The wheeze may vary from mild to severe, and it can often be easily heard by parents. Sometimes, however, the child may appear to be breathing normally and quietly, but the doctor will hear signs of airway narrowing by listening to the child’s chest with a stethoscope. The wheeze may be particularly evident when the child is breathing out or exhaling. The wheeze may be present all the time, during a viral infection, or after exercise. It is often worse in the early morning or at night.

Many parents do not realise that coughing is just as much part of the clinical spectrum of asthma as is wheezing. Depending on the age of the child, the cough often sounds ‘fruity’, and older children may even cough up thick yellow sputum. The cough is particularly evident at night, and after physical exertion. Sometimes the cough results in restless sleep, and the child may wake frequently during the night. Often the cough gets in the way of the child participating in sporting activities at school. It must be emphasised that a child does not have to have a wheeze to be suffering from acute or chronic asthma — sometimes a cough is the only manifestation.

On other occasions, there may be neither a cough nor a wheeze, but the child may complain of tightness in the chest, of feeling tired or ‘off colour’, or may lose his appetite. The symptoms of asthma can be vague, and it is only after treatment that parents may notice the difference to their child’s general well-being.

There is also a wide spectrum in the severity and frequency of asthma. Some children wheeze or cough only several times a year, in association with a cold, while others (a small minority) may experience some symptoms every day. The child’s doctor will want to take a very careful history of the frequency and severity of the symptoms, for the treatment plan will be dictated by these two factors.

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There have been many advances in medical approaches for the more than ten million men who experience chronic erective failure, including new research on injection with papaverine hydrochloride and surgical insertion of prosthetic devices into the penis. Prosthetic devices include the fixed rod or inflatable implant, but any such surgery should be considered within the marital context. Remember that the erection is unnecessary for sexual fulfillment in the fourth perspective. As with any surgery, and particularly for the diabetic, there are always risks to be weighed against gains, and the whole process should be a team decision between marital partners and physician.

There has been much less research on diabetes in women regarding sexual functioning, although the effect of diabetes on female fertility has been studied for years. Once again, the biases of the first three sexuality perspectives dominates our medical orientation, including the assumption that women can always “receive” the male, so disease does not affect “them” as much.

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There have been many advances in medical approaches for the more than ten million men who experience chronic erective failure, including new research on injection with papaverine hydrochloride and surgical insertion of prosthetic devices into the penis. Prosthetic devices include the fixed rod or inflatable implant, but any such surgery should be considered within the marital context. Remember that the erection is unnecessary for sexual fulfillment in the fourth perspective. As with any surgery, and particularly for the diabetic, there are always risks to be weighed against gains, and the whole process should be a team decision between marital partners and physician.

There has been much less research on diabetes in women regarding sexual functioning, although the effect of diabetes on female fertility has been studied for years. Once again, the biases of the first three sexuality perspectives dominates our medical orientation, including the assumption that women can always “receive” the male, so disease does not affect “them” as much.

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This factor was also neglected in the early perspectives. Masters and Johnson described sexual response in terms of body cues (contractions, pulsations, emissions). Subjective experience teaches that ‘ ‘emotional arousal” does not have to lead to’ ‘evidence” of genital arousal, yet early in treatment, couples argued over the “fact” of arousal.

“You couldn’t be aroused,” said one wife. “You were as flaccid as a day-old noodle.”

“Neither were you aroused,” replied the husband. “You were as dry as a desert.” Both partners had been well indoctrinated in the early perspective of “you can’t feel it if you don’t show it.”

Both couples in the above two examples had not talked at all about the body to this point. They were talking about thoughts and feelings, two key aspects of the super sex paradigm.

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I highlighted the “bits and pieces”, because they do not form a complete picture of the way our body functions. To a serious scientist their collection poses more questions than it provides answers.

After young doctors complete their University studies and their initial supervised practice, they practice on their own, continuing their “education” during their working life.

