Sore throat/ShutterStock
Purim will soon be over and many of us still like to dress up, confuse and make fun, but there are times when the deceptions and predictions are not amusing at all.
This is true, for example, when it comes to our health, and the desire to treat phenomena that we think we know and know their origin.
For example, when we have a sore throat, we assume that we have caught a cold, and we also assume that when we are dehydrated.
Question marks arise as soon as the familiar treatment that we take for granted no longer helps us, and the persistent symptoms repeat over and over again.
And what happens when the specialist doctors check and confirm that the systems we suspected are normal?
Here you probably have to look for the culprit in another system and a misleading symptom "in disguise".
Naturopath Tzipi Kadosh, head of the herbalist trend at Reedman College of Integrative Medicine, testifies that in many cases a symptom that may indicate a problem in a certain system in the body, may indeed be "confusing", and through the right questions, and of course after a careful doctor's examination, it is possible to discover that it is something completely different.
Hoarseness which is actually reflux
"More than once patients come to me complaining of hoarseness," she gives an example.
"According to them, they have been hoarse for several months, tried cough syrup that didn't help, and even went to an otolaryngologist, who examined them and came to the conclusion that the respiratory system is normal. Sometimes the doctor will be satisfied with this answer, and in other cases he will explain that the source may actually be in the digestive system. In the best case, those patients will consult a doctor A gastroenterologist will perform a gastroscopy examination, and will discover that they suffer from reflux. That is, a situation in which the annular gate between the stomach and the esophagus does not close properly, and therefore the contents of the stomach on its acids and the acidity of the stomach rise up,"
she said, "in this case, there will be some who will suffer from heartburn, in others the acids that come up from the stomach will damage the vocal cords and hence the hoarseness. Thus, the treatment is not at all in the respiratory system but in the digestive system."
She explains that: "The change is through an adapted diet, medicinal plants, instilling correct eating habits, including, for example, avoiding drinking during the meal, which increases the load on the stomach - leaving the annular gatekeeper half open and causing the contents of the stomach to travel throughout the esophagus."
Another recommendation offered by a saint is not to lie down immediately after eating, but to wait at least three hours.
"Of course there are also foods that are recommended to be avoided when suffering from reflux," she says.
"Like citrus fruits, and it is also recommended not to eat chocolate and sweet desserts right after a big meal, and this is true whether we suffer from reflux or not."
Headache/ShutterStock
UTI or something else?
Another "disguise" of a symptom Tzipi Kados talks about is a headache.
"Sometimes a patient who comes to me states, among other things, that he has recently suffered from headaches. He has already performed a variety of tests that came out normal. This is the stage when it is better to check another direction that is not related to the vascular system. I am in the clinic, for example, I check if he suffers from allergies that may cause him to have a chronic runny nose Even a little bit of runny nose that remains in the sinus area can cause headaches here and there. Precisely if it was definite sinusitis, it would be easier to diagnose it. The reason it's harder to diagnose is only because the symptoms are 'minor'."
In this case, the treatment offered will be adapted to the "disguise".
According to her, "The treatment will focus on the respiratory system, on better drainage of the phlegm, on working on the allergy that will prevent the accumulation of mucus in the first place. To make it easier, you can use essential oils for application and even a recommendation in the shower to use hot water while showering on the sinus area."
Kadosh also refers to a common complaint among women about repeated infections in the urinary tract.
During the questioning I sometimes understand that the problem starts in the digestive system.
Over 90% of UTIs originate from E.coli bacteria that are normally located in the digestive system.
Due to the anatomical proximity in women between the anus and the urethra, it sometimes makes its way there and may cause acute inflammation.
As soon as this happens, beyond treating the bacteria, it is recommended to treat the digestive system.
The treatment will focus on a proper diet, one that will strengthen the 'good bacteria' so that they will thrive in the digestive system and not allow E. coli to continue to develop."
When tiredness is something else entirely
Symptoms can indeed be confusing, but according to Shuri Neuman, deputy director of the School of Chinese Medicine at Reedman College, and among the founders of the Israeli Sinai Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the college, there is sometimes confusion even about diseases in different cultures.
Neuman refers, among other things, to a disease called in traditional Chinese medicine " According to him, what in our language is a symptom, an English translation of the word tiredness is actually an incarnation of the Chinese disease called xu lao. "According to its definition, the disease is characterized by a lack of mental energy and a lack of physical energy, a decrease in motivation, and excessive sleep.
This phenomenon can indicate in Western medicine a multitude of diseases, from very mild to severe, and of course in modern medicine these conditions are different and distinct from each other, and the treatment for each disease of which this is a symptom will be different.
According to him, "This is one of the main complaints in the Chinese clinic, but it can imitate or be related to other diseases, for example endocrine diseases such as thyroid problems, diabetes, diseases related to the cardiovascular system such as arrhythmias, heart failure, anemia, as well as diseases related to the nervous system Like Parkinson's or multiple sclerosis. Of course, in modern medicine these conditions are very different and distinct from each other. They certainly receive different treatments.
But in Chinese medicine we try to find groups of signs and symptoms that have common elements, and we call each such group by a name. This is actually a syndrome, and a syndrome This is what we provide treatment for. Therefore, in traditional Chinese medicine, patients with different diseases can receive the same treatment - the same herbal formula, and at the same time, among patients with the same disease, each will receive a different treatment, that is, a different formula. The reason for this is that in traditional Chinese medicine, we treat balance The energy. Sometimes we can find a similar energy imbalance among patients with different diseases, and paradoxically a different energy imbalance in patients who are even sick with the same disease."
Either way, whether we have identified who is behind the costume or not - may we all have a happy Purim, and above all good health
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