Health News Blog provides coverage of current health news.

Wood’s Lamp

This is an ultraviolet light which, when used in a darkened room, will highlight certain fungal infections on the skin or hair. The fungus shows up as a fluorescent object under the lamp. The procedure is painless.

Skin scrapings

A small scraping of material from the skin is taken, using a small scalpel blade. This is then looked at under the microscope, where fungi and parasites can be readily identified.

Biopsy

A local anaesthetic is given to put a small area of skin to sleep and a 3-4 millimetre plug of skin is removed with a special instrument or needle. The specimen is then sent to the laboratory for further examination and identification. This is rarely required in children with common skin problems.

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The discussion with children went on for more than one and one half hours. In a room full of kids, some of who were diagnosed as severely retarded emotionally impaired, and hyperactive, they all sat and listened. They laughed sometimes, but no more than their parents and the staff. They asked, listened, and learned. You can tell by their questions that they had put a lot of thought into this area already. You noticed the kids asked the questions in no particular order or interconnection in most cases. They were just more direct than some of us.

In each of my answers, I used a sex-education principle that has worked well for me. I always over answer the question. I give more information than is required just so long as I give a specific answer to whatever was asked. I suggest you try the same approach. It’s a good chance to make a lot of points you would like to make about living.

I have done this type of teaching with groups of senior citizens. I recently met with over two hundred senior citizens, most of whom were permanency living in nursing homes. I thought you might like to read just a few of their questions and my answers to support my earlier point that sex education is not for children only, and to provide information on the relationship between sexuality and aging.

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I don’t know about oral love. I did it once, and my husband sort of humped up at me and I almost gagged. I don’t like the idea of it, the taste of it, and I’m afraid he will come in my mouth. I just don’t do it anymore, but I think it is probably his favorite thing. I think he wants my mouth more than he wants me.

WIFE

Of all the arguments and differences in the couples’ program, the issue of fellatio and cunnilingus was one of the most frequent sources of disagreement regarding actual sexual interaction. Husbands wanted it, were reluctant to give it, wives wanted it less and were very reluctant to give it. Of the 1,000 women, 266 reported that they enjoyed fellatio. The rest reported never doing it or doing it reluctantly. Nine hundred twenty-seven husbands reported that they enjoyed or very much enjoyed fellatio, and 88 husbands reported seeking out partners outside the marriage specifically for fellatio.

Three hundred forty-four husbands reported enjoyment of cunnilingus, while 233 wives reported enjoying or very much enjoying cunnilingus. Generally, oral love was a male-oriented preference in these couples. However, following education regarding posturing, a new perspective on the ejaculatory reflex, hygiene, and changing conceptions of oral love as “dirty,” couples learned to discuss oral love as an option. The use of approximations of oral love, kissing of thighs and abdomen, was also helpful. The five-year follow-up showed that oral love was mutually incorporated into the sexual pattern of 743 of the couples.

Men discussed attitudes that women were “dirty down there,” reporting odors or tastes that were negative. The husbands apparently were unaware that they, too, have odors and tastes. Once open discussion took place, oral love was demystified, and became another opportunity rather than a forbidden act performed by perverted people. The issue was not a woman’s issue, it was a couples’ communicational and educational issue. There was much more blame than fact to the myth that women dislike oral love, but nobody likes one type of loving all the time. What oral love means to each partner is more important than how it is done.

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Super Marital Sex Rule: Super sex depends upon the development of an mutual responsibility for the erotic cycle that emerges between two persons over time. Cycles are not signs of “boredom.” They evolve when persons tune in to each other. All things in life are cyclical, and super sex results from awareness of, communication about, and learning from these cycles so that changes, when necessary, can be made together and in keeping with both persons’ emotional and physical needs.

I get up. He gets up. I eat. He eats. The kids eat. He leaves. I leave. Reverse it at night. That’s it. Welcome to the world of our marriage.

WIFE

Our society teaches that stimulation comes from without, not within. It teaches that variety is the spice of life, and that variety is something we go “after” by seeking more and more from “out there.” If we are bored, we think it is because we are not in a stimulating place. Therefore, if our marriage seems boring, if we feel bored with our partner, it must be that they have become boring or that time and overexposure have rendered them not as stimulating as someone new might be.

Until we learn that stimulation comes from within and not without, American marriage will be victim of the “sameness problem.” Developmental theorists continue to preach that we must provide extensive and varied environmental stimulation for our children. Without it, they rightly assert, the brain does not develop to potential. They neglect the feet, however, that adults can generate their own stimulation by turning in, by learning to be aware of feelings, sensations, and signals. We see light with our eyes, but we perceive it with all of us that is human. What we see depends on how and who we are, on what is “in here,” not what is “out there.”

