Natural aid for cuts and bruises

If you haven’t got a natural first aid kit that contains a homoeopathic ointment for cuts, or any arnica for bruises, then don’t despair. Look in the kitchen cupboard and if you have vinegar – apple cider for preference – then you have a remedy at hand. Just soak a clean, damp, cloth in vinegar, and apply to the affected area every 15 minutes until the pain goes away. It will act as a compress and also draws the discoloration out of bruises.

Feeling the heat in cancer treatment and menopause

Hot flushes are the bane of many menopausal women’s existence, but they also commonly occur in breast cancer patients who have treatment-related vasomotor symptoms. This is when there is an increase or decrease in the diameter of a blood vessel, which can regulate the amount of blood travelling to a particular body part.

Hot flushes or night sweats that result from the sudden opening of the blood vessels close to the skin, usually due to hormonal fluctuation, can be very uncomfortable- whatever their cause. There are a couple of natural alternatives that can be an effective alternative to drug therapy with fewer side effects.

The first is acupuncture, as was reported at the recent meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. The women in their study had reported a minimum of 14 hot flushes a week, and half the group had twice weekly acupuncture treatments weekly for the first four weeks, followed by weekly sessions during the final eight weeks. The other half of the group were given drugs to control the flushes and received the standard daily dose usually given to manage vasomotor symptoms.

The study found that not only was acupuncture effective in reducing or eliminating the hot flushes, but it had no adverse effects. What did surprise them was that the therapeutic effects of acupuncture persisted long after the treatment. To quote them:

“Women who took the drug therapy started to have an increase in the number and intensity of hot flushes within two weeks of discontinuing the drug therapy, whereas women who had acupuncture didn’t start to have an increase in the number or severity of hot flushes for 14 or 15 weeks after discontinuing therapy.” They also observed that the acupuncture group not only reported no treatment-related side effects, but said they had improvement in energy, clarity of thought, sexual desire, and overall sense of well-being

Herbal Remidies to Tame Flushes and Night Sweats

Herbs have long been used in many cultures to help with hormonal disturbance and one of the oldest in use is sage. An Australian study in 2005 found that it reduced severe hot flushes by 60% – that’s worth trying isn’t it?

To make sage tea, take ten fresh leaves, or one and a half teaspoons of dried sage if you can’t get fresh leaves. Pour hot (not quite boiling) water over the leaves and add a spoon or two of honey to sweeten it. That way you get some B vitamins to help lift your mood as well! Let it cool slightly and drink about an hour before you go to bed.

Another popular herb for hot flushes and night sweats is black cohosh. In my experience this seems to work well for some women – but I would have to say not for all but dong quai seems more effective for the majority. A comparative study between HRT and dong quai, done in 2003, showed a huge 30% reduction in hot flushes after a month. The suggested dosage for hot flushes is 600mg a day, BUT there is however a strong contra-indication if you are taking medication such as warfarin, as dong quai is known to act as a blood thinner. Hot flushes seem to be variable from woman to woman so you may have to do a bit of experimenting to see what works, and when you are reduced to sleeping naked in a cast iron bath to cool down – and yes that is the voice of personal experience speaking – then you don’t always feel that patient! If trying individual herbs doesn’t work for you then try one of the combinations that several supplement companies make – and also watch to see if you have any triggers for your flushes. Stress can be a major one, as can certain things like coffee – might be worth keeping a food and mood diary to see if you can pin it down.

Top 7 tips for flu prevention

After mentioning last week about the ineffectiveness of some flu jabs, I have been asked to give some more suggestions as to how you can prevent this seasonal visitor. With the weather changing so rapidly, from hot to cold on a daily basis, our bodies are more vulnerable to attack from viruses so you could try these simple tools to help you stay ahead of the flu:

1 Always wash your hands, inside and outside of the home, with hot water and soap. Carry a hand cleansing gel or towel for those times when handwashing facilities are not available. Oh and remember, one of the major ways to pick up viruses is not from public toilets, but public handrails. Wipe/wash your hands after placing them on a stair rail or support on an escalator.

