Plainly put, anorexia is an eating disorder where a person starves him or herself. Anorexia mainly affects adolescent girls. They have an intense fear of becoming fat. They think they are overweight, but in fact most anorexics weigh a full 15% below their normal body weight. Anorexia strikes about 1% of adolescent females. This is about one in one hundred women. Some psychiatrists think anorexia is not just about being thin or fat. It stems from fear a of growing up and losing control. It’s about fear of becoming a women, growing up, building relationships, leaving home. Her body is changing and growing and she doesn’t like it and wants to be child sized again. Some psychiatrists think that eating disorders can also be caused by life experiences such abuse. Some studies have shown that if a mother has anorexia a child is 12 time more likely to develop it than someone with no family history. The person who suffers with anorexia cannot help herself. She must be treated by a mental health professional experienced in dealing with anorexia. Some receive long term psychotherapy. The first thing however is to get this girl’s health back as best as you can. This person may need to be coaxed to eat, and, may need a supportive caregiver to actually watch to make sure she eats. There are numerous health concerns with anorexia. Some of these are osteoporosis, irregular heart beat and in the most severe of cases permanent failure of normal growth development. Most women sufferers of anorexia will lose their normal menstrual cycle. If an anorexic woman would conceive a child she would be likely to miscarry or have a baby born prematurely. Without treatment up to twenty percent of anorexia suffers will die. With treatment 60% can recover and maintain healthy weight. However, even with treatment about 20% of people will continue to have an unhealthy lifetime obsession with weight and food. If you confront a loved one about anorexia get ready to deal with someone in a true state of denial. They will be angry, and may become more withdrawn and depressed. There is nothing that you can do to change your loved one’s perception of him or herself. You can’t make your loved one eat. There are many organizations that are available to help anorexia sufferers and their families get the help they need.

Scabies, a transmissible ectoparasite skin infection, is characterized by superficial burrows, secondary infection and intense itching. This makes good sense as the actual word ’scabies’ is Latin for ‘itch’. Unlike alot of different infections and diseases the cause of scabies is actually known. Caused by the mite, variety hominis, it intensifies which results in extremely itchy skin that rashes. This itchiness is because the pregnant female mites tunnel into the stratum corneum of the skin to deposit eggs in the burrow. Hatching in 3-10 days, the larvae, will move about in the skin. It is in the skin where they become mature adults. Adult mites will usually live in the skin for three to four weeks. Although, the mites aren’t able to live their entire life in the skin, they are able to cause alot of itching and hassle before they finally die. As you can imagine the existance of mites in your skin is extremely irritating and creates a huge itch sensation. Often times this step will look alot like an allergic reaction on the skin, which isn’t far off as the presense of the mite eggs inside the skin will produce a humongous allergic response. All of this just leads to more itching which is extremely damaging to the skin. Scabies, as you can see is an absolute pain, as it causes constant irritation. If the itching sensation is given into on a regular basis, often times sores will develop on the skin, which in turn lead to increased risk of infection. Sometimes classes as a sexual disease, scabies can easily transmit by prolonged skin-to-skin contact with an infected person. Often times it will rip through an entire household through the sharing of clothing, bedding or towels. These second hand methods of transmission are rarer, than first hand skin-to-skin, although they should still be noted. Three hundred million is the approximate number of scabies infestation cases around the world each year.

Cancer has a fearsome reputation. Not without reason either. It is a disease that has not yet fully yielded to the skills and intelligence of medical scientists and doctors. And, as if the pain from the disease is not enough, the treatment for cancer, too, inflicts heavy suffering on the body. Cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled and abnormal cell division. Cancer spreads in the body and destroys tissues when the cancer cells travel through the blood stream or the lymphatic system. The runaway growth of cells is caused by mutations to the DNA in the cells that makes the cells unable to control cell division. This mutation can either be inherited or acquired. The mortality rate in cancer depends on the type of cancer and where it develops. Among cancers, lung cancer is the biggest killer, causing up to 3 million deaths every year worldwide. It affects the above-50 age group population most and is one of the most common types of cancers that occur in the Western countries. The main risk factor for lung cancer is smoking. Cigarette smoke, especially, contains several carcinogens. It is estimated that 80 per cent of all lung cancers are caused by smoking. The role of passive smoking in causing lung cancer is also being recognized by studies. Another carcinogen that causes lung cancer is asbestos. This substance, which is widely used because of its fire-resistant qualities, causes a rare type of cancer called mesothelioma cancer. In mesothelioma asbestos lung cancer or asbestos cancer, malignant cells develop in the pleura, the outer lining of the lungs and the chest cavity. The problem with asbestos cancer is that diagnosis is difficult. For one, the symptoms of mesothelioma cancer occur only 30-50 years after the exposure to asbestos. Second, the symptoms of asbestos lung cancer, such as shortness of breath and chest pain, are similar to those of many other medical conditions. The incidence of mesothelioma asbestos lung cancer has increased in the last two decades. Still it is considered a relatively rare form of lung cancer, because the incidence rate is only 1 per 1,000,000 people. This could be as high as 7-40 per 1,000,000 in the industrialized nations. By contrast, the incidence of lung cancer is 1,000 per 1,000,000. The common lung cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. However, the conventional treatment methods have not been very successful in the case of asbestos cancer, yielding only a median survival rate of 6-12 months after the presentation. Again, surgery does not have much effect on small-cell lung cancer. A treatment method for lung cancer that has become increasingly popular in recent years is radiofrequency ablation. This technique is especially effective in destroying the cancerous cells inside the tumors. These cells are ‘cooked’ by inserting a small heat probe into the tumor. This technique is also non-toxic and causes very little pain for the patient. However, there is hope for the cancer-affected. Scientists are developing new techniques of treatment, such as molecular targeted therapies, for lung cancer. Better and more effective therapies can be expected as scientists and researchers coax out more secrets from the human cells.

It is very easy to focus on the difficulties of keeping to a gluten free diet, particularly when eating out. However you can also discover that being on a special diet can have huge advantages. I was on a recent business trip staying away from home, working as a facilitator/ trainer. Delegates were asked to choose lunch and dinner from a rather restricted menu. I on the other hand was invited to choose from the A la Carte menu. At the first lunch time there was no suitable desert. I spoke to the waiter and asked that there should be something more exciting than fresh fruit for the evening meal. From then on every meal a “creation” each more interesting than the last appeared amid oohs and ahhs from the assembled company. As they were of gigantic proportions my table were happy to share in my gastronomic delight. I accept you have to wrestle with the issue of being ‘different’ but at times it is rather nice to find that the difference leads to an enjoyable difference rather than watching everyone else tuck into something scrummy whilst I get the boring option. There are a few principles to ensure you get good service from a restaurant: Talk to the staff and make yourself known when you arrive Smile and engage rather than demand Explain what you are able to eat and what to avoid If things go wrong (and they will!) explain politely that what has been served will make you very ill. Ask them to completely replace with something safe rather than take the offending item off the rest. An example of this happened last week when a selection of sorbets came up with a biscuit. A quiet word with the waiter meant it was whisked away and a completely new sundae appeared very quickly. Always thank people for their help. It will make them much more likely to go that extra mile for you if you return and for the next celiac who walks through the door