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Some Alternative Approaches To Dealing With Psoriasis By Jeannie
Neill
In a recent survey, more than half of the people with Psoriasis said that the affect to their self-confidence was harder to handle than even the disease itself. Often psoriasis sufferer's experience fear, anger or hopelessness but treatments can properly address some of the side effects and help reduce the emotional impact. There is clear and unquestioned scientific evidence that stress triggers or aggravates psoriasis in many people. Therefore practices that offer stress reduction and relaxation can help people with psoriasis have a better sense of being in control. These techniques are not intended as a replacement for traditional approaches but seem to work best when used as a supplement.
Aromatherapy:
One of the most popular branches of alternative medicine, the word is derived from aroma meaning smell and therapy indicating healing.
Essential Oils form the basis of aromatherapy. Extracted from plants they are highly concentrated and should not be used directly but typically blended together. To reduce the potency, dilute them by mixing them with carrier oils. Oils affect your mood. Entering through the olfactory system and affecting the nervous system, oils improve mood, relax or energize us helping to alleviate stress. They also speed healing. Essential oils have cosmetic properties and are used in skin and hair care products. Many have anti-viral, antifungal and antiseptic properties. They can be inhaled, massaged onto the body, added to bath or shower or sprayed into the air.
Not all products
labelled "aromatherapy" are pure and natural. Buyers must look at the ingredients within a product to ensure that the product does not contain fragrance oils or impure components. Beware of products that do not list their ingredients.
Massage:
After years as an alternative approach to relaxation, the benefits of massage are gaining increased acceptance by the medical community. Massage professionals and health care providers use it to relieve muscle tension, reduce stress and induce relaxation, also proven to relieve and manage chronic and acute pain. Psoriatic arthritis sufferers may find that massage helps relieve their joint pain. There are many types including deep tissue massage, reflexology, Swedish massage, shiatsu and acupressure. Discuss which approach will work best for you. It may also be helpful to tell the receptionist that you have psoriasis.
Meditation:
No longer just an Eastern philosophy meditation is the practice of focusing the mind continuously on one thought, phrase or prayer for a period of time. Included among the many changes due to meditation are improvement in immunity, reductions in heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow to skeletal muscles, oxygen consumption, respiratory rate, muscle tension and perspiration. One study examined the use of meditation-based relaxation tapes in psoriasis patients undergoing ultraviolet light (UV) treatments and found that some patients who listened cleared faster, even twice as fast.
Yoga:
Yoga is an applied science of the mind and body, coming from the Hindu scriptures. It does not create health; rather, it creates an internal environment that allows the individual to come to his own state of dynamic balance, or health. Yoga teaches that a healthy person is a harmoniously integrated unit of body, mind and spirit. Good health requires a simple, natural diet, exercise in fresh air, a serene and untroubled mind and awareness. It involves controlled breathing, stretching, strengthening exercises, and meditation. It is thought to promote physical, mental and spiritual well-being. All ages and physical conditions can practice yoga. The many different types are all based on the basic idea of uniting mind and body. When the body is controlled through yoga's careful positions, muscles relax and circulation improves releasing tension and stress.
Additional Therapies include: Art therapy, Electromagnetic Therapies, Guided Imagery, Progressive Relaxation, Reflexology, Spiritual Practices, Tai Chi or Visualization. Any of these help to refocus your thinking away from a preoccupation with your condition. The consequent lack of stress can offer benefits in the form of reduced symptoms.
Jeannie Neill has undertaken a lot of research regarding psoriasis and as well as being the author of several articles concerning psoriasis, has also developed the Psoriasis Treatment website.
Health and Fitness Related Articles
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How to
stop Psoriasis fast.
back to
top
By Ivan (Mick) Hince)
This website deals with a modern
way to deal with Psoriasis, and is another one from Mark Anastasi.
Like his other sites this gives a great insight to the problems, and
a great way to solve them.
There are many that suffer with
psoriasis, and the thing I liked was the testimonials from people
who by using his methods have relieved themselves of pain.
Click here
to visit Marks website.
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Multiple Sclerosis - What is it?
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By David Chandler.
Multiple Sclerosis
(MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS)
where the body's own immune cells attack the nervous system. In
Multiple Sclerosis, inflammation of nervous tissue causes the loss
of myelin, a fatty material that acts as a sort of protective
insulation for the nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. This
demyelination leaves multiple areas of scar tissue (sclerosis) along
the covering of the nerve cells, which disrupts the ability of the
nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain,
producing the various symptoms of multiple Sclerosis.
