Spasmophilia

This term, which is only used in France, applies to various nervous symptoms suffered by six to ten million people in the country, without predisposing ethnic or social factors. Primarily, these patients (about 75%) come from an urban background. Most are in the 30-40 age group and four-fifths are women. They suffer muscular, mental. or sexual fatigue, sleep disorders, anxiety, and emotional disturbances, in that order of frequency.

The diagnosis is essentially clinical. based on questioning and examining the patient. There is one test, which if positive, is useful: the famous Chvostek sign. This is a contraction of the lip on one side when the cheekbone is tapped with a reflex hammer. Biological and paraclinical tests show few changes, the blood calcium level is normal. which is not the case with tetanus, and the magnesium level is diminished or normal. The electromyogram, thought for a long time to yield specific results, does not in fact do so.

The Germans use the word dystonia, the English say neurosis, and the Americans simply call it anxiety. Nonetheless it is a feature of society with many repercussions on personal. family, social, and professional lives, at a not inconsiderable cost to the health service and insurance companies.

Acupunchure

Acupuncture has proved not just useful but on occasion indispensable, thanks to its sedative action and ability to restore the equilibrium.

Treatment Schedule : An initial weekly or twice weekly treatment can be suggested in periods of great stress, followed by maintenance treatment once a month for some months.

Relaxtion

Relaxation is essential for learning to control the emotions and muscular tension, and reducing, channelling, and even suppressing the effects of neurosis.

Two natural Foods Useful in Neuosis

Wheatgerm

Origin and Composition : wheatgerm is a perfect food, the vegetable equivalent of the egg. It contains all the nutrients necessary for the growth of the plant. It is made up of the kernel, (three-quarters of the total weight) which yields flour when ground, and the husk (15 per cent of the total) which gives bran.

Wheatgerm is obtained by soaking the grain in water and allowing it to germinate for two days. It contains all the constituents necessary for the plant's growth. It contains twice as much calcium, three times the magnesium and phosphorus, and many more vitamins, especially Band E, than wheat itself. It also contains vitamins A and C.

Properties: It helps in dealing with nervous problems and is equally effective against fatigue and overwork.

Metod of Use : You will find it in health food shops as flakes that can be sprinkled on salads, yoghurt, or soft cheese. Take one or two teaspoonfuls a day

Brewer's yeast

Origin: a living substance, specially prepared as a supplement, from a minute fungus that serves as a ferment in the preparation of beer. It is different from baker's yeast, and much better tolerated by the intestine.

Composition: Yeast is an extraordinary dietary supplement containing little fat salt, sugar, or calories, but rich in proteins, essential amino acids, minerals (chromium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium...), and group B vitamins.

Indication: It is a sedative and improves and calms the nervous state, as well as reducing the sensation of hunger and the need for sugar.

Method Of Use : You will find it in health food shops and pharmacies as tablets, capsules, flakes (take care, it is very bitter). One dose to be taken three times a day.

Magnesium is almost always lowered in people suffering from stress.

Copper, manganese

Phosphorus, involved in the contrac. tion of muscles.

Supplies of the trace elements are nor. mally provided in the diet, which should be varied and of good quality. When there is a deficiency, they can be taken as a supplement

Dietary sources of magnesium

Present in almost all foods, but unfor. tunately particularly in those rich in calories Magnesium is found mainly in citrus fruits, bananas, whole cereals (oat flakes, bran.. j, cocoa and choco. late, shellfish (winkles, shrimps, oys. ters, clams...) and oily fish, snails, figs, hard cheeses, dried fruit and nuts (almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, wal. nuts..), vegetables (spinach, dried haricot and green beans, split peas, soya.), wholemeal bread.

Dietary sources of copper

Copper is present in small quantities nearly everywhere, except in milk, which contains very little. It is found espe. dally in the liver ++ (calf, sheep), seafood (seaweed, lobsters, oysters, scallops, fish roe), almonds and nuts, certain vegetables (avocados, mush. rooms), cereals (whole wheat, whole rice, soya), dried fruits, green vegeta. bles, plums, cocoa, tea...

Dietary sources of manganese

Present primarily in vegetables, man. ganese is found mainly in whole cere. als, chocolate, oily plants (almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts), wheatgerm, some condiments (cloves, ginger, thyme), vegetables (carrots, beetroot, chest. nuts, haricot beans, peas, soya), coffee, tea... Manganese is scarce in or absent from food derived from animals (meat, fish, eggs) and fruit.

Dietary sources of phosphorus

Found primarily in dairy products ++ ( lOOmg in a litre of milk) and also in bananas, whole cereals (cornflakes...), brewer's yeast, cocoa, chocolate, sparkling drinks, green and leafy veg. etables (artichokes, asparagus, carrots, mushrooms, cabbage, parsley, soya...j, dried vegetables (haricot beans, lentils, peas), dried fruit and nuts (almonds, peanuts, dates, figs, hazelnuts, wal. nuts...), eggs, fish++, potatoes, meat (especially poultry). . .

