You may find that the miseries affect your memory. This wouldn’t matter too much if it were not that so much teaching still requires you to learn by ‘committing to memory’. One of the difficulties is that many teachers still persist in setting homework that has to be completed that same night. This means that you can’t plan your life and memorize facts when it’s easiest for you to do so. Once again, your ally might be able to help. Teachers who set homework like this aren’t being unkind (or at least, most of them aren’t). They are just doing what’s always been done, without thinking about it. If somebody sensible could suggest a different method, they might well agree. But I’ll tell you how to pursue that at the end of this section.

Fatigue-Many girls feel very, very tired in the days before their periods and this makes life difficult, particularly at very demanding times like the run-up to exams or the end of term. Although it might prove difficult to alter the way your homework is being set, your social life is largely your own affair, and most of you should be able to reorganize that without too much difficulty. Discos, strenuous sports and late-night parties are fun, but hardly sensible if you need the next morning to lie in and recover. It’s much better to indulge yourself in the weeks after your period and be a bit of a stay-at-home in the days before, so that you rest when you need to. And don’t forget meals when you’re tired. After a period you can exist all day on a grapefruit and a cup of coffee, though it’s inadvisable even then, but you’re asking for trouble if you try it during the run-up to a period. You’ll be exhausted and clumsy, and probably very irritable too.

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Guilt is experienced when you intrinsically know that you have acted outside your self-imposed boundaries, the ethical line drawn by your upbringing. It is self-imposed punishment for stepping beyond your subconscious guidelines. The answer is to forgive yourself and ask others’ forgiveness, if that is relevant. Here I recommend Bach Flower remedies holly and pine.

Hysteria-Any patient in this condition would immediately benefit from acupuncture to the hands, feet and ear. Calming the patient is the first priority, then you need to give them time to verbalise their distress and find a solution.

Your health food store can supply the recommended Bach Flower mixture, Rescue Remedy.

Inadequacy-This emotion is effectively treated with the Bach Flower remedy elm. It is useful when a normal person succumbs to the feeling that their chosen tasks are beyond their capacity. We all go through this stage occasionally.

Homoeopathy is required if the situation has become chronic.

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The knots in the muscles can easily be felt and the fibrous mass must be loosened to allow healing to occur. Therefore the muscle is able to function normally as quickly as possible. The athlete can then return to their sports, rather than waiting weeks to see if the legs recover without help. Acupuncture is beneficial here as well as massage and heat therapy. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Homoeopathics recommended are:

Bryonia for tearing pain eased by resting.

Calcarea carbonica tearing in muscles slow to heal.

Rhus tox for pain which improves with movement.

Valerium for pain worse when standing.

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Loss of essential fluids is dangerous. The use of the homoeopathics ipecac or nux vomica is wise. Don’t forget that raw potato juice is a pure starch and will put a lining on the stomach and bowel very quickly. Just wash it and peel it. Spit out the residue. The first liquid drained off white rice is another effective starch. Apple puree, mashed potato and boiled pumpkin are popular starches. These foods settle the bowel well.

Acupuncture – this therapy stops diarrhoea quickly, and laser acupuncture rarely fails in children. Moxibustion is another proven and popular therapy. The old method giving flat lemonade has been proved to be dangerous if the case is severe. The extra sugar apparently dehydrates more. Pharmacists sell a product called Gastrolyte which, when mixed with purified water, provides the right amount of sugar and salt to stop dehydration. Use marshmallow ointment if the anus is sore. Yoghurt in the diet with raw grated apple (without the skin) is good. Add super acidophilus tablets crushed into a honey mix to replace the lost microflora in the bowel.

Jelly is a favourite when the child feels like eating again. Hornbeam (for low vitality) and mimulus (for fear of the pain) are two suggested Bach Flower remedies. Salads are difficult to digest at this time and too much fibrous fruit can start the diarrhoea again.

In a serious case of diarrhoea, where the baby is very young or the condition has lasted more than a day or two, it is essential to take the child to the local medical doctor.

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The way we approach the problem is, after doing the usual tests for appendicitis, we then palpate the pertinent muscles around the area for cramp and spasm. After that we measure leg lengths and check for any pelvic distortion.

If any of these tests prove positive, we and the patient breathe a sigh of relief, and we use the appropriate therapy.

Often the pain in the groin is what a chiropractor recognises as an indicator of posterior pelvic strain.

Another reason for pain in the lower abdomen is cramp in the psoas muscle. This is detected easily by measuring the arm lengths above the head, amongst other tests.

Steed’s story-A thirteen-year-old boy missed his footing and tripped at the bowling alley.

The agony he suffered two days later imitated appendicitis pain, with relief coming only from bending forward (not that they gave him any sympathy at the school infirmary!) On testing, his leg lengths were even and as there were no sore vertebrae on palpation, that left only the psoas muscle test.

