YOUR HEALTH QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Arthritis is a painful condition, which can affect any joint in the body. The symptoms are characterised by stiffness, swelling, heat and pain. One of the main principles to natural Medicine is that everybody is different – we can all tolerate things to different levels and something which affects one person may not affect another.

It is because of this fundamental fact that you should seek advice from a Naturopath to determine your own particular status of health and which natural remedies will work most effectively for you. With this in mind, the following information is given on a general basis.

There are several forms of arthritis – osteo, rheumatoid, psoriatic, gout and infective arthritis, diet plays a major role in controlling the symptoms. Uric acid in the system causes inflammation and pain and you should avoid acidic foods.

With close attention to diet, life can be transformed for most sufferers of arthritic conditions and will allow them to drastically reduce the amount of drugs they take to alleviate symptoms.

A detoxification program should be followed initially to clear the system of uric acid and toxins. You should avoid oranges and tangerines, plums, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, alcohol particularly wines, red meat and all dairy products. All of these foods are highly acidic and will exacerbate the condition greatly. Every morning and evening apply Dragon Balm to the affected areas and you should take High strength cod-liver oil, Glucosamine with Chondroitin and Flaxseed Oil capsules.

Other herbal medications are highly effective for arthritis such as Rutin and Devil’s Claw but should be taken under the supervision of a medical herbalist.

It is the hardest thing in the world for a parent to see their child suffering either mentally or physically. In your case you are experiencing your child’s mental anguish causing her physical suffering. A very stressful situation indeed.

From your account of your daughter, it would appear that she is suffering from the eating disorder Anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa literally means ‘loss of appetite’, owing to neurological reasons. A girl in her teens or a woman in her twenties, who is anorexic, has not lost her appetite or the urge to eat. Like your daughter, she deliberately suppresses her hunger stimulus, she has suppressed her urge to eat.

Anorexia nervosa, the urge not to eat, is often based on a distorted idea of body weight and a fear of getting fat.

Often, an anorexic would see herself as being fat when, infact, she’s thin. This amounts to a misrepresentation of her body image. When she looks in the mirror, she doesn’t see a thin figure: she sees a fat figure.

Undoubtedly your daughter’s experience over the bridesmaid dress at a very vulnerable age caused her so much deep embarrassment and has set up a series of psychological and neurological chain of reactions to the effect that she has and still is suppressing her urge to eat .

She is now overwhelmed with the perception of being too fat and with the extreme fear of being fat.

You also mentioned that your daughter’s periods have ceased. This loss of menstruation is a hormonal disorder consistent with anorexia nervosa.

Treatment for your daughter’s eating disorder should start off with changing her psychological idea of her body weight image. She needs support and reassurance that eating regular meals will not result in her becoming fat.

Professional help is very important but if she is still unwilling to seek this, then, you can help her by being calm and objective. Try not to pressure her into eating and don’t use food as a bargaining tool.

She should sit with the family at mealtimes with some food in front of her but do not pass comment if she eats or doesn’t eat.

To restore a healthy weight and to establish an eating pattern she needs to learn to trust the regulating mechanism of her body.

Start by encouraging her to just have very small amounts of food but fairly often. Offer her things like home made soups which include lentils and fish or chicken. She will need more carbohydrates at the onset—to provide energy for the brain and muscles. Protein should comprise of fish, poultry and nuts to build and repair the body and increase muscle mass.

In addition to this she will need a restorative and appetite enhancer. I recommend Bio-Strath Elixir to my patients in a similar situation. A good quality Multi vitamin/mineral supplement such a Quest One a Day and Ferrograd iron tablets and also vitamin C and Quest Mega B50 tablets.

As she starts to eat and gets stronger she should take gently exercise in the form of walking. Above all, don't criticise or bully her and show her that you love her no matter how she is.

Night sweats can be one of the first signs that your body’s hormonal climate is changing. Tests can be carried out to measure variations in hormone levels. Although, as the ‘normal’ levels vary from person to person, it is only possible to accurately diagnose raised or lowered levels, if they are drastically at one end of the scale or the other. More minor changes are far more difficult to determine.

Natural alternatives—phyto-oestrogens—work in a completely different way. They provide the molecular building blocks (amino acids) for the system to assemble it’s own hormones and utilise them as and when required. This enables your system to put the hormonal climate back in balance.

The human body is a marvellous piece of work. It’s ability to repair, heal and balance itself is often overlooked in medicine. Instead, this ability is taken over by powerful drugs which prevent the body from functioning properly—hence unwanted side effects.

Conventional HRT can mean weight gain, stroke, heart attacks and breast cancer.

The alternative approach to HRT treatment varies from person to person depending on medical history, lifestyle and several other factors. However, for this particular problem I would recommend that you try taking supplements of Black cohosh, Sage and Agnus castus. If the sweats occur only during the night take them in the evening only.

At the Bios NatureCure Clinic, I prescribe ‘Bios Progex’, and Vitamin B6 100 mg. Bios Progex is a much more potent herbal formulation containing all of the above and other synergistic herbs, vitamins and minerals. It also contains the superior Korean Ginseng.