The actual location of the endometrial implants in the body depends on the way in which they were transported to their new site. Because the majority of implants are transported to their new location by retrograde menstruation, almost all endometrial implants are found in the pelvic cavity. As blood and lymph transportation of endometrial fragments is rare, it is unusual to find implants in other parts of the body.
The ovaries are one of the most common sites for endometriosis and at least 50% of women with endometriosis have some implants on one or both of their ovaries. The other most common sites are the utero-sacral ligaments, the Pouch of Douglas and the peritoneum.
Less common sites for endometriosis include the appendix, the surface of the bladder, the recto-vaginal septum, the surface of the uterus, the fallopian tubes, and the surface of the small and large bowel.
On rare occasions, endometriosis has been found in almost every part of the body including surgical and episiotomy scars, the cervix, vagina, diaphragm, navel, lungs, breasts, arms and legs, the groin and the nose.
*15\83\2*
Also known as biochemical tissue salts, the medicinal use of these simple mineral compounds was developed by Dr Wilhelm Schuessler in Germany in the 1870s. He placed particular emphasis on the balance of minerals in the body and the onset of disease and identified 12 salts which were vital for general health and self-healing. If the mineral balance in cells was just right, Schuessler reasoned, diseases do not occur. Schuessler concentrated his efforts on the healing of everyday illnesses like colds and muscular pain, skin rashes and allergies.
Today these compounds are widely used by homeopaths but may be prescribed in a slightly different way to the Schuessler remedies, in keeping with the homeopathic principle of like curing like. The salts are known by an abbreviated name, such as Calc. fluor. for Calcium Fluoride and Kali mur. for Potassium Chloride, and are usually dissolved under the tongue. People suffering from lactose intolerance should note that lactose is often used as a binder in tissue salt powders and tablets (see Homeopathy). Tissue salts are also made up in combinations to treat different aspects of various problems.
*63\69\2*
Even though research is still going on, the available data show that Hypericum extract is clinically effective as an anti-depressant drug and that it probably works by biochemical mechanisms not so much different from the mechanisms of action of the tricyclics or the SSRIs. We feel that these findings are important enough to be communicated and interesting enough to stimulate further research.
Walter E. Muller, Frankfurt Siegfried Rasper, Vienna 1997
The modern era of research into St John’s Wort was ushered in by the German Health Department, which set up Commission E to investigate the many herbal remedies in general use in Germany and to find out for which of these there was reasonable evidence of efficacy. Commission E came out with its report in 1984 and identified approximately 300 herbs for which such evidence existed. Shortly after this, certain German pharmaceutical companies targeted some of these herbs as worthy of particular research attention; St John’s Wort was one of these herbs.
Research into a new treatment, such as St John’s Wort for depression, usually develops in predictable ways. One needs to establish whether the treatment actually works, who benefits most from it, what dosages are appropriate and for how long treatment should be continued. Side-effects need to be documented. Only once a treatment is regarded as safe and effective does attention usually turn to how the treatment actually works. Research in St John’s Wort is ongoing, but so far it has taken these expected directions. In this chapter I summarize the state of the art of research on the herbal anti-depressant.
*37\75\2*
A similar, but much more serious case was presented by Eleanor Wyckham, an overweight middle-aged woman. Two years before entering the Ecology Unit, Mrs. Wyckham had been hospitalized for depression. She had attempted suicide twice and had been given electroshock therapy. In her case, the treatment was ineffective and caused some memory loss.
Mrs. Wyckham was one of those patients who was aware that her problems stemmed in part from food. “I’ve reached the point where I am afraid to eat any longer,” she said, before entering the Ecology Unit. “Once I start eating, I feel as if I simply cannot stop.” She alternated between binges of eating and fasts or all-fruit diets. Her favorite food in the world, she said, was peanut butter—this was the one item she could not do without. She also loved bread, baked goods, and in fact anything with wheat in it. She had eaten wheat addictively since childhood, when her mother, who was interested in nutrition, became convinced of the virtues of whole wheat bread. She therefore plied her daughter with large amounts of this staple. Mrs. Wyckham, who had a family history of alcoholism, likened herself to an alcoholic, too—in her craving for bread and peanut butter.
She entered the hospital in a very depressed state. After five days of fasting, she was much less depressed. Not surprisingly, in her food test she had a severe reaction to peanuts (as well as to lamb). More unexpected was the fact that she passed the wheat test with no trouble—which shows that food allergies cannot always be pinpointed on the basis of histories or “hunches.” She did have moderate reactions to yeast and milk, however, which are often components of bread.
