Pak Doktor a.k.a. Mr Doctor!

Child have constipation just like adults and perhaps more often since they don’t like to eat food that has a lot of fiber – vegetables and more vegetables. Children with constipation can use the same natural remedies as adults, but in lesser amounts.

You can use these guidelines for children 3 and older. Children should have a bowel movement everyday. It would be best for them to have at least two, if they are eating three meals a day. If your child is having three or less bowel movement per week, it is time to get worried and take action.

If you use some natural remedies, and your child still has only 3 or less bowel movements per week, then its time for you to take your child to see a doctor. Continual constipation can reflect a more serious condition, especially if your child is eating the foods that promote natural bowel movements.

Here is a list of things that you can do for your child with constipation. In fact, these recommendations are also good for you if you have constipation.

1. Drink more water – children are very active and will perspire more than an adult during the day and lose water. If the body needs water it will take from the stools and make them hard and difficult to expel.
2. Eat more fiber – fruits and vegetables is where the fiber is. Using artificial fiber and laxative products is not a good idea. The body can become dependent on these products and lose its bowel sensitive and colon wall tone.
3. Having a bowel movement when it is time – teach your children to go to the bathroom when they get the urge. A lot of times they will put it off if they are playing or doing something they like. Putting it off will de-sensitize the colon and it will stop giving the bowel movement signal after a time. This will lead to constipation.
4. Use natural products that promote bowel movements – there are many fruits and vegetables that promote bowel movements. Use these as snacks. In cases where you use a natural remedy that is bitter, remind your child that it is medicine to help them go to the bathroom more frequently.

Drinking Water

Have your constipated child drink more water throughout the day. Use distilled water. Minimize the use of sodas, tea, and sweeten juices, as these are not water. Eating fruits and vegetable provide the body with distilled water since they contain up to 70% water. Drink unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices provide water and promote bowel movements.

Eating Fruits and Vegetables

The best time to give your child fruits is in the morning. From the time they wake up to noontime is when the body is detoxifying. Heavy foods like meat, milk, cereal, and eggs hinder the detoxifying process. Fruits and their juices accelerate the detoxifying process and promote bowel movement, provided no protein or carbohydrates are eaten. A good breakfast is simply a bowel of fruit. A glass of juice can also be provided.

When in season use a big bowl of watermelon and cantaloupe slices. Otherwise, use a variety of seasonal fruits. Use fruits as a snack between meals. But do not give fruits after a meal as desert. Wait 2-3 hours after a meal before giving fruit. This helps digestion and promotes bowel movements.

Vegetables should be eaten with each meal at noontime and dinner. Vegetables provide water, fiber, and an array of minerals and vitamins necessary for good digestion and colon function.

To make the salad more appealing for your child add raisins or pieces of apple to it.

Look to my other articles for Natural Constipation Remedies. Use those that I discuss. For a child, any herbal products that are used as a constipation remedy should be used at 1/3 the amount listed for an adult.

Symptoms of cold & flu

A runny or blocked nose, sore throat, sneezing, cough, headache and mild fever are all signs of the common cold. Flu symptoms are similar but the fever is usually higher, alternating with chills and accompanied by sweating, aches and pain and fatigue.

Why we get cold and flu ?

Many different viruses can cause colds and flu. They are passed on by inhaling infected droplets that have been sneezed or coughed into the air or by touching an area with live infection.

Infection is most likely to occur when immune function is low because of tiredness,stress, poor diet and digestion function , lack of exercise or smoking.

According to Chinese Medicine and naturopathy, susceptibility to colds can be increased by constipation and sluggish bowel function.

Treatments for cold and flu

People spend billions of dollars every year trying to fight off the misery of the common cold.

Want to try something different?

Here are natural ways to knock out a cold or flu using herbal a remedies.

1. Eat plenty of leeks and green onions. These herbs have powerful cold fighting properties.You can eat healthy vegetable soup with leeks or green onions in it. This will make you sweat , but don’t take a shower whlie you have fever. Just clean your body with wet towel and change the night clothe and sleep well.

2. Take a large clove of Garlic, peel and keep it in your mouth. Bite down every so-often to release the natural juices. Replace with a new clove every four or five hours. Your cold symptoms should be to gone in twenty four, to forty eight hours.

3. Your nose all stuffed up? Try eating some hot or spicy foods which should open up those blocked nasal passages and you won’t have the rebound effect of taking too many nose drops!

