Much of modern life makes our eyes lazy-eye exercises appear to help improve vision simply by re-educating the eyes. There are several exercises that are claimed to help. For example, memories a small object with your eyes open, then after getting a clear mental picture, close your eyes and try to remember it as well as you possibly ^an. Open your eyes, look at the object again and repeat the cycle. Do this for five minutes every day without your glasses.

Reading without glasses is good eye training. The secret of this is to read without strain. Here’s how to do it. Palm (see above) for a few minutes, then take a book or magazine and start to read at the distance at which you can best see the print. Read a few lines, or however much you can until you feel your eyes becoming tired. Stop. Close your eyes completely for a few seconds and then start again. Blink frequently and consciously as you read. Try this regularly and you will find that you can read more and more without eye strain. Ensure that these exercises are done in a good, non-glaring light.

Another useful exercise is to practice moving your eyes up and down, round and round, from side to side, and so on, rhythmically and systematically for a couple of minutes at odd times during the day (when standing in the queue at the supermarket, for example). Rest in between each exercise.

Yet another exercise involves holding up your index finger about 8-10 inches in front of your face and looking intently at it. Then look away from the finger to an object on the other side of the room. Look back and forth from one to the other ten times, rest for a few seconds and then repeat the sequence.

Some people find that doing simple neck exercises helps improve their vision. These should be done on rising in the morning. Raise first one shoulder and then the other and rotate them so that the point of the shoulder describes circles in the air. Do this twenty or thirty times on each side.

Allow your chin to drop as far forward as possible into your chest, keeping your neck relaxed. Raise the head and allow it to fall backwards as far as possible. Repeat ten times. Now rotate your head so that your ears come close to your shoulders as you do so. Do this ten or twenty times slowly.

If done daily, these exercises and diet changes should start to produce positive results in a very few weeks. You may need to see your optician to get weaker glasses over the first few months, or you may find that you can leave them off for longer periods during each day.

*216/72/5*

All of the feelings and emotions of living with endometriosis are complex and difficult, but it is important to remember that you have to be the one to make and accept your decisions.

Sue’s story

I’m out and about and then I get the standard question: ‘How are you?’. I give my usual answer: ‘I’m surviving, thank you’. A twitch of an eyebrow. Of course they were expecting and only wanted to hear: ‘Fine, thank you’. But, I don’t like to lie and I also don’t wish to give a ‘case history’, so ‘surviving’ is honestly how I feel. It is also somewhere in between feeling good (‘normal’) and being sick enough to justify being in bed — mind you, often I’d love to be curled up in bed!

Then, you get ‘Oh, but you look fine’. I almost scream with frustration. They’re fishing for an explanation. So, should I explain or not? Well…in the interests of helping them to understand (hopefully), here goes with the justification speech yet again! I spiel off: ‘Well, I’ve got endometriosis (only some know what it is and even less understand the implications) and it is caused by…and it makes you have…symptoms, etc. etc.’. I would usually like to add, but prudently don’t, ‘I look “fine” because…

•     I have become determined to beat it!’.

•    I have my outward “facade” on today, which is a fake expression, accompanied by make-up, that says “I’m fine, I have no pain or problems at all”‘;

•     the fact is I don’t venture out when I’m really feeling dreadful so you don’t see the real evidence of endometriosis’, or

•     I’ve taken a painkiller!’.

You come away feeling guilty because you don’t look sick enough for them to believe or understand.

*88/41/5*

Safety at work

•     Be sure to use protective equipment, guards etc., where they are provided. If a particular situation seems to you to be dangerous and to need protective clothing or equipment, tell your manager or employer, or your union representative.

•     Help newcomers to be aware of any dangers in your place of work.

•     Ensure that people are properly trained to do their job with safety in mind.

•     If you are in charge of people, be prepared to explain to them what the dangers are in any particular situation-once they understand they will probably be more willing to comply with the safety regulations.

•     Keep accident records so that you can be more aware of what is actually going on.

•     Keep all your tools and equipment in a safe condition.

•     See that wounds and injuries are looked at straight away-even a small wound can make it more likely that you will have a serious accident.

•     Remember that a low accident rate helps improve productivity and keeps costs down.

Safety in the office

Every year at least 5,000 office workers sustain injuries serious enough to keep them off work for three days or more. Almost all office accidents are caused by falls-next comes the handling and lifting of goods, materials and equipment. Here are a few useful tips for safety:

•     Try to avoid cramped conditions. The law governs very strictly how much space there should be for any given number of people. Currently this is set at 40 sq ft per person (with his or her essential equipment-such as a desk and other furniture).

Keep the temperature sensible. The law says that the temperature must not be less than 16°C (61°F).

