Battling For Health

By Christina Sponias

Many people told me that my articles are depressing. However, I only say the truth. I’m not a marketer trying to sell plastic happiness in paper bags. I have to show you what is bad, so that you may understand what is really good.

The wise unconscious used the exact same method to gradually show me the truth about human nature. At one point, I started feeling disgusted for learning so much about terror, violence and hate.

However, it has to be this way because we are not used to examining the negative in depth; we avoid thinking about it. However, we must study what is negative, so that we may understand what is really positive among many things that appear to be good while in fact they are not.

I continued Carl Jung’s research through dream interpretation in the unknown region of the psyche. When I discovered the anti-conscience, I could not believe that I would survive after fighting this monster! It is another conscience inside our brain, a demoniac and evil conscience. It belongs to us, but we cannot see its content, while it can see the content of our conscience and interfere in our thoughts.

My battle against craziness was based on fighting negative thoughts, enduring unbearable sensations and feelings and always keeping myself occupied with many people, and praying. I worked all day in my mother and uncle’s store in the centre of Athens. I experienced many attacks from the wild conscience, but I concealed from everyone what was happening to me. I had to control my behavior, work and never give in.

I obeyed the directions I received from the wise and saintly unconscious in my dreams and in signs in my daily reality to a tee. I experienced craziness while keeping my human conscience alive, which has never been done before.

I even had to face hallucinations, observing that several images appeared in front of my eyes while they were wide open. When a person experiences a hallucination, it suddenly appears right in front of their eyes and they cannot help but look at the images that appear. I didn’t believe them because I knew they were hallucinations.

After 8 terrible months of such extraordinary experiences, I considered myself cured-the hallucinations, the horrible sensations and feelings and the strange, immoral and hatred-filled thoughts disappeared from my mind. I had won the battle!

However, I had many other fights ahead in my long, painful and dangerous path, fighting human craziness at the social level.

I had to explain to everyone what I learned and prove everything scientifically in my book.

I discovered that God is responsible for the wise unconscious that produces our dreams, and I found many other scientific proofs of His existence in biology and astronomy.

I studied in a Catholic school for 12 years, even though I lost my faith and became a complete atheist when I was 15 because I suffered a terrible car accident, where a dear friend died instantly. I lost my memory and movements. My recuperation was a miracle, but I was very angry with God because He didn’t save my friend. While everyone was telling me that I should thank God because He protected me I only hated Him because He didn’t protect Marina and I only wanted to commit suicide.

I didn’t do it because a friend showed me that it would be unfair. I had to live…

This tragic accident prepared me to face schizophrenia when I was 28 years old, after continuing the research that Jung abandoned because he was afraid of craziness.

I had to face what he didn’t, in order to see the entire truth and not only be able to interpret dreams better than my mentor, but also, to be able to prevent schizophrenia and cure any form of craziness much better than any psychiatrist of our time.

I showed you everything that is negative in order to protect you and in order to prepare you for the development of your personality.

Today, you can easily and safely learn everything that I had to learn facing so many dangers, because I can give you a map of the path and show you how you can avoid all the dangers and exactly where the treasure is, so that you may find it by yourself.

The treasure is the wisdom and the happiness you will discover after eliminating your wild side and completely developing your conscience through interpretation of dreams and signs in your daily reality.

Prevent Depression and Craziness through the scientific method of Dream Interpretation discovered by Carl Jung and simplified by Christina Sponias, a writer who continued Jung’s research in the unknown region of the human psychic sphere.

Learn more at: www.booksirecommend.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christina_Sponias

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Apart from discussions of the environment, there is nowhere that junk science is more common than in issues surrounding weight loss - nutrition and diet, exercise and health topics in general.

Every month there’s a new claim, often given a coating of respectability by quoting the latest ’study’. But if trained scientists have difficulty deciding what the truth is, you can bet the average laymen doesn’t know for sure.

So what’s a person who just wants to lose weight to do? Not everyone is a scientist, and very few have the time or inclination to read a dozen scientific studies. Well, there’s no perfect solution to that dilemma, but there are a few common sense guidelines that can go a long way toward avoiding common mistakes.

Greet with a skeptical eye any outsized claims. ‘Outsized’, here, means those that make rock certain claims to know what’s best in nutrition - especially when they contradict long-standing and obvious guidelines.

Studies may differ on details, but they all agree that a balanced diet of the basic essentials - carbohydrates, protein, etc - is best. All agree that moderate, regular age-appropriate exercise is an important factor in health.

