The state of your abdominal muscles and the changes that they have to go through are of major concern during pregnancy and in the recovery period afterwards. To be able to accommodate the size of the pregnant uterus the abdominal muscles have to stretch by an incredible amount. This becomes particularly noticeable towards the end of the pregnancy when the navel becomes so stretched that it flattens out and stretch marks appear on the skin. However, if you look after these muscles at this time and after the birth they are capable of returning to their pre-pregnant state.

It is particularly important that these muscles have a healthy tone while you are pregnant because they are being called on to help support the weight of the uterus and baby. The closer the abdominals can hold the baby to your spine, the less forwards ‘pull’ there is on your spine, and the less your lumbar spine gets pulled out of shape. If your muscles are weak, the weight of the baby spills forwards, and pulls your lower back with it. It is often in second and subsequent pregnancies, where the muscles have not regained their former strength and are unable to support the baby snugly the into the body, that women start to suffer back problems.

To minimize damage to these muscles when they are already stretched to their limit, you are advised to avoid activities that further stretch and possibly damage them. Take extra care while lifting, a very common activity if you already have small children, and getting out of bed.

The recti muscles (the vertical ones) are under the most strain. They are separated into two halves which are joined at a central ‘seam line’ called the linea alba. In many women this is quite visible in later pregnancy when it n turns a darker colour. Sometimes this seam separates, either during pregnancy or in the labour, in much the same way as a seam in a garment get can come apart when put under too much stress. It is possible to rehabilitate this muscle once the baby has been born using specific exercises.

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ONE WEEK

The clock is ticking, but don’t despair; there’s plenty that you can do in just seven days to make your skin the very best in can be. The magic word here is ‘exfoliation’ and granular scrubs, pore cleansing clay masks and glycolic and salicylic acid do the job like no other. An effective regime can consist of a mask every few nights, followed by either a salicylic acid product to clean the pores and glycolic acid to remove dead skin cells. Remember to top it off with an appropriate hydrating product afterwards.

ONE MONTH

The previous

salicylic/glycolic/mask/scrub combination offers you a great headstart and you can now supplement it with a retinol product. Experiment with different versions until you find one that your skin can tolerate. I guarantee that it will be worth the effort, since nothing improves the condition of your pores and gives skin such a beautiful clarity like this vitamin A derivative. Finally, prevent a barely visible spot from becoming a darker one by adding a bleaching ingredient.

*28\82\8*

There are many pains whose cause is not known. If a diligent search has been made in the periphery and no cause is found, we have seen that clinicians act as though there was only one alternative. They blame faulty thinking, which, for many classical-thinking doctors, is the same as saying that there is no cause and even no disease. They ignore a century’s work on disorders of the spinal cord and brainstem and target the mind. The mind for them is foreign territory owned by the patient. Because they believe that the mind is governed by free will, they are saying that the patient has invented the pain for some devious purpose. A mountain of hogwash has been written about patients inventing pain for some symbolic purpose or as a method of manipulating other people. These are the doctors who repeat again and again to a Second World War amputee in pain that there is nothing wrong with him and that it is all in his head.

Of all the hundreds of patients I have seen, there was only one I believed had a ‘symbolic’ pain, by which I mean that the patient uses the word ‘pain’ to represent some other urgent need. Bill Noordenbos, a neurosurgeon in Amsterdam and the kindest, gentlest doctor I have known, introduced me to a Dutch woman with one arm amputated. She complained of a burning pain in her phantom hand but she went on to say that only one finger was burning. Neither of us had ever heard a patient describe so localized a pain so we went on to explore the details.

She had been driving her car on a hot summer day with her arm out of the window. A car driving from the opposite direction scraped along the side of her car and sliced off her arm. That evening, her husband came to see her in hospital and told her that he had no use for a one-armed wife and was leaving her. On further questioning of this poor woman, she said that her pain came from her wedding ring, which was burning her finger. She was given intensive counselling so that she came to see the loss of her arm as a tragedy but the loss of her husband as long overdue. The pain in her hand went away.

A dramatic example of an incorrect search for the location of the cause of pain is seen in patients with a damaged spinal cord who report pain in the numb part of their bodies.

Some patients who have their spinal cord cut across develop a deep, severe pain located in the completely anaesthetized part of their body. There are some twenty cases in the literature in which surgeons have believed that some pain-producing nerve impulses must be travelling through their useless spinal cord and that the pain-producing nerves originate in the damaged spinal cord. They have therefore opened up the spinal cord above the area of damage and have removed completely some segments of the remaining cord. The operation has no effect on the pain and should never be done. This is a truly central pain. Some cells that have lost their normal input have reacted in an attempt to recreate their former role by raising their excitability and beginning to fire steadily. No one knows where these cells are because we do not yet have the diagnostic tools to locate them. Vigorous research is in progress to find these cells and, perhaps even more importantly, to understand the chemistry of their excitability, explaining what makes them run wild.

