Tag: Albinism

JUNE was a month of one World Day after another. The blood, albinism, sickle cell disease had one day each. Last Monday was Mosquito Day. The urinary bladder may find a place on this growing list. Only people who have been challenged by “Urinary incontinence” will recognise that, while this may not be an incurable disease or seriously life-threatening it is, nevertheless, an embarrassing which may make the sufferer feel disabled. The picture I often see when thoughts of these conditions cross my mind is that of a pretty, effervescent woman reduced to a caricature by a stroke which took away from her control over her urinary bladder. It was bad enough that her husband was gone, and all her children, grown, had left home to found their own families. To worsen matters for her, she had to live with her son whose wife soon got tired of changing diapers for an old woman. The emotional stress which followed the stress of her son’s marriage must have made her lose the will to live. Some women are luckier. Their leaks are not caused by a stroke and are often easily treatable because they are not disease, but symptoms of them or other less problematic events. The bladders of a man and a woman leak little amounts of urine when they laugh, cough or lift heavy objects. Some of them may be old, and and the nerves and muscles of their bladders may have become weak in the ageing process. Some may have germ infected urinary bladders which make these storages contract irrationally to expel urine. When a woman has had her womb surgically removed, urinary incontinence is not too far from the picture. For the womb and the urinary bladder are supported by muscles and ligament common to both, and the surgeon’s knife may have been intruded hither and thither. Child birth does not always leave a woman unscathed. Apart from the pressure of the uterus and foetus on the urinary bladder during some pregnancies causing small and frequent emissions now and then, the uterus may prolapse, that is leave its bounds. The intestine, too, may protrude into the vaginal region, disturbing equilibrium in the pelvic. In some men, the phosphate gland may be inflamed, enlarged or it may have become cancerous. Some pharmaceutical medicines may be the culprits behind urinary incontinence. So can a large dosage of vitamin C or diuretics. At work, also, may be coffee, caffeine and spicy foods or drinks.

Types of incontinence

Doctors divide urinary bladder incontinence into different groups in accordance with their presentations. The common groups are related to stress, infection, overflow, function, timing (temporary or permanent), medicating (heart and blood pressure medicines, muscle relaxants e.t.c.)

Stress

Coughing, laughing and exercises, such as lifting of heavy objects, may pile pressure on the urinary bladder and cause urine leakage. The spincter muscles at the neck of the bladder ought to withstand the pressure. As it doesn’t, there is a suggestion that, either in constitution or tone, this muscle is weak. This may be a subtle message that the health of muscles throughout the body needs to be addressed. This is important. The heart is a crucial bundle of muscles. Muscles hold the skeletal system together. The uterus, too, is a muscular organ. Muscles hold the eyeball to its socket. Even in the eyeball, muscles are present. In such disease conditions as glaucoma, muscle weakness is indicated. But all too often, attention is not paid to the entire body or to the fact that muscular dystrophy may be emerging, worsened as well by nerve deterioration. You probably have heard reports of people who collapse on their own weight. Their muscles and nerves just cannot hold their bodies together. I was told of a case in Ibadan last year. She was in her 60s. If she tried as little to cross a road in haste, she crashed. So, she had to seek help all the time. I suspected this could be a case of “mild beriberi” in which the nerves and muscles are deprived of thiamine, Vitamin B1, through dietary deficiency. People whose diet is almost exclusively refined rice suffer most from it. People who live on divretics, such as hypertensives, may always have their thiamine stocks washed away in the urine. Nerves may begin to deteriorate when they do not have enough thiamine and this may affect muscles. Realising that Lions Mane Mushroom  is one of the rare herbs which supports the regeneration of mangled or damaged nerves and, in addition, increase nerve flow or energy flow in the nervous system, among new discoveries about its other contributions to health in other parts of the body, I suggested Vitamin B1 and this mushroom to this woman. As set to write this column, I called the woman who introduced her to me to ask about the health of the older woman. To my joy, the younger woman reported that she was now as fit as fiddle. Such was the status of a young man who was falling on staircases and was, also, beset with slurry tongue. To understand what a slurry tongue may imply, push forward your tongue and try to speak!

