S        A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder

Salt, which salt to use?     Walt's Salt, Real Vs Refined Q/A Archive      Celtic Sea Salt Link
Why to use mineral salt instead of ordinary salt or "sea salt"? To understand this, you have to understand how "sea salt" is produced: The ocean is allowed to flood huge, flat, shallow, beds and then the dam is closed to trap the water. The water is then naturally evaporated by the sun. This leaves a layer of sea salt. The natural way this collects, though, it has a layer of dirty brown salt at the bottom, and pretty white salt at the top. Since most people are used to seeing white salt, they just skim off the top white salt and call it "sea salt". UNFORTUNATELY, the trace minerals are mostly in the brown stuff at the bottom, and they wash that back into the sea -- except for that they keep for animals. Would that we humans got as good of food as we give to our animals. Mineral salt is mined from thousands of feet below the surface in areas of old evaporated seas. It is light tan in color with little darker flecks. It has ALL of the trace minerals that exist in the sea in the exact proportion our bodies use every day.

Salt Craving
Salt craving is ALWAYS trace mineral lack. The only reason people (AND all animals) HAVE a taste for salt is so they know enough to go back to the salt lick (when their trace minerals get low) where there are all the ocean trace minerals.

Salt Water Gargle
1/4 Th teaspoon of mineral salt per cup of really warm water is ideal. ANY deviation from that ratio will make things worse.

SBO - Soil-Based Organisms

Scar
A mark in the skin that remains after a wound is healed. Walt says all surgery leaves a scar. It is just that a plastic surgeon has a better chance of leaving a smaller scar.

Scabies
A contagious itchy dermatitis caused by the itch mite. Seven-Year-Itch. See LGS and CRS for causes and Wellness for permanent cure.

Science
Seeking the Truth

SCD - Specific Carbohydrates Diet
A diet for Crohn's disease, Ulcerative colitis, Diverticulitis, celiac disease, and chronic diarrhea. There are no refined sugars, grains, flours, etc. allowed. You can have protein, veggies, fruits, almond flour baked goods, lots of homemade yogurt, and some hard cheeses, but no dairy, i.e.., milk, ice creams, etc,. No sodas or any refined or processed foods. The name of the book is: "Breaking the Vicious Cycle".

Scoliosis     
A congenital lateral curvature of the spine. For scoliosis, the best results Walt has seen were from Rolfing combined with the regular practice of effective SR. Certainly all alternatives need to be investigated and applied BEFORE opting for surgery!!!!!

Sebaceous Cyst    Walt's Sebaceous Cyst Q&A Archive
Cyst related to hair follicles, including Acne.

Sebaceous glands make a fatty kind of secretion (sebum) that helps keep our skin moist and pliable. Since it is kind of thick, normally, it is pretty easy to clog the duct. When people have a relative essential oil deficiency, that secretion tends to be thicker and more sticky.

THEN, if one is not especially careful to keep any dried secretion from clogging the pores at the surface of the skin, the duct can be blocked at the opening to the duct -- right on the surface of the skin. The cells inside that gland are not going to stop making sebum, and so the gland will swell up with stored secretion ("cyst"). The more pressure there is in the gland, the harder it will be to get it open, since pressure invaginates the lining of the gland into the duct.

This is why surgical removal is the only real solution to a gland big enough to be a bother. The preventative idea is to change the secretion back to a normal, more runny, kind of sebum so this clogging will not as likely take place.

Be sure to buff the skin (during bathing) in the offending area, with the terrycloth wash cloths and towels that are made for that very purpose. One can mechanically help prevent this pore plugging from happening.

Walt says: Antibiotics will almost NEVER resolve an infected sebaceous cyst. Hot compresses do better for the infection, and surgical removal is the only answer for the cyst.

Walt says: A correctly removed sebaceous cyst will not recur. Remember, these cysts are formed by a blockage of their duct. Since the blockage does not stop the cyst from making sebum, the gland keeps enlarging like a balloon until the pressure is great enough to stop the lining from making sebum. That determines the final size of the cyst. THEN, if it gets infected, there is no real limit to how much it can swell until it is opened to drain.

SO, the surgical answer to the cyst is to VERY carefully "peel" it out without breaking it, so as to be sure that the entire gland wall is removed. Once this is accomplished, it is impossible for a recurrence, since the gland is no longer there. This is not always possible, but it is the aim of every surgeon who tries it. If the cyst breaks during surgery, it still MAY be possible to "peel" it out intact, but all bets are off. 

