CHANCROID; DONOVANOSIS

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Soft sore or soft chancre produces a painful ulcer on the genitals.

The pain tenderness and soft feel of chancroid distinguish it from the painless hard chancre of primary syphilis. It responds well to tetracyclines and also the sulphonamides.

Granuloma inguinale or Donovanosis is rarely seen in temperate countries. It is endemic among the Aboriginals of central and northern Australia and is common around Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. It has an incubation period of one to four weeks. It causes painless blisters or small papules on the skin of the genitals or thighs which then become raised and irregular and may break down and ulcerate. These lesions heal slowly and may leave marked scarring. Penicillin is not effective but the condition responds to the tetracyclines.

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EUTHANASIA – DISCUSSING EUTHANASIA

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The mature doctor will accept that death is inevitable, and will help his patients to approach it. But actively to push the patient across that threshold is another thing altogether.

Most doctors would accept the principle that one should not use extraordinary means to prolong life if that life has lost its “quality.”

But here the definition becomes obscure. For what is “quality” of life?

In the U.S. the medical profession has been confused by the always-present threat of a malpractice suit.

Fortunately, this is rare in Australia.

When you discuss euthanasia, either in support of it or not, you will need to consider who it is who makes the final decision — the patient, the patient’s family, the patient’s doctor, a panel of doctors or lay people, or perhaps a concensus of all of these.

But you will also need to discuss who will do the deed — the patient’s own doctor, or a specially licensed doctor — who carries out this procedure when requested.

God help him.

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YOUR CANCER, YOUR LIFE – SCREENING FOR CERVICAL CANCER (CONCLUSION)

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A lot of research has gone into screening for breast cancer. There is some evidence that yearly screening with clinical examination (feeling the breast) and mammography (special X-rays) in women over forty-five may improve the survival for breast cancer, but it doesn’t make a dramatic difference. I believe the best way of ensuring that breast cancer is diagnosed as early as possible is by examining your own breasts regularly and reporting to a doctor when you detect any lump or thickening. Breast cancer diagnosis is often delayed because women who know they have a lump ‘keep an eye on it’ themselves for some time before seeking attention. What I say about this applies to every symptom that may be due to cancer. If it is not cancer, having tests right away will put your mind at rest and save you a lot of unnecessary worry. If itis cancer, the earlier it is diagnosed, the better your chances. Pretending it isn’t there won’t make it go away—it will only live it mote time to grow and spread.

Cancer of die cervix is the only type of cancer where a screening procedure has been shown to influence the mortality of the disease;; You could think through possible screening procedures fof other: types of cancer yourselfI think that the examples I have given are enough to show you the difficulties involved. If only there was a simple blood test for cancer!

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CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM METASTASES – CONCLUSION

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Thus, a deposit starting in the bones of the spine or between the bone and meningeal covering can cause pressure on the spinal cord. Because the outside part of the meninges is called the dura, these deposits are called extradural lesions (‘extra’ meaning ‘outside of). Symptoms depend on the location. They often include pins and needles, loss of feeling and loss of strength in the feet and legs, and partial or complete loss of control of bowel and bladder. Extradural lesions cannot be seen on a plain X-ray. They do show up on a CT scan. Another way of ‘seeing’ them is with a myelogram. Here a liquid contrast material is injected into the spinal fluid through a lumbar puncture needle. Because the liquid is heavier than the spinal fluid, it ‘settles’ in the lowest available location. The person can be safely tilted up and down at different angles on a special ’tilt table’ to get the contrast material to the trouble spot.

I have discussed in detail how we can look for secondary deposits in the common sites: the lungs, liver, bone and central nervous system. The same type of approach applies to whatever part of the body is suspected of containing secondary lesions. Suspicions based on symptoms, findings on clinical examination or blood tests may be followed up by appropriate X-rays, scans, biopsies etc. Ask your doctor for an explanation if you don’t understand why certain tests are recommended. You have every right to refuse tests, for example, if you can’t see what difference the results would make to your care.

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WHOOPING COUGH – TREATMENT

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Being a bacterial illness it responds to antibiotics, although the organism is resistant to penicillin.

Pertussis vaccine is present in the triple antigen and is given to children starting at eight weeks of age. The greatest threat to children from whooping cough is to those under 12 months old.

Older children tolerate whooping cough much better, but may be affected by severe side effects from the vaccine.

The whooping cough part of triple antigen is usually not given to those over 12 months old. When immunisation is necessary, the CDT (combined diphtheria and tetanus) vaccine is used instead.

