Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

posted by admin on Mar 30

Breast Feeding

For insufficient milk, the following herbs can be used:

Anise seed

Fennel seed

Marshmallow root

Vervain leaves

Infusion of any of the above, alone or in combination: 1/2 ñèð as required, up to 3 cups per day

Anise and Fennel are well known for their ability to stimulate milk flow and have been used by nursing mothers for centuries.

Both herbs also relieve colic and, when taken by a nursing mother, this action extends to the baby too.

Vervain, as well as being a galactagogue, is also useful for post-natal depression.

To dry up milk flow:

Sage leaves

Infusion: 3 cups per day, starting with a mild infusion and increasing the strength each day until normal dosage is reached (results are usually obtained within a week or so)

For cracked nipples:

2 parts Marigold flowers

1 part Marshmallow root

Poultice, compress or ointment: apply several times each day

Colic in Babies

For colic in young babies:

Anise seed

Fennel seed

Caraway (Carum carvi) seed

Dill (Anethum graveolens) seed

Infusion of any of the above, alone or in combination: give 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls from time to time (e.g. every hour or so) until the colic subsides

Dill seed forms the basis of many gripe waters available commercially, and any of the other carminative seeds listed above works equally well.

An infusion of Catnip, Chamomile, Lemon Balm or Vervain, given in doses of 1 or 2 teaspoons, is a mild but effective remedy for most digestive problems in young babies. For acute or persistent conditions, seek professional advice.

Note that herbal remedies can be sweetened with honey as desired, this sometimes being of particular benefit with babies and children.

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posted by admin on Mar 30

Perspiration

To increase perspiration diaphoretic herbs are used. This may be done to increase elimination via the skin, or to ’sweat out’ a cold, flu, fever or eruptive disease.

Elder flowers

Yarrow herb

Peppermint leaves

Lemon Balm leaves

Catnip herb

Infusion of any of the above, alone or in combination: 1-2 cups taken hot

The diaphoretic action is increased by drinking the infusion as hot as possible and keeping well covered.

To decrease perspiration, and for night sweats:

Sage leaves

Infusion: 1-3 cups per day for 1-3 weeks

Sprains and Fractures

If there is the slightest chance that a bone is fractured, seek professional attention immediately. Once the condition has been properly diagnosed and treated, herbs may be used to reduce the pain and swelling and promote rapid recovery.

To promote the healing of sprains, and to help fractured bones knit together, Comfrey is the principal herb used:

Comfrey root or leaves

Poultice of the fresh plant: apply to the affected area 2- 4 times per day

In some cases a compound formula with additional properties may be more appropriate:

4 parts Comfrey root or leaves (emollient/vulnerary)

2 parts Marigold flowers (antiseptic/vulnerary)

2 parts St John’s Wort herb (analgesic/antiseptic/vulnerary)

1 part Ginger root (rubefacient)

Poultice, compress or ointment: apply to the affected area 2-4 times per day

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posted by admin on Mar 30

Rosmarinus officinalis

Action: Tonic, aromatic, stomachic, carminative, cholagogue, diuretic, antispasmodic, emmenagogue, astringent, antiseptic.

Systems Affected: Nerves, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, gall-bladder, kidneys, bladder, uterus.

Preparation and Dosage (thrice daily): Fresh or dried leaves, dose 1-5 grams by infusion.

Rosemary is native to the Mediterranean coast and both the common and generic names are derived from the early Latin ros maris (dew of the sea), from its habit of growing close to the sea. From the earliest times its medicinal benefits were recognized and it has always been popular as an aromatic and culinary herb.

In the late fourteenth century it became famous as the principal ingredient of the Queen of Hungary’s Water. Donna Izabella, Queen of Hungary, aged seventy-two and severely afflicted with gout, received a single brief visit from a hermit who left behind a herbal formula for treating her condition. Based on Rosemary and taken every morning for a year, it led to her full recovery, so much so that, in the words of Donna Izabella herself, ‘I recovered my health and regained my strength, and on beholding my beauty, the King of Poland desired to marry me; which I refused for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, believing that the Receipt had been given to me by an Angel . . .’

Rosemary has been used to treat an almost bewildering variety of ailments, hence its attribution as a general tonic. Particularly high in calcium, it stimulates the brain, kidneys and nervous system and is good for nervous depression.

The infusion, used internally, has been applied to such problems as colds and flu, physical and mental overstrain, anaemia, debility following severe illness, dyspepsia, flatulence and colic, hepatic insufficiency, jaundice, cirrhosis, cholecystitis, gall-stones, rheumatism, gout, renal insufficiency, retention of urine, oedema, obesity, painful menstruation, nervous palpitations, dizziness, fainting, loss of memory, nervous headache and migraines. It is considered by some to be of great benefit in relieving headaches and as a substitute for aspirin.

