Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

Spider bites

Australian spiders, other than the funnel-web and red-back, are not known to be lethal, but bites can cause severe pain, swelling and local tissue damage. See your doctor if your child’s pain persists, or the bite looks infected.

Treatment

Remove the tick immediately, being careful to get its head out too. It may need to be lifted out with a sharp point, for example, tweezers or scissors. Do no squeeze it or pull it suddenly, as this can release more poison into the body. After removal of the tick, apply a pressure immobilisation bandage and see your doctor. If your child is unwell and it is after hours, go directly to a hospital. An antivenom is available if your child is very sick.

Tick bites

Ticks are small insects which attach themselves to the skin and feed on the host’s blood. The bite usually goes unnoticed and is not painful. You may notice a tick engorged with blood embedded in the skin a few days after a bush walk, especially if long clothing was not worn. Ticks wait on foliage for a host to brush against.

The east coast of Australia is home to one particularly nasty type of tick called the Australian Paralysis Tick. Once embedded in the skin, this tiny creature swells to the size of a pea, engorged with blood. This may take several days. It releases poison into the body via its saliva. A bite from this particular tick can lead to gradual paralysis and even death.

Wasp stings

Wasps are aggressive and can inflict multiple stings. Stings usually cause pain and swelling, but allergic reactions are not common. Remove the insect carefully and if it is dead keep it for later identification. If your child has persistent pain, or develops sudden difficulty in breathing, seek immediate medical attention.

Beware of drinking straight from open soft drink cans when outside. Wasps are attracted to sugar and may enter a can and a child can inadvertently be stung if he then drinks from it.

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Choking

All babies put things in their mouths. Keep small objects out of reach. This includes beads, small parts of toys, and foods such as peanuts and pieces of carrot or popcorn. Teach your child to sit while eating, and always supervise him.

Poisoning

Store all medicines, and household chemicals such as bleach, caustic soda, cleaners, dishwashing liquids and detergents etc. out of reach, preferably in a locked or child resistant cupboard. Make sure that medicines and tablets are in child resistant containers, and remember to replace the lids. Get rid of all old tablets and medicines. Make sure you have written down the number of your Poisons Information Centre.

Playpens

Even though it is desirable for babies and toddlers to be able to freely explore their environment, we recognise there are occasions when their activity and mobility need to be restricted for short periods of time. If you decide to purchase a playpen, it is worthwhile checking with your local Child Safety Centre or Child Accident Prevention Foundation branch for information about which brands are considered safest for your child.

Babywalkers

We recommend that you do not purchase a ‘babywalker’ for your child. They do not help babies to learn to walk. Walking ability depends on their development, experience, personality and opportunity. Walking is more likely to be delayed if a baby spends time in a walker because they are missing out on normal experience.

Babywalkers may contribute to serious injuries in a baby — babies in walkers can reach things such as shelves and tables. In addition, falls down steps and stairs are relatively common. It is best not to use them.

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We never realized it until now, but we never took time to choose our sexual life-style. It just happened to us.

HUSBAND

You will need two “sexperts” for this sex clinic—you and your partner, the experts on your sexuality. The expert on your spouse is your spouse. And the expert on you is you. Each of you must take full responsibility for “your” patient in this clinic. Your patient is you.

You have already taken major steps toward the training of your staff. You have studied the history of sexuality, analyzed your sexual system, and learned a new model of human sexual response. As training continues, add to the records you have kept for the opportunities at the end of each chapter. Make up your own audio “sex tapes” in your private place. Listen to them altogether as a follow-up to your clinic program.

Training the staff depends on getting the staff in shape. If you have not had a recent physical exam, schedule one now with a doctor you trust. Tell the doctor that you both want a physical and want him or her to do it with both of you present. All health is a system, so there is no reason to go for medical checkups alone. Make sure the doctor schedules a feedback session to tell you both about the physical exam results and to plan healthy changes that may be needed, changes you can make together. Doctors complain that patients often fail to comply with their recommendations for healthy living. One reason for low compliance is the medical establishment’s insistence on an individual focus when changes can be made only within a system.

Two more steps are needed to train the staff. First, you must get some mutual exercise. From now on, every day of your life, rain, snow, or sun, walk together for twenty minutes holding hands. This one simple step was one of the most popular activities for the couples in the clinic. “I found out that we just never made time to be together. That simple walk has become a part of us.” Be sure to leave the dog and kids at home. This is a marital walk, not a family parade.

Lasdy, not only are you what you eat but you also may have sex related in part to what and how you eat. Of all physical functions, eating is one human function that seems to be related closely to sexuality. Researchers are learning that problems with sex can result in eating problems and the reverse also seems to be true. Both sex and eating have to do with timing, taste, feelings, self- and body esteem, pleasure, and general physical, emotional, and interactional health.

Caffeine, cigarettes, and sugar are not good for sex. All of these alter the metabolism in the direction of disruption and/or depression and all have impact on the neurohormonal system. Eating a low-fat, low-preservative, high-fiber diet is not only good health, but it positively affects sexual response. Kenneth Pelletier, in his book Longevity, presents evidence relating good health to longevity and continued sexual activity. The patients in the clinic who neglected sound health practices, particularly if they abused alcohol or other substances, had the most difficulty correcting their sex problems. Actually, there is no such thing as “sexual health,” for health is an all-inclusive term for the way we live and love.

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Super Marital Sex Rule: The strongest marriages, the super se marriages, will always be the most challenged marriages, because the spouses will develop characteristics that attract interest froi others. This outside interest challenges the super marriage to continued development and enhancement. The super marriage dot not compete with outside temptations, but provides a growing place for both growing partners.

