The Health Blog

As a simple definition, osteoporosis is a condition in which bone becomes so fragile and brittle that it breaks comparatively easily. Bone is a living, changing thing, containing two main types of cells called, confusingly, ‘osteoclasts’ and ‘osteoblasts’. All through our lives, the osteoclasts wear away microscopic craters in the bone, and then the osteoblasts fill these craters with newly formed bone, exactly matching the space dissolved away by the osteoclasts. That way, bone is constantly renewed — a sort of repair-and-maintenance system. Oestrogen is thought to reduce the rate at which osteoclasts dissolve bone, and to increase the rate at which osteoblasts build it up. Once oestrogen levels fall, the osteoclasts dissolve the tiny craters at a faster rate than before, while the osteoblasts don’t replace the bone so efficiently. Eventually, the bone becomes less dense and strong, and more liable to fracture.

Bone is built up during childhood and teenage years, and reaches a peak content (called ‘peak bone mass’) in the early twenties. For the next 15 years or so, the bones thicken and strengthen, but then from about the age of 35 onwards, bone mass starts to fall gradually. In a man it continues in -this gradual fall for the rest of his life, and a man of 90 can expect to have lost about 25 per cent of his total quantity of bone. In women, however, bone density drops dramatically in the years immediately after the menopause — about 3-5 per cent every year in the vertebrae of women who have had a natural menopause, and as high as 7-9 per cent in the vertebrae of women who have had an early oophorectomy. (The hip joint loses bone density at a slightly lower rate.) To lose bone at about 3 per cent a year may not seem much, but if you get a calculator, start with 100 (to represent the amount of bone you have at the menopause), then subtract 3 per cent from that figure, then 3 per cent again from the next figure, you will find that after doing this seven times you get a figure of 80. In other words, after losing 3 per cent of your bone every year for seven years, you are left with just 80 per cent of what you had at the start of the menopause – and you are probably still only in your fifties. Many women lose bone mass at a faster rate than 3 per cent, and sometimes for as long as 15 or 20 years; it is not unusual for them to end up having lost one-third or even half of their bone mass by about the age of 70. No wonder fractures occur!

Bones are not solid things, like an iron bar, as this would make them very heavy. Each bone contains an outer shell of ‘cortical’ bone, which is strong, compact and dense, and an inner area of ‘trabecular’ bone, which is brittle and fragile. The bones that are most vulnerable to fracture in osteoporosis are those that have a higher proportion of trabecular bone, such as the hip joints and the vertebrae of the spine.

Trabecular bone is made up of tiny vertical pillars, joined together with horizontal cross-ties, giving it strength with the minimum of weight. In osteoporosis, as the osteoclasts wear away bone faster than the osteoblasts can build it up again, these pillars and cross-ties lose their connections with each other, and the bone therefore loses its strength. Eventually, it becomes so fragile that it can fracture while you are doing such everyday things as lifting a casserole out of the oven, opening a stuck window, putting shopping bags into the boot of the car, doing up the back zip of a dress, or even coughing, laughing or sneezing.

The main component of bone is calcium, which is held in a soft substance called collagen; as collagen levels fall, so do die levels of the calcium held within it. Oestrogen helps the body to absorb calcium effectively, making it available to the osteoblasts, and as oestrogen levels fall after the menopause, so calcium is stored less effectively. Much of it is just excreted in the urine instead of being used to build bone.

As oestrogen is needed to get the ‘bone building’ balance right, and as it also helps the body to absorb calcium and preserve collagen, you can see why oestrogen therapy is so effective in preventing osteoporosis. It can’t rebuild damaged bone, but it can help prevent further bone loss. It has been said of HRT that it ‘stops osteoporosis in its tracks’, because oestrogen therapy at any stage after the menopause halts bone loss.

*46\42\4*

The health care costs of abdominal, vaginal and laparoscopically assisted hysterectomies are comparable. However the reduced recovery time of the latter approach promises considerable benefits to women, their families and employers.

An economic evaluation that compared the costs of abdominal hysterectomy and endometrial resection in England for the four months up to and including surgery, found total costs for the former were nearly twice that of the latter. The authors suggested, however, this was not the end of the story:

Given the fact that a subgroup of women requires re-treatment due to resection failure and that this study considers a relatively short period of follow-up, the long-term costs and benefits of endometrial resection need to be evaluated before widespread diffusion is justified.

