Copyright 2002 by Gary Null
A Seven Stories Press First Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electric, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Parts of this book have been adapted from an earlier work by Dr. Null on this topic, For Women Only!, a Seven Stories Press book published in 1999.
This book is not intended to replace the services of a physician. Any application of the information set forth in the following pages is at the readers discretion. The reader should consult with his or her physician before making any use of the information in this book.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Null, Gary.
Womens health solutions / Gary Null.1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-1-60980-327-8
1. WomenHealth and hygiene. 2. WomenDiseasesAlternative treatment.
I. Title.
RA778 .N885 2002
613.04244-dc21 2001006594
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v3.1
CONTENTS
A Final Note:
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)
CHAPTER 1
AGING
I n the largely unread, fourth book of Gullivers Travels, the hero comes to an island, near Japan, where a race has realized mankinds dream of living forever. The irony is that these immortals all wish they were dead because, though they have lived hundreds of years, these have been miserable years, since they have all the infirmities of the aged, such as blindness, deafness, arthritis, and senility. Jonathan Swifts satirical thrust can be applied today, when we consider the following facts: People are living longer than ever before, but many are unable to enjoy longevity because its potential pleasures are canceled out by the prematurely early encroachments of aging.
The idea that aging inevitably means gaining weight and having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and arthritis is widely accepted. Since so many people have these problems, we think of them as normal. Even doctors are likely to say that when we get to be a certain age, these conditions are to be expected and, since they are irreversible, accepted.
Fortunately, research over the last decade has given us a better understanding of the causes of aging; in particular, several theories have led to new therapies offering women opportunities not only to improve their health but to actually slow down the aging process. We now know that its possible to live to a hundred and beyond and to stay healthy throughout our life spans, thus rectangularizing the aging curve.
Dr. Martin Feldman, a traditionally trained physician who practices complementary medicine, supports this stand. We need to have optimum energy as we grow old, not accept the diminishment many find encroaching as they grow older, he says.
for a full discussion of arthritis.)
CAUSES
Free Radical Damage
It is widely accepted that aging and degenerative diseases are the result of cellular damage brought on by free radicals, molecules that have become unstable after losing one of their orbiting electrons. The unpaired electrons make the molecules highly reactive, and in an attempt to restore balance, a free radical will steal electrons from other molecules, causing cellular damage and destruction.
Free radicals are produced through normal metabolism in the body, but increase with exposure to animal fat, alcohol, cigarettes, and other toxic chemicals. Dr. Christopher Calapai, a proponent of complementary medicine who has a medical practice in New York, gives an example of how this damage can occur: Free radicals generated by cigarette smoke are huge in number. They steal healthy electrons from the lining of the lungs, thereby oxidizing lung tissue. When lung tissue is oxidized, cells break down and die. As hundreds of thousands of cells become oxidized and damaged, tissues and organs throughout the body are affected. Aging and disease are magnified.
Low Thyroid Function
Low thyroid function can prompt diseases associated with aging. Dr. Ray Peat, a distinguished research scientist from Eugene, Oregon, says that doctors in the first part of the twentieth century were better informed than todays doctors about the importance of correcting this condition: Most of the basic research on the thyroid was done before World War II. Pharmaceutical companies came in after the war with what they thought was the latest word in understanding the thyroid. It turns out they were wrong. Until 1940 it was accepted that 40 percent of Americans benefited from taking thyroid supplements. After faulty tests were established, it was believed that only 5 percent of Americans needed or benefited from thyroid supplements. In the 1930s indications of hypothyroidism included such things as too much cholesterol in the blood, insomnia, emphysema, arthritis, and failure of the immune system. Many conditions now considered mysterious diseases were recognized as traits of low thyroid. Very often these conditions would simply disappear when thyroid supplements were given.
When the thyroid is low we have to rely on emergency systemssuch as the production of adrenaline and cortisoneto adapt to stress. Cortisone and adrenaline are now recognized as factors that cause damage, setting degenerative diseases in motion and causing damage to the lining of blood vessels and brain cells, but very often people dont realize that it is the thyroid that keeps us from relying excessively on these stress hormones. (See for more on thyroid dysfunction.)
Biological Clock
Another theory on aging holds that women have a built-in cellular biological clock that is set so that cells self-destruct after a certain amount of time. Dr. Lance Morris, a naturopathic physician from Tucson, Arizona, notes that since the theory was first propounded, the proposed upper limits for the clocks running time have increased. At this time, he says, there is a feeling that the top limit is pushing 140 years. Individuals have actually lived to that age, and even longer.
Shrinking Thymus Gland
Another theory relates aging to atrophy of the thymus gland, which plays a role in maintaining a healthy immune system and fighting infection. As Dr. Morris explains, When we are born, this gland covers our entire chest. Its huge. As we grow older, it diminishes in size, a process known as thymic involution. One of the theories of aging is that if we could stop thymic shrinking we could stop the aging process altogether.