Multiple Sclerosis-Causes, symptoms, and risk factors The cause of
multiple Sclerosis is unknown. Geographic studies indicate there may
be an environmental factor involved. Multiple Sclerosis is more
likely to occur in northern Europe, the northern United States,
southern Australia, and New Zealand than in other areas.
Symptoms of multiple Sclerosis vary because the location and extent
of each attack varies. There is usually a stepwise progression of
the disorder, with episodes that last days, weeks, or months
alternating with times of reduced or no symptoms (remission).
Recurrence (relapse) is common although non-stop progression without
periods of remission may also occur.
The exact cause of the inflammation associated with multiple
Sclerosis is unknown. An increase in the number of immune cells in
the body of a person with multiple Sclerosis indicates that there
may be a type of immune response that triggers the disorder. The
most frequent theories about the cause of multiple sclerosis include
a virus-type organism, an abnormality of the genes responsible for
control of the immune system, or a combination of both factors.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects approximately 1 out of 1,000 people.
More women are affected than men are. The disorder most commonly
begins between ages 20 and 40, but can strike at any age. Risks
include a family history of multiple Sclerosis and living in a
geographical area with a higher incidence rate for multiple
Sclerosis.
For more information
about multiple sclerosis visit, Multiple Sclerosis
David Chandler
For your FREE Stock Market Trading Mini Course: "What The Wall
Street Hot Shots Won't Tell You!" go to: The Stock Market Genie
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Chandler
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The root cause of Multiple Sclerosis.
back to
top
By Ivan (Mick) Hince.
The success stories from people using this article are nothing short
of being miraculous. There are more people that suffer with
this than I first thought.
Once again the website
I am talking about is yet another from Mark Anastasi who's ideas are
helping many people from all walks of life. I could waffle on
about different aspects of multiple sclerosis but I think that it's
better for you go to the main website, and all will be revealed.
Click here
to visit Mark's website.
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A case study on Crohn's disease.
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top
By
Jón O Kristinsson1
 , Wim PM Hopman1
 , Wim JG Oyen2
and Joost PH Drenth1
1Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Radboud
University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
2Department of Nuclear Medicine, Radboud University
Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Background
Few studies have described patients with foregut dysmotility in
inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of this case series was to
evaluate clinical characteristics of 5 patients with inflammatory
bowel disease and symptoms and signs of upper gut dysmotility.
Case presentations
We describe a series of four patients with Crohn's disease and one
with indeterminate colitis who presented with severe symptoms and
signs of gastroparesis. We reviewed medical records of all cases.
Gastric emptying of a solid meal was assessed by scintigraphy. Small
bowel enteroclysis, gastroduodenoscopy and colonoscopy with biopsies
were performed to estimate the activity of the disease and to
exclude organic obstruction. None of the patients had any signs of
active inflammation or stricture. All of the patients had markedly
delayed gastric emptying with a mean t 1/2 of 234 minutes (range
110–380 minutes; normal values 54–94 minutes).
Conclusion
Clinicians should consider impaired gastric emptying when evaluating
patients with Crohn's disease and severe symptoms of upper gut
dysmotility, which cannot be attributed to active inflammation or
organic obstruction of the digestive tract. Symptoms in these
patients are refractory to various therapeutic interventions
including tube feeding and gastric surgery.
Background
Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of unknown
aetiology, which may involve the whole digestive tract from the oral
cavity to the anus. Symptoms indicative of gastroparesis, such as
vomiting and bloating do occur in patients with Crohn's disease, but
recurrent and/or persistent symptoms are rare and most clinicians
attribute them to active inflammation or mechanical obstruction of
the small or large bowel. Though local inflammation and intestinal
obstruction may have important effects on gastrointestinal motility,
motility studies in patients with Crohn's disease are scant [1,2].
Some reports indicate that upper gut motility can be impaired in
patients with inactive Crohn's disease [1,3].
The aim of this case series is to describe clinical characteristics
of five patients (four patients with inactive Crohn's disease and a
single patient with indeterminate colitis) who had severe symptoms
of gastroparesis which could not be attributed to mechanical
obstruction or active inflammation, but who all had impaired gastric
emptying of solid food.
