Migraine = Severe Headache with Nausea
Migraine can be defined as a paroxysmal ailment, accompanied by a severe headache, generally on one side of the head, and associated with disorders of the digestion, the liver, and the vision. It usually occurs when a person is under great mental tension or has suddenly got over that state.
Persons who suffer from this disease have a particular type of personality. They are intelligent, sensitive, rigid, and methodical, and tend to be perfectionists. A migraine comes on suddenly. The head and neck muscles, reacting from continuous stress, become overworked. The tight muscles squeeze the arteries and reduce the blood flow. Then, when the person relaxes suddenly, the constricted muscles expand, stretching the blood vessel walls. With each heart beat, the blood pushes through these vessels and expands them further, causing intense pain. Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diseases and Treatments
Low blood sugar or hypoglycaemia is a disorder of blood sugar metabolism.
Causes and Symptoms of Hypoglycaemia
A craving for sweets and starch in excessive amounts between meals is the first sign of a low blood sugar level. When the blood sugar level falls much below normal, symptoms such as nervousness, irritability, fatigue, depression, disturbed vision, and headaches appear. Other symptoms are sweating, trembling, numbness, absent-mindedness, dizziness, palpitations of the heart, and some sexual disturbances. Most hypoglycaemia patients feel hungry and eat frequently to get over the feeling of weakness and emotional irritability. They feel tense if they have to go without food for several hours. Low blood sugar can compound into an emergency condition. In such an eventuality, medical help should be sought immediately. However, when the patient experiences any symptoms that indicate a fall in blood sugar, he should immediately take a heaped teaspoonful of sugar and then seek medical help. Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diseases and Treatments
Although hair is not essential to life, it is of sufficient cosmetic concern to provoke anxiety in anyone when it starts thinning, falling, or disappearing. To a woman, the sight of a comb or brush covered with lost hair can cause intense mental strain.
Hair is formed in minute pockets in the skin called follicles. An upgrowth at the base of the follicle, called the papilla, actually produces hair when a special group of cells turn amino acids into keratin, a type of protein of which hair is made. The rate of production of these protein ‘building blocks’ determines hair growth. The average growth rate is about 1.2 cm per month, growing fastest on women between fifteen to thirty years of age. Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diseases and Treatments
Gout = Painful Bony Joint
Gout refers to a certain form of inflammation of the joints and swellings of a recurrent type. Although chronic in character, it occurs in acute attacks. It is a disease of the wealthy and chiefly affects middle-aged men. Women, after menopause, are also sometimes affected by this disease.
Causes and Symptoms of Gout
An attack of gout is usually accompanied by acute pain in the big toe, which becomes tender, hot, and swollen in a few hours. It may also similarly affect other joints such as die knees and wrists, and sometimes more than one joint may be affected at a time. The attack usually occurs at midnight or in the early hours of the morning when the patient is suddenly awakened. The acute attack generally lasts for a week or so. During this period, the patient may run a slight fever, and feel disinclined to eat. A serious complication of gout is the presence of kidney stones containing uric acid. In some cases the kidneys become damaged and do not function properly. Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diseases and Treatments
Dyspepsia is a word of Greek origin meaning indigestion or difficulty in digestion. It is a common ailment and results from dietetic errors.
Causes and Symptoms of Dyspepsia
Abdominal pain, a feeling of undue fullness after eating, heartburn, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, and flatulence or gas are the usual symptoms of dyspepsia. Vomiting usually provides relief. What is vomited is intensely sour to the taste. Other symptoms are a foul taste in the mouth, coated tongue, and foul breath. At times a sensation of strangling in the throat is experienced. In most cases of indigestion, the patient suffers from constipation, Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diseases and Treatments
Cough = A Common Symptom of Respiratory Disorders
The air passages of the lungs are lined with cells secreting mucus, which normally traps particles of dust. When the membranes get infected and inflamed, the secretion of mucus increases and the lining of the air passages is irritated. Coughing is the action by which excess mucus is driven out. Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diseases and Treatments
Coronary Heart Disease (Coronary Artery Disease)
The term coronary heart disease covers a group of clinical syndromes arising particularly from failure of the coronary arteries to supply sufficient blood to the heart. They include angina pectoris, coronary thrombosis or heart attack, and sudden death without infarction.
Causes and Symptoms
A common symptom of heart disease is shortness of breath, which is caused by the blood being deprived of the proper amount of oxygen. Another common symptom is chest pain or pain down either arm. Other symptoms are palpitations, fainting, emotional instability, cold hands and feet, frequent perspiration, and fatigue. Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diseases and Treatments
Cirrhosis of the Liver = Hardening of the Liver
Cirrhosis of the liver is characterised by a significant loss of cells, so that the liver gradually contracts in size and becomes hard and leathery.
Causes and Symptoms
In the early stages of the disease, there may be nothing more than frequent attacks of indigestion, with occasional nausea and vomiting. There may also be some abdominal pain and loss of weight. In the advanced stage, the patient develops a low grade fever. He has a foul breath, a jaundiced skin and distended veins in the abdomen. Reddish hair like markings, resembling small spiders, may appear on the face, neck, arms, and trunk. The abdomen becomes bloated and swollen, the mind gets clouded, and there may be considerable bleeding from the stomach.
Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diseases and Treatments
Sometimes you may be eating best foods but due to wrong combination these become harmful to us rather than beneficial. Hence it is desirable that one should understand the laws of food combination and their scientific basis.
When one eats an incompatible combination foods, nature flashes a distress signal in the form of a belch (this also happens when one overheats). We should learn to heed this little warning of nature. In case one doesn’t heed this warning and continues overeating and taking wrong combinations of foods, then following disorders may immediately follow: Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in food
Diet therapy in different illnesses is a big subject and deserves a complete book in itself. This chapter only touches it briefly for general guidance of readers. Readers who want to go into more details had better refer separate books pertaining to these illnesses.
Acne
o Cut down chocolates and sweets, highly salted snacks and extra sugar.
o Eat plenty of shellfish, nuts etc., for zinc and fresh fruits and vegetables for vitamin C.
AIDS
o Avoid undercooked and unwashed foods, raw or lightly cooked eggs, unpasteurised dairy products
o Cut down on tea, coffee, colas and alcohol
o Eat plenty of wholegrains, fruits & vegetables, nuts & oily fish, eggs and pasteurised dairy products. Read the rest of this article »
Read other articles in Diet and Diseases
Loading ...