Mrs. Wyckham was then retested on some of the foods to which she had had no adverse reaction, but this time to foods which had been purchased in a commercial market. There was a definite increase in her depression, after a few such meals. Through the avoidance of incriminated foods, Mrs. Wyckham was able to control both her depression and her weight problem. This points to the fact that the Rotary Diversified Diet (Chap. 18), although not specifically designed as a weight-loss diet, can be helpful in that regard for the overweight patient.
The patients described in the preceding cases appear to have become sicker gradually, after a long period of cumulative exposure to chemicals and foods. Sometimes, however, a preexisting condition is suddenly made much worse by a massive exposure to an allergy-causing substance.
*88\110\2*
Those who worry about passing flatus (rectal gas) must understand that it is quite normal to do so, Drug Therapy (17#10:76) reports. Everyone experiences this problem to a certain extent, and the amount of gas is excessive only when it causes physical discomfort or bloating of the abdomen.
Gas is produced in the colon (large intestine) by bacteria that ferment the sugars and other carbohydrates which fail to get digested and absorbed higher up in the intestinal tract. One of the more common causes of this embarrassing problem is lactase insufficiency (milk intolerance), a condition in which certain people are incapable of digesting lactose (the natural sugar in milk) because they lack the necessary sugar-splitting enzyme, lactase.
Lactase insufficiency victims can now take the missing enzyme by mouth in the form of the product Lactaid. This is available in drug stores and does not require a prescription.
Other common causes for fermentable sugar reaching the colon include the consumption of wheat, oats, potatoes, or corn in excessive amounts. Some fruits (apricots, bananas, prunes, and raisins) and vegetables (beans, Brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, and onions), contain indigestible carbohydrates, too, and are notorious sources of excessive gas.
However, people differ enormously in how much of these foods they can eat without experiencing this problem. Furthermore, everyone changes in this regard from day to day, and these differences depend upon variation in the types and number of bacteria living in the colon. For those who continue to be plagued by too much gas despite dietary adjustment, one can attempt to reduce the number of the offending colonic bacteria with a short course of antibiotic treatment (a doctor’s prescription is needed for this).
First, though, it is worth trying to inhibit the excessive fermentation by taking some charcoal pills by mouth. Activated charcoal (available in most drug stores) is not only a good poison antidote but reduces the bloating and cramps due to excessive intestinal gas, the American Journal of Gastroenterology (81:532) reports. In-both settings, charcoal works because it absorbs and inactivates many other substances, including gases. This is much less expensive and does not require a doctor’s prescription. By taking some charcoal every day, which is not expensive and does not require a doctor’s prescription, one can soon rid oneself of the discomfort and embarrassment of intestinal gas.
*166\143\2*
Signs and symptoms
Swollen, slightly tender lymph glands are a symptom of illness or infection. If glands continue to swell, become painful and more tender, and redden the overlying skin, the glands themselves may have become infected. If the node is killed by the infection, it breaks down into pus, which may erupt through the skin as would a deep-seated boil.
Home care
Mildly swollen glands usually require treatment only for the disease or infection causing the swelling. Note which lymph nodes are swollen, look for the cause, and treat that disease or infection.
If lymph nodes are greatly enlarged, very tender, and red, see your doctor.
Precautions
• In infants, swollen glands in the neck (and sometimes other locations) usually require a doctor’s treatment because infants have a limited resistance to diseases.
• Any lymph node that continues to increase in size and tenderness or that becomes reddened needs a doctor’s attention.
• Healthy children have visible lymph nodes the size of fresh peas or smaller in the sides of the neck. These may become especially noticeable when the child turns the head; they are normal.
Medical treatment
Your doctor will seek the cause of swollen glands by conducting a complete examination of all sites of glands as well as the spleen and liver. The doctor may also order a blood count, mononucleosis test, and, in severe cases, chest and kidney – X rays, bone marrow examination, and test of sedimentation rate. Your doctor will treat the disease causing the swollen glands and may treat the glands themselves by prescribing antibiotics. An infected gland may be opened and drained or removed either as treatment or for a biopsy (culture and examination).
*83/84/5*
Baycol was a statin drug manufactured by the German drug company Bayer AG. It was approved for use in the United States by the FDA in 1997. On 8th August 2001 Bayer AG voluntarily withdrew the drug from the market because it was responsible for the deaths of 31 people in the USA. These people developed rhabdomyolysis which is a severe breakdown of muscle cells that causes muscle pain, weakness, tenderness, fever, dark urine, nausea and vomiting. Most people die of kidney failure when this happens. Rhabdomyolysis is a possible side effect of all cholesterol lowering drugs called statins. In one third of these cases, the victim was also taking another cholesterol lowering drug called gemfibrozil, which is known to increase the risk of this condition. Following the withdrawal, the FDA did not undertake any regulatory action with regard to the other cholesterol lowering drugs in the same category as  ay col.