The all-up cost of an abdominal hysterectomy in Australia in 1993 was about $5000, and for a vaginal hysterectomy it was considerably less at $3550. The cost of a laparoscopically assisted hysterectomy was about $5700, of which almost $1200 was for disposable instruments. Women who do not have private health insurance and whose hysterectomy is carried out in a public hospital ca*n expect to pay nothing. Women with private health insurance can expect to pay $500 or more, regardless of whether they attend a public or private hospital. Their payment will depend on their level of insurance and the fees charged by their surgeon and anaesthetist. Uninsured patients having a hysterectomy in a private hospital face payments of $2500 to $3000.

*60\198\4*

It is now believed that benzodiazepine exerts an inhibitory effect on the transmission of signals between nerves, so that there is a slowing down in the relay of signals between nerve cells and hence the person becomes less excitable and more relaxed. Benzodiazepine competes with a naturally occurring chemical in the nerve endings known as GABA (gamma amino butyric acid).

It appears to displace GABA off these nerve endings, which increases the amount of freely available GABA. GABA is known to inhibit transmission of impulses between nerve cells.

There are two main kinds of benzodiazepine, the long acting and the short acting. By long action, we mean that once the drug is absorbed into the body it stays active for a long time and can be detected in the body after many days. The drug is eliminated from the body by two mechanisms, either destroyed by metabolism in the liver or excreted by the kidneys in the urine. The faster the metabolism, the shorter the half-life of the drug, which is the time taken for half of the drug in the body to be eliminated. This elimination phase can be much longer in older people than in younger people because their kidneys are not normally so efficient. The long acting hypnotic drugs have a long half-life and can sustain sleep longer, but they may give a hangover feeling the next morning;

people who take these drugs often complain that they feel like a zombie the following morning. If this drug is taken nightly and regularly, it tends to accumulate in the body. One of the longer

acting drugs is Flurazepam, commonly known as Dalmane, and its half-life is nearly 80 hours. This is rarely prescribed in Australia now.

The short acting benzodiazepine has a short half-life and is eliminated from the body much more quickly, usually within a few hours. It can initiate sleep more easily, but may not be as effective in sustaining sleep. There is very little hangover feeling in the morning and accumulation of the drug in the body is less likely even if taken regularly. A common short acting drug is Temazepam, which is marketed in Australia as Euhypnos or Normison; its half-life is 5.8 hours.

Health authorities all over the world have now recognized the abuse of benzodiazepines. They have found that they are addictive. As the number of deaths from barbiturates fell, it became apparent that quite a large number of people suffer from the distressing effects of dependence on benzodiazepines. In Australia alone there are about 6.5 million prescriptions for benzodiazepines written each year, and there are only 15 million people here.

*59\174\4*

Some degree of sleeplessness is a fairly constance feature of anxiety conditions. The main problem is that insomnia is such a disturbing symptom that we turn to sleeping tablets far too quickly. Most people can learn to use this relaxing technique to put themselves to sleep I have recently been treating a doctor with chronic anxiety who had been taking sleeping capsules every night for twenty-five years. He learned the relaxing method of putting himself to sleep in three or four sessions, and since then has taken no sedative at night at all. But it does not come quite as easily as this to everyone. Give yourself a little time to get into the swing of it, and be patient when it does not all come at once.

When you have mastered the relaxing mental exercises, it is quite a simple matter to put yourself to sleep. You will have been practising the exercises in relatively uncomfortable positions. Now do them when you go to bed, and with the added warmth and comfort they will seem very easy indeed. Just lie flat on your back and proceed with the exercises in the ordinary way:

Relaxed.

Legs are relaxed.

Utterly relaxed.

All I feel of them is their weight on the bed.

Heavy relaxation.

Heavy drowsy relaxation.

It comes all through me.

Heavy, drowsy, sleepy.

My body is heavy with it.

It is in my face.

Eyelids are heavy with it.

So drowsy, so sleepy.

It is all through me.

When you really feel the heaviness, and the sleepiness, and weight in your eyelids, you just turn over on to your side into a sleeping position and you are asleep.

If you wake during the night, you just repeat the same procedure. It is important to do it systematically and in a relaxed fashion. Do not allow yourself to get restless or irritable with yourself. Do it systematically and you will soon be off to sleep again.

