When sex becomes an addiction

By Elizabeth Landau

(CNN) -- "Californication" star David Duchovny made headlines for voluntarily entering rehab last week. But it wasn't for drugs or alcohol. It was for another dependency, one that affects millions of Americans but is seldom discussed: sex addiction.

Sex addiction, also called Compulsive sexual behavior, is like a gambling compulsion or alcoholism: It's about devoting your free time to a behavior that you cannot stop, even if you damage relationships or prompt other negative consequences. That could mean extensively using pornography, having affairs, sleeping with prostitutes, and masturbating excessively, to the point where such behaviors get out of control.

If you think it's just about primal desire, think again. For many addicts, sex becomes a way to numb out painful feelings, kill time or stop feeling lonely, says Kelly McDaniel, licensed professional counselor in San Antonio, Texas, and author of "Ready to Heal: Women Facing Love, Sex and Relationship Addiction."

"Most people I talk to get to the point where they don't even like sex," said McDaniel, who has no connection to David Duchovny and did not speculate about his specific situation. Continue Reading >>

Men, Too, Will Shop 'Til They Drop

(HealthDay News) -- One in 20 American adults said they find themselves unable to stop shopping for items they may not even want or need.

And men are just as likely as women to suffer from "compulsive buying," according to the largest survey of its kind ever conducted.

"That's the biggest surprise -- that men engage in this behavior almost as commonly as women," said Dr. Lorrin Koran, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University.
He said the finding runs counter to the conventional view of compulsive buying as a "woman's disease." That impression grew out of the fact that women have typically made up the vast majority of volunteers for studies looking at the disorder.

However, Koran said men who obsessively shop are probably more reluctant than women to come forward and admit they have a problem. "Generally, in psychiatry, men seek care less often than women," he pointed out. "It's not 'manly' to seek help."

The study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, also found that compulsive shopping usually begins in a person's teens or early 20s, and is associated with lower -- not higher -- incomes.

According to Koran, compulsive shopping is more than the occasional splurge, later regretted.
Instead, the urge to shop becomes constant and overwhelming. For most, the act of browsing and buying gradually takes the place of time spent at work, with family or in other pursuits. To qualify as a disorder, "the behavior has to be associated with marked distress and interfere with functioning," Koran said.

The typical compulsive shopper usually feels a sense of euphoria while engaged in shopping, but that "high" later gives way to remorse and distress. "It's afterward, when you realize that you spent money that you didn't have or you argue with your husband about why you have all these clothes in your closet that you never wear," Koran said. "That's when you regret it."

The root causes of shopping addiction remain unclear. But British researcher Helga Dittmar, a senior lecturer of psychology at the University of Sussex, said two factors -- highly materialistic values and poor self-image -- appear to be risk factors. In this scenario, buying things is viewed as a path to self-improvement.

"They'll buy those consumer goods that symbolize a part of their ideal self," Dittmar explained.
But just how prevalent is compulsive buying? Previous estimates, based on small samples, had ranged from about 2 percent to 16 percent of the population.

In this new study, Koran's team conducted a nationwide phone survey of more than 2,500 adults. After gathering data on demographics and income, the researchers used a standard screening instrument called the Compulsive Buying Scale to determine whether a person fit the criteria for the disorder.

They discovered that 5.8 percent of those interviewed did, in fact, meet the threshold for compulsive buying. Rates differed little between women (6 percent) and men (5.5 percent). Compulsive buyers tended to be younger than people unaffected by the disorder and more likely to make less than $50,000 a year, the study found.

The finding that compulsive buying affects men just as much as women didn't come as a big surprise to Dittmar. She said that British studies had shown little evidence of a gender gap, especially among younger people. And she noted that clinical studies into the disorder have typically recruited participants via women's magazines and similar outlets, boosting the participation of females.

Koran said men who compulsively shop tend to purchase different items than women. "Men tend to buy tech items, cameras, CDs, books, tools and gadgets," he said. "Women tend to buy clothes, jewelry, makeup, items for the homes, craft goods."

There's also "some suggestion in the research literature that men are more likely to be pathological collectors and become addicted to auctions," Dittmar said.

Whatever their gender, compulsive buyers are usually not made any happier by their ceaseless spending, the experts said. In fact, many find themselves deeply in debt and filled with remorse and shame as they hide their addiction from family and friends. Some studies have even linked the condition to a heightened risk for suicide, Koran said.

That's why he and Dittmar are advocating formal inclusion of compulsive buying in the next Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- the standard guidebook for psychological and psychiatric treatment worldwide.

Based on the new study numbers, "compulsive buying is at least as prevalent as many other clinical disorders," Dittmar noted. "I think, in the end, that I would favor its inclusion in the DSM, given that it would acknowledge and help raise public consciousness about the severity of compulsive buying."

She added that, up until now, "there has been a tendency to belittle 'shopping addicts.' It's time that the serious consequences of compulsive buying -- psychological, social, financial -- are highlighted."

Koran agreed, noting that effective treatments, which include antidepressant drugs and psychotherapy, do exist. But he said those affected must first come forward.
"It's always important to encourage people who have these types of disorders to seek treatment," he said. "There are things we can do to help."

More information
For more on compulsive buying, visit the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery.

Narcolepsy Drug Helps Brain Tumor Patients

(HealthDay News) -- A drug used for narcolepsy improved the quality of life for patients with malignant brain tumors, a new study shows.

"This is excellent information," said Dr. Robert Morgan, a medical oncologist at City of Hope, in Duarte, Calif. "Fatigue leading to poor quality of life is extremely common in patients with brain tumors, and we don't have that much to help right now."

That finding was among survivorship data presented Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, in Atlanta.

The 10 million cancer survivors in the United States right now are equivalent to the population of Los Angeles, or 3.5 percent of the total U.S. population, said Dr. Patricia Ganz, director for cancer prevention and control research at Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA.

Ganz moderated a press conference on the survivorship findings.

"These people are really benefiting from the products of our new discoveries, but it's not without a cost," she said.

