Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics
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Archive for April, 2009
CONTRACEPTION AFTER CHILDBIRTH
Author: admin
Childbirth is a dramatic event, an intensely emotional occasion. It is a time of great physical and hormonal change, and of psychological readjustment. Psychoanalysts have called it a ‘maturational crisis’ – a woman’s abrupt transition from girlhood to motherhood, often bringing to mind previously unconscious recollection of the mothering she herself received. For the couple, it is a time of domestic and social upheaval and reassessment of roles. Such factors may have a profound effect on sexual feelings, which providers of contraception need to understand if they are to meet fully their patients’ individual needs.
As with any major event, the immediate effect of childbirth is one of shock; in this case usually succeeded by a need to care for and bond with a new baby. The woman’s ability to cope with the experience will depend on several important factors, namely the physical and psychological severity of the event itself, her personality and past experience, the fulfilment or otherwise of her expectations, and on the relationship she has with her partner.
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read comments (0)THE COUPLE – CONCLUSION
Author: admin
The decisions of this couple regarding a pregnancy and the chosen method towards success had been made outside the medical setting. They made their own choices, showing that doctors can provide every type of counselling for couples, but they will only be able to use what is comfortable for them. Counselling is a two-way process and no-one can be forced into sharing their anxieties.
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There are certain basic differences in counselling a woman with an unplanned pregnancy compared to other counselling situations (Coles, 1983). First, there is a definite time limit. If the woman is contemplating abortion, this is safer and easier if performed before about 12 weeks’ gestation. As it can take some time to organize a hospital appointment and a bed, this may result in little time for discussion between diagnosis of the pregnancy and arranging a possible abortion. Sometimes it is better to make the arrangements first and then allow time for counselling, cancelling the appointment later if necessary.
Second, a decision has to be made. One would normally not advise anyone to make an irreversible decision at a time of great stress, yet if the pregnant woman avoids making a decision, a baby will arrive. A further problem is that the doctor has the legal power to agree or disagree to an abortion. Some women may resent this power, or feel they have to give a good enough story to convince the doctor, thereby making it difficult for the doctor to know what they really feel. For this reason, many clinics have nonmedical counsellors. The doctor can diffuse this situation, however, by making it plain at the beginning that he or she is willing to arrange an abortion and then allowing the woman time to discuss her feelings.
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A man might agree to a vasectomy under pressure from his wife because she is angry at her years of contraception, and feels it is his turn now. He may even feel he is being sacrificed, but cannot resist without being thought selfish, or because of a strong need to please her. Either might see the sacrifice as a solution to, or a punishment for, a problem which is not directly one of contraception – sexual, marital, financial and so on. In this case, sterilization can be seen as part of a marital battle, and not purely a contraceptive choice.
However, where this method is chosen for good reasons, the balance for the couple is clear. They exchange total medical control of the operation, plus some discomfort, for a future sexual life completely free of any interference from doctors, no matter how well meant or caring.
For both patient and doctor, the choice of contraceptive method is a question of balancing the wanted effects against unwanted ones. For the doctor this may seem a medical decision, but it is far more complex to the user. A desire for privacy, a conscious or unconscious fear of artificial interference and an added zest to sex if a pregnancy is possible, even if not wanted, are rarely discussed in the family planning clinic. For the patient, the need to be in control of one’s sexual life is weighed against the undoubted benefits of modern contraception with the consequent medical intrusion. The health professional who understands this hidden agenda can offer care in its true meaning.
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A common human tendency is to project negative feelings outwards, often onto those who are seen to be in authority. The contraceptive doctor may be the recipient of negative projections when he is seen as the agent of social control, preventing what comes naturally and making value judgements about the reproductive behaviour of others, ‘stopping all the lovely babies’ as one woman put it. Alternatively, the doctor can be blamed when medical methods fail, especially when the patient has wanted the doctor to take control, and to somehow save her from her own muddle and failure.