Be wary of anyone making promises for safe, easy, quick results. It’s possible to achieve any one of these three, but never all three together. A wise weight loss program will definitely consider safety first. It will rarely be easy - technology has advanced, but not THAT much. And, it is almost never quick. Reducing excess body fat, losing weight and getting fit require a long-term commitment.

Treat with caution any program that tries the other side of the coin: to scare you into adopting it. Many will tout claims of the dangers of meat, for example. While consuming excess animal fat can increase health risks, what is ‘excess’ is still being examined.

Any claim that eating meat in moderation is harmful is based only on junk science. Adopting a strictly vegetarian diet for ethical reasons or matters of taste is a valid choice, but not one required by science.

In other words, avoid extremes.

There are 3-day diets that recommend eating nothing but fruit for three days, then other foods the rest of the week. Bad idea. Such a diet is necessarily unbalanced and will cause rollercoaster effects on the body.

There are diets recommending almost all protein and very few carbohydrates. Bad idea. The body needs a variety of materials from which to extract and synthesize what it needs. That means it benefits from a balance of protein (to produce amino acids), carbohydrates (for energy), fiber and other essential elements.

Anyone selling a miracle cure, effortless or instant results, while claiming to have a safe and reliable program is selling you air. Don’t buy.

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We Have A New Template!

If you haven’t noticed yet .. this is a brand new template for Battling Cancer. This picture on the left is a screen capture image view of what it looked like before.

Although, I’m still rolling out the changes, crossing my “T”’s and dotting my “I”’s .. but, for the most part it is ready to roll!

Please take a good look around and leave us a comment if you have any suggestions, or can’t find anything. Although this template is up, we still consider it to be in a ‘beta’ mode.

This similar template is also installed over at Battling Arthritis, and will eventually be installed on all of the “Battling For Health” series of blogs. There is now an easy access to each health blog, by clicking the links at the top of the header.

Season’s Greetings from all of us at HART-Empire Network
HART

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Hi everyone — pull up a comfy seat and get ready for some weekend reading. Here’s my favorite posts from the last few weeks from around the blogosphere!

When Your Stool Smells Bad and it Floats in the Toilet Bowl
A very, um, descriptive post about some post-treatment hazards for pancreatic cancer patients.

Cancer Doesn’t Wait ‘Till After the Holidays, Parts II and III
Karen Lynch of Discussing Breast Cancer finishes out a brilliant series on practical advice for

Bombs over September, Parts I and II
Benjamin Rubenstein is a recent University of Virgina grad who has just penned the novel “I’ve Still Got Both My Nuts: A True Cancer Blog.” His companion blog reminds me a lot of the crazy mess my friend and I went through when she was diagnosed with cancer in her first year of grad school — a must for the young cancer patient.

Who Will Watch the COBRA?
Of course, I can’t end any link round up without some benchtop research Ramunus of the excellent Cancer Genetics reports on a possible cofactor of the the infamous BRCA1, or COBRA1, for short.

That’s it for me, folks — have a great weekend!

Battling Cancer seeks to bring you the latest in cancer news, opinion, resources, and off-beat stories. Don’t miss out — subscribe to our RSS feed!

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We Finally Have A New Template!

Well, ever since this blog was taken over by Gloria .. I have been promising a new template for the Battling Arthritis blog. It was always in just a short reach away, that I never really did bother placing a different site, and as such .. just left the wordpress Kubrick default template.

At the moment, you are looking at the beta version of the NEW look for the HART-Empire Network. For 2008, I plan to roll out similar templates to all my sites around the network. For all “Battling For Health” series of blogs, the templates will be quite similar with the same colors and general feel - with, each blog’s uniqueness adding to it’s growth. All readers from any health blog will now be able to quickly jump to another health blog, via the links at the top of the page.

I’m still experimenting with sidebar and footer content, but I think everything else is done.

Will You Help Us Test This Website?

We would like your opinion, before we start rolling this template out to about 40 sites.

* How does it work for you?
* How does it look to you?
* Is it fast? Is it slow?
* Please comment - we need testing!
* Do you have any suggestions? tips?

The HART-Empire Network, in conjunction with Battling Arthritis, also want to wish everybody a “Season’s Greetings, and a Happy Holiday, and all the best in 2008.

Take care
HART (1-800-HART)
http:/HART-Empire-Network.com

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Since we’ve had a huge wave of users stumbling their way onto our little site lately, I thought I’d spend a little time giving a tour of some neat little functions we have around here:

1. Rating Posts: We’ve rolled out functionality to rate posts — the highest rated posts are in a sidebar, plus a tab up top links to my favorite posts and readers’ favorite posts. Please take the time to rate your favorite posts, because it lets me know what kind of content you like best!

