• As soon as you think you want to start a baby it is good sense to make sure that all the conditions are right for your baby to get off to a good start. First, start eating properly. Make sure that you eat enough, especially if you are thin. If you are underweight your baby may grow slowly. Ensure that your diet is rich in protein, vitamins and minerals and complex carbohydrates. These latter should be in the form of high-fibre, unrefined carbohydrates. These also have the advantage of ensuring that you don’t get constipated during pregnancy-a common problem.

Drink plenty of fluids-keep off or cut down on tea, coffee, cocoa and cola drinks. Drink more water or dilute pure fruit juices (not squash). Aim to gain between 17 and 25 lbs in weight over the whole pregnancy. Any more could be disadvantageous. Come off the contraceptive pill at least three months before you plan to conceive. Use a barrier or other method until your body resumes its natural cycle and then try to conceive. Remember that it takes an average of 5.3 months for a normal, healthy couple to conceive if they are having unlimited sex. After taking the Pill a small percentage of women take many months to conceive but eventually almost all of them do so. If you have a coil doesn’t remove it until you actually want to conceive. Come off all drugs but don’t stop any prescribed drugs or medications until you have discussed it with your doctor. Stop or seriously cut down on your smoking and alcohol intake. Both can be hazardous in pregnancy and their effects on the health of eggs and sperms are not yet fully understood. Play safe.

• Keep away from infections, including childhood infections, ‘flu and so on. By doing all these things for 3-6 months prior to conceiving you will stand a better chance of conceiving a healthy, normal baby.

Obviously you can’t choose your parents and there may well be diseases or conditions that run through your family or that of your partner. If you are worried about anything like this tell the doctor. He or she can arrange for you to attend a specialist, if necessary, to put your mind at rest or to establish whether or not the risk of a particular condition occurring is worth taking.

During pregnancy eat well and don’t put on too much weight. The ideal to aim for is 17-25 lb, but if you are very skinny at the outset you could add a little more. Eat as outlined above. Don’t take any food to excess because it is now thought that large slugs of certain foods can sensitize a baby in the mother’s womb. Be moderate in all you eat. Be sure to have plenty of dietary fibre and lots of fruit and vegetables eaten raw or very lightly cooked to preserve the minerals and vitamins.

There is a good case to be made for taking additional vitamin and mineral supplements during pregnancy, especially as so many foods are so poor in these valuable nutrients today. Do not drink pints of milk a day. This can sensitise your baby in utero to cows’ milk protein. Also milk is very fattening and rich in fat. If you really want to drink milk make sure it is skimmed milk. Carry on drinking plenty of bland fluids and avoiding tea, coffee, cocoa and cola drinks, as before conception.

• Don’t take any drugs at all and see your doctor to ask if you can come off any of the prescribed drugs you are on. This should already have been discussed before conception but now he or she may be prepared to reconsider the whole subject with more urgency. Almost all drugs cross the placenta and affect the unborn baby somehow, so you are better off without them unless they are life-saving. Morning sickness, constipation and other minor ailments, should be coped with by using dietary and natural remedies rather than drugs and medications. A high-fibre diet will prevent constipation, and dry toast and biscuits are good if you feel sick. Moderate doses of antacids for heartburn are probably safe.

Keep away from X-ray machines and other X-ray hazards. If a child has to be X-rayed get someone else to hold him or her if there is even a remote chance that you are pregnant.

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What are the main symptoms

There are 101 different symptoms you can put under the endometriosis umbrella. Most common is pain.

Some women complain of pain and feeling bad, usually for the two weeks preceding menstruation. Other common symptoms include fatigue, bloating, irregular and abnormal bleeding, rectal bleeding, pain in cycle, pain in bowel, pain in bladder, a general feeling of pressure within the pelvic cavity, painful intercourse, infertility, depression, lethargy, insomnia, diarrhea – sometimes alternating between constipation and diarrhea – and a general feeling of being ‘nervy’.

Other symptoms include blood pressure changes, leg cramps,

palpitations, changes in body temperature, mood swings, changes in weight – most often an increase although some people seem to lose a lot of weight – skin rashes, flushing, loss of libido and sugar cravings.

Other associated symptoms include some tendency towards showing a hormone imbalance.

What happens at the first visit

An hour is allowed for each consultation – possibly longer for the first. A detailed list of symptoms is taken, together with answers to relevant questions defying such things as sleep patterns, moods, traumas etc. This can take some time as the woman has the opportunity to ‘divulge all’, and there is usually quite a deal of bottled-up anguish in endometriosis cases.

A medical history is taken – past illnesses, operations, traumas, etc. A list is made of past and current medications and a family medical history is taken. An inspection is made of the woman’s hands, nails, hair, tongue, palpation over liver/stomach/ spleen/ovaries/kidney area, examination of any rashes, moles, lumps, etc.

After I arrive at any treatment programme, I discuss this with the woman, explaining the method and significance of the remedies and the anticipated healing path ahead.

