Old books – new books……….”camel-like fever”, chom k’mo gav ha-gamal

Old books – new books: why to bother to look in old books!?
……….Often after 2 to 3 days the patient is without fever free for a day, but thereafter the temperature rises again for 2 to 3 days.["camel-like fever", chom k'mo gav ha-gamal]
Read further to know what this means.

It seems that most of the flu [shapa-at] in Israel is behind us.
Why do I wish to write you about flu, if there is seemingly so little news to write about it –you may know all about it already
Flu is caused by an influenza virus.
Most common symptoms: sudden high fever, headaches, dry cough, all kind of body /muscle pains, etc.
All this is very well known to all of you probably.
Sometimes it may be difficult to differentiate between a simple common cold and flu, especially if the flu symptoms are mild.

I copy now for you the symptoms as described by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention [USA]:
Symptoms of Flu
• Symptoms of flu include:fever (usually high)
• headache
• extreme tiredness
• dry cough
• sore throat • runny or stuffy nose
• muscle aches
• Stomach symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, also can occur but are more common in children than adults
Another description, copied from a famous other text book of medicine: [if you are interested see the whole description at the and of the e-mail.

………"In uncomplicated influenza, the acute illness generally resolves over a 2- to 5-day period, and most patients have largely recovered in 1 week, although cough may persist for 1 to 2 weeks longer"

During the [past] flu I “treated” most patients/families by telephone
[telephonic advise].
Most people already knew what “weapons” to use and just needed some reconfirmation.
Why is the title of this story: Old books – new books?
To explain this I will now copy [and translate] from an older Dutch book of medicine [1963] a short description of the symptoms of flu:

Symptoms:
The disease starts mostly acute [therefore the name: grippe,griep]
[French:gripper=to attack suddenly]
The maximum fever reaches its peak in the first 3 days [40-41 Celsius],but the fever can be much lower.
The fever lasts mostly 2-3 days but it can also continue for a week.
The temperature can go down suddenly ["critically", as this is called] but it mostly goes down more slowly.
Often after 2 to 3 days the patient is fever free for a day, but thereafter the temperature rises again for 2 to 3 days.

This is precisely what we saw in many cases in this last flu and not a single modern book seems to be aware of this phenomenon, or at least none of them mention it.
[I am therefore happy with my book from 1963 [van Buchem etc]and wanted to let you know this clinical picture in case the flu still continues]
I think it is important enough to know because one could falsely start worrying if this is not known and the fever recurs.
Of course in some cases the recurring fever could be a complication, but often it is not.

The book continues with the most common symptoms like described before [cough, headache, difficulty sleeping, muscle pains, painful eye movements, can't tolerate light, etc.
It is amazing that modern text books of medicine often ignore older well established clinical symptoms.

For those interested: the whole description from a modern book.
From
Harrison's Internal Medicine [considered by many as the "bible" of internal medicine]
Manifestations
Influenza has most frequently been described as an illness characterized by the abrupt onset of systemic symptoms, such as headache, feverishness, chills, myalgia, or malaise, and accompanying respiratory tract signs, particularly cough and sore throat. In many cases, the onset is so abrupt that patients can recall the precise time they became ill. However, the spectrum of clinical presentations is wide, ranging from a mild, afebrile respiratory illness similar to the common cold (with either a gradual or an abrupt onset) to severe prostration with relatively few respiratory signs and symptoms. In most of the cases that come to a physician’s attention, the patient has a fever, with temperatures of 38° to 41°C (100.4° to 105.8°F). A rapid temperature rise within the first 24 h of illness is generally followed by a gradual defervescence over a 2- to 3-day period, although, on occasion, fever may last for as long as a week. Patients report a feverish feeling and chilliness, but true rigors are rare. Headache, either generalized or frontal, is often particularly troublesome. Myalgias may involve any part of the body but are most common in the legs and lumbosacral area. Arthralgias may also develop.
Respiratory complaints often become more prominent as systemic symptoms subside. Many patients have a sore throat or persistent cough, which may last for a week or more and which is often accompanied by substernal discomfort. Ocular signs and symptoms include pain on motion of the eyes, photophobia, and burning of the eyes.
Physical findings are usually minimal in cases of uncomplicated influenza. Early in the illness, the patient appears flushed and the skin is hot and dry, although diaphoresis and mottled extremities are sometimes evident, particularly in older patients. Examination of the pharynx may yield surprisingly unremarkable results despite a severe sore throat, but injection of the mucous membranes and postnasal discharge are apparent in some cases. Mild cervical lymphadenopathy may be noted, especially in younger individuals. The results of chest examination are largely negative in uncomplicated influenza, although rhonchi, wheezes, and scattered rales have been reported with variable frequency in different outbreaks. Frank dyspnea, hyperpnea, cyanosis, diffuse rales, and signs of consolidation are indicative of pulmonary complications. Patients with apparently uncomplicated influenza have been reported to have a variety of mild ventilatory defects and increased alveolar-capillary diffusion gradients; thus, subclinical pulmonary involvement may be more frequent than is appreciated.
In uncomplicated influenza, the acute illness generally resolves over a 2- to 5-day period, and most patients have largely recovered in 1 week, although cough may persist for 1 to 2 weeks longer. In a significant minority (particularly the elderly), however, symptoms of weakness or lassitude (postinfluenzal asthenia) may persist for several weeks and may prove troublesome for persons who wish to resume their full level of activity promptly. The pathogenetic basis for this asthenia is unknown, although pulmonary function abnormalities may persist for several weeks after uncomplicated influenza.

