Because of the ‘surprise’ element with cancer, it is not uncommon for the woman to ‘blame’ some aspect of her lifestyle for its cause – diet, stress, sexual history and other unproved ‘myths’. This ‘blame’ often contributes to the loss of self-esteem and diminished self-acceptance as a ‘total’ woman. Some suggest that the way we see ourselves after a cancer diagnosis, however, is linked to personality type and level of self-esteem prior to diagnosis. Dr. Wendy Schain, an American psychologist, suggests four frameworks of self-perception – physical, social, achieving and spiritual self. Despite the fact that cancer treatment can deplete and alter the sense of ‘physical and social self, women who are self-assured, who have a positive self-image and have balanced relationships, generally cope with the impact of physical change more readily. There is a quicker acceptance that the treatment is necessary to save her life, and that she will adapt to the physical changes in a short time.

Women who have lower self-esteem, for a variety of reasons, or are in unstable relationships often are slower in coming to terms with the impacts of treatment and may require professional intervention. They are also more likely to blame the cancer for the changes in their lifestyle.

I am feeling more comfortable about my scar than I did 12 months ago.

Both her own and her partner’s sense of loss may be quite profound in the early stages, and require open and honest communication to reestablish a feeling of connection with each other as soon as possible. For some, this may take years, if ever.

In some cases, insensitive remarks can unwittingly set back recovery and sense of self. Because the medical team has a vast amount of knowledge about cancer and its impact, many assume that the patient is more knowledgeable than they actually are about basic physiological changes. They forget the intense curiosity that some women have about the effect of treatment on their anatomy. Extra sensitivity is required when communicating to women about all aspects of the physical changes.

Top tip

Love who you are. Remember all the wonderful aspects of who you are and what you have achieved. Cancer does not take away your femininity – attitude does!

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Woman when tired or physically in disposed or in unsuitable environment may not agree for sex. To punish husbands who have not agreed to their idea or materialistic demands, some women don’t permit sex. On occasion it may serve the purpose but if it becomes a practice then husband may find out some alternatives to ease himself, extra maritally. Such women are solely responsible for broken houses and spoilt children.

How women should respond to bizarre tastes of her husband?

how essential it is for woman to accept fetishim in her partner depends naturally on the male desire to introduce them into the relationship.

Most women dismiss such requests bluntly. Even the mildest refusal on the part of woman would discourage the husband from even raising the subject again and may even lead him into the arms of prostitutes whose willingness to cater bizarre tastes keeps them alive in profession.

Under what usual circumstances wife should offer herself to the pleasure of husband?

When husband has returned after a long separation, as an expression that wife was missing him, when weather is romantic, on the success of husband to celebrate and on a great failure to solace him to share his grief, initiating sex activity by wife assures him of being loved and cared for.

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In the negative Gorse state, the people look like “basement children” with dark shadows under the eyes, a cheerless waxy yellow face, unimpressive eyes, looking more like a purposeless moving corpse than a livid living man.

Those moving towards negative Gorse state can be spotted by their remarks such as ‘Oh, I have tried all methods without success’, or “What is the use of trying this or that when the specialist has already told that there is no treatment of this disease in the medical science.” He may go to a homoeopathic doctor, and say “Doctor, I have come to you because of the persistent persuation of my family members to try homoeopathic treatment. Otherwise I have had enough of medical treatment, and frankly speaking I have neither experience nor faith in the tiny globules that you give as homoeopathic medicine”.

GORSE Remedy is given to all such persons who have lost hope or are in the process of losing faith. It is very useful if given to a person suffering from a long chronic disease before starting his regular treatment, as it restores his faith and hope to get well.

It is also very useful in cases where after some initial improvement in symptoms, there is a slight set-back and the patient starts losing hope in the efficacy of the treatment.

Hope to get well and faith in the treatment of the disease are the necessary pre-requisites for success in any medical treatment, and GORSE Remedy provides and restores such faith.

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How do you feel when reality begins to sink in and you are confronted with so many losses, changes, and disruptions? Many people experience a sense of grief in the wake of becoming disabled. Sadness, unhappiness, feeling “down” or “blue” are normal responses to any loss. With the onset of a physical disability, many people also feel inadequate, useless, and unattractive, and suffer a loss of self-esteem or self-worth. Added to the impact of the physical and functional losses, these feelings can lead to a downward spiral of self-pity, self-recrimination, and despair.

Various studies indicate that up to 30 to 40 percent of people with spinal cord injury become depressed. Clinical depression, or depressive disorder, is distinguished from sadness or “the blues” by the way in which it impairs function, above and beyond the effects of the physical disability itself. Symptoms of a clinical depression include changes in sleep and appetite, loss of interest or pleasure in most activities, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, frequent crying spells, social withdrawal, suicidal thoughts, and a decreased ability to care for oneself. Depressive disorders are very common and highly responsive to treatment with psychotherapy and antidepressant medications. If you or your family thinks you may be depressed, discuss your symptoms and feelings openly with your physician, psychologist, or social worker. You can then get effective treatment and avoid any disruption in your rehabilitation.

