Health related information and news from around the world.

Why meditation?

As I have been discussing throughout the book, our recovery depends upon learning to manage our anxiety and attacks ourselves. Understanding and accepting our disorder are the first two steps to taking the power back. Learning to manage the attacks and anxiety are the third and fourth step.

This chapter will look at meditation; what it is and why it works. In the next chapter two different meditation techniques will be described.

Managing them means we need to follow a disciplined approach to a formal relaxation program. At first glance some people hesitate. Although they want to recover they don’t like the idea of having to become disciplined in their approach to relaxation.

Meditation can become a superior relaxation technique if it is practised daily. In one way, ‘having to relax’ is a contradiction to the practice itself, but many of us find we reach the stage where we do it because we want to, not because we have to.

*62\94\8*

Cynthia

Cynthia had panic disorder but didn’t avoid anything. She went to work and did everything she had to do, but it was very difficult. She went to see a specialist, although she had to wait five months for an appointment. When she got there he was three hours late. He finally arrived, but didn’t apologise for keeping her waiting. Although Cynthia had an hour appointment, it only lasted for twenty minutes. She told the specialist about the panic attacks and he kept asking her what she was scared of. Cynthia kept telling him she was always scared and anxious that she might die from the attacks. The specialist kept saying she had to be scared of something and Cynthia wasn’t sure what he was getting at. In the end she said she had always been scared of elevators, but that was long before the panic attacks started. The specialist told her to go into the foyer and get into an elevator and go up and down in it until her anxiety disappeared. With that he finished the appointment and told her to book another with his secretary. She was so confused and angry she never went back.

Alice, Toni, Carlie

Alice asked the local discussion group what she should do about her therapist, who always went to sleep during her appointments. Toni and Carlie looked at her and told her their therapists always went to sleep too. It didn’t take long for them to realise they were talking about the same therapist. When the group asked them why they didn’t speak to him about it or try and find another therapist, the three of them said he was obviously very tired and they didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

*44\94\8*

Medication

Drugs are another control people use. The risk of dependence on drugs is well researched. Medication is one of the main treatments for the disorder, yet the anxiety and panic attacks can blast through our ‘chemical calm’. In many cases the dosage is increased, either by ourselves or by our doctor. When attempts are made to withdraw from the medication, anxiety and panic attacks can return in full force, along with withdrawal symptoms. In an effort to stop the increased anxiety, panic attacks and symptoms of withdrawal, some people will continue with the medication and become trapped in the cycle of dependence.

Depression

With little or no effective treatment many people may develop a major depression in reaction to their disorder. Until recently this depression was also seen as a primary condition. Although steps were taken to treat the depression, the primary cause—the anxiety disorder—was rarely considered, let alone treated.

*25\94\8*

It is the lack of diagnosis and the lack of adequate treatment services which is the driving force behind the development of the secondary conditions of these disorders. Although the symptoms of panic disorder were first noted in the 1800s (Boyd et al. 1991), panic disorder was only classified as a separate anxiety disorder by the American Psychiatric Association in February 1980 (APA 1980). As a consequence there was little understanding of it, not only by the people who suffer from it, but by the health professions generally. Many people have developed secondary conditions such as agoraphobia, major reactive depression, and drug and/or alcohol abuse.

The development of major depression can lead to suicide. According to one American study, 26.5 per cent of people who experience panic disorder will attempt suicide. People who have not been diagnosed as suffering from panic disorder, but who nevertheless experience panic attacks, are seven times more likely than the general population to attempt suicide (Malison et al. 1990). Other studies confirm that 10-40 per cent of people with an alcohol dependence had an anxiety-related disorder before their dependence developed (Cox et al. 1990).

The recognition of the sometimes severe disabilities associated with anxiety disorders has seen the inclusion of the more severe forms of panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and social phobia into the category of serious mental disorder

(Andrews 1994). This is not to say people with severe disorders have a serious mental illness. Rather it is the recognition of the extreme disablement caused through the disorders.

*9\94\8*

The other side of the placebo coin is that people can be made ill by something they believe will make them ill. Some patients are more suggestible than others in this respect, but a fair proportion of food-sensitive people will react with symptoms if they think they have eaten one of their culprit foods. This reaction in no way invalidates their food sensitivity – it is real, even if the symptoms of the moment are mentally generated or psychogenic.

Such reactions are not really surprising, if you remember Pavlov’s famous experiment with the dog and the dinner bell. The dog was ‘conditioned’ by a bell being sounded every time it was fed. Even before it was given the food, the dog began to produce saliva in response to the appetizing smell. After a time, the dog would salivate whenever it heard the bell, whether food was present or not.

An experiment with guinea pigs has shown that immune reactions can be conditioned in exactly the same way. The guinea pigs were sensitized to an antigen by having it injected into them, and they were simultaneously exposed to a strong odour. Later, the odour alone was enough to make them release large amounts of histamine. If guinea pigs can do this, then why not humans?

Certainly anyone who has ever had a severe, immediate reaction to a food is likely to react in the same way if they are told that they have consumed some of the same food. And people whose intolerance of a food has long since cleared up may continue to react to that food for purely psychological reasons.

*199\180\8*

If you think you have testicular torsion, you should see your doctor or urologist immediately. He will first try to manually untwist the spermatic cord. It’s likely, however, that even when he succeeds, he will also want to perform minor surgery by placing a few judiciously placed stitches that will prevent the cord from twisting again, which is a likely possibility. The surgical procedure to repair the torsion and prevent future episodes will require several days in the hospital and about a week of recuperation.