In addition to its use for various sleep disorders, modafinil, known as Provigil, is also being used to help treat depression and to fight the fatigue associated with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, stroke and HIV infection. It has also shown promise as a treatment for cocaine
addiction.

The pilot study presented at ASCO looked at 30 patients with different types of brain tumors, most of whom had severe attention, memory and fatigue problems. All had undergone some combination of neurosurgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. All of the tumors were primary ones; there were no metastases of other cancers.

All participants took modafinil at the dose considered optimal for them every day for eight weeks.

Most of the participants showed "clinically meaningful" improvements in all the areas tested, including cognitive abilities (21 percent average improvement), mood (35 percent average improvement) and fatigue (average improvement of 47 percent).

"Modafinil was very effective in improving neurocognitive abilities, fatigue levels and depression symptoms in adult brain tumor patients," said study author Thomas A. Kaleita, an assistant professor of psychiatry at UCLA. "The improvement in depressive symptoms was quite a surprise for us."

Three patients had no response to the drug, possibly because of the site of the tumor or because of psychological factors. There were only mild to moderate side effects.

Quality of life was also the focus of research involving breast cancer patients who participated in a yoga program while undergoing radiation.

The Hatha yoga program of two sessions per week incorporated 60 minutes of yoga, breathing and loosening exercises, deep relaxation, alternate nostril breathing and specific meditation techniques, said study author Lorenzo Cohen, director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston.

Sixty-two women who had not practiced yoga before were randomized either to participate in the yoga program (which Cohen referred to as a "body holiday") or to be on a waiting list.

One week after radiation and yoga were completed, women who had been in the yoga group reported significantly and clinically improved physical functioning along with lower levels of fatigue and sleep-related daytime dysfunction. There were marginal gains in social functioning.

"This is one of the few pilot programs looking at yoga in a cancer population," Cohen said. "It is feasible to do this kind of research, and we now have a grant from the National Cancer Institute to compare a yoga group with a general stretching group. Then we will be able to better gauge if it's something about yoga or something as simple as stretching."

"This is interesting data because it goes along with more and more research that suggests that physical activity is beneficial for at least quality of life," Morgan said. "As a doctor, I have something to tell patients who ask that there's even more data to suggest physical activity is beneficial."

A final study showed that gene variations that affect the metabolism of cancer drugs called anthracylines may explain why some patients who receive those drugs as children experience cardiac side effects later. These findings need to be replicated, said study author Dr. Richard Aplenc, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an attending physician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

More information
For more on life after cancer, visit People Living With Cancer.

Health Highlights: Aug. 18, 2006

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Maker of 'Morning-After' Pill Reapplies to FDA

The maker of the controversial Plan B "morning-after" pill has resubmitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell the emergency contraceptive without a prescription, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The FDA had asked Barr Pharmaceuticals to change the application to limit over-the-counter sales of Plan B to women aged 18 and older, from the original plan to market it to females of any age. Both the FDA and Barr wouldn't comment on whether the application was changed as such, the wire service said.

Plan B is now available in most states only by prescription. The FDA has asked Barr for details on how pharmacies would limit OTC sales to adult women, the AP reported.

"Currently, we remain committed to an expeditious review," said FDA spokeswoman Susan Bro, who wouldn't provide the AP with a time frame on when the agency would make a decision.
Plan B, taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, is said to be up to 89 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, the wire service reported.
-----
Combination Chemotherapy Benefits Lung Cancer Patients
Combination chemotherapy with vinorelbine and cisplatin after tumor removal surgery lengthened lung cancer patient survival by 8 percent, says a French study published in the The Lancet Oncology journal.

The trial included 840 patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer.
"Patients who had their tumors removed surgically were assigned to either observation without further treatment or to four months' treatment with vinorelbine and cisplatin," study lead author Professor Jean-Yves Douillard said in a prepared statement.

"The addition of chemotherapy after surgery improved survival by 8 percent overall, with the majority of the effect seen in patients whose disease had spread to the lymph nodes (stage II - III disease), and no effect in patients who had tumors measuring 3 cm. or larger that had not spread to the lymph nodes," he said.
-----
Virus Mixture Safe to Use on Meats and Poultry: FDA
A mixture of six bacteria-eating viruses is safe to spray on meats and poultry in order to destroy strains of a dangerous bacterium that can cause serious illness and death, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled Friday.

The mixture, which contains viruses called bacteriophages, is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products before they're packaged, the Associated Press reported
.
The viruses target Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause a serious infection called listeriosis.

Each year in the United States, about 2,500 people become ill with listeriosis and 500 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pregnant women, newborns, and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of listeriosis.

The virus mixture is made by Intralytix Inc. of Baltimore. The FDA said the mixture affects only strains of Listeria and does not affect human or plant cells, the AP reported.
-----
U.S. Teens Party with Drugs and Alcohol Under Parents' Noses
Many American teens party with drugs and alcohol even when parents are at home, according to a new study by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The survey included 1,297 young people, aged 12 to 17. Nearly a third of them reported using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, and prescription drugs at parties where host parents were present, Newsday reported.

Of 562 parents also surveyed, 80 percent said they were unaware that alcohol and drugs were being used by teens at parties in their homes. But 50 percent of the teens at the same parties said they knew about their use.

"That shows just how out of touch the parents are," Joseph A. Califano, chairman and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, told Newsday.

The amount of drug and alcohol use apparently was much higher when parents weren't home, the survey found. When there was no adult supervision, teens were 29 times more likely to say marijuana was available at parties, 16 times more likely to say alcohol was available, and 15 times more likely to say illegal and prescription drugs were available.

-----
Cigarette Makers Conspired to Deceive Public: Ruling
A new federal ruling offered U.S. cigarette makers a mix of bad news and good news.
Judge Gladys Kessler found that the companies had conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking, which resulted in "an immeasurable amount of human suffering," The New York Times reported.

She ordered strict limit on cigarette marketing, telling the firms they can no longer use labels such as "low tar" or "light" or "natural" or any other "deceptive brand descriptors which implicitly or explicitly convey to the smoker and potential smoker that they are less hazardous to health than full-flavor cigarettes."

