Abusive Childhood Can Ruin Your Adulthood

Those who were physically or sexually abused as children are twice as likely to have C-reactive protein (a measure of inflammation) in their blood, which could be one reason that abused children have a higher incidence of heart disease and diabetes as adults. These results were obtained by monitoring 1,000 people in New Zealand from birth to the age of 32. Stress-creating factors were measured, and they were tested for levels of inflammation associated with heart disease.

Inflammation is a natural response to physical trauma, but psychological stress can also trigger inflammation. Constant triggering could reduce someone's ability to produce inflammation-suppressing glucocorticoid hormones. That could, in turn, eventually lead to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and other illnesses.

Negative emotions can do a great deal of harm to your physical health, including increasing C-reactive protein levels, a sure sign of heart disease and just as lethal as having high amounts of LDL cholesterol. In fact, there are many ways in which negative emotions can shorten your life. In contrast, positive emotions can make a difference in your blood pressure readings and your ability to heal.

This is merely further confirmation for something that any astute clinician can confirm. Many doctors experience that nearly all serious autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and chronic fatigue syndrome, have at one of their foundational roots some time of severe emotional childhood trauma that was never fully compensated for.

Children are a product of their environment. Negative emotions are like vibrations that ripple through a pond. Yes, working on the child is important, but if you look at how they have learned their behaviors, it stems back to the parents.

"Children believe what their parents show them and tell them."

Laugh And Cut Stress

 Take a deep breath. Now put your hand on your belly. Imagine your stomach jiggling, as if you are starting to laugh. You may have just taken a step toward reducing stress hormone levels.

Researchers say merely anticipating a laugh can jump‑start healthy changes in the body.

The findings come from a small study, made up of 16 healthy men. The men were divided into two groups. The experimental group was told to anticipate something funny. The other group was used as a comparison.

Researchers then tested the levels of three stress hormones participants had in their blood and compared that to the control group, which did not expect a laugh was on the way.

Researchers found that the group anticipating the laughs had reduced levels of three stress hormones compared to the other group.

Here's the breakdown from the experimental group.

  $        Cortisol levels dipped 39%. Cortisol is known as a major stress hormone.

  $        Adrenaline levels dropped 70%. Adrenaline is also known as epinephrine.

  $        Dopac levels dropped 38%. Dopac is a chemical related to the "feel‑good" chemical known as dopamine.

Persistently elevated stress hormone levels in the blood, as happens under chronic stressful situations, has been linked to a weakened immune system.

"Our findings lead us to believe that by seeking out positive experiences that make us laugh we can do a lot with our physiology to stay well," says researcher Lee Berk in a news release.

The researchers were following up on a similar study they did two years ago in which they found that anticipating laughter led to an increase in healthful chemicals such as beta‑endorphins.

"Laugh and whole world laughs with you."

Eye Floaters

Eye floaters, or muscae volitantes, Latin for “hovering flies", are those tiny, oddly shaped objects that sometimes appear in your vision, most often when you’re looking at the sky on a sunny day. They look like spots, or a squishy little amoeba, and drift aimlessly around in your field of vision. Try to get a fix on one, though, and it seems to disappear.

Floaters aren’t just optical illusions. You’re really seeing them, and they’re actually in your eye, not just on it or in front of it. The weird little squiggles are pieces of the vitreous humor, the fluid that fills the eye, breaking off and then floating about in your eyeball.

A little gross, I know, but completely normal. The vitreous humor fills the gap between your retina and lens and helps maintain the round shape of your eye. It’s made up of water bound up in a little hyaluronic acid and collagen. When you’re young, it’s thick and gel-like, but as you age, the hyaluronic acid network breaks down and releases the trapped water molecules. As this happens, the core of the vitreous humor becomes more watery and little bits of undissolved gel break off and slowly drift around. When light passes through the eye, the shadows of these pieces are thrown up on your retina and you perceive them as floaters.

Since floaters, well, float, their paths generally follow the motion of the eye. This makes looking right at them difficult, and when you shift your gaze towards them, they often move and stay at the edges. They don’t always float, though, and many of them will sink towards the bottom of the eyeball. To get a good look at them, just lie down looking up at a clear sky. Some of the floaters will settle near the fovea, a small area that sits at the back center of your eye and is responsible for your sharp central vision. The lack of movement and the even, textureless background makes it easy to scope them out and watch the blobs bob around a little.

For the most part, floaters are nothing to worry about, just a sign that you’re not a kid anymore. The sudden appearance of a lot of floaters combined with the onset of other eye weirdness, like flashes of light or blurriness or loss of peripheral vision, could indicate a problem, though. Sometimes, floaters are a symptom of the vitreous humor pulling away from the retina, a retinal tear, or the abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye. If your floaters cross the line from curiosity to nuisance, it’s time to give the eye doctor a call.

"Just open your eyes and see the beauty in life."

Tennis & Golf Elbow

Many of my patients are taking advantage of the warm weather and spending increased time outdoors. It’s no surprise that some of my patients are making appointments based on sprains, strains and tennis and/or golf elbow. These issues crop up after too much exertion on weaker muscle groups.

Tennis/golf elbow does affect roughly 40 percent of all players, but the condition is not limited to those who spend time on the court or golf course. Manual workers, those who use a keyboard frequently or those who conduct repetitive tasks with their hands are all at risk for developing the condition.

Pain stemming from tennis/golf elbow is not always felt in the patient’s elbow, which can lead to confusing and misappropriated resources when treating the condition.

Many of my patients complain of neck stiffness or nerve irritation, but largely the symptoms for tennis and golf elbow include tenderness over the bony epicondyle and trigger points in the wrist/forearm muscles. Keep in mind that referred pain can also mask a cervical neck issue. The most common neck joint that refers to your lateral elbow is C5/6, which transmit their pain signals along the radial nerve. It’s important to remember that the radial nerve can also be a source of referred pain from reduced neural mobility.

Minimizing pain while rebuilding muscle strength should be the source of progress in regards to treating tennis/golf elbow. In recent years, there has been ample evidence shown that tennis/golf elbow is not a product of inflammation from overused tendons as previously thought. Part of the treatment plan includes educating the patient about the root causes of tennis/golf elbow so that the patient whose lifestyle or daily habits include risk for a chronic condition can augment activities to be better protected long term.

“Muscle activation facilitates healing - that’s how the healing begins. Stillness is the true enemy,” states Gary Reinl, author of Iced!

The Illusionary Treatment Option, says of muscle stimulation or as some call it, active recovery.

Reinl, a sports medicine consultant, relies on electrotherapeutic stimulation treatments to proactively support injuries like tennis or golf elbow while maximizing treatment outcomes.

“Activity recovery is the answer (ARITA) — controlled movement can help solve the problem and that’s where muscle stimulation comes in,” Reinl says. “Inactivity and over-icing will shut off the signals that alert to potentially harmful movements and put patients at the risk of more damage."

"Activity heals - inactivity creates more problems."

A Paradox Of Our Time

An observation:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.

Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.

-Attributed to George Carlin