Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

Iris signs, from which a disease state can be diagnosed, are differentiated

(a) By their colour

(b) By their shape

‘How do the Iris-signs Originate?’ It was stated there that white, dark and black signs can appear:

1. White signs are signs of inflammation or over-stimulation. The whiter the signs, the more acute, inflammatory and painful is the condition of the affected organ. If the condition becomes chronic, then the originally white sign changes to blue-white, dirty-white, yellow or even brown.

The white iris signs show only in blue and grey irides as so brightly white. In brown eyes, the acute state shows only as a lightening of the brown iris tissues, which are then brighter than the background shade, but never quite white.

2. Dark iris signs are signs of under-stimulation, diminished function, and enervation. The iris shows in the appropriate region—grey to dark grey, but yet not black. These signs are always to be seen where the superficial surface layer of the iris has receded to expose the second

layer—vascular layer (= the lacunae and dark wispy signs).

The dark iris-signs denote a chronic disease state of the tissues as suggested above in referring to the yellow to brown signs. The difference between these two groups is to be found in the cause of the actual disease conditions. Above are signs resulting from the deposition of toxic wastes and residues in the tissues. They are indications of a state of tissue which has been described by N. Krack in Erfahrungsheilkunde 5—1961 as follows :

These signs are symptoms of incomplete products of intermediate metabolism which infiltrate into the interstitial connective tissue and there induce degenerative processes, indurations and loss of fluid. This process is progressive, attacks always the connective tissues, and can even encroach upon vascular and nerve fibres.

As against the signs just described, which originate from an excess in the tissues, and which become visible in the iris as deposits. Above: dark iris-signs indicating over-relaxed tissues with tendency to tissue destruction and consequent atrophy.

3. Black iris signs indicate loss of substance. They originate from the destruction of the second layer of the iris, which thus allows the third pigment layer to become exposed.

4. Coloured signs in the iris—also called toxin-flecks—can appear as yellowish-red, rust-red, brown, black-brown, or in all other shades. They lie mainly in the deeper iris-layers. These foreign colourings will be explained later on in this book, but it may here be noted that Dr. Schnabel in his book Iridoskopie has written fully on these different forms and colours. Angerer also treats these indications fully in his work, Handbuch der Augendiagnostik.

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Menstrual problems at different stages in a woman’s life have to be coped with in very different surroundings. You may be at your office desk, standing at the sink at home, or working for an exam in the classroom when you develop a blinding headache or one of the other wretched symptoms we have been considering. Although some of the problems are obviously peculiar to the particular setting, the methods of dealing with them often apply to those that arise elsewhere. You may find some helpful advice even in the sections geared to stages and circumstances quite different from yours — some of the ways of coping with depression, work whether you’re fourteen years old or forty.

At work-When I started to think about this subject, I hardly knew where to begin, for nowadays over half the women in this country are out at work. The jobs they do are so varied and need so many different skills that if I were to deal with all the difficulties that can be caused by painful periods at work, I’d need to write a book and not a chapter. Nevertheless there are some general guidelines. Perhaps the most important of all are to do with safety.

Many women work in factories and workshops handling machinery which is hazardous at the best of times. If, on top of that, your period makes you clumsy and off-balance, you’re in very real danger of having an accident. Dr Dalton’s survey of four London hospitals showed that half the women admitted as emergencies were suffering from periods at the time they were admitted. And in the United States, the Center for Safety Education has discovered that most accidents to women occur in the forty-eight hours before their periods begin. Women are at risk at this time and so are the people they work with.

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Medications

Treating a sick child with medication is a two-way responsibility, and it’s a perfect example of how parent and doctor work together in the interests of the child’s health. The doctor is responsible for making an accurate diagnosis of the child’s condition and prescribing the appropriate drug. But it’s the parent’s responsibility to make sure that the drug is administered correctly.

Some doctors estimate that 10 to 30 percent of cases in which medication apparently fails to work occur because the medication didn’t get a chance to work – because it wasn’t given properly. Whenever a doctor prescribes medication for your child, the doctor will also instruct you as to how the medicine should be taken. If you don’t understand, ask. And don’t rely on the scribble on the prescription. Prescriptions are written in a form of medical shorthand that is quite clear to a pharmacist but may not mean a thing to you. So make sure you know, before you leave the doctor’s office or get off the phone, just how to give the child the medication.

