Coughs & Colds

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The common cold while still eluding a complete cure can be made less intense by trying the following:

*Your runny nose and sneezing may be more allergy related than bacterial. Many allergies we acquire along the way, we are not necessarily born with them. Spring and Autumn are peak allergy seasons due to pollinating plants, if your sneezing is ongoing an allergy test might be a good idea. If you are diagnosed with hayfever (allergic rhinitis) there are pharmaceutical, herbal and mineral suppliments and medicines that can control the symptoms. Nasal toiletting with saline water can also flush away the irritants in your sinuses. Vacuuming regularly can reduce household dust which many are allergic to. Dehumidifyers can reduce mould and mildew which are also common hayfever triggers.

*Sometimes irritation to the facial nerves are caused by muscular tension in your upper neck, I have been surprised on several occasions how much an osteopathic adjustment, acupuncture or massage has greatly relieved symptoms that felt very flu -like.

* Raw garlic can noticably relieve cold symptoms too, chop finely and sprinkle on your food. Use at least one clove at a time. Garlic can not only dry your sniffles it can give your physical energy a boost too. If you suffer from stomach ulcers or gastric erosion do not use garlic.

* If your cough has advanced to you waking up expectorating thick mucous in the morning, shower with the plug blocked so warm water accumulates in the shower pan. Then add a few drops of eucalyptus, ti tree or wintergreen oil and use your foot to swish around the water. Doing this will turn your bathroom into a big herbal steam inhalant chamber. This is much safer, convenient and more comfortable than filling a bowl with hot water and leaning over it with a towel over your head.

* One of the easiest ways to avoid catching a cold is to keep your fingers out of your nose. Disposable sanitised hand wipes are a useful thing to keep in your bag or pack to wipe your hands with after pushing a shopping trolley, using someone else’s computer and using public escalators or hand holds on buses and trains.

*It is better to use a mucolytic medicine rather than a cough suppressant when going to bed of a night time. Mucolytics make the thick sputum runnier and easier to cough up of a morning. Cough suppressants (mistakingly known as cough medicine) just allow the sputum to collect in your lungs which will make you  cough even more.

* If you keep contracting colds your immunity may be low which can be caused by a disease, lack of rest, poor nutrition, smoking and stress. Inhaling drugs is not helpful either. Carry a small bottle of ti tree or eucalyptus around with you and regularly take a good sniff up each nostril, it has an anti bacterial effect. Do this immediately after you have walked through someone’s sneeze radius. Be nice to yourself.

* In Chinese medicine ongoing respiratory problems can relate to suppressed grief, I have met a number of people who only became asthmatic immediately after the death of a loved one, divorce or losing a much valued career.

Bells Palsy

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Bell’s Palsy is a spontaneous paralysis of one side of your face with no known cause with viral and autoimmune causes being suspected (see TCM explanation ). The eyebrow, eye and mouth on the affected side droops down and the eyelid wont close properly, sometimes people may dribble from the side of the mouth. Pain or numbness may be present too.

About 90% of sufferers get better within a year with  the remaining 10% being permanently affected. To diagnose Bell’s Palsy other possibilities must be ruled out like stroke (stroke usually affects the arm and leg on affected side too), injury or facial tumour.

The young are more affected than the old with males and females being evenly represented. The facial nerve is thickened where it exits the upper spinal cord and this thickening is suspected to cause the symptoms because the nerve is pinched and not conducting normally.

Corticosteroids are commonly prescribed for Bells Palsy which is claimed to usually work in the majority of cases. For those who the steroids do not work on acupuncture and massage can give relief too.

In Chinese medicine (TCM) Bells Palsy is known as Wind Stroke, as it’s name suggests cold breezes on your neck are seen as a likely cause of Bells Palsy, I have met several sufferers of Bells Palsy who claim that their neck was uncomfortably  exposed to cold breezes immediately before the onset of symptoms. medical doctors do not agree with this as a likely cause.

In TCM it is believed that as we age or we are run down, our Wei Chi, which is the most superficial layer of energy in the body weakens. This makes us more sensitive to wind exposure, in the TCM view covering your neck if you feel even slightly cold can prevent Bells Palsy. In the TCM view covering your neck with a scarf or high collar can not only prevent Bells Palsy but also stop it from worsening. In TCM stress is also suspected of playing a part particularly repressed anger.

If your Bells Palsy persists long term Self Massage of your neck can keep the symptoms under control and keeping wind and breezes off your neck is important too.

Periodic acupuncture can keep the symptoms of Bells Palsy under control and facial muscle exercises can help rehabilitate the affected facial muscles.

The most distressing symptoms of Bells Palsy is how it looks and eye dryness because the eye will not close properly. Many sufferers find taping their eyelid shut while they are asleep helps as does the application when needed of liquid tear eye drops.

Massage Tools

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Hands that are not accustomed to kneading tight muscles can tire long before the muscles they are working on soften, whether they are your own or someone else’s. This is why we use massage tools.

There are plenty of hand held massage tools that are commercially available, from cheap plastic moulded dolphins  to expensive vibrating electrical  massage tables.

Then their are improvised massage tools such as tennis balls that you can roll your body against on the floor or walls.

Massage tools are good way to protect finger and thumb joints from repetitive strain. If you have never received professional massage training it is easy to make the mistake of over using your thumbs in particular.

Thumbsavers are a moulded plastic massage aid that costs less than $20 and are available online. I mainly use my thumbsaver on my own neck but they are useful for Self Massaging your hands and feet too.

If you have some experience and training in therapuetic massage, you will  recognize a hand-held massage tool as an extension of your own body. If you have never learned to massage nor  have ever even received one start out using Self massage gently and as instructed.

