Tag: Medical Specialties

Scientists Find Sniffing Rosemary Can Increase Memory By 75%


Reblogged from http://www.herbs-info.com/blog/scientists-find-sniffing-rosemary-can-increase-memory-by-75/Scientists Find Sniffing Rosemary Can Increase Memory By 75 Percent

Photo – wikipedia.org – licensed under CC 2.0

Rosemary is a wonderful herb with a tradition of use spanning millennia. It has innumerable uses in both the kitchen and in herbal medicine.

Did you know that rosemary has been associated with memory enhancement since ancient times? It is true – and it has even been referred to from the latter part of the Elizabethan Era to the Early Romantic period as the herb of remembrance. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia says, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” (Hamlet, iv. 5.) It has also long been used as a symbol for remembrance during weddings, war commemorations and funerals in Europe and Australia. [1] Mourners in old times would wear it as a buttonhole, burn it as incense or throw it into graves as a symbol of remembrance for the dead.

It seems that this tradition of Rosemary may actually far more ancient and have its origins in the Arabic world of medieval times, which was greatly advanced in science: In Henry Lyte’s 1578 “Niewe Herball“, an English version of Rembert Dodoens’ French treatise, it is written “The Arrabians and their successors Physitions, do say that Rosemarie comforteth the brayne, the memory and the inward senses, and that it restoreth speech, especially the conserve made of the flowers, thereof with Sugar, to be received daily.” [2]

Because of this seemingly esoteric association, rosemary has at times been made into a sort of herbal-amulet, where it was placed beneath pillowcases, or simply smelt as a bouquet, and it was believed that using rosemary in these ways could protect the sleeper from nightmares, as well as increase their memory.

What’s fascinating is that several scientific studies have now found remarkable results for rosemary’s effects on memory:

Rosemary essential oil’s role in aromatherapy as an agent that promotes mental clarity was validated by the study of Moss, Cook, Wesnes, and Duckett (2003) in which the inhalation of rosemary essential oil significantly enhanced the performance for overall quality of memory and secondary memory factors of study participants. [3]

More recently, in 2012 a study on 28 older people (average 75 years old) found statistically significant dose-dependent improvements in cognitive performance with doses of dried rosemary leaf powder. [4]

Another study by Mark Moss and Lorraine Oliver at Northumbria University, Newcastle has identified 1,8-cineole (a compound in rosemary) as an agent potentially responsible for cognitive and mood performance.[5]

Further studies by Mark Moss and team have found memory enhancements of up to an amazing 75% from diffusion of rosemary essential oil. [6]

Now if you are asking “How is it even possible that an aroma can enhance memory?” – well, that’s a great question. Here’s a fascinating quote from one of the scientific papers referenced: “Volatile compounds (e.g. terpenes) may enter the blood stream by way of the nasal or lung mucosa. Terpenes are small organic molecules which can easily cross the blood-brain barrier and therefore may have direct effects in the brain by acting on receptor sites or enzyme systems.” [5]

Terpenes are primary components of essential oils and are often strong smelling, responsible for a diverse array of natural aromas. It’s also been found that 1,8-cineole enters the bloodstream of mammals after inhalation or ingestion. [7]

I’m interested to know if anyone uses rosemary as a memory enhancer. Maybe you could take some with you next time you have an examination and see if it helps with recall? One last tidbit to inspire you further:Lavender. In a 1998 study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience, rosemary was found to increase alertness but lavender was found not only to increase alertness but also to increase accuracy in math tests! [8] The way this is going, I can sense the possibility of a magical custom oil blend for total recall! ;)

Rosemary is very easy to grow in many gardens and will provide an abundant supply – almost too abundant! Just the other day when paying a Christmas visit to my family, I cut a few sprigs from my Dad’s organic rosemary bush (rosemary is an evergreen!), left them on a radiator to dry for a few days and then put the needle-like leaves in a jar, ready for use in the kitchen whenever required. So aromatic… and much better than the store-bought stuff I had before!