How much. The quantity of medication the doctor prescribes for your child depends on the child’s body weight and age. The dosage prescribed for a baby will be much different from that prescribed for an adolescent, even if the drug is the same and given for the same reason. It’s important to give the child the exact amount prescribed, and that means you can’t rely on hit-or-miss measurements. It’s easy enough to give one or two pills, but liquid measures are more tricky. You can’t use a kitchen teaspoon to administer a teaspoon of medication – you could be way off. One tea-spoonful means 5.0 cc (cubic centimeters) of liquid. Half a teaspoonful means 2.5cc – not what looks like half of the teaspoon you use to stir your coffee.

You can buy a specially marked measuring spoon for medication from any pharmacist. Keep it in the medicine chest and be sure to use it any time you’re giving the child liquid medication. If you’ve got a child who insists on taking medication from his or her own special spoon, transfer the medication from the measuring spoon to the child’s spoon after measuring.

Make sure the child takes all the medication. If the child vomits within 20 minutes of receiving medication, you can assume the medication was lost and should give another dose.

When. It’s also important to follow the doctor’s instructions about when medicine should be given. Different medications require longer or shorter periods of time to be absorbed by the body and start doing their work of helping the child get well. Some medications need to be given at very precisely regulated intervals. Make sure you understand the prescription, because “four times a day” and “every six hours” do not mean the same thing.

If the label on the medication tells you to give the medicine four times a day, it means that the child should have four doses within the waking hours at fairly equally spaced intervals.

On the other hand, “every six hours” means exactly what it says. Each dose must be given six hours after the last one, and the child must be awakened at the appropriate time if necessary. This instruction may also appear on the prescription as every six hours “around the clock.”

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Acne is a condition of the skin that occurs most commonly during adolescence. Acne usually appears on the face, but it may also appear on the chest and back. In its mildest form, acne appears as large blackheads and whiteheads (blind blackheads). The formation of pimples occurs in a more severe case. The worst cases form cysts and scars.

For generations it was mistakenly thought that acne was caused by a lack of cleanliness and a diet of junk foods. Now it is believed that acne is caused by the action of hormones during the adolescent years. Pimples are caused by normal skin germs breaking down the oil in the blackheads and forming irritating substances. The pus that results is not an infection.

Signs and symptoms

The skin breaks out in red bumps which may or may not be open. Lumps under the skin indicate that the acne has formed cysts.

Home care

Wash the affected area with mild soap twice a day. After washing, apply acne preparations containing sulphur, resorcin, salicylic acid, or mild benzoyl peroxide. Large, unsightly blackheads can be gently removed with a blackhead spoon, available at your pharmacy. Changes in the teenager’s diet are probably unnecessary.

Precautions

• To avoid making a case of acne worse, adolescents should stay away from products that can irritate the skin, such as motor oil, petrol, and oil-containing cosmetics.

• Do not squeeze or pick pimples since scarring may result.

• Do not treat acne in young infants.

• If acne does not improve, or if cysts develop, see your doctor.

Medical treatment

Acne treatment has vastly improved in the past five years. Doctors now prescribe new vitamin A ointment or liquid and prescription-strength benzoyl peroxide that are applied to the skin. There is also a new medication taken by mouth for severe acne that forms cysts. Long-term treatment using tetracycline or other antibiotics taken by mouth is safe and effective. Applying antibiotics on the skin is still experimental, but promising. Disfiguring scars can be removed by a dermatologist or plastic surgeon without hospitalization once the acne is under control. Never allow X ray treatment of acne.

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Do I have to take any special precautions for my feet?

As a child or young person with diabetes, you should not have special problems with your feet. Older people with diabetes may develop circulation problems or loss of nerve sensation, but you should be able to prevent this happening.

You should of course take good care of your body like anyone else, and this includes your feet. Here are some suggestions which really apply to anybody, whether or not they have diabetes.

1. Keep your feet clean: germs can cause skin infections.

2. Wear well-fitting shoes. Thongs are good in summer. Sneakers and runners should be of reasonably good quality to lessen the stresses and strains of sport on the knees and ankles.

3. Toe-nails should be cut straight across to prevent in-growing toe-nails.

4. Treat tinea, warts and skin infections promptly if they develop.

5. See a podiatrist if there are any foot care problems.

6. See your doctor if there is an in-growing toe-nail that becomes infected or any other skin or foot disorder.

I am a teenager. I keep getting thrush which is irritating and sometimes sore. Why?