Case presentation
The patients were all treated in our institute which is a tertiary
referral centre for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the
Netherlands. We identified patients by a search of the morbidity
database of the department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology which
includes the ICD-9 diagnoses of975 patients with Crohn's disease and
821 patients with colitis ulcerosa referred between 1973 and 2004
and by a search of the gastric emptying database which includes 239
patients who underwent a scintigraphic gastric emptying study in our
hospital between 1999 and 2004. We selected cases with a diagnosis
of IBD including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis who also had
an impaired gastric emptying by matching the two data bases. We
identified four patients with Crohn's disease and one with
indeterminate colitis who were diagnosed based upon accepted
radiological, endoscopic and histological criteria [4]. We have
reviewed the medical records of the cases who all had a severe
symptoms of foregut dysmotility.
Because of persistent symptoms of nausea, vomiting and in some cases
weight loss patients were thoroughly evaluated. All patients
underwent a small bowel enteroclysis. None of the patients had signs
of active inflammation or stricture. Colonoscopy with inspection of
the terminal ileum was performed in every patient and biopsy
specimens were taken for pathological examination. All patients
underwent an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to rule out active
Crohn's disease in the upper digestive tract and intestinal stenosis
as cause of the symptoms. Random biopsies were taken from the
gastric antrum and corpus. We found no mechanical obstruction in any
of the patients and there were no endoscopical or histological signs
of active Crohn's disease. Furthermore there were no signs of
inflammation in the laboratory studies. After having ruled out
active inflammatory disease gastric emptying was evaluated by a
scintigraphy in all patients.
Table 1 summarizes clinical data of all patients. Remarkably all of
them were females with a mean age of 38.6 years at the time of
impaired gastric emptying (range 21 – 56 years). The mean duration
of the disease was 9.4 years with a wide range from 2 to 26 years.
One patient had small bowel involvement, in two the disease involved
the small bowel and the colon, and in two it was limited to the
colon. Two of the patients had undergone resection, colectomy with
ileostomy (patient 4) and ileum resection twice (patient 2). Despite
discouragement, three of the patients were smoking. The mean t 1/2
of gastric emptying was 234 minutes (range 110–380 minutes).
We describe one of the cases (case1) in more detail. This was a
19-yr-old female patient with a history of asthma presented to our
outpatient clinic with complaints of abdominal pain and chronic
diarrhea that had been present for approximately 5 months. She
complained of continuous pain localized in the upper abdomen but she
also had intermittent colic-like pain elicited by food ingestion,
sometimes accompanied by nausea. There was watery diarrhea with a
frequency of up to 10 times a day. She had anorexia and lost 15 kg
of weight in the preceding 5 months. She had been taking diclofenac
and she smoked 4 cigarettes per day.
On physical examination she had normal vital signs. Her weight was
84 kg with a length of 171 cm. There was a mild tenderness in the
right lower abdomen. Further examination was not remarkable.
Initial laboratory studies revealed a sedimentation rate of 25 mm in
the 1st hr, C-reactive protein of 40 mg/L, albumin 37 g/L (normal
36–53 g/L), haemoglobin was 7.8 mmol/L (normal 7.3–9.7 mmol/L),
white cell count was 12.1 × 109/L (normal 3.5–11.0 × 109/L) with 75%
neutrophils and thrombocytes were elevated (480 × 109/L; normal
120–350 × 109/L). Sigmoidoscopy revealed a patchy erythema with
rectal sparing. Histopathology of the biopsy specimen showed chronic
active inflammation without presence of granulomas. Barium
examination of the small bowel demonstrated a narrowing of the
distal ileum with thickening of the wall over a length of 40 cm.
A diagnosis of Crohn's disease with involvement of left colon and
terminal ileum was made and treatment was started with oral
corticosteroids and azathioprine in combination with mesalazine.
Because of adverse reaction (fever) to azathioprine and thereafter
mercaptopurine, tioguanine was prescribed, and well tolerated.
One year and a half after the first presentation she complained of
nausea, vomiting, early satiety, weight loss of 15 kg and diarrhea.
Laboratory studies now showed no signs of inflammation. There were
no endoscopic signs of activity of Crohn's disease in colon,
terminal ileum or stomach and duodenum. Biopsy specimens taken from
the gastric antrum, duodenum, terminal ileum and colon revealed no
active inflammation. Small bowel enteroclysis showed no stricture
and the terminal ileum was now normal. Gastric emptying with
radiolabeled pancake was severely delayed with a t 1/2 of 200
minutes and 3 months later with a t 1/2 of 380 minutes.
Tioguanine was stopped because of the remote possibility that the
symptoms were secondary to the drugs, but this did not ameliorate
the symptoms. Because of persistent foregut dysmotility symptoms
nasojejunal feeding was initiated. Recently she underwent a Roux-Y
gastrojejunostomy with introduction of an enterocutaneous jejunal
feeding catheter.