Cough suppressants are of little use trying to control whooping cough, but the child will usually respond fairly quickly once antibiotics are given.

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ETHICAL ISSUES IN OBESITY TREATMENT: THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF PROVIDING ADVICE

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When someone comes to you for help, they assume that you have the power to help them. How much power they provide you, as the professional, will depend on the individual. Some will expert you to be very powerful, perhaps able to bring about great changes and protect them from harm in the process. Others will expect less, seeing the power as being equally shared or confined to areas of knowledge and expertise that they believe themselves to lack. This may have little to do with your real powers but be an expression of the client’s needs and habitual ways of dealing with other people. Of course, often you will have knowledge and expertise that the client lacks and they trust you to give advice that is safe, effective and appropriate.

You have an obligation to act responsibly with this power, especially where the client expects a lot or is unaware of how much they are putting themselves in your hands. You are often in the better position to understand any complications in managing his or her needs.

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THE G.I. FACTOR: CARBOHYDRATE REQUIREMENTS FOR BIGGER EATERS

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The picture of an average eater would fit you if you are:

• doing regular physical activity (but not strenuous exercise),

• an adult of average frame size.

Bigger eaters need to eat:

• around 6 slices of bread or the equivalent (crackers, rolls, muffins)

PLUS

• about 3 pieces of fruit or the equivalent (juice, dried fruit)

PLUS

• 1 cup of high carbohydrate vegetables (corn, legumes, potato, sweet potato) PLUS

• at least 2 cups of cereal or grain food (breakfast cereal or cooked rice, or pasta or other grain)

PLUS

• 2 cups of low-fat milk or the equivalent (yoghurt, ice cream).

This provides 260 grams of carbohydrate which is suitable for a 7500 kilojoule (1800 Calorie) diet. This is appropriate for a young, active adult of average build.

Carbohydrate is the most satiating of all nutrients. This simply means that it satisfies your appetite and fills you up. Overconsumption of food is highly unlikely on a high carbohydrate and low-fat diet. So, base your diet on high fibre carbohydrate foods like whole-grain breads, cereals, fruit, vegetables and legumes and let your appetite dictate how much you need to eat.

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EXERCISES IN PAIN FOR THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF PAIN: EXPERIENCING PAIN IN PURE FORM

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We are now in a better position to discuss this idea. We can relax and stick a pin into our skin without feeling discomfort, and we can touch our skin with the burning string as it glows red hot without any real feeling of hurt. In both instances we feel something, as we have not made our arm numb by dissociation. I find it very hard to describe what we do actually feel. There do not seem to be the right words to describe it. This is so because it is a feeling which we do not ordinarily experience. It is not just the feeling of touch because there is more in it than that. It is not pain as we ordinarily know it because it does not hurt. It is in fact the feeling of pure pain.

As we learn to do our exercises with less and less regression, we become more fully aware of this new sensation. It is not a nice sensation, neither is it nasty. There is no pleasure in it as in the masochistic embellishment of pain. We can feel pleased in a natural way with our newly learned ability to experience pain in this fashion, but this is a reality-based pleasure and quite distinct from the perverted pleasure of masochism.

As with the other aspects of this system, of self-management of anxiety and pain, we integrate this principle into our ordinary way of life. When by chance we are exposed to pain, we recollect the sensation of pure pain which we experienced during our exercises, and as we relax, the present pain merges into this new sensation. We must practise this in all the incidents of trivial pain which befall us. In the past we could have borne these minor incidents just as best we could; but now we use them to practise our new-found ability.

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THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM IN THE IRIS

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The question arises: Is it true that the sympathetic nervous system registers in the iris as a square, as shown in several iris charts?

After studying the existing systems, I have come to the conclusion that the sympathetic trunk and the sympathetic ganglia have their proper place around the iris-wreath, but before giving my interpretation, I would like to outline the relevant observations given in these systems.

Irisdiagnosis has been greatly enriched by Anderschou’s location of the ganglionic plexi in the iris. He portrays the ganglionic plexus as a chainlike range of elevations between the nutritive organ areas (stomach and intestines) and the other organ areas of the body. Observation of it in the iris is rather difficult, and not possible in an iris of compact and dense texture.

On close examination with a lens, the small indications are found in conjunction with the organ-arcs. A part of the colon and intestines is to be found inside the sympathetic line, but all borders are dependent upon the mutual influences of the affected (diseased) parts. In this connection, I should like to point out that the medulla oblongata also has its place here.

In the Anderschou chart, the sympathetic line is indicated as a square around the iris-wreath, with arcs of different sizes directed inwardly and outwardly.

