RATIONAL APPROACHES to ILLNESS

In dealing with any disease, the first step toward diagnosis is found in the health history and its interpretation. All facts of significance in the lifestyle of the individual up to the time of illness should be evaluated as possible contributors to the present problem. Allergies to drugs, foods, or
environmental factors should also be evaluated in the face of present illness. Second, the careful analysis of the illness under question with all of its various symptoms, including other factors that have ensued from the first onset to the present need to be considered. Most diseases fit certain patterns. As organ systems and their disorders are discussed, these patterns will become obvious. Thus, the intelligent interpretation of a medical history provides one of the most valuable clues to understand illness and its proper diagnosis.
Remember this one caution in the proper interpretation of health history. Accurate recall for the patient is very important. However, most sick individuals color their subjective awareness of symptoms with substantial concern over the consequences of illness to their families. Fear of disease, disability, and even death may affect the person’s response to the otherwise clear question or stimulus. Although the story of every illness is extremely important, in most cases, it is not definitive, but rather narrows the number of diagnostic possibilities, and thus guides any subsequent investigation. A physician’s skill, knowledge, wisdom, and experience are most clearly evidenced in his history taking. Likewise, the thorough analysis of symptoms in home health care will provide your best clues toward understanding disease.

Alcohol is a Depressant and Killer!

Alcohol, generally considered a stimulant, is actually a depressant. It dilates the blood vessels, in time breaking the tiny capillaries, especially of the nose, cheeks, neck and ankles (example: red, swollen nose of hard drinkers). Alcohol is also a relaxant and dulls and paralyses the brain. The drinker loses good judgement and control of the body, and is therefore the cause of thousands of car accidents, crimes, killings, rapes and unnecessary deaths. Drinking alcohol is dangerous and an unhealthy way to relax!

The chief toxic effect of alcohol is on the brain and nervous system. Alcohol burns up by depleting the body of vitamin C and also B (the essential nerve vitamin). This, in combination with capillary dilation, can lead to brain hemorrhaging – which in turn, can lead to paralysis. Medical research has shown that the boisterous actions, loud speech, joviality, bravado and devil-may-care attitude of the alcoholic are actually the beginning paralysis of certain parts of the brain!

Stay away from alcohol! It is nothing but empty calories. It will burden your body with unhealthy, flabby fat, in addition to its other toxic, poisonous and injurious effects. The numbing effect of alcohol on the pain centers of the brain and nervous system is a special danger to anyone with a heart condition. Without Mother Nature’s warning signal – pain – a heart attack, which might have been averted, may prove fatal.

How Not to Get Sick : Proper Nutrition

The things we eat can have tremendous effects on our health. We can link some foods to causing diseases as well as link foods to helping us fight many diseases. Most people know that too much fat can block arteries, which can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. Most people know that being overweight can lead to diabetes. Most people know that certain processed foods can lead to cancers. Most people know of relatives, friends, or loved ones who developed an illness because of their lifestyle and the foods they eat. You might not have given much thought to proper nutrition. In fact, there are few people who give their bodies the right amount of all the nutrients. We are fortunate that our bodies, a lot of the time, can regulate themselves to get what they need and get rid of the things they do not need. We still, however, have to help our bodies because our bodies can only take this imbalance for so long before we start paying the price of poor nutrition.
To incorporate proper nutrition effectively into our lifestyle, we need to remember why we decided to live a healthy lifestyle and realize that to do that, proper nutrition should be a part of it. At its very core, proper nutrition is giving our bodies the right amounts of the essential ingredients our bodies need to live on. These are:
• Water
• Carbohydrates
• Proteins
• Fats
• Vitamins
• Minerals
How do we get these in the right proportion? The figure below shows the food pyramid developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In using this pyramid, we should eat more of the foods at the bottom of the pyramid and less of the foods at the top. Remember, it does not say “do not eat the foods at the top,” just that we should eat less of them. This is important because our bodies need all the components mentioned above. Fats, for example, are needed by our bodies to maintain our brain function and other vital activities. If we totally eliminated fat in our diet, we would not function as well. Any attempt to deprive your body of any of these essential foods can have serious consequences. Another good example is when you deprive your body of carbohydrates (which is what happens when you go on an all-protein diet). Since carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body, without them your body will start burning fat to release energy. This might sound like an answer to weight loss but, when your body breaks down fats to release energy, it produces substances that, in large enough quantities, can actually lead to comas and even death. So, to attain proper nutrition, resolve to eat more of the foods at the bottom of the food pyramid and less of the foods at the top.

