RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: JOINT PROTECTION GUIDELINES

Respect your pain. Increased pain is a warning that you are overtaxing your joints. You should heed this warning and modify the activity.
Balance rest with activity. Organizing your schedule so that you alternate energy-intensive activities with more restful ones will stretch your energy reserves and protect your joints as well. Conserving your energy by avoiding unnecessary tasks will leave you with more energy to exercise and do the necessary ones.
Maintain your muscle strength. Strong muscles provide additional support to your joints and help protect them from undue stress.
Avoid activities that cannot be stopped. Try to steer clear of prolonged activities that leave you no room or opportunity to rest. Consider that standing in a long line without being able to sit down will leave you fatigued. With some planning you can avoid peak hours and long lines at the post office, bank, and grocery store. Carrying a package for a long distance – across a parking lot, for example – is another activity that can wear you out. Again, the best way to avoid this is to plan ahead: keep a portable or fold-up cart in your car. This will allow you to transport the object without exerting much energy and to take small rest breaks during the trek if you need to.
Avoid positions that promote deformity. Sometimes ligaments and muscles become stretched with the inflammation of arthritis. This may result in unequal forces being exerted across the joints, creating a situation in which the joints drift, or change their alignment. This is known as joint deformity. The word deformity is frightening for most people. The use of the word within this setting, however, merely describes a change in the normal positioning (and, sometimes, function) of joints.
Utilize the largest joint and the strongest muscle available to complete a task. It makes good sense to call upon your most powerful joints and muscles to perform any given task. In this way you avoid putting stress upon smaller, less powerful joints and muscles. Consider the task of lifting a heavy book. If you pick the book up between your thumb and fingers, the fingers and wrist will have a great deal of stress placed on them. Instead, if you pick the book up by sliding your hands underneath the book, palms up, and then lifting it, your arm muscles and elbows will do the work, and you’ll avoid putting extra stress on your wrists and fingers.
Avoid remaining in one position or using muscles in one stationary position for long periods of time. Remaining in one position for too long promotes stiffness or a gelling effect on inflamed joints. Muscles also become fatigued when you use them from a stationary position for long periods. (Think about how your muscles begin to cramp when you write for lengthy periods without stopping or readjusting the pencil or pen.) Stiffness of joints and muscles can be avoided by changing to a different position every fifteen to twenty minutes. Frequent stretching also helps prevent joints from losing range of motion. Again, take frequent breaks, stretch, and change positions before muscle fatigue sets in.
Utilize splinting as needed. A splint is a fabricated support that is designed to stabilize inflamed joints. In RA, a splint has three basic functions. It can be designed to (1) rest an inflamed joint by partially or completely immobilizing it; (2) protect a weakened joint from injury by supporting it; and (3) improve function of a damaged joint.
Splints should only be used if they decrease pain and inflammation or improve function. There is no good evidence available that splints prevent deformity. On the other hand, it has been proven that incorrect or prolonged use of splints can lead to increased stiffness, decreased strength, and decreased motion. If you believe that you are receiving no benefit from a prescribed splint, discuss this with your physician or occupational therapist.
Utilize assistive equipment as needed. There are numerous catalogues listing accessories that are useful for people who have arthritis – so many, in fact, that the choices may be overwhelming. Our advice is to use as little in the way of assistive equipment as possible because these devices can actually interfere with your ability to function independently if you rely on them too heavily or if you use too many of them. This is not to say that there aren’t many situations in which a specific item can help you considerably and spare your joints from excessive stress.
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BACH FLOWER REMEDIES: ASPEN – THE CASE OF A NEWLY WED GIRL

I remember the case of a newly wed girl whose family life was saved from ruination by the timely administration of Aspen Remedy’
Case no 1. Mrs. Swarnjit Kaur, a very beautiful girl coming from a well to do family was married to a handsome boy of an equally well-to-do family. Both families were very well-known to each other and were already having common relatives. So there was no trauma of a new bride entering an unknown family. The girl received as much love and affection in her husband’s house as she got in her parental home. Yet she did not appear to be properly adjusted.
For the last 6 months she avoided meeting people in her in-law’s house. Her in-laws were very sociable people with very large number of friends and relatives. When these people came to see the bride, to offer their blessings and gifts, she would gratefully accept the gifts with a smile and a few words, but would soon retire to her room. Evidently she was avoiding sitting in society. This placed her in-laws in a very awkward position. They could not explain why the new bride could not adjust in the new family and mix freely with others.
I cajoled her in confiding to me, that she was subject to fits of unspecified fears at odd times. She had consulted several doctors but nobody had a clue to her malady. She avoided sitting in new society due to her ASPEN’ fear. Because if she got a fit of her unspecified fear while sitting in new society, it would put herself and her parents-in-law in a very awkward position having to explain to one and all “What is wrong with the new bride”? Besides it would in. ite unnecessary gossiping amongst not-so-sincere ‘well-wishers’.
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CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: HEALING