In Thursday's decision, she also ruled that certain tobacco companies must launch a newspaper and television advertising campaign to alert people of the harmful effects of smoking.

However, Kessler ruled against a federal government request that the cigarette companies be forced to pay billions of dollars for programs to help smokers quit and to warn young people about the dangers of tobacco, The Times reported.

Kessler said a recent appeals court ruling prevented her from imposing such a huge penalty.
-----
Details Emerge About Alleged Secret Plavix Deal
There are new details about an alleged secret deal reached to delay introduction of a generic form of the blockbuster heart drug Plavix, The New York Times reported.

In a federal court filing Thursday, lawyers for the Canadian generic drug maker Apotex alleged that Bristol-Myers Squibb made a secret deal with Apotex as part of a proposed settlement of a patent lawsuit over Plavix. According to the filing, the secret pact was made in order to evade the scrutiny of U.S. regulators reviewing the settlement, the Times reported.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Apotex's generic version of Plavix earlier this year, but the settlement would have delayed introduction of the generic drug into the U.S. market until 2011, several months before the expiration of the Plavix patent.

Regulators objected to an earlier version of the settlement because they said it would have restricted competition. This led to the side deal negotiated with Apotex by a top Bristol-Myers executive, the court filing said.

Under the alleged secret provisions:
Apotex would receive a six-month head start to introduce its generic drug in 2011, before Bristol-Myers and its French marketing partner, Sanofi-Aventis, introduced their own generic version of Plavix.

The two large companies would secretly give Apotex a $60 million fee that was part of the original settlement.

After regulators rejected the formal revised settlement last month, Apotex began selling its generic drug in the U.S. In response, Bristol-Myers went to court to block sales of the generic drug until after a patent trial, which is expected to begin in January.

Magic Mushrooms Gave People Full Mystical Experience

Over 60% of volunteers in a rigorous trial funded by the American government said that one magic mushroom session gave them a full mystical experience and several months of happiness. Magic mushrooms are also known as psychedelic mushrooms.

The researchers, from John Hopkins University, Baltimore, wanted to find out what the neurological mechanisms and effects of psilocybin were. They were exploring psilocybin as a possible therapeutic compound. Psilocybin is the hallucinogenic agent found in magic mushrooms. The research was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Council on Spiritual Practices.

Trials have rarely been carried out on psilocybin. Mainly because magic mushrooms have been viewed as products used by people who take illegal narcotics for recreational use. Lead researcher, Prof. Roland Griffiths, said "More than 60 percent of the volunteers reported effects of their psilocybin session that met the criteria for a full mystical experience as measured by well-established psychological scales.”Most of the volunteers described their experience of taking the mushrooms as one of the most meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives. There were 36 volunteers, all of them college educated, averaging 46 years of age.

The trial was randomized and double-blinded. None of them had a history of drug abuse or mental illness.Most of them claim they became better people after the experience. Relatives and friends said they noticed that many of the participants were happier and kinder for several weeks. No brain damage or negative long-term side effects were detected among any of the volunteers. You can read about this study in the journal Psychopharmacology, 11 July issue.

On being asked whether these mushrooms may get us any nearer to God, Griffiths said "We know that there were brain changes that corresponded to a primary mystical experience. But that finding, as precise as it may get, will in no way inform us about the metaphysical question of the existence of a higher power."

It is important to bear in mind that the volunteers were supervised at all times, they were in a controlled environment and had people at hand to help them in case they experienced a ‘bad trip'. “Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance”R. R. Griffiths,
Contact Information, W. A. Richards, U. McCann and R. Jesse
Psychopharmacology
Publisher: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
ISSN: 0033-3158 (Paper) 1432-2072 (Online) DOI: 10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5
Link to Abstract
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today

Leica Microscope & Equipment

FRANK SHALLENBERGER, M.D.

You don’t normally think of oxygen as a treatment for diabetes, but
according to Frank Shallenberger, M.D., H.M.D., director of the Nevada
Center of Alternative and Anti-Aging Medicine in Carson City, Nevada, ozone
(a less stable, more reactive form of oxygen) can produce remarkable
improvements in both the major and secondary symptoms of adult-onset
diabetes. The connection between the ozone and diabetes is the blood
circulation, Dr. Shallenberger says, as demonstrated in the following cases.

Virginia, 51, had been diabetic for five years and was taking Glucotrol, an
oral medication for controlling blood sugar levels. However, Virginia came
to Dr. Shallenberger seeking treatment for recurrent breast cancer, a tumor
that periodically grew then diminished.

Dr. Shallenberger decided to ozonate her blood as ozone is often used as a
healing substance in alternative cancer treatments. He drew 150 cc of
Virginia’s blood then injected it with ozone gas. Ozonating the sample of
Virginia’s blood took about 40 minutes, after which it was reinfused into
her body. He did this daily to address the cancer.

What surprised Dr. Shallenberger in this case was that not only the breast
cancer responded to ozonation (it started to dissolve) but so did Virginia’s
diabetes. Her blood sugar levels began dropping too low (a condition called
hypoglycemia) indicating that the ozone and Glucotrol were controlling her
blood sugar too well. Dr. Shallenberger reduced her Glucotrol dosage to once
daily, then soon after, as the low blood sugar trend continued, eliminated
the drug altogether. “Practically speaking, Virginia didn’t have diabetes
any longer,” notes Dr. Shallenberger.

How did ozone bring her diabetes under control? Diabetics always run the
risk of complications, such as loss of vision, heart disease, nerve
dysfunction, and gangrenous limbs. Diabetics usually have considerable
circulation problems such that the actual blood flow to their tissues is
diminished, explains Dr. Shallenberger. Patients often have difficulty
digesting fats (such as cholesterol and triglycerides) and their arteries
tend to thicken and harden.

“This is compounded by the fact that what little blood reaches their tissues
is less effective than it should be and is unable to deliver oxygen to those
tissues,” says Dr. Shallenberger. “The tissues become oxygen depleted, which
explains why diabetics have problems with gangrene and why they’re unable to
resist infections.”

