Happy New Year & Wish you Wellness !!!!

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Splitting Headaches and Migraines - Cause & Cure

It was quite annoying every time my head would ache when I was little and it would only be on the right side of my forehead or sometimes the right side of the head. Over a period of time of course the head ache stopped and rarely ever occurred. However the headaches weren't as a repercussion to something I did like lack of sleep or food but it would come out in the open from nowhere. Today as I understand better it felt right to share the basics of how a headache originates and how we can prevent or cure it with food rather than the analgesics we are often prescribed.


Is Headache = Brain ache ? - No. The brain cannot ache because it does not have pain receptors but the surrounding of the brain like meninges, neck muscles, nerves in the neck, etc can cause the headache to occur as the receptors in these regions called "Nociceptors". Several areas of the head and neck have these pain-sensitive structures, which are divided in two categories such as within the cranium - area of skull that houses the brain part, (blood vessels,meninges, and the cranial nerves) and outside the cranium (the periosteum of the skull,muscles, nerves, arteries and veins, subcutaneous tissues, eyes, ears, sinuses and mucous membranes). 

Types of headaches & Causes - Headaches occur in different regions of the head & neck. Cluster headaches, Migraines, Tension, Sinus are the classification based on the region of the headache. The International Headache Society classifies the headaches as primary headaches which include  migraines, tension-types headaches, cluster headache and other trigeminal (cranial nerve) autonomic cephalalgias. Headaches due to stabbing, cough, exertion and sexual activity are classified as primary headaches. The secondary headaches are those caused by an underlying problem like injury or trauma to head or neck, intracranial hematoma, intracranial fluid imbalance, hemorrhage, post head surgery, stroke, transient ischemic attack (mini stroke), vascular disorders, cerebral venous thrombosis. Some other secondary headaches are due to intracranial disorders that are not vascular like low or high pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid pressure, non-infectious inflammatory disease, intracranial neoplasm, epileptic seizure or other types of disorders or diseases that are intracranial but that are not associated with the vasculature of the central nervous system. Headaches caused by dialysis, high blood pressure, hypothyroidism, and cephalalgia and even fasting are considered secondary headaches. Headache are mainly caused due to traction or irritation of the meninges and blood vessels. The nociceptors in the surrounding area of brain may also be stimulated by other factors than head trauma or tumors and cause headaches. Some of these include stress, dilated blood vessels and muscular tension. Once stimulated, a nociceptor sends a message up the length of the nerve fiber to the nerve cells in the brain, signaling that a part of the body hurts. 


What happens next ? - Endorphin the happiness hormone plays a key role in the headache or rather preventing it. It has been noted through studies that those who have consistent high levels of endorphin in their blood have lesser occurance of headache than those with lower endorphins. People who suffer from chronic headaches or severe headaches have lower levels of endorphins compared to people who do not complain of headaches. The underlying cause and physiology of primary headaches are very vague and yet widely understood like those of migraines which is characterized by pulsating pain on one side of the head with a visual disturbance, nausea, and sense of smell this is known as the 'Aura', however some people who have migraine do not experience aura while the headache persists. It is also thought that the migraine is a result of the rebound to dilatation of the blood vessel. Many headaches that are primary in nature are caused as a result of blood vessel dilatation or sudden imbalance in the blood flow to the head region. 


Saving a Headache / Migraine - Natural remedies work as well as analgesics for headaches. The best known headache prevention is ample of fluids & exercise regularly. Migraines have to be treated with more regularity than when they inflict themselves on us. The vasodilation that enlarges the blood vessels in the head region stimulates the nerve endings surrounding the brain which in turn stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic nervous system stimulation causes stress and pain which is due to the response to flight, fight and fright. This gives sensitivity ot light and sound, slows gastric emptying into the intestine, slows the blood circulation. The best thing to do for treating a migraine is to devoid the body of any stimulant such as sound, light, caffeine, smoking, nicotine substance, spices, herbs that stimulate senses of smell and taste. Grape juice is a very good cure for migraine as well as beetroot juice mixed in cucumber juice and carrot juice, spinach and carrot juice of equal quantity mixed together helps curing it too. Lemon crust paste applied to the forehead during the headache helps ease it as well. Condiments, sauces and gravies should be avoided. Sleep and regular fluid intake of cold water helps quicker. Similarly for a tension type or cluster headache sleep without any stimulation to the nervous system like sound and light with plenty of plain cold water or vegetables juices gives instant relief. Secondary headaches need to be treated differently as their main cause should be treated first to get rid of the headache. 


