Spirituality & Health

Acid reflux, or heartburn, is a seemingly ordinary condition that could actually be a precursor to more serious health problems. Acid reflux is a condition wherein the acid present in the stomach rises up into the esophagus, which is the narrow tube connecting the throat with the stomach.

The presence of acid in the esophagus causes a burning sensation just behind the breastbone and is often accompanied by pain in the chest, neck, throat, and in the jaw. According to a recent study by researchers at the University of California, nearly 42 percent of the total population in the United States alone has suffered from heartburn at one time or the other in their lifetime.

While the majority of heartburn cases are caused due to poor dietary or lifestyle habits, acid reflux is also a symptom of a number of serious diseases such as Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), irritable bowel syndrome, or even acute myocardial infarction and angina.

So if you are taking medication specifically to reduce acid reflux but continue to suffer from heartburn regularly, be sure to check up with your doctor before trying out any herbal remedies for acid reflux.

There are a number of ways in which heartburn can be treated. Minor cases of heartburn can be easily treated by taking an antacid while persistent heartburn is treated by using H2 receptor antagonists or proton pump inhibitors, especially among those who suffer from gastritis and GERD.

Herbal Remedies for Acid Reflux

There are a number of effective herbal remedies for acid reflux. Some of the herbs that can provide relief from the condition include:

Aloe Vera Juice: Aloe Vera juice has since long been used to treat a number of digestive problems including irritable bowel syndrome and heartburn. Drinking 1/4 cup of aloe vera juice around 20 minutes before a meal is thought to prevent the occurrence of acid reflux. However, aloe vera is considered harmful if taken orally. Hence one should make sure that the aloe vera used before extracting the juice is free from aloe latex, aloin, or aloe-emodin compounds.

Marshmallow Tea: Another traditional herbal remedy for heartburn is marshmallow. The herb contains a thick, gluey substance known as mucilage. This substance has often been used to treat gastrointestinal inflammatory processes included heartburn. Herbalists recommended boiling one tablespoon of dried marshmallow root in water, steeping it covered, and then straining. A word of caution, marshmallow is known to lower blood sugar levels and this remedy is not for those who are taking diabetic medication.

Chamomile: Chamomile is one of the most popular herbal remedies for acid reflux. The herb is rich in calcium content and acts as a perfect remedy for heartburn by lowering the acid levels in the stomach and bringing relief from heartburn symptoms. Chamomile’s reputation as a powerful sleeping aid means that it is perfect for those who often suffer from nighttime heartburn.

Apart from these three popular herbal remedies for acid reflux, other remedies include slippery elm, lavender, peppermint, ginger root, black pepper, and catnip tea.

Besides herbal treatments, you can also try acupuncture for your acid reflux. Acupuncture helps address multiple kinds of dysfunctions in the body affected by gasotransmitters. 

Of course, the best way to avoid acid reflux is to make those small but important lifestyle changes such as not going to bed soon after having a meal or losing that excess weight. Remember, if your heartburn symptoms persist even after you seek treatment (be it herbal or medicinal) be sure to contact a physician in order to make sure that it is not related to a deeper problem.…

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When it comes to taking asthma medication, it’s easy to make mistakes. Not all health care professionals are as specific as they need to be when teaching people with asthma how to take their drugs. It isn’t easy to keep track of when to take what drugs, juggle the use of controllers and relievers, learn how to take them, and avoid side effects.

Fortunately, correcting these errors is easy, and a few simple fixes may improve your asthma. Here are some common pitfalls and suggestions for avoiding them.

Make sure you know your controller from your reliever.

If you get them confused, use a permanent marker to label your inhalers. Using a controller when you are having an asthma attack won’t give you immediate relief, and using a reliever instead of a controller as your daily treatment won’t calm the inflammation that is the ultimate cause of asthma. Refer to your personal asthma management plan when you are unsure which inhaler to use. If you have specific triggers, such as pets, exercise, or cold air, one of your drugs (usually an albuterol inhaler) may be designated for preventive use, meaning you should use it before you think you may be exposed to a trigger.

Don’t stop using your controller just because your breathing feels fine.

It may be the effects of your controller that are keeping your airways inflammation-free and open. If you stop using your controller, you may take the lid off inflammation and see your breathing problems return. A controller does not cure your asthma, so inflammation is likely to come back unless you have changed your environment and removed your triggers. Recurrent symptoms often take several days or weeks to control, and they may require higher doses of controller medicine than you were originally prescribed. If you’ve been symptom-free for a while, talk with a health care professional about the possibility of lowering your controller dose or easing off your controller entirely. Never make any changes on your own. You will need to learn how to taper off slowly and how to measure your progress.