Thrush in the genital region – the vagina and around the labia – is quite common in adolescent girls with diabetes. High levels of glucose in the genital secretion seem to favour the growth of this yeast infection. There are a number of creams that help clear it, but it will recur if the levels of glucose remain high.

You should take care to get diabetes under really good control and at the same time use the treatment for thrush that your doctor will prescribe. The yeast also sometimes lives in the bowel and can be spread from around the anus and forwards to the genital area. It may be necessary to clear the bowel infection with tablets as well. Discuss this with your doctor.

Boys can get thrush on the penis sometimes for the same reason.

Why do we have to be especially careful about cuts, scratches and minor infections?

Everybody, whether they have diabetes or not, should be sensible about cuts and scratches and skin infections and should treat them with cleansing, perhaps an antiseptic and a light cover, such as a ‘band-aid’. If wounds and sores are allowed to fester they may upset the diabetic state, causing glucose to mount up in the blood. This may delay the healing of the cut. Children whose diabetes is in good control should heal just as quickly as other children without diabetes, but high levels of glucose in the blood may encourage infection.

Is my acne due to diabetes?

No. Many teenagers get acne, and diabetes has nothing whatsoever to do with it. If your acne does not clear up with simple measures, discuss it with your doctor. Even if it cannot be cured there is a lot than can be done to improve it and stop it spoiling your appearance.

Can I have ordinary medicines and tablets like other people when 1 get ill? Is it all right for me to have aspirin or cough mixtures or penicillin and other things if I need them?

Yes. There is no reason why you should not have simple remedies like aspirin if necessary and, of course, if you need more important drugs for an illness your doctor will prescribe them safely, knowing that you have diabetes. Some household remedies such as cough mixtures are syrupy and contain a lot of sugar, and it is better to ask your pharmacist or doctor about suitable remedies of this kind.

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Men in white lab coats have been pondering the reasons behind our imminent mortality as long as there have been men to wear white coats. And, anticlimactic though it may seem, they say that sex is the answer. We reproduce. We age. And we die.

“The price we pay for sex is death,” explains S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., associate professor, biodemographer, and scientist in the department of medicine at the University of Chicago, Division of Biological Sciences, Pritzker School of Medicine. Once we have reproduced and passed on our genes, we as individuals are disposable. But, says Dr. Olshansky, we have already attained a true measure of immortality because our genetic material is passed on through sex from generation to generation. “Our immortality lies in our genes,” he says.

All of this happens at a species level. Because humans are a sexually reproducing species, all humans, regardless of whether they reproduce, will die. A life of abstinence won’t make you live longer. As the old joke goes, it will just feel like it.

This system benefits humankind in the long haul, albeit not necessarily you. Your one consolation is that the process of passing on your genes (that is, sex) is a whole lot of fun.

Talking about Evolution

The current life-death cycle leaves room for variety in the species, giving our genes the chance to adapt to an ever-changing environment, explains

Dr. Olshansky. Each generation can adapt as the world changes and then can pass those adapted genes on to the next generation, he says.

There is a careful orchestration of all our living and dying. “The life spans of most species are linked to their reproductive periods,” Dr. Olshansky says. “Mice and insects have short reproductive periods and very short lives. Humans, elephants, and turtles have long reproductive periods and, consequently, long life spans.”

The connection is so strong that some researchers are even investigating how pushing back the reproductive period can extend life. “We’ve already done it with fruit flies,” says Leonard Guarente, Ph.D., professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “If you force them to mate late, over a few generations, you end up with flies that like mating late and that live longer.”

But alas, they still age and die-and so do we-despite our best attempts to foil Mother Nature, says George Webster, Ph.D., researcher in molecular biology and aging in Satellite Beach, Florida, and author of Hello, Methuselah/: Living to 100 and Beyond. Biologists have determined that each cell in an organism will divide only so many times before it shuts down and becomes inactive, Dr. Webster says. What they haven’t figured out yet is how cells decide when they’re going to shut down. The wear and tear of living also pushes this process along, says Siegfried Hekimi, Ph.D., professor of biology at McGill University in Montreal. “You accumulate defects from being alive,” he says. “Cells get damaged. Cells wear out. You can slow this down, but there’s no way to completely avoid it.”

