Pneumonia
In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, pneumonia was one of the leading causes of death in the United States. This disease is characterized by chronic cough, chest pain, chills, high fever, fluid accumulation, and eventual respiratory failure. One of the most common forms of pneumonia is caused by bacterial infection and responds readily to antibiotic treatment in the early stages. Other forms are caused by the presence of viruses, chemicals, or other substances in the lungs. In these types of pneumonia, treatment may be more difficult. Although medical advances have reduced the overall incidence and severity of pneumonia, it continues to be a major threat in the United States and throughout the world. Vulnerable populations, such as the poor, the elderly, and those already suffering from other illnesses, ran high risks of serious bouts of pneumonia. HIV-infected individuals are particularly vulnerable to certain forms of pneumonia, some of which may be fatal.
Legionnaire’s Disease
This bacterial disorder gained widespread publicity in 1976, when several Legionnaires at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia contracted the disease and died before the invading organism was isolated and effective treatment devised. Although one of the lesser-known diseases, the water-borne nature of this disease has led to several recent outbreaks in the United States. The symptoms are similar to those for pneumonia, which sometimes makes identification difficult. In people whose resistance is lowered, particularly the elderly, delayed identification can have serious consequences.
*6/277/5*
FORMS OF BACTERIAL INFECTIONS: PNEUMONIA AND LEGIONNAIRE’S DISEASEPneumoniaIn the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, pneumonia was one of the leading causes of death in the United States. This disease is characterized by chronic cough, chest pain, chills, high fever, fluid accumulation, and eventual respiratory failure. One of the most common forms of pneumonia is caused by bacterial infection and responds readily to antibiotic treatment in the early stages. Other forms are caused by the presence of viruses, chemicals, or other substances in the lungs. In these types of pneumonia, treatment may be more difficult. Although medical advances have reduced the overall incidence and severity of pneumonia, it continues to be a major threat in the United States and throughout the world. Vulnerable populations, such as the poor, the elderly, and those already suffering from other illnesses, ran high risks of serious bouts of pneumonia. HIV-infected individuals are particularly vulnerable to certain forms of pneumonia, some of which may be fatal.
Legionnaire’s DiseaseThis bacterial disorder gained widespread publicity in 1976, when several Legionnaires at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia contracted the disease and died before the invading organism was isolated and effective treatment devised. Although one of the lesser-known diseases, the water-borne nature of this disease has led to several recent outbreaks in the United States. The symptoms are similar to those for pneumonia, which sometimes makes identification difficult. In people whose resistance is lowered, particularly the elderly, delayed identification can have serious consequences.*6/277/5*
Tagged: · Tuesday, December 28, 2010 · No Comments »
Withdrawal of sedative drugs such as alcohol and the benzodiazepine drugs such as diazepam (Valium), oxazepam (Serepax) and nitrazepam (Mogadon) will produce an agitation which is indistinguishable from mild anxiety. In general, people are aware of what the symptoms of hangover are from drinking alcohol several hours previously. It is not so widely recognized that the sedative drugs usually prescribed to relieve anxiety will leave a feeling of vague agitation when the sedation wears off. The vague agitation usually persists for about four times as long as the duration of the sedative action of the drug.
Thus, a person may be suffering from feelings of anxiety due simply to withdrawal of the sedative action of a drug, leaving the agitation. This does not mean that at that moment he is suffering from stress-breakdown symptoms. However, a person seeking to use the anxiety equation for self-diagnosis at the time should be aware that anxiety does occur as a result of sedative withdrawal.
*12/129/5*
FIRST STAGE OF STRESS BREAKDOWN: SEDATIVE WITHDRAWAL
Withdrawal of sedative drugs such as alcohol and the benzodiazepine drugs such as diazepam (Valium), oxazepam (Serepax) and nitrazepam (Mogadon) will produce an agitation which is indistinguishable from mild anxiety. In general, people are aware of what the symptoms of hangover are from drinking alcohol several hours previously. It is not so widely recognized that the sedative drugs usually prescribed to relieve anxiety will leave a feeling of vague agitation when the sedation wears off. The vague agitation usually persists for about four times as long as the duration of the sedative action of the drug.Thus, a person may be suffering from feelings of anxiety due simply to withdrawal of the sedative action of a drug, leaving the agitation. This does not mean that at that moment he is suffering from stress-breakdown symptoms. However, a person seeking to use the anxiety equation for self-diagnosis at the time should be aware that anxiety does occur as a result of sedative withdrawal.