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Merry Christmas and Wish you Wellness !!!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays !!!

Wish you wellness. 

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Treatment for Fatty Liver Disease without Alcohol

Previously I shared with you about the alcoholic fatty liver disease where the patient consumes more than 30 ml of alcohol per day. However the dynamics of the disease are also seen without any consumption of alcohol but have similar role as alcohol would have on the liver and that is an erratic lifestyle. Non alcoholic fatty liver disease is mostly observed in Indian men as well as some Asian genome as per a study done in New Haven, Connecticut.
How does an erratic lifestyle cause liver to become fatty again is the mystery but it all boils down to the same old story of a healthy lifestyle and yes genetics too has a role in it. Let us discover and unravel this face of the disease today.
Causes of Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease:
Insulin Resistance - The mother of all harm is also the reason why non alcoholic fatty liver disease occurs. Insulin resistance is the resistance by our cells to the hormone insulin due to the excessive presence of fat and free radical damage done to the cells due to stress. This also invariably causes non genetic diabetes of adult onset wherein the insulin secreted is not able to activate due to the receptors on the cells being damaged. This affects the metabolism of carbohydrates and fat which affects the liver ultimately.

Free Radical Damage - Once you have a lifestyle thats overt and out of order be assured you will be under immense and long term stress which will evolve into a viscous cycle of free radical damage to the body one day or another. By getting a non alcoholic liver disease is the last nail in the proverbial good health coffin. Free radical damage stems from wrong food habits, substance abuse or pollution and also mental stress. This leads to a lot of stress on the one organ that is meant to remove stress like that of drugs, substances, chemicals etc and if it is under a disease you need emergency professional intervention. Free radicals are no less than a atomic chain reaction within our body it is responsible for ageing, degeneration of brain cells, heart, food pipe, prostate gland and causing diabetes.

Excessive erratic weight loss - Sometimes people do go over the top losing weight and if they are overweight losing excessive weight in too less a time can prove to be hazardous. Certain cases tend to show this liver disease.
All in all the causes have one thing in common imbalance and disturbance of metabolism of fat which leads to fatty liver disease as discussed previously.

Treatment - Nothing heals a liver more than taking away the root cause of the problem. Liver diseases are to be healed by a well calculated diet plan which should vary as per the prognosis. What is mostly forgotten is that unlike alcoholic fatty liver disease the problem here is that of overall unhealthy lifestyle which needs to be addressed first and insulin resistance needs immediate attention. erratic lifestyle habits of untimely meals, frequent high fat or high sugar or high sodium food, smoking or alcohol use everyday, any other substance abuse like drugs, lack of exercise, disturbed sleep patterns, mental stress and physical as well. Many that I know of take a very blatantly just stop eating fat, opt for boiled veggies or steamed food, and of course no salt for like a month and declare they feel better because the bile test levels are normal. Voila! there you have it no need for any professional help. How convenient to not check if the fat metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism has returned to normal, liver is detoxifying, breaking down protein well, vitamin storage and supplement is done well. Almost everything we eat has to pass the liver at some point for metabolism and compromising its health just for our convenience isn't the solution that will help. Protein and fat are the most hit metabolisms and intake of these above a certain level won't serve well for its recovery. In addition not supplying the body vitamins that are otherwise stored in the liver like A, E and D as well. Boiled food fr months isn't the real solution because the entire course of prognosis could be reversed or relapsed into the same cycle if not handled carefully. A well planned and customized diet plan with variables to suffice the current nutrition and liver healing is a must have. Whilst the liver battles out its ill health and restores on the diet consumption of potent liver cells harming drugs should be avoided, chemicals in food should be stopped, strictly home cooked food should be consumed, preservatives of any nature should be avoided in food. Once the liver reaches a stage where recommended daily allowances of all nutrients can be consumed a plan of daily routine should be charted out to ensure no relapse due to faulty lifestyle.