Externally Rosemary is used to treat rheumatism, gout and neuralgia. It is applied as a compress, or as an ointment which is massaged into the affected area (the essential oil being the most effective). The infusion, used once or twice a day as a lotion, acts as a skin tonic and will remove puffiness beneath the eyes. Renowned as a tonic for the hair and scalp, it is sometimes used to prevent falling hair: a strong infusion, cooled, is used as a rinse after shampoo. Rosemary is smoked with Coltsfoot leaves to relieve asthma and congestion of the throat and lungs.

Cautionary Notes: Allowing for all its possible uses, Rosemary should be used with some discretion. The essential oil should not be used internally. Extremely large doses of the leaf are toxic, possibly causing abortion, convulsions and, very rarely, death.

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posted by admin on Mar 30

Zingiber officinale

Action: Aromatic, stimulant, diaphoretic, sialagogue, carminative, stomachic, anti-emetic, antispasmodic, rubefacient.

Systems Affected: Stomach, intestines, circulation, general effects on the whole body.

Preparation and Dosage (thrice daily): Fresh or dried rhizome, dose 0.5-2.0 grams by infusion.

Ginger is a perennial plant indigenous to south-east Asia. It is now cultivated commercially in most tropical and subtropical countries, including Australia. The rhizome is the part used and, when dried, it keeps almost indefinitely.

The plant has a long history of culinary and medicinal use: it was imported from the east by the ancient Greeks and it has been a part of daily life for centuries in the Far East, where it remains one of the important drugs of Chinese medicine.

Ginger is a versatile herbal stimulant. It is often combined with other remedies for its general tonic and stimulant properties, and with laxatives to prevent nausea and griping. It also helps to distribute other herbs throughout the body. It is stronger than Peppermint and is more diffusive than Cayenne, for which it can be used as a substitute. (Many herbal formulas include a stimulant herb to reinforce the action of the other herbs. The three herbs most frequently used for their stimulant properties are Cayenne, Ginger and Peppermint.)

Ginger is of particular benefit to the stomach, intestines and circulation. Its warming, antispasmodic qualities are useful in flatulent colic, dyspepsia, atony of the digestive organs, nausea, cramp, spasm and period pain. It is also sometimes used for treating diarrhea and dysentery.

Ginger is of specific benefit where the stomach is under-active and there is difficulty secreting adequate hydrochloric acid to digest food. Ginger stimulates saliva secretion which in turn stimulates gastric acid production.

In colds and flu it is a valuable diaphoretic with stimulant and tonic properties. For deficient circulation, and any condition relating to cold or chills, it is a reliable remedy.

Externally it is used as a compress or in ointments to relieve pain, inflammation and stiff joints.

In all formulas calling for Ginger, either the fresh or dried rhizome may be used unless specified otherwise. The amount used, by weight, is the same.

Cautionary Notes: Large doses should be avoided by those suffering from any skin complaint.

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posted by admin on Mar 30

Action: Alterative, diuretic, diaphoretic, tonic demulcent.

Systems Affected: Blood, kidneys, general effects on the whole body.

Preparation and Dosage (thrice daily): Dried root, dose 2 – 6 grams by infusion.

Native to Europe, Burdock is now naturalized as a weed in many parts of the world. It prefers roadsides and wasteland on rich loamy soil but adapts to all kinds of soil. It is distinguished by its height (up to 2 meters), its purple flowers and its huge dock-like leaves which are whitish on the underside. Its stout root (up to 5 or 6 centimeters in diameter) extends vertically into the ground sometimes up to a depth of one meter.

Its seed-heads, covered with hooked spines or burrs, readily attach themselves to the coats of passing animals, by which means the plant is spread. Farmers consider it a nuisance on account of its tendency to invade pasture.

The plant has wide medicinal use, particularly for skin complaints, and is eaten as a vegetable in France, Italy, the Scandinavian countries and Japan (where the plant is cultivated commercially).

Burdock contains inulin (a form of starch commonly found in plants of the Compositae family), mucilage, a volatile oil and several antibiotic substances.

It is considered one of the finest alternatives or ‘blood purifiers’ in the herbal system. It increases resistance to infection and is an excellent remedy for all skin problems, especially psoriasis and eczema. It may be taken alone or combined to best effect with other alternatives such as Yellow Dock, Red Clover and Dandelion.