Chafetz Chaim and health

Chafetz Chaim and health [www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon]
The Chafetz Chaim, whose teachings we discussed in previous letters, stressed the importance of good health to his students. In a talk that he gave at his yeshiva in 1903, he said: “Don’t go learning and studying inordinately, beyond the normal amount of Talmud. A person must guard his body against ailments. He must therefore rest, renew his strength, breathe fresh air. An hour should be set aside regularly for a walk around evening time, or for resting at home. As much as possible, one should bathe in the river, to fortify the body. Excessive, exaggerated zeal and perseverance in study stems from the counsel of the bad inclination, which seeks to persuade a person to toil away beyond his strength, so that his body should become so weakened that he will be forced to give up the study of Torah completely; and thus his reward will be canceled by his loss. In my own self I have seen this: In my early years I kept learning and studying Torah beyond my strength, and as a result, my eyes became weakened; and so the doctors decreed that I must not read any printed work studiously for a full two years.” (“The Chafetz Chaim” by Rabbi Moses Yoshor, ArtScroll)

Feverfew [Tanacetum parthenium ][Chrysanthemum parthenium]

Feverfew [Tanacetum parthenium ][Chrysanthemum parthenium]
Today I will write you some very interesting facts-and far more then that- about a remarkable herb,
called feverfew.
you will be able to find a lot about it on the Internet of course, but I want to write you about a few less known aspects such as the remarkable anti-cancer effect of this herb.
let’s start with some history. ( Read more… )England 1978 : Mrs Jenkins cured a life-long migraine headache after 10 months by using 3 leaves of feverfew daily.
this got to the news-media and extensive research started in a London migraine clinic and all over the world ,also in Israel, .
I was so lucky to know Prof.Dan Palevitch -z.l.- personally some 20 years ago who supplied a few “herbal”doctors with the herb for migraine patients and who did research in Israel with feverfew.
In fact it is interesting to notice that there is nothing new under the sun ; Culpepper wrote already in this famous “Complete Herbal” in the 17 th century [in old English]
“It is very effectual for all pains in the head coming of cold cause, the herb being bruised and applied to the crown of the head”
But Culpepper’s observations were forgotten.
feverfew can be very effective in migraine but also may do nothing for certain patients.
a well known herbalist of our days ,Simon Mills observed that people who are helped by heat may benefit from feverfew for migraine whereas if the migraine get some better by cold then feverfew will not work for that patient and it will be better to avoid it.
A most interesting observation, something one often find in homeopathy: the physician may ask :does this or that get better or worse by heat or cold??
according to this he may decide about as certain homeopathic remedy.
I have personally also experience with feverfew in the treatment of delayed / absent menstruation [in non pregnant women].
the main thing ,however, I want to mention today is the new research done with
I quote now some information brought by Ralph Moss ,a well known cancer researcher:
What is particularly exciting is that this feverfew extract is the first agent known to destroy myeloid leukemia at the level of the stem cells. Increasingly, cancer research is homing in on these primordial cells as the source of cancer. An increasing number of scientists believe that unless cancer is attacked at this level it can rarely be controlled, much less cured……………………………………. The scientists studied it against two human breast cancer and one human cervical cancer cell line. “Feverfew…extract inhibited the growth of all three types of cancer cells,” they wrote. Of four feverfew components, parthenolide showed the highest inhibitory effect, although the other compounds work in concert with it in inhibiting cancer.[end quotations]

we have an excellent feverfew formula in Israel, maybe one of the best in the world.