The other side of the coin involves dealing with the legacies of abuse, sometimes years down the track. To survive child sexual abuse requires a belief in your ability to heal yourself, but when you are left with poor self-esteem, holding on to that belief is a huge challenge in itself. Anna, who was abused as a child by her uncle, has a long way to go. ‘I know I’m fat and ugly. That’s how I want it. I put the weight on deliberately because I don’t want to be attractive to men. The abuse happened from when I was nine until I was eleven and I just keep thinking I must have somehow been responsible for it. I still think everything that goes wrong is my fault. It’s strange you know, I feel as though all my feelings as a child were erased by what he did, and I have big chunks of my childhood memory missing.’

It is common for memories of sexual abuse to be blocked out. One way that memories can emerge is through an experience called a flashback. These are very different to the way you would remember something physically painful like a horseriding accident. Flashbacks are more than just memories or nightmares. They are vivid recollections of sights, smells, sounds, feelings. Survivors say a flashback can feel like they are actually in the middle of the experience again, yet sometimes they can’t be sure whether it is real because there may be no regular type of memory to rely on.

The effects of abuse will vary from person to person depending on your individual way of dealing with problems, how severe the abuse was, how much future contact you had with the perpetrator, how your family reacted to any disclosure, and your religious beliefs.

Kay says she sometimes feels like it all happened to another person. Although she is currently in a relationship with a man, she finds intercourse difficult. T hate anybody touching me, but I am slowly getting used to Tim because he is really patient and sensitive to when I’m feeling tense. When we start having sex I feel myself separating from my body, like I just tune out. I once heard about astral travel and I thought, “That’s how I feel about sex, like I’m floating above us watching it all from a distance.” One thing I will never get used to is semen. If I ever get any on me I stand under the shower for ages washing and washing. I can’t stand it, so we always use condoms. I don’t know how I’ll cope if we ever decide to have babies.’

This feeling when you are having sex — that it is happening to someone else — is one of the ways a survivor of abuse learns to cope. Others describe their genital area being divorced’ or ‘cut off from the rest of their body.

Now in his late twenties, Daryl was abused by his music teacher from when he was nine until he was twelve and he says he has been permanently turned off sex. ‘I was married for a while but I just found sex repulsive. I don’t want anything to do with it.’

When you consider the amount of damage that can be caused by sexual abuse, it is virtually impossible to repair it all on your own. It would be like cleaning up Florida after Cyclone Andrew with a mop and bucket and the best of intentions. It takes help. In the case of sexual abuse, that help can come from a number of sources — close friends, a lover who is able to earn your trust, or a sensitive and qualified therapist who can expertly guide a survivor through the painful process of working through the effects of the abuse.

That process means taking a look at how the abuse has affected your life in the past and what that means to you now. How has it influenced your attitudes towards sex? Has it interfered with your ability to form close and lasting relationships? Do you have trouble trusting another person? Do you feel worthless, dirty, ugly? Do you constantly put yourself down? Do you suffer from chronic stress-related illnesses?

Surviving sexual abuse means facing the memories so that you can get to know yourself better, then putting the abuse into perspective with the rest of your life. At first you might see yourself as a victim. As you work through the healing process, you start to feel like a survivor. Finally, you become a person to whom something terrible once happened. Then the ultimate goal … you learn to like yourself.
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CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: PROTECT YOUR CHILD

Years ago, before anyone had a clue about the extent of child sexual abuse in the community, it seemed enough to tell a child not to go into public toilets alone and not to talk to strangers. Nowadays, armed with much more information, we realize that most of the threat is closer to home. Obviously parents can’t possibly keep an eye on their children every minute of the day. Apart from parents doing their best to keep a watchful eye, the best way to protect children is to show them ways of protecting themselves.

As our awareness of the problem has grown, we have had to figure out ways of arming children to defend themselves. When we think of self-defense, images of karate and tai-kwon-do classes spring to mind, but because of the very nature of sexual abuse a child cannot hope to be any match for a larger, stronger and more cunning adult. The first and perhaps the most important defense for a child is knowledge. This begins with knowing their rights as an individual — ‘I am the boss of my own body!’ — and then being told about sexuality and sexual abuse in a language they can understand.

One man who was abused as a child said, ‘At the time I didn’t really know how wrong it was and in a way I felt worse about it years later. I had always been made to do as I was told, no matter what. I had this confusion about being obedient while doing something I felt really uncomfortable about.

Besides, I had no idea what “sex” was. My parents never talked to me about those things and I reckon if I had known what “sex” was, the abuse would never have happened.’

To a child, ‘sex’ usually means something to do with a mummy and a daddy making babies. This is where the more expanded concepts of intimacy and touching are so important. Children are able to understand what safe touching and unsafe touching mean by talking about different parts of their bodies and learning to recognize when they feel unsafe.