A prime reason the red blood cells in the diabetic’s blood are unable to
release their oxygen is that a key molecule called 2,3-diphosphoglycerate,
or 2,3-dpg for short, is in reduced supply. Under normal conditions, 2,3-dpg
stimulates red blood cells which carry oxygen to deliver it to the tissues;
but if there isn’t enough of this molecule in the system, the red blood
cells can’t deliver the oxygen.

When you introduce ozone—that is, more oxygen—into the blood, more 2,3-dpg
is produced and the oxygen-delivery system and the efficiency of blood
circulation start to improve. The ozone also appears to enhance the activity
of cellular metabolism, the continual conversion of food into energy. Dr.
Shallenberger likens the metabolism-heightening effect of ozone to a similar
benefit to diabetics obtained through vigorous exercise. It oxygenates the
tissues and gets all the body processes running better, he says.

Levels of ATP, an important molecule which stores energy in the cells, are
also enhanced through ozonation. Among other functions, ATP helps each cell
maintain the integrity of its membrane, thereby enabling it to regulate the
passage of materials into and out of the cell, says Dr. Shallenberger. If
the cell membrane collapses, the cell dies; if a lot of cells die, you start
getting tissue death, and gangrene becomes a possibility.

Gangrene in a toe was a serious diabetic complication besetting Quentin, 50.
His diabetes was poorly controlled, mainly because he was reluctant to
comply with dietary restrictions, says Dr. Shallenberger.

Specifically, he didn’t want to give up drinking beer. Even with a daily
dosage of four Micronase pills (another blood sugar–controlling drug),
Quentin’s blood sugar level was around 230; a safe, normal level ranges
between 70 and 120.

Dr. Shallenberger already had worked with Quentin for two years, prescribing
dietary changes, herbs, and supplements, but when Quentin developed gangrene
on the third toe of his right foot and conventional doctors were scheduling
him for amputation at the ankle, Dr. Shallenberger decided to try ozonation.
“Quentin’s toe was completely black and they were going to amputate his
entire foot because the rest of the tissue was on the borderline of becoming
gangrenous, too,” he notes.

For Quentin’s treatment, Dr. Shallenberger added another element to the
ozonation procedure: chelation. The chelation would help improve Quentin’s
blood circulation by removing heavy metals and arterial plaque. Dr.
Shallenberger calls his combined treatment “chezone.”

Chelation improves blood circulation to the tissues, he explains, which
means they get more oxygen. This in turn improves their metabolic rate
(energy processing efficiency) and enables them to make better use of
glucose (blood sugar). When you have higher efficiency in using glucose, you
are much closer to controlling the diabetes naturally, says Dr.
Shallenberger. Using ozone, as stated above, helps the patient utilize the
available oxygen better, due to improved circulation. Combining chelation
with ozone in effect doubles the circulation benefits.

In addition to chezone, Dr. Shallenberger put an ozone extremity bag around
Quentin’s right foot, filled it with ozone gas, and left it in place for 20
minutes. In this way, the ozone was absorbed through the skin, an approach
that has proven successful in treating chronic sores and skin ulcers, says
Dr. Shallenberger.

Each time he gave Quentin a chezone treatment (ten in all, one per day), he
also ozonated his foot. After about two weeks, the foot was much improved;
the area between the ankle and gangrenous toe had healed which meant only
the toe would have to be amputated.

After the surgery, Quentin hurt his foot in such a way that the stitches
broke open and a large ulcerating sore formed. His doctors talked about
amputation again, but after another six weeks of chezone and foot ozonation
treatments, Quentin’s foot healed again. Following the first two weeks of
intensive treatments, Dr. Shallenberger gave him a chezone once weekly and
foot ozonation three times weekly. In ensuing months, Quentin received
maintenance treatments.

About ten weeks after the first chezone treatment, “the lesion in Quentin’s
foot was entirely healed and he was down to only two Micronase pills a day,”
says Dr. Shallenberger. “If I had been able to treat his toe before it went
black, I probably could have saved it.” As it turned out, Dr. Shallenberger
did save Quentin’s right foot twice. “I’m not convinced you can get all
diabetics off their medication. To me the point is how well you can control
the blood sugar.”

In the case of Leonard, 64, controlling his sugar intake was central to
being able to get his diabetes and gangrene complications under control.
Leonard, who developed diabetes six years earlier, was on insulin and
Glucophage (another diabetes drug) to control his blood sugar levels.

However, Leonard developed a blister on the sole of his foot; when this
became infected, his doctor cleaned out all the infected tissue, leaving a
hole in his foot. Over a three-month period, this wound failed to heal even
with antibiotics and Leonard’s doctors were talking about amputating his
foot.

Dr. Shallenberger started Leonard on the same combination chezone and foot
ozonation program that had worked so well for Quentin. Then he added a piece
of advice. “You must cut down on your sugar intake.” Leonard ate a lot of
white sugar in his diet and none of his conventional doctors apparently made
the link between high dietary sugar intake and the inability of his
infection to heal. “White blood cells, the immune cells that fight
infection, cease to function in the presence of elevated glucose levels,”
says Dr. Shallenberger.

After two treatments, Leonard’s foot was noticeably improved and his energy
levels were heightened. The initial progress motivated Leonard to comply
fully with the program. Dr. Shallenberger started Leonard on a series of
nutrients and remedies including chromium and vanadium, to help his body
utilize its natural pancreatic insulin.

People with adult-onset diabetes produce insulin but their system becomes
unable to use it, a condition called insulin resistance. In fact, the
pancreas of such a patient generally produces too much insulin; as the body
fails to act on this insulin, the pancreas produces yet more. The minerals
chromium and vanadium break this cycle and support the body in making use
again of pancreatic insulin, says Dr. Shallenberger.

Among the other elements of Leonard’s program were pancreatic enzymes (to
support pancreas function and to improve digestion; 400-800 mg three times
daily), the hormone melatonin (to bolster the immune system; 3 mg once
daily), and the hormone DHEA, levels of which tend to be about 50% below
normal in diabetics.

