Posted on 20 May, 2009 -
Dr Google, swine flu and YOU
Why my sister in Mexico was told NOT TO WORRY about swine flu
Why constant worry or anxiety is so bad for your health (and why there’s NO excuse for it...)
Visit Dr Google: How to find answers to your unsolvable health problems on the internet - including irritable bowels, dementia, headaches, emotional side effects of medicines such as Omeprazole… and osteoarthritis
As some of you probably remember, I have a sister who lives in Mexico.
No, as far as I know she doesn’t have swine flu. But the advice she got from her doctor on the matter was very interesting.
Did he prescribe her special drugs or face masks? Tell her to avoid going out in public?
No, he told her not to worry about it and gave her very convincing reasons as to why she shouldn’t. Partly because there is no reason to panic, but more importantly because panic itself would increase her chances of getting it.
As Caroline Torres said in her New You free email on the same subject: “If anything can compromise our ability to fight infection, it’s fearfulness.”
Anxiety lowers your immunity and plays havoc with your digestion
Why? Because whenever we’re experiencing fear or anxiety, our body goes into a flight or fight mode. Normal functions such as digestion or the immunity are partly shutdown in order to divert more energy for adrenaline-heavy activity.
That’s why so many people who suffer from anxiety also suffer from digestive problems and are more susceptible to illness.
As Caroline also cites in her email, “A 2002 study at a New York hospital found that the
rate of serious heart problems more than doubled in the month after the September 11 attack.”
No excuse for suffering anxiety
Tackling fear or anxiety, of course, is easier said than done. I honestly believe, however, that nobody who has good access to the internet can use the excuse that they don’t know how to. (And you only have to read about the prostate cancer study below for proof that it can work...)
Enter Dr Google - the answer to more than a few people’s prayers
You only have to type words like ‘coping with anxiety’ into a Google search and you’ll find plenty of advice to help you deal with the problem. (Unless like many anxiety sufferers, of course, you feel that your anxiety is necessary...)
And the same is true for ANY condition that you suffer from - whether you’re receiving good help from your doctors with the matter or not. In fact, a friend of a friend of mine who is a GP said that she actively encourages her patients to do as much research into their own condition as they can. The better informed they are, she says, the easier they are to help. “And yes, many people find effective answers themselves that are beyond my sphere of knowledge.”
So many people that I know, in fact, have found answers to their medical problems by Googling them that I’m now convinced that Dr Google can be almost as important as your GP.
Here, for example, are some amazing and important snippets of health information that I’ve found on the internet recently:
* How to change your genetic health makeup to protect yourself from major illness. In a recent study, researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy.
The men underwent three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a dietrich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products. They took moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and did an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation.
The results? Not only did they lose weight and lower their blood pressure, but their actual genetic makeup had changed profoundly as well. The activity of disease-preventing genes increased while a number of disease-promoting genes, including those involved in prostate cancer and breast cancer, shut down.
* Why it’s ALWAYS worth doing a search on the potential side effects of EVERY medicine you take - prescribed and over the counter. 1 in 16 hospital admissions are caused by an adverse reaction to a prescription drug. Many people spend years putting up with a less acute medical problem because they hadn’t realised it was a side effect. I recently found out for myself, for example, that the medicine Omeprazole causes headaches in 6.9% of people. Many users also report experiencing serious emotional disturbances while taking this drug.
I am not, of course, saying that you should stop taking any medicine that you take, but sometimes it would at least be nice to have an explanation for your suffering.
One Google search that might certainly be worth doing is to put the name of your medication along with any unexplained symptoms you suffer into a Google search. So for example, ‘NSAIDS depression’ or ‘HRT skin problems’.
* People suffering from dementia often suffer from depression, aggression and sleeplessness at night because of the medicines they are prescribed. Careful use of medication is recommended.
* IBS, bloating or other ‘tummy toubles? Tummy troubles such as constipation or diarrhea, pain or discomfort effect approximately 20% of the population. While emotional disturbances such as stress are often given as a blanket cause of the problem, researchers have now found that the colon muscle of someone with IBS is more sensitive than that of a non-sufferer.
Spending time working out what foods or other triggers aggravate your colon will help you lessen your suffering and stay on top of the problem. Alcohol and caffeine, for example, are common triggers but many (sometimes unexpected) foods can be the problem too. Some foods that help some sufferers can even be the triggers for others such as fruit and green vegetables.
I have also found some very interesting information about a stool test called CDSA that tests for specific parasites and bacteria also believed to sometimes be the cause of IBS - many of which are not tested for by the NHS.
* Find a chat room related to your problem. Discussion forums and chat rooms on any problem you’re experiencing with your health can be a great source of information and support.
Simply do a Google search for your condition or symptom to find forums or do a specific search for a chat room or forum. One thing to remember when you visit these sites, however, is that each individual’s experience can be enormously different and may not be relevant for you or indeed representative of the norm. It may, on the other hand, be a very similar odd case that enables you at last to find an answer.
* Osteoarthritis? Research published in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy has shown that patients taking the herbal remedy Boswellia showed significant improvement in as little as seven days. Also known as ‘Indian Frankincense’, the herb Boswellia serrata has been proven to reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis. In 2004, researchers in India published results of a study carried out on 30 patients with knee osteoarthritis. The researchers found that the patients who were given the boswellia had significantly less pain and swelling and they had increased walking tolerance compared to the patients who were given the placebo sugar pill.
* Can meditation really do such wonders for my health and stress levels? And how do I do it? As the website, http://www.how-to-meditate.org says, “With the hectic pace and demands of modern life, many people feel stressed and over-worked. It often feels like there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Our stress and tiredness make us unhappy, impatient and frustrated. It can even affect our health.” There are some great instructions on this website. The entry on Wikihow, http://www.wikihow.com/Meditate, is good too. Or just put ‘how to meditate’ into a Google search and find what suits you.
Human health is so robust in many ways these days that we often forget quite how sensitive our bodies can be. You only have to give a puppy a tiny square of Dairy Milk, for example, and it will have a runny tummy for days. Move a plant to the other side of the garden and it can be dead within the week.
So why, I wonder, do we often find it so hard to believe or accept that something like an over-indulgence in a certain food or substance - or a job that makes us cross - could be damaging our health?
Food for thought? Try blueberries for short-term memory loss. Pumpkin seeds for thinking skills. And broccoli for brain power!
