconscious mind from a very early age. They take root, they are nurtured, they grow and develop, often without the child having any idea of what is happening to him or his mind.

The ideals and impressions and standards of the parents become an integral part of the child. As time goes by, he will automatically accept all this, and in time will start to live the life that is being guided by his own subconscious.

When I refer to moral codes, I do not merely mean sexually orientated ones. I refer to the entire gamut of morality. To honesty in general, to one’s attitude to his fellow man, to his work-mates, his employers – to those with whom he comes in contact. If a person has been brought up in a home where love and affection abound, then he will tend to reflect these attitudes to others.

Conversely, if the upbringing has been a tight-lipped, austere, mean, hard, poker-faced affair, then this will tend to be the attitude he (or she) will adopt in later life too. Of course, other factors will have their influence too, but in general, the majority will tend to emulate their parents.

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MARRIAGE: ALL ABOUT FAMILY PLANNING

Author: admin

Today, more than at any time in history, families are able to “family plan.” In short, this means that they can effectively decide if they want any children or no children. They can elect to have whatever number they like. They can work out how the children will be spaced— annually, two, three, four years apart, or whatever.

Never before have couples been in this happy situation. In one sense that is right and in another it is wrong. In the pre-Pill era, when contraceptive techniques were chancy, to say the least, there was always the lingering doubt as to whether the procedure was effective.

Today, with the very reliable methods of contraception freely available, family planning (birth control) is an exact science. Most newly married are well aware of it, and embark on methods that suit their needs, starting usually a few months before marriage, to make sure that they will be “protected” (if you care for the word) right from the first.

In the pre-Pill era, it was a well-known fact that the majority of marriages resulted in pregnancy within the first twelve months. Of course, many girls married because they “had to.” Even this has changed in today’s permissive era, and more and more girls who are foolish enough to become pregnant out of marriage, prefer to keep their babies, but do not marry the baby’s father “just to give it a name.”

Australia’s birth-rate today is around the 250,000 babies a year level, having been fairly static for the past few years. New Zealand has about 45,000 babies annually. The ‘ ‘high” came in 1971 when Australia’s total soared to 276,362. This was probably an overreaction following the war years. But it was to be short-lived, as the Pill came into greater popularity, and the early adverse effects were overcome. The rate fell, and now it is hovering at a fairly constant level.

In the main, it may be said that most babies born today are “wanted,” or “planned.” For those of us who probably came from families in excess of two, the thought of the Pill is a little mind-blowing. What if the Pill had been around a few decades earlier than it was? The truth of the matter is, of course, that many of us would not be here at all.

An interesting view of this was printed in the British Medical Journal not long ago. It seems that many of history’s geniuses came from large families. Frequently they were well down the list, say number ten or twelve. Simpson, the mental giant who invented anaesthesia, and others are cited as cases in point.

Imagine the loss to mankind if the Pill had been available at their time of life, and they had not been born! It all amounts to this: Today, families have within their grasp very satisfactory methods of spacing or limiting their children.

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MARRIAGE AND FINANCES: AVOIDING TRAPS

Author: admin

However, let me offer some salutary advice. Do not get trapped in the snare of over-committing yourself financially. To buy today and pay later seems so easy. Time-payment plans abound. There is no doubt they can greatly assist in allowing a person to gain the essentials promptly. But so many over-commit themselves, only to find they have a financial noose around their necks that seems always to get tighter.

Often, if payments cannot be kept up, everything is lost anyway, for finance companies are not backward in repossessing if the payments are not met regularly. After all, they have done their part, and they expect you to keep your part of the arrangement. Many couples think hire-purchase companies are mean and greedy and unfair if repossessions take place. However, if they looked at the operation objectively, and considered what was involved, many would see that it was their own financial folly that led to the unhappy situation.

Let me repeat: Do not overcommit yourself with hire-purchase or similar arrangements.

It is often far better to wait a little longer. Let your bank account slowly mount up until you can buy the new furniture, the new carpets, the new fridge, or whatever. Then you will be able to make a cash purchase, and today, generous discounts are often readily available for cash buyers. Besides, you will not have to pay out the high interest rates built into every HP deal. Once more, the HP companies are offering a service, but it usually is expensive, and doing the deal yourself with your own money is far better and cheaper.

Another point worth considering is what to do with your money in the interim. Where is the best place to invest it if you are trying to save, to buy your house, or a car or a block of land?

Today, banks offer excellent services. Many couples find it expedient to deposit their entire pay-packet (or cheque) into the bank, and then draw out funds as they are required. For example, there will be a cheque each week (or fortnight) for basic living. There will be the accommodation cheque (rent or house repayment). All the other items will have cheques written for them too, on a regular, systematic basis. In fact, spending one night a week or fortnight “doing the finances” often makes it a simple chore. In this manner you will be doing two things. You will be making sure that all outgoings are being checked against a master list. You will not be frivolously wasting money. There will be a record on your cheque butt (and subsequently on your bank statement) as to how you disposed of your funds.

Besides being of value at the time, it also provides an accurate, readily acceptable record for the end of the financial year when you have to work out your income and expenditure for taxation purposes. It can save much time, head scratching and headaches at that time of the year.

However, keeping a cheque account going is not cheap these days. What is more, you pay the bank for the service. Savings accounts accrue interest, but at a low rate, often well below going rates and well below the inflationary factor. If you put your money there, you are steadily going backwards.

Shop around. Surplus money in your account may be much better in a building society or similar interest-bearing place where you are getting a reasonable rate. Most of these are not keeping pace with the percentage rate of inflation either (and besides, you have to pay tax on interest earned). But at least while you are waiting to spend the money you might as well let it work for you, and get the best deal available. If you have a fairly large lump sum, putting it out on the short-term money market is often worth thinking about. They will take sums for any period of time, from one day upwards—yes, you can even accrue interest over the week-end if you want to. This is all worth considering.

In the early days of marriage, it is often convenient for both partners to work. Frequently, keeping the home (often a flat or home unit) clean and tidy only occupies a minimum amount of time, and with two incomes, the chances of amassing a tidy sum increase greatly.

Many find it best to place both pay-packets in the bank, and draw outgoings in the manner described. Some couples find it is quite possible to live completely on the income of one (frequently the smaller of the two). This allows the other’s total earnings to amass. When thinking in terms of buying a house (or car, or other requisites), this is about the only way it can be done.

I cannot help re-emphasising the common sense of getting your money into some sort of account as soon as possible after you have received it from your paymaster. Often, people paid by cheque fare better, for they are virtually forced to cycle it through a bank account.

One thing is for sure. If you have ready money in your pocket or handbag, the temptation to spend it is overpowering. You’ll suddenly something you have wanted forages. “I simply must have that,” you say to yourself.’ ‘I’ve been waiting for it for years. Aren’t I lucky?”

Bang goes half of your week’s money. Another notch is cut in the downward grade your dreams and aspirations to get that new house paid for. Spending money is like a drug with some people. The feel of it in their pock means the temptations loom bigger and more often. Many simply cannot resist it. “Impulse buying,” of course, is the way many retail businesses make their profits. They depend on thousands of people acting the way I’ve just described. It is probably just as well for the retail trade (and for you, too, if your income comes from serving in a shop, or some related activity). But, take care. Get your money into a safe place. Then leave it there! Do not be tempted. If you can’t feel the money jingling (or the notes rustling), you will not be tempted to spend. That means your long-term dreams are a lot closer. Especially when this is multiplied many times over, week in and week out.

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