Another thought that springs to mind from this – here we have yet another example of an ancient herbal lore that has been validated by modern experiments. This happens again and again – and yet still the remarkable herbals, lost treasures of the ancient world are considered spurious by modern medicine. If an herb has been in use for a thousand years for a condition, it should be considered probable that there is something to it. When are we going to catch up with ancient knowledge? Let’s hope soon – while there is still some untarnished, un-GMO-ed nature left…

This scientific discovery was brought to our attention by the remarkable Robert Tisserand, whose work on essential oils is considered by many to be among the very finest. Check out his original pages reporting on the memory effects of Rosemary here http://roberttisserand.com/2013/04/new-rosemary-memory-research/ – and here http://roberttisserand.com/2012/03/rosemary-boosts-brain-power/

References:

[1] Henry Lyte “Niewe Herball”, 1578, p.264 http://books.google.com/books?id=ifxNAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA264

[2] http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/customs/rosemary.asp

[3] Moss M., Cook J., Wesnes K., & Duckett P. (2003). Aromas of rosemary and lavender essential oils differentially affect cognition and mood in healthy adults. International Journal of Neuroscience, 113(1): 15-38. Retrieved 24 March 2013 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12690999

[4] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21877951

[5] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3736918/

[6] http://roberttisserand.com/2013/04/new-rosemary-memory-research

[7] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3671550

[8] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10069621/

Mommy can you feel how sore it is?


Published with Vic’s permission and knowledge.

Hospice has just fitted a subcutaneous driver – again.   Vic’s pain has spiralled out of control over the past couple of days.

Vic was in absolute excruciating pain during the night.  She battled to breath.

“Help me Mommy!  I can’t stand the pain anymore…”

I lay next to her and put constant pressure on the area that hurt most.  It was just below her ribcage – liver.  “Oh Mommy, it is so sore.  Can you feel how sore it is?

As a little girl Vic used to believe that I could “feel” her pain…

“Feel how sore my toe is Mommy…”

As I lay there with my hand on her “sore” I wished with every fibre in my body that I could lay my hand on her sick body and soak up the pain and disease.  It cannot be so I look for a new spot on her bum to stick in a needle.

Vic seems calm now and the pain under control.  She is sleeping peacefully.  She has not vomited since this morning and managed to have a sandwich for lunch.

Please God let the subcutaneous driver work.  Please let the tissue hold up!   Please God!

the weight in my bones.


Photo Credit: http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/why-isnt-there-a-bridge-pedal-pittsburgh

This beautiful poem was posted by Aarthi –  http://sickocean.wordpress.com   on 24SaturdayNov 2012.  Aarthi is an exceptional poet who often moves me to tears.  Thank you Aarthi for sharing your amazing talent with us.  I encourage everyone to visit Aarthi’s blog.  It is filled with so much raw emotion.  

The Weight In My Bones

like bridges made
of concrete ropes

ripping through my existence
keeping me earthly bound

so sturdy yet unchangeable a part
i am all heavy with matter contained

i try and bend yet
the break never happens

like a deeper strength holding me
pain prevents a shattering noise

the water in me weighs more
than what gives me a shape

this will is fragile
and a regret pulls me down

purposes unsolved
promises broken

a thousand images shattered
everything that i never said

all remains in unwalked places
the pores in my soul

each window was blocked
in persistent steps, in days and years and decades

leaving all weight like
ashes of a past trapped

so diseased i feel at times
lifeless like a fallen twig

and the feeling weighs me deep
deeper than skin and all the soft human matter

i feel it in my bones
like i am bond to a mountainous stone

so welded inside with a belief
perhaps i may never be able to sleep

So I don’t forget…


PHOTO IMAGE: http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/just-a-lonely-girl/2

Lucinda commented today “Again, I can’t add anything on to what others have said; I don’t know how you have the courage to make these posts.”

I sometimes wonder why do I blog?  My whole being screams “so I won’t forget”.  I want to remember every day, every spoken word, every unspoken word, every feverish touch.  My friends have lifetimes ahead with their children…I don’t.  They have many more Christmases and birthdays to look forward to.  The chances are that their children will bury them… As a family we live one day at a time.  We are grateful for every morning when we wake up!