Low DHEA levels may help explain the characteristic weight gain in people
with adult-onset diabetes, says Dr. Shallenberger. He notes that DHEA doses
will vary with each patient. “Women should take enough (usually 10-25 mg
daily) to raise the serum DHEA-sulfate to between 2,000 and 3,000 mg/ml,
while men should take enough (usually 50-100 mg daily) to raise it to
between 3,000 and 4,000 mg/ml.”

He also gave Leonard a specialized product (made from the fungus Mucor
racemosus) called Mucokehl, developed in Germany by the Sanum company, and
now used selectively (as part of a line of several dozen similar substances)
by North American physicians. The Mucokehl would help regulate
microorganisms which affect the thickness and texture of the blood.

After a month of treatments, Leonard’s foot was completely healed, says Dr.
Shallenberger. As his blood sugar came under better control, Leonard was
able to lower his daily insulin intake and resume his busy life.

More information at:

• breast cancer
• cancer
• Chelation
• Live Blood Cell Analysis
• Leica Microscope & Equipment

more discussion: Forum
· Addiction Forum · Ask the Doctors Forum · Ayurveda Forum · Ayurvedic & Thai Herbs Forum · Colon Cleansing Forum · Dental Forum · Diabetes Forum · Diet Forum · General Cleansing Forum · Hepatitis A, B. C Forum · Integrated Medicine Forum · Live Blood Analysis Forum · Ozone-Oxygen-Forum · pH - Alkaline - Acidity Forum · Weight Loss Forum

Anxiety

Anxiety: "Anxiety
This condition has been called the 20th-century disease, and indeed anti-anxiety medications have been some of the biggest moneymakers for pharmaceutical companies in recent years. These drugs are dangerous and should be avoided, as they interfere with mental function, contribute to depression, and cause an especially nasty kind of addiction. There are many alternative and lifestyle strategies for dealing with anxiety. Breathing exercises are one of the best single anti-anxiety measures. B vitamins and magnesium are also helpful in dealing with the symptoms of anxiety. "

more info at: http://www.dreddyclinic.com/findinformation/conditionanddisease.htm

Sickness aids the cure for addicts at Thai temple

By Manager Online31 January 2006 16:53
SARABURI, THAILAND (AFP) - Undate photo (here not showing) shows drug patients lying on the floor recieving herbal treament during an anti-drug program at Tham Krabok temple in Saraburi province. Sitting side by side in a straight line, men and women fighting addiction solemnly wait for a Thai monk to give them a glass of brown medicine.

Sitting side by side in a straight line, two men and four women fighting addiction solemnly wait for a Thai monk to give them a glass of brown medicine. Across from them, a dozen fellow addicts watch and start chanting an anti-drug song as the men and women swallow the vile herbal liquid and again and again drink a bowl of water filled from buckets. Then the six all start vomiting a gush of brown water into a sewer beneath them. Coughing, panting and faces visibly reddening, they keep drinking and puking until their vomit runs clear.

Welcome to Tham Krabok, a Buddhist monastery, where a half of its 100 monks are former alcohol or drug addicts. Located 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Bangkok, the temple is a majestic sight with golden pagodas and gigantic Buddhas against a backdrop of deep green mountains. Since the temple began its rehab program in 1959, more than 100,000 Thais and people from Australia, Britain, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Russia and the United States have come here for detoxification.

Foreign patients have included celebrities like Pete Doherty, the 26-year-old British rocker and the former boyfriend of supermodel Kate Moss, who checked into the monastery in 2004 but fled just after three days. "Drugs are substitutes of something that is missing in life. Sometimes the whole soul is missing. Very often self-love is missing," says Phra Hans, a 58-year-old Swiss monk who counsels foreign addicts at Tham Krabok. "To come here, one has to be ready for a battle.

The war is not against drugs. It's the war about your self-growth and self-love," says the Swiss, one of four foreign monks, including an American veteran of the Vietnam War. Run solely by donations, the temple charges no fees to patients for their treatment and accommodation. Before starting the detoxification, they must take "Satja", a life-long vow never to touch alcohol or drugs. All addicts also must go through the vomiting session for at least their first five days. Phra Hans, never an addict himself, said the medicine is made with a top-secret recipe of 108 herbs, all grown in the temple gardens. "The drug problem is a global problem. Everybody in the world should join hands to solve the problem.

Some people come here without any money, but we help them," says Ajhan Vichien, a 52-year-old Thai monk. People stay for a minimum 10 days, which can be extended up to one month, Ajhan said. Some patients stay here for months because they don't feel ready to leave the compound. --- One month of sweeping, meditating --- Their day begins at 5:00 am, when they sweep the temple grounds for an hour and spend the morning reading, listening to music and meditating. At 2:00 pm, they take relaxing herbal steam baths.

At five comes the vomiting session, which lasts about 10 minutes. An hour later, they gather in front of a golden Buddha and sing the Thai national anthem and spend the night with books, meditation and music. Of 40 patients currently at the temple, 80 percent are Thais with foreigners making up the rest. Only four are women.

Tracy, an affable and petit 29-year-old Scot, says she has battled heroin addiction for five years and has been clean for four months. She found the temple on the Internet and checked herself in five days ago due to alcoholism. "It's kinda something that just happens and then you lose all control. Before, I was in a blackout.

I just did not want to think about anything and that's when drinks came in handy," says Tracy, who declines to give her last name. "I don't know where I'm going in my life but here you get time to think," adds Tracy, who plans to stay here for 28 days. Mujalin Wattanatirasade, a 29-year-old Thai mother, says she came to Tham Krabok seven months ago for help fighting alcoholism. "I used to drink only for festive occasions but started drinking heavily from morning to night.

Sometimes I was bored with my baby and then I took alcohol," Mujalin said. She has joined the vomiting session for weeks, saying: "When I vomit, I feel like being tortured. It is painful and I get a stomachache." Briton Nick Pengelly, who suffered both alcoholism and Drug addiction in the last 15 years, says the temple has given him a last chance to be himself again. "I was living in a fantasy world.