Beating the clock

Okay, so death is inevitable. But dying before our time is not. Granted, millions of men do make a hasty exit from the human race long before they’re ready to pass the baton, but that’s not because they’re built that way. Often, they simply do things to accelerate the process.

The saying “live fast, die young” applies here, says Dr. Webster. “Men smoke. They eat fatty foods. They watch television. They sit around and don’t exercise. They do all these wrong things. Then they end up with real trouble like heart disease or cancer and act like it’s a sudden occurrence,” he says. “Those diseases aren’t a consequence of aging; they’re a consequence of living poorly. Start laying plaque in your arteries, and you’ll end up with heart disease. Injure your cells with toxins from cigarette smoke, and you’ll get cancer.”

And even if you somehow escape disease from the damage you’ve done, you may still accelerate the aging process, so you won’t live as well or as long as you should have, adds Dr. Hekimi.

You can affect how long your cells continue to reproduce healthily by taking care of yourself, Dr. Hekimi says. “It’s not like your clock is going tick, tock, tick, tock-bang!-you’re dead.” Your environment, especially your lifestyle, influences the ticking of that clock, he says.

“You know what to do to live as long as you’re supposed to,” Dr. Hekimi says. “Don’t smoke. Drink in moderation. Be active, but don’t overdo it. Don’t work too hard. Don’t eat garbage.” Living to your maximum life span is mostly in your own hands. Experts can tell you what to do. But then you have to do the rest.

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You may think that atherosclerosis is just a disease whereby fat accumulates on the inner lining of your arteries. The fatter you eat, the more fat accumulates inside your arteries and the greater your chances of having a heart attack. This was what the medical community believed for many years, and it is still what the majority of the public believes. This is a very simplistic view, and we now know that atherosclerosis is a much more complex process.

Scientists have discovered that inflammation is involved in every stage of atherosclerosis, from the beginning when a fatty streak develops, right through to the end when the fatty plaque breaks off and causes a blood clot which blocks blood flow in an artery, causing a heart attack. Inflammation is the way our body responds to injury. We can usually tell a part of our body is inflamed when it is red, hot, swollen and we can’t move it properly. Think of a stubbed toe or a sprained ankle. Inflammation is present in all “itis” conditions, such as arthritis, hepatitis, bursitis, and many others. It is a normal reaction by our immune system to infection or injury. However, inflammation can also occur inside our body in a much more silent way, where we don’t even know it is happening.

Inflammation can trigger the release of substances into our bloodstream that damage the inner lining of arteries. Cholesterol in the bloodstream can then put a protective coating over this damage. Cholesterol has a healing, protective quality; large amounts of it are present in scar tissue. As the damage to our arteries gets worse, more cholesterol accumulates, the fatty plaque grows and our arteries narrow.

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The sound of air being sucked through partially collapsed airways and the vibration of the soft palate is evidence of obstructed airflow. As snoring becomes more severe, there may be further limitation of airflow with the possibility of complete airway collapse and no movement of air whatsoever. A situation where there is no effective movement of air to ventilate the lungs is termed apnoea and it follows that those who experience collapse of the upper airway with a subsequent loss of ventilation through either the nose or mouth during sleep, despite normal or increased efforts to breathe, are suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). It is not uncommon for complete obstruction to occur several hundred times a night in advanced OSA.

Another form of apnoea occurs when no effort is made to breathe; a pause of 10 seconds or longer between breaths is commonly accepted as a significant apnoeic event. The rate at which we breathe and the volume of air taken in during inspiration is driven by the need to maintain a sufficient blood oxygen level. This is coordinated by a part of the brain called the respiratory control centre which, under normal circumstances, receives messages relating to the amount of oxygen in the blood and sends appropriate messages to the lungs to maintain that level. Sometimes there is a breakdown in either the message going to or being sent from the respiratory control centre so that there is no effective attempt to breathe. The pause in respiration resulting from an absent or inadequate message from the brain is called central apnoea. It is possible for snorers to suffer both obstructive and central apnoeas during sleep but we will be dealing mostly with the obstructive component.

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Here are some definitions from various learned sources:

Oxford English Dictionary Soundness of body: that condition in which its function is duly discharged.

Collins Dictionary The state of being bodily and mentally vigorous and free from disease.

World Health Organisation A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.

Parsons The state of optimum capacity of an individual for the effective performance of valued tasks.

Rossdale The product of a harmonised relationship between man and his ecology.