The conflict within the individual, presenting as a contraceptive difficulty, may turn into a kind of fight between the patient and the doctor. The patient takes up an extreme position and somehow forces the doctor to take an opposing one. If the doctor can recognize that such a fight is taking place and remember that it is a product of the internal problem (no easy task in the middle of a fight!) some understanding and resolution may be possible. Thus the doctor might say, ‘You know, I’ve been wondering whether this argument we seem to have got into is something to do with different parts of you disagreeing. There seems to be that part of you saying you don’t want to get pregnant struggling with the part of you that does, so that on the one hand you do want a reliable method of contraception while at the same time anything I offer is rejected.’ This may free the woman to explore her dilemma more openly with herself.
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ALLERGY\MEDICAL HELP: DENTAL TREATMENT
Author: admin
Anaesthetising injections used in dental treatment are relatively simple chemicals given locally and reaction is rare. If you are concerned, try to avoid having injections unless absolutely essential. If sensitive to water and disinfectants, take your own water with you for rinsing your mouth.
Some people are affected by the mercury in amalgam fillings. Replacement or new fillings of material other than amalgam can be paid for under usual NHS funding if your dentist is willing to do it, but it requires a special letter from your doctor saying that the work is essential. Consult your dentist and doctor.
Other materials used in dental treatment very rarely cause problems, or are used only fleetingly (e.g. in making moulds for braces or dentures). If you think you have become sensitive to your dentures, try changing your denture cleaning material first. If you are sensitive to plastic materials, it is possible to have metal dentures made.
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WATER TREATMENTS METHODS: DISTILLATION
Author: admin
Water distillers purify water by boiling water and cooling it again. Gases evaporate, bacteria and viruses are killed, and almost every other chemical salt,” mineral and contaminant is left in the boiling chamber. The condensed water is then passed through an activated carbon filter, which removes organic chemicals which have not been removed in the steam. The distilled water is collected in a storage chamber. The resulting water is extremely pure – comparable to reverse osmosis water.
Distillation units cost between £400 and £600. They can be plumbed in under a sink, or can be used on a worktop or table top. Apart from the de-mineralised taste, their other drawbacks include the expense of electricity costs, their low flow-rate, their need for regular cleaning, and their bulk. The resulting water is warm also, so usually needs cooling before drinking. Their major disadvantage for the chemically sensitive, however, is that the water, being de-ionised, absorbs chemicals very readily from its environment and, being usually stored or held initially in a plastic container, has been known to upset people sensitive to plastics. Although it is so pure, in practice chemically sensitive people often tolerate distilled water less well than other types of purified or filtered water.
If you do not want to instal a distiller but want to use distilled water, one company The Freshwater Company (address below) supplies distilled water in containers (plastic) in the London and Home Counties area for a cost of between 21p and 25p per litre (2 pints) at 1992 prices. Pharmacies also sell distilled water, usually in plastic containers. You need to check whether it has been distilled with an activated carbon filter distiller. Some distilled or de-mineralised water sold for steam irons or other uses has not been filtered with activated carbon and still contains organic solvents.
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ALLERGY AND VACUUM CLEANER: WHAT TO CHOOSE
Author: admin
If you need such a product because of chronic illness, you are not required to pay VAT. Vacuum cleaners can be supplied exempt of VAT if you sign a simple declaration form which the supplier will provide.
Remember to change bags and clean fabric filters regularly. If changing bags or cleaning filters upsets you, enlist someone to do it for you.
The Medivac is available from The Healthy House or direct from Medivac. The Nilfisk is available from Allerayde or direct from Nilfisk. All these suppliers offer a trial period. Other suppliers of allergy vacuum cleaners are BVC, AEG, Miele, Rainbow and Vorwerk. Addresses and telephone numbers below.
The Rainbow machine is worthy of particular mention since users report that they find it more effective than the Medivac or Nilfisk. Dusts and dirt are removed by passing through water and there are therefore no bags to change, or filters to clean. The main drawback is price – it’s about £900 (at 1992 prices).