*12/129/5*
Tagged: · Monday, December 20, 2010 · No Comments »
As we have seen, most, if not all, asthmatics are also allergic; indeed, their asthma is an allergic reaction. But allergies can also cause lots of other reactions. Unless you happen to be sneezing all the time, your friends will give you funny looks if you say you are allergic. And even if you do show the common signs and symptoms of allergies, you may not get much sympathy. That’s because, to those lucky people who haven’t got any, allergies are very simple. If it’s not quite seen as a moral weakness — the way we used to see alcoholism — then there’s a strong suspicion that the allergic person is just, well, a bit peculiar and might be a great deal less sick if people, especially mothers, didn’t make such a fuss. Then there’d be much less of this sneezing and wheezing and breaking out in rashes every time the victim drinks milk or walks past a privet bush.
This popular idea of allergy and the substances which cause it is wrong. Times have changed, and while it’s true that wheezing, sneezing and rashes are still the commonest symptoms, and that parental attitudes can be a factor, it’s now known that many other symptoms can arise from many more triggers than eggs, privet, milk or cats. What’s worse, most of these symptoms are things that even medically trained people will, nine times out of ten, attribute to something else.
We have seen that, apart from causing asthma, an allergy can make you tense, give you a tired, washed-out feeling, make you constipated, give you diarrhoea, keep you awake at night, cause depression, give you burning, ulcer-like pains in the stomach, headaches, feelings of confusion and forgetfulness, high blood pressure, diabetes (after the age of thirty-five), pains in the joints and muscles, and even make you fat.
It’s not surprising, then, that so many patients who turn up at the doctor’s complaining of any of these things simply don’t get well. They are referred to psychiatrists, given tranquillisers or anti-depressants and pull-yourself-together talks, advised to take a holiday or to change their jobs, or are relieved of tonsils, appendixes, uteruses or gallbladders.
Hardly any attention is ever paid to what the patient is eating; and unless one is clearly working in an environment now known to be hazardous, such as an asbestos plant, not much attention is paid to environment either. And even less environmental scrutiny is given to women than to men, especially to housewives, who are assumed to be perfectly safe at home within their own four walls. As we have seen, the kitchen, and the house and garden generally, may be the most dangerous places of all.
I remember the case of a girl of seven who was found one morning lying in a pool of blood, from a severe nosebleed, in her bed. Doctors looked frantically for the cause and eventually discovered that it was an allergy to the pillow on which she had been sleeping. When a pillow with a different filling was used, the girl’s nosebleeds stopped.
A man suffered for ten years from small itching blisters on the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. When he eventually saw an allergist who diagnosed his allergy to mould, the man insisted there was no mould in his house until, during rebuilding some months later, the wooden foundations were found to be impregnated with mould.
You can discover mould for yourself when you move into a house and decide to make some small improvements, such as knocking out a panel to create a cupboard under the stairs. You may notice very extraordinary smells, which could be mould, or one of the pesticides or chemicals often used by renovators of old houses. Stripping back old exterior paintwork from the days before lead-free paint is a special hazard.
Many years ago I treated a child for the behavioural disorder formerly known as ‘hyperactivity’. After getting no improvement with diet, I discovered an allergy to the father’s aftershave lotion. How often would a simple thing like this be considered worthy of attention when there are so many exciting psychological avenues to explore — including the fashionable idea that children need more intimate contact with their fathers? In this particular case, it would have been disastrous.
One of the secretaries in a medical centre where I sometimes work as a consultant is an asthmatic. I cannot wear even the smallest amount of after-shave lotion when I work there. The moment I entered the office she used to give me a piercing look, ‘And just what are we wearing today, Dr Vayda?’ she would ask in a bellow that could be heard in every waiting room of every office in the building. After a few times of this treatment I gave up putting anything on my face after shaving.
Another patient, a young married woman, had emotional disturbances and severe physical symptoms that just didn’t add up to any recognisable pattern on which a label could be hung. Again nutritional changes brought no improvement, but we did discover that whenever she went away for a camping holiday, the troubles all cleared up. Eventually, the cause was found. The couple had moved into a freshly painted house and the woman was so sensitive to paint that even six months later she was still reacting.
Allergenic substances lurk everywhere in the home: gas stoves, heaters, aerosol sprays, paint, lacquer, room freshener, hair spray, oven cleaner, floor polishes, waxes, bleaches, cosmetics. Any one of these can cause an adverse reaction in susceptible people. And once outside your front door, the list is endless. This means that an allergic child is at risk almost from the moment it’s born, but because allergy is the great masquerader, children as well as adults can be misdiagnosed if their symptoms are not the good old familiar ones like rashes or sneezing.