Let us analyse, how they update their knowledge. Critical study of Medical Journals and complex results of clinical research requires time and significant effort from doctors, for which they are not being paid. Another source of new information is that concerning new drugs manufactured by chemical companies. This information is simple and quick to absorb: it comes with short and complete instructions on how to prescribe drugs to patients, details of dosages etc. It also comes with “free samples” of drugs to make the doctor familiar with the name of the drug, by being always at hand. Well-informed drug sales representative would offer a doctor personal assistance in acquiring familiarity with any new drug. Each year a multitude of new drugs is introduced to medical practice in this way. After several years of medical practice, most of the doctor’s new knowledge comes from such sales representatives, who usually do not have any medical education at all.

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The balance mechanism which tells us where we are in space is located near the inner ear.

It consists of three semi-circular canals containing fluid and each one is on a different plane.

Movement of our bodies sets up currents in the fluid in these canals and this stimulates the sensitive nerve-endings in the labyrinth.

The nerve impulses are transmitted along part of the eighth cranial nerve to the brain. These impulses are interpreted by the brain and we have a sense of balance.

The eighth cranial nerve also conducts those sensations which the brain interprets as sound.

Disturbances in our balance mechanism can be caused by many factors. Degeneration due to age causes not only diminution in hearing, but also can disturb the related sensory organ, the balance mechanism.

Meniere’s disease is a specific disorder where deafness, tinnitus (or ringing in the ears), and attacks of giddiness occur.

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Some surgeons believe traction helps. This involves strapping weights to the legs.

Physiotherapy with passive and active exercise to mobilise stiff muscles and joints is of proven benefit.

Manipulation is more controversial. It is practised by some physiotherapists and doctors and is the main treatment of chiropractic and osteopathy. There is no doubt that manipulation is a useful form of therapy in some cases.

A spinal brace is designed to prevent movement and to lend support. It can help but it leads to stiffness. Injections, usually of cortisone, into the back to place the drug near the inflamed nerve can also help.

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Symptom: Inability to sit still or be quiet for more than a very short period.

Home care: Hyperactivity always requires professional evaluation and treatment.

Precautions

-    Do not confuse a child’s natural tendency to be active with true hyperkinesis.

-    Never accept a diagnosis of hyperkinesis from anyone except a professional.

-    Do not try to deal with hyperactivity at home; it always requires medical assessment and treatment.

-    Note that the hyperactive child is not misbehaving; the behavior is involuntary.

-     If a child over the age of two suddenly becomes much more active than usual, look for causes in the child’s environment; true hyperkinesis is present from infancy.

-    A child who is overactive with one family member but not others is not hyperactive.

-     A hyperkinetic child may need to take medication for extended periods. The child may also need special schooling or counseling.

All healthy children are active – frequently more active than the adults in their lives would wish them to be. Some children are extremely lively and always on the go. Of such children, however, only a small handful (1 to 10 percent) is truly hyperactive. The term is used very freely, and in common use its true medical definition is distorted. In fact hyperactivity-or hyper-kinesis-is part of the clinical picture known as Minimal Brain Dysfunction (MBD) and is a specific condition which makes a child incapable of being quiet and still for more than a few moments. Hyperactivity may be due to late or faulty developments of the brain centers which filter incoming stimuli-things that the child sees, hears, smells, touches, or tastes-and enable the child to react appropriately to these stimuli.

Sometimes children who are either neglected or raised in an over-permissive environment exhibit behavior that closely mimics hyperactivity. These children may have normally developed brain centers, but may have been deprived of the social training that teaches children to control their behavior.

Signs and symptoms

An extremely hyperactive child is constantly in physical motion. The child cannot sit still (for instance, to listen to a story or watch television) for more than a few seconds or minutes. The child’s behavior may be annoying or destructive, but it’s not motivated by malice; the child is not deliberately misbehaving-he or she cannot control the hyperactive behavior. An experienced pediatrician or neurologist (a specialist in nervous system disorders) may be able to recognize a severely overactive child at a glance. Many cases, however, are more difficult to pinpoint, and it may require a number of professionals to confirm the diagnosis.

