Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog – information on herbal medicine

Arthrosis occurs when the wearing out occurs faster than the tissue can be replaced, the cartilage softens, develops cracks and may even wear completely through exposing the bone. Irritation to the bone then causes damage, small splits and overgrowth as the bone thickens and proliferates.

Small projections of bone (osteophytes) may project around the edges of the bone at the joint surface.

In the arthrosis which is mainly due to wear and tear the larger weight bearing joints such as the knees and hips are more commonly affected.

Any injury to a joint such as a torn cartilage in the knee or a fracture of a bone near a joint can lead to the early development of osteoarthrosis as can other joint disorders or deformities which throw unnatural strain on the joint.

The symptoms of osteoarthrosis are pain on using the joint, limitation of mobility and stiffness after rest or overuse. Early morning stiffness is uncommon but this symptom is a common finding in the inflammatory joint disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis.

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Crohn’s disease, which is also an inflammatory disorder of the lower bowel, may be mistaken for it at times.

Although nervous factors were once thought to be a cause of this complaint, it is now accepted that the associated anxiety and depression may follow the disease rather than cause it.

In treatment, a diet high in residue and low or absent in milk is helpful. While no specific medical treatment can give cure, control of the disease is usually possible. As in the other inflammatory disorders, cortisone is a non-specific treatment which reduces and usually controls the inflammation.

A sulpha drug, sulphasalazine, helps to control the disease but not because of its antibiotic action. Exactly how is uncertain. Immunosuppressive drugs have been used in some cases and have proved of benefit.

If large doses of cortisone are needed to control the disease, surgery seems to offer more advantages. Surgical management seems to control the joint problems as well as the bowel inflammation.

In most cases, the whole of the large bowel, including the rectum, are removed and the last part of the small bowel, the ileum, is opened out on to the abdominal wall and a bag is worn to collect the discharge.

In about 5 per cent of cases the rectum is not involved and then the anal sphincter may be preserved, so no external opening is required, the ileum being joined to lower rectum.

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The child may sit for hours staring at one object or repeatedly carry out some simple act.

Autistic children may respond poorly to some sounds, ignore others or sit listening to a sound such as music for hours, but with no outward sign of enjoyment.

Because of these factors, the children do not mix well with others. They resist any change in their routines. They often develop a marked attachment to an object and may handle it for hours on end.

Because the child does not develop the normal social and emotional ties with his family there is a great strain on the parents.

There appears to be no cure for autism. Many drugs have been tried, but are of little use. The condition is not due to vitamin deficiency and does not respond to the use of massive doses of vitamins.

Most of the efforts of treatment are directed to teaching and learning. This is difficult as these children seem to resist learning. But we all need some simple skills to manage in society. We need to know what we should and what we shouldn’t eat. We need to go to the toilet, we need to know how and when to wipe our noses. These simple skills about everyday simple problems may take years for an autistic child to learn.

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In practice, one major difficulty is that your practitioner may not even consider alternatives to his or her usual standard recommendation. In the last section we have discussed how you can obtain more information. Ask for alternatives directly: ‘What wet!Id happen if I don’t have what you recommend?’ ‘I realise you are recommending what you believe to be the best treatment, but what others are possible?’ ‘What about radiation treatment?’ and so on.

After assessing all the information yourself, you may well decide that what your practitioner first recommended is indeed the best choice for you. It might seem easier just to say: ‘Doctor knows best—I’ll do what he or she says.’ Don’t fall into this trap. Your practitioner has many reasons for recommending a particular treatment and I’m afraid that they do not all centre around you as a unique individual person.

Most practitioners have a series of set recommendations for various set types of patient. From their own experience and attitudes, and from the knowledge gained from their reading of the latest reports from all around the world, they decide on what they believe to be, generally, the best form of treatment for a particular type of cancer. Because practitioners are individuals with different priorities and beliefs, they do not all reach the same conclusions.