Treatment and prognosis
Patient 1 is the only patient who underwent surgery because of her
foregut dysmotility. The surgical procedure was recently performed
but at present the gastroenterostomy fails to improve her symptoms.
Patient 4 was only treated with oral prokinetics that had a partial
effect while all other patients also received nasogastric 24 hour
continuous drip tube feeding. One of these three patients (patient
3) underwent a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube (PEG)
placement, which was removed two months later for psychological
reasons. Despite these interventions, symptoms of upper gut
dysmotility persist in all patients.
Discussion
This report describes five patients with clinically inactive
inflammatory bowel disease who presented with persistent severe
complaints of upper gastrointestinal motility disorder. All patients
had disabling upper gastrointestinal symptoms with weight loss which
in most of the cases led to invasive treatment including nasogastric
tube feeding, PEG and even gastrojejunostomy with placement of a
jejunostomy catheter.
Reports on delayed gastric emptying in Crohn's disease are scarce.
Annese et al studied gastric emptying in 21 adult patients with
nonobstructive Crohn's disease [2]. Gastric emptying was not
different from that in healthy volunteers. Only posthoc analysis
revealed impaired gastric emptying in a subgroup of patients who
complained of mild upper gut symptoms such as bloating, early
satiety and abdominal distention and in those with localization
restricted to the colon [2]. Our case series extends these findings
and shows that delayed gastric emptying in inactive Crohn's disease
may induce serious upper gut symptoms prompting clinicians for
elaborate diagnostic investigations including upper gut endoscopy
and assessment of gastric emptying. Our series shows that delayed
gastric emptying is not confined to patients with localization
restricted to the colon.
Why do patients with Crohn's disease develop symptoms of foregut
dysmotility? It is logical to infer that active Crohn's disease with
accompanying intestinal inflammation has functional ramifications.
Contraction of smooth muscle from inflamed small intestine derived
from patients with Crohn's disease is abnormal [3]. Distal motility
disturbances due to ileal or colonic inflammation might subsequently
impair gastric emptying, a phenomenon similar to that in patients
with slow transit constipation [5,6]. Likewise, obstruction of the
small bowel or colon due to Crohn's disease can cause foregut
dysmotility. Moreover, gastric Crohn's disease impairs gastric
emptying which can be observed in up to 70% of cases, but this is
more often seen in children as compared to adults [7-9]. None of
patients described in this report had signs of active disease.
Enteroclysis, colonoscopy, endoscopy of the upper gut with bioptic
samples and laboratory studies were compatible with absence of
active inflammation in all patients.
Two of our patients had a history of intestinal resection. However,
surgical resections are not associated with a detrimental effect on
gastric emptying in patients with Crohn's disease [10].
Antroduodenal manometry studies have also shown that upper
gastrointestinal motor disorders occur in up to 74% of patients with
uncomplicated Crohn's disease [1]. We did not perform an
antroduodenal manometry in any of the patients in this case series.
The explanation for the foregut dysmotility and the related symptoms
of our patients is not clear. It is possible that there is a minor
degree of intestinal fibrosis without radiological signs of
obstruction or inflammation of the bowel that cannot be detected
with standard clinical methods. On the other hand, the
gastrointestinal motility is regulated by gut hormones, of which
peptide YY (PYY) is the most prominent member [11]. Circulating PYY
inhibits gastric emptying [12,13]. It has been shown that patients
with Crohn's disease have elevated serum levels of PYY [14], which
could be a possible explanation for upper gastrointestinal motility
disturbance in these patients. Lastly, Porcher et al [15] reported
that interstitial cells of Cajal were abundant in the small
intestine of patients with Crohn's disease and reasoned that this
could lead to desynchronization of electrical pacemaker activity.
This might be due to invasion of the external muscle layers by
inflammatory cells.
Conclusion
We describe five patients with Crohn's disease who had no signs of
active inflammation but developed severe symptoms of gastroparesis.
It remains to be elucidated why some patients with inactive Crohn's
disease develop upper gut motor disturbances. According to our
experience these patient will develop persistent symptoms despite
medical treatment. Tube feeding is most often necessary and even
bypassing of the stomach seems to be the only therapeutic
possibility in the most extreme cases.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Dr. S.P. Strijk, radiologist at the
University Medical Center St. Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands,
for interpretation of the radiological studies.
Written consent was obtained from the patients for publication of
this case report.
