No drugs associated with the treatment of asthma are addictive. However, some asthmatics develop an emotional dependency on their medication, particularly bronchodilators (puffers).
Just because you are asthmatic, you should not medicate yourself whenever you become breathless. Breathlessness is not always asthma. Even a totally fit person becomes breathless after exertion. Wait a few moments after a period of physical exertion and your breathing will probably return to normal. If not, by all means, use your puffer, but you should always try to give your body the chance to settle down naturally.
Some asthmatics continue with unnecessary medication even when they are feeling well because they are afraid of asthma symptoms developing. Preventive medicines, such as Intal and Becotide, are designed to be taken on a long-term basis and are not the ones to reduce. It is a good idea to take note of how long your puffer lasts. If you are using more than your prescribed dose, you should try to cut down.
Elizabeth found the family doctor a great help in curbing her son’s dependence on Ventolin:
My ten-year-old son started using his puffer as a matter of course when he ran up the stairs or gave the occasional cough. This developed over a period of time and I only really became aware of it when I realized that I was buying Ventolin on an increasingly regular basis. Our doctor had a talk with him at our instigation and stressed that he should count the number of doses he had each day. He now keeps his Ventolin in his school bag rather than his pocket, so he actually has to go and get it, rather than reaching for it and using it automatically. I realized also that my son did not really see Ventolin as a drug. The very term ‘puffer’ took it out of the normal category of medication. Our doctor explained to him that Ventolin was a strong drug that should only be used when necessary. Once this point was made, he made a conscious and successful effort to cut down. He has a contemporary at school, however, who uses his Ventolin continually, even when sitting in class and struggling over a maths question. I have suggested to the teacher that she bring this to the attention of the boy’s parents.
*43\148\2*

Can a victim of arthritis expect a complete cure?
Phrased in another way . . . how close is medical science to finding the whole answer to this dread disease? Let us take stock, add up the discoveries, and look into your future.
What has the arthritic to look forward to? A great deal, we’re happy to say.
More than ever before, efforts are being made to make the life of the arthritic more livable. For the first time in the history of mankind, the arthritic cripple is no longer a silent sufferer. Thanks to a pioneer named Dr. Philip S. Hench of the Mayo Clinic, arthritis is receiving public attention and is being studied thoroughly on a world-wide scale.
New research on the arthritic and his diet is starting in the United States Public Health Service Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. These dietary tests may well bring us the solution of the problem.
Let us not forget that until a few years ago members of the American medical profession were still debating amongst themselves about arthritis. Prior to the discovery of cortisone and similar compounds, there was not even a standard way to gain temporary relief from the disease. In more recent years, vitamin D drugs and gold salt injections at least stirred up controversies to create interest in the problem.

More Doctors Needed
Of the 180,000 doctors in the United States today, only about 20,000 to 30,000 seem willing to tackle arthritis or specialise in it. Of these, the internists insist that this disease is their problem. The orthopaedic surgeons consider arthritis a part of their field. More physicians, trained in rheumatology, are needed if we are going to move forward to even greater progress.
As a final summary, let us review current drugs and treatments to see the extent of our “progress” in modern times. Here’s a check list for you on so-called “cures” which will not bring permanent relief for your arthritis. We’ll start the resume with something as well known as simple aspirin.

Aspirin is No Cure
Just about all arthritics go through the aspirin stage. The salicylate drug in aspirin can cause a very slight stimulation of the adrenal glands, which may provide an iota of relief. This has been reported in medical papers. The results, however, are not permanent.
In the majority of arthritics, pain may be the result of cartilage wearing out. These cartilages have no blood supply and cannot be regenerated.
Aspirin can not repair the cartilage or the linings of our joints.
Nevertheless, some people take two, four, ten, or twenty-four aspirins a day. Pain may ease, but it is only a temporary measure. There is not one solitary particle of oil in twenty-four or 2,400 aspirin tablets. There is not an aspirin in the world that will make lubricating oil for your joint cavities!
*63\146\2*

