By Anon, UK 

Having worked with many dementia patients in the past, and especially whilst working in a secure unit specializing with aggressive and violent dementia patients, I naturally began to look deeper into the causes of this distressing illness.

Often at the hospital where I worked we saw the same scenarios – a person who once had a respectable work and family life ending up living many of their days in a padded cell, because of the danger they presented to themselves and others.

On many occasions I was shocked to see both elderly men and ladies possess a strength that required at least four adults to restrain them, in order to keep themselves and others safe. The behaviour I have witnessed over the years has at times been shockingly aggressive and I have asked myself:

What on earth takes over these once fully functioning, aware human beings?

What possesses these people to act in such ways?

I have wondered if there is more at play here than we currently acknowledge.

Continue reading “Dementia – what is really going on?” →

by Anon, Social Worker, Queensland, Australia

I am a mother of three adult children and I work in the area of child health, particularly focusing on infant and perinatal mental health. Every day I have the great fortune and privilege to share the lives and stories of many women who are having or have had a baby. From a young age women are subtly taught that it is natural that one day they will want to have a baby of their own and it is kind of an unspoken law that until they do, they haven’t quite reached the same status as their peers who have had a baby. At times the pressure can be enormous – someone gets married and the next thing that happens is that people are asking them when they are planning to have children; someone has a birthday and people start to make remarks about the biological clock ticking … you get the picture. The socially accepted norm that motherhood is a taken for granted goal, instinctive and fulfilling for females shows no regard for individual choice or circumstance.

I certainly took on these beliefs when I was growing up in a family with five siblings and parents with strong Catholic beliefs around women and their roles. Once I became a mother, I loved that it seemed to bring me closer to my mother. It was like I had gained her approval by having a baby and we now had something in common to chat about.

Continue reading “I’m Ready for a Baby Now … It Should be Easy, Right? …” →

by Dianne Trussell, BSc Hons, Goonellabah, NSW, Australia

Question:

Do you find it difficult committing to a routine, quitting addictions, having enough energy, maintaining a positive attitude, staying emotionally stable, managing your moods, harmonizing with other people, remembering things, learning how to do new stuff, and/or changing behaviour when you realise that how you’ve been isn’t working?

Answer:

Go to bed early! It can change your life.

There is an abundance of scientific research to support this conclusion, but it’s not often put together in a way that makes sense to us. And certainly not presented in a way that makes enough sense for us to actually make the choice to make the change. I offer this short summary, to perhaps help address this deficiency. So let’s get into our heads….. literally.  Continue reading “The Science of ‘Early to Bed’” →

by Cherise Holt, 31, Nurse, Australia

As a part of my University studies this week, I’ve been learning about the common visual disorders of the human eye. To understand the concepts, we begin by exploring the normal function – the anatomy and physiology – of the eye itself. From the delicate lid that supports and protects the eye from harm, to the way the eye is held and supported by the body to remain in shape, in place and in harmony with its surroundings and functions.

I learnt about the pupil, the black spot in the centre of the eye that we so often see change size – constrict and dilate – depending on the light that is around us and in our view. It was here that I learnt something totally amazing…

Continue reading “Studying the Eye with University and Universal Medicine” →

by Judith Andras, health practitioner and store manager, Germany. 

I have been vaccinated recently (for tetanus/diphtheria/polio/pertussis). And I would like to share here about adverse reactions, as there is so much discussion about this.

Initially I felt resistant to vaccination and I avoided the subject, see my previous blog about this: Vaccination – more than just self-protection.

I chose to vaccinate because I felt that it was the responsible decision to make, for the whole community.

After I had the injection, my arm was hurting and releasing a lot. What it felt like was something very old had been stored there and was now being released. Continue reading “Vaccination – why do we react?” →

By Judith Andras, Health Practitioner and Store Manager, Germany. 

I was greatly inspired by the blog: My Experience of Vaccination and Self-care by Jennifer Smith, a registered Nurse in NSW Australia.

It made me aware that I had avoided this subject and simply ignored it, despite the fact that my GP at my last check up explicitly talked to me about the importance of vaccination.

After reading the blog I made another appointment. Whilst I was waiting to see my doctor I had the opportunity to read through a brochure about vaccination, which was available in the waiting room and provided me with a good basic understanding about the subject.

I also had a chat with my doctor, before I got the shot and he answered all my concerns, from: “Can I get sick from the vaccination?” to “Are there any risks involved with vaccination?”

Talking to him allowed me to feel that this is really a field of competency for him. He has administered vaccines to hundreds of people and their families over many years and besides his knowledge about official statistics, he actually has his own experience about adverse reactions, etc. I could feel his lived knowledge whilst he was talking and that he really knows what he is doing. Continue reading “Vaccination – more than just self-protection” →

by Rosanna Bianchini, Practitioner of Universal Medicine Therapies, Evesham, UK

Just recently a girlfriend came to me to let me know she had breast cancer. She has not been the first, nor will she be the last to do so.

The diagnosis of breast cancer would hit any woman hard, and raise in them all kinds of possible questions to try to find the answer to: ‘Why me?’ The response to the news from my friend was no different; she confided that she didn’t know why this was happening to her, that she was not a bad person and, as breast cancer didn’t actually run in her family, she could not understand the seemingly ‘out of the blue’ development of this disease.

These are all very understandable and natural questions to be asking, and one that world statistics beg us also to ask is: ‘Why? What is going on?’

Records show us that we do indeed have every reason to be asking questions. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, with nearly 1.7 million new cases diagnosed in 2012, and it is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in 140 of 184 countries worldwide. It now represents one in four of all cancers in women.¹ And 9 out of 10 women who get breast cancer do NOT have a family history of the disease.²

Continue reading “Breast Cancer – why me?” →