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Next Meeting WEDNESDAY 4th JULY at the Day Hospital Berwick
Infirmary 7.00 pm to 9.00pm Guest speaker Mandy Thompson. Mandy is a practice nurse at the Well Close Square Surgery, and is also the cardiac nurse working with the Cardiac Rehab group at the Swan Centre.
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Our meeting on the 6th of June was also our AGM. By a unanimous decision from everyone present, all those with jobs to do which help to keep the Heart Club functioning, ie, Co-Chairmen, Phil Harris and Micheal Redican, Treasurer, Andy Curthbert , Secretary, Terry French and me Wally Selby his helper [Editor comments: actually Wally is Meetings Secretary as well as several other things.]and also Irene, Ann and Kathy, who make the tea, we all get to keep our jobs for another year. Obviously we must be doing something right.
Dr Higham our Honourable President wanted to come was unable to attend, but he will later in the year and give us the next installment of the CAT pictures.
Our speaker for the evening was Jenny Garland, who is the proprietor of Solar-Plexus Alternative Therapy Centre, Main Street, Tweedmouth. The alternative therapies on offer include reflexology, massage, aromatherapy, reiki, toning table, Thai massage, counselling, life coaching, homeopathy and workshops to help life coaching techniques.
Jenny concentrated for the evening on Reflexology, first giving a brief history both about herself and the therapy, and then demonstrating on a couple of willing helpers.
Jenny started her working life as a nurse and worked for 31 years in various departments and different Hospitals, including 12 years in Accident and Emergency at Berwick, two years at The Royal in Edinburgh, and two years at The Nuffield in Newcastle, but maybe not in that order. During that time she did become interested in some of the alternative therapies, and whilst not always recognised or condoned by mainstream Doctors, Jenny often saw noticeable relaxing effects on some patients,
especially those awaiting tricky operations, or facing some other traumatic episode. So during her nursing years she studied some of these therapies and became qualified in them, she is also a Reiki Master. She finally retired as a nurse earlier this year.
Just a very brief history of Reflexology, for once this is not a thousands of years old Oriental therapy. It is in fact quite young. It was discovered by an American, named Williamson, who discovered that by massaging certain small areas of the feet, and incidentally the hands as well, that relief could be felt in various other parts of the body, and the same spot was the same for each person.
He spent several years ‘mapping out’ these areas, and together with 5 imaginary Meridian lines that travel from the soles of our feet right up our bodies and out the top of our heads, he produced maps of our feet, and which spot refers to which part of the body. I have reproduced this map on page five/six.
Initially this was called Zone therapy, and first came to England in the 60s. It became popular in the 90s, and at sometime changed its name to Reflexology. It is good for relieving stress, tension, depression, heart rate and blood pressure, angina, and is good for giving your metabolic rate a kick start. By massaging the right areas Jenny is able to break up crystals (uric acid) this allows them to be removed by the lymph glands. After treatment it is necessary to drink lots of water otherwise these broken down crystals get lodged up in other joints causing pain. A session of treatment should also produce a flush of the feel good chemicals and endorphins.
Jenny did demonstrate on two willing volunteers.
Thank you for your time Jenny, I found it very interesting.
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1. Top of Head
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15. Spine, Vertebra
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29. Ascending Colon
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2. Sinuses
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16. Pancreas
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30. Descending Colon
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3. Pituitary Gland
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17. Solar Plexus
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31. Lumbar
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4. Temporal Area
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18. Stomach & Duodenum
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32. Small Intestines
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5. Neck, Cervical
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19. Liver
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33. Sacral
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6. Upper Lymph Area
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20. Spleen
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34. Bladder
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7. Parathyroid Gland
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21. Spleenic Fixture
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35. Ileo-Caecal Valve
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8. Ears
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22. Gall Bladder
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36. Appendix
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9. Eyes
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23. Adrenal Glands
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37. Sigmoid Flexure
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10. Thyroid Glands
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24. Hepatic Flexure
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38. Hip & Lower Back
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11. Shoulder
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25. Kidneys
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39. Coccyx
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12. Lungs and Bronchi
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26. Transverse Colon
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40. Sciatic Area
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13. Heart Area
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27. Waist
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14. Heart
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28. Urethras
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40. Sciatic Area
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41. Rectum
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42. Uterus
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43. Prostate
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44. Breast
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45. Lymph Drainage
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46. Fallopian Tubes
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47. Lymph Nodes (Arm Pit)
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48. Sacroiliac Joint
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49. Ovary or Testicle
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50. Lymph Nodes (Groin)
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51. Maxilla/Sub maxilla (Jaw)
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52. Tonsils
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Latest News
From time to time Terry and Phil have tried to put a selection of latest research news on the website, (for example research that emphasises the dangers of passive smoking, which is especially dangerous for those who have heart or artery disease).