Sebaceous Cysts and EFAs: Since the secretions from the sebaceous glands is kind of thick, normally, it is pretty easy to clog the ducts. When people have a relative essential oil deficiency, that secretion tends to be even thicker and more sticky. The essential oils will help prevent new ones, and some existing cysts will get better, since even the damaged ducts will be able to pass the thinner sebum produced when you have enough essential oils.  When one tends to get sebaceous cysts, this is not the only way that essential oils deficiency is affecting them. Every metabolic process in their body is also altered by this deficiency. SO, most people will also find themselves feeling better in other ways while their recurrent sebaceous cysts stop coming.

Sebaceous Glands 
Sebaceous glands make a fatty kind of secretion (Sebum) that helps keep our skin moist and pliable. They do not become active until puberty. That is one reason why children do not have body odor like adults and why few children have acne.  

Seborrhea
See LGS and CRS for causes and Wellness for permanent cure.

Selecting a surgeon specialist.
For serious problems, make friends with one of the typists in the record room in the hospital in your area. Once you are friends, gently ask who she thinks is the best surgeon for that condition. She will know!

Self-defeating Behavior
Any behavior that keeps people from reaching their goals. It ranges from holding a grudge against someone who you care about to being too scared to pursue a career change. It often starts as a way of coping. When you're tense or upset, you grasp at whatever will make you feel better at that moment. You do feel better in the short term, and the prospect of feeling better overrides your concern about the long-term consequences.

Self-Help
Self-help is about observing yourself--your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It is about changing those aspects of yourself that contribute to your unhappiness and finding ways to resolve, to accept, or to distance yourself from situations and/or people that cause or contribute to this unhappiness. It is about applying conscious and intentional effort to living life fully. And it is about finding a noble purpose in life and achieving great happiness while facing the challenges and stresses that accompany its pursuit. 

Self-Hypnosis
See The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook chapter on self-hypnosis for techniques and sample scripts.

SFS - Splenic Flexure Syndrome

Shift-Work Stress
It is well documented that most people have a day shift metabolism. Those who do, are ALWAYS "stressed" by being on the night shift. For those few with a "night shift metabolism", being on the day shift would be a chronic stress.

Shingles    Walt's Shingles Q&A Archive
Disease in adults caused by Varicella Zoster virus (Herpetoviridae), that in children causes chicken pox. See Viral Infection.

(a) Sigh of Relief, or a Lack Thereof!
Think back to an incident in which your life was actually in danger, such as a car accident or a bad fall. Remember the sense of psychophysiological excitation during this stress reaction. When the danger had passed, you probably "heaved a sigh of relief" as you began to breathe normally and you sensed the trembling and exhilaration in your body. That was a normal stress-alarm reaction, followed by a relaxation rebound, before you returned to your normal level of functioning.

Now compare that reaction and those sensations to the way you feel at the end of a stressful day. Psychologically they may seem very different, but the neurophysiological pattern is virtually identical. Following a stressful day, your entire physiology is likely to be functioning as though your life were in danger. But since there is actually no immediate threat to your life, there is little opportunity to identify and to recover from any particular source of stress. Most of our daily threats are ambiguous, and this prevents a sufficient recovery from the stress-alarm reaction which they induce. This prolonged, unabated stress from which the individual has no respite is primarily responsible for the development of stress-related disorders. See Pelletier's Mind As Healer, Mind As Slayer.

Silva Method - AKA Silva Mind Control     Silva International web site     SIGA - Silva International Graduate Association
One form of Skilled Relaxation. Books by Jose Silva on Training in Stress management and deep relaxation techniques, involving the creation of a "predominant Alpha brainwave state" with awareness and control, leading to balanced use of right and left brain modes of consciousness ...as a basis for training in specific skills such as: better memory, physical skills, goal-setting and problem-solving, healing, controlling and changing habits, understanding and using your dreams, development of intuition and psychic perception for better awareness and decision making, enhanced self-image and self-confidence.

Sinus Infection - Chronic SInusitis
The habit of letting the teeth touch, when relaxed, is the MOST COMMON cause of any type of chronic sinus infection.

Walt says: 99% of those with "chronic sinusitis" have it only because their habit of holding their teeth together blocks the pterygoid venous plexus and causes back pressure in the sinuses. This causes swelling and ANY cavity in the body that does not drain properly becomes susceptible to bacteria and fungus infestation.

