Friday, January 7, 2011

Epilepsy Seizure

Seizure is the effect of Epilepsy due to brain disorder in which clusters of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain sometimes signal abnormally.

First, lets get to know our brain. The first is that the brain works on electricity. Normally, the brain continuously generates tiny electrical impulses in an orderly pattern. These impulses travel along the network of nerve cells, called neurons, in the brain and throughout the whole body via chemical messengers called neurotransmit.

Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers of the brain. These substances are released at the end of the cell and cross the synapse, a tiny space between the walls of one cell's axon and the dendrite of the next nerve cell, to bind to receptors located on that dendrite.

There are many kinds of neurotransmitters, but each individual nerve cell produces only one major type. Some of the neurotransmitters are carried a long distance within the nervous system. Others, however, have local effects; that is, they are produced by and released onto cells that are close to each other.

Neurotransmitters are important in diseases of the nervous system. In Parkinson's disease, for example, cells that manufacture dopamine, an important neurotransmitter that regulates movement, are lost. Loss of nerve cells may contribute to the development of epilepsy in some cases. For example, prolonged lack of oxygen may cause a selective loss of cells in the hippocampus, which may lead to epilepsy.

Some of the major neurotransmitters in the brain shut off or decrease brain electrical activity. They cause nerve cells to stop firing. These neurotransmitters are called "inhibitory" because they inhibit the activity of the cells. A neurotransmitter called GABA is the best-known example of this type.

Other neurotransmitters stimulate or increase brain electrical activity. That is, they cause nerve cells to fire. These are described as "excitatory." Glutamate is an example of this type.

According to one theory, epilepsy is caused by an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. If the inhibitory neurotransmitters in your brain are not active enough, or if the excitatory ones are too active, you are more likely to have seizures.

Many of the new medicines being developed to treat epilepsy try to influence these neurotransmitters. They try to increase the activity of the inhibitory ones, which turn cells off, or reduce the activity of the excitatory ones, which turn cells on. Either way, the idea is to have less uncontrolled electrical activity in your brain, and therefore fewer seizures.ters. A seizure occurs when the brain's nerve cells misfire and generate a sudden, uncontrolled surge of electrical activity in the brain.

Partial seizures start in one part of the brain. The electrical disturbances may then move to other parts of the brain or they may stay in one area until the seizure is over. A person having a partial seizure may lose consciousness. There may be twitching of a finger or several fingers, a hand or arm, or a leg or foot. Certain facial muscles might twitch. Speech might become slurred, unclear, or unusual during the seizure. The person's vision might be affected temporarily. He or she might feel tingling throughout one side of the body. It all depends on where in the brain the abnormal electrical activity is taking place.

Generalized seizures involve electrical disturbances that occur all over the brain at the same time. The person may appear to be daydreaming, may stare off into space, or may pass out. The muscles may stiffen and the person might make sudden jerking motions, such as flinging the arms outward. He or she may suddenly go limp and slump down or fall over.

Most seizures last only a few seconds or minutes. After a seizure is over, the person might feel sleepy or confused for a few minutes or even an hour or more. People who've had seizures may not remember the seizure or what happened immediately before the event. They may be alert and ready to resume whatever they were doing before the seizure happened. It varies from person to person.

Qigong has been proven to help control this disease. This ancient healing practice is taught differently all around the world, but the basic fundamentals always remain the same and have been practiced for thousands of years among many different cultures.

1. Stand with your feet spread about shoulder-width apart. In Qigong, preparation is traditionally done with the person's back towards the sun. Position your feet facing towards each other and slightly bend your knees.

2. Take a few deep breaths. Instead of allowing your chest to rise, transfer this motion to your stomach. This aims the energy you are using to the "center" of your body.
3. Speak your affirmation. This can be traditional or anything that works for you. The affirmation is a spoken phrase that tells yourself and the universe that you are united with it. You can speak it aloud or think it, though speaking aloud is recommended. Repeat this step.
4. Move one hand up to your chest and the other lower toward your stomach or the "center." Exchange hand positions often. By doing this, you are "mixing" the energies from your chest and naval. The movement should be a continuous action with no pauses. All the while, keep repeating the affirmation.