Check your inhaler skills. 

If you’ve never had a health care professional watch you use your inhaler, make it a point to bring your inhaler for a “show and tell” at your next visit. Don’t be embarrassed. It’s easy to get confused and use drugs the wrong way. One mistake is to exhale into the mist streaming from an inhaler: To get the medicine into the lungs, you need to inhale while the mist is sprayed. If you do not inhale a breath as you spray the inhaler, the medicine can squirt onto the back of the throat instead of entering your lungs. If you have difficulty timing your breaths, a spacer attached to the inhaler’s mouthpiece can help make timing less important.

A great way to reduce Asthma and allergy symptoms is starting acupuncture therapy, this alternative medicine is proven to help alleviate symptoms, visit AB Acupuncture to know more about it.…

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What is it?

Myofascial Pain, and Myofascial Pain Syndrome both represent the same form of Chronic Pain Syndrome, according to a number of medical practitioners within the medical community. In fact, many of the same practitioners agree that it is a disease unto itself and not a chronic pain syndrome. The prefix “Myo” means muscle, and the suffix “Fascia” means connective tissue, therefore the word “Myofascial” translates to muscle and connective tissue. The word “Syndrome” basically means a group of symptoms. In essence, Myofascial Pain Syndrome literally means muscle and connective tissue pain symptoms.

What is a Trigger Point?

Myofascial Pain Syndrome is directly related to and associated with Trigger Points. Trigger Points are extremely irritable knots in taut bands of muscle and connective tissue. Dr. Janet Travell first used the term “trigger point” in 1942 based upon the phenomena of referred pain that the knots produced. Putting finger pressure upon the knot would “trigger” referred pain, hence the term “trigger point”.

Where can Trigger Points be Found?

Trigger points have different qualities and predictable pain patterns that can overlap and require extensive treatment to eliminate them. Trigger Points can be found in many different types of soft tissue such as muscle, tendon, ligament, skin, scar tissue, and joint capsules. Trigger points can be caused by other trigger points, direct trauma to soft tissue, infection, disease, radiculopathy, smoking, or psychological distress.

Trigger Point Characteristics

• Active Trigger Points actively refer to pain along nerve pathways locally or to adjacent locations. Latent trigger points only refer to pain when some type of pressure or force is placed upon the trigger point itself or to the soft tissue structure where the latent trigger point is located.
• Key Trigger Points have pain referral patterns that activate or create a Latent trigger point along a nerve pathway. Key trigger points also activate “Satellite Trigger Points” in other soft tissue structures. Both must be treated in order to alleviate both sources of pain.
• Primary trigger points may activate Secondary trigger points in other structures, and again, both must be treated in order to alleviate both sources of pain.

Properly Trained Medical Massage Therapists can treat Trigger Points Effectively

A successful, reasonably safe Trigger Point Therapy treatment plan can be administered by a highly trained medical massage therapist that has been thoroughly trained in clinical massage. This protocol begins with the applicable pain assessment for the associated locations where Myofascial pain is being experienced. Once the Trigger Points have been identified, various massage techniques are applied in a specific order. Although this is a tedious process, Trigger Point treatment in a specific order is required to ensure that all of the related soft tissue structures are thoroughly and properly treated.

You can also look into acupuncture treatments that have a similar effect in addressing pain. Click here to learn more.

What is a Proprioceptor and how does it affect treatment?

Each soft tissue structure has a sensor called a “Proprioceptor” that detects the tension, position, length, and movement of the soft tissue structure. The proprioceptors for muscle belly tissues are called “Muscle Spindle Cells” and are directly related to the reduction of muscle spasms. The “Golgi Tendon Organ” or GTO is the proprioceptor that resides in tendinous soft tissue. These proprioceptors are used to deactivate Trigger Points as well as Tender Points and are best addressed with Quasi-Static pressure to allow Central Nervous system adaptation, thorough deactivation of Trigger points that are deep in the structure, and minimization of DOMS-Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

What happens next?

Once that has been accomplished, Myofascial spreading or release can be used to create suppleness in normal tissue and break up any scar tissue that might be resident in the structure. Eccentric Scar Tissue Alignment can then be applied to parallelize the scar tissue with normal tissue, and range of motion, as well as pain reduction, should be checked.

What do I do at home?