We have friends who lost their 17-year-old son almost 17 years ago.  I have not seen her in a couple of years.  When I last saw her she said that it does not become easier with time.  One just learns to cope with the pain and the loss.  My friend had to walk away from her son.  He was declared brain-dead after a drunk driver drove into the car transporting him to a rugby match….

She said “I touched his big feet.  I lay my head on his chest and I could hear his heart beat …. I walked away and his body was warm…”  Steven’s heart beats on in another person’s chest.  They generously, in all their pain, donated his organs.

Joan never had the opportunity to say “goodbye forever” to Steven.  She said “Goodbye, have a good game.  Love you!”  Joan treasures the last hug, kiss, laugh… She holds onto it.

I want to hold  on to every memory I possibly can.  As hard as it is I write so I will remember everything.

A lot of what I write I don’t post.  It is too raw.

 

Pain medication – Dependence or Addiction?


28 days pain medication

What are the different types of pain medication options?

Different strokes for different folk… What pain medication works for one type of pain does not work for a different type of pain.  Simple example: – Morphine does not relieve toothache or headaches….. It relieves bone pain.

Medicines can often help control chronic pain. Many different drugs, both prescription and non-prescription, are used to treat chronic pain. All these medicines can cause side effects and should be taken exactly as they are prescribed. In some cases, it may take several weeks before medicines work to reduce pain. To avoid dangerous drug interactions, tell your doctor all the medicines you are taking (including herbal and other complementary medicines).

Medication Choices

You will likely be given medicines that cause the fewest side effects first (such as acetaminophen) to treat chronic pain. The dose will be increased or the medicines will be changed as needed. Medicines used to treat chronic pain include the following:

Recommended Related to Pain Management

Other therapies that may be used to treat chronic pain include:

  • Nerve block injections. An anesthetic is injected into the affected nerve to relieve pain. The anesthetic may relieve pain for several days, but the pain often returns. Although nerve blocks do not normally cure chronic pain, they may allow you to begin physical therapy and improve your range of motion.
  • Epidural steroid injections (injecting steroids around the spine). Although these injections have been used for many years and may provide relief for low back or neck pain caused by disc disease or pinched nerves, they may not work for everyone.
  • Trigger point injections. These may relieve pain by injecting a local anesthetic into trigger points (or specific tender areas) linked to chronic fascial pain or fibromyalgia. These injections do not relieve chronic pain in everyone.http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/tc/chronic-pain-medications

Vic’s pain medication as at 4.8.2012 (Transcribed from medication received from Pain Clinic

TABLET NO OF TABLETS PER DAY
TRAMADOL 50MG 4 3 TIMES PER DAY
AUSTRELL PARACETAMOL 500MG 2 3 TIMES PER DAY
STILPAYNE 2 3 TIMES PER DAY
CYMBALTA 60 2 1 TIMES PER DAY
NEURONTIN 100MG 6 3 TIMES PER DAY
SRM RHOTARD 400MG (MORPHINE)   2 TIMES PER DAY
ELTROXIN .1MG 1 IN MORNING
BACTRIM 1 3 X PER DAY
LOSEC 20MG 1 IN MORNING
STEMITIL 5MG 1 2 TIMES PER DAY
MORPHINE SYRUP 25MG/5ML AS NEEDED
JURNISTA 4MG 1 1 TIMES PER DAY
PANAFORTE 1 2 TIMES PER DAY
DEGRONOL 2 2 TIMES PER DAY

This is scary.  The amount of opioids Vic takes would certainly kill most people.  Is Vic an addict?  Certainly not!!