It is produced in k’war ha-nasi under the name of : migralife and available in health food shops and pharmacies.

if you decide to use feverfew for more severe diseases then please consult a doctor who may guide you or give him this article to look at.

be healthy!!

khat gat qat chat : the bad effects of this middle eastern herb [known with the temanim, etc]

really only important if you have “something to do” with this herb.
otherwise forget about it.
see link below

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=44133&nfid=nl+

Effects of Melatonin Treatment in Septic Newborns

I am sending you a link for an-in my opinion extremely- life saving treeatment in newborns
and who knows , also in older people]
one seldom sees such dramatic results in medicine.
this article should never be “needed”-B”H- for any one’s child ,but it is good to print it out and keep it at hand ,in case you know any child in such a condition.

Effects of Melatonin Treatment in Septic Newborns

http://www.pedresearch.org/cgi/content/full/50/6/756

At 72 h after the diagnosis of sepsis, 3 of 10 non-melatonin treated
children had died, while all the melatonin-treated newborns survived,
and continue to do so. [quoted from the article]

colour [color] of bile vomit in a newborn

Conclusions There is little agreement about the colour of bile vomit in a newborn. It is more pertinent to ask parents about the colour of vomit rather than whether it contained bile. Many general practitioners and parents do not recognise green as an appropriate colour for bile in the vomit of newborns, which may delay surgical referral . Though yellow vomit does not exclude intestinal obstruction, and requires expeditious referral.

ful [mitzri] [fava beans [vicia faba]

ful [mitzri] “compared” to drugs

Probably eating ful [mitzri] [fava beans [vicia faba] may do the same [as tamoxifen did], according to james duke [ who knows what he is talking about]………..in case one this not sensitive to this [regishut le-ful,G6PD deficiency]

Drug Approved to Prevent Breast Cancer Recurrence

The Novartis drug Femara (letrozole) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent recurrence of hormone-sensitive early breast cancer among post-menopausal women.

The Dec. 29 New England Journal of Medicine includes study findings that Femara was more effective at preventing breast cancer relapse when used as an initial therapy after surgery than tamoxifen, a standard breast cancer preventive. The study was funded by Novartis.[ DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR TO YOO.............??[my remark]

Femara showed its greatest benefit among women whose breast cancer had already spread to the lymph nodes, and among women who had undergone chemotherapy, Novartis said in a statement.

Femara is an aromatase inhibitor, a class of drugs that blocks production of the female hormone estrogen, which is thought to spur most post-menopausal breast cancers. The drug should only be taken by post-menopausal women, Novartis warned, since aromatase inhibitors aren’t thought to be effective before then. The drug could also cause fetal harm, the company said.

[......thank you for being honest!!]

Common side effects of taking Femara include hot flashes, joint pain, night sweats, and weight gain, Novartis said.

Femara is already approved by the FDA to treat advanced breast cancer.

Copyright © 2005 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.

Last updated 12/30/2005.

This article can be accessed directly at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/1507511/main.html