She doesn’t have a thing to worry about. She is married to such a dip that she will never get rid of him. Nobody in her right mind would want him. Now, Jerry, that’s another matter. He is everybody’s dream. I don’t trust my best friend. They’d take him in a minute.

WIFE

If you are married to an insensitive, mean, abusive, arrogant, unreasonable, unromantic fool, relax. At least you are not in competition with anyone for your spouse. On the other hand, if you are married to a caring, kind, responsive, warm, dedicated spouse look around; there may be somebody out there moving in on him or her. One of the saddest paradoxes among the thousand couple was the fact that the persons you would assume to be the best of all spouses sometimes became involved outside the marriage. If no actually interacting sexually, they were at least flirting with the possibility.

Recent reports indicate that increasing numbers of single women are actively seeking relationships with married men. They have tired of the game of courtship, feeling that “the best are gone b now.” They refuse what they see as leftovers, and have compromised by sharing a man with another woman.

It follows that the new professional woman may find single ma who want to share her with her husband. Not only a good man, bit a good woman is hard to find, and when they are found, everyone is interested. This problem puts an additional burden on an ahead) stressed American marriage.

Until American marriage learns that familiarity can breed a sexual interest beyond that possible with new partners, it will continue to be threatened instead of enhanced by our new and less restricted gender interactions. Good partners should stimulate, not pressure good marriages.

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James Parkinson, a general practitioner in London, described the condition which bears his name in 1817.

Paralysis agitans or Parkinson’s disease is a common disorder and may affect one person in 100 over the age of 60. It is equally common in men and women.

There are a number of factors which have been identified in causing what we call Parkinsonism, but most cases of Parkinson’s disease arise from causes we can’t yet determine.

The first symptom is usually tremor of one hand then clumsiness of fine finger movements, such as required when doing up buttons.

The tremor of the hands becomes more marked if the person is agitated or when he moves his hand to carry out a particular task. The tremor disappears during sleep.

There is no cure for this disorder but control is possible in most cases. A variety of drugs have been used over the years, but the most effective is levodopa. This seems to replace a chemical activator of brain tissue which may be lacking in Parkinson’s disease.

This drug is often combined with others. Amantadine, a drug introduced to prevent viral infections, particularly influenza, was found to be of benefit in relieving the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and can be used alone or in combination.

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Perhaps the most common cause is simply bad habits.

If the urge to empty the bowel is ignored because it is inconvenient, the stimulus may not come back. The large bowel acts as a reservoir, holding the contents until it is convenient to be emptied.

Water is also absorbed. The contents of the small bowel are fluid, and the motion becomes firmer as water is absorbed in its passage through the large bowel or colon. If there is ‘hurry up’ and the passage is too rapid, the motion will be fluid. This is what happens in diarrhoea.

If the passage is slowed, too much water is absorbed and the motion becomes hard and difficult to pass. This is constipation.

Repeated constipation may lead to the taking of laxatives which can be habit-forming.

Laxatives may be taken by mouth or inserted into the rectum. The simplest work by lubrication and liquid paraffin is the most common of these. Long term use may lead to leakage from the anus and soiling of the underwear. It interferes with the absorption of fat and the fat soluble vitamins. Paraffin taken at night may trickle down the windpipe and slowly build up in the lung, causing a type of pneumonia.

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Usually the parents themselves are under stress. The child may cry a lot, be fussy with food or often ill. The parents may be under stress for financial reasons, or may be a single parent.

Poverty, unemployment, isolation and inadequate housing may all cause stress which can show itself in abuse of children. The parents may have little understanding of child care and may see the child’s frequent waking or crying as a deliberate show of misbehavior.

Many of these parents have experienced problems in their own childhood. If they themselves have been mistreated during infancy and childhood, this may be seen by them as “normal” parent behavior.

Doctors and nurses are usually th^f irst people to be aware that child abuse may be occuring. Children are often brought to the doctor or hospital with unexplained injuries or the explanation does not tally with the injuries. Recognising that a problem exists and then seeking to refer the parents for counselling is better than seeking to punish the parent for their “crime”.

Sexual abuse of children is far commoner than we have believed. And that abuse is more likely to take place inside a family than outside.

The discovery of incest usually has led to conviction, and in the case where the father is the offender, to a jail sentence. This usually disrupts the family and may lead to pressures on the sexually abused child by the mother and family members due to the social stigma or financial problems which the family then suffers.

The United States seems to have a better policy in seeking to offer counselling to the offender, the abused child and the other family members in an attempt to preserve the unity of the family and the mental and physical health of its members. Punishing the offender often punishes the family as well.

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The normal processes of growth and differentiation are involved both in creating new human beings and in repair and renewal. Every human being develops from the union of just two specialised cells—the sperm and the egg. An embryo which is only a few days old consists of a small number of very similar looking cells. Within only a few months, these multiply, differentiate and organise themselves into a complex human being with all its different parts and functions.

Throughout life, orderly, controlled growth and differentiation continues, keeping our bodies in normal working order. The baby grows to an adult. New cells replace old, worn out ones. Injuries are repaired—after an injury cells multiply, differentiate and arrange themselves so as to reproduce the original structure as accurately as possible, hor example, it you break your leg, cells which can develop into bone multiply to fill the break, mature and start to form strong bone. Damaged muscle cells, fat cells, skin cells etc are also replaced and arrange themselves so as to restore the original shape and strength of your leg as accurately as possible.

Clearly, the most incredibly complex and delicate mechanisms must exist in our body to control the normal processes of growth and differentiation. What happens if these mechanisms go haywire?

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