If you absolutely cannot afford to buy such a cleaner, another option is to try exhaust filters, available from Allerayde. These are made of fabric which you tape over the exhaust of any conventional cylinder cleaner, and most hard cased upright cleaners. The fabric is thick synthetic wadding, but has not been reported to cause any reactions. These filters are not as effective as the filtration cleaners. Tests have shown that they are slightly less efficient at trapping particles, and they let out through slightly larger particles. But they still trap over 99 per cent of particles over 0.5 micron in size, which covers most important allergens.
The filters cost £20 for three filters, at 1992 prices, and last about 24 hours of vacuum use. For most people, this would mean replacing them every 12 weeks or so. This is a cheaper solution than buying a filtration cleaner over the long term, unless you use a vacuum cleaner very heavily. Drawbacks are, however, that you are exposed to dusts on changing niters and that it can be fiddly to fix the filters on properly. Again, enlist someone’s help to do it for you if you need to avoid dusts.
Using exhaust filters may be a help if you go away for some time – on holiday or on a prolonged visit.
They may also help to use for a trial period while you decide whether thorough vacuuming will be of benefit to you long term.
Hoover sell High Filtration dust bags for their Turbopower and Turbomaster upright cleaners, which are claimed to reduce the amount of dust passing. A Which? survey in 1991 found that ‘these gave only a small improvement over their other bags and that they still let through an unsatisfactory quantity of dust’.
Contact a local allergy support group, or a local group of a national charity, to see if they have members willing to lend you an allergy vacuum cleaner to try for a while.
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You are left, if you are sensitive to many things, with virtually no choice in contraception except natural methods. The most effective method of natural contraception is called the sympto-thermal method, combining the mucus method (also known as the ovulation or Billings method) with measuring temperature changes and other changes in bodily symptoms. Used correctly, the sympto-thermal method has a failure rate equivalent to a cap or diaphragm used with spermicide, a condom, or a coil, according to the Family Planning Service. Most women are fertile for only about seven days each month around ovulation. Learning to monitor the signs can help you identify the times when unprotected sexual intercourse will not result in pregnancy. The mucus produced by the cervix has characteristic changes on days prior to and just after ovulation. Body temperature also has identifiable changes around the time of ovulation. Other symptoms, such as abdominal pain, bloated tummy and breasts, and an increase in libido often accompany ovulation. During the few days each month when the woman is fertile, you can either abstain from intercourse, or use a method of contraception which you can tolerate in small amounts.
The drawbacks of this method are that it requires a lot of attention and monitoring, and that it is probably only possible for people who have a regular and co-operative partner, or who are in a stable relationship. Furthermore, for women who have an extremely irregular cycle, or do not menstruate, it can be impossible to detect the bodily changes.
A good family planning clinic or experienced doctor will be able to help you work out what to do. Try the Durex.
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ALLERGY TO FURNITURE: SOURCES OF SUPPLY
Author: admin
Simple slatted beds of solid wood and metal are readily available. Mail order companies, such as Freemans, Littlewoods and Grattans, sell metal frame beds by post (addresses below). Habitat and IKAEA do not sell by post but have a choice of wooden, metal, glass and even marble furniture at reasonable prices. Contact them for details of local branches.
If you want to have upholstered furniture made for you, Multiyork will make chairs, stools and sofas upholstered in cotton wadding, on a beech frame. They will use a totally untreated cotton cover fabric if you supply it (>FABRICS for sources) over a pure cotton barrier interliner fabric to meet fire safety regulations. They have branches around the country or will take postal orders.
Alternatively, contact the Association of Master Upholsterers for local specialist upholsterers.
Treske will make solid wood furniture in any wood of your choice, with a varnish of your choice.
Directors’ chairs made of cotton canvas and varnished wood, are often well tolerated and comfortable. You can also use them to carry with you if you go on holiday, on a visit or if you have problems at work. They are widely available at Habitat, DIY stores and department stores. Also try folding chairs of wood and metal.
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