What is your treatment regime

Bach flower essences: For the mental/emotional sphere – to help emotional blocks and negative beliefs.

Diet: Non-chemical foods. An emphasis on low fat, high fibre, low sugar foods. No processed or refined foods. Ideally, organically grown fruit, vegetables, cereals and grains, filtered water. Avoid coffee, tea and alcohol. If candida is present, a special anti-candida diet will be prescribed.

Pain management: If needed, acupuncture and visualization may be considered.

Stress management: Meditation, yoga, massage.

Exercise: Gentle, regular exercise such as walking, cycling, swimming. No jarring exercise such as jogging.

Usual length of a treatment cycle

Two to 18 months, most around the six to eight month span with intermittent visits over the longer period. It is sometimes hard to tell due to lack of compliance to treatment – after the pain has gone, the motivation to complete the healing programme can disappear.

Women being treated usually require a visit once every four weeks.

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The incidence of kidney stones has gone up considerably this century. It used to be mainly an adult disease but now it occurs in children too. The occurrence rate is between 3 and 13 per cent in westernized countries, with the rate in the USA about 12 per cent, yet kidney stones are rare in people living in poor or primitive conditions.

What could have caused such a change? The greatest difference between the poor and the affluent countries of today is their diets. In the richer countries, the fat and animal protein content of the diet is five times greater than in the typical diet of the poorer countries. Most kidney stones are made of calcium and it is known that both protein and glucose can increase the amount of calcium the body puts out in the urine. One researcher has found that the glucose effect is exaggerated in stone-formers. Sugar can be shown to increase the amount of calcium put out by the kidneys in normal people and to produce damage to the tubular cells of the kidneys of animals.

It has been found that people who repeatedly form kidney stones eat more animal protein than do other people. The stone-formers in one study consumed more meat, fish and poultry and less grain and starch than did non-stone-formers. A high-fibre diet might well be of value in this condition in so far as it reduces blood-glucose swings-which are known to be critical in producing a urine rich in calcium, which then crystallizes out to form kidney stones. Lastly, there is evidence that a western diet reduces the production of normal stone-inhibiting substances in the urine.

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The people involved in establishing the in-patient pain management unit in Melbourne have all worked with chronic pain patients for several years. They have learned that the management of pain must involve a ‘multi-disciplinary’ approach to the patient with chronic pain.

In setting up such a clinic, the specialists had become convinced from experience that an in-patient facility was important in the assessment and management of chronic pain patients. They also believed that such a unit would operate best on a ‘behaviourial model’ based on principles of behaviour modification as set out by Dr W. Fordyce of Seattle.

This involves changing the behaviour of chronic pain patients and encouraging them to return to normal behaviour. In other words, patients must start managing or coping with their pain, and not allowing it to completely control their lives.

The programme’s aim is to improve the quality of life of patients with chronic pain. Accordingly, a programme of pain management was organised to minimise the length of stay in hospital.

The unit is staffed by:

• A clinical director who is a consultant psychiatrist, with experience in managing chronic pain patients.

• A full-time charge nurse and two other nurses.

• A clinical psychologist who acts as programme director.

• A part-time occupational therapist.

• A part-time physiotherapist.

• A part-time dietician.

• A unit physician.

• A social worker.

The programme usually runs for about four weeks. Under most circumstances, patients are initially admitted for a five-day assessment period which runs from Monday to Friday.

At the end of this time, the patient’s major areas of difficulty, both physical and psychological, are discussed and a contractual period of admission is agreed upon, with the specific aims being clearly defined.

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Surgical treatment of cancer pain

When all else fails, pain management calls for the specialised skills of the neurosurgeon . Surgical procedures interrupt the pain pathways by making incisions into various levels of the nervous system. Thus, cordotomy (in which the pain pathways in the spinal cord are interrupted), removal or destruction of the pituitary gland and the destruction of various collections of nerves known as ganglia may be carried out.

All or any of these treatments may be used in the one person at the same or different stages of the disease.

Physical treatments of cancer pain

The physical methods of treatment as discussed in other chapters of this book are also helpful for the pain caused by the cancer itself and also that caused by non-cancerous conditions which may add to the sufffering. Treatments include acupuncture, TENS and conservative physiotherapy methods.

Psychological management

In some cases, psychological methods using imagery, relaxation and hypnosis can give cancer sufferers relief, as can physical therapy and measures such as sympathetic understanding of their thoughts about pain and its effects on them. This can dramatically help put the pain into perspective.

Carl and Stephanie Simonton describe these techniques in their books ‘Getting Well Again’ and ‘The Healing Family’.

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Keep your eyes closed. By controlling your thinking, you can make time seem to slow down. (The following is read progressively more and more slowly, with each word drawn out and with long pauses, i.e. of two to six seconds between the statements.) Tell yourself that there’s lots of time. There’s lots of time between each second. Time is stretching out and there’s lots of time. There’s more and more time between each second. Every second is stretching far, far out. Stretching out more and more. Lots and lots of time. There’s so much time, lots of time. Tell yourself that every second is stretching out. There’s a lot of time between each second. Lots of time. You do it yourself. You slow time down. Now bring time back to normal but keep your eyes closed.