2. Subscribe via Email: We just rolled out a new way for to get all of the Battling Cancer posts delivered right to your email — check out the “Subscribe” box on the right sidebar.

3. MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog users: Join our neighborhoods! We’re available on both, and we love the company!

4. Your tips are appreciated: The praise you give through Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and other social bookmarking sites are always welcome — thanks for reading and giving us your “thumbs up!”

5. Comments are always on: As much as I like to think that I’m An Expert Authority, I know that’s very far from the case. Don’t be shy to let me know how you think!

6. Contact Me Directly: There’s a little tab up top called “Submit Your Story” where you can send me a note, a tip, a compliment, or constructive criticism. Feel free to use it!

Thanks for checking out Battling Cancer, and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Battling Cancer seeks to bring you the latest in cancer news, opinion, resources, and off-beat stories. Don’t miss out — subscribe to our RSS feed!

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The American Cancer Society released a report today linking lack of health care coverage with poorer survival outcomes in cancer patients.

Published in the January/February issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, the report shows that although Americans are experiencing lower cancer-related mortality rates overall due to better screening and detection methods, education and prevention tactics, and treatment approaches, uninsured patients are still 1.6 times more likely to die within five years than privately insured patients.

According to The National Health Interview Survey, the two age groups most likely to go without health insurance are adults aged 18 - 24 and 25 - 34. The same report also found that nearly half of individuals in low-income households were without insurance within a year of being surveyed and that Hispanic and American Indian households were also more likely to be uninsured than other demographic groups.

Unfortunately, cancer patients covered under Medicare also have their own barriers to treatment — starting on January 1, lymphoma patients undergoing certain regimens will be allowed only a $16,000 reimbursement of the $30,000 hospitalization stay needed to administer treatment.

Considering how far we’ve gone in our understanding in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment, it’s really frustrating to know that better alternatives are available for a significant portion of modern-day patients. Unfortunately, I’m inclined to agree with the folks at The Stupid Cancer Blog when they said that the easiest way to get health insurance was to not get cancer.

Battling Cancer seeks to bring you the latest in cancer news, opinion, resources, and off-beat stories. Don’t miss out — subscribe to our RSS feed!

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What search engine do you use? I use Google and it is even my homepage.

I use Google a lot when looking up anything, as much as I use the hard copy of Encyclopedia Britannica in my younger days. Although in Google, I don’t need to use the Alphabet as my guide, I just type up a keyword and search.

What if I search “arthritis drug”?

I found out that the following will come up:

1. Arthritis Drugs at About Arthritis

Information is about the basics on arthritis medications including side effects and adverse reactions.

Most importantly, the options on arthritis drugs:

• NSAIDs/Cox-2-inhibitors
• DMARDs
• Corticosteroids (steroids)
• Analgesics (Pain Killers)
• Biologic Response Modifiers (Biologics)

2. Arthritis Drugs Database

Although I haven’t used this website before, it contains information about commonly prescribed drugs for arthritis that arranged alphabetically by brand name and also includes drug group, prescribing information, side effects, etc.

3. Arthritis Today Magazine/Drug Guide/Arthritis Treatments

Arthritis Today is the consumer health magazine published by The Arthritis Foundation –containing a drug guide to the latest information about the drugs used for arthritis and related diseases.

4. Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs in Development — Mayo Clinic

Rest assured that you can trust anything written on the Mayo Clinic website. I often use to hyperlink medical terms and condition in all my blogs.

A cure for rheumatoid arthritis may not be on the immediate horizon. But you may be encouraged to know that some promising rheumatoid arthritis drugs are being developed.

5. Arthritis Drugs from Arthritis-Symptom.com

Not much in here. Looks like an aggregator site put up to earn from Google Adsense. BUt let it will direct you to various sites discussing arthritis drugs.

6. Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs from The UK Rheumatoid Arthritis Society

UK Rheumatoid Arthritis Society is the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) in the UK — providing support and information for people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, their families, friends and carers, and health professionals with an interest in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Looks like a very reliable site!

7. Arthritis Drug Bextra — that then redirects to a Socialite blog something. Hmmm. Suscipious. Beware of such search result links. SO, I’d rather not like to it.

8. BBC Health News: Arthritis Drug License Suspended

An old BBC health news (November 20, 2007) on osteoarthritis drug Prexige whose license was suspended by The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) suspended the licence for Prexige, and advised doctors not to prescribe it.

The Commission on Human Medicines found an increase in the number of serious liver reactions among patients taking a 100mg dose of the drug.

