Acupuncture and Women’s Problems

Many of us know about how acupuncture can relieve stress, deaden pain, and be used for other emotional or mental purposes. It is also very useful for a number of problems that women face, from menstrual problems up to the problem of infertility. We will look at a couple of examples to show that acupuncture can be an asset in each case. Of course, you will want to consult your individual acupuncture professional to determine the specific treatment for an individual case.

The first case is a lady with painful and irregular menstrual periods. She gets depressed and irritable, and when she gets angry the pain increases. The first thing to notice about this case is the connection between the cause, menstruation, and the symptoms, which are both physical (pain), mental (irritability), and emotional (anger). The acupuncture practitioner is interested in all of these, and symptoms of whatever kind should be reported. Notice also the connection that she sees between increased pain when she is angry, which is also important. A simple analysis of this pinpoints anger and irritability as a log jam of energy in some location in the body. The irregular occasion of the periods suggests the liver. A series of acupuncture visits cleared up the pain and emotional connections to her periods.

A second case is a lady who is going through “the change”, and having a hard time with hot flashes and lower back pain. Her acupuncture practitioner talked about the energy around the kidney organ, and that, as we age, there is less kidney energy, and menstruation ceases. The kidney energy has two aspects, Yin and Yang, and hot flashes indicate too much Yang, and the pain in her lower back confirms the Kidney, as that is where it is located. Another common symptom of this, though not in this case, is the symptom of “ringing in the ears”. An acupuncture regime for the kidney is prescribed to rebalance the energy and eliminate the symptoms.

The next case is a thirty-six year old woman who cannot conceive. She has already gone through standard western testing, and all hormone levels are acceptable, but nothing has occurred. She normally has somewhat irregular periods, and she is somewhat given to depression. This sounds somewhat similar to the first case because of the irregular periods, and indeed, the liver is included as part of this treatment. Also, from the second case, the kidney energy regulates menstruation, so this organ too is involved in the acupuncture treatment. A second implication of energy problems with the liver is the tendency toward depression.

So, acupuncture has well established treatments for a number of common female problems, and if you suffer from any of these, please ask your acupuncture practitioner. Some of these are treated with more consistent success, for example, the third case illustrated has not yet seen a resolution of her problem. Also notice from the third case, that often western medicine and acupuncture can go hand in hand, as this lady’s regular physician had no problem with her seeking a series of acupuncture treatments as a possible solution. One thing that should be emphasized is that the acupuncture treatment is only a manipulation with needles, and involves no medicines whatsoever in these cases. For those of you with menopause or menstruation problems, this has many advantages. Call your acupuncture practitioner.

Carbohydrates the Essential Energy Source

Most athletes know and realize just how important it is to get the proper nutrients however many athletes are being drawn into the idea of using low carbohydrate diets as a way to help control weight. Needless to say, the sports medicine field is quite alarmed at this recent trend. The number of athletes that are starting to use low carbohydrate diets is alarming in recent years. Even scarier is the fact that these diets can cause harsh long-term complications such as making weight loss even harder.

Carbohydrates are the essential energy source that all athletes need in order to maintain the stamina to work out. Without this vital energy, it is much easier for injuries to occur from exhaustion as well as body strain. This is never an advisable outcome, but sadly, it occurs much more often in recent years. A proper diet for an athlete involves consuming quite a few carbohydrates.

Typically, the amount of carbohydrates that are required to be consumed by athletes is much higher than the amount required for people who are sedative. The proper amount of carbohydrates that each athlete needs varies greatly with some requiring much more than others. To determine the exact amount of carbohydrate consumption that you should personally aim for it is important to talk to your sports medicine doctor.

There are times when athletes are especially encouraged to increase their carbohydrate intake, this is especially common during tournaments, competitions and if you are engaging in more than one sport at the time. This is to ensure that your body has enough energy to handle the rigors that you are placing upon it during especially strenuous activities. In addition, there are other times when your doctor may recommend cutting back carbohydrate consumption, however all serious adjustments to your diet should be carefully monitored by your sports medicine team to ensure that you are getting the proper nutrients.

As the number of fad diets appearing on the markets increases, it is especially important to listen to what your doctor says about your diet. Athletes are recommended to store as much as 15 grams per kilogram of body weight in the form of carbohydrates. This translates into as much as 15 grams for every 2.2 pounds. For an average 180-pound athlete this translates into as much as 1227 grams of carbohydrates.