This should get some light into the mystery of how a liver disease of this nature be cured for good and for more help on the matter please do visit the wellness programs suited for your customized lifestyle or at consultation@wellnessandi.com

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Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease & Nutrition Therapy

This isn't one of the most seen diseases in a population as a whole but yes I do owe the foundation of my career and nutrition counselling skills to this one disease. During my stint in hospitals I would have probably treated more fatty liver cases next to diabetes and heart disease itself and its quite bewildering to me as well. So while I retrospect on it, let me share with you some of the crucial must know facts about this disease and how it can become into a hedge maze if you don't follow the right path.


How does the liver get fat ? - The process is called 'steatosis' which means abnormal deposition of fat inside a cell. Small vacuoles of triglycerides are formed in the hepatocytes (liver cells) which may also accompany inflammation of liver or as commonly known hepatitis. This fatty deposition occurs when the energy or fat metabolism is disturbed or imbalanced so as to not break down fat properly. It can also be caused due to the fat metabolism hormone receptor being impaired or inhibited. Alcohol is metabolized by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) into highly toxic acetaldehyde, then further metabolized by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) into acetic acid which is oxidized into Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and water. Alcohol harms the mitochondria and other cellular processes. The mitochondria is the power house of the cell which generates energy and orchestrates metabolism inside the cell thereby the energy metabolism gets impaired. fat vacuoles are small in the early stages which do not cause any displacement of the cell's nucleus position, later stages the fat vacuoles contain more fat and grows larger in size causing obvious pushing of the nucleus to the periphery of the cell thus disrupting it. However as the disease progresses the fat vacuoles can coalesce to form fat cysts which are more irreversible lesions and can damage the liver cells for good.

Complications of AFLD - When the liver is laden with fatty tissue or even fat cysts it can also get inflammed to an extent where hepatitis can ocur. This condition is more severe and harmful to the body. In this stage the hepatocyte can balloon up or undergo necrosis (die). As the hepatocytes necrose and the liver scars the blood vessles in hte liver become narrow leading to increased pressure in hte blood entering the liver (portal hypertension). The veins need to develop collaterally and thus form a network of collateral portal veins which are fragile and can easily rupture causing bleeding or varices. Varices can lead emergency situation of internal bleeding. The increased blood pressure creates backlog of the blood which the veins try and match up with the collateral system but it doesn't prove enough. This leads to excess body fluids retention in the abdominal area in the peritonial cavity (abdominal wall cavity) and is termed as 'Ascites'. Ascites puts pressure on the diaphragm making breathing laboured. The later stages of alcoholic fatty liver disease leads to toxic substances ammonia as protein isn't metabolized well and can cause disorientation and loss of brain activity leading to sudden death.


Therapy and Care - The liver has main functions of detoxification, fat metabolism and protein metabolism which suffers during any liver disease. Therefore the diet that is administered should make sure the protein, fat and other substances are calculated as per the disease stage after liver function test. The medium chain fatty acids bypass liver and enter directly to be metabolized in the intestine therefore these are good substitutes for fat in the diet. Easily digested peptides and amino acids in the diet should be given rather than the usual protein foods. Protein and fat percentage in the diet should be as low as possible depending upon the stage of the disease and can be modified as the therapy and healing progresses. Liver is the only regenerative organ of our body and it needs ample of simple sugar to do so in order to heal itself back to original health therefore glucose is the best remedy as well as soft fruits and organic home made fruit jellies. Since the ascites is due to water backlog the fluid administration should be measured as per urine quantity daily and fluid drainage done at the health care center or hospital. Excess fluids can also become fatal. the liver is highly susceptible to any kind of infection or toxicity in this disease therefore a complete avoidance of processed, canned or outside food should be the mantra. fat soluble vitamins like A,D and E cannot be administered as their normal doses as they are stored in the liver but can be given in reduced amounts. Potassium and sodium content needs to be measured as it influences the water retention and blood pressure. The liver is in dire need of antioxidants like Vitamin B, C and minerals to heal the stress it suffers and more of fruits that are easily digested and chewed (preferentially soft) should be eaten in merrily. Complete abstinence of alcohol and drugs like paracetamol should be observed. The patient should be under thorough medical care and observation with a total bed rest for couple of months.


If you would like to know more about a disease & its treatment please do write to me at contact@wellnessandi.com and I shall be happy to share with you. For more on custom made personalized wellness management please see our wellness programs offered.

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