Factors behind health behaviours

Behaviours which are generally assumed to be healthy include physical exercise, a moderate intake of alcohol and fat, and dental hygiene, while unhealthy behaviours are, for example, the use of drugs, sweets, alcohol and tobacco, as well as being under lots of psychological stress. British teenagers considered exercise as the main factor good for their health and dieting the main factor which was bad for their health. By dieting they meant socalled “junk food” and sweets especially; smoking was also considered bad. Healthy eating, exercise, and non-smoking were main factors related to health also in other studies conducted in Britain and Finland. Behaviours including tobacco use, a poor diet, physical inactivity and alcohol abuse are actually the biggest cause of death in the USA.
It has been suggested that people’s health behaviour is influenced by both individual attributes and the conditions they live under. Cohen, Scribner and Farley (2000) identified four categories of factors which are assumed to influence health behaviour:

• Availability of products (protective or harmful), referring to accessibility of products associated with health outcomes, such as tobacco or high-fat foods or fruit and vegetables.
• Physical structures which either increase or reduce opportunities for healthy behaviours, such as consumer products, buildings or neighbourhoods. Well-lit streets, for example, reduce opportunities for assault or injury; childproof medicine containers reduce the risk of poisoning for children.
• Social structures and policies: laws or policies which require or prohibit behaviours, such as laws against selling alcohol to underage people.
• Media and cultural messages. Culture and media messages refer to messages that people see or hear often, and which can either increase or decrease consumption − for example, of tobacco, alcohol or high-fat food.

These factors can all complement each other. The accessibility of harmful products can be reduced through social structures and the media can enhance the other structural factors when messages reinforce behaviours which are promoted by the other structural interventions (Cohen, Scribner & Farley 2000).

How Not to Get Sick : Primary Prevention

Prevention is better than cure—and less expensive than cure. So if we are going to discuss how to save on the cost of healthcare, we might as well start with the least expensive method: how to keep from getting sick in the first place. We can prevent a lot of diseases by living a healthy lifestyle.
The very essence of healthy living is simply to do the things that are good for our bodies and avoid the things that are bad for our bodies; it is that simple. However, since there are many things that are good for our bodies and many things that are not, let’s list the main ones:
Things that are good for our bodies
• Regular exercise
• Proper nutrition
• Routine physical examination
Things that are bad for our bodies
• Smoking
• Excessive alcohol intake
• Illicit drug use
• Unprotected sex with multiple partners
Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons why many do not live healthy lifestyles or can’t seem to do it on a continuous basis. The main excuses are:
1. It is not a priority.
2. They can’t seem to find the time to do it.
3. It can be complicated and they just don’t know what to do.
4. It is expensive.
The biggest stumbling block is that, for most of us, living a healthy lifestyle will cause us to change the way we live right now in some fashion. And change is hard. The good news is that we can change, and we do it all the time. If we understand how change happens, and then apply that to create a healthy lifestyle, we will achieve our goal.
Change begins as a result of a different mindset. Here are some of the reasons that people who successfully live healthy lifestyles use to keep themselves on the right track:
• I want to look good.
• I need to feel energized.
• I want to stay alive long enough to see my grandchildren.
• I hate going to the doctor or hospital.
• I don’t like spending money on healthcare.
• My mom or dad or relative died from that disease and I don’t want that to happen to me.
• I need to release stress.
• My doctor told me to.
Unfortunately, sometimes a reason is forced on us because something catastrophic happened. For example, it’s often the case that when somebody has a heart attack, that person suddenly starts an exercise program, or when somebody has diabetes he or she starts thinking about diet and losing weight. Don’t wait. It will cost you a lot, both financially and emotionally.
If you achieve the mindset that convinces you to live a healthy lifestyle, you would have taken care of excuses numbers 1 and 2 (not a priority and can’t find time). You will make your healthy lifestyle a priority. Once you make anything a priority, you suddenly find that you
can make time to do it.