The solar plexus, a ganglionic plexus of the general nervous system, is also the control centre of the body-life, which through the umbilical cord has built up the whole body according to the three polar axes of the three dimensions. The animal nervous system, subject to consciousness and will, has its centre in the brain. The control centre of the vegetative nervous system corresponds in the iris with the central fibrous ring of the pupillary sphincter around the pupil.

The position of the solar plexus (plexus coeliacus) has been defined by only two or three investigators, who, however, are very vague in their exact location, and with whom I must completely disagree. According to the anatomical position, the solar plexus is found in front of the sympathetic trunk, in which case it is unquestionably a gastro-intestinal plexus. In spite of other opinion, it can only be placed with the sympathetic nervous system, whose location in the iris-wreath surrounding the digestive area, therefore the intestinal area, is quite definite. The sympathetic trunk shows as a ring-formation around the solar plexus in the region of the

iris-wreath.

He correlates the Vagus with the upper layer of the iris, the Sympathetic with the second layer, and the motor and sensory nerve fibres with the third layer. The correspondence with Hense’s view of the nerve layers is significant.

Kronenberger’s interpretation of the threefold arc-formation and the nerve rings is found in Hense in a different form. This interpretation of the three arc-formations has presumably also led to the introduction of the three major, six minor regions in the iris chart of Madaus-Flink.

However, that the sympathetic nervous system is not seen as a square, but that if signs such as black streaks or white lines go from the outer edge of the iris to the iris-wreath, or radiate out from the pupil and break through the iris-wreath, such signs always refer to the Sympathetic. It indicates that the complaints have a chronic character and would be difficult to cure.

Iris chart in which the sympathetic nervous system is indicated around the iris-wreath as a square, and on which he marks the lower line as the sympathetic ganglia, and the upper line as the sympathetic nervous system with connections to the head. Although the organ areas do not quite correspond with the modern chart, one must agree that even at that time a good understanding had been worked out. Everything is so arranged that it could be developed further, thus enabling later investigators to improve the existing system.

In the works of the more recent investigators, Maubach, Angerer and Deck, we find no localisation of the vegetative nervous system.

After concluding this review of different authors and of the anatomical relations, I think I can claim that the following key to the location of the vegetative nervous system in the iris is in accordance with the findings of many investigators.

The autonomic nervous system is described as a nervous system which functions according to its own laws. Anatomically considered, the autonomic nervous system, together with the glands of internal secretion and the body fluids, forms a functional unity.

The Vagus ( = Parasympathetic) is the 10th cranial nerve. It is also called the pneumogastric nerve. It consists of all those vegetative nerve fibres, including their origins and central connections, which arise in the mid-brain and the medulla oblongata, as well as in the sacral division. As the cranio-sacral system, it is functionally opposed to the thoracico-lumbar system (Sympathetic). The fibres of the parasympathetic do not run over the sympathetic trunk, but use true brain and spinal cord nerves as conductors.

The Sympathetic system, also known as the thoracico-lumbar system or the sympathetic trunk, has its cells of origin in the lateral horns of the thoracic and upper lumbar spinal cord. The spinal centres belonging to the vertebral column and spinal cord are subject to the influence of higher centres in the medulla oblongata, in the mid-brain, and in the cerebral cortex.

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THE MONTHLY MENSTRUAL CYCLE: OLD-FASHIONED REMEDIES

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When a system as complicated as this seems to be going wrong, it’s very difficult to pinpoint exactly which part is at fault. This is why there are no easy remedies for period pain and why

different doctors in different clinics suggest different treatments. There was a time, about twenty or thirty years ago, when the standard remedy for the cramps was a strong dose of aspirin. If that failed, and it usually did, the only other possibility was to refer the patient for the operation called a ‘D and C, standing for dilatation and currettage. This involved giving you a general anaesthetic and then stretching the neck of your womb and scraping out the inner lining. In most cases this seemed to reduce the pain for a few months, but for most women the effect didn’t last very long and soon they were suffering as much as ever. Doctors now don’t suggest this operation so readily.

After D and Cs there was quite a vogue for what were called psychosomatic illnesses. Rather a lot of doctors thought that period pain was all in the mind and that if you cultivated a healthy attitude towards it, it would go away. For a handful of women who were genuinely snarled up, this approach was a help. For the rest it was absolutely demoralizing; being told it’s all in the mind doesn’t cure the pain, it simply makes you feel guilty or abnormal. This is precisely why a point was made of establishing right at the beginning of this book that period pain has physical causes. The trouble is that we don’t know exactly what they are.

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