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There are different types of progestogen available, and various dosages within each type, so there is a good chance you will eventually find a combination of oestrogen and a progestogen that will give the advantages without the side-effects. Faced with a woman who has undesirable symptoms at the first attempt, many doctors still say, ‘Well, we’ve tried HRT, but it obviously isn’t going to work for you. Never mind’, and they just give up, without making any more attempts at finding an acceptable combination of the two hormones. If you feel that you need oestrogen (whether ID reduce menopausal symptoms, or to protect yourself from osteoporosis or artery disease), it would be a great shame if you gave it up after just a few months.

There are about 20 different combinations in which you can take HRT, so it’s highly likely one of them will be right for you. It just requires a little patience and perseverance from both you and your doctor. Usually, changing to a different progestogen will get rid of the unwanted side-effects, but if that doesn’t work, then reducing the dosage should work, or possibly taking it for fewer days each month. However, there is a minim urn dose needed to ensure the lining of the womb is shed each month, so you shouldn’t have too low a dose or for too short a time. Many women find that vitamin B6 or evening primrose oil helps reduce unpleasant pre-menstrual symptoms brought on by progestogen.

The good news is that research is being done into new and better progestogens. Until recently, this hormone could only be taken in the form of tablets by mouth. As much of the progestogen gets lost as it passes through the digestive system, quite a large dose has to be taken so that you end up with the amount you need, and this large dose is what causes most side-effects. Progestogen is now also available in a combined progestogen and oestrogen patch. It is called Estracombi, and is manufactured by Ciba-Geigy. In this- form, the two hormones are absorbed through the skin, and because the digestive system is avoided, a much lower dose can be given to achieve the desired effect, thereby reducing the side-effects. Before long, a completely new generation of progestogens will be available which produce fewer side-effects.

If progestogen in any form really doesn’t agree with you, under certain circumstances it may be possible to cut it out altogether. Your doctor would probably only suggest this if you already had osteoporosis and needed to take oestrogen but were finding the side-effects of progestogen so intolerable that you had to give up. The big disadvantage of doing this, however, is that you would have a small but definite risk of developing cancer or other disorders of the lining of the womb. You would need careful counselling about this, and your doctor would probably suggest that every one to two years you had a biopsy: a small piece of the lining of the womb would be removed and sent for examination to see whether there was any sign of cancer or other disorders. Nowadays, for women who have osteoporosis of the spine but who really cannot take progestogen, a new non-hormone drug called etidronate might be the solution.

If it is the ‘withdrawal bleed’ that is putting you off HRT, there is a third alternative, known as ‘no-bleed HRT’ (because the aim of it is that it should eliminate distressing menopausal symptoms without producing periods), or ‘continuous/combined HRT’ (because you take combined oestrogen and progestogen continuously). No-bleed HRT involves taking a small dose of progestogen every day, instead of for just 10-12 days a month. The theory is that this method eventually leads to amenorrhoea (a complete absence of periods).

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Myomectomy is the surgical removal of one or more fibroids from the uterus with the aim of providing relief from prolonged or heavy bleeding. It is an option worth considering for women who have not finished their families and who therefore want their uterus intact to preserve their fertility. Pregnancy rates of 40-59% following myomectomy have been reported. It is, however, a difficult operation which is more likely than hysterectomy to cause blood loss requiring transfusion and postoperative ill-health. For these reasons, women with fibroids are five times more likely to have a hysterectomy than a myomectomy.

In most women, myomectomy initially relieves bleeding symptoms. But, ten years after the operation, 20-30% have returned to their doctors with a recurrence of their earlier problems. The reasons for this recurrence rate are as uncertain as the reasons for the development of fibroids in the first place. There is some evidence to suggest that recurrence rates are higher when multiple fibroids are present or the initial fibroid removal is incomplete. The latter suggestion is, however, body disputed; and there is also support for the view that it is only necessary to remove that part of the fibroid protruding from the wall of the uterus to obtain long-lasting relief from heavy bleeding. It has also been suggested that some women have an inherited tendency to develop fibroids and that this has a big influence on the recurrence rate.

Abdominal or open myomectomy, where the operation is performed through a large (approximately 13 cm) incision, has been the procedure used for many years. Recently, several new approaches have been devised which make use of a hysteroscope inserted through the vagina (hysteroscopic myomectomy), or a laparoscope inserted in the abdomen (laparoscopic myomectomy). These procedures avoid the need for large abdominal incisions. (Similar techniques may be used to remove adenomyosis, a condition that is closely related to fibroids.) A vaginal ultrasound showing the position and size of fibroids is helpful in deciding which of the above approaches is advisable.