The authors declare that they have no financial disclosure or
conflicts of interest relevant to this manuscript. We report that we
have noaffiliations with or financial involvement such as
employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options,
expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, royalties
with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or
financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in
the manuscript.
The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-230X/7/11/prepub
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Crohn's disease breakthrough
back
to top
By Ivan (Mick) Hince.
Agonizing
pain...unpleasant nausea...constant discomforts and disruptions a
part of your daily life? Finally! Your search for putting an end to
Crohn's Disease symptoms is over.
These are the words
from a website I have just visited. Not being a sufferer
myself I was amazed at the problems concerned with Crohn's disease.
This website I would
like to draw your attention to was produced by a young lady by the
name of Sarah Dobson.
By the sound of things
she has suffered like a good many, and I think it's only fair to
visit the site itself rather than have me trying to about a subject
I no little about.
To visit Sarah
Dobson's website click here.
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Bone Breaking Disease – Osteoporosis
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by: Sharon Hopkins
It is normal for the bones
to erode as we age. But for some people, the bones become so fragile
that they break down under the body’s own weight. This causes hip,
spine and forearm fractures. This disease is known as osteoporosis.
This disease is more common amongst women then men. This is due to
the fact that the women have lighter bones and after menopause, they
experience rapid bone loss due to decrease in estrogen. Also women
opt for heavy dieting in order to lose weight, where they skip
highly nutritious food items. This results in weaker bones in the
body. Men too can suffer from this disease if they smoke, drink or
take steroids.
But there is no need to worry. It is possible for you to slow, stop
or reverse this bone loss. Though women have used ERT or Estrogen
Replacement Therapy to overcome this problem, you can follow the
tips below to overcome or prevent this problem.
• Build up your bones: It is highly recommended that you do aerobic
exercises for about 20 minutes a day at least three days a week.
Exercise has been shown to stimulate bones to lay down new tissues.
It is advisable to do the exercise that you can continue doing over
long periods of time. Walking is the best form of exercise but you
can also choose biking, swimming or aerobics.
• Walk in water: If you have suffered from fracture, walking in
water is the best form of exercise. You can do this exercise three
times a week for up to 30 minutes a day. The water will support body
weight and ease the stress off the bones and joints.
• Use a chair and the floor for exercise: Complement water walking
by doing some muscle strengthening exercises like abdominal curls,
shoulder blade squeezes and back extensions. You can do these
exercises on a chair or on the floor.
• Eat calcium: Doctors recommend that you get about 1000 milligrams
of calcium a day, even though you have not yet reached menopause. If
you are not getting an ERT treatment, increase your calcium intake
by another 200 to 500 milligrams a day. This means that you can
drink a quart of skim milk a day or have two cups of low-fat yoghurt
or four cups of low-fat cottage cheese to get 1000 milligrams. You
can take the remaining requirements from supplements.
• Go for maximum absorption: Spread out your calcium supplements
throughout the day rather than take all at one go. Food supplements
should be taken with a meal. Doctors recommend you to take calcium
carbonate which is relatively inexpensive and is easily absorbed
when taken in divided dosages at mealtimes.
• Increase your Vitamin D: Get the maximum protection by consuming
400 international units of Vitamin D each day, especially if you do
not get enough sunlight. Milk contains about 100 international units
of Vitamin D, hence it is recommended that you take four cups a day.
But other dairy products like cheese, yogurt etc cannot be taken
into account since they are not fortified with Vitamin D. But do not
exceed the recommended dosage of 400 international units since this
vitamin is highly toxic in excess.
• Eat different types of food products: Bones do not contain calcium
alone but contain an amalgam of boron, zinc and copper along with
other minerals. You can get these trace elements by eating variety
of fruits, vegetables, nuts and other unprocessed foods.
• Stop smoking: Smoking has been shown to accelerate bone loss. It
accelerates the rate at which the body metabolizes estrogen and thus
canceling the benefits of ERT. It has been shown to cause bone loss
in men and postmenopausal women too.
• Control your medicines: Some drugs have been shown to hasten bone
loss. The most common types of drugs are corticosteroids taken for
variety of conditions like rheumatic, allergic and respiratory
disorders, L-thyroxine a thyroid medicine and furosemide which is a
diuretic used against fluid retention associated with high blood
pressure and kidney problems.
• Avoid fizzy drinks: Cola and other carbonated soft drinks contain
phosphoric acid, which contains phosphorus which is a mineral, when
taken in excess, causes your body to excrete calcium.