Prexige (lumiracoxib) has been available in the UK since late 2005.

9. ARC Drug Information: Drugs and Arthritis

A page on drugs and arthritis from the Arthritis Research Campaign (ARC).

Different types of arthritis are treated with different drugs. For example, for gout and for arthritis due to an infection in a joint (septic arthritis) there are very specific drugs.

For other types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, there is at present no drug to cure the disease. Many different drugs can help significantly and may halt the progress of the arthritis.

So, for rheumatoid arthritis, your doctor will often need to give you two or more drugs together, or to try one drug first and if this does not work to try another.

Painkillers (called ‘analgesics’) and anti-inflammatory drugs are used to relieve the symptoms of degenerative, or ‘wear and tear’, arthritis (osteoarthritis).

10. Drug Combos Effective Against Rheumatoid Arthritis: Medicinenet.com

A November 26 Medicinenet.com article by Steven Reinberg (HealthDay Reporter).

Combining an older synthetic drug with a newer, “biologic” medication may work best to ease the joint swelling and tenderness of rheumatoid arthritis, a new study finds.

There are many therapies for rheumatoid arthritis, but the newer drugs are not better than older ones when used alone, the report’s authors found.

“There are no clinically important differences among the older synthetic drugs or among the newer biologic drugs,” said lead researcher Dr. Katrina E. Donahue, an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

“There are combination therapies that do work better than using one drug in people not responding to one drug alone,” she said.

There goes the top 10 search results when you search Google for ‘arthritis drugs”. take not though that searching the web is merely for educational and informational purposes and should not, in anyway, replace the diagnosis and prescription of your doctor.

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By Robert Groth

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that affects your central nervous system. It is believed to be an autoimmune disease, a condition in which your immune system attacks parts of your body as if they’re foreign. These attacks may be linked to environmental factors such as viruses.

In multiple sclerosis, the body mistakenly attacks the myelin sheath, a fatty substance that insulates nerve cells, or neurons, in your brain or spinal cord. This myelin sheath helps the neurons to carry electrical signals carrying information between parts of the body. These electrical signals are also how the brain controls the rest of the body. The interference with the signals results in a variety of symptoms.

As these causes attacks on the myelin sheath, inflammation and injury occur. This results in scarring (sclerosis) of the myelin sheath, further complicating the disease. These scars can be seen through brain imaging such as an MRI. It is hard to diagnose in the early stages. It is most often diagnosed to young people between the ages of twenty and forty. Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed as men.

Multiple sclerosis is very unpredictable, and affects everyone differently. In some people it is a mild illness, and can be controlled through diet and environmental factors. For others, it can lead to permanent disabilities. Some people respond well to treatments, which may relieve symptoms and lead to a type of remission. Others may not be affected by treatment at all, while a few may suffer negative results from medication.

While much is known about how it causes damage, not much is known about the cause of the disease. While several risk factors have been identified, researchers still do not know how much they really contribute to the disease. There is no known cure for this.

© CG Groth Inc 2007

Robert Groth, author and speaker was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1990. Receive more information and a free inspirational daily email on how you can beat multiple sclerosis at www.beatmultiplesclerosis.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Groth

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By David McEvoy

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease. Approximately one percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their lifetime – more than two million Americans suffer from the illness in any given year. Although schizophrenia affects men and women with equal frequency, the disorder often appears earlier in men, usually in the late teens or early twenties; women are generally affected in the twenties to early thirties. People with schizophrenia often suffer terrifying symptoms such as hearing internal voices not heard by others, or believing that other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. These symptoms may leave them fearful and withdrawn. Their speech and behaviour can be disorganised and strange to the extent that they may be incomprehensible or frightening to others.

How is Schizophrenia Diagnosed?

There is currently no physical or lab test that can conclusively diagnose schizophrenia - a psychiatrist usually makes the diagnosis based on clinical symptoms. Physical testing can rule out many other conditions (seizure disorders, metabolic disorders, thyroid dysfunction, brain tumour, the effects of street drug use, and so on) that sometimes have similar symptoms.

What causes Schizophrenia?

Although the exact cause of schizophrenia remains unknown, experts agree that schizophrenia develops as a result of interplay between biological predisposition (for example, inheriting certain genes) and environmental factors. These lines of research are beginning to converge: brain development disruption is likely the result of genetic and/or environmental stressors early in development (during pregnancy or early childhood), leading to subtle alterations in the brain. Environmental factors later in development can either damage the brain further and further increase the risk of schizophrenia, or lessen the expression of genetic or neurodevelopment defects, thus decreasing the risk of schizophrenia.