The patient should be instructed on how to perform the “Vascular Flushing Technique” at home in order to increase blood flow, reduce ischemia, inflammation, and promote correct healing in the affected area. A skill set of Home Stretching Techniques should also be given to the patient to further enhance the reduction and prevention of reoccurrence.…

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Insomnia may be temporary or chronic and is quite a common problem.

How much sleep a person requires does depend on the individual. Seven and a half hours is average; some people need nine to ten while others survive and do well on less.

Most everyone at some time or another has the occasional sleepless night. They toss and turn and cannot fall asleep no matter how hard they try. This is usually due to heartburn, drinking too much caffeine or alcohol, or it could be due to stress.

When people are diagnosed with chronic insomnia they usually have problems not only falling asleep but maintaining sleep. They experience problems sleeping on a frequent basis for which there is no apparent reason and never get sufficient sleep to restore their bodies and energy.

Energy levels and mood swings are not the only problems that insomnia can cause. Since sleep helps to bolster the immune system, one’s health will suffer also. When lack of sleep is caused by insomnia it leads to fatigue, lack of concentration, and mental alertness which is the major cause of accidents both on the job and on roads.

Insomnia may be temporary or chronic and is quite a common problem. At least one person in four has difficulty sleeping occasionally and as many as one in ten has chronic insomnia.

Signs and Symptoms

• Difficulty falling to sleep
• Waking up during the night
• Waking up early
• Daytime fatigue
• Daytime sleepiness

Causes of Insomnia

• Depression. Due to a chemical imbalance, it is hard to relax enough to fall asleep.
• Stress and concerns about work, home, and family; the mind is too active.
• Stimulants in prescriptions that may have ingredients that can interfere with sleep
• Changes to work schedules by working the late or early shift, or the time changes due to travel can disrupt your body’s rhythms and internal clock
• Pain caused by medical conditions such as arthritis and other similar chronic diseases.
• Behavioral insomnia occurs when people worry or try too hard to fall asleep.

The four stages of sleep

1. Transitional Sleep } Non-rapid eye movement
2. Light Sleep } (NREM) sleep
3. Deep Sleep } Most restful kind of sleep
4. Deep Sleep } Deep (delta) sleep

Sleep pattern changes:

As one ages sleep becomes less restful and we spend more time in stages one and two and less in deep sleep as found in stages three and four. This means sleep is much lighter and one is much more likely to wake up early in the morning. We are also less physically and socially active. This allows for more free time in which we drink more coffee or alcohol and take naps during the day. This all affects our sleep at night.

Screening and diagnosis:

Insomnia can be difficult to diagnose; your doctor may have you complete a questionnaire to determine your wake and sleep patterns along with your daytime sleeplessness. It may also be necessary to spend a night at a sleep disorder clinic where during the night you are hooked up to a monitor where polysomnography records the following during the night:

1. Brainwaves.
2. Breathing.
3. Heartbeat.
4. Eye movement.
5. Body movements.

If you’ve been diagnosed with insomnia or are seeking relief from your symptoms, consider booking an appointment for acupuncture treatment. Regular acupuncture has been long used as an alternative therapy for insomnia, with some studies even alluding to its higher efficacy when compared to drug treatments. …

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Women Undergoing Fertility Treatment Can Have Their Chances Ofsuccess Boosted by Acupuncture. German Researchers Found the Complementarytherapy Increased Success Rates by Almost 50 Percent in Women Trying Invitro Fertilisation (Ivf). Here One Woman Tells Rachel Blackburn How The ancient Chinese Treatment, Helped Make Her Dream of Becoming a Mum Come True

Esther Duncan was devastated when she and her husband Alistair were told they were unlikely to conceive a baby naturally.

The couple started trying for children two years ago, but nothing happened.

When Esther, 32, sought medical help, she was told she had endometriosis – a condition that affects around one in 10 British women and which can lead to infertility.

It had caused cysts to develop on Esther’s ovaries and, after she had them removed, she was told her Fallopian tubes had been damaged and she was unlikely to be able to have children without assistance.

‘We were both devastated because we really wanted a child and it was really upsetting to be told we might not be able to,’ said Esther, who lives in Edinburgh.

She and Alistair, a 35-year-old advocate, decided IVF fertility treatment was the only route open to them.

But knowing it can often take years for IVF to succeed, Esther began doing internet research into the best ways to improve their chances.

She discovered that acupuncture could help and had three months of it, combined with herbal medicine before her IVF began.

Amazingly, Esther conceived straight away and after a trouble-free pregnancy gave birth to baby daughter Eva in April this year.