Stop the teeth touching and the infections will just melt away never return.

Dr Meyer, a professor of Pediatrics in Florida, reported this more than 40 years ago, along with wonderful color pictures, so NO ONE could misunderstand. It is only because there is a LOT more money in doing research and developing treatments for the infections, than there is in teaching the person to change their susceptibilities, that this is not common knowledge!

SJW - Saint John's Wort    A SJW Web Site
An anti-depressant herb, also known as Hypericum Perforatum, whose active ingredient is Hypericin. Has been used extensively in Germany instead of anti-depressive drugs. Suitable for mild to moderate depression, grief, insomnia, stress, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and general support for the nervous system. Not suitable for severe depression. It increases sensitivity to sunlight, so it would be wise to avoid sunbathing while using it. It can take up to 3 months for the full effects to be felt.

Skin Necrosis    Walt's Skin Necrosis Q&A Archive
Dead/dying skin.

Sleep Disorders    Walt's Sleep Apnea and Other Disturbances Q/A Archive      Colorado HealthNet Sleep Disorders Main Page

Smoking    Walt's Quitting Smoking Q&A Archive
Nicotine is well known for creating a "wall" around the sensations in the hypothalamus to protect our awareness from the seething hell that constitutes most of modern man's hypothalamic activity (See Hans Selye, MD's research during the last half of this century about stress-effect storage.)

This is one reason it is so hard to quit cigarettes. If things have been allowed to build up behind this "wall" for years, stopping is just like breaking the dam in a river, letting it all out suddenly. Few people can tolerate that.

Walt says: ALL research in the area of smoking has shown a remarkably consistent pattern of a 10% reduction in the body's ability to repair anything. This is why smoking accelerates aging 10%: Aging is a function of the ratio between wear and repair.

This is most evident to the naked eye in the acceleration of skin wrinkling in smokers. The sad thing is that the same thing is happening everywhere in the body. It is just easy to see in the skin. We now think the best explanation of this has to do with the free-radicals produced by smoking.

Second-Hand Smoke: Avoid second-hand smoke like the Plague that it is! The statistics of someone smoking in the same room are: The passive smoker has 5/6ths as much nicotine in the urine as the person actually smoking.

SHOUTING also called YELLING
Typing in ALL CAPS. Usually it's best to limit use of all caps to one or two words in a sequence for SPECIAL EMPHASIS. Typing a whole message or email in all caps suggests you are a computer newbie, you are from another planet, or you are simply terribly lazy. It will get you attention, but never praise! Many people find it tough to read all caps and therefore find it very irritating, to say the least. All that said, it's probably better for YOUR blood pressure if you restrain from yelling publicly at someone who is shouting. Usually there is someone else around who will yell at them for you, even if you show your intelligence, patience, and superhuman restraint by simply ignoring it.

Spinal Problems    Walt's Spinal Problems Q&A Archive
Walt recommends that people with spinal problems explore all their non-surgical options FIRST.

The "rule of 3s": With spinal surgery, 1/3rd get better, 1/3rd get worse, and 1/3rd stay the same. This is the average for all surgeries of the spine. That has been known, all over the world, for as long as there has been surgery for spinal problems.

Spiritual Healing, one definition:
Spiritual Healing is a state of being in which one's mind is centered, or focused, on the intent to help another person. Healing involves an unconditional accepting, loving awareness of the person one is with. It brings one to feel one is part of a larger 'whole' - a cosmic transpersonal awareness. It is the latter which gives healing the label, 'spiritual' healing.

(Daniel Benor) I find that healing is particularly helpful with what I call meta-emotions. These are the anxieties about the underlying problems, such as when people say, "If this stress continues, I'm going to go mad!" or in cases of depression, when people say, "I can't see any way out of this black hole of despair. I might as well end it all!"

Healing also alleviates the anxieties which arise in conjunction with emotional releases, when long-buried hurts come to conscious awareness with all the intensity of the initial reactions to the traumas. Healing, through the above processes, appears to shorten the time needed to reach awareness of underlying problems. By diminishing anxieties, it helps people to have more energies to deal with their problems.

Spiritual healing can beneficially be added to the treatment of patients with many problems for which conventional medicine can as yet provide only limited relief. People with diseases such as arthritis, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and many more may be helped. Pains and other symptoms may be relieved. Healing also facilitates the resolution of family tensions and conflicts.

