Disease signs of the pancreas are found in both irides, corresponding to the position of the gland in the body, in both left and right at 20′ and 40′. However, with extensive disturbance of the whole gland, signs even appear as well at 10′ and 50′ in the right iris.

As has already been noted in relation to stomach and intestinal diseases, there is a squaring of the first major zone, indicating an involvement of the total vegetative nervous system. It is then a question of a condition which is difficult to cure. The following is to be noted:

(a) The pancreas has its indications almost at the four corners of this ‘Sympathetic-quadrant’.

(b) This means that in the presence of the pancreas sign and the square shaped wreath, we have an incurable condition.

(c) Such corners are virtually the storm-centre in the iris in all disturbances of the digestive system.

(d) Pancreatic disturbances which relate to the glandular secretory functions of the organ show mainly in the right iris.

(e) The signs always commence at the iris-wreath and show:

i. As weakness signs with decrease in the size of the organ = trophic weakness.

ii. As lightening with inflammation = over-stimulation. With inflammatory conditions and the consequent increased blood supply and enlargement of the organ, there would be an inward depression of the iris-wreath. ,

iii. As darkening = signs of hypofunction, in the form of dark wisps, clouds or spots. In this case we usually find the tendency to a square-shaped wreath, and must regard the pancreatic insufficiency as a consequence of chronic gastrointestinal disturbances, especially where there are indications in the adjacent intestinal area. Often there will be found partly healed ulcerated conditions, which vary from scar-tissue to complete adhesions, particularly in the areas for pylorus, duodenum, gall duct and pancreatic duct, and which must be considered as cause for the pancreatic weakness.

With cancerous processes affecting the pancreas—usually the head of the gland, we find the dark jagged sign especially extending from 20′, 40′ right iris, but also appearing at 50′ right iris. Since the liver is always associated with cancerous changes as the principal organ of metabolic exchange and detoxication, we find a darkened, blurred liver area as well as a flattening of the iris rim in this same area.

It is important to make an exact examination of the pancreas area in the left iris at 20′. A weakness sign there, or a darkening of the area, indicates that there is a hereditary disposition to diabetes. If diabetes already exists, then the liver and kidney areas will show signs of encumbrance. Of course, the urine must then be examined for presence of sugar, and the patients interrogated for the presence of subjective symptoms of this illness.

As already mentioned in an earlier chapter, disease signs indicated in profile are always an expression of a grave condition. That goes especially for pancreatic disturbances, since this organ always shows its signs in profile.

*19\78\2*

Men often have a rough time when their wives are suffering from the miseries. They get nagged for nothing, or plunged into depression, or bullied, or even physically attacked. Many say their wives are like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Some just hang on until the black mood is over, wishing they knew what to do about it; some get out of the way and spend more time at work or the pub, others move out because they just can’t take any more.

If your mood swings are coming between you and your partner there are some positive steps you can take to make life easier during the months while relaxation is beginning to take effect. The first is to talk everything over as freely and honestly as you can. Unlike some bosses, your husband won’t sack you if you’re honest. Marriage, after all, is a job for life if you want it to be. So talk and talk, and listen. Make sure he knows how you feel, but equally important, listen to what he has to say, so that you really understand the effect you’re having on him. Between you, you’ll probably come up with all sorts of solutions. And although honesty like this can be very painful, in the long run it can also pull you closer together. But make sure you start the talking in the weeks after your period!

Secondly, let him help you in any way he can. His housekeeping may not be as thorough as yours but accept it lovingly. I have known husbands who got their heads bitten off because they tried to help. They were very downcast and demoralized, because they had meant so well. Accepting gifts is as much of an art as offering them. And it is an art that you will find well worth cultivating.