Its diuretic/alterative action, employed over an extended period, is useful in the treatment of rheumatism, gout, sciatica and lumbago. Its diuretic/demulcent action is used in the treatment of kidney and bladder complaints (especially cystitis). Its diaphoretic action is utilized to clear fevers and ‘hot conditions’ (boils, styes, carbuncles, rashes, infections and eruptive diseases such as measles). Burdock is a stimulant to the gustatory nerves and is sometimes used in the treatment of anorexia nervosa.

Externally, Burdock is highly effective in the treatment of skin complaints. The root, leaves or seeds are applied, fresh or dried, as a compress, poultice or ointment to boils, abscesses, acne, pimples, bruises, inflammation and skin eruptions. Burdock is also applied as a tonic to the hair and scalp.

The one-year-old root is preferred for medicinal purposes. The fresh or dried seeds and leaves are sometimes used, most commonly for external application.

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posted by admin on Mar 27

The homosexual offenders vs. adults had the smallest percentage of men with records of juvenile convictions: 7.5 per cent. However, nearly all who were convicted were given sentences of six months or longer, indicating that their juvenile offenses, while few, were serious. A comparatively small number (2 per cent) had juvenile sex-offense convictions.

Their convictions as adults mounted at a moderate rate: one third had been convicted by age twenty, one half by twenty-three, three quarters by thirty, and nine out of ten by age forty-nine. In accumulative incidence of convictions that led to imprisonment for six months or more, the percentage also rises moderately until about age thirty, after which the rate drops until ultimately the homosexual offenders vs. adults are the only group of whom less than three fifths had served a six months’ sentence or more.

Their average age when first convicted was about twenty-four, and when first convicted for a homosexual offense the average age was 26.7, somewhat younger than was true of the other homosexual groups.

There is nothing remarkable about the percentage of convictions that stemmed from sex offenses (55 per cent), but the proportion of “pure” sex offenders—men with no offenses other than sex offenses—is the largest recorded: 65 per cent. One may recall that in this particular the homosexual offenders vs. minors ranked second with 62 per cent. A significant proportion of this “purity” is the result of our sampling of homosexual offenders, a large number of whom were interviewed outside prison. This very fact militates against their being frequently involved in criminal activity.

The per capita total convictions and sex-offense convictions are not unusual, being respectively 3.21 and 1.76.

Their nonsex offenses are chiefly ones of vagrancy-disorderly conduct (40 per cent) and crimes against property (35 per cent). The latter figure is moderate compared to many other groups, but the vagrancy-disorderly conduct figure is the third largest recorded, being surpassed only by the other homosexual offenders. The “cruising” and loitering that is so common in male homosexual life predisposes them to such charges.

The homosexual offenders vs. adults are the most specialized of all sex offenders; fully 96 per cent of their offenses are homosexual offenses. Fifty-three per cent of all their offenses other than those with adult males involved boys from twelve to fifteen, 22 per cent involved boys under age twelve, 10 per cent were exhibition (to females), and about 13 per cent involved physical contact with females, including a few daughters.

Recidivism among these offenders was definitely low: 42 per cent had but one conviction. Only the incest offenders vs. adults had a better record. However, a promiscuous hard core of homosexuals accounts for nearly 9 per cent who had seven or more convictions, and 9 per cent in this particular category is a moderate rather than a low figure.

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posted by admin on Mar 27

There is a tendency for the single males to display high age-specific incidences of nocturnal emissions; beginning in fourth rank at age puberty-15, the unmarried homosexual offenders vs. children rise to second rank in age-period 21-25 and ultimately, from thirty-six to forty, to first rank. This rise in rank-order with age is completely unlike the other homosexual offenders who fall in rank in the older age-periods, occupying the lowest two positions in age-period 36-40. This would lead one to speculate, as we did in discussing masturbation, that in a group whose homosexual outlet is inhibited by society there might be a compensatory increase in dreams. However, such speculation is groundless, for such a compensation does not obtain among the homosexual offenders vs. minors, and, moreover, the majority of homosexual offenders vs. children were not so exclusively homosexual in their interests that social taboo caused them appreciable deprivation. The married reveal a somewhat low age-specific incidence of nocturnal emissions when compared to other sex offenders, and much lower than the control and prison groups. Among all homosexual offenders there is a sharp contrast between the married and unmarried in terms of nocturnal emissions: for instance, between ages twenty-one and twenty-five some 67 per cent of the unmarried homosexual offenders vs. children experienced orgasm during sleep as opposed to only 30 per cent of the married. Equivalent figures for the control group are 80 per cent versus 61 per cent. Furthermore, the frequency of nocturnal emissions is always low to moderate in comparison with other sex offenders and much less than the control group’s. For example, the average unmarried homosexual offender vs. children who had such emissions had 4 a year from puberty to age thirty while the control group man had 10 to 12.