Opioids work by mimicking the body’s natural painkillers known as endorphins. They control pain by blocking pain messages to the brain. Because morphine is an opioid, some people worry about becoming addicted. When you take an opioid to control pain, it is unlikely that you will become addicted. The body uses the drug to control pain, not to give you a ‘high’ http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/treatment/cancer-drugs/morphine

I read a heart rendering account of chronic pain and the fear of being treated as an addict written by Tracy Rydzy, a Licensed Social Worker.  http://ohwhatapain.wordpress.com/being-treated-like-an-addict/  Tracy writes a heart rendering blog on chronic pain and prejudge that she faces every day.  Tracy writes: “I may be on medication, but I am intelligent and I know what is going on.  Please understand that I didn’t choose this for myself.  I don’t want these damn pills, but I have no other choice right now as I have exhausted my other options for pain relief.  Don’t hold my condition against me.  I understand the pen is mightier than the sword, so I can’t even ask to change dosages, I can’t request anything different, I certainly can’t be rude in any way (regardless of how you treat me) and I can’t question you because you hold my ability to move and get out of bed in your little prescription pad.”

We are so fortunate that we have access to The Pain Clinic run by very sympathetic professionals.  We do not have a problem getting a prescription for the medication.  Our problem lies in the fact that from time to time the pharmacy of the Helen Joseph Clinic runs out of Morphine both in tablet or syrup form.  Sometimes we are able to get a private script from the Pain Clinic and other times I have to go back the next day, sit in a queue again, get the script and then get it filled privately.  Try and get 4.2 litres of morphine syrup from a pharmacy….  Sometimes I am busy and then find it easier to pay a doctor for an appointment to get a script.  We may get a script for 1 litre….

Fortunately Vic’s eldest sister is a pharmacist and we are known to the staff at that particular pharmacy.  The times we have tried to use other pharmacies (because they do not have morphine in stock) we are treated with suspicion.

“Many people confuse physical dependence, which is the occurrence of withdrawal when the drug is stopped, with addiction. Withdrawal is a physical phenomenon that means that the body has adapted to the drug in such a way that a “rebound” occurs when the drug is suddenly stopped. The kind of symptoms that occur include rapid pulse, sweating, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, runny nose, “gooseflesh,” and anxiety. All people who take opioids for a period of time can potentially have this withdrawal syndrome if the drug is stopped or the dose is suddenly lowered. This is not a problem as long as it is prevented by avoiding sudden reductions in the dose.

Physical dependence is entirely different from addiction. Addiction is defined by a loss of control over the drug, compulsive use of the drug, and continued use of the drug even if it is harming the person or others. People who become addicted often deny that they have a problem, even as they desperately try to maintain the supply of the drug.

Addiction is a “bio psychosocial” disease. This means that most people who become addicted to drugs are probably predisposed (it is in the genes) but only develop the problem if they have access to the drug and take it at a time and in a way that leaves them vulnerable. A very large experience in the treatment of patients with chronic pain indicates that the risk of addiction among people with no prior history of substance abuse who are given an opioid for pain is very low. The history of substance abuse doesn’t mean that a patient should never get an opioid for pain, but does suggest that the doctor must be very cautious when prescribing and monitoring this therapy.

People with chronic pain should understand the difference between physical dependence and addiction. Unreasonable fears about addiction should not be the reason that doctors refuse this therapy or patients refuse to take it.

Tolerance to opioid drugs occurs but is seldom a clinical problem. Tolerance means that taking the drug changes the body in such a way that the drug loses its effect over time. If the effect that is lost is a side effect, like sleepiness, tolerance is a good thing. If the effect is pain relief, tolerance is a problem. Fortunately, a very large experience indicates that most patients can reach a favorable balance between pain relief and side effects then stabilize at this dose for a long period of time. If doses need to be increased because pain returns, it is more commonly due to worsening of the painful disease than it is to tolerance. “

Vic is “embarrassed” the amount of medication she needs to take to control her pain.  She is oversensitive to the point of being paranoid about being called an addict.

Is my child an addict?  Hell no!!  Does it worry me that she needs increasing amounts of medication to handle the pain associated with the deterioration of her little body?  Hell no!!  Whatever it takes for one pain-free moment in her little life!  Tracy to you and all the other chronic pain sufferers out there – I wish you all a sympathetic doctor, nurse and pharmacist!