Massage over only your muscles never over your windpipe, breast tissue, on top of a bone or firmly over internal organs in your abdomen. The correct pressure to apply has a relaxing effect on the muscle. If you cannot relax into the pressure  you are going too hard.

Nothing beats a pair of skilled strong hands but massaging yourself costs you nothing and is way better than going without. It is good to know how to make yourself feel better in a healthy way, knowledge is power.

Massage tools do not have the be hard objects pressed firmly into tight muscles. A soothing, soft caressing massage can be given and received with a dermal brush or even a fur glove to relax you.

Massage tools are more effective for massaging yourself than massaging others because you cant really be sure how much pressure you are applying when using it on someone else. Using a massage tool on your own body lets you know straight away if you need to go firmer or softer.

If you have any numbness in your body from disease or injury make sure you are not chafing your skin by rubbing too hard or too long.

 

Reiter’s Syndrome/ Reactive arthritis.

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Reiter’s Syndrome and Reactive Arthritis are often considered to be the same disease. Reiter’s 3 classic symptoms are arthritis, urinary tract infection and inflamed eyes although Reactive Arthritis can result from a gastro-intestinal illness or food poisoning too.

RS (Reiter’s Syndrome) or RA (Reactive Arthritis) in either case are auto-immune diseases, an inappropriate response of one’s own immune system to a disease or food poisoning in a completely different part of the body. The symptoms can form quickly or develop over weeks. Usually it is over by 6 months but in a third of cases it can last for years, RS/RA mainly affects men in the 20-50 age group.

The joints of the legs and feet (particularly the achilles tendon) are usually the worst affected but arthritis of the upper body joints can occur too. Skin rashes are common and your joints can get very painful and swollen. Men are thought to be more susceptible to RS/RA because they are more commonly affected by Urinary Tract infections (UTI’s) and sexually transmitted diseases (SDI’s) than women are. Of these UTI’s, chlamydia is thought to be the most common.

In the UK one in 14 people are thought to possess the HLA-B17 gene, with 75% of all RS/RA sufferers in the UK possessing this gene a hereditary link is strongly suspected. Some reference sources claim that RS/RA is rare but others state that up to 1/100 UTI’s and 1/100 Gastro Intestinal Infections go onto develop arthritic symptoms.

Treatments include drugs such as methatrexate, voltarin and analgesia. Alkaline and non-nightshade diets are sometimes helpful. Acupuncture, physio, chiropractic, osteopathy, traction, stretching and massage are all mentioned as useful interventions in the RS/RA chat-rooms online too.

RS/RA sufferers often report that keeping their joints warm and not sitting too still for too long helps ease their pain levels. Eating well, adequate hydration, meditating, good stress management and sufficient sleep are all highly recommended strategies from experienced sufferers of RS/RA.

Despite the fact that a UTI or dysentry may be easily treated with an antibiotic, Reactive Arthritis can still persist long after the bug that precipitated it passes. One in 10 cases of  RS/RA are said to result from an unknown bacteria or virus which raises the question how such cases can even be considered to be RS/RA given there is no definitive test for it (just a positve ESR which may also be indicative of PMR or Haemachromatosis).

You may need to try combinations of different treatment in order to manage your own symptoms. Do whatever exercise you can but approach with caution because inflamed cartilage does not respond well to sudden move or even moderate impact, stretching can be tricky too.

Remain posture conscious and use Self Massage in the places your muscles are stiff.

Treatment Reactions

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When we go and have remedial treatment for a painful musculo-skeletal injury or condition there is sometimes discomfort in the following few days afterwards, this can happen whether it is from a massage, from spinal manipulation or assisted stretching. Generally this is more likely to happen if it is your first treatment or the first you have had for a long while and usually it is nothing to worry about.

One of the reasons that post treatment discomfort occurs is that you might have left getting treatment way longer than you should have which has caused greater resistance to the normal movement in your body, comparing this to a nut that has partially rusted on to a bolt is not entirely wide of the mark.

Another cause of post treatment pain is seeing a therapist who is completely new to you, it can take a little while for the new practitioner to work out what your tolerances are, it is not just a simple case of  big strong guys getting big and strong treatments and smaller lighter clients getting soft treatment. Over the years I have been surprised on many occasions by small petite women asking for and responding well to very firm massage. Likewise I have also treated some big men who have surprisingly low pain thresholds.

The nature of the physical problem ofcourse matters alot. A fresh injury for instance that has localised redness and swelling is often best treated indirectly and around the actual trauma site, atleast to start with anyway. A more familiar recurring sore lower back or neck problem that you experience a “good pain” from when pressed on the other hand, is usually treated directly from the outset.

It is important that you tell the practitioner if he or she is taking you too firmly, usually a practitioner can tell by the way your body reacts to being touched if they are going too hard or not but if they don’t it is no use waiting till the end of the treatment and then complain to the practitioner about it. Worse still saying nothing to the therapist and then telling everybody how rough they were afterwards is not fair on either you or the therapist. Don’t be shy, how you feel matters so tell us.

If you are concerned about how you feel afterwards you can always phone your therapist or send an email and ask them if what you are experiencing is normal or not. It is  not usually a good idea to go prodding and poking it yourself if you don’t think it feels right.

Finally it is a good idea to reflect on the event/s that occurred in between your visit to your practitioner and the pain you felt afterwards because if you decided to run around the block because you felt a bit better after having your lower back massaged it might be your fault, treatment cannot replace common sense. If you really want to know if and when it is safe to try a particular activity again just ask.