Cause

While there is uncertainty as to the exact reason why some children pull out their hair, in the majority of cases it is associated with stress, anxiety or other underlying psychological causes. It is seen more commonly in children who are mentally retarded, and those who are institutionalised. Sometimes there is an underlying scalp condition which can cause irritation and itchiness, and may make the hair more brittle.

Clinical features

There is wide variation in the clinical features. Most of these children continually twist and play with their hair, as if by habit. Some pull out single strands, others pull out whole clumps of hair. There is no predictable pattern with respect to frequency or duration. In many children there is other evidence of anxiety or depression, such as sleep problems, erratic appetite, social or school difficulties, and so on.

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“There we stood,” said the wife. “It was surprising. We didn’t get past the hair on our heads. We looked at our own, each other’s,

and talked about it. Maybe it was just safer to talk about that, but I never realized he felt his was too thin. I have always felt mine was too thin. It has bothered me for years.”

How we think we look is a key in our love map, a type of legend and scale for interpreting the map and for reading other persons’ maps, for we tend to pick partners that we perceive as maybe just a few steps up from our own place on the body market. Even children rapidly develop good or poor body images, which sometimes sentence them to the sidelines at dances and to a loneliness that is based on a hypercritical, usually unrealistic self-appraisal.

I have three hundred slides of the work of major artists. These are all nude paintings, and I have my patients pick the one painting they feel most resembles them. This assignment is usually fun and sometimes most enlightening, especially when I also have them select a slide that most resembles their partner. Looking at and discussing these pictures usually helps defuse the anxiety over the body-image issue and teaches about the wide range of human appearance and the perceptions of that appearance.

I help my patients discuss feelings about their genitals and other erotic zones. Most men seem to feel that penises come in one size, too small. Women seldom talk much about genital appearance, but describe their breasts in two sizes, too big or too small. It is helpful to break down the barriers that exist between the body generally and the erotic zones specifically, integrating both into a sensuous gestalt.

When I lectured on this concept of the sensuous gestalt, one woman told me after the lecture that she thought “sensuous hole” might be a better term. She added, “After all, I think I have what I call a ‘grand opening.’ Let me tell you, women do not have penis envy; men might have vaginal awe.” Even in her humor, you can see the anxiety we have about perhaps the least important element of the sexual system, the genitalia.

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But, for most of us, sun tanning presents a hazard. Our genes are derived from ancestors who lived in northern Europe and had fair skin.

Genetically, we have not had long enough living in this different climate to develop a darker skin color. Those of us who are naturally more olive skinned or who come from Southern Europe have better protection but we all need to exercise care.

Ultraviolet rays from the sun stimulate the pigment-producing cells in the skin to produce melanin which leads to tanning, but fairer skin contains little pigment and its ability to produce it under the stimulation of ultraviolet light is limited. These rays can damage the skin and cause both acute and chronic changes.

Ultraviolet or UV rays can penetrate cloud layers and so affect the skin even on overcast days. They can be reflected from water or sand and sneak up on you even as you cringe under a beach umbrella.

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But it is far more common in those who have had several pregnancies and in those past the menopause.

Some women are prepared to tolerate the discomforts, but most are aware of the medical care available and seek treatment.

The female pelvic organs are held in place by a number of structures. Ligaments of the womb are attached to the side walls of the pelvis and form a sling to support the uterus.

Two main muscles stretch across the lower pelvis and offer support and a thick piece of tissue sits just under the skin between the opening of the vagina and the rectum.

A prolapse is like a hernia of the female genital organs. Three main problems usually occur together, but there may be a combination of two or one only.

There is descent of the womb; the bladder may fall backwards through the lax front wall of the vagina; the rectum may fall forwards through the lax back wall.

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Some of these conditions are fairly common, whilst others are rare and will never be seen by the average parent. Some are readily and successfully treated, whilst others are extremely difficult to diagnose and even more difficult to successfully treat.