Thirdly, don’t forget about sex. Making love can be a great help at period time, apart from being a great pleasure. There is no reason why you cannot make love during a period. Some women who suffer from the cramps find that the pain turns them off completely. Others say that if they have a strong climax it seems to speed their period up. They loose blood freely and less painfully immediately afterwards. Some find that masturbating until they reach a climax has the same effect. Women who suffer from the miseries often find that once their periods have begun and they’ve returned to normal, they are turned on very easily and thoroughly enjoy love-making. Many women want to make amends for the bad time they have been giving their partners while they were feeling depressed or irritable. One of the odd things is that many women who nag their husbands, or even hit them, as if they hated them, actually feel very receptive and could easily be turned on if only they weren’t being so discouraging with all that violence. It’s very difficult for even the most loving man to handle a situation like that. But if he understands the cause and knows the right mixture of tact, tolerance, persuasion and affection, or whatever else it takes, and the couple do make love, this will often trigger the period to start. That in itself will stop all the difficulties of the past few days. It’s really no wonder that women have a reputation for being perverse and irrational.

*63\177\2*

The medical care of a child is usually aimed at preventing serious illness. This is why children should be examined regularly by a doctor or other health professional. The child need not be ill at the time of these visits. In fact, if the child is sick, the routine examination may be delayed until the child has recovered. These routine visits to the doctor are sometimes called “well-child” or “well-baby” checkups. They are often planned at the same times as required immunization.

Although they are extremely important, immunizations are only a small part of keeping your child healthy. At the time of the checkup the child also should be examined thoroughly, have routine tests, be measured to find out if he or she is growing normally, and have his or her physical and mental development evaluated.

For a baby or a small child, the measurements include height or length, weight, and also head circumference. The changes in these measurements as the child grows can be charted on a graph, and compared to the normal range of child development. If the child is not growing normally over a period of time, the doctor will check to see if the problem is caused by a growth disorder or by some other disease or abnormality. If such problems are found early, they can sometimes be corrected before any lasting damage is done.

*265/84/5*

Baldness is a loss of hair either in one spot or over the entire scalp. Some infants are born bald or nearly so and develop a full head of hair during their first two years. Rarely do babies born bald remain bald for life. Other babies are born with a full head of hair. They may remain that way, or their original hair may be replaced by a second and permanent growth. Rarely is hair lost during infancy and never replaced.

Infants commonly rub off a band of hair in the back against the crib or playpen mat. Hair that is rubbed off in this way will grow back. Drawing the hair tightly into pigtails, braids, or ponytails also may result in temporary bald spots. Children with the habit of twisting and playing with strands of hair may also lose hair. Emotionally disturbed children may pull out their hair by the handfuls (trichotillomania); this condition requires treatment of the child’s emotional problems.

Alopecia areata is a condition which results in the sudden appearance of round or oval areas that are totally bare. The bald scalp may be completely normal in appearance or slightly pink. Although temporary, the condition may last for months or years. Rarely is the entire head involved. The cause is unknown.

Ringworm of the scalp produces scattered bald spots. The scalp is scaly, and the bald spots are studded with broken-off stubbles of hair.

Hereditary baldness occurs primarily in males. It causes baldness at the temples or the top of the scalp. Occasionally this type of baldness starts during adolescence.

Teenagers often complain that they are “going bald” when they see loose hair after combing. Usually this condition is merely a normal thinning of the hair that does not worsen.

Malfunction of the parathyroid glands (hyperparathyroidism) may result in scattered baldness. The disease is accompanied by other signs of illness.

Impetigo and other infections of the scalp produce temporary bald spots.

Signs and symptoms

Inspect the scalp closely for signs of ringworm or infection. Look for broken or re-growing hairs. Watch to see if the child is rubbing the head against the playpen or crib, or if the child has a habit of twisting or pulling the hair.

Home care

Alopecia areata is treated with patience and time. Hereditary and congenital baldness (baldness present at birth) are treated with understanding and love; a hairpiece may be helpful.

Precautions

• Do not treat baldness with over-the-counter (OTC) preparations that promise growth of hair.

• Do not consult cosmetologists. See a qualified dermatologist.

Medical treatment

Alopecia areata is sometimes successfully treated with steroids either applied to the skin or locally injected. Hyperparathyroidism must be diagnosed by blood tests; it is treated with prescribed doses of vitamin D and a special diet.

*19/84/5*

Diabetes Associations are well established in most countries. Most of their members are people with diabetes whose aim is to help themselves and other people with diabetes lead a full and healthy life. Thus they may help in many ways, such as advice with social, diet, employment and travel problems, or information about the medical and other facilities available for people with diabetes. Many diabetic associations run holiday camps for children with diabetes, and publish a regular magazines and booklets giving information of interest to people with diabetes.