4. Not hungry? Try a few minutes of vigorous exercise. The increased oxygen demand of your body will almost certainly cause you to breathe deeper and help open-up your blocsked nasal passages naturally.

5. Chest congestion can be effectively cleared up by breathing a mixture of hot vinegar, or white wine. Breath in the vapors for a few minutes, and you should get relief!

6. Coughs and sore throats can be controlled with several home remedies. A classic requires a large lemon. Start by slowing roasting it until it just splits open. Now take up to half a teaspoon of honey with the juice from the lemon. Repeat at hourly intervals until the cough is under control.

7. Feel better with elderberry – elderberry tea to treat respiratory infections, now scientific evidence suggests that taking a standardized elderberry extract can shorten the length of time you’re sick by 50 percent.

8. Soothe a sore throat – Drink a tea made of mucilaginous herbs such as marshmallow or slippery elm, which coat the throat.

9. Stop the cough .- When you can’t quit coughing, drink hot ginger tea. Ginger stimulates circulation and helps clear your sinuses and lungs of mucus. You may also get some relief with the natural cough suppressant, bromelain, an enzyme from pineapple.

10. Breathe easier – One of the best ways to open clogged sinus and bronchial passages is to breathe warm steam to which you’ve added essential oil of eucalyptus.

Everyone experiences back pain at some time in their life. In fact, it is in the top three complaints that people bring to the doctor’s office.

In most cases there is soft tissue inflammation, muscle spasms, or degenerative arthritis. These respond well to conservative treatments such as anti-inflammatory medicines, stretches, and osteopathic manipulative therapy. Physical modalities such as heat or cold, massage, and acupuncture are also helpful.

So when should you worry? Any loss of bowel or bladder control needs immediate attention. Surgery can release the pressure on the nerves and full function usually returns.

The longer the loss of bladder or bowel control continues without treatment, the higher the risk of permanent damage. This also includes weakness of any muscles in the legs or feet. Plus you can reduce the risks of falls and fractures.

Contrary to popular opinion, a thorough history, neurological and structural exams, plus basic X-rays of the spine can diagnose the problem 80-90% of the time. Expensive MRI studies certainly can be helpful looking at the cross-sections of the spine into the discs and spinal cord. But, in most cases it will not change the eventual conservative treatment anyway.

Consider an MRI if surgery is likely. Certainly if there is no improvement in your symptoms after several weeks or there is worsening of your pain.

Besides the obvious causes of low back pain from muscle spasms, degenerative discs and osteoarthritis, chronic structural imbalances play a major role. Wear and tear to the spine from old trauma, sports, and obesity cause the discs to lose their cushioning ability. They also may bulge or protrude backwards.

Over 50 years of age almost everyone has changes I the discs loosing height and acquiring some bone spurs. However, not everyone has pain. Again, unless the nerve root coming out of the spinal cord or the spinal cord itself is squeezed, surgery will not help. Even radiating leg pain called sciatica along with numbness and tingling in the legs can go away over time with proper treatment that includes osteopathic manipulation therapy.

Studies show that back pain sufferers who have surgery have no better pain relief or function than those who didn’t have surgery after five years passed. Certainly if surgery is recommended it is wise to get a second opinion.

Osteopathy is a system of healthcare based on the belief that disease is the direct result of the relationship between physiological function and anatomical structure. In osteopathy, function and structure are interdependent. A healthy musculoskeletal system plays a pivotal role in recovery and disease prevention. ‘Structure governs function’ ? this is the tenet of osteopathy. By structure, this means muscles, ligaments, bones, organs and fascia.

The credit for initiating this system of healing is given to Andrew Taylor Still, who started this treatment at the end of the American Civil War. According to Still, disease happens when the bones are out of place thus disrupting the flow of the blood or hampering the flow of nervous impulses. He therefore concluded that diseases can be cured by manipulating the bones, which in turn, helps to restore the flow.

This system has much in common with Chiropractic techniques where the correct alignment of bones is given the utmost emphasis. Originally Osteopathy used strictly manipulative techniques for correcting abnormalities. However, over the past years, Osteopathy has embraced all aspects of modern medicine including drugs and corrective surgery.