The United Kingdom is a world leader in the integration of spiritual healing with conventional medicine. There are now General Practitioner surgeries with healers paid under the NHS. Many more doctors are referring patients to healers at the healer's treatment rooms. Some doctors are developing their own healing gifts by attending workshops. Healers work regularly at hospital pain, cancer, and cardiac rehabilitation centers.

SR - Skilled Relaxation    Walt's Skilled Relaxation Article    Walt's Skilled Relaxation Q&A Archive   
SR technique web site    Another great SR technique web site     Article on Mind-Body and Meditation  
Walt calls SR whatever technique works best for you to achieve The Relaxation Response" (4-12 Hz brain waves) among: Biofeedback, Meditation (all forms), Self-Hypnosis, Silva Mind Training, Autogenics, Breathing Techniques, etc. etc.

Our ancestors used to go to bed at the end of the day with stress stored up from that one day, and overnight, as they slept restfully, they released all that stored stress. We have many, many more stressors in our world today ... not just psychosocial, but chemical, electromagnetic, environmental, etc. We go to bed with a lot more stored stress at night. And then we never ever sleep as restfully as our parents did back on the farm, so we wake up still overdrawn. Every day we accumulate more stress, and eventually it comes out somewhere, i.e., leaky gut, immune disorders, cancer.

So Walt recommends everyone practice SR 20 minutes at a time, twice a day, to discharge the chronic stress-effect storage, which is behind so many of the chronic, so far Conventional Medically-unexplained diseases. Why twice a day? Walt says that doing SR once a day will help only about 5% of people resolve their chronic problems. It takes twice a day to get the other 95% of people. Even with this advantage, it takes the average person in this culture 6-12 months to discharge the majority of this "constant readiness". 

To find the SR method best for you: read The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook. This workbook will guide you in detail through each type of SR, and you will be able to determine which suits you best. 85% of those who use the workbook find THEIR way the first time they choose (as demonstrated by biofeedback). One has to study the first part of the book to have their best chance of choosing the most likely thing for THEM. 

SR and related Techniques in The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook in Alphabetical order:
Applied Relaxation, Autogenics, Assertiveness Training, Bio-Feedback, Breathing, Brief Combination Techniques, Coping Skills Training, Exercise, Goal Setting and Time Management, Job Stress Management, Meditation, Nutrition, Progressive Relaxation, Refuting Irrational Ideas, Self-hypnosis, Thought Stopping, and Visualization.

Active vs. Passive SR: Active SR means that the brain is led to the correct frequency by external input (electrical, magnetic, auditory or visual). Passive SR means that this result is produced by the person training themselves to do it. There is no external input.

SR Tools for Active SR: Tapes/CDs and Light/Sound Machines and Biofeedback Machines
Remember, for SR, what you want is something that puts your brainwaves into an Alpha/Theta range. See Brainwave Entrainment for an explanation how this works. Not Delta, Not Beta.     Brain Synch tapes and CDs (also available in bookstores like Barnes & Noble, etc.)     
CenterPoint custom brainwave tapes using Holosync audio technology     
Light/sound machines, biofeedback machines from ToolsForExploration     Tapes and mind machines     All sorts of mind-music     Amazing Brain Music Adventure - really wild stuff!      Intelegen Brain-wave entrainment tapes and CDs    Mind Aware Web site - light and sound machines
"Open Focus", produced by a psychologist and biofeedback pioneer in New Jersey named Les Fehmi. The course costs $49, has no lights, no bells, no whistles. Just his calm voice making gentle suggestions (Can you imagine the space between your eyes?) that lead you (after enough practice) to floating. (609) 924-0782, e-mail: lesfehmi@ix.netcom.com

Biofeedback Training for SR: The GSR is the body measurement that most quickly changes with the relaxation response in the brain. Muscle biofeedback takes longer, and temperature biofeedback takes the longest. The sooner you know if you are actually doing the right thing, the easier it is to learn the skill of SR. For self-evaluation of how you are doing in practicing your SR, see Relaxation Response - Signs of.