To me, every night was a Saturday night. But you can't live like that. It's not responsible and it's not normal," Pengelly, 30, said. "You lost yourself. You lost your own personality. You lost the joy you used to bring to other people.

I was a broken man," says the tall and handsome blond who used to be a professional golfer. Pengelly has been here for seven weeks and said he's left the monks to decide when he can leave. He took the life-long vow against alcohol and drugs and says he cannot wait to get back to his life and see his supportive family. "I'm really happy of the thought of never having to pick up a drink again because I know where that takes me. It takes me to hell. Absolute misery and I don't want misery. I want to be happy," he said.

The Swiss monk, Phra Hans, says more than 90 percent of Tham Krabok's rehabilitation is about helping addicts realize their potential in life. "Basically, we do nothing more than confirm what they feel about themselves. We tell them 'Get a real thing in life, which is to realize your potential and find self-love. Nobody says life is easy. It is very tough," Phra Hans says. "All we can do is give them a little kick in the ass and say 'Come on, it's time to wake up,'" the monk said.

• detoxification
• Drug addiction

ACID REFLUX, HEARTBURN, HIATAL HERNIA ...

GERD, ACID REFLUX, HEARTBURN, HIATAL HERNIA

... of hiatal hernia, heartburn, acid reflux, reflux esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus or esophageal ... NISSEN FUNDOPLICATION - Surgical repair of a hiatal hernia, acid reflux or heartburn ...Source: http://www.lapsurgery.com/

Acid Reflux, Heartburn Treatments Dr. Anthony Starpoli specializes in the treatment of chronic acid reflux and heartburn. ... to find the best treatment for your Acid Reflux, Heartburn, and Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Dr ... out more about solving your reflux and heartburn problems using the non ...Source: http://www.refluxrepair.com/

Acid Reflux. The Natural Remedy. Acid Reflux, gerd, heartburn. A natural remedy ... What does it have to do with acid reflux? One Day Fix ... First of all, acid reflux is not a true disease in the way we understand the word ...Source: http://www.oldeyes.com/

Herbal Therapy Works On Acid Reflux It has been proven that antioxidants are far more effective in treating acid reflux in rats than traditional drugs are. ... Herbal Therapy Works On Acid Reflux. Treating or preventing reflux esophagitis may be as simple as ... regurgitation of the stomach contents, or acid reflux. The condition is more ...Source: http://www.mercola.com/

Acid Reflux and Cough in Patients with Asthma - January 15, 2003 - American Family Physician Acid Reflux and Cough in Patients with Asthma. There is currently interest in the association between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and asthma. ... In one study, acid reflux on the distal but not the proximal esophagus correlated with chronic persistent cough ...Source: http://www.aafp.org/

Acid Reflux 2001-10-23. 11:56 p.m. You know, people often ask me "Acid, what is it that angers you the most obout people?" Usually I laugh, take a deep breath and respond with "hipocrites". I hate people for a multitude of reasons. ... Acid-Reflux. Acid Reflux. How to join my Shit-List in 1 easy ...Source: http://www.acid-reflux.diaryland.com/

Ashlee Simpson's dad blames acid reflux disease for `Saturday Night Live' gaffe ... Ashlee Simpson's dad blames acid reflux disease for `Saturday Night Live' gaffe ... Monday that his daughter used the extra help because acid reflux disease had made her voice hoarse ...Source: http://www.sfgate.com/

Gastroesophageal Reflux (GERD)/Acid reflux in Infants and Children Gastroesophageal Reflux (GERD)/Acid Reflux in Infants and Children. Gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) is the upward movement of stomach's contents, including acid, into the esophagus and sometimes into or out of the mouth. ... GERD is also referred to as acid reflux. Most infants occasionally spit up after a meal, but frequent vomiting ...Source: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/

PurplePill.com ... common symptom of acid reflux disease (also known as gastroespohageal reflux disease ... acid refluxBackflow of stomach acid into the esophagus. Acid reflux frequently happens when the ...Source: http://www.purplepill.com/

Acid reflux (PDF) ... Acid reflux. WHAT IS IT? Acid reflux is sometimes known as gastro ...Source: http://www.doctorupdate.net/
From Acid Reflux (feed)

See also links to this feed and more from this feed

More info for GERD

more discussion: Forum
· Addiction Forum · Ask the Doctors Forum · Ayurveda Forum · Ayurvedic & Thai Herbs Forum · Colon Cleansing Forum · Dental Forum · Diabetes Forum · Diet Forum · General Cleansing Forum · Hepatitis A, B. C Forum · Integrated Medicine Forum · Live Blood Analysis Forum · Ozone-Oxygen-Forum · pH - Alkaline - Acidity Forum · Weight Loss Forum

Integrated Medicine Forum

Back in the game

San Diego Union Tribune - United States... He studied Hinduism, became a certified yoga instructor and learned about holistic medicine, which he claims helped him overcome his dependence on marijuana. ...

After a year off, Ricky Williams stopped running away and is ...
By Jim Trotter
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

DAVIE, Fla. – While Ricky Williams was hopscotching the globe last year, telling anyone who asked that he was done with professional football, Michelle Sanfilippo refused to accept it.

She and Williams have been friends since attending the same middle school and high school in San Carlos, and her initial reaction to his sudden retirement a week before training camp was that something didn't add up. Even when Williams called and said his heart wasn't in the game, she had doubts.

Several months later, a phone rang in her house.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Williams asked.

"Nothing," she answered.

"Good, we're going to go to a Charger game."

"Ah, well, OK."

As the two watched the Chargers rout the Tennessee Titans that sunny Oct. 3 afternoon at Qualcomm Stadium, with LaDainian Tomlinson running for 147 yards, Sanfilippo smiled to herself. Her suspicions had been confirmed.

"We're sitting there and I'm like, 'Look at you. You're watching LaDainian run and cut, the way he's holding the ball, and you're on the edge of your seat,' " she said. "I was like, 'You want to be out there. I know you miss it.'