Here is a selection of some newsworthy research headlines this month:
1. Taking Co-enzyme Q10 has been shown to help alleviate the muscle pain that can be a side-effect of taking statins. Worth discussing this with your Doctor if you have a problem? [CoEQ10 is a natural substance made in the body that tends to reduce with age and is also halved when you take statins.]
2.The risk of cardiovascular mortality increases at the earliest mild sign of impaired glucose metabolism, researchers have reported.
"This confirms the clinical importance of pre-diabetic conditions and suggests the need to target glucose abnormalities with lifestyle interventions -diet and exercise- in order to prevent progress to frank diabetes," said the researcher. [Suggestion: get your blood sugar checked regularly.]
3. If you are trying to control high blood pressure, and you and your Doctor need to know how it is going, the following could be worth thinking about.
"Home monitoring is the best way of looking at changes over long periods of time" and provides the information needed for medication adjustments”, Dr. Pickering [researcher] commented.
Most patients are able and willing to track their blood pressures at home, "but there is a small group of patients who become very anxious, and compulsively keep taking readings," he cautioned. "It should be stressed that there will be some high and some low readings, and that what we are interested in is the average level. … Take 3 readings in succession each time (about 30 seconds between readings), one set first thing in the morning, and another at night before going to bed," said Dr. Pickering. "For someone just starting, we like to see readings over 3 days/week for two weeks. If the situation is stable...they can be much less frequent."
Phil
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Wally’s Yarn
Another story I heard whilst in Ireland.
Sister Susan, who was a Nun in a closed order convent, where they had very little contact with the outside world, had to go to the Mother Superior to confess that she thought she might be pregnant.
Once her pregnancy was confirmed, The Mother Superior wanted to know how this could have happened. “Who did this to you” she asked Sister Susan.
Sister Susan replied “It was St. Michael”
Mother Superior said, “I can hardly believe that this is true, but tell me what happened”.
“St. Michael visited my room a few times a couple of months ago. He told me I was the chosen one and that I was not to tell anyone” said Sister Susan.
“And did he tell you his name”? Asked The Mother Superior
“No” said Sister Susan, “He said it had to be kept secret, but I was crafty, I noticed his name was sewed into the back of his underwear.”
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Fruit and Vegetables
Johns Hopkins is perhaps the most famous medical University in the USA and recently they have been issuing this advice.
Study after study reports that when your diet is high in fruits and vegetables -- which are the richest natural sources of vitamins, minerals, and fibre (fiber) -- you are doing the best you can to protect your heart and help prevent many diseases, including cancer.
An apple a day may “keep the doctor away,” but you’ll be doing your body a favour if you sometimes snack on other kinds of produce -- kiwifruit, blueberries, carrots, pomegranate juice, or dried apricots, to name just a few.
Consider the following tips:
Heart Health
- Tip 1. Stock up on fresh fruits and keep them accessible on your countertop or visible in your refrigerator.
- Tip 2. Add fresh or dried fruit to your breakfast cereal.
- Tip 3. Thaw frozen berries and add them to plain or vanilla yogurt for a snack or dessert
- Tip 4. Have a six-ounce glass of 100% fruit juice with your breakfast.
- Tip 5. As thirst-quencher or at mealtimes, add 100% fruit juice to sparking water or seltzer.
- Tip 6. Enjoy a ‘fruit-smoothie’ made by blending low-fat milk or yogurt with fresh or frozen fruits.
- Tip 7. Bring dried fruit (raisins, apricots, cranberries, apple slices) to work for mid-morning or mid-afternoon snacks.
- Tip 8. Add tomatoes, onions, peppers, and/or mushrooms to an egg-white omelette for a hearty breakfast or brunch.
- Tip 9. Chill small cans of vegetable juice to snack on at work.
- Tip 10. When dining out, start your meal with a salad.
- Tip 11. When making or ordering a wrap or sandwich, include sprouts, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, and other raw vegetables.
- Tip 12. Add raisins, grapes, or apple slices to your salads
- Tip 13. Make a big pot of vegetable soup on the weekend and freeze it in single-portion containers to reheat for a quick weekday lunch or supper.
- Tip 14. Make your own pizza (you can buy ready-to- use dough [or make your own low salt version]) and top it with mushrooms, onions, broccoli, spinach, or eggplant.
- Tip 15. Double the portion of vegetables you already eat at lunch and dinner.
Phil
Recipe of the month
Rhubarb Cake
Ingredients
- 3oz butter
- 3oz caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3oz self raising flour
- 1lb rhubarb
- 1tbsp demerara sugar for the topping
- 2 ½ oz butter
- 3oz plain flour
- 1oz caster sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 190 c.
Grease a 8in round cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, fold in the flour and a pinch of salt.
Slice the rhubarb into 1in pieces and toss in the demerara sugar.
To make the topping, rub the butter into the flour and stir in the sugar
Pour the cake mix into the tin and arrange the rhubarb on top.
Sprinkle the topping over and bake for 40-45 mins.
Serve with a dollop of double cream
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