To Vitamin B1 and Lions Mane Mushroom may be added Magnesium. There are many brands of magnesium in the market, but many of them are not easily bio-available and are, therefore, good waste of money. The brands most often considered good are Magnesium Orotate and Magnesium Citrate, in that order. In a state of magnesium deficiency, the body is like “frozen” because the status suggest calcium dominance. Calcium contracts, but magnesium relaxes. It is this situation of contraction and relaxation which keeps the body in equilibrium. What has been suggested above does not rule out the use of bio-chemic tissue of cell salts which improves nerve and muscle constitution and tone.

Urge incontinence

When nature calls and you head for the rest-room but urine begins to drip before you arrive there, or it cannot wait for you to undo the zip or buttons, that’s urge incontinence. An infection may be at work, which may be easily cleared up with such natural anti-microbials are corn silk, cranberry, Aloe vera, Garlic, Golden seal root, Mango seed Extract, Collodal Silver, Black walnut Hull, Apple cider Vinegar, Maria Trebens Swedish Bitters, and proprietary blends such as Virus Viral, Bladder and yeast infections, Amazon A-F, Amazon A-V, Grand Aloberrynectar and the likes of them. But, sometimes, urge incontinence may have neurological foundations, or even diabetes. In the case of diabetes, prompt action should be taken to avoid such degeneration as may affect the eye, kidneys and nerves. Chromium or chromium-containing formulas such as BLOOD SUGAR, BLOOD SUGAR BALANCE may be called up. Herbs, such as FENUGREEK and CINAMON, are good. My current pets are ORANGE PEEL POWDER, which have been out of the market for some time, and RED KIDNEY BEAN POD POWDER. The latter not only cuts blood sugar well, but it also, helps many kidney conditions and supports weight management.

Overflow incontinence

Here, urine is not flowing reasonably out of the urinary bladder. That means the bladder does not empty completely despite intense urge, causing frequent or constant urine dribbling, such as experienced by when beset with inflamed, enlarged or cancerous prostate gland. Many men are now aware this symptom is better not treated with kid gloves, having witness the discomfeitures of many friends who either have to go about their activities of with a cathether and a urine bag on their bodies, or who have had to undergo expensive n50-50 chance of survival surgeries, with many dying in the process. Now, such men know they have to be on a daily zinc supplement, in addition to other vital food supplements. About 80 percent of the zinc in a mans body is behaved to be resident in his prostate gland where, combined with prostatic fluid, it makes the sperm fertile and provides it an excellent alkaline environment for its survival in the acidic vagina environment. Many cases of a couples infertility may be caused by an overly acidic vagina and a semen not alkaline enough to survive this atmosphere. Men themselves may be responsible for this by being sexually over-exposed without responsibly restoring, dietarily, the zinc they lose with every ejaculation. This brings them nearer their prostatic waterloo because of another vital function that zinc performs inside the prostate gland. Inside the gland is an enzyme named 5-ALPHA REDUCTASE. In the presence of adequate amounts of zinc in this gland, 5-alpha reductase behaves normally. It cuts the picture of a rat in the colony of cats. When zinc is indefficient status in the prostate gland, 5-alpha reductase goes to town as it were, converting the male hormone Testosterone to Di-hydro testosterone (DHT), which encourages or stimulates prostate gland cells to overgrow or enlarge. As any man of my age should care for his prostate gland in an environment where men about 20 years younger are stumbling, I do not wait for warning signals before I take the bull by the horn. I even encourage my son who is under 30 to get on zinc culture. Every morning I make him make a tea pot of Stinging Nettle Root Powder Tea for both of us. This is reported by Maria Treben, the Austrian author of  HEALTH THROUGH GOD’S PHARMACY, to be one of the best blood builders and cleansers on the face of the earth. I go for it more for its ability to make urine flow naturally through a check on prostate gland enlargement. Some people prefer the leaf, but I think I do much better on the root powder as tea or sprinkled on food or wisped into juice. For me, it increases the force of urine voiding, frees the pelvic of that pressure often associated with urine retention after voiding. Besides, it increases the quantum of urine voided, thereby eliminating the question of and need for frequent voiding. Of all the other remedies I would have liked to mention, I would be able to talk about only ROBUST ROOT and AFRICAN BLACK ANT. Robust Root is indicated primarily for low male libido and, erectile dysfunction, turgidity and all that. It works for these immediately and long term. One of the side effects often reported by the users is that, suddenly, they begin, again, to experience early morning turgidity which is a hallmark of a virile man. Even children experience it. Something must be going wrong urogenically for the mature man who no longer experiences it. As an icing on the cake, perhaps, experiencing it helps to overcome some, if not all, of the challenges of overflow incontinence. As for African Black Ant, which works gradually, it is reported to help out in prostate gland enlargement in addition to its libido and erectile dysfunction healing activities.