She said: ‘After wanting to become a mum for so long, we wondered whether it would live up to its expectations.

‘But it has and in fact, it’s exceeded them.

‘I’m absolutely loving being a mum and Eva is a very happy and contented baby.

‘She’s a real joy.’

Esther admits she wasn’t 100 percent confident of conceiving when she and Alistair began trying for a child.

‘I had a niggle at the back of my mind as to whether it would happen,’ she said.

‘There was no real reason for that but I didn’t take it for granted that we’d be able to have a baby.’

The couple had been trying for about four months when Esther consulted her GP fearing something was wrong.

Her instincts were right and, after being referred for tests, a scan revealed that she had endometriosis.

It occurs when the tissue lining the uterus grows outside the uterus and attaches to other organs, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

It’s a progressive disease and its symptoms include painful periods, abnormal menstrual bleeding, and pain during or after sex.

Esther said: ‘I hadn’t really had any symptoms of endometriosis, although my periods had been less regular and more painful.

‘But the doctors were able to pinpoint what was wrong almost immediately.

‘The consultant told me not to panic because it might not have caused any damage or impaired my fertility.

‘But he said they would have to operate to remove the cysts.’

Following the operation, however, doctors confirmed her tubes had been damaged, leaving her with fertility problems.

‘We were very upset but we also realized we were lucky in the sense that we were only six months or so down the line and hadn’t been trying for years before finding out there was a problem,’ said Esther.

‘We were told it wasn’t impossible for us to conceive naturally, but it was unlikely, and that we should consider IVF as that would be our best chance of having a baby.’

Esther and Alistair decided to go ahead and were advised to go private rather than face a long wait for NHS treatment.

Esther found some research on the internet that suggested acupuncture could help her chances of conception.

In 2002, German researchers reported an increase in success rates of almost 50 percent in women who used acupuncture before undergoing IVF.

They had worked with doctors at the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China, and 160 women who were having IVF treatment. Half of the women received standard IVF treatment while half were given acupuncture to improve energy and create more blood flow in the uterus before and after IVF.

The pregnancy rate in the group receiving acupuncture was 42.5 percent while the success rate in the group which did not receive the complementary therapy was 26.3 percent.

Esther, who had never tried acupuncture before, was treated by former nurse and qualified practitioner Fiona Wolfenden at Napier’s Clinic in Edinburgh.

She began going for acupuncture once a week last March for a period of three months before starting IVF treatment in June.

‘Fiona used needles on various parts of my body including my feet and between my thumb and forefinger,’ said Esther. ‘I found it a very pleasant experience. Sometimes I felt a tingling from the needles but they didn’t hurt.

‘After the treatment, I felt as if I had more energy and my cycle began to return to how it had been a few years previously.

‘My periods became less painful and more regular.

‘I found I was having a more normal 28-day cycle rather than having cycles of different lengths, including 40 days sometimes.’

Fiona said: ‘I treat every woman who comes for infertility reasons individually and look at how I can regulate their menstrual cycle and improve their chances of the IVF succeeding. There are acupuncture meridians that nourish the uterus.

‘I concentrate on those to rebalance the cycle as well as other points to balance any disharmony the individual may have, such as liver stagnation or a kidney or blood deficiency.

‘If the menstrual cycle is too short, for example, I’d be looking at how to lengthen it so the uterus has more of a lining for successful implantation.

‘If the cycle is too long, as in Esther’s case, that means the usual hormonal balance is out.

‘So I’d try and shorten it and make it easier for the woman to conceive.’ Esther continued with the acupuncture once the embryo was implanted in her womb in July.

Twelve days after implantation, she was given a blood test to find out if she had conceived and was given the news that she’d become pregnant on her first IVF cycle in August.

She said: ‘That’s quite unusual as there’s about a 25 percent chance of it happening on the first cycle.

‘But I had felt quite positive about it and we both felt that we had done everything we could to help it to work. After that, we had to accept it was down to fate. When the blood test came back positive, we were absolutely elated and we couldn’t believe how lucky we were.’

Esther said she’d recommend other would-be mums in a similar situation to try acupuncture.

‘I think it helped me and I’d certainly do it again if we decided to try for another child,’ she said.

‘Some people are put off by the thought of the needles, but it’s a really relaxing and enjoyable experience.

‘It was certainly worth it to achieve my dream of becoming a mum.’

Interested in trying acupuncture for yourself and experiencing its healing effects? Visit AB Acupuncture now to book an appointment.…

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