• Ease salt intake: Excess intake of salt throws the calcium out of
the body. Hence do not include salt more than necessary. Avoid
processed and junk foods.
About The Author
Sharon Hopkins has been managing a number of natural home remedies
websites, such as http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com, which can be
your guide to all the questions you have about the usefulness of
home cure. Osteoporosis is the disease which affects bones and can
be taken by following some natural remedies
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Learn how to be able to stop
Osteoporosis.
back to top
By Ivan (Mick) Hince.
Osteoporosis as I'm
sure you know is a terrible disease, and this following website
offers relief, and a vast amount of knowledge so that any one who
suffers can start to combat the pain and the symptoms.
Once again this is
another website from Mark Anastasi who's name keeps cropping up
throughout this website.
To learn what he has
to say please visit the website below.
Click here
to go to Mark's website.
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Cancer-Another viewpoint.
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top
By Ivan (Mick) Hince.
The website I'm about
to mention is a hard hitting, no nonsense look at various forms of
Cancer. Straight away I have to say that I like the hard
hitting format as it's content actually tells you the truth on what
to expect should you be unfortunate to suffer.
To visit this
website please click here.
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Remedies for Eczema
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By
alternative-mom.com/remedies-for-eczema/
One of the reasons for
keeping this blog is to talk about eczema, but I have put it off for
a long time. Having to explain how I’ve come to help the Angel cope
with eczema brings a lot of horror to me.
For many of you who have met the Angel in Singapore, you will
understand the true meaning of her acute eczema. Frankly, I do not
wish to re-live the horror, both for her and me, of the suffering
she had when we were in Singapore. No one can really understood the
trauma I went through. I faced a lot of stares, questions,
disapprovals, advices from people who did not understand and who
made me feel like I was the worst mom in the world. I not only had
to cope with a very difficult and distressed child, I had to cope
with the mental and emotional strain.
In the end, I holed up
myself and the Angel in the house until it was time for us to leave
for UK. Either we both didn’t handle it well or it was the weather
that added to the already mutilated skin. All I can say is that, for
the one month we spent in Singapore last year, the first three days
were heavenly before the onset of acute eczema resulted in
uncontrolled scratching, broken skin, from the face to neck to hands
to legs, pretty often soaking in blood.
Having gone through all that, I now learn that eczema can be
controlled in many ways. One way is probably medication, or steroid,
either in the form of cream or orally. Both of which we have
avoided.
When the Angel was about a month old, she developed a bad rash all
over the face due to being too bundled up in the sultry Singapore
weather. In the UK, she developed a red rash on the neck which
wouldn’t go away, and then it spread to her face and eventually,
other common places, like hands, legs and neck. That happened when
she was about four-month old.
Let’s keep the horror story short. In a nutshell, the eczema started
from there, and by the time the Angel was to be weaned at 7-month
old, she was found to be suffering from multiple-food allergies.
Again, it was another uphill for me, to learn how to cope with all
that food allergies and still feed her well. My greatest support and
help came from a health visitor, L, who totally understood the
problems I was facing, came faithfully to visit us and referred us
directly to the RVI and specialist clinics (immunologist,
dermatologist, dietician). She really saved me from a multitude of
heartache, headache and gave me confidence to go on, and grace to
handle very hopeless and helpless situations.
I started with steroid cream, gave up when the eczema didn’t go away
and was given even stronger steroid cream. When I managed to calm
the skin without the use of steroid (although the doctor thought I
did as I was prescribed yet another stronger steroid cream), I knew
that steroid was not the answer.
Today, I have found some remedies that work wonderfully well on the
skin. The true problem I have to cope with, though, is a
psychological problem of an Angel who turns into an uncontrolled
monster when it comes to scratching - she turns to scratching when
she is tired or bored. We have come a loooooong way from coping with
the scratching. It used to be much worse, such as during meal times.
I had to threaten to throw away the food before it stopped over
night. I am still working on the habitual scratching (Recently, I
think she needs to have her fingers chopped off!!!! I admit, there
are days when I think, “Why me?!”)
I strongly recommend these almost ‘natural’ remedies that seriously
work.
1) Dream Wash and Dream Cream from Lush - Children with eczema
suffer from such dryness of skin that when washing, the layer of oil
is gone, too. Using washing lotion that is oil based works miracles
for the skin, I used to use epaderm or balenum or oilatum. They do
keep the skin moist but they do not cope with the itch.