Most involuntary sterilizations in the United States have occurred under eugenic sterilization laws. The early advocates of eugenics (from the Greek, meaning “well-born”) were so zealous that there were hundreds of eugenic sterilizations even before there was any legislative authority for the procedure. During the 1880s and 1890s, a strong movement built up in favor of eliminating the “unfit” by means of discouraging the reproduction of inferior stock. A combination of social Darwinism and the belief that idiocy and mental illness were strictly hereditary resulted in the involuntary sterilization of hundreds of allegedly feebleminded persons in Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, the first state to pass a Eugenic Sterilization Law (1907).
Although eugenic sterilization met with the Indiana State Legislature’s approval, it did not secure the state supreme court’s stamp of approval. In 1921, Indiana’s Eugenic Sterilization Law was declared unconstitutional, a precedent that caused several similar state laws to topple.However, this domino effect was slowed in 1927 when Buck v. Bell reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1924, Virginia had passed a law that included among its provisions the following:
… that the health of the patient and the welfare of society may be promoted in certain cases by the sterilization of mental defectives … that the sterilization may be effected … without serious pain or substantial danger of life; that the Commonwealth is supporting in various institutions many defective persons who if now discharged would be a menace but if incapable of procreating might be discharged with safety and become self-supporting with benefit to themselves and to society; and that experience has shown that heredity plays an important part in the transmission of insanity, imbecility:
Invoking the provisions of this law, Virginia wished to sterilize an 18-year-old, supposedly feebleminded welfare recipient named Carrie Buck on the grounds that every Virginian’s best interests, including those of Carrie Buck herself, would be served by her sterilization. Though Carrie Buck and her attorneys did not believe her sterilization was in her best interests, they were not able to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that Virginia’s involuntary sterilization statute was unconstitutional. Speaking for the Court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes held that it was within the police power of the state to force certain persons to be sterilized. Referring to the arguable fact that, like Carrie, Carrie’s mother and daughter were also “feebleminded,” Holmes proclaimed that “three generations of imbeciles are enough” and that society had the right to protect itself against “defective” progeny.
Since 1927, the scientific community has become increasingly dubious of the empirical claim on which the Buck decision was based—namely, that mental illness, mental retardation, and criminality are hereditary conditions. Contemporary geneticists point out that even if Carrie Buck, her mother, and her daughter had been as feebleminded as the Court said they were—a questionable finding given that a health professional had classified Buck’s 1-month-old daughter as an “imbecile” merely by looking at her—feeblemindedness is not hereditary in any straightforward sense. Although specific types of retardation may have a genetic component, how that component is expressed depends on both genes and environment, with the environment sometimes playing a more influential role than the genes themselves. In the case of Carrie Buck, a disadvantaged member of society, there is reason to believe that better nourishment and a better education could have strengthened her “feeble” mind as well as her mother’s and daughter’s.
*123\205\8*

In impetigo, which is a rapidly-spreading pus infection of the skin, the staphylococcus or streptococcus are most often involved. Once the infection has begun it may spread rapidly by the use of towels, or by squeezing or scratching with the fingernails. People find difficulty in letting themselves alone.
Impetigo begins as small blisters on the face, scalp, and hands. The blisters increase in size and spread, as new little blisters form at the borders. In infants, the blisters break and discharge a thin fluid, leaving a moist red spot. If secondary pus invaders come in, thick yellow matter forms. These areas may be covered by dirty brown crusts.
With proper treatment impetigo usually clears up rapidly. Nowadays the available remedies are so much more efficient than those previously known that most cases, when recognized, can be cleared in a few weeks. Formerly the blisters were opened, the area cleaned, and an ammoniated mercury ointment applied. Now antibiotic ointments are available which act specifically against the pus germs. Moreover, the doctor can inject adequate doses of the antibiotics into the body and attack the infection from inside. Washing the skin around the infection with alcohol helps to keep the infection from spreading.
Impetigo is most contagious, and a child with the disease should be kept away from other children. Epidemics are particularly likely to occur in the nurseries of large hospitals.
*4/318/5*