The difference in the arm lengths was hard to believe, the spasm was so acute. The boy was in great distress. He is a very strong boy and instead of straining the pelvis, he had pulled the psoas muscle in the front of his spine. Adjustment of that muscle was as gentle as could be because it was so tender. The crampy pain finally subsided.

In this boy’s case, it would have been cruel not to give him laser acupuncture around the stomach and groin to ease any residual soreness.

The trouble with acupuncture for sporting injuries is that it is so effective for pain relief that the patient is inclined to think the injury no longer exists. They then go out and re-strain the area which is still vulnerable for a week or so.

There is another condition that we test for, and that involves the ileo-caecal valve. If it does not do its normal job, the faeces pack up in the colon in the appendix area and send ‘help’ signals. We can easily treat this.

If you have a temperature and are vomiting with a pain in your side which is only alleviated by bending forward, see your general practitioner immediately. Peritonitis is dangerous. Not very long ago it used to kill people.

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Soft tissue injuries do not show on an X-ray, so you can be complaining about a pain the doctor doesn’t recognise. The little fibres of the muscle bleed into themselves and form small adhesions along and across the other fibres. The fibrous sheaths of the muscles become inflamed. When the muscle has to ‘pay out’, the adhesions interfere with its action. They don’t stretch themselves. It feels like a stinging pain as the fibres tear again, and the cycle recommences.

Every chiropractor and osteopath will recognise the fibrous matter (fascia) which has been torn and forms a painful knot. It has to be broken up to enable the muscle to stretch freely again. But oh, the relief when you have freed the muscle and the patient can turn the head or lift the arm without that grabbing pain.

People ask me, ‘If I leave it, will it get better?’ No, the work has to be done. There is no way fibrositis will disappear on its own. Deep heat ointments are wonderful but you still need someone experienced to unravel the knots gently. Some practitioners excel in releasing the fascia across the muscle that rolls to one side when torn.

One of our practitioners solved Margot Fonteyn’s foot troubles of four years in two treatments using this fascia-rolling technique. It is the Rolls Royce treatment for fibrositis, and is a real art. Ballet dancers always need this therapy.

Practitioners can feel the muscles’ rigidity when they are fibrositic. The tension is so great, they feel like steel wires when you are probing them. These ropey tissues don’t go pink when they are worked on. The blood supply is scanty. The patient and practitioner alike know when you are exactly on the site of pain! But it feels so good.

Massage with Tiger Balm is popular. Herbal oils used include lavender, eucalyptus, thyme and rosemary. Mix with a vegetable oil especially if you use pure oil of wintergreen. Remember your homoeopathics won’t work if there is an aromatic oil around, so be warned and store them carefully.

Acupuncture is a most successful treatment for fibrositis. However when I was inexperienced I bent a few needles trying to penetrate the knots. I now use my laser frequently on the problem area, or as I saw the doctors do in China, needle around the fibrous mass on the shoulder points.

If you know you are going to lift heavy loads at work, then prepare yourself. Go to the gym and start building up your strength to be able to handle the type of load that will be required of you. Prevention is better and less painful than cure.

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The temple is the area of your head roughly between and above the eye socket and the ear. Across each temple runs the temporal artery. In temporal arteritis, the connective tissue inside this artery becomes very inflamed. As a result, the artery becomes much more prominent and very tender to the touch; at the same time there may be a severe headache. You may lose weight, and feel generally unwell in a non-specific way. There is often generalised scalp tenderness, and your muscles may ache over the whole of your body. And, finally, some patients get severe aching in the jaw muscles, on chewing. This ache quickly disappears when they stop chewing, and returns when they start again.

The importance of temporal arteritis lies not in the headache, but because it’s not just the temporal artery that is affected. The single artery which supplies the eyeball, the ophthalmic artery can also become inflamed; when it does it swells up on the inside, and in doing so blocks itself off, reducing or cutting off the supply of blood to the eye. Unfortunately, the retina is very delicate. It can’t survive for long without a blood supply, and if its blood supply fails, blindness can result, overnight. It’s a worrying prospect; fortunately, the doctor can stop this happening, provided the diagnosis of temporal arteritis is made quickly and treatment with high dose steroids started immediately.

Temporal arteritis typically affects those over sixty. It’s not always an easy diagnosis to make; the symptoms are often vague, and could point to a number of potential causes. Clinically the most significant pointer is that the temporal arteries are prominent, and tender, though it’s not always easy to determine whether tenderness over the temples is due to tender arteries or underlying tender muscles, in spasm, as in a tension headache.

To clinch the diagnosis the doctor will take a blood sample and measure its ESR (Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate). High ESRs occur in only a few types of illness -connective tissue disorders, cancers, rheumatoid arthritis and severe long-standing infections. For the doctor, pain in the side of the head, tender temporal arteries, and a high ESR confirm the diagnosis.

In the past, one of the ways of making the diagnosis was to take a small piece out of the temporal artery itself and look at it under the microscope. (Technically this is called taking a biopsy.) Interestingly, after this procedure some cases seemed to improve simply because the biopsy had been taken!