Baycol was the third best selling prescription drug for Bayer, and in the year 2000 it earned the company 560 million US dollars in sales. It is very sad that people had to die when cholesterol levels can be normalized in most cases with an appropriate eating plan and improving liver function. Between 1981 and 2000 the FDA approved 543 new drugs in the US. Fourteen of these drugs were subsequently recalled because of safety concerns. The drug Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in September 2004 because it was found to significantly increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Why put your life in the hands of drug companies when nutritional medicine can prolong your life and improve its quality.
*29/53/5*
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Mercury
Mercury is a heavy toxic metal which now contaminates the air, soil and water in many parts of the world. Mercury pollution has been caused by the burning of fossil fuels and the increased use of mercury in industry and agriculture. Traces of mercury can be found in pesticides, dental fillings, and in fish (especially tuna). The saying ‘mad as a hatter’ came about because hatters used to polish top hats with mercury and many of them were poisoned by it. It is extremely toxic and can affect fertility.
Female dental assistants, for instance, who are exposed to mercury through the amalgam fillings they handle, have been found to be less fertile than female dental assistants who do not come into contact with the metal. And women dentists, it is claimed, have a higher rate of miscarriage.
There are real concerns about the impact of mercury on male fertility, following research in Hong Kong where people eat a lot offish and shellfish containing minute and supposedly safe quantities of the metal. Here, scientists found a significant link between the level of mercury in hair and male sub-fertility. Eating mercury-contaminated fish over a number of years stopped sperm development in many Hong Kong men.
Mercury seemed to be one factor in the case of Teresa and her partner.
Case History
Teresa and her partner conceived easily but she was diagnosed with a blighted ovum when she was 10 weeks pregnant and had to have a D&C. Teresa had deficiencies of both zinc and selenium and her partner was low in magnesium with above average levels of mercury. He told me that as a child he had played with mercury. Mercury is an unusual metal, in that it is liquid at room temperature and forms small balls as it flows. Over the four months of the Preconception Plan they both took specific nutritional supplements to correct their deficiencies and Teresa’s partner had extra antioxidants and support for his liver in order to eliminate the mercury. They now have a baby boy.
Lead
Lead is a heavy toxic metal which is naturally present in the earth but we get a high exposure to this metal from lead pipes.
Lead was used in the past to induce an abortion, and severe lead intoxication has been shown to result in infertility and miscarriage. It could be argued that these problems are due to lead poisoning and that most of us are not exposed to such high levels. However, women who just live in lead-polluted areas have also shown a greater risk of miscarriages.
According to a 1991 study, of all the toxic metals, lead seems to pose the greatest threat to male fertility. Research shows that it can reduce the sperm count, increase malformed sperm and make the sperm more sluggish.
Cadmium
This is an inorganic poison present in tobacco smoke which accumulates in the body. It blocks nutrients like zinc – which is absolutely crucial for both male and female fertility.
Copper
Copper can be both toxic and essential, depending on how much you are exposed to it. Your body absorbs copper from water pipes, contraceptive coils, swimming pools and jewellery. Copper tends to increase its concentration in the body after any hormonal treatment, such as the Pill or fertility drugs. Copper and zinc are antagonistic which means that if you have too much copper, your zinc levels can be reduced. As zinc is so vital for fertility for both of you, it is important that your copper levels are kept in check.
Zinc deficiency and high lead levels were certainly factors for Janet and her partner.
Case History
Janet, 38, had a miscarriage at 12 weeks before she came to see me. Her nutritional analysis showed that she was low in calcium, selenium and zinc, and had higher than normal levels of lead. Her partner, 34, had low levels of selenium and zinc and very high levels of lead. I felt it was important that they both got themselves back into optimum health by following the Four-Month Preconception Plan, before they tried again, in order to try and prevent another miscarriage. I recommended appropriate supplements for their deficiencies, as well as antioxidants like vitamin Ñ to help eliminate the lead from their bodies.
Janet and her partner waited until their mineral and lead levels were back to normal and then conceived and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
*14/73/5*
Any dementia-causing neurological condition can slowly rob you of things you take for granted-like language, memory, judgment, even your ability to make sense of what you see or where you are. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and perhaps the deadliest. The estimated four million American adults who have it suffer any combination of those cognitive losses, usually starting off with seemingly insignificant memory lapses.