It is obviously counterproductive to intentionally “bore” the sexual dimension of marriage. There is such a thing as acclimation, just getting used to something and no longer reacting intensely to Ë-1 tell my couples to pay attention to privacy, to dress and undress in private, to wear comfortable, personally pleasing clothing to bed. There is a difference between comfortable exposure and overexposure, so it is unwise to take the privilege of seeing each other nude for granted.

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One of the consequences of growing old is a thinning of the structure of bone and this is called osteoporosis.

It appears to be a natural process which happens to us all but is more common in women and begins after the menopause. In men, the same process seems to develop after 65 but rarely causes problems until the eighties.

Bone is a living tissue and constantly undergoes change. Old bone is resorbed and new bone is laid down. Bone consists of a protein matrix on which calcium salts are deposited and give it strength.

The cause of this problem is still a matter of debate and continued research. Originally, it was thought to be one of failure of adequate protein matrix but now there is evidence that some changes in calcium balance are also involved.

Osteoporosis does not, in itself, cause symptoms, but the thinning of the bones makes them fragile and more easily liable to fracture even from simple injury.

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Probably the most serious involvement is when the kidney is affected. This can lead eventually to kidney failure or the inflammation can go on to cause a secondary hypertension or high blood pressure.

The brain also may not escape. Convulsions may develop or weakness and paralysis appear when the nerves are involved.

There is a high incidence of anxiety and depression in this disorder, perhaps more than could be assumed to follow on when such a serious disorder with widespread symptoms affects a young woman. Psychosis or serious mental illness may also occur.

Anaemia is common. Fever may be the obvious symptom.

Because this disease affects mainly young women, the question is often raised — should they become pregnant once the diagnosis is made? It does appear that pregnancy is not contra-indicated, but there is a high rate of spontaneous abortion.

There are Lupus Associations in some of the States and these can be of great help to sufferers.

Cortisone is the drug mainly used. This may induce a remission in the disease and then can be maintained in a small dose to control it. The other anti-inflammatory drugs are also used, and the drugs used to treat malaria may be of benefit as they are in other related disorders like rheumatoid arthritis.

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A full history taken by the doctor and a complete physical examination should give him a good idea whether the condition is the usual form of bed-wetting or due to disease.

Examination of the urine by testing for protein and sugar and looking at it under the microscope is the only special test necessary.

Most cases are primary and have never been dry for longer than, at most, a month. Those secondary cases who have achieved control for months, or even years, and then relapsed are usually due to some emotional upset such as separation or the arrival of a new baby. These cases usually respond to counselling.

Lifting the child at night before the parents go to bed doesn’t cure it as the times when the child voids vary so much. But, done consistently, it certainly gives dry sheets — and there is the possibility that he will grow out of bed-wetting.

Dehydration — that is, by restricting fluids in the evening — is another method widely used but is of little benefit.

Sometimes, both the parents and the child are satisfied by a full explanation and reassurance and no further treatment is needed. They are prepared to wait until time effects a cure.

In the past, several drugs were used, but with only moderate success.

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Signs and symptoms

You will have no difficulty recognizing a nosebleed. Since the two sides of the nose join in the back, and also join with the throat and the oesophagus (which lead to the stomach), blood may flow from both nostrils or from the mouth; the child may also vomit blood.

Home care

Teach your child at an early age how to stop a nosebleed by him- or herself. Tell the child to remain calm and to sit upright with the head held high; this will decrease blood pressure in the blood vessels. Show the child how to grasp the whole lower half of the nose between his or her thumb and fingers and in this way compress both sides of the nose firmly against the septum. The child should hold the nose this way for ten minutes to allow time for the blood to clot. If bleeding recurs when the pressure is released, it probably means that a large clot in the nose is preventing the broken blood vessel from sealing. The child should blow the nose vigorously to dislodge the clot; then, after the clot has been removed, compress the nose again for ten to 12 minutes.

To prevent recurring nosebleeds, put petroleum jelly in the child’s nose morning and evening for seven to 14 days. Use a vaporizer or humidifier to add moisture to the air at night.

Precautions

• To stop a nosebleed, do not merely pinch nostrils together, but compress the entire soft portion of the nose. Otherwise, the blood will dam up and run down the throat.

• Do not lay your child down.

• Remain calm and reassure your child.

• It is not necessary to use cold compresses, pressure on the upper lip, nose drops, and other household remedies.

• Do not pack the nose with cotton or gauze.

Medical treatment

Generally, your doctor’s treatment will be the same as your home treatment, and you only need to consult the doctor when home treatment is not effective. If the nosebleed is due to an allergy or a cold your doctor will treat that condition. Your doctor will rarely need to pack the nasal passages or cauterize (seal off) the blood vessels in order to control recurring nosebleeds.

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