In addition to causing stress and perhaps depression, major life changes can create immediate problems and conflicts that can alter your sex life and dampen your desire. These include getting sober and coping with the illness or recent death of someone you love. Turning points in your relationship, like moving in together, having children, or seeing your children leave home, can also have the same effect. Anxiety, confusion, and frustration frequently accompany such transitions, especially when role changes are involved.
Both in their mid-forties, Phil and Anne have been married for twenty years and have two children in college. Up until several years ago their marriage was a very traditional one, with Phil serving as sole breadwinner and chief decision-maker while Anne remained at home raising their children and running their household. Then, when the children were in high school and able to fend for themselves, Anne decided to get a job. Phil was supportive initially, believing that Anne would “work part time at a department store or as an aide at a day care center or something harmless like that.” He was surprised when she chose to get a real-estate license, but still did not expect it to amount to much. However, it did.
Anne proved to have impressive talent as a real-estate salesperson, and not only earned a substantial income but devoted larger and larger percentages of her time to her work, thriving on the challenge it provided as well as basking in the newfound knowledge that she was “good at something besides being a homemaker and taking care of people.” Phil, however, had liked being taken care of. Indeed, one of the things that had originally attracted him to Anne was her ability to anticipate his needs and meet them, as well as the way she really listened to him, sympathized, and made him feel important.
As Anne became more wrapped up in her work—to the point of not always preparing meals or being available to go places and do things with Phil as she used to—and suddenly wanted equal time to talk about her work day in addition to listening to Phil talk about his, Phil found that many of the emotional needs he expected Anne to meet were not being met at all. Although he still said he supported her career and was proud of her, Phil began to withdraw sexually.
By the time they entered our offices, Phil and Anne rarely had sex. When they did, neither one felt satisfied and Phil was beginning to ejaculate prematurely—having his orgasm before or right after penetration—which Anne believed was just one more way to get back at her.
Phil and Anne came to us for help with sexual problems that were a direct result of the other problems in their relationship, which had changed drastically in recent years. Their case was far from unusual, for a satisfying emotional relationship is almost always a prerequisite for a satisfying sexual one.
Neither Phil nor Anne knew why they had lost interest in sex, which is not unusual since, most of the time, the individual and interpersonal dynamics that lead to ISD occur on a largely unconscious level. Through therapy, however, Phil and Anne were better able to understand what had happened to them.
Over time it became clear that because Anne was devoting time and energy to her career and paying a good deal less attention to him, Phil felt rejected. While he was thinking, “Anne’s career is more important than I am,” and sulking, Anne was feeling resentful and thinking, “Phil should be proud of me instead of trying to make me feel guilty.” When Phil got angry and decided that “Anne is neglecting me,” Anne got fed up and concluded, “If Phil is going to make me feel lousy, I’ll have to put even more energy into work because it makes me feel good.”
Baffled by the changes in his wife and his relationship, Phil began to lose interest in having sex with Anne, who he felt “wasn’t the woman I married.” Anne was furious, since she suspected that Phil was withholding sex to punish her for being more independent, and reported that she “would have to beg him to make love to me.” Unwilling to “humiliate” herself on a regular basis, Anne stifled her sexual urges.
*89\261\8*

Vishwa Nath saw the picture of Tongue Cancer on television screen. The caption that cigarette-smoking may cause cancer of the tongue completely unnerved him. He was smoking 2-3 packets of cigarettes daily. His family doctor had warned him long ago about the adverse effects of tobacco smoking, but he had ignored his advice.
Now the picture of the tongue destroyed by cancer was always before his mind’s eye. Would he also possess a similar tongue in his mouth? The fear constantly gnawed at his heart, and yet his own efforts to shun this vice had failed miserably.
On one side fear of cancer, on the other side his inability to take a known remedial action (to shun cigarette smoking) he was puzzled beyond measure. He lost his appetite, lost his sleep, became very weak and depressed. Specialists checked and declared ‘nothing wrong’, prescribed tonics and advised stop smoking. But nobody could tell him how to stop smoking. When we asked him why could he not stop smoking. He replied that previously he had seriously tried to get rid of this habit. He had even shunned the society of his smoker- friends, and left to himself in a secluded place, he could do without smoking, but when he saw the smoke of cigarettes emanating from a mouth, he just lost his control. The urge was so great that he could not resist it and fell for smoking—a clear case of Negative Cherry Plum state. The condition of Vishwa Nath called for 3 remedies:
1. Cherry Plum for mind losing control
2. White Chestnut for persistent view of cancer – tongue
3 Fear of cancer.
One phial of Cherry Plum and another phial containing combination of White Chestnut and Mimulus were given. 3 doses from each phial were given daily for one month. As a result of which the persistent view of the cancer -tongue was removed from mind’s eye and also the fear was gone. Cherry Plum alone was continued for another 2 months to bring complete metamorphosis in the Cherry Plum state – from negative to positive side. All through the treatment there was steady and constant improvement in the patient’s health.
*75\308\8*

The Sluggish Bowel Needs Exercise
Consider what you are doing with your body all day long; how you are restricting your abdominal muscles by the way you sit, by tight clothing or permanent tension. Walking or cycling to work, swimming or just doing a few simple stretch exercises every day can prevent constipation. More about this later.
Why it is So Painful
It is strange that the bowel can be cut without pain; it is the stretching of the wall beyond its normal limits that causes such agony. When the bowel is blocked with hard faeces wind cannot be expelled and the pressure builds up. If you are very uncomfortable you could use an occasional laxative or two glycerine suppositories, which you will find in any pharmacy. These cone-shaped jellies, about an inch long, draw water from the rectal wall, soften the stool and stimulate the desire to move the bowel. The best position for insertion is to lie on your side with your knees drawn up to the chest. If you moisten the pointed end of the suppository in warm water it should be quite painless to insert it high into the rectum; your finger should be protected by a rubber finger-cot (a protective covering rather like the finger of a rubber glove) or a double layer of clingfilm. It will be easier to retain the suppositories longer if you stay lying down and do some slow breathing. You might have the desire to move your bowel after a few minutes, but try to hang on; if you can manage ten to fifteen minutes you should have a more satisfactory result.
Some people buy enema kits from surgical stores or order them by mail order through health magazines, and find a warm water enema very helpful. Perhaps it would be better to ask your doctor before you take this step.
*9\326\8*