They are helped to identify when they might be in a situation of possible danger by getting to know their ‘early warning signs’. These are the feelings adults recognize as symptoms of anxiety, stress or panic: feeling sick in the stomach, headaches, butterflies in your stomach, wetting your pants, feeling shaky or sweaty, your hair standing on end.

Another aspect to learn is the difference between good secrets and bad secrets. Good secrets will make you feel happy, like birthday surprises. A bad secret will make you feel some of your early warning signs, particularly if you are threatened that something awful will happen if you do not keep a promise.

The next step is to help a child to have the confidence to talk about it and there is no doubt that this takes tremendous courage. Knowing there is a trusted adult who will understand what they are trying to say is the vital link in the chain.

As things stand at the moment, there is almost no incentive for a perpetrator to admit to abuse. The fear of criminal charges being laid and families (no matter how dysfunctional) being broken up actively discourages reporting. One suggestion has been to forget the criminal charges and push for mandatory counselling for the family. There is a lot to be said for getting away from the vindictive ‘witch-hunt’ approach. It may take months to get to court and convictions are rare. But whether charges are laid or not, the most important thing is that the abuse stops.

Even without a conviction, the process of reporting may shake the family into making some basic changes. Reporting a suspected case of child sexual abuse is obviously going to cause a massive upheaval in a family and the reactions are fairly predictable. If one or other of the parents has no idea that there is any abuse, they will naturally be shocked. The person accused of abuse may vigorously deny any allegations of wrongdoing and other members of the family can have a hard time believing that such a thing could be happening. Even in cases where the abuse is acknowledged, there are the ‘onlys’ … ‘It only happened a few times’, ‘I didn’t lay a hand on her; she only touched me’, or ‘It wasn’t intercourse, it was only fondling.’

There is likely to be a lot of anger at the interference in ‘family business’, to the extent that the family may close ranks and refuse to answer any questions. This means that not only the child but the whole family will need support and help to make the necessary changes.
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NITRATES AND NITRITES

IMMUNITY AND INFECTION

CHILD’S HEALTH/INFECTIOUS DISEASES: CHICKENPOX (VARICELLA) CLINICAL FEATURES

The incubation period for chickenpox is 2-3 weeks after contact. Symptoms tend to be much milder in children than in adults, so you may actually be doing your child a favour if you let him catch chickenpox! The illness usually starts with a general feeling of tiredness and lethargy, which is soon followed by the outbreak of a characteristic rash. At first this rash appears as red spots which develop into crops of small blisters over the trunk. These begin to appear soon on the rest of the body, and may occur even in the mouth, ears or on the genitalia. The blisters are extremely itchy, and new ones keep forming as older ones are scabbing over and drying up. Your child remains contagious until the last blister has scabbed over and the blisters are all dry. The scabs may take several weeks to fall off. The rash does not leave any scars unless your child scratches the blisters or scabs, or they become infected. The rash may be accompanied by a fever, which is usually more marked in adults.

In healthy children complications of chickenpox are unlikely, although they do occasionally occur. These include pneumonia and encephalitis. Children who have reduced immunity, such as those with cancer or those taking immunosuppressant medication, can suffer severe attacks of chickenpox and should be kept away from those who have it. Elderly people cannot get shingles from chickenpox, but children can develop chickenpox after contact with someone who has shingles.

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LEAVING YOUR CHILDREN SOMETHING TO LOVE BY: RULES FOR TALKING WITH KIDS ABOUT SEX

“Every time I sit down to talk about sex, to have ‘the talk,’ my son says, ‘Oh Dad, I know all that,” and walks way.”

FRUSTRATED FATHER

The reason the mother’s fingers were crossed is that she knew there were still years of sex education to go. She knew what the peer group exerts profound influence, and she feared for the welfare of her son in a world confused about sexuality. The rules for effective loving and sex education are really simple. Here is the list. Talk it over with your whole family and see if they don’t agree.

Rules of Family Sex Education

Never have a “sex talk.” Sitting down for a formal birds and bees lecture is bound to fail. Sex cannot be separated from life, so deal with any problems of life when they relate to sex. If you look, you will see the relationship everywhere. Phone calls, assertiveness, curfews, discipline, respect, differing treatment of the father, mother, brother or sister, TV programs, movies, and dozens of everyday events relate to sex. Sex mini-lessons should take place then, related to an issue everyone can actually experience.

There is no need to do all of the talking. Listen and you will hear. You will hear questions even if they are not put in question form. “Nobody around

here cares about me” is a sex question about self-esteem and acceptance, “I wish our family was taller” is a question about body-image. “Look at that chick” is a question about sexism. “He’s a fag” is a question about gender identity. Use of explicit sex words is always a question about what and how to have sex, about values and morals and social appropriateness, even about technique. Good sex education is much more listening than telling.

