A recent survey of 15 clinics revealed some interesting material.
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Anaesthetists are the most common practitioners, followed by neurosurgeons, nursing staff and psychologists. Tumour specialists from cancer clinics come next. Occupational therapists and surgeons are not usually associated with the clinics.
Most of the staff involved with the clinics are consultants. The core of the staff may be as few as two individuals. But, more often, it seems to be variable with the co-ordinator as the only constant member.
What may happen is that an anaesthetist, as co-ordinator, may consider that your pain is not of physical origin alone and you would be referred to a consultant psychiatrist. The psychiatrist, in turn, might refer you to a psychologist for further assessment for therapy.
The main drawback is that you would not be seen by this group as a team but in a series of individual interviews among the specialists in the unit.
A look at the number, and kind, of patients seen in the 15 clinics reveals that there are comparatively few in-patients. The seven institutes studied average only four a week. The numbers of in-patients range from none to ten for both males and females. For outpatients, the numbers range from two to eighty for males and two to 120 for females.
Referral between specialists is the most efficient way of organising a pain clinic. An alternative is a day clinic. For example, the Royal North Shore Hospital and the Melbourne Pain Management Clinic. The age of patients ranges from 12 to 60 plus.
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As a general- rule, people with pain due to an organic cause without serious emotional factors respond better to acupuncture. World-wide experience has shown that acupuncture not only controls pain but also improves body function in degenerative arthritis (osteoarthritis), many joint problems resulting from injury, and in sports injuries. Simple migraine and painful menstrual periods also respond well to acupuncture techniques where acupuncture is the sole treatment.
Chronic pain patients whose pain complaints often have no obvious cause and which are complicated by emotional distress and anxiety may respond better to a combination of acupuncture, psychological treatments and medication. With such patients, hypnosis may be the psychological treatment of choice.
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By directing your thoughts, you can make your hand feel as though it’s rising easily, effortlessly. Keep your eyes closed and put your right arm straight out in front of you at shoulder level with the palm facing down. Now picture a garden hose with a strong stream of water pushing against the palm of your right hand. Pushing forcefully up against the palm of your hand. Concentrate your mind on that strong stream of water pushing your hand up. Feel the force of that water pushing your hand up. Feel it brushing against the palm of your hand. Tell yourself that the force of the water is very strong and, as you think about it, let your hand begin to rise. Feel your hand rising as you imagine that strong stream of water pushing your hand up, pushing it up, and up, higher and higher. Tell yourself that this strong stream of water is pushing your hand up and up, raising your hand and arm higher and higher as that strong stream of water pushes it up, just rises and pushes and pushes it up, higher and higher. Now tell yourself that it’s all in your own mind and just let your hand and arm come back down and relax.
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The advantages of acupuncture therapy are that it is simple and safe. It is free from any risk of AIDS or hepatitis, provided acupuncture therapy is given by properly qualified practitioners. All doctors practising acupuncture now use sterilisation techniques identical with those used to sterilise surgical instruments. Many practitioners use single use or disposable acupuncture needles to overcome their lack of sterilising facilities.
Unfortunately, Australia still has no legal restrictions on who can practice acupuncture — and how well they have to sterilise their needles.
Acupuncture should only be practised by a properly qualified medical practitioner. That is, someone able to make a proper medical diagnosis before using acupuncture, which is a treatment used in China only by trained practitioners.
There are no risks or disadvantages to the use of laser acupuncture as there is no penetration of the skin and no side-effects.
Acupuncture’s only real disadvantage is that it may be associated with a certain degree of discomfort as well as the more common side-effects of slight bruising and occasional fainting. There are no absolute reasons not to use acupuncture — though some practitioners will not perform acupuncture on patients taking cortisone-type drugs or with certain physical complications such as severe acne.
Acupuncture can be performed by many general practitioners trained through the excellent courses run in the various states of Australia for medical practitioners. Acupuncture costs vary from practitioner to practitioner.
Most doctors charge approximately $25 to $40 per treatment, with a Medicare rebate of approximately $17. Treatments will normally be performed either weekly or every two to three weeks until a response is established.
A list of doctors practising acupuncture can be obtained from the state branches of the Australian Medical Acupuncture Society.
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More importantly, some doctors claim that hypoglycaemia can sometimes be a symptom of food intolerance. The basis for this is that many patients, previously diagnosed as hypoglycaemic, have found that such problems disappear following an elimination diet – although in most cases they were undertaking the diet for other symptoms, and did not expect any improvement in their hypoglycaemia. In children, there seems to be a link between hyperkinetic syndrome and hypoglycaemia – a great many hyperactive children handle glucose abnormally. If the proposed link between food and hyperkinesis is a reality then it may be that food sensitivity is causing the hypoglycaemia in such children. Some of the children’s symptoms, such as poor concentration and irritability, could be due to low blood sugar. The craving for sugary ‘junk food’ that is common in these children may also be a result of hypoglycaemia. Some doctors believe that a high proportion of hypoglycaemia cases might be caused by food intolerance, but at present there is no hard evidence to support this. How foods might cause hypoglycaemia is an open question, but a small group of doctors in the United States are investigating the idea that food sensitivity can make the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas over-active.