"Ricky clenches his fists when he gets excited; he clenches his fists and flexes his arm a little bit. You could tell he was excited because he'd do his little flex thing when LT did something. I was like, 'Yeah, you miss it.' "

On Sunday, Williams and Sanfilippo will return to Qualcomm Stadium for the second time in 14 months. The difference, however, is that she'll be in the stands while he'll be in the backfield for the Miami Dolphins, the team he left so suddenly in July 2004.

It would make a warm and fuzzy story to say Williams, 28, returned because of his love for the game. The truth, however, is colder and harder. He came back largely because he has a judgment against him for $8.6 million for breach of contract, and because, he said, he has financial responsibilities to his three young children, each of whom has a different mother with a vested interest in his financial situation.

"It's never that I really wanted to come back; it's just that it got to the point where it was the only thing to do," Williams said from a seat in front of his dressing stall in the Dolphins locker room. "I had traveled the world and I was looking for something. What I found is, one thing that I've been lacking my whole life is purpose."

He went in search of it during his year away from football, stopping in Australia, Japan, Fiji, India, Thailand and the Sierra foothills. He studied Hinduism, became a certified yoga instructor and learned about holistic medicine, which he claims helped him overcome his dependence on marijuana.

He increased his awareness and decreased his body weight, dropping 40 pounds after becoming a vegetarian. At different points, his travels were about education, enlightenment and entertainment, which sometimes meant hitting the road with rocker Lenny Kravitz or hitting a joint with friends in Australia, where he spent several weeks living in a tent with a guy called Mystic Steve.

Sharing time at running back, Williams has yet to gain 100 yards or carry more than 17 times in a game for the Dolphins this year.
If his time away taught him anything, he said, it was that he has the speed to run from defenders, but not from his problems. That includes his past use of marijuana, which resulted in three failed drug tests before his retirement. He now is subject to 10 drug tests a month and faces a yearlong suspension if he has another positive result.

"I was talking to my (yoga/philosophy/religion) teacher back in California, and she was explaining karma to me," Williams said. "She was saying that in life you create the situations that you're in. Everything in life that you deal with is something that you created. If you want to run away from what you've created, it's always going to follow you. The second you start to turn to face it, you can start to dissolve it and get rid of it.

"When she said that, it just resonated with me, thinking about everything that I had done in my life, all the trouble that I had caused, all the mischief that I had gotten myself into. I saw a way to face it and get through it so it was all gone."

He wasn't just talking about football.

"At the depth I'm talking about, it goes back to the time when I was in sixth grade and thought to be somebody you had to be famous and you had to have money," Williams said. "Me putting my energy into that is what got me to where I am, and the fact that I wasn't happy with all that stuff proved to me that that's not true. Any person, just because they're alive and have breath, is a special person.

"I realized that if you're not happy without money, you're not going to be happy with money. If you're happy without money, you'll be happy with money in the same way. Happiness is something that's on the inside; it's not on the outside. That's one lesson that, with everything I've been through, is worth knowing and having in my heart. It's something I really wish I could share with other people. The best way I can show it is: My situation isn't ideal at all; a lot of people would say that with everything I've been through (losing out on at least $7 million in salary the last two years), I should be the unhappiest guy in the locker room. But that's not the case."

In fact, teammates marvel at Williams' positive attitude. His smile is as common as his shaggy beard and dreadlocks. And his work ethic remains among the strongest on the team.

"His whole attitude and his outlook, the way he kind of looks at things in a positive way, that's something that's good, and I try to take from that," said rookie running back Ronnie Brown, the second pick in the draft, who rotates with Williams. "He tries to look at the positive side of everything."

He has the look of a man who has found inner peace in a violent profession.

"The Ricky of today is so different from the Ricky of a year ago," Sanfilippo said. "He's grown up so much. He's more responsive as a friend. Before, he'd call you and he'd be into half the conversation while he's playing video games or text messaging somebody else. He'd always be on the phone like it was his security blanket. Now, you can sit there and actually have a conversation with him and talk to him about other things, whether it's the new things that he likes. He likes psychology now and he's into yoga, just different areas that I don't think he would have ever been interested in before. He's not afraid to go out in public anymore. He's just grown up a lot. He's more oriented with his family. It's nice."

Williams' journey for enlightenment and self-improvement is ongoing. He doesn't try to push his beliefs or interests on others, choosing instead to make statements with his actions, such as how he dresses or in refusing to shave.

He claims the majority of his wardrobe is white because that represents "a blank sheet of paper – you want to stay open and receptive to everything that comes your way." And he says he hasn't trimmed or shaved his beard since September because it represents his fight against vanity.

He is always on the lookout for the next lesson, for some higher meaning (no pun intended). He goes through books the way he used to go through defenses as the league's leading rusher. He loves classic movies because they often get him to expand his mental boundaries.

Limited duty
In his first year back from a one-season hiatus, Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams has not matched his previous numbers at least in part because he shares duties with Ronnie Brown. Williams' per-game rushing averages before and after his year off:

Before announcing his retirement, he told friends he planned to leave the game for good after the 2004 season. With a four-game suspension likely facing him for a failed drug test, however, he thought back to some of the questions raised in the 1964 James Garner/Julie Andrews movie "The Americanization of Emily" and decided to leave football earlier.

"The movie was about war, and the main thing people were talking about was, 'Why do you go to war?' " Williams said. "It focused on the soldiers, and the honor of soldiers. Maybe they're there because they've messed up to this point in their lives, and they want to go prove that they're worthy or that they're proud or they're valuable. Or some people just have a big ego and they just want to be the hero. And some people, they don't really have any motivation. They're the ones that are like, 'I'm out here risking my life, but for what?'

"I got to the point where I was putting all this work in and all this time and this effort, and I was really asking myself what was I doing it for? I wasn't doing it for the money. I wasn't doing it for the attention. I was asking what am I doing this for, and I couldn't come up with a good answer. . . . I've always had interests – I don't want to say outside of football – but bigger than football. You know, life. I think when you're a football player, you're really kept in a box. For me, stepping away was a chance to step outside the box and understand that there was more to life, more to myself, than football. I realized I have so much more that I'd like to do and learn."