Biofeedback Testing for SR: After you have been practicing a form of SR for about a month, biofeedback testing is highly recommended for testing you in (ideally) three different body "systems" (tension and release of your muscles, your cardiovascular system, and your brainwave activity) to determine if you are reaching the desired Alpha/Theta level (which is BETWEEN wakefulness and sleep), which brings you into a state where you receive as much benefit from one SR session as from eight hours of deep sleep. You can only begin to release you stored stress and gain on it if you practice EFFECTIVE SR twice daily. 

When you look for a biofeedback technician or therapist to test you, simply tell them that you are practicing relaxation techniques and that you want to be tested to see if you are reaching the relaxation response. If they don't know what you're talking about, or if they only want you to come in for a series of appointments, just hang up and look for another one. One person reported that "It was harder for me to find a biofeedback person that had a clue than it was for me to practice SR!" Look in the yellow pages under pain management or biofeedback, if unsuccessful there, try local psychologists or neurologists, whose office help might be able to make suggestions of where to go.

When you reach the relaxation response, or the alpha-theta window of brainwaves, not only does your mind get a vacation, your muscles everywhere in your body release their tension, your pulse rate slows, your breathing slows down, and you "need" a lot less for bodily maintenance, so anywhere in your body that there is dis-ease, restoration and healing occurs.

When to Do SR: The very best time is to do your SR is the first 1/2 hour in the morning before you get up out of bed, because you are already deeply physically relaxed. The next best time is 2 or more hours before retiring, so (1) the SR won't interfere with your sleep, and (2) you will benefit from the effects of the SR during the several hours before you go to sleep. The next best time is right after exercise, a natural time to relax. The worst times for SR are right before exercising and just before retiring. SR right after meals is not particularly recommended, but the relationship with eating is the least important one of all. These are empirical observations by Walt, and no particular published "proof" of these guidelines is available.

SR duration required and diminishing returns: The required duration and daily frequency of SR depends on how successful the person is in reaching the alpha/theta rhythm with their SR technique. IF they are reliably reaching the right level within the 20 minutes, then 3 times a day would be a little better than 2 times a day. If they are MORE reliably reaching the level in 30 minutes, then twice a day for 30 minutes would be much better than for only 20 minutes. ALL it takes is a few minutes of alpha/theta, twice a day, to get the results. Since most beginners cannot just switch into that rhythm at a snap of the fingers, it takes that long to settle down and to reach the point where the benefits are. Once one gets good at SR, they can do it several times a day, only spending a few minutes each time.

The Big Spoon Trick for SR: EVERYONE has trouble with falling asleep when first learning SR because EVERY time we ever went to sleep in our whole lives, we went through the alpha/theta rhythm that is our SR goal. So during your SR session, just hold a paperback book or a large serving spoon in your hand. When you slip from beta past alpha and then past theta into delta (sleep), you will lose muscle control, the spoon will drop, and it will wake you up. Just pick it back up and go on with your relaxation session. Eventually you will no longer have this problem, and you can give up the spoon. What would it harm if you never gave up your spoon?

SR Statistics: Statistically, TM works for about 49% of those who take all the training and do the follow-ups as recommended. Silva Mind Training works for about 70% of those who take all the training, etc. The problem is that each of these costs about $400.

Problems with SR: Some people are just too far gone (too much accumulated stress) to do SR easily. They need to get further back from the "edge of the cliff" before SR is possible for them. It would be abnormal for anyone actually walking right at the verge of a cliff to truly "relax". Our bodyminds really work this way! This is the purpose of the massage routine Walt has recommended in these cases so often (Rolfing or deep, total-body, therapeutic massage 3 times a week for 2 weeks). With this, someone else is "grabbing you by the arm" and dragging you back from the cliff edge for a while.

Finally, if you still can't seem to do SR, you are probably doing the wrong technique for you. So try a different technique.

Standing on the shoulders of Giants
"If I have seen further than others, it has been because I was standing on the shoulders of giants"
- - Isaac Newton

Robert McFerran on nutritional giants: Peter D'Adamo, along with Dean Ornish, George Watson, Rudolph Wiley, Walt Stoll, Roger Williams, and a long list of others are the 'Giants' here -- I am standing on their shoulders trying only to understand why and how they arrived at their conclusions. You might be surprised to know that none of the giants that I've just listed were aware of ALL the published work done by the other giants. If you read ALL the giants' work, you might initially see conflict with what they concluded. But if you back up a bit and focus on what they observed, you will see that many were seeing the same thing, but they just didn't know what it was at the time. We ought not focus as much on what previous 'Giants' in any field CONCLUDED with their work, BUT rather to look at what they OBSERVED. 

