Health related information and news from around the world.

This is a common manifestation of excessive sun exposure in people of Celtic background and fair akin. It is extremely common in Australia, particularly on the backs of the hand and on the face; It is a precancerous, or premalignant, change in the epidermis. However progression to malignancy occurs in only a minority of these keratoses.

Features. Solar keratoses appears as small, rough patches on the skin surface. Usually they are skin coloured or red, and sting on exposure to sunlight. The scales may fall or be knocked off, but will invariably recur. Occasionally they spontaneously bleed. Some are very small, whereas others can be quite large and grow horny protuberances. Thickening of the base of the lesion, with increasing redness and tenderness, indicates activity and the possibility of malignant change.

Treatment.

1. Cryotherapy

This is the most popular treatment, using either solid carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen.

2. Diathermy or curettage

When lesions are thick or if malignant change is suspected, this is the preferred treatment, the advantage being that microscopic examination can be performed on the suspect tissue.

3. Chemotherapy

More recently a cytotoxic chemical, 5 Fluououracil (5 F.U.) has been used in the destruction of solar keratoses. It is applied in the form of ointment or lotion twice dotty for 3-4 weeks. Where keratoses or other solar damage is present, acute inflammation followed by superficial erosion will occur. One or two weeks later, healing without scarring and without the return of the keratoses occurs. Frequently, patients observe that the cure is worse than the disease. As this form of treatment is not adequate for basal cell carcinomas, which could be mistaken for solar keratoses, careful diagnosis before treatment and follow-up afterwards is mandatory.

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While many women are happy to receive treatment for a condition that is bothering them now, far fewer want to take it to prevent something that may (or may not) happen some time in the future. This is a pity, because there are two serious conditions that are directly related to low levels of oestrogen after the menopause: arterial disease, which can lead to heart attack and stroke and is often fatal, and osteoporosis, which isn’t usually directly fatal, but which causes pain, deformity and a considerably reduced quality of life, and can be an indirect cause of death.

Neither of these diseases usually arises until several years after the ovaries have stopped producing oestrogen, but all women are potentially at risk from them the further they get in time from the menopause. The earlier you have the menopause (surgical or natural), the greater the proportion of your life without oestrogen, so the greater your risk of developing arterial disease and osteoporosis, and the more important it is that you are aware of these long-term consequences of low oestrogen and what you can do about it.

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One of the most important herbs used by herbal therapists for the treatment of hormone problems in women is Vitex agnus castus (also called Chaste Berry or Monk’s Pepper). It is derived from the ripe berries of a Mediterranean shrub but the chemical constituents said to be responsible for its actions in balancing the menstrual cycle have not been defined. Treatment is long-term over many months using doses of about 2 to 3 ml of a 1:5 tincture a day (this means that 5 ml of the final preparation is equivalent to one gram of the dried herb from which the preparation was made). It is common practice in England, and also recommended by German manufacturers, to take Vitex in a single dose each morning before breakfast throughout the cycle. Prolonged use of high doses is not advisable, but a course of six months treatment without a break is said to be necessary for full and lasting improvement. Headache is an occasional side-effect.

The first major clinical studies on Vitex, published in the 1950s, claimed significant improvements in over 60% of women treated for heavy or frequent bleeding. The average duration of bleeding was said to decrease from eight to five days. An English herbalist, Janet Hicks, claims that heavy and prolonged bleeding is best tackled by combining Vitex with muscle relaxants. When women experience symptoms of PMS such as irritability, and menopausal symptoms like hot flushes, she suggests they take Vitex. Then, as the PMS disappears, another herb, Chamaelirium luteum (Holonias), is recommended. Mrs Hicks considers Vitex unsuitable for post-menopausal women and women of any age using hormones such as the Pill, hormone therapy or danazol.