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Those who can enjoy looking at the good fortune of others without feeling envious have passed their first big test, which will ensure them happiness and peace throughout their lives. Possessions always mean responsibility but there are many things we can relish without such cares. Our walks can be taken not only for the healthy exercise they give but also for the joy of seeing the beauty of the flowers, the distant mountains, the fine woods and rich fields. We need not consider the fact that the cool, blue lake and the rushing stream do not belong to us. We can rejoice in the graceful gambols of someone else’s young animals without fearing that, by some mischance, we might lose them. We can enjoy all these things so much better than their owner, because ownership is a heavy burden that demands work and care. Many who strive for it with envy or jealousy in their hearts perhaps could not enjoy such a burden successfully. So, if you wish to enjoy beauty to the full, do not let envy and jealousy encroach upon your joy in appreciating the possessions of others.
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There is also another thing which needs to be protected in the interest of health. It is our right to breathe good, unpolluted air, is it not? Clean air is necessary for life, and the sanitary measures taken everywhere should definitely embrace this important requirement. Appropriate laws should be made and enforced. For is it not still possible for anyone to pollute the air without anything being done about it? We all know that air is just as important as water. So if industry is not allowed to poison the water, it goes without saying that the many factory chimneys should not be permitted to belch out their fumes into the atmosphere without any consideration for the well-being of the human race.
Think of those people who have built their homes and picked the spot carefully so as to enjoy it, only to find that in time the increasing traffic brings an endless stream of cars and lorries passing right outside their front doors, forcing them to inhale stinking exhaust fumes instead of clean and healthy air. Since the motorways have already been built, it is imperative that remedial measures be sought and taken in order to protect the health of people who now live near them but did not choose to do so. If every motor car had to be fitted with an exhaust emission control device, the costs of installation would certainly not ruin us economically, but would improve our environment.
*1184/28/1*
The call for pesticides that do not harm our own health or that of our children is more urgent than ever before. If it is really impossible to fight pests without some kind of poison, then we should at least employ plant poisons that are easily eliminated, neutralised and made ineffective. When I was in South America I came to know of certain roots that were used as an insecticide. They had hardly been discovered when the industry replaced them by synthetic chemicals. Systematic research, I am sure, would no doubt find ways of using tobacco extract, products made from derris (of the Artemisia family), and various tropical plants. Such products could be used without disturbing the biological balance in nature or harming our health. It is possible that plant pesticides may be considerably more expensive than chemical products, but it is only right that people’s health should come before financial considerations.
*1115/28/1*
Raw potato juice has proved its worth in the treatment of arthritis and it is also a fine remedy for stomach ulcers. Patients are advised to drink the juice of a medium-sized potato (about one-third of a glass) before breakfast on an empty stomach. The ulcers usually disappear within 3-6 weeks. If a little fresh carrot juice is added to the potato juice the taste will be improved, making it easier to take. If the patient is unable to prepare his own juice because of lack of time, he can take the lacto-fermented juice sold in health food stores.
Raw potato juice, together with centaury, is a splendid help in neutralising excess acid in the stomach, which is generally the cause of heartburn. The simplest way to do this is to add fresh centaury drops to the potato juice. It has not yet been discovered whether the remedial effect is attributable to the solanin content (about 0.002 per cent) or to the alkaline mineral salts.
An interesting letter informed us recently that Solanosan, together with Petasites, helped a stomach and liver patient to find relief from pain, providing restful sleep, an improved appetite and weight gain. Solanosan complex is made from the potato plant, which can have a poisonous effect, but the remedy is in homoeopathic potency and therefore efficacious in treating the indicated illnesses. Large amounts of Solanin, however, can cause poisoning and even endanger one’s life.
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All things considered, what does this account emphasise? It is good to serve a dish of raw food before the main meal, but be careful to stick to one variety of food. Before a vegetable meal eat raw vegetables, never fruit, and before a meal composed of sweet dishes, you may eat fruit. Dr Bircher-Benner’s theory may apply to healthy people whose organs function properly, but if there is a tendency to dysfunction of one or more organs, especially the liver and pancreas, the consumption of fruit and vegetables as part of the same meal can encourage further disturbances.
A urinalysis disclosed that the writer of the above letter had trouble with her liver and pancreas, and it was no doubt for this reason that she suffered from flatulence when she ate fruit and vegetables at the same meal. Where the liver and pancreas are working efficiently, the digestive juices are able to break down fruit and Dr Bircher-Benner’s theory would be correct. It would then do no harm to eat fruit before a vegetable meal. However, if the organic mechanism is impaired, the enzymes will clearly be unable to digest the fruit acids, resulting in a reaction between the fruit acids and the alkaline vegetable components. The unpleasant consequences are excessive fermentation and flatulence.
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