Copper, manganese and phosphorus medications are found in many differ. ent brands and forms such as Organic Minerals (Colloidals) which contains 70+ trace minerals:
- Available in 946ml bottles
- Take 1-3 caps just before breakfast ancIJor evening meal
- Children I teaspoon daily for each 20lbs of body weight
Or Maximol (Ionized colloidals):
- Available in 500mi bottles
- Take %I capful once or twice daily on an empty stomach

Magnesium supplements also come in many brands and forms such as these colloidals.

Possible Prescription: One dose of magnesium to be taken twice a day for some weeks or even months.

• If necessary, you can take a higher dose of potassium for some weeks, using Spartate@ (Thorne) containing calcium 100mg, magnesium 90mg and potassium 30mg:
  - Available in containers of 60 capsules - Take one to three capsules three times daily

Calcium is often very useful in muscular hyperactivity (hyperkinesis)

Dietary sources of calcium

Essential supplies are provided by cheese and dairy products (1.2g per litre of milk, 200mg per litre of yoghurt) and various brands of mineral water, which as a rule should cover basic needs.

Calcium supplements: you can use homeopathic calcium such as Weleda@ calcium salts:
- Available in packs containing two boxes of 50g oral powder
- One quarter teaspoonful to be taken morning and night.

Vitamins useful in neurosis

Mainly group B vitamins

Dietary sources of B vitamins

Mainly found in the husks of cereals (wheatgerm++, oat flakes), pulses (haricot beans, lentils, peas...), brewer's and baker's yeast, wholemeal bread, fish, meat (especially poultry). .

• You can take Lamberts@ B-100 complex, a mixture of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, folic acid, biotin, choline, inositol and PABA:
  - Available in containers of 60 and 200 tablets
  - One tablet to be taken each day.

Vitamin D is useful for fixing calcium.

Dietary sources of vitamin D

Found mainly in oily fish (halibut, cod++...), tinned sardines, egg yolk, meat (beef. chicken, veal, liver), cheeses, butter, milk, cereals, mushrooms.. .

• Vitamin D supplements: you can use Lamberts@ chewable Calcium(400mg) with Vitamin D (2.5Ilg) and FOS:
  - Available in containers of 60 tablets - Children (from four years upwards): chew one tablet daily.
  - Adults: chew 1-2 tablets daily

In sunlight the skin produces vitamin D. Supplements can be withheld during periods of exposure to sun in the summer.

Homeopathy

Ambra grisea, Nux moschata

- Four granules of one of these two remedies at 7c to be sucked like sweets once or twice a day for some weeks

Ambra grisea

- Animal origin: ambergris is a substance formed in the stomach of the sperm whale
- Homeopathic remedy for hypersensitive persons, overcome by any thing and nothing
- Characteristic sign: extreme shyness

Nux moschata

- Vegetable origin: nutmeg
- Homeopathic remedy for hypersensitivity with sudden, profound changes of mood
- Characteristic sign: a tendency to faint or have blackouts.

You should also add a constitutional remedy chosen through consulting your homeopath; in this case it will often be Actaea racemosa, Ignatia, Lachesis...

Herbal treatment

Hawthorn, white horehound, passionflower. ..

These three plants can be prepared and made up by your herbalist, alone or combined, as a mother tincture, powder in capsules, dried extracts...

Possible Prescription: Ask your herbalist to prepare a 30ml bottle of a mother tincture of white horehound. Take 25 drops in a little water, two or three times a day, according to the symptoms.

White horehound

White, or stinking horehound, so named because it smells of musty cellars, will repel even animals. No restaurant would risk offering an infusion of it. It is sedative and helps with sleep.

• You can take hawthorn and passion flower in the form of a fresh whole plant suspension, which provides the full therapeutic effect naturally present in the whole plant.

Possible Prescription: From your herbalist, obtain a bottle of 60ml fresh whole plant suspension of one of these two remedies. Half a teaspoonful to be taken in a little water, morning and night for some days or weeks. For adults only.

• You can use Lamberts@ Hawthorn 2500mg:
  -Available in containers of 60 tablets
  - One tablet daily for a minimum of six weeks
• You could also try lime, whose sedative properties are well known: ask your herbalist for a 60ml bottle of lime buds macerated in glycerine at Ix. Take 50 drops in a little water three times a day. The buds of some plants seem to possess greater activity than the adult plant itself; this is true of blackcurrant. lime, and a few others.

Sweet woodruff

Sweet woodruff is a scented, very sedative plant: it is used to perfume tobacco (Amsterdamer). and is considered by some to be the standard natural tranquillizer.

Plant essential oils

Sweet orange, petitgrain bitter orange - Two drops of one of these oils to be taken in a little honey twice a day.

Bitter orange

Bitter orange has been known in Europe since antiquity; the sweet orange, on the other hand, was not introduced into North Africa and Spain until the 15th century.