Q: I work at a keyboard and my wrists get really sore. What can I do to prevent damaging my hands and wrists? I can’t quit my job.

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PMS was classified in the early ’80s into four types by medical researcher Guy Abraham, MD. Although most women suffer from a mix of these types, it may be helpful, in terms of the most appropriate treatment strategies, to sort out symptoms as follows:

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Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a 3000+ year old system of diagnosis and therapeutcs which works primarily in stimulating the body’s natural “vital force” (known as Qi - prnounced chee). There are several areas of TCM, including diet and nutrition, acupuncture and moxibustion (a stick of copressed mugwort which is burned and held close to the body to insert Qi into the area of distress), Qi Gong (slow breth and movement exercises) and medicinal herbs. Chinese medicinal herbs to be considered to prevent or perhaps even remedy osteoarthritis are listed below. Please consult with a qualified acupuncturist (certified from the NCCA) or Chinese herbalist.

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The arthritic diseases revolve around degeneration of bone and cartilage, and can be due to infection, trauma and inflammation, or autoimmune degradation of tissue. The word arthritis means, from the Greek, inflammation of a joint, but is not a specific medical term. Not all arthritic diseases present with inflammation, but most involve chronic pain and loss of movement. Arthritis is a serious disease that affects over 37 million Americans, which means one in seven people, or one in three families.

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Q: I’ve heard that acupuncture helps with low back pain and other problems. But I just don’t get it. How does it work?

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Hypertension is defined as a repeated blood pressure (BP) reading of greater than 150/90 mm Hg (mercury). There are two types of hypertension: primary (aka essential or idiopathic, which means no particular cause can be identified) and secondary, which means due to some definable cause such as kidney failure or atherosclerosis.

About 89% of cases are considered to be primary hypertension, and while no specific cause can be singled out as the culprit, many factors are implicated in the development of primary, or essential hypertension. Some of the recognized risk factors include family history, environment (family size, crowding, eating patterns, occupation, obesity), salt ingestion and sensitivity (there is controversy over whether the sodium or chloride part of the salt molecule is the principal factor), race (blacks have more primary hypertension and more morbidity and mortality than whites), hyperlipidemia, smoking, and diet.

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The standard definition of high cholesterol is having an excess of cholesterol in the blood, usually more than 200 mg/dl, although many doctors are now citing 180 mg/dl as the maximum of the reference range.

The reason you have “high cholesterol” is probably because you have eaten too much saturated fat (from animals) over the years. Some people, however, have an inherited type of high cholesterol. For more information on familial hypercholesterolemia please see the conventional diagnosis section.

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Prevention is the most important step in any health-care plan, and preventing cancer is 99 possible with a sensible sleep/work/play regime plus a low-calorie, nutrient-rich diet. A favorite bumper- sticker recently spied on I-5 reads “In GARLIC we trust.” Yes! Yes! Garlic protects against cancer. Reverently place several cloves of garlic in your juicer along with just about any vegetable concoction. Besides garlic, the single most important nutrient in winning the cancer “war” is good old Vitamin C.

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Please note: This is a two part post because of the length. The link to the second part is at the end of this article.

Asthma is a frightening condition. It is a hypersensitivity reaction causing brochospasm, swelling of the mucous membranes and increased bronchial mucous secretion leading to respiratory distress. Asthma is a reversible inflammatory airway disease. Treatment of asthma MUST include agents or methods that not only cause bronchodilation, but also reduce inflammation. Beta-agonists, typically given in conventional therapy (such as Albuterol, Prednisone, etc.) notoriously do not significantly reduce inflammation, although they are effective bronchodilators.

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Please note: This is part two of a two part post because of the length. Part one of this article can be found here.

How can Homeopathy help asthma?

Like with Traditional Chinese Medicine, each individual is analyzed for their specific symptoms and an appropriate therapy is chosen, not for the disease, but for the person displaying signs of health out of balance. This is a very important distinction, and, very generally speaking, one of the main differences between conventional and “complementary” approaches to healthcare. Please refer to the essay on Homeopathy in the Introduction to Modalities section.

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