Functional incontinence

This occurs when a mental or physical ailment delays arrival in the rest-room, or, while there, one cannot immediately get into the act.

Mixed incontinence

Sometimes, combinations of these problems or all are the root of the challenge. For women only using the United States model where about 25 million people experience urinary incontinence and about 80 percent of them are female, it can be assumed that more women than men suffer from this condition in many countries. After all, they are the ones who suffer more from yeast and candida infections in the urinary tract where the equally dangerous or more virulent ailments abound. For this reason, many women turn up at the doctor’s. But, increasingly, they are becoming frustrated by anti-cholinergic drugs they are given to normalise events in their bladders. Some of these drugs leave the users with unpalatable side effects such as blurry vision, faster heart beat, dry mouth, an indication of constipation, memory loss and even convulsion. In the search for safer options, some have had bladder or vaginal surgeries to shore up muscles and ligaments which hold the urinary bladder in place. Women do not give up in the search for health. Pressing their doctors for better and safer and more convenient options, women who are Challenged have obtain a number of natural reliefs or cures from the natural medicine industry, about five of which I will sickly mention here.

The first is the party liner which, as reported in this column a few months ago, is now becoming popular in Nigeria. It is much lighter and smaller than the typical menstrual pad menstruating women are familiar with. It is not used by only women who suffer from vaginal infection and do not want discharges to soil or ruin their panties, or who wish to avoid embarrassment of the repulsive odour which these discharges may spew around them.

Panty (or panties) liners are now worn by women who suffer from any form of urinary incontinence. Such women keep a few panty liners in their bags and wear one over their panties. When urine drops (or those vaginal discharges) soil the one they wear, they simply walk irrelevant to the rest – room, change it, throw it into the trash and walk away, free again. The second option is a behavioral change.  It is timed voiding. That means, tying to empty the bladder at regular intervals. My friend are surprised to learn that I void the bladder every four hours, full or not, except at night, when I may be pressed once. This, along with thiamine, lions mane mushroom and magnesium helped me to curb urinary incontinence. Timed voiding also helps to prevent microbial build- up and overgrowth which may cause urinary tract infection.

Kegel’s exercise

Developed by Dr. Kegel is a third option. Please search the internet for this. It is being employed to day by millions of men and women world-wide to solve pelvic flour challenges such as urinary and incontinence, premature ejaculation of flabby vaginal wall muscles arising from birthing or other challenges. Magnesium constitutes the fourth option. This is a mineral that is becoming more well used as a food supplement these days because of its importance in normalising nerve and muscle function in blood pressure mechanisms, sleep disorder, joint immobility, constipation, mental adroitness and other situation. In the troublesome bladder, there may be more calcium than magnesium in the calcium / magnesium mix. This may lead to contraction of nerves and muscle spasms which cause irregular dropping. Just this scenario may be playing out in premature ejaculation which leaves many sexual partners exasperated and fusions. Magnesium in the bladder tissue helps to calm tremulous nerve and muscles and, thereby, helps to resolve urinary incontinence. One study at Tel Aviv University involving 40 women is deported to have confirmed this hypothesis.

