Sinusitis is an infection of the sinuses surrounding the nose. Sinuses are a system of open passages between the bones of the face, which become blocked with thick secretions if infected. Sinusitis occurs predominantly in older children and adults.

Clinical features

Your child may complain of a sensation of fullness or pressure over the area of an infected sinus. There may be pain, and swelling especially under the eyes may be present. The pain is often worse on one side of the face. A thick, green nasal discharge may be present, and your child may complain of nasal secretions running down the back of the throat (post-nasal drip), which may cause irritation and cough.

Investigations

If your child suffers from recurrent attacks of sinusitis your doctor may advise an X-ray of the sinuses in order to confirm the diagnosis of chronic sinusitis.

Treatment

If sinuses become infected antibiotics are the mainstay of treatment. Decongestant spray or drops may be helpful for short-term use only.

• if you suspect that your child has sinusitis;

• if your child has a fever, or is generally unwell with no apparent cause;

• if your child has a cough;

• if sinusitis recurs.

*239\90\8*

Surgical removal of the testicle with overgrowing cells is usually the treatment of choice, and there are obvious sexual implications with such a procedure.

*275\97\8*

The second perspective was of the “contraceptive” period, when a new freedom was emerging that allowed sex without inevitable consequences. Kinsey taught us what could and was being done, and the romantic emphasis evolved to a naturalistic focus, the categorization of behaviors that fit a time when people wanted to know if they were doing what everyone else seemed to be doing, to be free to enjoy what they were doing anyway.

The third perspective was a time-focus perspective, following the direction of a society that was moving faster and faster, developing a type-A sexual pattern, enjoying their “natural” sex. Masters and Johnson added a medical emphasis to the romantic and naturalistic focus of the first two perspectives, a fix-it, more egalitarian sexuality that fit the emerging feminism of their time. They attempted to replace dysfunction with sexual functioning.

Each of these perspectives emerged from a time, an ecology, as much as it emerged from the creativity of each of these scientists. Now, I suggest, we are responding to a new time, a time that requires a worldview, a systems view of sex, one that heals the disconnection that has taken place, the loss of intimacy in this era of choice.

We have gone full cycle. We are back to fear, the fear of sexually transmissible disease. AIDS has changed everything, and it, too, is a product of our time. We must learn not to think of the “AIDS virus that is transmitted through sexual intimacy.” There is a human immunodeficiency virus, an AIDS-related virus (ARV) that is transmitted through some forms of sexual interaction and through other and some as yet unknown means of transmission. We do not

know how or why some people who are exposed to the virus experience disease of their immune systems when and how they do, but it is likely that overall mental and physical health are as important to this process as the virus itself.

The virus is not the disease. To blame a virus or a specific group of “carriers” is to return to a Victorian fear orientation, that is, the fear of punishment for our sexuality. We must learn that AIDS and all sexually transmissible diseases are diseases of a world system, related to how we all interact and live, to our holistic health. We must learn to cure a system, not a disease, and this is the lesson of the fourth perspective. It is a lesson of hope, not a return to fear and punishment and alienation to avoid divine retribution. It is a hope that we will be able to connect now more than ever and move toward an elective intimacy, an intimacy of faith in loving, not an intimacy of default to disease. Super marital sex is a hope, not a surrender, and the fourth perspective that underlies this form of relating is based on the rules of new physics, of rules that govern all living systems, the rules that come from all four perspectives: Sex is not immoral, sex is natural, sexual problems can be solved, and prolonged and enduring intimacy is the most important of all health-maintenance systems.

*102\97\8*

1. Medical Practice and research concentrates on the study of curing diseases, rather than on the study of maintaining perfect health.

2. Medical Practice is BIG business (doctors, hospitals, medical equipment, drugs, pharmaceutical supplies, health insurance, etc.) This business as a whole is not interested at all about people getting healthy. On the contrary, the more people are sick, the better the business.

3. It is in the best interest of medical business to fight, criticise, ridicule, discredit and preferably make illegal any method potentially capable of improving the health of the population.