Depression can become a fatal illness. The risk of suicide is more than five times greater for people with spinal cord injury than for the general population. The first three years appear to be the time of greatest suicide risk: about 80 percent of all suicides in people with spinal cord injury occur during this period. Early recognition and treatment of depression and prompt evaluation of suicidal thoughts can help prevent suicide.

If you are having any thoughts about hurting or killing yourself, talk about them immediately with your doctor, psychologist, nurse, or other health care provider. Your doctor may want to consult a psychiatrist or psychologist to determine whether you are clinically depressed and whether your suicidal thoughts pose a serious risk. Being open about your thoughts is the best way to get proper treatment. Talking about your feelings will also help you sort them out.

While one should err on the side of caution by considering treatment or safety precautions when suicidal ideas occur, it may be reassuring to know that not all suicidal thoughts are necessarily dangerous or pathological. For someone confronted with complete quadriplegia, dependence on a ventilator, and the need for assistance twenty-four hours a day, thoughts such as “I don’t know how I can live like this” or “How can life be worth living in this state?” may be quite reasonable. And thoughts such as “It would be easier or better if I were dead” might arise in individuals without the slightest intention of actually hurting themselves.

Speaking these concerns aloud has another advantage:  it will prompt the rehabilitation staff to teach you how people do live with quadriplegia. They can discuss and find answers to your particular questions about how to get through the day, how to improve your experience of life and make it meaningful to yourself and others. And sharing concerns with loved ones gives them the opportunity to validate your worth as a person and allows you to search for solutions together.

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Weighing yourself is an important part of any eating and weight-control program. In the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet your weekly weight loss will help you to individualize the diet by choosing the plan that will help you meet your weight-loss goals. Whether you are trying to lose or maintain your weight, accurate weighing is essential to monitoring the process. Some people have superstitions about weighing themselves, or even peculiar little rituals. Others think they know how much they weigh: “I don’t need a machine to tell me— I’ll know if I’m losing weight.”

We disagree. We do need to weigh ourselves, because it provides us with the information from which to judge our progress; it encourages us, it helps us determine whether any changes need to be made in our diets. It’s a basic part of the process.

How often do I weigh myself? Even when you’re not dieting, your weight may vary as much as five pounds a week. Premenstrual changes, heavily salted meals, hot weather, and other factors can produce significant day-to-day weight changes. As a result, a once-a-week weighing is not enough.

*38\236\2*

What about children? Can they ever suffer from high blood pressure?

They can and they do. A few years ago a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles reported finding HBP in one per cent of all babies tested. This may not seem like a high figure, but as the pediatrician pointed out, it is higher than the incidence of many other childhood ailments. The New York Times, in commenting on the report, observed that “the unexpected discovery that infants are susceptible to adult forms of hypertension represents a new dimension of one of the nation’s most serious health problems.”

Doesn’t heredity play a large role in blood pressure?

It seems to. According to the American Medical Association, if one parent has hypertension, there is a 50 per cent chance that at least one of their offspring will eventually develop it. If both parents suffer from hypertension, then the chance that one or more of their children will become similarly afflicted rises to 90 per cent. Thus, heredity factors may create a predisposition toward high blood pressure. But, the fact that you may be more susceptible to it than someone else only means that you should take greater precautions to avert or control it. And don’t forget that millions upon millions of Americans whose parents had normal blood pressure are nevertheless afflicted with this ailment today.

Can’t a person’s blood pressure rise momentarily but then fall back to a normal level? If I have my blood pressure taken and it registers a high figure, couldn’t this be only a temporary condition?

It could. It usually takes more than one reading to accurately determine blood pressure. If your BP registers a high reading, then you should try to have it checked again, perhaps several times over the following weeks. Still, any high reading should alert you to the need or at least the desirability of taking precautionary measures.

What, then, are the symptoms of high blood pressure?

The most common is dizziness. Others are fatigue, heart palpitations, headaches and flushing in the face. These are the usual symptoms when they occur. The trouble is that they don’t always occur. The victim frequently feels just fine. This is why HBP is sometimes called “the silent

How about the person with blood pressure that is too low? How does he feel? Also, what causes overly low blood pressure?

People whose blood pressure has sunk too low often feel tired and sluggish. Like HBP sufferers, however, they may also experience dizzy spells. In their case, such spells are more likely to occur when they shift positions such as standing up after having been seated for a period of time.

Low blood pressure, in the sense of being too low, is rarely a chronic condition. It can be brought on by loss of blood, dehydration, malfunctioning of the adrenal glands or illness generally. Correct the condition and you will usually send the BP back to safe levels.