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There is no reason for you to stop taking medication while you are having this treatment. However one of the main reasons for using TENS is to help you to reduce the amount of pain-killers you may be taking.

TENS is a method of encouraging your body to produce its own pain killers — the endorphins and enkephalins. Thus it is far preferable to take yourself off strong pain killers which may be putting your liver and kidneys at risk, as well as exposing yourself to the risk of drug addiction.

The benefits of TENS may well be enhanced by the use of an antidepressant at the same time. The use of TENS before going to bed may reduce the need for sleeping tablets. 8. Is treatment with TENS painful?

During TENS treatment you will experience a tingling or pulsing sensation under the electrodes or spreading away from the electrode site. TENS should never be painful as such pain would open the ‘pain gate’. The whole idea of TENS is help the body to close the gate.

In some types of treatment muscular contractions may be produced. These aid the breakdown of painful muscle spasms and increase the amount of blood flowing through the area. The strength of the muscle contractions should always be within your ability to cope without undue discomfort.

You should be able to wear a TENS unit for up to several hours without discomfort. If you experience pain during treatment you should speak to your doctor or therapist.

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At present, the only treatment for coeliac disease is to eliminate the foods that contain gluten, namely any food containing wheat, rye, barley or oats. Most sufferers have to avoid all traces of gluten, but some can get away with eating a small amount occasionally, and some do not have to avoid oats, which contain far less gluten than the others. However, it is very risky for coeliacs to experiment with eating gluten, even if they have avoided it for some years and are fully recovered. Some have an acute reaction to even the smallest amount, known as coeliac shock.

A few patients do not get better, even though they are very careful to avoid

gluten. This may be because their gut lining is badly damaged and needs time to repair itself. Zinc deficiency can contribute to this problem, and a zinc supplement may be useful. Continuing symptoms can also be due to lactase deficiency, a consequence of structural damage to the gut lining. Avoiding milk may help in such cases. Soya milk can be used instead, and yoghurt or cheese made from cow, sheep or goat milk can be eaten, but not cottage cheese.

Alternatively, persistent symptoms may be due to some other problem, such as a tumour, or a defective pancreas. More commonly, however, the patient turns out to have sensitivities to other foods, besides wheat. The damage done to the gut lining by coeliac disease makes it much more leaky, so other food molecules get through into the bloodstream, paving the way for food sensitivity. Soya is a common culprit, perhaps because it is so widely used in gluten-free products. Milk, fish, rice and chicken have also been known to cause this problem. They can perpetuate the damaging reactions in the gut lining long after gluten has been eliminated from the diet. In theory, any food might have this effect. An elimination diet should help to track down the offender, but this should only be tried under medical supervision.

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A recent study found a significant correlation between an increase in carbonated beverage consumption and esophageal adenocarcinoma decades later. In the past 25 years, the number of cases of this cancer has risen by 570% among Caucasian men in the US—the group that consumes the most soft drinks.

self-defense: Don’t drink more than 12 ounces of carbonated beverages daily.

Tight garments may contribute to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a potentially deadly ailment involving formation of a blood clot in the legs. Should the clot break away and travel to the lungs, this pulmonary embolism can kill within minutes.

self-defense: Avoid restrictive clothing if you’re at high risk for DVT. At-risk individuals include postsurgical patients, pregnant women and those who are bedridden.

Dental X rays may identify people at high risk for heart attack and stroke. Hardening of the carotid arteries, which lead to the brain, can often be seen in a panoramic dental X ray. This hardening of the carotids doubles risk of death from heart attack or stroke.

when x rays are taken: Ask your dentist to look for calcifications in the carotid arteries.

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Yes. Because of its beneficial effect on the immune system, it also helps fight infections. Studies conducted in China showed that supplemental selenium lowered the incidence of hepatitis B.

In another study, people with Alzheimer’s disease had 40% lower blood levels of selenium than people without the disease. In addition to folic acid and vitamin B-12, an adequate supply of selenium is needed for brain health.

Selenium also has anti-inflammatory properties. In some clinical studies, it relieved symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and acute and chronic pancreatitis.

Selenium enters the human food chain from the soil through grain crops and forage crops (those that are eaten by animals). Levels of selenium in soil are highly variable and often very low.

In the US, for example, soil in the Pacific Northwest and the Atlantic Northeast is selenium deficient. People living in these low-selenium regions may get only 50 meg of selenium daily.

In high-selenium regions, such as Nebraska, South Dakota and some of the other Great Plains states, it is common for adults to get 200 meg to 300 meg of selenium per day. Overall, most Americans are getting more than 55 meg per day, the government’s current recommended dietary intake.

My research has consistently shown that an adult requires 200 meg to 300 meg of selenium per day to receive its full protective properties.

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