To some degree, those lessons will have to wait until he is done playing. Like his new coach, Nick Saban, Williams says he has given no thought to anything but the current week, the current day. Others have speculated that he will be traded in the offseason to make room for Brown, but the organization has given no such indication.

"None of those decisions has been made," Saban said. "He's a good player, and we want him on our football team. He has value to our team, and I think that's important. It was never part of our intention to have any preconceived notion of what we would do in the future with him, other than evaluate every circumstance that comes up in terms of being helpful to him being a good player and making good choices and decisions and to obviously move forward as an organization in the future."

Williams has led the team in rushing in three of its past five games. He has yet to run for 100 yards, but he also hasn't had more than 17 carries in a game. Not that any of it matters to him. Sounding a lot like his coach, Williams talks about focusing on the journey and the process instead of the result.

"I definitely think that I'm happier now," he said. "The biggest thing is my personal life; I've always had something going on that I had to deal with. Having a year to really get away from everything – I got away from my family, my friends, from everything – I really had a chance to clear a lot of the junk out of the closet. My life is very simple now, very plain, nothing outside of football that I have to worry about.

"Really, I found that if you're gone long enough – and the way I left, it wasn't like people were trying to grab ahold of me – but being that I was gone that long, there was no way for people to really get in touch with me. It's like everything kind of ran its course and died on its own. And as I came back into the world, the things that were genuine and the things that were real were the things that survived. Those are things that I can live by and deal with."

Forum:
Integrated Medicine - Addiction Forum http://www.DrEddyClinic.com/
Provides information about alcohol and other drug addictions. Includes facts, links, meetings, special topics and contact details for specific groups.

From King Khan to Spice Girl

VRINDA GOPINATH
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 7:

A decade ago, they were laughed off as New Age psycho babblers. But the collaboration between Dr Mossaraf Ali and the Prince of Wales has stood them in good stead.
Today, the idea of integrated medicine, where conventional and alternative medicinal therapies are applied together, is de rigueur in the West and is fast gaining acceptance here too.

Speaking from Taragarh, a summer palace resort of the Kashmir royals in the Kangra Valley, Dr Ali, a former medical student of Delhi and Moscow, is wistful. ‘‘Today, everyone in India talks of reiki, ayurveda massages, pranic healing, but when I was practising integrated medicine in the ’80s in Delhi, no one quite understood it.’’

Hailed and derided in the same breath—skeptics question his unconventional approach—Dr Ali remains a pioneer in medical tourism in India. His A-list patients from his clinic in London, near Harley Street,to the magical, restorative Himalayan foothills in the last one decade, has had people pleading for more.
Dr Ali’s Himalayan retreat sees small groups of 16-20 people twice a year for a week’s camp, to treat ailments from chronic fatigue and stress to bereavement to alcoholism/drug addiction.
His A-listers, however, get a more personal trip with just the doctor.
Charles’ wife, Camilla, a convert for years, has been to Taragarh twice, and has given up yeast, white wine and coffee to ease her chest and sinus problems. Supermodel Kate Moss checked into Dr Ali’s Himalayan retreat six years ago allegedly to kick her cocaine habit long before she went to Arizona rehab centre last month. He has cured former Spice Girl Geri Halliwel of bulimia; helped Bollywood’s Shahrukh Khan recuperate after his back surgery; gave consultations to Karan Johar, Ramola Bachchan; flown to meet Presidents K R Narayanan and Venkataraman, former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, minister Arjun Singh, Virgin’s Richard Branson, playwright Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, actor Micheal Caine, Arab princes and kings, Euro aristos and the simply rich.
It is not celebrityhood but philanthropy that drives him, says Dr Ali.
His fees are modest—60 pounds for a visit to the London clinic, and 1,200 pounds for the Indian trip.
‘‘I can charge what I want, but I am a healer and my dream is to spread the message and see the medical world embrace the best of conventional and alternative medicines. Otherwise I’d probably end up looking at 200 people a day,’’ he says.

Dr Ali’s clinic sees 600 people a week and has a two-month-long waiting list.
So, what is Dr Ali’s therapy? The guiding principle is—if you correct the imbalances in the body, it will do the job of healing itself. He has incorporated all the goodness of yoga, ayurveda, dietary advice, meditation, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, all rolled into one to offer personal, tailor-made packages for each patient. ‘‘It is a four-step way to wellness—a corrective digestive system, massage therapy, exercise plan and relaxation techniques,’’ he explains. ‘‘My clinic in London is two-tiered—the gatekeeper (therapists who check pulse, breath, tongue etc for diagnosis) and treatment planners who write out the remedy.’’

In Taragarh, the day begins with two-hour yoga, three to four hour walks in the foothills visiting monasteries and temples, villages and caves waterfalls and hot springs.

‘‘It is nature’s spa,’’ he says, ‘‘and exercising at 4000-5000 feet altitude is ideal for body boosting in the oxygen rich atmosphere.’’

Would he open a clinic in Delhi now? ‘‘Indians do not have the discipline to follow this tough diet regimen, they cannot live without their pickles and spices. But I want to instill in doctors here the advantage we have: the knowledge of both East and West. However, I want to pass on my knowledge to only those who are linked to government hospitals,’’ he quickly adds.

Dr Ali will be giving a lecture at FICCI on Monday, in the Capital, and signing his books later.

More informations here:
Integrated Medicine
Educational Programs

more discussion: Forum· Addiction Forum · Ask the Doctors Forum · Ayurveda Forum · Ayurvedic & Thai Herbs Forum · Colon Cleansing Forum · Dental Forum · Diabetes Forum · Diet Forum · General Cleansing Forum · Hepatitis A, B. C Forum · Integrated Medicine Forum · Live Blood Analysis Forum · Ozone-Oxygen-Forum · pH - Alkaline - Acidity Forum · Weight Loss Forum