*19\145\2*
ASTHMA: ALLERGY – THE GREAT MASQUERADERAs we have seen, most, if not all, asthmatics are also allergic; indeed, their asthma is an allergic reaction. But allergies can also cause lots of other reactions. Unless you happen to be sneezing all the time, your friends will give you funny looks if you say you are allergic. And even if you do show the common signs and symptoms of allergies, you may not get much sympathy. That’s because, to those lucky people who haven’t got any, allergies are very simple. If it’s not quite seen as a moral weakness — the way we used to see alcoholism — then there’s a strong suspicion that the allergic person is just, well, a bit peculiar and might be a great deal less sick if people, especially mothers, didn’t make such a fuss. Then there’d be much less of this sneezing and wheezing and breaking out in rashes every time the victim drinks milk or walks past a privet bush.This popular idea of allergy and the substances which cause it is wrong. Times have changed, and while it’s true that wheezing, sneezing and rashes are still the commonest symptoms, and that parental attitudes can be a factor, it’s now known that many other symptoms can arise from many more triggers than eggs, privet, milk or cats. What’s worse, most of these symptoms are things that even medically trained people will, nine times out of ten, attribute to something else.We have seen that, apart from causing asthma, an allergy can make you tense, give you a tired, washed-out feeling, make you constipated, give you diarrhoea, keep you awake at night, cause depression, give you burning, ulcer-like pains in the stomach, headaches, feelings of confusion and forgetfulness, high blood pressure, diabetes (after the age of thirty-five), pains in the joints and muscles, and even make you fat.It’s not surprising, then, that so many patients who turn up at the doctor’s complaining of any of these things simply don’t get well. They are referred to psychiatrists, given tranquillisers or anti-depressants and pull-yourself-together talks, advised to take a holiday or to change their jobs, or are relieved of tonsils, appendixes, uteruses or gallbladders.Hardly any attention is ever paid to what the patient is eating; and unless one is clearly working in an environment now known to be hazardous, such as an asbestos plant, not much attention is paid to environment either. And even less environmental scrutiny is given to women than to men, especially to housewives, who are assumed to be perfectly safe at home within their own four walls. As we have seen, the kitchen, and the house and garden generally, may be the most dangerous places of all.I remember the case of a girl of seven who was found one morning lying in a pool of blood, from a severe nosebleed, in her bed. Doctors looked frantically for the cause and eventually discovered that it was an allergy to the pillow on which she had been sleeping. When a pillow with a different filling was used, the girl’s nosebleeds stopped.A man suffered for ten years from small itching blisters on the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. When he eventually saw an allergist who diagnosed his allergy to mould, the man insisted there was no mould in his house until, during rebuilding some months later, the wooden foundations were found to be impregnated with mould.You can discover mould for yourself when you move into a house and decide to make some small improvements, such as knocking out a panel to create a cupboard under the stairs. You may notice very extraordinary smells, which could be mould, or one of the pesticides or chemicals often used by renovators of old houses. Stripping back old exterior paintwork from the days before lead-free paint is a special hazard.Many years ago I treated a child for the behavioural disorder formerly known as ‘hyperactivity’. After getting no improvement with diet, I discovered an allergy to the father’s aftershave lotion. How often would a simple thing like this be considered worthy of attention when there are so many exciting psychological avenues to explore — including the fashionable idea that children need more intimate contact with their fathers? In this particular case, it would have been disastrous.One of the secretaries in a medical centre where I sometimes work as a consultant is an asthmatic. I cannot wear even the smallest amount of after-shave lotion when I work there. The moment I entered the office she used to give me a piercing look, ‘And just what are we wearing today, Dr Vayda?’ she would ask in a bellow that could be heard in every waiting room of every office in the building. After a few times of this treatment I gave up putting anything on my face after shaving.Another patient, a young married woman, had emotional disturbances and severe physical symptoms that just didn’t add up to any recognisable pattern on which a label could be hung. Again nutritional changes brought no improvement, but we did discover that whenever she went away for a camping holiday, the troubles all cleared up. Eventually, the cause was found. The couple had moved into a freshly painted house and the woman was so sensitive to paint that even six months later she was still reacting.Allergenic substances lurk everywhere in the home: gas stoves, heaters, aerosol sprays, paint, lacquer, room freshener, hair spray, oven cleaner, floor polishes, waxes, bleaches, cosmetics. Any one of these can cause an adverse reaction in susceptible people. And once outside your front door, the list is endless. This means that an allergic child is at risk almost from the moment it’s born, but because allergy is the great masquerader, children as well as adults can be misdiagnosed if their symptoms are not the good old familiar ones like rashes or sneezing.*19\145\2*
Tagged: · Monday, December 13, 2010 · No Comments »
Random Posts