I now swear by Dream Wash and Dream Cream (they don’t call it DREAM
Wash and DREAM Cream without a reason =)) from Lush. Tried and
tested in the hot and humid weather in Shanghai last year, the Angel
did not suffer like she did in Singapore because of Dream Wash and
Dream Cream. When we returned 48 hours later than we were supposed
to, due to flight delay, I ran out of Dream Wash and the horror
began!
Dream Wash smells really good and has the prickly heat (similar to
the snake powder brand) ingredients. It somehow calms the skin a lot
and takes away the itch.
After using Dream Wash, I will apply Dream Cream as a base. Because
Dream Cream is not a grossly oily cream, I then apply epaderm which
is so super oily to keep the Angel’s skin moist. Dream Cream, again,
works as a barrier to prevent the itch but it is absorbed so
quickly, doesn’t help entirely with the moisture. Without using
Dream Cream, the itch returns.
Incidentally, I was advised to use Dream Cream and Dream Wash by a
kind lady in Ireland last June. It was the best holiday I have had -
Ireland remains my favourite place (the Wicklow mountain being the
place of immensely dense isolation) and I received the best advice
ever to help the Angel cope with her itch.
2) Carrot juice! This is the MIRACLE an acquaintance here advised me
to try. It has worked WONDERS! The Angel drank carrot juice everyday
for about a month and I have not seen her skin so beautiful for a
long time (except when we were in Norway which got me thinking that
eczema could be due to environmental issues).
I, the blur alternative mom, burnt the juicer and did not manage to
make her any carrot juice for a month! Because we are not keen to
accumulate more things before we pack our lives in boxes again, I
thought we’d wait. However, the skin cannot wait. I bought a juicer
last week and I’m bent on getting her skin back to being supple and
beautiful. To date, her skin is beautiful but it is the habitual
scratching that is the barrier to clear skin.
Even the Angel knows about the goodness of the carrot juice. On days
that she has been scratching, she will tell me, “Drink carrot juice!
I will get better!”
Another friend did recommend boiling carrots and apples and drinking
it. I tried it before and it helped, too. But the effect from
freshly blended carrot juice is almost immediate (results can be
seen within two days).
3) A daily dose of fish oil helps to keep the skin from breaking up.
In the initial stage of eczema, a homeopath happened to see Angel’s
skin and advised me to give fish oil. When I started fish oil, I
haven’t used Dream Wash and Dream Cream yet. By not giving fish oil
for a month, I realised that the scaly, flaky skin returned. I
started with Equazen and have never changed it since then.
There you are, just those wonderful remedies and eczema is kept at
bay. The combination of the above three combats different but
important issues - itchiness (Dream Wash and Dream Cream),
suppleness (carrot juice), elimination of scaly, flaky skin (fish
oil).
I strongly discourage the use of steroids (sensibly) and would
encourage parents to read, read and read labels and question doctors
and discuss with doctors when prescribed such creams or even
medication. It is very important to be an informed parent when it
comes to medication. My encounter with a paediatrician in Singapore
(almost two hours waiting time and less than five minutes of brisk
consultation) left me wondering if doctors prescribe just
‘quick-fixes’.
By trying to be as organic as possible, I think we can save some
problems later on in life from side effects or unknown effects.
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The root cause of Eczema.
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top
By Ivan (Mick) Hince.
This website deals
with the single biggest cause of Eczema which is the diet.
Much work has been done on this subject and I recommend that you
take ten minutes out to read what it has to say.
When my Son was a baby
he suffered terribly, and we had all sorts of pills and lotion from
the Doctors, so I do understand what people go through each day with
that constant itching.
To read more on this
article please go to the following website.
Click here
for more information.
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Natural cures from
Alzheimer's research.
back
to top
By Ivan (Mick) Hince.
If you’ve ever been to the Doctors with your
loved one, and the Doctor turns round to tell you that you’re loved
one has Alzheimer’s disease. He doesn’t know what triggered the
disease or any way he can offer to help you cure it.
It must feel
like the end of the world. The despair, heartache, and the utter
disbelief lies heavy in your heart.
Coming back
home you begin the medication the Doctor has provided, yet you know
that these drugs are only going to mask things as every day gets a
little worse. You know that this is just the begging of the
problems, and that you have been condemned to a life of misery.
Each day that
passes you notice how your memory starts to fade, and that
concentrating on anything is harder, along with your co-ordination.
Your partner having to put up with years of anger, depression, ill
health, lack of spontaneity. But don’t give up yet. Help is at
hand thanks to scientific research from a Doctor Young and his
colleagues.