Many children with symptoms may be referred by family doctors to special centres, usually located in large hospitals, where special investigations may be carried out to help decide the diagnosis; also, facilities are available there to treat the patients. As some of these conditions may continue for a long time, getting linked to a major centre is often the best idea. So, if your family doctor finds your child’s symptoms puzzling and suggests referral to a centre of this nature, go along with this suggestion. In the long run it will be to everyone’s advantage, child and parent, and for the doctor also, who wants the best for the patient.

The endocrine glands that will be discussed here include the pituitary gland, in the brain, which stimulates the activity of other endocrine glands. In the neck are the thyroid gland and the parathyroid glands, located near the back of the thyroids.

The pancreas is situated in the abdominal cavity and is responsible for diabetes, if diseased. The gonads are the sex organs (ovaries in females, testes in males), and these are responsible for some conditions which need care and attention. The adrenal glands are small organs sitting on top of the kidneys; disorders of these are rare but serious.

Phenylketonuria (P.K.U.) is not really related to the endocrines but is included in this section. It is an inherited disease which can now be detected at birth and readily and successfully treated. Early detection of P.K.U. in Australian babies in the past few years is one of the major forward steps in neo-natal care. The results are now strikingly successful—once, a missed diagnosis was responsible for serious forms of mental retardation which could be lifelong.

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The time from infection until the onset of symptoms (the incubation period) is usually between two and three weeks. There is a lapse of a few days (the prodromal period) from the start of symptoms until the typical rash sets in. During this time there are minor symptoms: the child may feel slightly off-colour and notice that the glands in the neck are a bit tender. Frequently, especially in younger children, these may be completely overlooked.

Finally the rash appears. This is usually a faint, very fine stippling that starts on the face and rapidly spreads on to the trunk and limbs. Within two to three days, and often sooner, it vanishes. Occasionally the temperature is raised, but generally this is only mild. In some instances, especially in epidemics, there may not even be a noticeable rash, just the glandular swelling. In some epidemics, as many as 40 per cent of cases may be rash-free. In some cases, a fine rash may be present but last only a few hours.

The chief concern of rubella is the amazing capacity of the virus to cross the maternal-placental barriers in pregnant women. This is vitally important during the first trimester (first three months); during this time, vital organs are developing in the foetus. The virus can interfere with their normal development, and cause serious and severe congenital abnormalities in the baby. These will vary according to the time of infection. But the heart, eyes, ears and brain may be adversely affected. This can cause blindness, deafness (in varying degrees up to total deafness), mental retardation and major heart defects. The liver and spleen may be affected, interfering with the blood system of the infant. Rubella infection occurring during the first month of pregnancy may incur a 50 per cent chance of serious defects. This falls to a 10 per cent risk by the third month.

So great are the potential hazards that rubella during early pregnancy is now a well-established indication for a legal termination of the pregnancy should the mother desire this. In fact, the majority of obstetricians would now specifically recommend it.

Treatment

Generally little or no treatment is necessary. If symptoms are present which cause discomfort, they may be treated symptomatically, along the same lines as for ordinary measles. Rest, fluids, simple adequate foods, analgesics and antipyretics (mixtures for relieving pain and reducing temperatures) are occasionally required, but these are usually minimal.

If there is rubella in the home, it is important that warning be given to any women known to be pregnant who have recently visited the family. It is important that pregnant women keep away from the infected person. Being highly infectious, the risks of contracting the disease are high, especially if the woman has not previously had rubella or has not been immunized. If contact has been made, she should contact her own obstetrician without delay. Special tests are available that will indicate her own degree of protection against rubella, and appropriate steps may then be taken.

Rubella vaccination is readily available at present in this and most Western countries. This is usually given to schoolgirls in the 12-14 age group. Every girl should be vaccinated. One single injection is all that is required.

*40\87\2*

One of the greatest authorities on the sugar vis-a-vis heart topic is M. O. Bruker, M.D., medical director at Eben-Ezers Hospital in Lemgo, Germany. For several decades he has conducted extensive studies on thousands of patients to determine the effect of sugar on their health. He has become convinced that the excessive consumption of white sugar is a major causative factor not only in arteriosclerosis and heart disease, but also in such diseases as caries, digestive disorders, liver and gallbladder diseases, obesity, and even cancer.