Finally, women wound need to get out more in the early morning sun, which is same to help the body absorb Vitamin D, which in turn, is known to help the absorption of calcium into the bones. Too much calcium outside the bones may cause deposition of this minerals on soft tissues, hardening them, as in Arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) which may cause high blood pressure. According to a 2010 study published in OBSTETRITS and GYNEOCOLOGY reported that women who presented higher levels of Vitamin D exhibited lower risks of pelvic flour disorder, compared with women with a lower levels of this sunshine Vitamin. These pelvic flour disorders included urinary incontinence. There would no doubt, be more safer option available to women and men beset with incontinence. We may talk about thesew another day.

JUNE 2018 was a memorial month for many people. In Nigeria, June 12 was anointed the new DEMOCRACY DAY. June 13 was celebrated worldwide as BLOOD DAY (see the first part of these series). June 14, worldwide, was the ALBINISM DAY, during which the albino,that man or woman in any race who has no pigment in his or her skin, eyes and hair is presented to the rest of humanity as a normal human being, irrespective of genetic differences. And June 17?it was FATHERS DAY! I did not hear much said of fathers, though, except that, as we say in Yoruba Land, omo okunrin ti o ba gun esin obinrin maa kan li ese (the male child who rides on a woman horse would have a broken leg). By this saying, the Yoruba’s tend to consign the upbringing of girls to their mothers, and boys to their fathers. The reminder of this is that a boy brought up by a woman cannot be a man (i.e. the broken leg, on which, of course, he cannot walk smartly through hazards of earth-life). In other words, it is implied, however successful such man may be, he would remain emotionally imbalanced! It was believed then, and probably even now still, that such men would think and feel like women, almost denatured. And that informed why women were allowed to nurture their sons for only seven years, after which the boys were weaned off them to join their fathers on the farms or in whatever occupation they engage in. Today, I would like to give the floor to the albino.

The Albino

Unless the albino is an inwardly stable person; his or her life is most likely to be a tortuous, even devastating one. It takes more than guts for a woman to marry an albino for man as it is for a man to settle for one. Even among albinos, albino-albino marriages are rare. One albino who was interviewed in a Lagos radio programme on albinism day said he outclassed other candidates in a pre-employment test, but he was not given the job because it was thought the sight of him may jeopardise the corporate interest. In my early days in journalism that is in the 1970s, two of the contributors of the newspaper on which I worked, the Daily Times, were albinos. They were prolific writers. One of them died of skin cancer. I lost contact with the other in the 1980s. But, by the mid-seventies, I met another one in the university. He was an intelligent Catholic Reverend Father. He had a cleaner skin than the ones I met before then. This was probably because he had money to take care of his special skin challenges. In the course of my public advocacy to popularise alternative medicine and nutritional approach to health and wellness, I have met more albinos, and I have known joy when they incorporate suggestions I offer into their lifestyles, and these work wonders for them.

Albino Myths

The albino is enveloped by many myths in south-western Nigeria. One is that albino health is damaged by the consumption of table salt, and so, albinos avoid it. The impression this myths convey is the picture of an earthworm sprinkled with table salt. But this isn’t true; albinos are not that vegetable. Many of them consume table salt than many non-albinos. We cannot discountenance abstention, though, in conditions of hypertension and other disease-situations which demand that non-albino as well limit their dietary sodium intake. Another scientifically disproven myth is that albino babies are made when a man cohabits with a woman during her menstruation. There are transcendental imputations which are beyond the province of science. One of these is that albinism is punishment for theft from the court or temple of a deity in a previous earth-life. I have heard such suggested, as well, in the cases of “incurable disease” of karmaic origins. One of such concerns the priests of the sun god in the days of sun worship in Egypt. The priests were said to force stubborn unbelievers to look into the sun with their eyes wide open till they became blind. What do we expect, it is asked, if justice reigns in the universe and such perpetrators of such misdeeds are sent back to the earth after their passage, to reap the harvest of seed they once sowed. Another quick reminder of such karmaic friend, we are advised, is the execution modes in the courts of  Yoruba obas (Kings) of the days of yore, when the oba was a supreme ruler; next only to the deity. The Oba pronounced death sentence with the instruction that a spear be plunged into the eye of the condemned person until the spear emerge at the back of the head! If we have no faith in these assertions known, at least for now, to be beyond the capacity of science to verify, why are we not reminded easily, we are asked, by what befalls the Ogbanje or the Abiku, who traumatised their parent? The Ogbanje and Abiku may or may not be mere mythological conceptions. They may or may not be mere sickled cell diseased persons who died at their appointed tenures but are misconstrued to bekill-joy members of a principality or power centre in the cosmos who enjoy themselves by tormenting parents who have made children breeding their earth – project. The Igbos call them Ogbanjes,  the Yorubas, Abiku. And Abiku may recycle himself in a family about three or fourtimes before anyone suspects what is going on. He or she incarnates in a family. But first when the parents begin to know joy of parenthood through him or her, he or she defects, through death, to the principality, where resounding joy rings out over a mission accomplished. In yorubaland, the elders teach such souls a lesson by mutilating the bodies of Abikus or burning it. People given to astral life know it is possible for a departing soul still attached to the body to feel the paininflicted on that body. Such mutilation hardens the criminal soul for more devastating exploits next time. But when he or she re-incarnates, what do we find? The marks of these mutilations or burning appear on the corresponding parts of the body of the new baby.At this time, all efforts are made to disconnect that soul from the power centre or its earthly legion.