A great deal of scientific research suggests that overweight people differ in physical ways from their thinner counterparts. Their bodies respond differently to many foods they eat, producing an increased or recurring hunger, a seeming drive to eat, and a tendency to store fat.
More and wore scientific research suggests that many overweight people suffer from what is called a “food addiction,” caused not by some sort of character flaw or psychological problem, but by an imbalance in body chemistry.
The notion of a food addiction isn’t new—researchers have been attempting to understand food addiction and its relationship to overweight since 1947. And scientists are discovering more and more about food addiction and carbohydrate dependence. A review of Index Medicus reveals that roughly a thousand articles that appeared in1989 alone revealed new information about the processes that may underlie carbohydrate addiction.
*3\236\2*

A 70-year-old white woman was first seen in April, 1 998, when random blood glucose values by fingersticks were 285 and 273 mg/dl. About 6 years before her first visit, her primary care physician told her she had a “tendency towards diabetes” and should go on a diet. At the age of 50 she weighed 130 lb; her present weight was 185 lb. Her father had type 2 diabetes. She had three children, 48-50 years ago, with no knowledge of diabetes during pregnancy; all three infants weighed less than 8 lb at birth.
Physical examination: height, 67 inches; weight, 185 lb; BP, 140/86 mmHg. Except for obesity, the examination was normal.
This patient probably had type 2 diabetes for at least 6 years before she was first seen—a common issue in type 2 diabetes. Early recognition with intensive management of risk factors is critical for successful long-term care. When first seen, the patient had a seriously atherogenic lipid profile and uncontrolled diabetes. She appeared to respond to triple oral therapy for the hyperglycemia: metformin, sulfonylurea (or a meglitinide), and a thiazolidinedione. She had borderline elevation of hepatic enzymes that never reached the stop point of three times the upper limit of normal. Despite triple oral agent therapy, she progressed to insulin therapy; pancreatic beta-cell deficiency was documented by a low fasting C-peptide level. The present approach to intensive glycemic therapy is bedtime glargine insulin to produce FBG in the range of 80-110 mg/dl and daytime combination of metformin and a thiazolidinedione. This regimen has successfully reduced HbAlc to <7%.
Her other problems are suboptimal management of blood pressure and lipids. As is usually the case, she requires more than one antihypertensive agent for BP control. The slightly elevated LDL-C level should fall below 100 mg/dl with higher statin doses. She takes 81 mg of enteric-coated aspirin daily and works to keep her weight down by walking and watching caloric intake. Urinary microalbuminuria has been intermittently present and should be controlled by BP and glycemic control.
*225\357\8*

THE TENDENCY TO develop asthma, together with other allergic conditions like eczema and hay fever, is inherited. However, the increasing prevalence of asthma in the past few decades reflects the adverse impact of industrialisation and changes in lifestyle. It is quite possible that in a greater proportion of children who inherit an allergic tendency it would have stayed latent but for the adverse environment and lifestyle resulting from urbanisation. How to help asthmatic children avoid an attack. In a majority of the asthmatic children, the attacks occur only sporadically. However, it needs to be kept in mind that such children have a tendency to get an attack any time. The first and perhaps the most important step therefore in any asthma management programme is to prevent an attack.
Primary prevention strategies that parents can, and should, adopt must focus at creating a favourable environment around a high-risk-child, and more so in the case of high risk infants.
A high-risk infant can be identified as one born to two atopic parents, or to a family in which one of the parents is atopic. The age and length of time for which an infant is vulnerable to asthma is quite important. Studies of twins with similar inherited allergic tendencies, but brought up in a different environment, have emphasised the importance of the interaction of the environment with genetic factors.
Very young children usually spend most of their time indoors with their mothers. The newer building methods which have less of natural ventilation, more of synthetic building materials, and emphasise greater use of indoor furnishings, specially the use of carpets, mattresses and upholstered furniture have increased the quantity of allergens, specially domestic mites, to which young children are exposed. The degree of such exposure can be correlated with an increase in the prevalence of childhood asthma.
Reducing the exposure of infants and very young children to domestic mites seems to be a highly promising preventive measure. Research shows that domestic mites allergen is a major cause for asthma.
*87\260\8*