April 2009

MEDITATION FOR ANXIETY DISORDERS TREATMENT: BREATHING DURING MEDITATION

As the meditation process unfolds, some people become anxious when they notice their breathing slowing down. Sometimes it feels as if you are hardly breathing at all. This can be disconcerting at first, especially for people who have this fear. There is nothing to worry about. The slowing down of our breathing indicates we are [...]

ANXIETY DISORDERS: FEAR OF DEATH

Heart symptoms The most common fear we have is that we will die from a heart attack. Besides having a rapid heartbeat, some people experience palpitations or ‘missed’ heartbeats. They are not dangerous, and will not hurt us in any way. The more we fear them, the more adrenalin is released, so the cycle continues. [...]

THERAPIES OF ANXIETY DISORDERS: OUR SILENCE

Not only do we live in fear of the disorder, we live in fear of other people knowing we have it. Many of us live in silence in case our employer, friends and family find out. This silence is passed on from generation to generation. As we begin to understand our disorder, many of us [...]

POWER OVER PANIC/SECONDARY CONDITIONS: THE ATTACKS

Everyone who experiences spontaneous panic attack remembers their first attack: where they were, what they were doing and how they felt. There is no other experience with which to compare it. The panic attack usually appears to have little or nothing to do with any personal or environmental situation. Even if we are very distressed [...]

MENTAL SYMPTOMS OF FOOD ALLERGY OR INTOLERANCE: MENTAL FACTORS IN IBS

One study that is often quoted by ‘opponents’ of food intolerance was carried out by Dr David Pearson of Manchester University and Dr Keith Rix of Leeds University. They studied 27 patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome who believed themselves to have food allergy or intolerance. The study only found evidence of food reactions in [...]

URINATION, FREQUENT

Description and Possible Medical Problems Not only can an enlarged prostate make it more difficult to urinate, it can have the opposite effect, making you need to urinate more frequently. Since you’re never able to empty your bladder fully, you’ll probably feel the urge to urinate more often because the signals that a full bladder [...]

PAIN IN UPPER RIGHT QUADRANT WITH VOMITING, NAUSEA, AND FEVER: DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS

Like the appendix and the spleen, the gallbladder is one of those organs we’ve all heard of. But whenever I ask a patient to describe its function and location, I always get a blank stare. Okay, function first. The gallbladder is a sac that stores bile, a substance secreted by the liver that helps to [...]

HOW THE BREASTS AGE

Though some of the effects aging has on a woman’s body may largely pass unnoticed, it’s the rare woman who doesn’t measure the passage of time by the noticeable changes in her breasts. Because the breasts lose both fat and glandular tissue as they age, they may begin to sag and flatten a bit when [...]

HUNCHBACK

Description and Possible Medical Problems If you’ve ever visited a public park where a lot of elderly people congregate, you’ve probably noticed that several of the women and a few of the men walk in a stooped manner and have a visible hunchback. It looks as though it must be difficult for them to get [...]

NECK, ENLARGED MASS ON ONE SIDE OF

Description and Possible Medical Problems When any part of the neck swells up—on either the side or the front— the thyroid gland is usually responsible. If you see and feel a lump or mass on one side of your neck but are still able to eat and drink as usual, you’ll probably be tempted to [...]