The proportion of total outlet provided by nocturnal emissions is always moderate for the single individuals (2-7 per cent), but very small, both relatively and absolutely (always 1 per cent), for the married.

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posted by admin on Mar 27

The incest offenders vs. children had the largest proportion (84 per cent) of members who, while married, had coitus with females other than their wives. This large figure is not the result of their incestuous behavior, which seldom involved actual coitus (only five of the 54 individuals admit to this), nor is it a matter of the years eligible for extramarital coitus, since the incest offenders vs. children are not an unusually aged group and they tended to marry somewhat later than other individuals. It is worth mention that the group with the second largest number of individuals with extramarital coitus are the incest offenders vs. minors, but in this case the incest plays a more important role in increasing the percentage.

From ages twenty-one to forty some 42 to 56 per cent of the incest offenders vs. children had extramarital coitus with companions, earning them second place in the rank-orders up to age thirty-five and first place in age-period 36-40. All but a small percentage shunned prostitutes. The frequency of extramarital coitus was always low after age twenty and similar to that of the control group. The average offender with extramarital coitus had it with four females—a low number and one exceeded by both the control group (whose average was five partners) and prison group (ten). The proportion of total outlet provided by extramarital coitus is always moderate, that with companions constituting from 2-to 5 per cent and that with prostitutes never quite reaching 1 per cent. There were too few separated, divorced, and widowed individuals to permit calculation of postmarital statistics.

No preference for extreme youth is to be seen in the age of the first coital partners of the incest offenders vs. children. None had their initial experiences with girls under twelve; very few had a partner aged twelve to thirteen; and for about one fifth to one quarter the first coital partners were fourteen to fifteen, sixteen to seventeen, eighteen to twenty, and twenty-one-plus—an unusually uniform distribution, but otherwise not distinctive.

Neither did their explicitly stated age preferences show any leaning toward extreme youth. Only 4 per cent mentioned ages as low as twelve to fifteen. In this matter the incest offenders are unlike the offenders vs. children and aggressors vs. children, considerably more of whom admitted a sexual desire for young girls.

Aside from the matter of incest with a daughter or stepdaughter, in which by definition incest offenders rank highest, the only other incest phenomenon worth noting is that three of our sample of 56 incest offenders vs. children (i.e., 5 per cent) had coitus with sisters-in-law; this is the second largest percentage.

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posted by admin on Mar 27

The aggressors vs. children do not lend themselves to subdivision as readily as the offenders vs. children, and some of the varieties recognized among the offenders seem absent or rare among the aggressors. No clear-cut cases of underdeveloped sociosexuality or of senile deterioration were found, which is not surprising since such persons are apt to be timorous or ineffectual rather than aggressive. Similarly one can scarcely find a situational case in which a concatenation of events caused the individual to yield to impulse before he could mobilize his psychological defenses against his behavior.

By and large, the picture of the aggressors vs. children is one of alcoholism or heavy sporadic drinking, mental pathology or defect, and very low socioeconomic status. These items usually are combined. The typical aggressor is an unskilled or semiskilled worker who did not graduate from grammar school, and whose employment and marital record is irregular. He is not very bright and his mental condition is worsened by heavy drinking; yet he cannot be dismissed as a simple-minded drunk, for even beyond the psychoneurotic element involved in the use of force on an extremely inappropriately young object, still other psychotic (or at least highly neurotic) responses not infrequently appear. This heavy overlay of deleterious factors obscures other items and makes classification into varieties of offenders extremely difficult. About all that one can do is differentiate three varieties :

1. Persons with mental defects and/or pathology (but rarely with psychoses) who are also alcoholics or at least sporadic heavy drinkers. The majority of aggressors vs. children fall into this category.

Pedophiles, such as discussed under offenders vs. children, except that the latter did not use force. There are few of these, but probably more could be recognized were it not for the fact that they are obscured by alcoholic and psychotic features.

A residual category chiefly of unclassified cases plus a few individuals who might be termed offenders vs. children who got a bit too rough.

Examples of each of these varieties follow.