Diabetes Australia, like most Diabetes Associations, has a medical and scientific section for doctors and scientists who specialize in the care of diabetes, or who are involved with research in diabetes. There is also an association of Diabetes Educators. This leads to cooperation and the sharing of knowledge at all levels of care of those with diabetes. A very important aspect of this association is the support and sponsoring of research in diabetes.

You will probably want to join your state branch of Diabetes Australia because it could be very helpful to you, and it will allow you to support an organization which is established to help all persons with diabetes in the community by advice, information, negotiation with outside bodies and in research.

*104/54/5*

Sporting life

Take up a sport, suggests Dr. Goldberg. Almost any sport will do, he says. Recruit some friends to play with on a regular basis. And chances are good that you’ll still be living the sporting life all the way into your seventies, if not beyond.

A team of Swedish researchers studied the effects of regular activity throughout life on the physical ability of 233 men at age 76. The volunteers were asked to describe their involvement in competitive sports, recreational sports, occupational physical work, and household work as well as their means of transportation during five periods of their lives, beginning at age 10. The men who had the highest levels of activity after age 35 were the most mobile at 76. And the best activity for ensuring that you’ll still be brisk at three-quarters of a century is playing recreational sports.

Regular physical activity has been linked to lower rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, colon cancer, anxiety, and depression. Men who get their duffs in motion for close to a half-hour most days of the week actually have about half the risk for heart disease that sedentary men can expect.

It’s never too late to start. A study of almost 10,000 men found that those who became fit during a five-year period had about half the risk of dying from any cause compared to those who stayed out of shape. “Even making small changes like walking briskly to the bus stop, mowing the lawn without a riding mower, and climbing the stairs at work can make a difference,” says Dr. Goldberg. On the other hand, by choosing absolute inactivity, you can shave almost six years off your life span, according to findings from a study of 27,000 people by researchers in California.

Finally, studies show what we’ve known since the days of the recess bell: Taking time to go out and play can sure take the edge off a stressful day.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Researchers from Menlo Park, California, who conducted a five-year study of 1,118 men between ages 60 and 86, found that those who were still alive at the end of the study had significantly higher levels of curiosity than those who had died during the same time.

Curiosity is not only a driving force that keeps your gray matter stoked, but maintained over time, it can also help you find suitable ways to cope through the myriad challenges that life throws your way as you age, says Gary E. Swan, Ph.D., director of the Center for Health Sciences at SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) in Menlo Park. “Older adults should attend as many continuing education classes as possible because they provide the environmental support for you to solve problems creatively, to try new things, and to listen to new ideas,” Dr. Swan advises.

*13/36/5*

The Heart Foundation has the role of educating doctors and the public about heart disease. It funds research, programs and events all aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality due to heart disease and stroke in Australia. The Heart Foundation also encourages food manufacturers to comply with its healthy eating guidelines through the “Tick program”. You have probably noticed the Heart Foundation logo consisting of a white tick within a red circle on the packaging of many foods in the supermarket. The tick is used to help consumers identify which foods are approved by the Heart Foundation, and supposedly healthy for the heart. Foods that have a tick are low in fat, especially saturated fat, as well as sodium and kilojoules. Some of these foods are high in fibre, and there are other categories of classification. Many foods that are high in carbohydrate and sugar have a tick; these include breakfast bars and breakfast cereals. Foods high in sugar and carbohydrate promote high blood sugar levels, high insulin, and can lead to Syndrome X. Any carbohydrate that you do not burn up for energy is stored as fat and can raise your cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

The Australian media has been telling us to eat less fat for years. A press release on the Heart Foundation web site states that this has created a nation of fat obsessed individuals. When choosing foods at the supermarket, the majority of Australians are primarily concerned with the fat content of a food. They will choose one food over another even if it only has 0.1 grams less fat. This has meant that fat consumption declined from 38 percent of energy intake in 1983, to just 32 percent in 1995. Despite this decline in fat consumption, risk factors for coronary heart disease have not gone down. “Average blood cholesterol levels remain virtually unchanged from 1980 to 1999-00 and there has been a significant increase in the proportion of overweight and obese Australians over the last 20 years”.