Open myomectomy is performed more often in Australia than hysteroscopic or laparoscopic myomectomy. Likely explanations for this include the suitability of open myomectomy for the removal of large fibroids and for the removal of fibroids from sites where they are often found, such as the outer wall of the uterus. Open myomectomy is also a more entrenched procedure than

either hysteroscopic or laparoscopic fibroid removal. Fibroids up to 8 cm in size can also be made smaller or destroyed using laser techniques or electrocoagulation.

Some doctors are becoming skilled in these techniques, making them increasingly suitable alternatives to myomectomy, particularly for women with heavy periods.

Whichever method is employed, the procedure should be conducted in a well-equipped clinic or hospital under general anaesthesia. During the removal of fibroids it is important that the surgeon minimises blood loss and the inadvertent formation of adhesions, and that he or she skilfully reconstructs the uterus. Some blood loss is inevitable as the uterus is particularly well supplied with arteries and veins. It is usual for surgeons to clamp blood vessels or to inject chemicals that decrease the flow of blood to certain areas of the uterus. Particular types and locations of incisions also help minimise blood loss during myomectomy as does the use of laser surgery or diathermy in experienced hands. In some cases, doctors may remove the endometrium at the same time as performing a myomectomy.

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Before the days of sleep laboratories, it was believed that sleepwalking, night tenor, and children’s bed-wetting happened during dreaming. Nowadays, with the help of the sleep laboratories, we know mat these related phenomena occur in the deep sleep stages of NREM sleep, and are not features of dreams at all.

Have you ever dreamed that you got out of bed whilst asleep at night, got changed, did all the naughty things that you normally dared not do, and enjoyed yourself with whatever fantasy you had? When someone knocked on your door and complained of what you had done, you told him you were innocent for you were sleep-walking. What in fact is sleep-walking?

Sleep-walking, technically known as somnambulism, is more common in children, and is estimated to occur in 15 per cent of normal children. They may sit up in their beds or get out of bed and walk around in the bedroom, then go back to sleep. Some sleepwalkers may carry out some simple activity they do daily. Some may get dressed, open doors, open and close drawers, or use the bathroom without knowing it. Their eyes can see where they are going but they are not in focus, and their activities are poorly coordinated and primitive. If they are spoken to, they may reply in single words or just utter some murmur. They carry out simple tasks that do not require any decision or intellectual thinking. One of my patients told me his girlfriend was making a cup of coffee one night whilst sleep-walking. Sleep-walkers appear to be in a trance. However, it is definitely impossible to carry out naughty activities that you normally do not dare do. Any complicated behaviour is not performed by the sleep-walker. After they wake up the next morning, they will not remember that they have been sleep-walking. This is because sleep-walking occurs during NREM sleep, and we have no memory or thoughts during NREM sleep.

What about the mechanics of sleep-walking? Millions of years ago, mankind had a primitive brain that could do simple tasks without much thinking, including activities such as eating, walking, etc. After years of evolution, the brain attained a thinking and much more intellectual part. During NREM sleep, the thinking part is truly at rest, as shown by the EEG. However, the primitive part can still be partially awake. For some reasons unknown to us, the primitive part of the brain carries out these primitive activities automatically during sleep-walking. The sleep-walker appears to have the ability to dissociate the two parts of the brain during sleep. This ability of dissociation is important when a person is going into hypnosis. It is known that a sleep-walker can go into hypnosis much more easily than someone who does not sleep-walk.

Most children who sleep-walk gradually grow out of it. As they grow older, their sleep becomes less deep. Most sleep-walkers are not suffering from any form of serious illness in the brain. If there is a sleep-walker in your house, he should be protected from any possible injury; try to put away sharp objects and block off the stairs at night to prevent the sleep-walker from accidentally injuring himself. If he is found sleep-walking, do not try to wake him up, as he will be quite confused. Just take him back to his bed and he will continue to sleep again. Sleep-walking, in general, does not require treatment, as it generally disappears as a person gets older.