They have
found that Alzheimer’s can be reversed with the right knowledge, and
the patient is able to start living a normal life again. Whether it
can be cured completely is still in the balance but great strides
forward have been made.
This
scientific research came up with the idea about our diet, and that
over the years all forms of new eating habits have crept in. Things
like biscuits, chocolate, sugar are just a few, and that by
cleansing the whole body, and taking certain supplements the patient
will get better, or at least show remarkable fitness gain.
Altogether
this has been a learning curve and the results have been spectacular
and the testimonials have been flooding each and every day.
Summing up I
think that this report is worth its wait in gold.
Click here to
visit the Alzheimer's website.
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Curing Athletes Foot.
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top
By Ivan (Mick) Hince.
Having Athletes Foot
is not pleasant to say the least. It's not a life threatening
thing, but it can drive you round the bend with all the itching and
burning.
During our life time
we all tend to get Athletes Foot once or twice, and normally you end
up down the Chemist's to buy powder or maybe a magic tube of cream.
These can be quite expensive, and usually when you come to use them
again (After they have been at the back of the cupboard for years)
their normally past their use by date, so you simply threw them out,
and once more you replace them with new.
But did you know that
one of the best cures, and it's cheap is Baking Powder. All it
cost is a few pence/cents and will last for years, and is very
effective. Simply dust lightly over the affected area, and your
problems will disappear.
There is a website you
can go to if you so wish, and to view the contents simply click the
link below.
Click here to
view the website.
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Drug Detox Treatment
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top
By:
Sandra Kim Leong
Drug detox is the
process of eliminating the toxins accumulated in the body due to the
intake of drugs. Different kinds of drug detox treatment are
available these days. Usually drug detox centres give simple
medication to the patient. This keeps the patient to get away from
the withdrawal, which is the physiological and mental readjustment
occurring due to the discontinuation of the use of drug or any other
addictive substances. Withdrawal is considered as the first steps to
drug detox.
The nature and severity of withdrawal mainly depends on the nature
and level of dependency of the drug used. An ideal drug detox centre
needs to include all the aspects of the withdrawal. The people who
use alcohol, cocaine and other prescription medicines need to take
the drug detox courses regularly. Most of the detox centre usually
provides the therapy and counselling with their detox program.
There are different kinds of drug detox treatment such as cocaine
detox, crack detox, marijuana detox, ecstasy detox, heroin detox and
methamphetamine detox. Inpatient and outpatient treatments are the
two main treatments for the drugs detox.
In the inpatient treatment, the drug detox centre gives 24 hours of
support in a day. The new surroundings of the inpatient treatments
usually help the patient to lead a drug free life. Usually hospitals
are used for the inpatient treatments. Some times residences are
used for these treatments. These residential inpatient treatments
are conducted in residential surroundings with the complete
supervision.
Inpatient drug detox treatments can be conducted for both short-term
and long-term periods. Often the inpatient treatments are conducted
for some short period such as for thirty days whereas the long-term
inpatient treatment usually lasts for many months or some times up
to one year. Short-term inpatient treatments usually consist of
medical stabilization, lifestyle changes and abstinence from drugs.
Because of the level of support provided, inpatient treatments are
recommended for those who are severely addicted to drugs. Once out
of inpatient care, outpatient treatments for regular checkups and
care are also recommended for follow-ups.
If there are any residues remained in the body, it will grow and
lead to cravings. Hence drug detox centres have to ensure the
complete purification from the drugs. The drug residues usually
remain in the fatty tissues of the body. These residues may be
passed to the blood many years after the individual has stopped the
taking of drugs.
Drug residues also cause the desire for more drugs. Hence the
complete elimination of drugs is very important in the drugs detox.
This is usually achieved through the regular exercises, sauna and
nutritional supplements. The residues of drugs such as LSD,
phencyclidine, cocaine, manjuana and diazepam are mainly accumulated
in the body. These compounds are usually found in long term and hard
core drug users.
The first step for a successful drug detox treatment program is to
make the patient to understand about the seriousness of the
treatment. The patients need to prepare themselves to keep away from
the drugs. The selection of an ideal drug detox center is also
important for the success of drugs detox treatment. Since drug detox
treatment causes withdrawal, patients need to have a highly
supportive environment for success of their cleansing programs.
Article Source:
http://www.articlestoreprint.com
Sandra Kim Leong writes on drug detox, alcohol detox, colon
cleansing, liver cleansing and detox diets. Read more here at
www.detox-cleansing.com.
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