Findings of an American physician, Benjamin P. Sandler, M.D., are corroborative to the findings of many European doctors on sugar and heart disease. He also believes that sugar and starches in the diet, not fat, are responsible for the great increase in heart disease. He claims that heart attacks are caused by an oxygen deficiency in the tissues—which is caused by low blood sugar—which is caused by over-consumption of sugar and starches.

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The doctor prescribed drugs and ordered her to stay in bed with warm packs around the affected joints. The warm packs seemed to relieve the pain in the hands, but now it moved to the elbows and the shoulders. Then her legs and feet started to ache. The drugs relieved the pain, but as soon as she was without the pills, the pain returned with increased strength.

After four weeks in bed with increasing disability and pain, which became more and mote unbearable, she was sent by her doctor to Spenshults Rheumatic Hospital, one of the most modern medical rheumatic clinics in Sweden. She stayed there six weeks. She didn’t receive many treatments except drugs and rest in bed, plus a typical hospital diet, mostly meat, coffee and desserts.

She felt a little better when she returned home, but soon the stiffness and pain reappeared. She was unable to take care of her home and children. She felt discouraged and hopeless.

One day, her nurse brought her a magazine with an article on the Brandal Clinic and biological medicine. After she had finished reading it, she immediately went to the telephone and made a reservation.

She went to Brandal on October 20, 1957. Her condition on arrival was very bad. She could not go up the stairs to her room. She could not dress or undress herself. She was helpless and felt terrible pain with the slightest movement.

The program of treatments at Brandal started with the traditional fast on vegetable broth and carrot juice. Among the other treatments were alternating hot and cold showers, a dry brush massage, and enemas morning and evening. “After one week of fasting I felt so much better that I wanted to continue,” said Mrs. Andersson. After the first week she could go up and down the stairs and take short walks outside.

After 20 days of fasting, and one week on a special lacto-vege-tarian diet, as described earlier in this chapter, and other biological treatments at Brandal, Mrs. Andersson returned to her home—completely free from her arthritis.

While having a check-up five years later, Mrs. Andersson said, “I am as healthy as anyone could wish to be. I don’t remember feeling so well and being so limber and flexible since I was a young girl.”

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Osteoarthritis is usually believed to be the result of “wear and tear” on the joints during a long life. It usually affects people past middle age. It is characterized by degenerative processes in the joints, softening and erosion of the cartilage enlargement of the affected joints. The weight-bearing joints are usually affected first, but any joint of the body is vulunerable to osteoarthritis.

The most serious form of arthritis is, however, rheumatoid arthritis. It is an extremely painful and crippling disease which affects people of all ages, but particularly young adults who are in their most active and productive period of life. Women are afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis three time as often as men. Rheumatoid arthritis usually starts with an inflammation of the synovial membrane which’ eventually leads to deposits in the joints, bone degeneration, deformity, and a subsequent invalidity if proper treatments are not instituted in time.

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In the case of serious conditions, such as diabetes, low blood pressure, acute conditions and serious infections, etc., it would be advisable to undertake raw juice therapy under expert professional control.

In chronic and less serious conditions, and particularly when used as a prophylactic measure, raw juice therapy can be safely undertaken on your own. The most effective therapeutic way to use raw juices is in conjunction with fasting. Follow the instructions carefully, especially the instructions regarding the breaking of the fast.

In addition to their pure medicinal property in the treatment of practically any disease, raw juices have an extraordinary revitalizing effect on all the vital organs of the body. The miraculous rejuvenating property of a raw juice diet is well known by all beauty farms and rejuvenating clinics, where raw juices are used extensively. The magic beautifying, “youthifying” and rejuvenating effect of raw juices is due to their cleansing and detoxifying properly. Raw juices purify the blood and all the tissues of the body, neutralize the waste products of metabolism, and help in building new tissues. They are indeed rightfully called “the internal bath of health and youth.”

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