I have mocked the search for the cause of pain which jumps from a peripheral cause straight to cognitive processes, as though the only function for the massive, complex, intervening nervous system was simply a mechanical relay. Of course, that is not to say that cognitive processes play no role in pain. All of us have sources of aches and pains that fail to capture our attention when we are busy and happy and yet can dominate us when we are down, lonely and miserable. The last chapters of this book will integrate sources of pain into the vast repertoire of possible reactions that are the nature of us and our brains. This chapter has attacked simplistic solutions that propose that, if an appropriate cause for pain cannot be detected in peripheral tissue, then the pain must be an invention of the mind. There are alternative solutions to the problem of pain without a detectable peripheral cause. Diagnostic methods are not yet good enough to detect all disorders, particularly in nerves and soft tissue. Increased sensitivity of nerve cells in spinal cord and brainstem can produce ‘false’ signals but present diagnostic methods do not yet permit the detection of such abnormal activity.

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There is a certain limit, however, beyond which one should not go in allowing his reason to dominate his sense of beauty. That is the point at which one has to suppress certain physical repulsions. One should never think of marrying anyone, regardless of his or her character, unless one feels an almost instinctive comfort in the other’s presence and feels no revulsion at any physical contact. Romantic love is fundamentally an impulse to reduce social and physical distance to zero, if possible, and its chief value for marriage lies in this fact that it makes intimacy an unmixed pleasure, overcoming, as it does, some of the disgusts and aversions with which civilized men are perhaps over-blessed. It is all too easy for a married couple to develop a secret or open disgust for one another in many of the details of life, in spite of the most ardent, initial romantic feelings. So a man and woman should certainly not expect marriage to be a success if they enter it with some suppressed repulsions at the very start. A mature and intelligent person, accordingly, will school his sense of beauty so that it comes to be in harmony with his other interests, such as character, but he will not carry this rationalizing process so far that it does violence to the primary function of beauty and love—namely, to draw a man and woman together.

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HEATHER REMEDY: Self-centred. Always concerned with his own problems. Always talking of his own ailments. Has no time to listen to others. Makes a nuisance of himself, forcing others to listen to his constant prattle. Is shunned by friends. Becomes desperate when left alone without any listener.

HOLLY REMEDY: Hatred, jealousy, envy distrust, the very antithesis of love. Hatred and distrust cause the greatest distress and unhappiness in man’s life. Not only man, but even a child becomes jealous of his younger brother or sister when he has to share his parent’s love with him—the love which was exclusively showered on him previously. Even a pet dog in the family shows resentment when a new baby arrives in the family.

It has such a wide range in affecting the moods of the man that Dr. Bach suggested to givev Holly’ to an active person, if the case does not respond to other treatment or the case calls for many remedies at the same time. ‘HOLLY would assist you to find the other remedies suitable at that time.

*35\308\8*

Bones provide strength, stability, and flexibility. They are shaped in such a way to allow you to flex and extend. There are four bones around the knee.

The femur, also known as the thigh bone, is the longest, largest, and strongest bone in the body. The femur runs down from the pelvis to the knee joint, where it meets with the tibia. The round knobs at the end of the bone are called condyles.

The tibia, also known as the shinbone, runs from the knee down to the ankle.

The fibula is a long, thin bone that begins below the knee and runs down the side of the leg (adjacent to the tibia) and ends at the ankles by forming a bulbous end called the lateral malleolus, the round knobs on the outside of your ankle. It is smaller and thinner than the tibia or femur.

The patella, also called the kneecap, is a small, flat triangular-shaped bone about 2 to 3 inches wide and 3 to 4 inches long that moves and rotates with the knee. The patella moves as the leg moves—it glides up and down the thigh bone almost as if it’s on a track. Although it is small, the patella is a critical player in the mechanics of the knee. The patella is very important for muscle strength by giving the muscles the extra leverage they need to straighten the leg. The patella also cushions and protects the other bones of the joint. For example, in the case of a fall or blow to the knee, the patella may prevent the condyles (bony knobs) of the tibia or femur from being injured. If the patella slides off track even by a tiny amount, it can cause great pain and may result in permanent injury. If the kneecap partially comes off its track, it’s called a subluxation. If the kneecap is entirely off track—for example, it sits way off to the side instead of in the center—it’s called a dislocation.

*3\185\2*

Lack of Enzymes

When food enters the stomach it needs enzymes to help to break it down. If there is a deficiency of these substances then the small intestine has to cope with food which has not passed through the initial stages of digestion. The result is discomfort from wind and bloating. Taking supplements of digestive enzymes or eating a small amount of well-chewed raw vegetables before a cooked meal can help this problem – (see Raw Energy – in the Further Reading list). The pineapple is a good source of digestive enzymes. A piece of well-chewed pineapple or a glass of juice 10 minutes before eating can be helpful. Enzymes from the pineapple are also available in capsule form from nutritional suppliers.

Too Much Hydrochloric Acid

‘Heartburn’ or ‘acid stomach’ is an indication that you are producing too much hydrochloric acid because of the nervous state you are in. If you experience burning discomfort which is relieved by eating or if you regurgitate acid you could well be producing too much acid. Relieving these symptoms with antacids is fine as a first-aid measure but only in the short term.

If you are tense, the acid/alkaline balance in your stomach can be disturbed. You can make this worse by skipping or rushing meals, or by not eating enough alkaline-forming foods.

Water is a good and simple antacid. Drink plenty between meals.

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