Be careful about furniture and fittings. Probably the most dangerous are filing cabinets that can topple over when top drawers are pulled out. Spread the load over the drawers and open only one drawer at a time. Metal furniture, particularly shelves and drawers, can cause nasty injuries.

Badly placed telephones with trailing cables are a serious hazard, causing people to trip and fall. Put all cables under special cable covers if they cross the floor where people walk.

Keep the office tidy. Keep floors, passages and stairs clear of goods, litter and so on. Place litter bins where no one can fall over them. Do not put broken glass into litterbins-dispose of it direct into the dustbins.

Most accidents in offices are caused by falls over cables and objects lying about. Spilt liquids on shiny surfaces, rugs with holes in them, and worn carpets and rugs are also common causes of accidents. As you walk about, look where you are going. Walk, don’t run.

Learn to lift properly so as not to hurt your back.

•     Ensure that you are properly trained to operate the equipment you are supposed to be using. Never dabble with electronic or electrical equipment unless you are trained to do so. Be careful of chemicals used for copiers and other equipment.

•     Be aware of the fire regulations for your office.

•     Don’t play around in the office -horseplay results in accidents, and the office is no place for practical jokes.

•     Know who is in charge of first aid in your office.

•     Be thoughtful about your actions and how they could make life unsafe for your colleagues.

*77/72/5*

Meditation has been the subject of research since the late 1960s and is now being used in many treatments in conjunction with conventional medical practices. It is being used to improve the quality of life for people who have cancer, AIDS or high blood pressure, and to help people who have an addiction to narcotics. Meditation also reduces anxiety levels in anxiety disorders. One study showed ‘significant reductions in anxiety and depression’ and that it is effective in panic disorder with or without agoraphobia and generalised anxiety disorder (Kabat-Zinn 1992).

If we have the ability to dissociate, we will find meditation quite easy, because we are already accessing various states of consciousness. We can use meditation as an ‘exposure’ technique to become more familiar with altered states. The more familiar we become with them, the more we will lose our fear of them.

Our recovery depends upon our ability to bring down and keep down our anxiety level. Recovery means having to change some of our previous ways of dealing with certain aspects of our life. Becoming disciplined in a relaxation technique is an important step in our overall commitment to recovery.

*60\94\8*

Melissa had a part-time job and had to work at night. On most nights she was alone, except for customers coming and going. Melissa was scared of being held up, as there was always quite a bit of cash around. Her fear increased and her anxiety became all-pervasive. She decided to seek help and was put on a three-month waiting list to see a therapist. During this time her anxiety and fear escalated. Melissa felt she had no alternative but to resign, but her fear and anxiety continued. When she finally saw the therapist she filled out various forms and spoke to the therapist about her fears. The next time she saw him she noticed a jar of spiders on his desk. Melissa asked him about them and he replied that as she was also scared of spiders, the first step was to confront her fear of them. The therapist then left the office leaving her with the spiders. Melissa had always been scared of spiders; she could not remember a time when she wasn’t. She didn’t care about her fear of spiders, but here she was sitting in an office looking at a jar of them. All she wanted to do was to stop the anxiety so she could go back to work. She walked out and didn’t go back.

*42\94\8*

The second category of avoidance behaviour is caused through anticipatory anxiety, the ‘what ifs’. This category differs from the first in its defence and control. The first category is an overall, ongoing attempt to control the disorder; the second is a defence against a specific spiral of high anxiety.

Anticipatory anxiety is the fear of having a panic attack while meeting a specific commitment. The overall defence against ongoing anxiety and panic attacks sometimes reduces them to a manageable level. However, the relative safety is lost when we have to break through our invisible boundaries to meet a specific commitment. It can be caused by going to the local shop, going out with family or friends, or anything.

It doesn’t matter if the event is five minutes or five months away. The anticipation of having to go past our invisible boundaries means breaking our tenuous control of our overall defence. This’triggers the ‘what ifs’: ‘what if I can’t do it?’ ‘what if I do have a panic attack?’. By the time we have to leave home to meet the commitment the anxiety level may be so high we cancel our plans and stay home. In other words, we avoidbecause of a specific spiral of anxiety.

*23\94\8*

Social phobia

Social phobia can also be an extremely restrictive disorder. People fear being watched by other people. They become frightened in case they embarrass themselves. They may fear public speaking, eating in front of other people, social occasions or talking to people. Some people are frightened to walk down the street or go into a shop in case people look at them. People can suffer extreme anxiety in these situations, and it is not unusual for them to experience ‘cued’ panic attacks.

Combinations

Although each disorder has its own primary manifestation, symptoms of other disorders can be experienced in conjunction with the principal disorder. A diagnosis is made by the primary presenting symptoms. Treatment will be directed to the primary disorder, along with associated treatment/s towards the overlap of the others.