Sex and love education cannot be done “one way.” One obvious reason

sex education can be a difficult family problem is that the child or teenager

is “on the spot,” the student. In my teaching, I have found that I am most effective when I am learning and sharing, not telling. I’m not really sure there is any such thing as teaching if it means telling. Changing behavior and thinking always depends on interaction, on a two-way learning. Ask your children to teach you about their world. Remember, you were never their age! They live in their own time, and, as the poet Kahlil Gibran stated, we cannot visit there, not even in our dreams.

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YOUR MARITAL HEALTH/WIVES’ SEXUALITY: “ORGASMIC DYSFUNCTION”

Orgasmic denial was replaced with orgasmic obligation, and capacity was mistaken for requirement. Women were no longer to be made love “to” but to be made love “for.” The female sexual-response cycle was seen as separate in many ways from the male’s, totally devoid of a refractory period, and dependent on much more general, romantic stimulation than the male’s. Women were now seen as intensely responsive, multiply orgasmic sexual athletes who, once appropriately and rigorously stimulated, lost all control, succumbing to their unlimited “carnal lust.” Men had to learn, according to the third perspective, to harness this infinite lust through clever stimulation, self-control, timing, endurance, and the patience to wait for the emergence of this special sexual capacity. Why they were no longer sexual objects to be used and abused, women were now to be “handled with care,” erotic puzzles to be solved by liberated men.

Women were never seen as prematurely orgasmic. Indeed, there was no limit to their sexual capacity. Only men “came too soon.” Women were seen as having “orgasmic dysfunction,” as not having orgasms or not having enough or intense-enough orgasms. Men, of course, were always easily orgasmic. In fact, they were seen as too easily orgasmic in comparison to these sexual women whose orgasmic threshold was high and required intense, generalized, and prolonged stimulation in order for “the force” to be released.

For men, the female orgasm became a goal. For women, it became an assignment, a signal of the effectiveness of their male partner. Even though many women talked privately of the fact that orgasms were highly subjective and that sometimes they were totally irrelevant to sexual fulfillment, they knew they had better have them if sexual relationships were to flourish. Group therapy for women was offered, “orgasm groups” helping women to find the way to their inner sexual potential. If men had their orgasms too soon, women tended to take too long. While men put desensitizing creams on their penises to numb themselves, women sought “sexual inventions” for easy orgasmic release. They discovered a magical spot that could help with all of this. After all, we were now living in a pushbutton culture, so why not look for the female sex button? Men didn’t need one, because they were turned on all the time anyway, but it seemed important to look for the female “on switch.”

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TRUE HEALING – PRACTICAL ADVICE/DETOXIFICATION PROCESS: OXYGEN THERAPIES – OZONE TREATMENT

Ozone (03) is a very active form of oxygen. It exists naturally in the atmosphere – it is created from molecular oxygen (02) by the UV rays from the sun. Ozone is the essential ingredient of fresh air. Ozone is unstable: it breaks down into oxygen after only a few minutes at room temperature (25 deg C), but its supplies are continuously updated using the UV energy from the sun. High in the mountains there is a lot of ozone in the air. We can create ozone in our home, by yet again imitating the ways of nature: using a quartz lamp to generate UV rays. Because ozone is so active, it neutralises (by oxidisation) all odours very effectively. Breathing air, with the concentration of ozone similar to that in the mountains, is quite beneficial. Be careful not to exceed natural concentrations of ozone in the air you breathe. Your body will give you a warning if you are doing so: dryness of the throat and/or discomfort in your lungs. Do not ignore it.

Do not ever breathe ozone produced using a high voltage arc. Such ozone is initially very hot and it is so active, that it reacts with the nitrogen in the arc plasma, creating nitrogen oxides, which are quite toxic. The air around a high voltage arc contains not only ozone, but also nitrogen oxides, which are dangerous.

“Cold” ozone, generated at low room temperature by an UV quartz lamp is safe. Such “cold” ozone is naturally produced in the atmosphere by the activity of the sun and is an essential ingredient of fresh air.

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Related Posts:

• CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: HEALING
• CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: PROTECT YOUR CHILD
• NITRATES AND NITRITES
• IMMUNITY AND INFECTION
• CHILD’S HEALTH/INFECTIOUS DISEASES: CHICKENPOX (VARICELLA) CLINICAL FEATURES
• YOUR MARITAL HEALTH/WIVES’ SEXUALITY: “ORGASMIC DYSFUNCTION”
• MIGRAINE – MIGRAINE HEADACHES
• CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME – GENERAL INFORMATION
• CHILDREN’S MENINGITIS: PRECAUTIONS AND TREATMENT
• SELF-HELP PREVENTION: HEAT RASH (PRICKLY HEAT) AND HEATSTROKE