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When ideas are presented to us they convey a meaning. But the same ideas may have a rather different, meaning for us according to our state of mind at the time. In our normal mental state we are alert and critical, and ideas that are presented to us carry their logical, meaning. However, when we are very relaxed, and our mind has regressed, the same ideas carry a simpler and more fundamental meaning. This is a rather hard distinction to understand until we have experienced it. And it is not a difficult thing to experience. When we are doing our mental exercises we allow various trains of thought to come to our mind while we are very relaxed and regressed. In these circumstances it comes about that we experience the ideas rather than comprehend them logically. Furthermore, we experience them in a strikingly simple fashion. This is something quite different from the way the idea affects us in our normal alert state; and it is this that allows the exercises to influence us so profoundly.

I will describe various trains of thought which can help us in this way. Remember that these are expressed in a way for our relaxed and regressed mind to use. To our alert mind some of these sequences of thought may seem childish, odd, and repetitive. This may tempt you to reject the procedure as silly. Do not do this. The ideas are not written for your alert mind to evaluate and criticize; they are written for your relaxed and regressed mind to experience. That which may seem childish in our alert state becomes filled with simple and powerful meaning when we are a little regressed.

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By now it must be evident to the average reader that the biological approach to arthritis is quite different from conventional practices. As with every new concept and new approach, it takes an unprejudiced and objective attitude on the part of practitioners to be able to grasp and accept the new discoveries. It is natural to be doubtful and even skeptical of something which is contrary to common practice and the accepted line of thought. Moreover, the new biological approach seems to be so down-to-earth simple that for a technologically minded and pseudoscientifically trained, twentieth century space-oriented man it may seem too simple to be true. However, hundreds of medical doctors in Europe have given this down-to-earth, commonsense, nature-cure approach a fair trial. They were soon convinced of its extraordinary merits. Its effectiveness is proven by actual result-producing application on thousands upon thousands of successfully treated patients.

The value of biological treatments was scientifically tested by the Royal Free Hospital in London, England, in 1949. The experiments were made through the initiative of one of the hospital doctors who had seen a successfully treated case of arthritis. The methods used were those employed at the famous Bircher-Benner Clime in Switzerland.

Twelve patients with arthritis, all more or less hopeless cases given up by doctors as not responsive to conventional treatments, were selected to participate in the tests, which were carried out under careful scientific control. The experiment was documented on films taken during the entire duration of the tests, and a detailed report was given in a medical journal.5

The results of the experiment were very convincing. Patients who were considered hopeless cases had remarkably improved and regained the use of their deformed and formerly immobile joints.

One 55-year-old woman was so badly crippled that she could hardly move any part of her body and was permanently bedridden. After less than one year on the biological program, she left the hospital walking without help and without crutches. This case was controlled ten years later (1959) and the patient, now at the age of 65, was found in good health, able to do hard physical labor, such as digging in her garden two or three hours without rest

It is unfortunate, indeed, that it takes such a long time before new discoveries and original ideas become universally accepted and officially endorsed. Millions of sick people suffer because of unwillingness on the part of conservative practitioners to accept and use new, unconventional methods of treatment. It is my sincere hope that this book will spread the knowledge and speed the recognition of biological medicine, both among the members of the healing professions as well as the lay public, and help to free millions of arthritis sufferers from their hopelessness and agonizing existence.

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The treatment of epilepsy begins with making a correct diagnosis—the diagnosis that the events are truly seizures, the diagnosis of the seizure type, and the diagnosis of the epilepsy syndrome. This is particularly important in children in whom other non-epileptic, brief disturbances may be confused with and misdiagnosed as epilepsy. The drugs which are used to prevent or control epileptic seizures (anti-epileptic drugs; anticonvulsant drugs) may have to be used for some years—even for life—and have side-effects which are occasionally serious. It is therefore important that the diagnosis of epilepsy is correct before these are prescribed.

The reason for taking drugs is to prevent further seizures or fits from occurring. The drugs will only do this if they are taken regularly, and as advised by the doctor. One common reason for people with epilepsy having further attacks is because they either do not want to take, or forget to take their medication regularly.

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