Topic: Health & Healing

Q. Help! My nose is running, my ears ache, and my throat is sore. My allergies are making me miserable!

In the last column we took a look at cholesterol, good and bad, and developed the concept of nutrition based upon heredity. I would like to explore this idea a little further and focus on climate, seasons of the year and just what constitutes a healthy daily diet.

Q. Although my periods are still regular and my doctor tells me that my hormone levels are normal, I'm convinced that I'm entering menopause. For about a week before my periods, I've been experiencing hot flashes at night while I sleep and I've been having increasing difficulty with PMS. I know that there are natural methods I can use to help relieve these symptoms, but I've been having trouble finding information on my own. Can you help?

Q. My doctor is concerned because my cholesterol level is rather high. I tried following her dietary recommendations to lower my cholesterol level to no avail. Now she wants to put me on a prescription medication, which I don't want to do. Is there anyway I can avoid taking these drugs and still get my cholesterol under control?

Q. For the last couple of years I've been suffering from frequent headaches. Aspirin upsets my stomach, and I don't like to take other over-the-counter pain relievers because they can cause liver or kidney damage. Do you know of any natural remedies I can try to relieve my headaches?

Q. I know that I shouldn't let it bother me, but the events surrounding the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are making me a nervous wreck. I'm having trouble sleeping, I wake-up often, and my days are filled with anxiety. Do you have any suggestions that will help me get through this period?

Q. In the past year or so, the local markets have been selling a brand of soft drink that’s fortified with healing herbs. At first I thought this was great, since one of the brands has echinacea in it and I thought this would be a good way to keep my immune system boosted. But, the other morning, I was watching the Today show and a doctor was saying that echanacia works fine if you take it when you need it, but that it can actually lower your immune response if you take it over long periods of time. Is this true? Should I stop drinking this brand of soda?

Q. I take a variety of supplements on a daily basis. As summer draws to a close and I prepare myself for fall and winter, I've been wondering if I should take a different regimen according to the season, or if I should stick to the same vitamins and supplements year round? Currently I take a multi-vitamin that is heavily weighted towards the B complexes, an additional 1000 mg daily of vitamin C (my multi-vitamin only has 100 mg), a 400 I.U. tablet of vitamin E as well as a magnesium and calcium supplement. Should I stick with this throughout the year, or should I add something during the winter months?

Q. There's been a lot of talk in the news recently about the Blue Nile virus that's carried by mosquitos. All of the TV newspeople are suggesting that people use chemical repellants when outdoors during the times of days when mosquitos are present, but I've always avoided using any kind of chemical on my body. Do you know of any natural, organic ways to repel biting insects like mosquitos?

Deepak Chopra, the current pop-culture natural health guru, takes great pains to explain that most diseases don’t begin in the body, but in the mind and spirit. Usually, by the time a disease process manifests as a physical ailment, the person has actually been suffering emotionally, mentally or spiritually for quite a long time. In other words, the best time to cure a disease is before it has a chance to become a sickness of the body.