4. Medical Education and Research are funded to a large extent by chemical and pharmaceutical companies, which are in a position to decide what to teach doctors and what research directions should be funded. Note, that no research can be performed if there are no funds to support it.

5. Centralised Medical Authorities (with members educated in the environment described above) have complete monopoly and also final jurisdiction over our health. These Authorities advise Governments that there will be more sick to treat next year, and it will cost more. They make recommendations, that health insurance should be mandatory, and that the best way to ensure this is to introduce a health tax. Guess who benefits most from such a scheme?

*1\96\8*

Dialysis is a procedure where the person’s blood flows through a machine and the waste products are cleared from the blood and passed through a semi-permeable membrane into fluid on the other side. These “artificial kidneys” are expensive.

Australia has been in the forefront in developing the technique of transplanting kidneys, usually taken from previously healthy people who have died suddenly from accidents.

The body has a natural tendency to “reject” this foreign material and so drugs to suppress the body’s production of antibodies must also be used.

In Australia, there are about 1200 patients who have functioning kidney transplants and a little more than that number still on dialysis.

There has recently been an increase in the number of transplants taken from live donors.

One reason is that tissues can now be typed so accurately that, when deemed suitable, the transplanted kidney has less chance of rejection.

Another is that there is an increasingly longer wait for kidneys taken from the dead.

Have you ever thought of becoming a kidney donor? No one wants to take one of your kidneys now but, if you elect to become a donor, your kidneys could be used to help someone with kidney failure, should you die suddenly from an accident.

All that it entails is that you contact the Kidney Foundation in your State and fill out a form and carry a card in your wallet or purse indicating you have chosen to become a donor.

Why not look up the number in the telephone book and ring now while you think of it rather than putting it off and then forgetting?

*468/71/1*

By means of a spinhaler, the powder is inhaled into the lungs regularly three or four times a day and appears to prevent the mast cell from breaking down and releasing the broncho-constricting chemicals.

It is of most use in allergic asthma and that asthma brought on by exertion.

Because exercise may cause asthma in some people, they are often afraid of exerting themselves and may avoid sports.

They often overcome this disadvantage by using cromoglycate or by inhaling a bronchodilator drug before taking the exercise and this may prevent any wheeze.

Swimming seems to be the best exercise for asthmatics and of all forms of exercise, to provoke the least asthma.

Most asthmatics or parents need to understand the disease and how best to treat it. In most cases, acute attacks can be managed by the patient himself. If the attack is severe, persistent or recurs frequently, the doctor will need to see the patient.

*213/71/1*

The cashew nut tree, apparently, is of the same species as poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. For this reason, cashew nut shells contain the same chemical irritant and must be completely removed from the nuts (which should then be boiled) before they are made available for human consumption. To avoid problems, readers are advised to purchase only those brands of cashew nuts that have been processed by well-established companies that you have had experience with in the past.

*198\143\2*

Signs and symptoms

All the three conditions described above cause pain in the hip accompanied by a limp. It is important to note, however, that pain in the knee can also indicate a hip problem. In rare cases, synovitis may be accompanied by a slight fever; the other two conditions do not produce fever. In all three conditions the hip joint is limited in one or more of its movements: stretching and flexing, rotating inward or outward, or movement toward and away from the midline (adduction and abduction).

Home care

The child should stay off his or her legs for three or four days. (Note that crawling rather than walking does not keep weight off the hip). If the condition does not seem to be corrected after three to four days of rest, consult the doctor.

Precautions

• If your child complains of pain in the knee consider the possibility of a hip disease.

• Marked pain, a limp and high fever may be symptoms of a serious form of arthritis and require medical attention.

• Consult the doctor if the child’s hip pain is accompanied by a high fever.

Medical treatment

The doctor will examine the child carefully and may order hip X rays. However, synovitis rarely shows at all on an X ray, and early Legg-Calve-Perthes disease and slipped epiphysis do not always show on X rays. The doctor may suggest that the child continue bed rest, either at home or in the hospital. In the hospital traction (immobilizing the leg) may be prescribed and X rays taken at intervals so that the doctor can monitor the child’s progress. Tests for arthritis may also be performed. Slipped epiphysis always requires surgery. Legg-Calve-Perthes disease is treated by having the child keep weight off the legs and not walk for a period of months until the condition heals; sometimes surgery is necessary.

