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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Inadequate oxygen to the muscle fibres can cause night-time cramps. Treatment is essential, but brisk massaging, walking on cold tiles or applying hot and cold packs also helps. A 300 mg quinine tablet or 250 mg magsulfate capsule at bedtime may reduce the frequency, as will removing heavy bedclothes from one’s legs. You can try placing three cakes of camphor between the sheets, which, it’s claimed, “warms” the body.
Some people suffer from skin irritation. A natural remedy is to fill the bath with body-warmth water, place a cupful of rolled oats in a sock, tie the top and knead. A milky fluid is produced. Continue to soak for 20 minutes. Dab your body dry with a very soft towel, then sprinkle with cornflour, gently rubbing it in. This simple home remedy often beats expensive chemical alternatives. If problems persist, see your GP.
A family that relates, talks, jokes and interacts at meals enables improved digestion. There’s little worse than a sombre meal interspersed with arguments, ill humour and recrimination for one’s health, as it sends the stomach into a knot, impeding normal digestion. Happiness at the dining table is just as essential to health as the food we eat.
Garlic may not be 100 per cent effective for preventing colds, but it certainly seems to help. Taking supplementary vitamins and minerals also boosts resistance to bugs. Eating sensibly, exercising daily, practising good hygiene and gaining plenty of sleep are also helpful.
Many women develop facial hair on the upper lip—and hate it. With age, there is more male hormone in the body. Facial—even chest or breast—hair may be common. Remedies include peroxiding, electrolysis, laser removal and depilatory cream or wax application. A medication called spironolactone (Aldactone) used with medical supervision may be more desirable.
Dementia is now believed to be genetically inherited, but not always. Following a sensible lifestyle is the best preventive, and includes adequate sleep, regular exercise, sensible nutrition, a limit on alcohol intake and no smoking. IBS Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is difficult to treat. A colonoscopic examination offers accurate diagnosis (and eliminates other possible nasties). However, another problem may be coeliac disease— often overlooked and requiring a different treatment. The intestine may be sensitive to wheat products, treated by a change of diet.
Even though it makes you feel good, cocaine can injure the heart. Used for years as a recreational, feel-good drug, it does damage by constricting the cardiac arteries and often leads to angina and heart attacks. It’s a no-no for all sensible people.
Even after heart bypass surgery or stent insertion, angina can recur. Blood vessel grafts are not necessarily forever, and may clog within years, sometimes even months. So to avoid a further recurrance, quit smoking— avoid the passive smoke of others, also—exercise regularly and eat only low-fat foods, and stay in touch with your GP and cardiologist.
A: Everything is treatable. Puffers and aerosols assist many. Antibiotics help control infection. Oxygen may be needed. But lung reduction by surgery is the latest treatment for severe cases. It offers a better lifestyle for the patient, not all, but many. Referral to a special thoracic clinic at a major hospital is suggested.
Extract from Signs of the Times, September 2002.
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