Health News and Information

Dose1 The lowest dose which can control the symptoms should be used. It should not be continued beyond four weeks.2 Long-term chronic use is not recommended.3 Treatment should always be tapered off gradually.4 Patients who have taken benzodiazepines for a long time may require a longer period during which doses are reduced.5 When a benzodiazepine is used as a hypnotic, treatment should, if possible, be intermittent.Precautions1 Benzodiazepines should not be used alone to treat depression or anxiety associated with depression. Suicide may be precipitated in such patients.2 They should not be used for phobic or obsessional states.3 They should not be used for the treatment of chronic psychosis.4 In case of loss or bereavement, psychological adjustment may be inhibited by benzodiazepines.5 Disinhibiting effects may be manifested in various ways. Suicide may be precipitated in patients who are depressed, and aggressive behaviour towards self and others may be precipitated. Extreme caution should therefore be used in prescribing benzodiazepines in patients with personality disorders.*89\326\8*

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the name given to a disorder of the muscular walls of the bowel. It affects gut motility – the rate at which the contents of the bowel are pushed along to the rectum – and is characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort, constipation, diarrhoea or alternate bouts of constipation and diarrhoea. These symptoms are common to most sufferers, but there are also a host of other symptoms associated with the condition; the nature of these depends on the cause of the problem. So, while several people could be diagnosed as having Irritable Bowel Syndrome, their symptoms could vary a great deal; for example, symptoms of IBS caused by milk intolerance could be very different from those symptoms where the problem is the result of stress or of an infection.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome is also known by other names: Mucous Colitis, Spastic Colon, or Non-inflammatory Bowel Disease. The term Irritable Bowel Syndrome seems to be a misnomer, for the bowel of the majority of sufferers – far from being irritable – is half-asleep. Since the treatment should vary according to exactly how the bowel is behaving, it would seem appropriate to give this condition three names: the Sluggish Bowel Syndrome, the Hyperactive Bowel Syndrome and the Confused Bowel Syndrome, the latter describing the alternate bouts of constipation and diarrhoea. These variations will be discussed fully later.
Who Suffers from this Condition?
Irritable Bowel Syndrome affects all age groups, from the infant who cries with colic to the aged. It ranges in degree from just a temporary interruption in an otherwise normal life, to a condition which makes a person look ill-nourished, constantly tired, miserable and confused.
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Bryonia
Unlike the Nux Vomica picture, those needing Bryonia are unlikely to feel any desire to move their bowels. Because of poor internal secretions, once a stool is passed, it is accompanied with much difficulty, and appears large, dry and dark as though burnt. There may be a strong sense of thirst for cold water in large quantities. As with Nux Vomica, there may be marked irritability and headache.
Alumina
Even a soft stool is expressed with difficulty due to lack of tone of the rectum. No inclination to try to pass a stool, but when a motion is obtained, it is likely to be soft and sticky, or hard and knotted. There may also be itching and burning at the anus.
Graphites
Soreness and itching of the anus with possible aching after passing a stool. Several days may go by without urging, but when a motion is achieved, it is likely to consist of small, rounded pellets covered with shreds of mucus. There may be a tendency to anal fissure which causes great pain on passage of a stool. Persons needing Graphites may have a tendency to be overweight and chilly.
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