2 There is an excellent homoeopathic cold and flu remedy made up by Galen Pharmacy in Dorchester. You take one tablet twice a day every fortnight until the bottle is finished. I swear by it, and if you want to order then call them on 01305 263996 and they will post you a dinky little bottle with an invoice, usually the same day.

3 If you don’t want a complete remedy then you just take astragalus. It is an immune-enhacing herb used in Chinese medicine that can help to build resistance to both the flu and the common cold.

4 Echinacea is well favoured as a winter boost to the immune system, just don’t take it continuously.

5 Keep your antioxidant levels high by eating plenty of berries, drinking green tea and the occasional piece of dark chocolate – all of which provide you with natural and tasty – antioxidants.

6 Maintain good levels of vitamin C and zinc in your diet to support your immune system.

7 Make sure you have plenty of fluids because staying hydrated keeps your nasal passages moist. This provides a better natural defence against viruses.

To jab or not to jab

That is indeed the question – particularly in relation to the flu jab which is on offer at this time of year. It’s over three years now since doubt was first cast on the effectiveness of the flu jab, particularly in protecting elderly people. Now it seems that a new study published in the US shows that the 2007-08 flu vaccine was only 44% effective, which made it the worst flu season the worst since 2003-04.

In fairness, flu vaccines are formulated based on health officials’ educated guesses about which strains of the virus are most likely to be circulating in a given year. Three of these strains are picked for inclusion in the vaccine and when they guess correctly, the vaccine is usually between 70 and 90% effective.

Sounds like a bit of a lottery to me, and again going the natural route I prefer to boost my system with a seasonal acupuncture tune up and regular doses of Echinacea and vitamin C – it seems to work for me.

Surgeons call for ban on breast surgery ads

I spotted this in the Independent, but if you didn’t see it, then it’s worth a mention. Apparently, some clinics are using models with “anatomically impossible” breasts to promote the benefits of cosmetic surgery. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) are concerned that such models – often digitally enhanced – create “unrealistic expectations” in clients and feel they should be banned in advertisements.

I don’t think it’s the ads that are the problem, more a society that thinks it’s problems can be solved by moving up several cup sizes. If you follow their logic then page 3 girls, girlie magazines and the like should also be banned – it’s not the models it’s the belief that there is one standard of acceptable and desirable beauty and that anyone can get it by going under the surgeon’s knife.

Still, I wish them luck with their campaign – perhaps they could also lay down some minimum ages for patients as well while they are about it. There are still sensible doctors, like the one who had promised their daughter implants for her 16th birthday – though doubtless they would find one somewhere who would do it after just a quick Google search.

Why men need some weight at middle age

I am not advocating middle aged spread, but being too thin can be a real health risk for men. A study carried out at the University of Oslo on nearly 1,500 men over a 30-year period, has found that men who were relatively thin when young, or who lost weight as they aged, were at increased risk of osteoporosis, the brittle bone disease, when they were in their 70′s.

It’s often believed that it’s only women who are affected by osteoporosis, but this is just not the case. Because it is hard to identify without a bone scan, the first symptom is often an inexplicable bone break. I met one man who had only been diagnosed after his fourth fracture – as he played rugby it was put down to that, but his bones were breaking under very little pressure.

There are treatments available, usually your doctor will suggest drugs such as Fosamax, but excellent results have been seen in women using natural progesterone cream to rebuild bone. Not enough men have used it to say whether it is as effective for them, but it might be worth a try. Remember, your bones are constantly regenerating throughout your life. Old bone is drawn upon to supply instant demands for calcium (osteoclasts) and is replaced by new bone material (osteoblasts) to keep the skeleton strong. As we age, the process of rebuilding becomes less effective, and there is an overall loss of density, and the bones under examination can look almost lace-like when osteoporosis is well advanced.

If you want to avoid it, and there is a family predilection, then these are the factors that contribute most strongly to your losing bone density and strength – whether you are a man or a woman:

* Drinking too many colas as they are high in phosphorus which draws calcium from the bones.

* Not getting enough exercise – you need it to strengthen your bones.

* Eating too much fat from dairy and meat. Vegans and vegetarians have greater bone mass than meat eaters.

