Health related information and news from around the world.

For the normal emotional development of a child, certain requisites in his formative years should be met by the parents or a readily identifiable mother or father substitute.

The developing child needs: love and affection, given freely and without qualification; security; acceptance of himself as an individual; self respect; a sense of achievement; recognition of himself and his achievements; independence, the absence of prolonged dependence on mother or mother-substitute; and authority, knowing the limits of his ego and the limits that will be imposed upon him by the authoritative figure; not only by the parent but also by the teacher.

Adults often forget that children have anxieties, fears, hopes and desires. Children may suffer depression or frustration. These emotional problems may show themselves differently from that in adults due to the child’s limited experience and limited powers of expression.

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The symptoms of cancer depend on its location. I will be describing a number of possible symptoms here, none are inevitable. In Chapter 6 we will find out how to treat them. Remember that, whether or not you are having treatment to control the cancer itself, it is usually possible to do something towards relieving the symptoms it produces.

Now, what about the symptoms of extensive or metastatic cancer? First of all, there are the local symptoms which depend on which parts of the body are affected. Whichever organs are involved may eventually stop working altogether.

If cancer affects the bones it weakens them. The weak bones break more easily than normal bones. If the spine is affected there may be pressure on the spinal cord or nerves. Such pressure can lead to pins and needles, or loss of strength in the limbs, usually the legs or feet. Cancer in the bones is not always painful. Sometimes one or two spots are painful while others which look very similar on an X-ray are not.

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