Treatment for schizophrenia

The American Psychiatric Association publication ‘Guidelines for the Treatment of Patients with Schizophrenia’ states: “Antipsychotic medications are indicated for nearly all acute psychotic episodes in patients with schizophrenia.”

There is also a significant overlap in terms of the medications for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (Manic Depression). There are two main classifications of medications (from a layman’s perspective); the traditional antipsychotic medications (Haldol, etc.), and the newer, ‘atypical’ antipsychotic medications that have come out in the past decade (Clozapine, Geodon, Seroquel, Risperdal, Zyprexa, Abilify, etc.). It is recommended that sufferers or their carers speak to online support groups to get in touch with others, and to hear about their personal successes and problems with the different medications. It is also a good idea to read as much as possible regarding the medications available, and talk with a psychiatrist, to identify the medications that may be appropriate. It should be kept in mind that whilst both the older and newer medications can greatly help a person with schizophrenia, they all have significant side effects that vary according to the individual. No medication available, unfortunately, constitutes an actual cure for schizophrenia.

A natural treatment for schizophrenia?

While the conclusions drawn range from the positive to the negative, research does suggest that people with schizophrenia may benefit by a reduction in symptoms when they take fish oil capsules that are high in the EPA (a type of Omega-3 fatty acid) form of oil. It is important to be careful about the type of fish oil you are using, as not all fish oils are effective. Researchers at the University of Sheffield tell us: “What people really need to be looking at is the amount of EPA in the fish oil they are buying. Our data from previous studies suggests that DHA is of little use in the treatment of schizophrenia, but EPA is the substance that yields the best results. Dosage wise it is suggested that about 2,000 mg/day to 4,000 mg/day (2 to 4 grams/day) should help.”

A research review article from 2005 in the journal Drugs states: “The evidence to date supports the adjunctive use [i.e. in addition to antipsychotic medications] of omega-3 fatty acids in the management of treatment unresponsive depression and schizophrenia. As these conditions are associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus, omega-3 fatty acids should also benefit the physical state of these patients.” (Drugs, 2005; 65(8):1051-9).

Fish fats, and the oils extracted from them, contain two biologically-active omega 3 fatty acids, DHA, EPA. There are good theoretical reasons why both might be important in the brain. However, with regard to schizophrenia, evidence is accumulating that it is the EPA which is really helpful, whereas DHA may not be beneficial in this context.

The strongest evidence comes from a study at Sheffield University by Dr Malcolm Peet and his colleagues. They did a study in patients with chronic, partially treatment-resistant schizophrenia. These patients continued on their existing medications. They were then randomised on a double-blind basis to receive either a placebo, or high EPA fish oil from sardines or anchovies, or high DHA fish oil from tuna. In other words, all the treatments were coded so that neither the patients nor the doctors knew which patient was receiving which treatment until the trial had been completed and the code broken. When the code was broken, the results were very clear. The placebo patients, as is usual in such experiments, showed a small improvement. The DHA patients also showed a small improvement, but in fact a lesser one than was evident in the placebo group, raising the possibility that DHA may not be helpful. In contrast, the patients on EPA showed a significant improvement which was comparable to that seen with the newer antipsychotic drugs, yet without the side effects.

Other studies have also shown that the same EPA rich oil as was used in the Sheffield study is very helpful in improving symptoms even in those who have a shorter history of schizophrenia. It therefore seems that the best fish oils to use are those which are high in EPA.

These findings have been fully embraced by the Schizophrenia Association of Great Britain, which recommends EPA fish oil along with other nutritional supplements on a daily basis to help treat this condition.

Conclusion

The current evidence points towards this natural essential fatty acid being beneficial for schizophrenia especially when run alongside current antipsychotic medication.

Any good doctor or nutritionist will tell you that the best way to get any nutrient is to eat a very balanced diet. In the case of Omega 3 oil this would be in the form of fish. Sadly due to the pollution levels found in our oceans today eating large portions of fish every day is not advisable.

Therefore anyone with schizophrenia who wants to supplement their diet with omega 3 oil must purchase fish oil capsules that are high in EPA. Make sure at point of purchase that the capsules are free of toxins and contaminates and that they also have a high EPA to DHA ratio, as these types of capsules were found to be more effective by some leading doctors in the UK.

Copyright 2005 David McEvoy

The author Dave McEvoy has CFS and bipolar disorder with a history of schizophrenia in his family. Dave also runs a high quality supplement site www.mind1st.co.uk

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Mcevoy

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