* Drinking too much alcohol as it interferes with calcium absorption.

* Excess coffee drinking as a study of nearly 83,000 patients showed a correlation between bone fractures and heavy coffee consumption.

* Smoking has been proven to increase bone loss.

* Some prescription drugs such as cortisone, blood thinners, antacids containing aluminum, chemotherapy, lithium, and certain antibiotics can increase bone loss.

* A junk food diet high in salt and sugar will leach calcium from the bones into the urine.

If you want to know more about the role of natural progesterone, a book I wrote with Dr Shirley Bond will give you more information. You will find details at the www.catalystonline.co.uk website. Plus, new research just presented to the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research is pointing towards compounds that could induce the body to treat itself for osteoporosis with the parathyroid hormone.

It is in the early stages of development, but it would probably involve a series of injections of a form of parathyroid hormone which triggers bone-building. Currently just using parathyroid drugs is extremely expensive – around £4000 a year – but it is hoped that the molecules reported here could be delivered much more cheaply and be more effective at promoting bone building.

Scarless surgery

Surgery is a big deal. It can seem scary, even when it’s essential for our health we can’t help worrying about what is going to happen, and if we are going to have a big ugly scar. Well the good news is that you can avoid the scar, if not the scare, by having what’s being called ‘Natural Orifice Surgery’.

You won’t be cut open, instead there are now at least two dozen Americans who have undergone a new operation designed to hurt less, get you back to work more quickly and leave no visible scars. For one patient, Albert Pagliuca, who needed his gallbladder removed, he nearly balked when told that doctors would pull it out through his mouth. Not unnaturally he was worried it might get stuck in his windpipe and he would choke, but after doctors guaranteed that it would not happen, he agreed – makes a frog in the throat seem quite normal doesn’t it?

This is not entirely new, as three years ago surgeons realised they could enter the body through natural openings with flexible endoscopes, which are routinely used for diagnostic purposes such as colon cancer screening. After experimenting for years on pigs and human cadavers, a team in India announced in 2005 the first successful procedure in humans.

To remove a gallbladder or an appendix through the mouth, surgeons give patients a general anaesthetic and slide an endoscope down the throat and into the stomach. They inflate the abdominal area to make it easier to see and sterilise the stomach. In addition to a camera that transmits images, the endoscope is equipped with a variety of small instruments, including a tiny scalpel that cuts a hole in the stomach wall, allowing the surgeon to snake the endoscope to the organ needing removal. Other instruments enable the surgeon to move the organ, cauterize bleeding blood vessels, suture and clip the internal incisions and pull out the organ.

Surgeons have now performed the procedures on more than 400 patients worldwide, mostly in South America and India. The technique has been used mostly to remove gallbladders through the mouth or the vagina. But a few patients have had appendectomies, and doctors are experimenting with stomach surgery for obesity and other conditions.

Doctors in Europe are also now experimenting with them, and many surgeons are already enthusiastic about the possibilities, but some question the need for the new procedures when safe, only slightly invasive alternatives exist. And they fear that doctors will rush ahead before they have perfected their techniques and made sure that the benefits are worth the risks.

Worryingly, other surgeons agree: “That’s exactly what’s going to happen,” said Ira J. Kodner, a surgery professor and a bioethicist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Those who haven’t been trained are going to go out and do it. They are going to take a weekend course and start offering it. It’s going to happen. I guarantee it.”

The idea of a ‘weekend course’ is frightening enough in itself, and I find myself sympathetic to the views of David Cronin, an associate professor of surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin who said: “Not every idea is a good idea. I’ve been following this one with clenched teeth.”

Laparoscopic surgeries in the early 1990s were also hailed as a great innovation, but caused medical complications so this time round there is a call for making sure that patient safety is paramount and the technique developed in a responsible and careful manner. For the most part, the benefit is there’s no visible hole on the patient’s body but there is a risk that the incision in the stomach wall might leak, you may perforate an organ and cause a patient a really serious complication such as a life-threatening infection. All this just to avoid a cosmetic scar, and you have to ask if it’s worth it.