This automatically leads us to the possibility of how an albino came by his or her body, like the rest of us. We know about the sperm from the man fertilising the egg in the woman, and often marvel at howthese resultant zygote grows into a humane body. We will never stop bowing before the majesty of the wisdom of the Almighty Creator. Everything which exists has an astral prototype.

KillianSemyom has demonstrated that scientifically with his Kirhan photography. We have seen it demonstrated, also, in Psychic or astral surgery. When we scream in dreams and simultaneously scream in the physical, there are two dimensions to that event. So, when a man and a woman engage in the pro-creative act and, thereby, set off vibrations which form into a channel to souls wishing to incarnate, many event at the astral level begin to take shape. A baby may be set off to grow in the womb. A human soul to inhabit that growing body someday may be appointed to it to the exclusion of others under rightful conditions. At a certain time in the course of these event, the coming human soul connects with the would-be-mother and the baby forming in her womb with threads of radiations. These radiations present an astral prototype of that coming soul to the growing body. In that astral prototype are all the features that human souls would bear on earth this time around. They are the resultants of its previous earth-life and experiences outside the realm of the earth. It is after the astral prototype that the growing body develops. Even there are genetic semblances with the parent or great, great grand parents, it would be because they are all homogeneous souls or linked by Karma. Who knows if they were all one Sun god priests?

Signs of Albinism

The Albino is known by many signs, especially lack of pigmentation in the skin, eyes and hair. The pigmentation is given by melanin. This means albinos have no melanin or do not have enough of it. In the physical sense, Albinismis thus a congenital disorder.There are many types of albinism in humans, but these are not our concern. For the purpose of this column, it is sufficient to know that, in the skin, pigmentation may be totally or slightly absent or absent in patches. The loss of pigmentation expose the skin to oxidation by cosmic rays, as there is no filter for them, and this may cause cancer. The skin may be crumpled, burned or “cooked ” in the eyes, albinism may cause redness, poor vision day and night. Eye colour may also be violet, but it is generally blue. Vision is low or poor because of abnormal formation of the retina, and the connections of the eye and the brain which eye glasses cannot correct. Many of them have a vision acuity of 20/200 or less. The hair may present colours ranging from cream and yellow to reddish tinge, blonde, yellow or orange or even light brown. There are more signals coming from the albino eye. They may be crossed eyes, rapid eye movement, lazy eyes, photophobias, sensitivity to bright eyes and glares, short sightedness or astymatism. Poor development of the retina, the light sensitive part of the eye, misrouting of the optic nerve to the brain.

In Nigeria, some of us make a mistake when we assume albinos exist among only Africans. No race, Asian, European or American is spared this congenital disorder. While among some it occurs in between one to 18,000 and one to 20,000 of the population, it may present in one to 3,000 of others. In some albinos, the skin is not completely “bleached”. Some African albinos have reddish skin. The impact on vision also varies from mild to worse.