A host of other herbal and nutritional therapies are also in widespread use. The seeds of the horsechestnut are said to be helpful for painful periods; ginseng, motherwort, lime blossom, Cimicifuga racemosay vitamin E and evening primrose oil tablets are all capable of affecting hot flushes; and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), evening primrose oil and Anemone Pulsatilla can apparently alleviate PMS in some women. At least part of the benefit of these treatments lies in a placebo effect, that is, an effect that is just the same when a harmless substance like a sugar pill is substituted for the substance being tested. This effect is not well-understood but it is well-documented with both orthodox and alternative medicines. It is said to occur in a third or more patients when most treatments are tested.6 It may be that people seek help from health practitioners when their symptoms are at their worst and, when they start to feel better, they put it down to the treatment — although they may have felt better in the same time regardless of whether or not they received treatment. Another possible explanation is that the brain releases chemicals that, for example, suppress pain as a conditioned reflex to receiving a pharmaceutical or alternative medication.

An important nutritional supplement for many women with heavy or prolonged bleeding is iron tablets, which can help to relieve anaemia and associated fatigue. A study of 380 women in the US State of Maine, whose fibroids, abnormal bleeding and chronic pelvic pain were managed without surgery, found that about 6% of those with abnormal bleeding or fibroids had anaemia. A comparison study also conducted in Maine found that 19% of women having hysterectomies for fibroids were anaemic. A measurement of blood haemoglobin (the pigmented substance that gives red blood cells their colour and also carries oxygen through the body) will show whether anaemia is a problem. The iron most easily absorbed by the human body is found in lean meat (especially liver and kidneys), seafoods (especially oysters) and poultry. Less-easily absorbed iron is present in cereals, legumes, vegetables (especially green leafy varieties) and eggs.

The commonly held view that vitamin B6 will cure symptoms of PMS has resulted in many women taking high doses of it (several hundred milligrams a day). Dosages above 25 mg a day are inadvisable as they can lead to damage of the nerve endings in the fingers and toes, as well as dependence. Rather than taking high doses of B,, it is worth considering boosting your intake of foods rich in this vitamin such as bananas, lentils, avocado, fish, eggs, turkey, chicken, tuna, salmon, walnuts and lean meat.

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From research conducted in sleep laboratories, we know that dream erections occur irrespective of the kinds of dreams a man is having, even if the dreams have nothing to do with sex. Male erections coincide with each period of REM sleep night after night without exception. It is difficult to explain with Freud’s theory why all males from young boys to geriatrics have exclusively sexual dreams every time. Dream erections are a basic physiological function of the body and have little to do with the psychology of the mind or the contents of dreams.

Whenever we want to understand the importance of some biological function of the body, we try to observe what happens if that function fails, as, perhaps, in some illness. In the case of dream erections, we look at the illnesses that prevent erections even during REM sleep. This condition is called secondary impotence, in which the patient is unable to have an erection at any time after a physical illness. W. Masters and V. Johnson of The Reproductive Biology Research Foundation in Missouri are leading sex therapists. In their book Human Sexual Response they state: ‘… data … suggest that the penis of the secondarily impotent male attains states of pathological hyperinvolution (when compared to previously established norms), after two to four years of unremitting impotence.’ In other words, the size of the penis begins to shrink. Many geriatric patients with secondary impotence have shrunken penises—some of them are nearly non-existent. Hence, if the penis is not in use for a period of time, it involutes and becomes functionless.

This in fact happens to other biological functions. If a part of our body is put out of use, it will waste away. Paraplegics, often the unfortunate victims of car accidents, completely lose the use of their legs. After a few years the muscles of the legs are wasted and shrunken because they have been unable to function for so long. However, the arms are very muscular and well developed, much more so than before the accident. This is because they have the regular exercise of pushing a wheelchair.

We read in the Bible how man first came to populate this planet. Adam ate the forbidden apple, and Eve got pregnant. From then on there were little Adams and little Eves. Of course, with the apple alone, Eve could not have got pregnant. Our Great Creator had developed a special exercise program for Adam’s penis. Whether Adam liked it or not, his penis was being exercised regularly night after night whenever he entered REM sleep. This regular exercise prepared Adam with a strong equipment, so that he could use it on the night he ate the apple.

Theory states that dream erections are physiological functions, important for the propagation of mankind. Further support for this theory could be obtained by studying other animals to see if they have dream erections during REM sleep, as this may be essential for the propagation of their populations. Of course one can still argue that the animal is having a sexual dream.

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