Steroids   
A group name for lipids that contain a hydrogenated cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene ring system. Some of the substances included in this group are progesterone, adrenocortical hormones, the gonadal hormones, cardiac aglycones, bile acids, sterols (such as cholesterol), toad poisons, saponins and some of the carcinogenic hydrocarbons.

Stimulants
Stimulants such as coffee and tea and colas and chocolate cause an elevator-like reaction in the body - they take you from level ground up to the penthouse, then back down into the basement. Caffeine causes a rise in nearly all vital body functions: it stimulates the brain, widens coronary arteries, increases the heart rate, increases secretion of stomach acids, steps up kidney and bladder action, and increases the overall metabolic rate. It also causes a rapid rise in blood sugar. Then, the process is reversed; everything comes tumbling down, resulting in fatigue, anxiety, and irritability. If you add a donut, sweet roll, or other junk food, it enhances the process, causing blood sugar to shoot up even higher and faster. And the higher it goes, the farther it falls.

Stomach Acid     See also Acid Reflux, Digestive System, GERD, and HH
Believe it or, not our stomach actually produces hydrochloric acid! This acid along with other secreted digestive enzymes helps to chemically break down the food you eat into smaller molecules. This acid is so important for mineral absorption that taking antacids regularly will lead to reduced mineral absorption and eventually to trace mineral deficiency. Just before the food passes from the stomach into the small intestines, our body releases bicarbonate (which has a basic pH) to neutralize the acid. More digestive enzymes are also released at this time that split the food molecules into smaller molecules that can subsequently be absorbed directly into the bloodstream and used to create the building blocks for energy and cellular regeneration.     

The stomach doesn't 'dabble' when it comes to producing hydrochloric acid. The acid in there is strong enough to blind you if it got in your eyes, burn a hole through your shirt, and actually dissolve metallic iron -- we are talking industrial strength here.

Strep Throat    Walt's Strep Throat Q&A Archive
Throat infection by Streptococcus, a genus of bacteria that are gram-positive cocci, often occurring in chains of varying length. Some pathogenic species produce exotoxins. In man, streptococcal species are responsible for numerous infections such as scarlet fever, tonsillitis, erysipelas (skin infection), endocarditis, rheumatic fever, glomerulonephritis, impetigo, pneumonia, meningitis, pharyngitis, lymphadenitis and wound infections. Streptococcus pneumonia is the main culprit in lobar and bronchopneumonia.

Walt says about Strep: Strep stands for streptococcus, and this is a class of bacteria that is very sensitive to penicillin. The Beta-streptococcus, type A is the one that causes rheumatic fever, and the possible dreaded complications of glomerulonephritis and/or Rheumatic Heart Disease. This is also the one that causes most impetigo.

The problem with this one is that the antigens (proteins in the skin of the bacterium that our immunity makes antibodies to) are so similar to the proteins in our kidneys and heart valves that our immune system gets confused and attacks not only the germs, but the heart valves and the glomeruli in the kidneys as well. 

The problem with the medical profession is that at least 90% of all sore throats ARE caused by viruses and there is nothing but our immunity that can fight that. In spite of docs knowing that, most of them don't even bother to sort out the ones that ARE caused by this germ, they just order antibiotics, which make the viral problems worse by destroying our normal intestinal system germs---one of the main ways we develop our immunity: NO benefit, only problems and YET that is the standard of practice in this country.

Our immunity to the Strep germ lasts, at most, a few months.

For people with recurrent Strep throat, (diagnosed by the 2 minute test all docs should have in their office) their only real option is "wellness".

Stress and Stored Hypothalamic Stress-effect    Walt's Stored Stress Article    Walt's Stress Management Q&A Archive     Class notes for HLTH255N      PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF STRESS & RELAXATION     Dailey Positive Personal Development free on-line or downloadable book on Stress Management
The sum of the biological reactions to any adverse stimulus: physical, mental or emotional; internal or external; that tends to disturb the organism's homeostasis. Should these compensating reactions be inadequate or inappropriate, they may lead to disorders. The term is also used to refer to the stimuli that elicit the reactions.         

Remember: MORE THAN 90% OF ALL STRESSORS IN THIS CULTURE ARE **NOT** PSYCHOSOCIAL. They are physical, chemical, electromagnetic, etc. EVERY stressor causes the exact same response in the bodymind: fight or flight. If the person does not actually run or fight, the readiness stores in the hypothalamus. It is this constant storage of readiness that has so much to do with dysfunctionality of mind & body.