A feature of this approach is that it is effective not only with insomnia which is caused by anxiety, but with insomnia resulting from almost any cause. Those who are kept awake by pain find it very effective. Elderly persons can use the method with success provided their mind does not wander too much during the exercises.

Improvement in sleep is the general rule for anxious persons once they start to practise the exercises.

A rather outstanding example was a professional man who had been taking sleeping capsules every night for more than twenty years, since he was a student. He came seeking help for general anxiety, and his difficulty in sleeping was hardly mentioned, as he had assumed he would be taking sleeping capsules for the rest of his life. It was only afterward that he told me he had been so impressed with his calmer state of mind that he had experimented, and had gone to bed without his usual capsule, and was surprised to find that he could sleep quite well. He said that he felt that his sleep was lighter but at the same time more refreshing.

I can give a further example from my personal experience. The incident occurred just recently, after my first submission of this manuscript to the publishers. I developed an abscess on a tooth. My face was swollen right up to the eyes. In spite of the pain I found I could put myself to sleep in two or three minutes by the relaxing exercises. However, in about half an hour, when I was deeply asleep and off guard, the pain woke me. But I was able to put myself asleep again quite quickly only to be awakened by the pain again in half an hour or so. This sequence was repeated several times during the night, so that I actually had a reasonable amount of sleep. Next morning I had the tooth extracted without anaesthetic and without discomfort.

*84\57\2*

Of all the various therapeutic measures employed by biological medicine in treatment of arthritis fasting is, perhaps, singularly the most important one.

Fasting has been used in treating arthritis for centuries, mostly in Europe, but also on this continent. The big difference is that in the United States the majority of doctors who employ fasting in their practice usually advocate a complete or water fast, while European, biologically oriented doctors employ mostly juice fasts.

Although fasting is without a doubt one of the safest therapeutic agents known to medicine,1 in the minds of the uninitiated and uninformed it is often associated with fear of the possibility of doing harm to the body. This is quite understandable, considering that the average man has the impression that complete abstinence from food just for a couple of weeks would result in death. The truth is that man can live without food for months. In fact, man can kill himself by overeating in a shorter time than by fasting.2 There are recorded cases of fasting up to 90 days on water and up to 249 days on juices and liquids. In recent tests at Stobhill General Hospital, in Glasgow, Scotland, a 54-year-old woman was put on a liquid fast and lost 74 of her 262 pounds along with a painful arthritic knee condition, during a fast of 249 daysl2 Although therapeutic fasting usually is of no longer duration than 40 days, the great majority of fasts in European clinics are ten to 20 days long.

Although liquid fasting is not a dangerous measure and could be safely undertaken without supervision at home, I would advise that the average patient, who does not have a thorough understanding and insight into all the details and various phases of fasting, should not undertake it on his own, but only under expert supervision. This will assure him of peace of mind which is imperative for the successful outcome of any therapeutic measure.

In Sweden, fasting is a national sport. Thousands of healthy young and old, men and women members of the national health organization, Halsoframjandet (Health-promotion, Inc.), fast for a week or two every year. Regular short fasts are considered an effective way to cleanse the body of wastes, build up resistance and physical stamina, and prevent diseases. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t get weakened or depleted by fasting. On the contrary, fasting will strengthen the body in many ways. The stomach and digestive tract will receive a rest and will be strengthened by fasting. Actually, the total regeneration and rejuvenation of all functions of the body is the objective which induces thousands of Swedes to fast. These fasts are done on

their own. in their own homes, without supervision of doctors. But then again, these Swedes are experts in fasting; they are well informed and acquainted with the mechanics and philosophy of fasting.

Just to show you how safe fasting actually is, I like to refer to two famous fast-hikes, which were performed in Sweden in recent years under the direction of Dr. Lennart Edr6n, world famous authority on fasting. First, 11 Swedish health enthusiasts walked from Gothenburg to Stockholm (over 300 miles) in ten days. During that time they fasted—did not consume any foods at all, only plain water. A couple of years later about 20 persons repeated the hike under tight scientific control. During the whole hike, and for an extended period after it, various medical tests of their condition were made: blood count, blood sugar tests, heart tests, pulse, physical endurance tests, etc. All tests showed that in spite of the unusual stress of the combined fasting and strenuous hike, all participants were in perfect health and did not suffer any damage of any kind. However, quite the contrary was later found to be true because of the discovery that some of the participants were freed from various ailments they suffered before the fast-hike began.