5. Visualize the energy flowing within your body--up and down your arms, legs and chest. This can be seen as any colored light or thin ropes. Picture it coming from your hands and moving up and down your body. Repeat the affirmation. The routine should last anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes.

Please refer to my previous article for the afirmation. Do this Qigong each day as part of your epilepsy treatment.

Diabetes


Sweetness can kill. If you keep on drinking soft drink for 1 year everyday and without any exercise, you will have high possibilities of getting diabetes. Excessive glucose in your body that travel through your blood stream reduce the chi level. All the chi channels and meridians may have blokages due to damages to arteries. Excessive glucose is due to pancreas failure to produce enough insulin to neutralise glucose.

First let’s get to know our pancreas. The pancreas is a small organ located just behind the stomach. Its main function is to produce insulin in just the right amount to maintain constant glucose levels in the body.

There are 2 types of Diabetes. Type 1 is also called Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) occurs when the pancreas no longer produces any or very little insulin. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks beta cells, stopping a person's pancreas from producing insulin, the hormone that enables people to get energy from glucose. It is considered the body's system for fighting infection turns against a part of the body in diabetes, and the immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and destroys them. Insulin, you know, is needed in the body to use sugar for energy. Approximately 10 percent of people with diabetes have Type-1 diabetes. Someone with IDDM needs daily injections of insulin to live.

Having type 1 diabetes puts you at increased risk of atherosclerosis, often called hardening of the arteries. An uncontrolled blood sugar level helps set the stage for artery disease. That’s because high blood sugar can damage arteries by affecting proteins in the artery walls. Over time, the lining of the walls becomes rough, allowing cholesterol and the fatty materials to collect and form plaque. This causes the artery to become stiffer, less elastic. As plaque builds up, blood flow is reduced. One pathway towards a cure for type 1 diabetes may be to restore insulin production through regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells within a person's body, an alternative to transplanting functional beta cells from a donor.


The remaining 90 percent are non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Type-2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body does not use the insulin, though it is produced effectively.

When you have type 2 diabetes, the body does not respond correctly to insulin. This is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means that fat, liver, and muscle cells do not respond normally to insulin. As a result blood sugar does not get into cells to be stored for energy. When sugar cannot enter cells, abnormally high levels of sugar build up in the blood. This is called hyperglycemia. High levels of blood sugar often trigger the pancreas to produce more and more insulin, but it is not enough to keep up with the body's demand. People who are overweight are more likely to have insulin resistance, because fat interferes with the body's ability to use insulin.
Artery damage can affect blood flow to the heart and brain, as well as to the legs and feet. Any artery in your body can narrow with plaque. Also, blood clots and pieces of plaque sometimes break off and travel through the bloodstream until they lodge in a narrowed artery. Organs and tissues beyond that location no longer receive the fresh blood they need to function normally. Damage to arteries can also affect eyes, feet, kidneys, nerves, teeth, and gums.
Diabetes can cause neuropathy (newr-AH-path-ee). This condition affects the way nerve cells carry messages within the body. Peripheral neuropathy affects the nerves that extend from the spine to the arms and legs. Focal neuropathy damages nerves of the eyes, face, arm, and leg. Autonomic neuropathy causes abnormalities in digestion and sweating. It can also affect blood pressure upon standing, and can cause erectile dysfunction in men.

When peripheral neuropathy and poor circulation combine, damage can occur in the feet. Any sore can become severely infected because not enough infection-fighting white blood cells can reach the site. Toes are most vulnerable.

Diabetes causes diabetic retinopathy (ret-in-AH-path-ee). This condition damages the blood supply to the retina, the light-sensing structure at the back of the eye. The retina tries to repair itself by developing new blood vessels, but these new vessels grow abnormally, often leaking blood that blocks the passage of light. Eventually, scar tissue can cause the retina to detach, causing permanent vision loss if it is not repaired.