Stress Slows Wound-Healing Process (Archives of General Psychiatry 1999;56:450-456.) Researchers believe they have solved the mystery of why physical wounds heal best when patients are feeling calm and stress-free. Emotional upset appears to reduce the activity of compounds important to the healing process. This finding may help explain why greater fear or distress before surgical procedures is associated with poorer results. The researchers measured concentrations of the stress hormone Cortisol in the saliva of each subject. Women with the highest reported stress levels also had the highest Cortisol levels. Numerous studies have suggested that blood concentrations of Interleukin-1 and -8 decline with increasing levels of Cortisol. Interleukin-1 and -8 help protect against infection and prepare injured tissue for repair. As stress (and Cortisol) levels rise, Interleukin levels fall -- triggering a slowdown in the healing process. The findings may have important implications for the treatment of wounds.

See also (a) Sigh of Relief, or a Lack Thereof.

STRESS-RELATED DISORDERS (Probably the SHORT list! :-)
Skin disorders: Acne, hives, other blemishes, eczema (dry skin), psoriasis, Rosacea (breaking of blood vessels to appear rash like on skin), vitiglio (loss of pigmentation resulting in white spots on skin).

Tension disorders: Headache, neck/back pain, Temporal Mandibular Joint (TMJ) disorder, fibrositis (muscle and joint pain seen in women between 25-45), carpal tunnel (stress on wrist due to long hours at a keyboard or typewriter), torticolis (wry neck caused by excessive tension in neck muscles), blepharospasm (eye twitch).

Gastrointestinal disorders: Ulcers, colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). 

Cardiovascular disorders: Angina, hypertension, coronary heart disease. 

Immune System disorders: colds, flu, mono, asthma & allergies

MORE STRESS-RELATED DISORDERS
Other disorders with a strong correlation to stress:

Alopecia: Characterized by abnormal hair loss, unrelated to balding or radiation therapy. 
Bruxism: Grinding of teeth to wear them down during nights. Habit often forms because people tend to clench their jaws during the day. 
Insomnia: Difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep. 
Chronic fatigue syndrome 
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 
Depression 
Raynaud's syndrome: The hands become painfully cold and may turn white, due to lack of circulation. Hyperhydresis or excessive sweating of the palms and soles of the feet. 
Urinary incontinence due to lack of muscle tone in pelvic sphincters. 
Herpes

(The) Stress of Life    Amazon.com link
A classic book by Dr. Hans Seyle, an eminent medical researcher who identified stress, stored in the hypothalamus and translated into hormones by the pituitary gland as the underlying cause of most degenerative illnesses. He was looking for a grand unifying theory of illness, similar to the way physicists are looking for a unifying theory to explain all of the forces of nature. The whole of Dr Selye's work was, ultimately, about how a person's entire metabolism is changed when the hypothalamus is forced to stay in the fight or flight mode forever. Unfortunately, his writing is very scientific and dense for lay people, so several people (Pelletier & Benson) have popularized and expanded his work, but the ideas are much the same. If you aren't familiar with Dr. Selye's work, you may have trouble understanding Walt's definition of stress. 

Stretch Marks
Walt says that stretch marks are not due to pregnancy or obesity, but are due to hormone imbalances. Once they are there, they act like scars, and so he knows of no way to get rid of them. However, once the causes are gone, they will disappear like scars do over a period of years. Once your causes are gone, it will be very hard to find them in a couple of years. So long as the causes persist, they will stay about the way they are (if they do not get worse) forever.

Stroke        Walt's TIA and Strokes Q/A Archive      Colorado HealthNet Stroke Main Page    Yahoo Page on TIA/Strokes      New Stroke Treatment - Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy
An Ischaemic  (low oxygen) state usually due to obstruction of the arterial blood supply or inadequate blood flow leading to hypoxia (DEATH due to lack of oxygen!) in the tissue. 

Sugar and Immunity    Walt's Sugar and Immunity Article     Killer Sugar! Suicide With A Spoon!
The average person loses more than 90% of their immune function within 15 minutes of indulging in 100 grams of sugar or similar refined carbohydrates. This deficiency lasts for about 2 hours after the stress occurs.