One patient who had no doubts is Awilda Sanchez of New York, who went home the same day she had her gallbladder removed through her vagina in March. She said: “I think everybody should get this. Now when it’s bikini time, I won’t have to worry about a scar. I think it’s great.” On the other hand, Colleen Caddell, from Oregan was not so thrilled as she described experiencing several days of throat pain so intense and excruciating she could barely swallow, and a week of vomiting, after having her gallbladder removed through her mouth.

One more optimist is Marc Bessler, director of laparoscopic surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital who said: “So far it doesn’t seem to be risky, the patients definitely have a cosmetic benefit, recovery seems to be better, and they seem to have less pain. If we can get to recovery-free, pain-free, and scar-free surgery, then that would be a revolution.”

My concern, given the very high value US society places on physical beauty and fast response, is the desire for quick, no-scarring surgery could move too fast for safety. So don’t ask your surgeon for it just yet!

Celery and the brain

Researchers at the University of Illinois report that a plant compound found in abundance in celery and green peppers can disrupt a key component of the inflammatory response in the brain. This could be important news for the research on ageing, and on diseases such as Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis.

Inflammation plays a key role in many neurodegenerative diseases and also is implicated in the memory and behaviour problems that can arise as we get older. Inflammation is not always a bad thing; it is a critical part of the body’s immune response that in normal circumstances reduces injury and promotes healing, but when it goes wrong then it can lead to serious physical and mental problems.

The new study looked at luteolin, a plant flavonoid in celery and green peppers which is known to impede the inflammatory response in several types of cells outside the central nervous system. Herbalists have known about the cooling properties of celery for decades and prescribe it for arthritis and hot flushes, but now it seems scientists are also taking it seriously. Add celery and green peppers to your diet and you will whizzing through the crossword in record time. If you don’t like the taste of them – and I know some people who don’t – then if you have a juicer add it to your mix. I juice celery regularly with apples and carrot to boost my immune system and help with arthritis and even celery-haters love the taste of the juice.

Aspartame – The sweet deception

I know I have mentioned aspartame before – probably too often – but I can’t emphasise strongly enough that sweeteners do you no favour, especially if you are trying to lose weight. Your body does not recognise a sweetener as sugar, and so you unconsciously seek it out in other ways. Many experts now believe that Aspartame is one of the most dangerous substances ever added to food, not only because it has been proven to make you fatter, but because of its links to serious health problems such as cancer and neurological diseases.

Why am I mentioning it now? Because many people just don’t think it’s true, or that I am a scaremongering killjoy (only on Halloween and never when it concerns your health!) Can I just point out that Aspartame has brought more complaints to the Food and Drug Agency in the USA than any other additive-ever. It’s responsible for a staggering 75% of the complaints they receive and from 10,000 consumer complaints, the FDA compiled a list of 92 symptoms, including death.

Now I think death is a pretty serious symptom – so if you are addicted to diet drinks and sweeteners, could you at least cut down and stop me worrying about you?

Criminals watch your diet!

This story is irresistible to a woman who writes so often about the effects of diet on health. What I didn’t realise is that what you eat could also get you banged up! Dr John Bond, a researcher at the University of Leicester and scientific support officer at Northamptonshire Police, is the inventor of a revolutionary forensic fingerprint technique that will help put unhealthy criminals behind bars.

He claims that criminals who eat processed foods are more likely to be discovered by police because their fingerprint sweat corrodes metal – just shows you what fast food does to your stomach if just the sweat can eat away an external surface like that! Apparently the police already love consumers of processed foods as they tend to be leave better fingerprints for the police to identify.

It’s down to the fact that sweaty fingerprint marks made more of a corrosive impression on metal if they had a high salt content – and processed food, fish and chips and burgers tend to be high in salt as a preservative. The body needs to excrete excess salt, which comes out as sweat through the pores in our fingers, and so when you touch a surface it will be high in salt if you eat a lot of processed foods – the higher the salt, the better the corrosion of the metal.

Not sure whether I should be encouraging fast food diets in criminals, to aid their capture, or encourage them to switch to the Mediterranean diet!

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