Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

Probably the most spectacular rejuvenation therapy of all times on a mass scale is the so-called Gerovital therapy. Gerovital is a procaine preparation, the rejuvenating effects of which were discovered by the Rumanian doctor, Professor Ana Asian, M.D.

Professor Ana Asian is very popular in Europe. Thousands upon thousands of people from all over the world travel to her Rejuvenation Institute in Bucharest and receive Gerovital treatments in hyper-modern clinics under doctors’ supervision. Dr. Asian says that she has treated over 40,000 people in her Institute.

Dr. Asian discovered quite accidently that procaine, previously commonly used as an anesthetic agent, had age-retarding property. She injected specially designed doses of procaine, which she named H3, into patients showing signs of degeneration and premature aging, and observed that stiff, immobile joints became flexible, pain disappeared and the patients gained new energy and vitality. Dr. Asian has improved her original H3 formula and uses only Gerovital, which she claims has been demonstrated in tests in Italy and U.S.A. as being superior to pure procaine. Gerovital has been used in Rumania for 17 years, and presently 40,000 persons all over Rumania are under continuous prophylactic treatment with Gerovital. Dr. Asian claims that Gerovital prolongs life and gives more energy, vitality and zest for living to older people. She recommends starting Gerovital treatments for preventive purposes at the age of 40. Between 40 and 60 Gerovital can be taken in tablet form. After 60, when absorbtion ability is diminished, she recommends injections.

According to Dr. Asian, aging processes start when the body’s ability to produce new cells and to replenish the old ones is diminished. Gerovital helps the body to regenerate new cell production, which is the reason for its rejuvenating effect.

I met Dr. Ana Asian in Sweden, in the summer 1968, where she lectured on her rejuvenating method. She is a living advertisement for her drug and her therapy. At 72 she looks as though she is in her late fifties. Her face is quite free from wrinkles and even the skin on her arms is perfectly smooth and firm as on a younger person. I have ‘ also talked with several persons who undertook Gerovital therapy, and they all seemed to be enthusiastic about its revitalizing and j rejuvenating effect.

Although Gerovital treatment is not endorsed by official medicine in most countries, it has an official sanction in Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, East Germany, and Rumania.

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High blood pressure is often called “executive’s disease.” The overburdened, high-pressured executives of our competitive society become easy prey for high blood pressure, circulatory crisis, angina pectoris, “nervous breakdown,” and heart attack.

Stress in the form of continuous worry, psychic pressure, fear, emotional strain, constant tension, combined with regular pick-meups in the form of coffee, cokes, cigarettes, and cocktails, will eventually throw the whole system off balance, physically and emotionally. A devitalized diet of over-processed foods adds to the total picture of constant stress. Insomnia, discontentment, restlessness, weak concentration, headaches, chronic fatigue and irritability will be the first symptoms, eventually followed by high blood pressure and cardiac failure. Nature strikes back in revenge for the violation of the basic biological laws. The body raises the blood pressure to cope with the adverse condition of physical and emotional stress.

It has been clinically demonstrated that any form of stress can increase blood pressure. Anger and fear, smoking, many modern drugs such as cortisone and ACTH, even some vitamins (vitamin E) can raise blood pressure. Unexpressed negative emotions or suppressed hostile feelings can cause blood pressure to go up.

It is self-evident that the underlying causes of emotional origin must be corrected before high blood pressure can be treated successfully. Often, a long holiday “away from it all,” free from responsibilities and business pressures, will do more than any drug in the world. This is why European Spas, mineral baths, and reconditioning centers are so effective in restoring the health of tired and over-stressed executives.

If the biological treatments outlined in this chapter are not successful, it would be wise to look for possible emotional causes of high blood pressure and eliminate them in order to achieve a complete recovery.

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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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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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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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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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Sometimes when there is something wrong with people with dementia all that they can indicate to us is that they are in discomfort. This may be apparent from an increased level of agitation or a deterioration in their behavioural pattern. It can be extremely difficult to discover whether pain really is at the root of the increased confusion and, if so, what it is caused by. The source of pain can be a full bladder that won’t empty, as happens in some men with an enlarged prostate gland, or perhaps an undetected broken bone; indigestion from ulcers can also be the culprit, and so on. A person with dementia is just as likely to develop all the physical problems that the rest of us can have. All that the doctor can normally do is exclude obvious and easily diagnosed causes of pain, and if a specific diagnosis is not apparent, treat the pain in a general way in the hope either that it will settle down or that other indicators of the underlying problem will eventually become apparent.

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Hallucinations – seeing or hearing people, voices, or things that aren’t really there – often happens as a result of dementia. It can be very frightening, both for the sufferer and the carer. Some people with dementia form quite a close attachment to their ‘invisible friend’ but more often than not the experience is a distressing one. This situation is best handled by reassurance. Explain that you know they can see someone who you can’t and try to be supportive.

Sometimes visual hallucinations result either from a false impression given by an inadequately lit and dimly perceived object or from poor sight. If the illumination in the room appears poor, improve it and see whether this helps.

If hallucinations become a major problem it is important to seek medical advice, as this is one situation where medication may actually be helpful. There is, however, no point in treating them unless they are causing distress or upset or are disrupting the daily routine.

A similar problem, although not really a hallucination, can occur when people with dementia see their own reflection in a mirror. They may fail to realize that it is their own image they are seeing and interpret their reflection as indicating the presence of a stranger. This can sometimes provoke an aggressive or fearful response. If this is a particular problem, a small curtain or cloth can be draped across the mirror, enabling others to use it when necessary, while at the same time removing the cause of the distress.

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