In terms of how carbohydrates are related to calories, it is easiest to use the following conversion. One gram of carbohydrates translates into four calories of energy. This means that for our example of the 180-pound athlete, the 1227 grams of carbohydrates they should consume would equal as much as 4909 calories. This is an enormous number for most people; however, there are some athletes that would require higher calorie intake while other would be able to handle much lower intake levels. Ultimately, it is up to you working with your doctor to determine the best level for your individual needs.

Remember, cutting back on carbohydrate levels can be quite damaging to the body. If your body is not consuming enough carbohydrates, then the body starts using protein as energy. This can be dangerous because protein is designed to help fuel your muscles and provide the muscle mass for the body, rather than simply providing energy for the body. The end result for many who are not consuming enough carbohydrates is an overall weakened condition and less energy to actively engage in the sport of their choice.

An important consideration is who is giving you the advice on your dietary needs. Many coaches do not always know the most up to date nutrition information. This makes it highly risky to simply take a coaches word about how much you should be consuming each day in calories and carbohydrates. In order to achieve the best results possible you can consult with your coach as well as your doctor to work out the best possible solution that has both your fitness goals, athletic goals and your health goals in mind.

Keeping your own personal health as the top priority is vital to ensuring you are as healthy as possible. Remember, it is sometimes necessary to adjust your carbohydrate consumption however; it should always be done with a doctors supervision to ensure that you are not potentially damaging your body or your overall health. Your physical safety is a much greater consideration that reducing your carbohydrate intake.

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Dual Diagnosis A Challenge to Medicine

The following article lists some simple, informative tips that will help you have a better experience with diagnosis.

Dual diagnosis is the term thats given to individuals having a mental illness and alcohol or substance abuse both occurring at the twin time. Conditions corresponding these occur frequently together within a persons behavior.

Management of either one of these problems are draining enough to the medical practitioner handling the case. To make things more complicated, adding the symptoms caused by the mental disorder that overlaps and masks the ability of the practitioner to recognize both events again make an accurate diagnosis. End game? A difficult status which is complex, challenging and is extremely exhausting to be able to make a possible solution.

In able to achieve the desired outcome, both of the disorders should be treated in a way that both ill be affected by the treatment. Simultaneous attempts must be trumped-up in order for cumulative effects to influence all aspects of an individuals personality and can greatly increase any pledge for relapse upon recovery.

Dual relationship

There is relative make evident that both mental illness and substance dependence go hand – in – helping hand. Although, it is still a bugging question which aggravates which. Experts are trying to figure out if the cause for the mental disorder is because of the abuse of the person in drugs or alcohol. Another contradictory statement elicits that when a person is already experiencing symptoms of mental sickness, it ends up in nondiscriminatory alcoholism because of the negative ways of how the person is coping with the situation.

Majority has concluded that oftentimes the psychiatric problems are the one that initiates in the person. When the person can no longer sustain the problem, in orderliness to get and feel better, the personalized results to self – medication thus, leading to chemical dependency. Whereas when a person is already at the brink of alcoholism or drug addiction, evidences of anxiety, depression and other emotional breakdowns will occur thus affecting the mental capacity of the person.

Whatever the cause is, the primary step in living a healthier and more productive life is to eradicate the individuals body from all the harmful and addictive substances. Detoxification is ideally done inside a rehabilitation center or under the supervision of a professional medical practitioner. The process can last for a couple of days and even weeks. Itll all depend on the substances that the person took and how long was he exposed to the substance.

Dual diagnosis is sometimes referred to as co – existing morbidity, co – occurring disorders, and the like. Statistics show that in dual diagnosis, crackerjack are about 53 % of drug dependents and about 38 % of alcoholics that has one mental illness thats seriously co – existing. More or less, there are about fifty percent of persons suffering from the severity of a mental disorder who is also being affected by the problem is substance dependency.

The possibility of indentifying co – existing disorders is cloudy. It is can be quite difficult on the part of the psychiatrist to hit two birds with one stone. Several symptoms of substance and drug maltreat can act as also be the identical symptoms of mental illness some of which are depression, anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations besides delusions. With these symptoms impact, the individual can no longer function in a proper also healthy state because of the decline in self – mobilization and self – care.

Dual diagnosis affects the lives of people around the individual suffering from it. Ergo, it is important that the family can also recognize the early symptoms for treatment to yield place.
So now you know a little bit about diagnosis. Even if you don’t know everything, you’ve done something worthwhile: you’ve expanded your knowledge.