At the time of my last visit to Sweden in July of 1966, Dr. Edr6n himself had already fasted a total of 45 days so far that year. At 50 he is a picture of youthful vitality and health, and he is regularly fasting to keep his superior health condition at an optimum level.

*41\176\2*

It is unfortunately true that those with epilepsy do encounter a fair amount of prejudice against them, especially in the field of employment. This prejudice is perhaps based on dimly held knowledge of those in special care, or institutions, with the very worst epilepsy, often in association with mental retardation due to major neurological disease.

Prejudice against those with other illnesses is rare. No one minds if you have only one kidney or varicose veins. Most people go out of their way to help a blind person, or someone in a wheelchair. However, a blind or physically disabled person is immediately perceived as ‘different’. Bystanders can make judgements about his abilities. They may relate to him in a special way—a manner which is instantly perceived and resented by an occupant of the wheelchair! Such a visible handicap is perceived and managed as such by society. Someone with epilepsy, however, is perfectly normal for 99.9 per cent of the time. His ‘handicap’ is invisible. He then discredits himself, as it were, by having a seizure. His acquaintances feel deceived. The man they thought was a bank manager turns out to be ‘really an epileptic’, passing himself off as normal. Such an attitude is ridiculous, yet there is persistent evidence for it. Such prejudice will, we hope, gradually fade, as misconceptions about epilepsy are dispelled. However, it would be foolish to deny its existence at the present time.

A major problem that someone with epilepsy has to decide, therefore, is how much to tell, and to whom. For example, no mother wants to tell everyone that her son has epilepsy, but if the boy is staying the night at the house of a friend, it is only sensible to let his friend’s parents know that he might have a seizure, and to tell them how to cope. Most parents would agree with this policy if the boy was having seizures every fortnight or so—but what if they occurred only every six months? Parents might feel that they were spoiling the boy’s chances of friendship and social development if they sent him off with the label of epilepsy around his neck.

Young people with epilepsy forming friendships with the opposite sex also suffer agonies about these decisions. If the epilepsy is not talked about early in the relationship the subject becomes more and more difficult to bring up. The problem may then be revealed by the occurrence of a seizure without prior explanation. Both parties feel devastated—the one guilty and ashamed at not having had the courage to explain the problem, the other surprised and ashamed of their surprise and inability to cope both with the seizure and their own feelings about it.

On balance, we are sure that it is best for a person with epilepsy to tell those he meets frequently something of the facts, so that they can cope if a seizure occurs. Friends will appreciate the confidence shown in them by the fact of this disclosure.

*78\188\2*

We’ve had the joy of knowing that over 100,000 arthritis sufferers have substantially benefited by taking certified CMO in its various approved formulations. CMO is often combined with other nutritional substances that contribute additional benefits to its healing effects, such as sea cucumber, DL-phenylalanine, and glucosamine sulphate.

First of all, the success rates of curing arthritis and other disorders using CMO continue to be astonishing. One authorized distributor of certified CMO reports a 96% customer satisfaction rate. This high level of customer satisfaction duplicates the success rate of the original study conducted by the San Diego Clinic (now renamed San Diego International Immunological Center after considerable expansion of its research efforts). Since the purpose of the original study was to determine the beneficial health effects of CMO only on arthritis, subjects with only arthritis as their sole medical complaint were accepted for the study. Additionally, individuals who had been or were currently taking potent immunosuppressants, including high doses of steroids, were also deemed to be unsuitable as subjects. This pre-selection is normal practice in medical trials. No one expected the success rates of CMO formulations for the general public use to be more than about 70%, especially as people would be taking CMO without the benefit of clinical supervision. Yet, remarkably, success rates in the field have almost always exceeded our expectation.

The clinic’s research and the practical experiences of working with thousands of patients has revealed a great deal more about arthritis and other autoimmune diseases than was previously known. We have also discovered much about the arthritic and autoimmune processes from our own continuing research, as well as the research of my colleagues. This new knowledge has prompted expansion of some of my approaches to CMO treatment programs.

When we began our CMO research, we did so with the intent of attaining remission against the autoimmune processes of arthritis. That was our focus. However it was not long after CMO was being utilized by physicians and other medical professionals in their practices, that I began receiving reports of various benefits for many other autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions. It was only then that I realized that CMO was a universal-autoimmune immunomodulator. That is what launched new research that led to a more complete understanding of memory T-cell function and how the autoimmune processes cause a variety of degenerative diseases. (See Chapter 1 for information on memory T-cell function.)