Olive oil shemen zait

Olive oil
Today we will not concentrate on the miracle of the “kad ha-shemen” but on the medical miracles of olive oil.
Olive oil is simply “good for everything”!
Prevention and treatment of: hypertension, heart and blood vessel diseases, diabetes, all sorts of cancers [extremely beneficial in the prevention of breast cancer, skin cancer, colon cancer etc], asthma, arthritis etc
Rub the skin also with olive oil after a day on the beach or excessive sun exposure.
On top of all that is mentioned above, new research suggests that extra-virgin olive oil contains a compound called oleocanthal that does relieve [chronic] pain and this may be beneficial, specially with long term use of olive oil.
As a test: If the oil is high in oleocanthal it will cause a slight burning or stinging sensation in the throat.
Nearly for sure the frequency of all form of cancer would drop dramatically if olive oil was the only oil used in the diet, as well as all forms of cardiovascular problems.
As known to you I advise as second healthy oil the use of sesame oil
[for the moment buy in Israel only the brand of the company B and D ]which has different health benefits.
No other oils, certainly not canola.
As we have too little space here to describe the mechanisms of the medical effects of olive oil [as far as they are known] let’s concentrate on some practical facts useful for anybody.
Buy a high quality olive oil: don’t save money in this case!
The quality of the oil is dependent on very many factors.
The olives on the upper branches of the tree are of a better quality [receiving more sun]
If you want to read some more about olive oil tradition then read the piece of text from yalkut ME’AM LO’EZ [ parasha: tetsawe].
For those studying mishnayot: see menahot chapter 8 ,mishna 4
Already in mishnaic times it was known that there are actually nine grades of olive oil. The only difference is in how they are made. Three times a year olives are harvested from the tree. They are not harvested all at once since different olives ripen at different times. There are some olives that ripen very quickly. These are the ones at the top of the tree, which receive the most sunlight. These olives are harvested first, and three grades of oil are pressed from them.
The quality of the oil is dependent on many factors : the kind of olives, the higher[of the best quality] or lower ones on the tree, the handling of the olives, the climate, the “field”, the pressing method, heat, light ,storage etc.
Olive oil should be stored from the moment of production in totally dark bottles, because light destroys much good of the oil
Buy always extra virgin oil [katit tahor]
An excellent description would be: organic ,cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil, especially when all these characteristics are mentioned and bottled in dark bottles to the extent that the oil is not visible.[extra virgin should be mentioned on the bottle as the minimum requirement !!]
Cold pressed: this is the way of pressing the oil.
This does not mean that olive oil, once prepared already, can’t be used for cooking or frying purposes, an idea often spread by “nutrition-philosophers” without any basis to it.
In fact any Jew reading the Torah / Mishna should know better, where olive oil is described as being used for these purposes.
Nothing in modern science even would contradict this.
“Pure olive oil”[shemen zayit zach etc] and these kinds of descriptions mean nothing and these oils maybe of very low quality [produced after many pressings]
Using olive oil and at the same time other “rubbish oils” [not to mention margarine!] reduces tremendously the highly protective effects of olive oil.
Olive oil contains many important compounds.
Three important examined compounds are:
Oleic acid , squalene, linoleic acid
Various brands of olive oils contain different proportions of these compounds. In general: the higher the ratio of oleic acid to linoleic acid, the better!
For example a ratio of 13 or higher [that means 13 times more oleic acid then linoleic acid , could be very good, a ratio of 10 a bit less so and a much lower ratio far less good, but if you think this is all you have to know........then sorry!!
Squalene may be extremely important as well and may be one of the major cancer protecting factors.
Alas, in Israel I have not seen a single company specifying any of these compounds on the bottle.
But I am sure we have excellent oil and any company specifying more on the bottle would be a straight recommendation.
Extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil contains also substantial quantities of lutein and carotene, also very important compounds for good vision.
How much oil to use daily??
There is no answer to this question, from tradition one knows that it maybe a spoon or a few spoons a day.
If one is not in the habit to use regularly olive oil, then it maybe a good idea to use /"drink" in the morning [or at other times] one or two spoons together with some salt/herbs[we advise to buy Herbamare and to use this instead of plain salt]
This may be a very potent way of preventing many diseases.
For all of us it should be clear, that a good quality olive oil is a blessing “bli dai”, even without all the scientific back up
Chanuka sameach ,with olive oil [and sufganiot] as medicine as well : for sure an extra reason for saying Hallel!!

keywords: synagogue ,beit knesset, beit midrash, study halls, Gilo,Jerusalem, Israel, holy city, Rav Moshe Ben abu, bdmesq

Rav Moshe Ben Abu-the Sephardic rav of Gilo- a neighborhood in the south of Jerusalem with more then 40000 residents- asked me to help him find via the internet somebody [or even more then one person, if one would not be enough for this purpose] who is willing financially to help build a synagogue [beit knesset] with a beit misdrah [learning/study halls] in Gilo.

This house of prayer /study will be open for 24 hours a day for anybody who wants to be involved in Jewish studies or hear lectures on torah and related topics [and of course for prayers].

The person or persons who are willing to take this upon themselves may have the sole right to have their name[s] connected to this “eternal structure” [the building will be called after him/them or after who ever they choose]

The costs are: one million two hundred thousand U.S dollars.

Who ever blessed to have been given abundant richness by God may want to consider this proposal, knowing that he/she is building a home where for- ever torah wisdom will be transferred from generation to generation which may lead to eternal world peace.

If you wish you may write me or you may contact the rabbi directly ,

his telephone numbers in Jerusalem are: and

May God bless you,

Dr. harold jitschak bueno de mesquita, Family physician in gilo

Rehov ha-teena 8 ,gilo

Jerusalem 93384

tel:

E-mail: bdmesq@gmail.com

I declare hereby not to have any financial interest in this project

keywords: synagogue ,beit knesset, beit midrash, study halls, Gilo,Jerusalem, Israel, holy city, Rav Moshe Ben abu, bdmesq