Dubos A modus vivendi enabling men to achieve a rewarding and not too painful existence while they cope with an imperfect world.

Illich A process of adaptation. It is not the result of instinct, but of an autonomous yet culturally shaped reaction to socially created reality. It designates the ability to adapt to changing environments, to growing up and to ageing, to healing when damaged, to suffering and to the peaceful expectation of death. Health embraces the future as well, and therefore includes anguish and the inner resources to live with it.

It is easy to see how different these approaches are. Some stress an ideal state and others a more practical approach. Some focus on physical conditions and others have the widest possible perspectives.

Various researchers on the subject quite understandably express very different views, but it is increasingly accepted that health involves far more than simply physical and even mental well-being or the absence of disease. Vibrant health and terminal illness are the extremes of the spectrum but modern thinking increasingly stresses the need to be nearer the ‘vibrant health’ end than midway between the two.

This broader view of health sees it as a state in which the individual is energetic, integrated, productive and self-actualized. This begs all kinds of questions though about what a particular person’s ideas of fullness of life are for him or her. Obviously this sort of definition will vary from person to person and will depend on what individuals see as important in their lives. To some, physical wellness will be the most important part of their definition of health and to others psychological, emotional or spiritual factors will be of most value.

To some extent the way each of us defines health for ourselves depends on how we perceive illness. Some see illness as an intrinsic part of being a person-all human beings are destined to be ill in one way or another at some time in their lives-and to others it is only the way that we behave that makes us ill: perfect behaviour produces perfect health. The first group of people see health as a kind of battle and illness as some sort of evil spell that is put on mankind. This sort of thinking has very ancient roots going back to pre-Biblical times but it has been crystallized for Judaeo-Christian societies in the story of Adam and Eve. By going against the will of God, the story goes, they brought eternal suffering and illness on themselves. This line of thinking removes any personal responsibility for health because ill health becomes part of the divine plan for mankind and by definition can’t be influenced.

By now the reader will be able to see how difficult it is to define health and illness but it is essential to be aware of what we mean by these terms or we will not be able to think intelligently about prevention. Health and illness are not just personal matters though-they occur in a social setting and reflect a particular society’s values, traditions and structures. We shall see in the next section how different illnesses are dealt with in different cultures.

Of all the symptoms that people have, only a fraction are mentioned to other members of the family and even fewer are taken outside the family. Only a small proportion of all symptoms are taken to health professionals, so clearly there is a hidden mass of ‘disease’ which, like an iceberg, lies submerged within society. Illness usually starts in the family context and most diagnoses are made by people in their own homes, sometimes helped by family and friends. Often, professional help is sought in order to get reassurance that the diagnosis is correct, or to get a prescription for a drug. The health professional’s response is then relayed to the ‘social-medical advisory system’ of family and friends and action is taken that the person considers appropriate. At this stage the individual with the problem often comes to a different conclusion from that of the health professional-possibly because the individual has different perceptions of the problem and because he or she knows more about him or herself than the doctor does.

A subject that is very little discussed in medical circles but which is very important in this context is what makes an individual decide, on a particular day, to see a doctor, when the symptoms may have been present for some time without this decision being taken. In other words, few people in the illness iceberg see their doctors at the very first sign of illness, so what makes them go for professional help at a particular time? An understanding of this can often enable the doctor to get to the heart of the real problem very quickly.

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Goals can keep you motivated and moving in the right direction— if you set the right ones. But how do you know what goals to set, and how do you make them realistic?

The first rule is to start small. Establish daily or weekly mini-goals to change some aspect of your behavior that’s standing between you and weight-loss success. It can be as simple as eating air-popped popcorn while you watch TV, instead of your usual potato chips. Or walking your kids to school every morning, rather 3 than loading them into the minivan. |

As you start to feel better, you’ll naturally be inspired to set jloftier goals. You may decide to give up potato chips completely or to increase your walking time to a half-hour or even an hour a day. ) It’s good to keep updating your goals as you make progress, but be sure to keep them doable.

The second rute of goal setting is to write down your goals. Seeing them in front of you takes them from the abstract and [ makes them real. I have a friend who writes her goals on Post-It notes and sticks them on her bathroom mirror. They’re the first thing that she sees every morning, and they remind her of her new priorities.

However you choose to do it, keep your goals manageable and visible. Stick with them and watch them work!

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