*115/84/5*

An abrupt intake of air followed by a forcible, explosive blowing out. Coughing is a protective reflex aimed at ridding the body of mucus or debris that is irritating the breathing passages. Often, though, a cough has no such protective effect and is simply a nuisance. The dry, unproductive cough of tonsillitis and laryngitis is an example of this. If you cough up anything there is usually trouble in the lungs themselves and you need a medical opinion.

What causes it?

Most coughs are associated with colds and other mild respiratory infections. Any long-standing cough should always be reported to your doctor. Some of the more common causes are:

• Going into the cold suddenly.

• Smoking.

• Cold weather.

• A nervous cough.

• Lung diseases.

• Certain digestive disorders.

• Problems in the larynx (voice box).

• Whooping cough (a very specific cough).

• Asthma.

• Bronchitis.

Prevention

Obviously, as there are so many causes of a cough, the individual with a cough must first be sure what is causing it. This can often only be established with medical help. Prevention is clearly aimed at dealing with causes.

When it comes to the common cough for which most people medicate themselves a few things are worth knowing. Recent US research has found that cough medicines taken to cure or prevent coughs often do not live up to their claims:

• Expectorants are supposed to loosen phlegm in the nose, throat and upper respiratory passages but they often do not work. Unfortunately, some may actually do harm. Large doses of aluminum chloride, for example, can upset the body’s acid-base balance. Syrup of ipecac, commonly used in children, can be toxic to them, and terpin hydrate can cause nausea and vomiting. Some expectorants contain a lot of alcohol too.

• Cough suppressants are not necessarily good for you. They inactivate the cough reflex and certainly should not be used if you have a productive cough. The phlegm or pus should be coming up-not staying down. Those with asthma or chronic bronchitis should not take cough suppressants because such people rely on their cough reflex to clear their lungs.

• Antihistamines thicken mucus and so make it more difficult to bring up. Some people who have a ‘post-nasal drip’ that keeps them awake at night use these medications but this can be harmful.

• Decongestants should not be used for a cough. Those with high blood pressure, diabetes, or a heart or thyroid disease, should avoid them anyway. Unless you are severely stuffy stay away from these preparations. They dry up the very places that need moisturizing!

• Cough syrups are bad for children because they soothe the cough for only a very short time yet bathe the teeth in sugar for hours. Similarly, cough drops cause tooth decay, especially in those who carry them around with them all day and suck them much of the time.

• A condition that is increasingly being recognized is a cough that hangs around after a cold or ‘flu. This is now thou ã I it to be due to a food allergy in certain individuals. The symptoms of the food allergy are triggered by the cold or ‘flu. Going on an elimination diet is the only way of finding out if this is so. One researcher has found that within even a week of eliminating the offending food(s) the cough stops. The individual should then stay away from the offending food for a month or so. One British expert thinks that most coughs, if not caused by colds, are allergic in origin.

• A dab of honey on the back of the tongue seems to work wonders.

• Supplement the diet with vitamins Ñ and E.

• If post-nasal drip at night is a problem, sleep on your stomach.

• Drink plenty of fluids.

• Have a humidifier going.

• Use a herbal chest rub.

*132/72/5*

When I see patients in my office, I use the extensive information I’ve gathered to help me decide which of my four supplement programs would be most helpful for them. Having had the opportunity to examine them and study their records, I can fine-tune the program to their specific needs.

Supplements are Not a Cure-Ail

Before we go any further, let me make it clear that vitamin and mineral pills are not magic cures for any and every disease you may have. Vitamins and minerals are like spark plugs that help keep your body’s engines (enzyme systems) running smooth and strong. Some of those engines play a role in your health and happiness. As part of Nutri-Prevention, in conjunction with a diet based on Super Foods and other healthy foods, supplements help ensure that your engines have all the spark plugs they need.

*157\80\8*