Over the years, temporal arteritis is sometimes a self-limiting disease; about a third of patients can eventually manage without their steroids, but it may take as long as seven years before steroids can safely be withdrawn. In two thirds of cases, it isn’t possible to withdraw steroids at all. However, just because the disease may eventually go away doesn’t reduce the need for steroid treatment while you’ve got it. If you don’t take the steroids you may become permanently blind, without warning, perhaps overnight.

Although steroids reduce the risk of blindness, giving them doesn’t seem to shorten the life cycle of the disease itself. Naturally the doctor will want to use as low a dose as possible, to reduce side effects. However, the dose mustn’t be brought too low or relapses can occur.

Again, untreated temporal arteritis can progress to blindness. Unfortunately, once you’ve gone blind from temporal arteritis, nothing can be done to bring back your sight. Once the supply of blood has been shut off to the retina, the retinal cells die. They can never grow again, or be replaced, even if the blood supply to the eye is restored.

Type of headache

The pain can be throbbing over the eye, or in the temple region – but the headache can just as easily be in the back of the head or neck. Locally, however, the temples arc often tender; so is the scalp

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Common migraine (migraine without aura)

This is the type of migraine described by eighty to ninety per cent of migraine sufferers.

• A headache of between four and seventy-two hours.

• One or more of the following symptoms:

nausea and/or vomiting

photophobia (dislike of light), and phonophobia (dislike of noise). Photophobia and phonophobia imply not just a dislike, but also discomfort or pain on being exposed to light/noise

• And at least two of the following describe the headache:

one-sided

pulsating

of moderate or severe intensity (to a degree which limits your ability to take part in normal daily activities);

made worse by normal physical activity

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If it’s none of these, then probably you’re dealing with a virus infection,. in which case little else remains to be done except to treat the symptoms. Paracetamol, fluids and bed rest (if necessary) are usually all that is needed. Regular paracetamol (according to the dose on the bottle) will bring down your temperature and ease the aches and pains. In infections aspirin is not appropriate for anyone under the age of twelve, because it has been known in rare instances to cause Reye’s Syndrome, which is a disorder which can lead to severe brain and liver damage, -and sometimes death. In adults, however, aspirin often brings down the temperature more effectively than paracetamol, though aspirin can upset the stomach in certain sensitive individuals, and is not suggested for anyone suffering from bleeding disorders such as haemophilia, patients on steroids, and those with ulcers or gastritis. Nor should you take aspirin if you are pregnant.

Although safe in normal doses, paracetamol is actually quite toxic to the liver and can be very dangerous in overdose, especially if taken with excess alcohol. As few as twenty tablets taken in twenty-four hours has been enough to kill. So don’t he tempted to double the dose of paracetamol if your headache hasn’t gone away -you may damage or even kill yourself

If you’re still having problems dealing with the headache or bringing down the temperature, despite full doses of paracetamol, and you’re an adult who is able to take aspirin, then try alternating full doses of paracetamol and aspirin every three hours. Start off with two paracetamol, then three hours later have two aspirin, then three hours later have two paracetamol, and so on. In this way, neither paracetamol nor aspirin is being taken to excess, but the effects of each continue the anti-temperature and anti-headache effect of the other. A regime like this can be very effective, especially in settling the unpleasant symptoms of flu, which is often quite resistant: to treatment.

Antibiotics are not required for a simple viral infection, unless there’s a secondary infection – such as a chest infection, or an earache. However, in anyone with an underlying illness (such as asthma or diabetes), antibiotics may be required more quickly, or even straight away, to try to prevent secondary infections starting.

Opinions vary about whether bringing the temperature down is all that important. Aspirin and paracetamol work by re-setting the body’s internal thermostat, and after a dose the temperature drops, or at least stabilises.

Some doctors recommend tepid sponging as well, at the beginning of a fever, purely to bring down the temperature. It’s certainly useful when the fever is subsiding; the body is trying to lose heat, which is why we sweat at this time. In providing more fluid to take away the heat of the skin by evaporation, tepid sponging helps cool the body without fluid loss and debilitation of heavy sweating.

Tepid sponging is always useful in those children who are prone to febrile Convulsions, in whom it helps to bring the temperature down as quickly as possible to terminate or prevent fits. In children with febrile convulsions, it isn’t the height of the temperature that gives the convulsion, but the speed with which the temperature rises. So a child may throw a fit if she reaches a body temperature of ‘)9.5°F in twenty minutes, while that same child may tolerate a temperature of 103°F with no problems at all, provided she goes up to that temperature slowly. In really severe cases, a dose of phenobarbitone prescribed by the doctor may help to reduce the tendency to have fits.

Only certain children seem susceptible to febrile convulsions: febrile convulsions disappear by the age of seven, and never lead to epilepsy. There is one common trap: in a child who’s never had a febrile convulsion before, a convulsion with a temperature could be meningitis, so you need to contact your doctor straightaway.

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