This book is about what I have discovered about myself and other people who suffer from a panic-related anxiety disorder. It draws on my own and other people’s experiences of the disorder. It is difficult to distinguish between the examples. The many people I have spoken to will recognise themselves, but so too will the many millions of other people who have the disorder.

*7\94\8*

The same is also true of hypochondria, an anxious preoccupation with the body, or a part of the body. The patient characteristically believes that the part is diseased or not fully functional. He or she generally reports pain, and other bizarre sensations of bodily disturbance and internal movement. There are few physical symptoms that can be observed, apart from vomiting, fainting and sweating in some cases. Hypochondria is thought to be a result of repressed emotions and secret fears, and it is far more likely to develop in families where there is a preoccupation with illness, or in people who have a great deal of contact with invalids as children.

In earlier centuries, hypochondria was recognized as a ‘real’ illness, with a distinctive set of characteristics. And it was considered to be worthy of treatment. The dismissal of hypochondria by most doctors is a relatively new attitude, and one which is lamented by those that have studied this disorder. Robert Meister in his book Hypochondria writes: ‘Those physicians who shrug off a suffering patient because they regard his condition as psychosomatic or hypochondriacal are not acting as professional healers … The cultural and social norms that affect considerations of health and illness have established what might be called an unspoken “Acceptability Index” of various forms of illness. On such an index, bacterial pneumonia, which is regarded as a “real” illness, would indubitably outrank peptic ulcers, which are viewed suspiciously as being of “psychosomatic” origin, and all illnesses known to man would outrank hypochondria … The prevailing negative attitudes towards hypochondria are largely unexplained, unjustified and certainly unjust to victims of the condition.’

The best type of treatment for both psychosomatic complaints and hypochondria is some form of psychotherapy or hypnotherapy which should make it possible for the sufferer to identify the underlying emotions that are responsible for the symptoms. Once aware of the source of the problem, the patient can come to terms with these emotions and the physical symptoms should then diminish.

In some cases, however, the symptoms are a vital element in the way the patient deals with the world and with his or her own conflicts about life and relationships. For such people, the symptoms are indispensable and the best hope is to keep the condition within limits so that it causes the least possible disruption to the patient and his family.

*197\180\8*

In recent years, urologists have begun to recommend to their male patients that they get into the habit of checking their testicles each month for lumps and other growths they may find there, much as a gynecologist tells her patients to check their breasts each month.

Though problems occur more frequently in the prostate than in the testicles, it’s still a good idea to get into the habit of checking your testicles since tumors that occur in the testicles frequently turn out to be malignant. And, as is true for women, any lump you find in its early stages is not likely to be painful until later, by which time treatment may not be effective.

Check your testicles one at a time, preferably after a shower. Feel the surface of the testicle through the scrotum and note any new growths on the surface, rolling the testicle between the index finger and thumb of both hands as you go. You should also compare the size of the testicle with the size it was in last month’s exam. Is it harder or larger, or has it changed in any way? Once you’ve thoroughly checked one testicle, examine the other.

If you discover a lump on your testicle or notice any other changes, you should see your doctor or urologist right away. Although your risk of getting testicular cancer decreases as you get older, it’s important to check your testicles every month.

The good news is that a lump or mass on the testicle is often due to another problem that is easily remedied. You may have a benign growth—which is usually the case if the growth appears within the scrotum and not on the testicle itself—or a painless cyst that appears on the epididymis, the tube that stores sperm next to the testicle.

*480\167\8*

When you were a kid and you had diarrhea, you’d probably do anything else but admit to it. And now that you’re an adult, you’re probably the same way. Some people act as though they’re ashamed when they have diarrhea.

Diarrhea is a sudden change in your usual pattern of elimination that usually results in more than three soft bowel movements a day. You may also have a sense of urgency and discomfort in your bowel.

Food poisoning is the most common cause of diarrhea that appears suddenly. If you have food poisoning, you will also probably be vomiting and have fever and cramps. Food poisoning results when staphylococcus bacteria in contaminated food—most often dairy products, pastries, or mayonnaise-based foods—form a toxin in the digestive system. The symptoms first appear about two to six hours after eating a contaminated food. Summertime picnics and barbecues are the number one cause of food poisoning; you should always keep salads and other foods covered and on ice, since staphylococcus bacteria can grow very quickly on a picnic table on a hot summer day.

A more severe type of food poisoning occurs when food is tainted with salmonella, a bacteria that is found most often in raw chicken.

A sudden case of diarrhea may also be due to traveling to another area of the country; this is known as traveler’s diarrhea and is caused by bacteria in the water supply. Traveler’s diarrhea usually occurs 24 to 72 hours after drinking the water, and you may also have fever, vomiting, and pain for up to a week. This form of diarrhea is seen especially in people who travel to Mexico; it is frequently referred to as Montezuma’s Revenge.

*426\167\8*