Doctors who practice Osteopathy know how important it is to have a proper and correct understanding of the exact position and correct function of each of the structure in the body. Those who practice Osteopathy look for abnormalities in the working relationship within and between the various structures. According to these physicians, the physical integrity of the entire musculoskeletal system is one of the most important factors that contribute to good health.

Osteopathy has a lot in common with orthodox medicine as well. However, Osteopathic doctors are not merely bone-specialists. Instead, they are grandmasters in the ‘biomechanics of the human machine’. The way in which they approach disease and carry out treatment is therefore completely different from orthodox medicine.

The holistic approach to healing aims to take advantage of the body’s ability to heal itself. Osteopaths believe that health, not disease, is the natural heritage of every living thing. They focus all their attention on tracing any changes in function that have taken place within the structures. Within certain limits, the human body, like every other organism, has the ability to repair and correct itself. If given enough ‘support’, it can create its own remedies. The ‘support’ to be given includes:

- A balanced diet
- Good circulation
- Positive attitude
- A pollution free environment.

This self-healing is the backbone and sustaining principle behind all the applications of Osteopathy. According to these doctors, disease basically originates from within the individual himself. So, their main focus is the patient and not the micro-organism that invades his body. If the disease has reached a stage where the micro-organism has changed the structure beyond the point of no-return, Osteopathy tries to help the person function as best as he can.

Osteopathy differs to chiropractors in that the therapist uses massage during a treatment session to help the muscles retain the memory of the manipulation done to the bones and hence restore the flow of nerve impulses through the body to promote healing.

Osteopathy relies on various techniques that are combined with postural, dietary and occupational advice. Counseling patients who are recovering from illness and injury and those who are under excruciating pain is also a very useful part of this healing technique. Osteopathy also allows the use of invasive therapies when all else fails.

With the growing concern for West Nile Virus and Lymes disease, more people are spraying and lathering on insect repellent. Most commercial repellents contain harmful chemicals that must be used with extreme caution. Someone shared a story that occurred when she was on vacation at the beach. A parent used an insect repellent with DEET on her 2 year old child. The child went unconscious within minutes of application and was rushed to the hospital where she was later revived. This child was lucky, for other have died from it. Keep in mind, whatever you put on your skin ends up in your bloodstream. The famous estrogen, birth control and nicotine patch have proven that beyond a doubt.

Using commercial repellents with toxic chemicals may not cause sudden death to an adult, but as any toxin, it builds up in our tissues and organs, especially our liver. Our livers are already overloaded with toxins and this is one that can be easily avoided.

There are natural insect repellents that repel mosquitoes, ticks and other biting bugs. They contain various essential oils that are safe and effective. This is a healthy alternative, for essential oils contain many nutrients. The essential oils most popular for their ability to repel insects are citronella, tea tree, cedarwood, eucalyptus, lemongrass, orange, rosemary, clove, oregano and peppermint. I sometimes make my own combinations, but lately I’ve been getting them ready made and they do work great. If you have any of these essential oils at home and need a quick repellent, add 20 drops of essential oil (single or in combination) to one teaspoon of olive, jojoba, almond or coconut oil and rub it on. You can also add it to unscented lotion. If one has already been bitten, I’ve never found anything better that tei fu essential oil blend to instantly take the itch, pain and swelling down.

There are some people that are just bug magnets. There is always at least one person at outdoor events that is slapping themselves silly getting eaten alive, when no one else is. Either they are wearing too much cologne or they may be lacking in B vitamins, especially Thiamine (B1). It is never advised to take just one of the B vitamins for it could cause imbalances in the body. A good quality B complex is advised. When the body has a sufficient amount of B vitamins, an odor is emitted through the pours that bugs don’t like. No one else can smell it, thank goodness. One could also consume foods that are high in thiamine. Help your self to large portions of whole grain brown rice, brewers yeast, black strap molasses, wheat germ and fish (yum yum). Eating garlic also provides for a natural repellent, but might repel more than insects. On the contrary, consuming sugar not only depletes our B vitamins, but emits a sweet odor through our pours that attracts biting bugs. Consuming alcohol also depletes B vitamins and causes the blood vessels to dilate, thus attracting mosquitoes and horseflies.

Don’t forget about your pets. There are natural repellents for them too and a delicious brewers yeast and garlic formula available to sprinkle on their food.

I hope this helps. Have a safe and enjoyable summer.

This Article provided by Michael Comeau is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure disease. Always consult with your doctor when seeking medical advice.