Also called nephropathy (nef-RAH-path-ee), chronic kidney disease is progressive and can lead to kidney failure. When the kidneys can no longer filter enough waste from the blood, mechanical cleansing of the blood (dialysis) or kidney transplant is needed. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, although most people with diabetes do not develop the condition. Progression of kidney disease can be slowed or prevented by controlling blood sugar and blood pressure levels.

In Qigong, Diabetes may result from problems with the Lungs, Kidneys, Spleen or a combination thereof. Diabetes in TCM is seen as a problem with Body Fluids. The Lungs and Kidneys also have an intimate relationship with Qi, the Lungs receiving Qi and the Kidneys holding Qi. Can we presume that by ensuring proper Qi flow the Lungs and Kidneys then are freer to control Fluids, and thus, Diabetes.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Scoliosis


Pretty cool name, eh? Sound like Italian soccer player, isn't it? Anyway, Scoliosis is a condition that involves larger spinal curves, greater than 10 degrees. The spinal curves are usually S-shaped or C-shaped, and the spine is often twisted. Scoliosis usually occurs in the mid back (thoracic spine) or lower back (lumbar spine).

In most cases, the cause of scoliosis is unknown (called idiopathic scoliosis). Scoliosis can affect adults, but it is most common in young people, especially girls between the ages of 10 and 16. Standing in a qigong posture will realigning vertebrae and relieving undue pressure on the spine.
Qigong will even restructure your spine, bones and skeletal frame as part of the healing process, so that even deformities due to injuries and bone deterioration can be properly corrected and mended! — all without the need for invasive surgery, because qigong is a healing program that works from within.

Begin with qigong diaphragmatic breathing and basic qigong stances: the horse stance, bow stance and empty stance. These stances promote posture that remove pressure on the spine but place added body weight on the legs.y generating healing chi energy circulating that energy along the spine and other affected areas requiring healing and realignment.
"Wall squating", "tung pee" and "3 center merge meridian" would help to realign back the vertebrae. However, scoliosis and other deformities take more time to correct

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Back Pain, Nerve Problem?

This is another common physical problem for mature adult. People ranging from 40 above are normally prone to have lower spine and nerve problem due to age factor. People below 40 normally is cause by genetic or injuries to the back bone nerves.

I personally love to do weight lifting just to stay in shape. Sometime just got carried away and I ended up doing more than my body can handle. The impact is I suffered neck, shoulder and back pain. I love this topic as I have personally gone through qigong to heal the problem. It is quite common for bodybuilder to face the spinal problem along the muscle pain which can recover quickly compared to nerve pain. Only god knows the pain that I endure as it looks great from the outside but inside you feel like vegetable. First lets get to know our Nervous System which control lots of our organ body systems.

The nervous system is a very complex system in the body. It has many, many parts. The nervous system is divided into two main systems, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system. The spinal cord and the brain make up the CNS. Its main job is to get the information from the body and send out instructions. The peripheral nervous system is made up of all of the nerves and the wiring. This system sends the messages from the brain to the rest of the body.

The nervous system is made up of nerve cells or neurons that are "wired" together throughout the body, somewhat like communication system. Neurons carry messages in the form of an electrical impulses. The messages move from one neuron to another to keep the body functioning. Neurons have a limited ability to repair themselves. Unlike other body tissues, nerve cells cannot also be repaired if damaged due to injury or disease.

That's why it takes time to heal when you have injuries to the back bone. There are Cranial (12 pairs), Cervical (8 pairs), Thoracic (12 pairs), Lumbar (5 pairs) and Sacral (5pairs) nerves. The below illustration will indicate each role of the pairs of the nerves.
So now we know here they are, we can zoom down to each reaponsible area that causes the pain and for most body builder the neck pain and shoulder are due to C3 & C5. For elbows, arms and hands focus on C7 & C8. Now, this pain is mostly due to injuries while doing weightlifting where the nerves and bones are pushing to the limit.
For elderly people, they normally suffer the knee and lower legs problem due to the nerve root called sciatica. It is the connecting nerve back to L5 of the vertebral level. Sciatica is defined by a pain along the large sciatic nerve that runs from the lower back down through the buttocks and along the back of each leg – is a relatively common form of back pain. Sciatica is usually caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve from a herniated disc (also referred to as a bulging disc, ruptured disc or pinched nerve).