If the pain is caused by an infection in your testicle caused by bacteria in your urinary tract, the doctor will need to find out what particular bacterium is causing the infection. He will do a prostate exam through the rectum or massage the penis to extract a sample of discharge (if it exists) to send to the lab for a culture. An antibiotic will then be prescribed depending on the organism isolated. If the infection is caused by a sexually transmitted disease, your doctor will prescribe the antibiotic Floxin 300, which you will take twice a day for 10 days; your sexual partner or partners will also need to be treated.

*482\167\8*

Sometimes diarrhea can be the body’s way of ridding itself of a harmful substance, such as the bacteria that cause food poisoning or contaminate water. However, when you have diarrhea that lasts for more than a few days, it’s usually due to another reason.

Whenever a patient complains to me about chronic diarrhea, the first thing I look for is a change in his diet. Juice diets or diets that are high in fruit can cause chronic diarrhea when you first start the new regimen. A new medication, especially blood pressure medication, can also cause chronic diarrhea. Obviously, the continuing use of laxatives, stool softeners, and antacids can cause chronic diarrhea, as can new vitamin regimens, especially when they contain yeast.

If “you have lost weight during your bout with diarrhea, it’s probably because your intestines are not absorbing most of the food you eat; the most common cause of this malabsorption is lactose intolerance. Lactose is found in dairy products such as milk, ice cream, yogurt, and cheese.

A more serious kind of malabsorption is caused by an intolerance to gluten, which is found in all bread products and cereals made with wheat. If you have a gluten intolerance, you probably have a long history of diarrhea and weight loss, in addition to hair loss, mild anemia, and abnormalities in any liver function tests you take.

*428\167\8*

Description and Possible Medical Problems

You’d think that if you had a tendency to become short of breath with slight exertion, sitting or lying down would allow you to catch your breath. Not so for some people; lying down can actually make breathing harder.

If you find yourself to be short of breath when lying down or sitting and you also often have the seemingly unrelated symptom of swollen ankles, you should see your doctor. This is important, especially if you have diabetes or a previous history of heart disease of any kind.

If your shortness of breath is accompanied by wheezing, coughing, and an inability to talk, you will need to seek immediate medical attention.

In the elderly population, shortness of breath that occurs while lying down is usually caused by heart failure. Other times, however, the cause can be as simple as a heavy intake of salt. When I was a young doctor, we saw a group of nursing home residents come to the emergency room with heart failure. They had recently eaten a meal of hot dogs, corned beef, and pastrami, provided as a generous gift by the local deli. These people, who usually ate low-salt diets, could not handle the sudden overload of sodium, and as a result several ended up in the emergency room.

Treatment

If you are short of breath whenever you lie down and your doctor suspects heart failure, he will perform a total medical evaluation, which will include an electrocardiogram and an echocardiogram, among other tests. The ensuing treatment will depend on the degree of the heart failure.

The condition might actually require only a simple change in diet— limiting salt intake. Fat consumption should be reduced, and, if you’re overweight, you’ll probably need to lose some weight.

If your condition requires it, your doctor may prescribe a diuretic such as hydrochlorothiazide to reduce your blood pressure and take some of the strain off your heart. The ACE inhibitors digoxin and Lasix may also be used on an individual basis.

*374\167\8*

The hot new product in skin care the past couple of years has been Retin-A, popularly called the “antiwrinkle cream.” Retin-A is the brand name for tretinoin, a derivative of vitamin A, and it’s been around for 20 years for the treatment of acne. Retin-A has been shown to reduce fine wrinkles and improve skin texture by smoothing out rough patches of skin, but this prescription drug has still not been approved by the FDA for the specific purpose of reversing the effects of photoaging.

It’s not known exactly how Retin-A works, but it does stimulate new collagen growth in the dermis of the skin and help restore the epidermis to its natural, undamaged state. As with any medication, some individuals are sensitive to Retin-A and many people experience dryness, peeling, redness, and swelling when they use it. People who are prescribed this preparation by their physicians are also advised to use sunscreen regularly, as Retin-A increases sensitivity to the sun.

Although Retin-A may help make your skin look and feel younger, you shouldn’t relax when it comes to monitoring any changes in your skin that could point to melanoma and other skin cancers.

*315\167\8*

Usually, the best way to treat hoarseness is to rest your voice, learn to talk at a normal volume, and let the taspiness run its course. Drinking warm beverages, such as hot tea with honey, is also quite soothing. And if you smoke, stop. If the hoarseness is accompanied by a cold or flu, you should treat your other symptoms as well as limit your conversation.

If you become hoarse only after certain instances—like after a late night out—and your voice returns to normal after a few days, you have nothing to worry about. However, if you have chronic laryngitis or your hoarseness lasts more than a week, or if your voice changes, you should see your doctor immediately to rule out the possibility of polyps or a more serious problem. He or she may refer you to an ear, nose, and throat specialist, who will use a laryngoscope to check your vocal cords for polyps or other growths. A laryngoscope is a thin, small, flexible tube that your doctor will insert through your nostril so that she can look down into your throat. The procedure lasts only a few minutes and requires a local anesthetic.

Tips and Precautions

Many people gargle with salt water or an antiseptic mouthwash when they become hoarse. Although you’re probably just doing what your mother told you to do when you were a kid, you may actually be doing more harm than good. First, you should keep the use of your vocal cords—including both speaking and gargling—to a minimum in order to give the larynx a chance to rest and heal. Second, salt water and antiseptic may irritate the infection of a cold more, delaying a return to your normal voice.

*261\167\8*