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White vinegar and lemon juice are acidic—they neutralize alkaline substances such as scale from hard water. Acids dissolve gummy buildup, eat away tarnish, and remove dirt from wood surfaces.

Liquid soaps and detergents are necessary for cutting grease, and they are not the same thing. Soap is made from fats and lye. Detergents are synthetic materials discovered and synthesized early in this century. Unlike soap, detergents are designed specifically so that they don’t react with hard water minerals and cause soap scum. If you have hard water buy a biodegradable detergent without perfumes; if you have soft water you can use liquid soap (both are available in health food stores).

For a substance to be registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a disinfectant it must go through extensive and expensive tests. EPA recommends simple soap to use as a disinfectant. There are many essential oils, such as lavender, clove, and tea tree oil (an excellent natural fungicide), that are very antiseptic, as is grapefruit seed extract, even though they aren’t registered as such. Use one teaspoon of essential oil o 2 cups of water in a spray bottle (make sure to avoid eyes). A grapefruit seed extract spray can be made by adding 20 drops of extract to a quart of water.

Note: Make sure to label all your homemade cleaning products, and keep them away from pets and children.

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Patients have described their condition to me in many ways. One man stated, “I have absolutely no energy; sometimes I feel I can barely hold my head up. My boss thinks I’m bored in my job—I’m not. I love my work. But sometimes I just want to curl up on the floor of the office and snooze for the rest of the afternoon.” Another said he was so groggy on rising that he thought he had been drinking the night before, to the point where he couldn’t remember whether he’d drunk or not. A woman said she felt “weary all the time, no matter how much sleep I got the night before.” She assumed she was clinically depressed, because she felt an overpowering urge to crawl into bed and pull the covers over her head. One patient was terrified by the overpowering attacks of sleepiness and muscle paralysis he experienced during moments of emotional arousal. In addition to feeling weary or exhausted, victims of DOES may claim that their sleep is nonrestorative, light, or fragmented. As one patient said, “My batteries just never seem to get recharged the way they used to.” Obviously, these problems, left untreated, can interfere with social, work, and family obligations.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is the major complaint of those people who seek help from sleep-disorder clinics. In one study, 51 percent of patients were diagnosed as suffering from hypersomnia, while 31 percent suffered one of the forms of insomnia described earlier. Each year, sleep-disorder centers report seeing as many as 30,000 new patients with some form of DOES complaint.

Statistically, most cases of daytime sleepiness arise from disordered breathing during the night—the sleep apnea in the context of sleep interruption. According to one study, as many as 43 percent of DOES victims have a breathing abnormality, primarily of the obstructive variety. During the night, these patients experience stoppages of breath lasting 20, 40, even 90 seconds, which in turn cause them to waken to some degree or another. Come morning, apneics feel unrested and lethargic; surprisingly, however, many ‘ of them have no idea that their breathing at night is abnormal, since during the day they experience no breathing difficulty. We will take a closer look at sleep apnea, including the condition known as sudden infant death syndrome, shortly.

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Prophylaxis

Current guidelines do not recommend routine antimicrobial prophylaxis or serologic testing after a tick bite. Although several experts recommend prophylaxis after bites by engorged I. scapularis nymphs, it is very difficult to accurately identify the tick species and assess the degree of engorgement. Testing recovered ticks for B. burgdorferi is not recommended.

People who have been bitten by a tick need close monitoring for development of skin lesions, temperature exceeding 38°C (suggestive of babesiosis or HGE), or other signs of illness for up to 1 month. If illness develops, patients should be evaluated for a tick-borne disease.

Prevention

Despite widespread awareness about Lyme disease, only 40% to 50% of adults take steps to prevent tick bites. Effective strategies include wearing long pants and tucking pant legs into socks. Checking for ticks after time spent outdoors allows prompt detection (within 24-48 hours) and removal before attachment. Ticks are more easily seen on light-colored clothing. Bites typically occur in hidden, moist areas, such as the axilla, groin, or behind the knee and constricted areas such as waistbands. Unfortunately, only 30% of patients even recall a tick bite. Nymphs often occupy the periphery of wooded areas, so following the middle of paths and trails helps minimize contact.

Avoidance of tick-infested areas is an effective but often impractical approach to Lyme disease prevention. Strategies to reduce tick population density include leaf removal and grass cutting. Because tick eggs are deposited on the ground in leaf litter, clearing this reduces the Ixodes population by 72% to 100%; however, the tick population returns within several months. A Massachusetts study demonstrated that mowing grass reduced the tick population by 70%. Seventeen months later, the population remained 53% lower. Large-scale pesticide use is limited by toxicity to plants, birds, and animals.

The use of repellents and toxins is widely recommended. Repellents containing N, N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) are the most effective but must be reapplied often. Permethrin 0.5% fabric spray kills ticks, but skin contact should be avoided. Despite these shortcomings, the benefits of repellents and toxins likely outweigh the risks. The Lyme disease vaccine is no longer available.

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