So how can qigong help? There are few qigong movement that works fine to cure the above problems. The "dragon crane", "churn chi", "opening of the upper torso" and tung pi" for neck, shoulder, arms and fingers. For knee and Siatica problem, it is best to do "knee rotation" "wall squating", "hip rotation" and laying "leg rotation".
Next article I will talk about bone related problem which somewhat effect the nerves system like slip disc (herniated disc), scoliosis, spondylosis, etc.

Kidney Failure

More and more people are suffering from kidney failure every day and has to undergo dialysis treatment. The most common reasons for the failure are due to high blood pressure and diabetes. Before we go into the root cause, lets try to understand what or which part of the kidney actually that had failed.

Lets get to know our kidneys. Kidneys play very important role of the body systems. Disimpairment would caused the blood flow and cisculation would be dampant. Kidney is a very sensitive organs which a drmatic change in blood pressure may cause damage to kidney. Basic function of kidney is to filter the blood. The blood with waste products enter kidney via renal artery. It then goes to nephron (situated in pyramid apex) via major and minor calyces. Nephron is where the blood is being filtered. Then the clean blood goes out to renal vein and distribute back to the heart. Access water as urine will flow to bladder via ureter.

Most common people are diagnosed with chronic renal failure which is due to diabetes and high blood pressure. The kidneys attempt to compensate for renal damage by hyperfiltration (excessive straining of the blood) within the remaining functional nephrons (filtering units that consist of a glomerulus and corresponding tubule). Over time, hyperfiltration causes further loss of function. Chronic loss of function causes generalized wasting (shrinking in size) and progressive scarring within all parts of the kidneys. In time, overall scarring obscures the site of the initial damage. Yet, it is not until over 70% of the normal combined function of both kidneys is lost that most patients begin to experience symptoms of kidney failure.

Now, in qigong it is known that hip rotation is one of the best movement to bring back the qi level in kidneys. Mind need to focus and visulise the nepron is full with chi and functioning perfectly. All protein wastes and blockages are removed dissapear and gone. The kidney is strong and healthy and functioning perfectly. Believe it!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

SLE

I find SLE is an interesting sickness that is worth to talk about. So, What is SLE? It stands for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. It is an autoimmune disease wherby the immune system is overactive and attack the body's tissues. People with lupus produce abnormal antibodies in their blood that target tissues.

Sometimes lupus can cause disease of the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and/or nervous system. Tere are many types of Lupus. When only the skin is involved, the condition is called lupus dermatitis or cutaneous lupus erythematosus. When internal organs are involved, the condition is referred to as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

SLE is eight times more common in women than men. This is because the yin factor in female hormone. The cause(s) of SLE is (are) unknown, however, heredity, viruses, ultraviolet light, and drugs all may play some role. Anyway, my personal view on this subject as a qigong healer we should focus on the spleen.

The spleen filters blood in much the way that the lymph nodes filter lymph. Lymphocytes in the spleen react to pathogens in the blood and attempt to destroy them. Macrophages then engulf the resulting debris, the damaged cells, and the other large particles. The spleen, along with the liver, removes old and damaged red blood cells from the circulating blood.

The spleen can also, like the bone marrow, produce new red blood cells. The spleen produce anti-body to our immune system. In qigong, Spleen Qi, for instance, is responsible for transformation and transportation (of food and fluids, primarily). So people that suffer SLE may be due to Spleen Qi deficiency. When the Qi of the spleen is low, the spleen does not function efficiently.

Spleen chi has to bring up at the harmonic level and a faa qi to the spleen area has to be focused primarily together with bone marrow. Heal yourself by doing more of "chen chi", "tung pee" and "hip rotation" and focus on the spleen to function perfectly at a tip top condition.