Clearly the obsession with reducing fat intake is not working to improve our health. Fat is not the demon it is made out to be. However, the main focus of the Heart Foundation’s dietary guidelines for Australians is to reduce fat intake. In their information brochures for the public, the Heart Foundation still clings to the out of date theory that too much cholesterol in the bloodstream causes fatty deposits in the arteries, which build up and make it harder for blood to flow through. Eventually these arteries can become totally blocked and this leads to a heart attack or stroke. This simplistic theory totally disregards the mountain of evidence implicating inflammation in the development of heart disease. Many of the recommendations made by the Heart Foundation actually increase inflammation in the body. The public are not always given the best advice.

*17/53/5*

Historically, people have been shockingly bad at determining when their fellow human beings were dead. Things got so bad that in 1896 a group fearful of waking up in their final resting place founded the Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial. Earlier in Russia, savvy sales folk were hawking coffins with a system of flags and bells to summon help should you find yourself buried alive.

The truth is that, until relatively recently, the onset of putrefaction was the only truly reliable sign of death. “Otherwise, you’ve been considered dead when the medical folks say you’re dead,” explains Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., forensic pathologist and coroner in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. “While that hasn’t changed, thankfully, we’ve developed better ways of determining death these days.”

A couple of centuries ago, long before the magic of medical technology, just having fainting spells could send you to your grave, recounts Kenneth V. Iserson, M.D., professor of surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and director of the Arizona bioethics program, both in Tucson, and author of Death to Dust. “Many diseases like syncope (a condition that causes people to faint or suddenly lose consciousness) and typhoid could easily be mistaken for death in those times.”

As recently as 1926, medical texts were advising doctors to look for “signs of life,” using uncertain techniques such as placing an ice-cold mirror close to the person’s mouth to check for breathing, and cutting an artery to see if the person would still bleed.

They eventually discovered more advanced ways to determine death, based largely on the idea that when your heart stopped, you were dead, Dr. Wecht says. “But then CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) began reviving people whose hearts had stopped. And in 1968, a South African doctor further complicated things by performing the first heart transplant,” he says. That’s when the folks at Harvard Medical School declared and promoted the idea of “brain death criteria.” When your brain has stopped working, that’s absolutely the end, explains Dr. Wecht.

Today, doctors have several surefire methods for determining when the brain dies, ranging from the simple (testing the person’s ability to breathe on his own and blinking in response to touching the cornea) to the high-tech (hooking the person to an electroencephalograph machine to monitor brain activity, electrocardiograph to measure the heart’s electrical activity, and nuclear medicine brain scans). “No one has ever failed all these tests and still regained consciousness,” Dr. Iserson says.

*24/36/5*

There is no doubt in any doctor’s mind that stress plays a crucial role in many of today’s illnesses, both physical and mental, though just how big a role stress plays in any particular disease is difficult to assess. Undoubtedly the link between ‘type A’ behaviour (competitive and aggressive) and heart attacks is real enough and the links between stress and high blood pressure, certain bowel disease, asthma, eczema, migraine and many other conditions are all too obvious to many people.

Each of these eight headings points to what the preventive medical world calls ‘risk factors’. If you want to reduce your chances of getting a particular disease, or indeed of being unwell at all, you have to be aware of what you personally are at risk from. Only by knowing what your risk factors are can you understand the causes and set about possible risk-reducing activities.

Risk appraisal generally depends on the study of probability tables. The Robbins-Hall method of risk-factor analysis (probably the best devised so far) looks at the top twelve to fifteen causes of death, because between them they account for about two-thirds of all deaths. By comparing treated and untreated groups of people in any specific disease category a doctor can find out which intervention produces results, and can work out a ‘health appraisal’ age to compare with the patient’s actual chronological age. Let’s look at an example.

Take a 41-year-old man with a blood pressure of 180/94 mmHg and a cholesterol level of 220 mm/dl who is overweight by 15 per cent and is a non-diabetic. He also smokes twenty cigarettes a day, has eighteen drinks a week, drives 15,000 miles a year, wearing a seat-belt 75 per cent of the time, and exercises moderately each week. He has no family history of heart disease and his parents are both over 60 years old. Using the Robbins-Hall method this man’s total personal risk is 9,680. This means his chances of dying during the next 10 years are 9,680 in 100,000.