An instance of a case where psychoneurosis and alcohol contributed to the offense is that of a male aged about twenty at the time of offense. His history was replete with indications of disorganization and emotional trouble: although a semiskilled worker, he had never held a job for an entire year; he had a bad-conduct discharge from the military after less than two years of service; at seventeen he had married a woman five years his senior, and the marriage broke up after a month; he had a number of arrests, but his only convictions were for disorderly conduct and drunkenness; he had once attempted suicide when rejected by a girl; lastly, he had, prior to marriage, almost as much coitus with animals as with humans, and his human coitus was largely with prostitutes. Immediately after discharge from jail for a drunkenness sentence he purchased a bottle of whiskey and became intoxicated. After approaching a strange woman in a bus station with no success, he picked up a five-year-old girl and took her into a swamp where he beat her about the head and raped her, with resultant serious injuries to the girl’s vagina. He then fled but was caught some days later. He could give no explanation for the offense and the whole affair seemed very hazy and unreal to him in retrospect. Aside from the unusual amount of physical damage to the girl, this example could be essentially duplicated many times by our case histories of aggressors vs. children: the disorganized, psychoneurotic background combined with alcohol culminating in the unforeseen and at first glance inexplicable offense.

The pedophiles who resorted to force are dramatically exemplified by the case of a man who had forced sexual activity on over a score of girls, the majority aged seven to fifteen, when he himself was between eighteen and twenty-one years old. He was interested in young girls for two reasons: (1) they were easily frightened and consequently offered little or no resistance, and (2) the realization that his acts were strongly tabooed by society and that he was in danger of apprehension made the behavior particularly exciting. This man never employed much physical force, and whenever a victim resisted strongly or began loud and lengthy protests he fled. A childhood marred by the absence of a father, poverty, a sexually promiscuous mother, and several years in an orphans’ home resulted in petty theft and emotional disturbance. The pedophilia began at age eighteen; soon he was arrested, and from that point on most of his life had been one of imprisonment with brief interludes in which his pedophilic impulses compulsively recurred.

An example of a man who could not have been differentiated from offenders vs. children had he not used a trifle too much physical force is seen in the case of a rather poorly educated, semiskilled laborer of average intelligence. His sexual history prior to the offense was not unusual. He had had one marriage which broke up after four years. In fact, the only unusual thing about him was his long-standing alcoholism which, however, was not so severe as to have prevented his being adequately self-supporting. Unfortunately, he obtained a job as a bartender and this, naturally, resulted in a four-day drunken period during which he induced a little girl whom he met in a movie theater to come to his room in a lodging house. There he had interfemoral coitus with her. While he reported that she did not cry or resist, she did seem frightened, did not cooperate, and the sexual activity was against her desire. The case seems almost purely an alcoholic affair—the man had an adequate sexual adjustment with adult females and had no prior sex offenses or indications of pedophilia or aggression. If the girl had been less frightened, or if she had been persuaded to cooperate, this man would have been classed as a typical offender vs. children of the drunk variety.

Because of the mental status and alcoholic predilection of the aggressors vs. children, coupled with the vulnerability of their objects, they impress us as being one of the most unpredictable and dangerous of the sex-offender groups.

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posted by admin on Mar 27

The stereotype of the child molester is that of a senile old man whose second childhood includes a second round of sex play with children. Actually, such men are quite uncommon in the present sample—perhaps no more than one in 20 in a group of offenders vs. children. Among these men deprivation is a dominant feature, with impotence as a fairly common complication. Many of them are not old—some are in their forties—and many are not overly bright to begin with, so that moderate mental impairment resulting from age, disease, and often alcohol, has a more pronounced effect on them than it would on a more intelligent man. Judgment is weakened and taboos become blurred, so that these men yield readily in situations where easy sexual gratification is possible. They might with some validity be termed as situational offenders because of intellectual deterioration. Like the mental defectives, many of the senile deteriorates are lonely, and appreciate affection and attention from children. They differ from the defectives in that the deteriorates represent the ruins of a former adequate being, while the defectives never were adequate. Generally the offense behavior is brief or a one-time thing, but individual cases may endure for some years.

A typical case is that of a barber in his sixties. He had had a very restrained premarital life, his fianc?e and subsequent wife being his only nonprostitute sexual partner, and prior to marriage he did no more than hug and kiss her. This restraint presumably prevented extramarital coitus with other women in his old age when marital coitus declined and ended. Impotence began to trouble him in his fifties, and in the three years prior to his offense he had had no coitus. He began playing with little girls who came to his shop, giving them candy, twirling them in his barber’s chair, and inducing them to masturbate him. As the prison psychologist stated, “This man is entering a period of laxity of judgment precipitated by senile breakdown.” Like most elderly first offenders, he could not admit to himself or to others what had happened, and felt his life was ruined—a feeling not without justification.

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