Help For Albinos

In Nigeria, some albinos are too poor to help themselves cope well with their conditions. Some are ignorant, that is they do not have information on what to do. But, now, they are forming associations and linking in social media. The public relations officer of one of these associations told Radio Lagos that he always sought to help to cross the roads, wore protective eye glasses, used binoculars to view distant objects and magnifying glass to read. I would like to begin with photophobia, that is sensitivity to light. This is in varying degrees. It may be caused by nutritional deficiencies such as Vitamin A, Vitamin B-complex, carotenoids, especially, lutein and zeazanthin, zinc and essential fatty acids. Photophobia may be aggravated by migraine. This type responds to Riboflavine (Vitamin B2), which is best taken along with a good dosage of Vitamin B-complex. The albino has to watch out for such as Tetracyclin, anti-diabetic and anti-malarial medications. They sometimes cause photophobia. So are eye drops which dialate the pupil, such as in glaucoma. People who naturally have large pupils have a predisposition to photophobia as their eyes let into much light. As dry eyes also cause photophobia, Vitamin A supplements may help. It is better to take solublelised (water soluble) Vitamin A as this is tolerated by the body, the liver in particular, in large amounts. When supplementing with lutein and zeazanthin, it is advisable to include broad spectrum carotenoids as well. Lutein and zeazanthin are, like Beta carotene, members of the 600 or so plus carotenoid family.

The carotenoids may be found plenty in marigold flowers which are now available commercially in powder form. Lutein and zeazanthinare commercially extracted from them from all sorts of eye care medicines.

Zinc is ideal because, without it, Vitamin A may not be well absorbed or used by the eye. Alpha Lupoic Acid is important. It is an antioxidant  active in fat and fluid media, both of which are present in the eye. This brings us to the need for other anti-oxidants helpful to the eye such as grape seed extract, Vitamin E and Bilbery, which protected British pilots against the glare of bombs during the Second World War. Zinc is an anti-oxidant to consider for the skin, either as an ingredient in body creams. We should remember that zinc is a chief ingredient in calamine lotion which clears the mess of measles in the skin. Albino skin needs it, too. I will seriously also recommend Orange Peel Powder in the body and hair cream of albinos. It clears scars in some people and protects the skin against the sun’s ray, apart from thickening the hair, making it grow long and sturdy andpreventing dandruff.

Back to the eyes. In a study, Stringham and                Hammond report to the journal of food science that visual performance improved and light sensitivity decreased in subjects who took Carotenoids (10 mg lutein and 2 mg zeazanthin) everyday. Lutein is found more in leafy, green vegetables, including, as often mentioned in this column, Kalie, spinach, Spirulina and carrots. Magnesium relaxes blood vessels in the eyes to, like Bilbery and Ginkgo biloba among their other benefits, improve blood circulation.

As for the skin of the albino, we may add to the recipes already mentioned for it dietary supplements such as Silica, which is good for the skin, nail and hair for everyone.

Broad-rimmed hats, not just face caps, are recommended. Dark clothing is good, as black repels light, thus preventing the skin from absorbing Ultraviolet (IUV) light.Skin screen massage oils are helpful. Many people talk about Red Raspberry oil this may be scarce in Nigeria. Coconut oil has tingesof vitamin E and plenty of Lauric acid which kills parasitic micro – organisms as proven in oral use for diarrhea in HIV/ AIDS . I have seen skin condition helped by peanut oil fortified with vitamin A. Super – oxide dismutase (SOD) oil is no push over. The same goes for neem (dogonyaro) oil. Flat seed oil may be smelly but may be a good ally dietarily. So is Udo’soil. When Awocado is in season, it may be used as skin and facial scrub 30 minutes before a bath. The oil is a friend of the skin. Do not throw banana peel away it can produce a good skin and serve as a face scrub as well. There must be a place for cam wood. Ditto Shea butter. My cream is made of Shea butter, coconut oil and orange peel powder. Another recipe is sesame oil, lavender oil (20 drop) and one teaspoonful of vitamin E oil Albinos should hot indulge in foodless foods. Those to avoid like a plague are refined carbohydrates, white sugar in all forms, fried foods, hydrogenated fat, trans fatty acids, processed food, preservatives, while flour food of all kind. Fruit and vegetables, especially those with high anti-oxidant content, are their best friends.