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In another study doctors gave tryptophan and niacin to eleven patients with depression. They did this because they noticed that some people given tryptophan did not get better. After a month on the two substances the patients’ blood levels of tryptophan rose about 300 per cent and their depression fell by 39 per cent. Tryptophan has also been tested against a standard anti-depressant drug and found to be effective but to have fewer side-effects.

Hypoglycemia is another biochemical cause of depression-some experts claim it is the most common.

•     We now know that many things in our environment (including foods and environmental chemicals) can affect the production of certain natural chemicals in the brain to alter mood.

•     Social causes of depression are many and varied. Doctors think of depression as a ‘medical’ condition but sociologists see it as a condition associated with social malaise. At least a quarter of working-class mothers with young children living in central London suffer from a condition which, if they went to a psychiatric clinic, would be labelled depression. Women with no close, confiding relationship (boyfriend, spouse or similar) also fare badly when the going gets tough, as do women with three or more children at home under the age of 14.

Sociologists, then, claim that some people-and there are millions of them throughout the western world -are born into, or find themselves in, social and economic conditions which predispose to depression. This does not mean to say that depression is solely a social disease but that it can be caused or perpetuated by social factors. The vast majority of things that are wrong with society and which predispose to depression cannot be influenced by doctors at all.

•     Drugs. More than 200 drugs have been claimed to cause depression but only a few do so with any frequency. Some drugs cause depression as a side-effect of their use and others do so only if they are withdrawn too rapidly.

Alcohol is the commonest drug to produce depression and it is often involved in suicides. Sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs, pain-killers and anti-rheumatics, stimulants, the contraceptive pill, blood-pressure drugs, steroids, certain antibiotics, and a host of other drugs, can all be culprits.

•     Infections can cause depression, especially those caused by viruses. Meningitis and encephalitis (in which the brain is directly affected) produce serious brain-centered symptoms early on and depression later. It can often last for several months. Influenza, hepatitis and glandular fever are especially likely to cause long-lasting depression.

•     Surgical operations can cause depression too but no one knows why. Operations that involve the loss of a part of the body (such as the removal of a breast or the uterus) are obvious causes but many people having quite minor and non-disfiguring operations can be depressed for months.

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Functions: vital for a healthy immune system • important in metabolism (use) of protein, fat and carbohydrate • necessary for the manufacture of antibodies • plays role in maintaining health of nervous system.

Deficiency signs and symptoms: decreased resistance to disease

• depression • irritability • fatigue • headaches • dizziness • lack of coordination • weakness • malaise • insomnia • tremors • sweating • weakness • muscle soreness • irregular heart rhythms

• dermatitis.

It is very difficult to suffer from a deficiency of vitamin B5 because it’s found in so many foods. But due to the stresses of modern living, we need generous amounts of this vitamin. Vitamin B5’s enemies: cooking • processing and canning of foods

• caffeine • alcohol • excessive boiling of food • deep freezing and thawing.

VITAMIN B12

Functions: vital for a healthy immune system • needed for production and growth of red blood cells in the bone marrow and their release into circulation when mature • necessary for DNA synthesis • plays a role in maintaining the myelin sheath that protects nerve cells.

Deficiency signs and symptoms: a reduction in red blood cell, white blood cell, and platelet counts, which can cause anemia and immune system problems • irritability • headaches • forget-fulness • dizziness • fatigue • weakness • heart palpitations • enlarged spleen • numbness and tingling of the extremities • sore tongue • constipation • loss of appetite • the classic vitamin B12 deficiency disease of pernicious anemia.

Vitamin B12’s enemies: excessive boiling of food • sunlight • alcohol.

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