Although CMO routinely succeeds in affecting a person’s entire memory T-cell population, and halting the destructive autoimmune disease process, I still found a number of patients whose symptoms began to return after some length of time. Sometimes it was just a matter of a few weeks or a few months, and sometimes it took a year or more.

The excepts from the following letter illustrate these types of recurrences:

Dear Dr. Sands,

Thanks so much for the articles and testimonials. I am a true believer myself because it worked so well for me. I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to make this injectable [CMO] for me and my friend. It means a lot.

Again thank you from the bottom of my heart. CMO has really saved my life. I didn’t think I could ever live free of pain, but CMO changed all that and more. I don’t take Prozac any longer, nor do I take Advil [up to 10 a day before]…

I think your other research is really fascinating. I used to think I had Parkinson’s or MS or something because I would shake so much, but Prozac fixed that. And CMO fixed whatever it was permanently so I don’t need Prozac.

I do need tune-ups, about every 3-4 months or when I go through a stressful period. But CMO takes care of whatever is wrong. I can’t say enough about how great it is, and I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to pursue CMO to a point where it’s available to all people.

Thanks again. May God bless you in every way,

Micky C, Colorado

My new research and understanding of how easily and frequently autoimmune processes are started, lead me to the explanation of these recurrences. Virtually any infection, trauma, disease, or environmental factor can trigger an autoimmune response. We are faced with these exposure events nearly every day. Often the body deals with these events in an effective manner that does not trigger a destructive autoimmune process. Sometimes a new autoimmune response is triggered and simply withers away. Sometimes it lingers and goes unnoticed, but then it almost always develops into a troublesome or crippling ailment. This process may happen quickly or it may take months or years before it develops tormenting symptoms.

These autoimmune hiccups abound in our modern environment so often that it has prompted me to develop what I consider to be a very valuable maintenance and preventive treatment program. Since CMO has now proved to be a universal-immunomodulator, this new program should prove effective against a very large number of ailments with autoimmune factors. Such ailments include fibromyalgia, lupus, sarcoidosis, scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, emphysema, asthma, some allergies, prostatitis, juvenile diabetes, diabetes, psoriasis, macular degeneration, tendinitis, sciatica, and others – as well as all forms of arthritis.

But before I explain this new CMO preventive/maintenance program, let’s have a look at some of the substances involved. I have found sea cucumber, DLPA, and glucosamine to be particularly beneficial and completely compatible with using CMO.

*94\142\2*

Signs and symptoms

The burrowing of the insects and the skin’s allergic reaction to their presence cause relentless itching. When the child scratches to relieve the itching, secondary infection can set in.

The diagnosis is based on the appearance and location on the skin of the small, red dots that mark the openings to the mites’ burrows. The diagnosis also is suggested by gray or black lines on the skin marking the insects’ tunnels. However, these signs on the skin can be obscured quickly by scratching.

Home care

Mites can be destroyed by applying a lindane ointment or lotion or an ointment or lotion containing benzene hexachloride or crotonyl-N-ethyl-o-toluide. Before you use these medications, discuss them with your doctor. The medication is applied to all skin surfaces except the head and the face. If your infant appears to have scabies on the face consult your doctor before applying any medication. Because scabies is so easily transmitted from person to person, all family members should receive treatment at the same time. Treatment can be repeated once or twice. Nonprescription antihistamines may be used for temporary relief of itching.

Precautions

•     If marks on the skin and itching continue after treatment, the infected person may have been re-infested, or may have a persistent allergic reaction or secondary infection. Do not keep treating the condition in the hope that it will clear up; see your doctor.

•     Destroy mites on undergarments, bedding, and towels by laundering these items.

•     Lindane ointment or lotion is poisonous; be sure to keep it out of the reach of children.

Medical treatment

Your doctor will prescribe oral antibiotics to treat a secondary infection and antihistamines to relieve an allergic reaction.

*180/84/5*

Is a Change of Climate Beneficial to Allergies?

Children with hay fever may find relief by going to areas of the country where their allergenic pollen or mold is not present. Some asthmatics, especially those whose asthma is caused by or complicated by infection, may benefit from a warm, dry climate.

Are Allergies Contagious?

Allergies are not contagious. A child cannot acquire an allergy as he catches a cold.