If he stops smoking, has his mild blood pressure treated and cuts his drinks to six per week, he can reduce his risk from 9,680 to 4,992. This large reduction is possible because by changing his behaviour in this way he can reduce his risk of heart attack considerably. It would also reduce his risk of cirrhosis, lung cancer, stroke and car accidents.

This man’s total personal risk before he starts his personal preventive programme translates to a risk age of 46.5 years compared with his actual age of 41 years. By using personal preventive measures he can reduce his personal risk age to 40. The Robbins-Hall printout would show that this man’s level of high blood pressure elevates his risk of heart attack by 150 per cent, and that his smoking plus his raised blood Pressure increase his stroke risk. His drinking increases his chances of both liver cirrhosis and of having a car accident.

*19/72/5*

At age 31, Pamela Joyce Kimrey had to face facts.

Her father had died of a massive heart attack when he was just 35 years old. Pamela Joyce wondered if the same fate awaited her. After a lifetime of overeating and almost 2 decades of yo-yo dieting, she weighed 274 pounds. And she was scared.

Pamela Joyce, of Warrenville, South Carolina, traced her seemingly endless appetite to her childhood. “When I was born, I weighed a little more than 4 pounds,” she explains. “My parents left the hospital with instructions to feed me as often and as much as they could.” And they did. By the time she was in fourth grade, her weight hovered around 130 pounds.

Through high school, Pamela Joyce continued to gain. She graduated weighing close to 250 pounds, far too much for her 5-foot-2 frame. “I didn’t want to go through college overweight. I wanted to fit in,” she recalls. “So I put myself on what I considered a diet. I ate less, but I ate poorly—mostly deep-fried, sugary, and fatty foods.” Over the next year, she took off 70 pounds. “At 180 pounds, I still weighed too much for my height,” she says. “But I held steady for several years, right through my wedding in March 1987.”

As Pamela Joyce settled into married life, the pounds started | coming back. “Twenty-five pounds stuck around after I gave birth to our only child, Houston,” she says. “The rest of the weight resuited from’too many meals of fried food smothered in gravy plus thousands of calories worth of junk food and soda.” By October 1996, Pamela Joyce had reached her top weight of 1 274 pounds. “One night, I was lying in bed, feeling disgusted with myself. I started thinking about my dad, and I realized that I could die young if I didn’t take better care of myself. It was my wake-up call.”

The very next day, Pamela Joyce went to her local library and took out every nutrition, fitness, and weight-loss book that she could find. When she read them, she found three themes that came up over and over again: a low-fat diet with portion control, regular exercise, and plenty of water.

Based on the information that she had collected, Pamela Joyce put herself on a strict 1,200-calorie-a-day diet. She cut out junk food, whole milk, and butter and began grilling and baking food instead of frying it. She also invested in a kitchen scale to keep tabs on portion sizes.

Because she was accustomed to eating as much as she wanted, Pamela Joyce had to find a way to keep her stomach full throughout the day. One of her favorite tricks was to save a part of each meal for later in the day. “If my breakfast consisted of a cup of raisin bran, a half-cup of skim milk, and a banana, I’d save the banana for a mid-morning snack,” she explains. “Likewise, I’d keep half of my lunch sandwich for an afternoon snack. If I ate out, I’d have half of my entree wrapped to go before I’d even take a bite.”

This strategy helped Pamela Joyce stay within her 1,200-calorie limit without feeling hungry. Between her improved eating habits, her daily workouts (alternating aerobic exercise and

strength training), and her consumption of gallons of water a week, she managed to lose 137 pounds—exactly half of her body J£ weight—in a little more than 2 years. She’s been holding steady “» since November 1998.

“There is absolutely no way to compare the old me with the new me,” Pamela Joyce says. “I could never have imagined how wonderful I feel. I can keep up with my son and not worry about embarrassing him—except maybe when we’re inline skating in the park. Good health has become a way of life for me and my family.”

*13\89\8*