Sugar vs. Refined Carbohydrates    Walt's Sugar vs. Refined Carbohydrates Article     Killer Sugar! Suicide With A Spoon!

Sunscreen and Alternatives    Walt's Sunscreen and Alternatives Q&A Archive
Walt says: Sunscreen blocks only the tanning rays but NOT the ones that cause skin cancer. Since tanning is the main way our skin protects itself from these damaging rays, the person may never get a tan, but they will get a lot more skin cancer (statistically) in later years than if they had never used the stuff. Of course, by then the pharmaceutical companies will have made billions of dollars and all they have to do is stop making it. Physicians will make billions of dollars treating the epidemic of skin cancer and everyone BUT the public will be happy.

In response to a person who shuns sunscreen in favor of: taking 3 -4 grams of Ester C every day along with 800 mgs of vitamin E., Walt responded: Very sensible. NOW, how long do you think it will be before THIS wisdom is advertised on TV (sigh). It has been known for years that the damage from the sun is mainly caused by the production of free-radicals. It only makes sense that antioxidants (free-radical quenchers) would help the most. Even a bad burn will subside much quicker if one would take high doses of Esterified vitamin C (8-10 grams in one dose) and 1000 units of vitamin E right after exposure. Simple, safe, inexpensive and effective. Whoops! It doesn't require a prescription, so it will be a long time before it is common knowledge.

Supplemental Foods (E-Diet)    Walt's Metabolic Diets Q&A Archive
These are important since they give nutritional variety to your diet. While these foods tend to work well with your inherited metabolism, they also have a higher potential for developing food allergies. Therefore these foods should be regularly enjoyed but not be overeaten. You will probably find your best balance if you eat them no more than once a week. In the E-diet, these foods should be closely checked for negative reactions after testing your core foods.

Supplements    Walt's Nutritional Supplements Q&A Archive
Walt says that for the forseeable future, supplements will be needed. In this artificial environment we live in, we at least need to take "Pharmacological" levels of some stress nutrients (Vitamin B, C, E, essential oils, magnesium, and the like). Of course, the more SR we do, the less of those we will need except for the C & E.

Surgery - Physicians Have Fewer Surgeries

Surgical Eyes     Surgical Eyes web site
Surgical Eyes™ is a brand new grassroots organization which exists to help people who have had unsuccessful LASIK, PRK, RK, AK, ALK or other elective refractive eye surgeries that resulted in debilitating complications. We are determined to discover lasting solutions to help us overcome our surgically-created visual difficulties.

Sweeteners, safety of
Per Walt: IF the person has a normal GI tract, Nutrasweet is safe. Unfortunately only about 20% of Americans HAVE normal GI wall permeability. The rest are susceptible to worse stuff with Nutrasweet than with sugar.

So far as we know, saccharine is the safest of the alternatives yet available (unless one is willing to use things like Stevia).

If the intact Aspartame molecule gets into the blood stream (because of the LGS), the blood/brain barrier is also compromised and the brain stuff really does happen. Aspartame can cause headaches, ADHD symptoms, rage attacks, and even brain tumors.

SYFTDCC - Saving Yourself from the Disease-Care Crisis    Walt's Book Description    Amazon.com link. 
Order directly from Walt Stoll for the fastest delivery, best (quantity of 4) price, and to get your copy autographed.

This book has Never been out of print and will not be until the new and expanded edition is published. Hopefully, by 2001.

The book is designed to get the reader thinking in a different way (a new paradigm) so they can address whatever ails them that is a chronic condition. ALL chronic conditions will be benefited by the same basic approach which IS fully described in the book. There is a better way coming (actually already here!), and people do not have to wait for the medical monopoly to bring it to them.

If one just looks up their particular ailment in the book, without reading the entire book, it is unlikely that they will get the whole point of the book. ALL chronic conditions require a different way of thinking than has been promoted by our conventional medical paradigm. Chronic conditions will Never be cured by what you Take, but by what you Do.

Syndrome
A set of signs or a series of events occurring together that often point to a single disease or condition as the cause.

Synergetics; Your Whole Life Fitness Plan   Amazon.com link
Book by Taylor and Joanna Hay. Requiring only two non-impact, 12-minute workouts a day, here is a revolutionary new fitness plan that is safe and effective. Nine years of research have created a unique system that activates one's natural synergy, the harmony of mind, body and spirit. Illustrated.

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Last Updated on 2/5/2001