Are Allergies Confined to Humans?

No. Dogs, cats, and horses get hay fever, asthma, and eczema.

Are All Racial and National Groups Similarly Allergic?

Variations in the percentage of children afflicted with allergies are mostly caused by heredity, living habits, and environment. Allergies are common in tropical Africa; uncommon in New Guinea; and rare among the Eskimos. It is almost unheard of among American Indians.

Is It Dangerous To Do Nothing About an Allergy?

If untreated, hay fever may lead to asthma; nasal polyps may keep growing; eczema may spread and be complicated by secondary infection; occasional asthmatic episodes may become chronic.

Can a Child Die from an Allergy?

Allergies are seldom fatal. However, it is estimated that approximately 5,000 persons in the United States die each year from asthma because asthmatics become less resistant to infections of the respiratory system and their risk during surgical procedures increases. There are fewer than 100 deaths each year from insect stings. However, some drugs (penicillin and aspirin) and certain foods (nuts and seafood) have proven fatal on occasion.

How Are Emotions Related to Allergic Asthma?

Anxiety, fear, anger, and strong excitement may precipitate asthma attacks or make existing asthma become suddenly worse. However, the physical basis of the allergy provoking the asthma attack is always primary and real. The importance of emotions in asthma is so great at times that it may hide or blur the original allergic condition.

How Are Puberty and Pregnancy Related to Allergy?

Two corticosteroid-producing glands (the pituitary and the suprarenal) become very active during puberty and pregnancy. They cause a temporary remission in allergies (thus the belief that the child has “outgrown’ his allergy).

*4/99/5*

Sperm are manufactured in seminiferous tubules (thread-like structures which fill the two testes). It takes at least three months for sperm cells to mature, ready to be ejaculated. That is why it is vital for a preconception programme to be put into place at least three months (preferably four) before trying to conceive. It is also important that, if there are problems with the sperm (e.g. low motility), then the man should follow a preconception programme for at least three months before re-testing because the benefits may not be apparent before then.

The head of the tadpole-like sperm carries the genetic material which will enter the egg and join the female genetic material. The head of the sperm has to be hard enough and contain certain enzymes in order to penetrate the egg.

I have seen a number of couples where the man’s semen analysis was fine and there were no problems with his partner. They had been referred for IVF treatment and at the vital point when the egg and sperm were put in the same dish, no fertilisation took place. This highlights an important limitation of semen analysis. It cannot identify one important reason for failure to conceive – the fact that a partner’s sperm, however fertile it is, cannot get into the egg.

Sometimes sperm heads are not strong enough to penetrate the egg. Sometimes the egg’s outer layer, the zona pellucida, is too tough to be penetrated.

Or it could be a combination of both that is making fertilisation difficult.

In this situation, even though the man has a good semen count, you would probably be advised to have ICSI treatment which involves inserting the sperm directly into the egg and is usually used to treat men with extremely low sperm counts. However, it’s certainly preferable to try other more natural ways of toughening up the sperm head and increasing the chances of conception before contemplating ICSI.

The middle part of the sperm provides the energy needed by the tail to move forward and also contains the mitochondrial DNA which plays a part in the inheritance of genes.

Also inside the testes are the Leydig cells which produce the hormone testosterone. Like oestrogen in the woman, this hormone is responsible for changes that occur around puberty, resulting in body and facial hair and a deep voice. Testosterone is needed for the sex drive and helping to achieve and maintain an erection.

As in a woman, the pituitary gland plays a large part in fertility because it releases the two vital hormones, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH). It is interesting that we tend to think of ‘male’ and ‘female’ hormones and yet both men and women share the same reproductive hormones. The only difference is the proportions of these hormones. Testosterone is often classed as the ‘male hormone’ and yet women also produce testosterone, which is needed for sex drive just as in the man. However, the ratio of testosterone to oestrogen will be different in the man and the woman, resulting in either female or male characteristics, depending on the dominance of one or other of those hormones.

So we come back again to the idea of balancing our hormones, so that they can function efficiently, in the right amounts, and do the job they are supposed to do. This can be achieved by aiming for optimum health through changes in lifestyle and diet, so that the body has the tools to balance itself- so simple really and yet so effective.

Both women and men produce FSH and LH. In the man FSH is responsible for stimulating the cells in the seminiferous tubules to produce sperm, and LH stimulates the Leydig cells to produce testosterone.

*80/73/5*