Medical Information
Atherosclerosis

There are two common forms of vascular disease, atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis. We will first consider atherosclerosis. This is plaque formation on the inside or the arterial system. It has an entirely different causation than arteriosclerosis which is diffuse hardening of the arteries.

There are several known, and easily avoided, risk factors at work in the creation of atherosclerosis. While inflammation and subsequent damage of the intima are the causes of plaque formation, there are several factors which will then accelerate the process. Foremost are the so-called "trans-fats" found in junk foods. Next is oxidized cholesterol (from cooked, i.e., pasteurized, milk and other animal foods cooked in open air). Then the relative absence of antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C and E, and high levels of homocysteine (a condition easily prevented with vitamins B6, B 12 and folate) are important contributing factors. Tobacco smoke drains the body's resources of antioxidants, particularly vitamin C, and further accelerates atherosclerosis. If you know and apply these facts from an early age, there is no reason for atherosclerosis to ever develop in your body. To know and apply these facts, you have to be willing to think for yourself and ah, there is the reason atherosclerosis will continue to kill people. Maybe the good do die young but so do the uninformed and dogmatic.

 

 

Medical Tips & Questions
The word hydrotherapy refers to any method of helping a medical condition with the use of water. Here are a some of these therapies with a short description of each. This is not meant as advice on how to do it but rather is an introduction to understand your doctor's or practitioner's reasoning in applying these methods. These methods should not be self-administered unless you receive training from a professional and remain under the consultative supervision of that person. For that reason the full instructions are not presented.

Constitutional Hydrotherapy - application of first hot, then cold to the trunk, front and back for the purpose of strengthening the immune system and promoting healing.

Cold Compresses - applied as a cold cloth wrung from ice water and restored by another as it warms for the purpose of forcing blood away from an area to decrease pain as in, for example, the treatment of acute injuries.

Hot Compresses - a cold compress is left in place for a long period of time for the purpose of stimulating a rebound response from the body to increase healing (metabolic) activity in the area of application; thus if the desired response is forthcoming, the cold compress becomes a hot compress.