There are genes that predispose you to Alzheimer’s. A family history of any kind of dementia puts you at higher risk. Other risk factors include a history of depression, alcohol abuse, or thyroid disease. Here are some ways to bolster your odds against this ailment.
Get smart. An idle mind is Alzheimer’s playground. “Well-educated people seem to show signs of Alzheimer’s less often,” says Linda Hershey, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and chief of neurology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, also in Buffalo. “Education has a protective effect.”
But even if you dropped out of school, it’s not too late to build up your brain against Alzheimer’s. Dedication to mind-challenging hobbies like music, cards, or drawing will help, according to the Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia at the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine. The only requirement is an active mind.
Relieve brain pain. A toxic protein in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains actually stimulates inflammatory reactions that contribute to cell loss. “You could possibly slow that process by taking an anti-inflammatory pain remedy like ibuprofen,” Dr. Hershey says. “Just like this drug helps reduce inflammation in your joints, it helps the same way in your brain.” In fact, studies have shown that any of the non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (that is, aspirin, ibuprofen, and the like) help. But Dr. Hershey cautions that you should ask your physician before taking these drugs, as they can cause serious side effects.
Take vitamin E. When Columbia University researchers looked at Alzheimer’s sufferers, they found that those who took vitamin E in the middle stages took about a year longer before requiring institutionalization. That doesn’t mean that vitamin E can prevent Alzheimer’s. Also, this study’s dosage was much higher than what most doctors would recommend. In fact, taking high doses of vitamin E has the potential to cause neuropathy, according to Dr. Hershey.
“Vitamin E presumably works because it’s an antioxidant and, therefore, the enemy of free radicals that can damage brain cells in people with Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Hershey says. “A free-radical scavenger like vitamin E can slow down the process.” And so can other antioxidants, research indicates, including ginkgo and vitamin Ñ. But again, before you add a vitamin E supplement to your diet, Dr. Hershey advises that you speak with your doctor.
Watch your head. Trauma, especially combined with a predisposing gene, increases your risk for Alzheimer’s. It can happen from one severe head injury or various blows to the noggin over the years. “If you have the gene, head trauma can make the symptoms show up earlier,” Dr. Hershey says.
Check the pressure. High blood pressure is usually associated with other kinds of dementia, but at least one study at the University of Illinois has found a hypertension-Alzheimer’s link. Fifteen years after having their blood pressure tracked at age 70, those in the study group who developed Alzheimer’s turned out to be those with higher blood pressure readings.
*92/36/5*
In bulimia, over-control produces lack of control. Trying to govern something that is ungovernable—the need to eat—just leads to the feeling that one is out of control. That feeling in turn drives a woman to exert even more control—and so the vicious cycle continues.
How does this happen? In several ways. After a binge-purge episode, a woman usually skips the next meal or two. Her hunger increases. Her body’s cry for food grows stronger, pushing her closer to the inevitable binge.
Unrealistically strict diets have the same effect. Under such regimes a woman sets up rigid rules. She believes she must follow these rules perfectly. There is no margin for error. The trouble is that such rules are impossible to follow all the time. Once she breaks a rule, as she inevitably will, her thoughts spiral out of control. She thinks, “All is lost! I might as well go ahead and eat anything I want now, since I’m such a failure anyway.” And voila-a binge.
Some women go a step further. They try to hold off bingeing by distracting themselves through abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs. Unfortunately, these substances cause the woman to “let her guard down.” Once she surrenders her willpower, the urge to binge takes over. Now she not only binges and purges, she suffers from substance abuse as well.
One last point: Many women create strict rules about their personal appearance. As one patient said, “If I weigh more than a hundred pounds I can’t go out. I’ll call in sick at work. And I won’t be lying either – weighing more than a hundred pounds is sick!” The more such women stay home, the more isolated they become from other people. Lonely, depressed, and bored, they succumb to the temptation to binge.
The bulimic process, like the process of anorexia, eventually takes on a life of its own. The metabolic damage of purging impairs the ability to think clearly. Patients may describe themselves as being “in a fog” all day long. In time, the illness produces devastating feelings of depression, sometimes leading to thoughts (or even acts) of suicide.
There is much more to say about these illnesses, their patterns, and the impact they have on those who suffer from them. I include these brief sketches here hoping that you will recognize whether your own pattern, or that of someone close to you, reflects an eating disorder—and, if so, that you will recognize the stage the illness has reached.
Remember: The sooner you seek help, the greater the chance of recovery.
*23/35/5*
