CARE OF THE SPINE TO PREVENT DISORDERS: CARE OF THE NEWBORN – THE FIRST MASSAGETraditionally, the baby gets its first massage when it is five days old. That is when it is first bathed in water with a little salt and aqueous solution of the Neem leaves (for their antiseptic properties). Mustard oil or ghee (clarified butter) is used for massage. Even though mustard has a pungent smell it has many therapeutic properties and amongst them is its ability to warm up the muscles by drawing in more blood.The baby is gently massaged all over with emphasis on the neck and shoulder area. It is placed on a mat, but surrounded by the legs of the Dai, with the head closer to her ankles, and massaged. These gentle but healing strokes soothe the most irritable of all babies and, even though they may struggle in the beginning, they later become very calm, often falling asleep. After the massage, the baby is put out to lie and soak in the morning sun, first on the back and then on the stomach for a few minutes. After this it is bathed and wrapped up warm. The wrapping of the baby in a clean cotton cloth is in itself an art. The spine, right up to the neck, is maintained in a straight alignment with the help of the cloth. This ritualistic therapy of the mother and child goes on for 40 days and it gives the baby’s musculo-skeletal system the best chance to rectify the trauma of birth and help it to develop.Unfortunately, this tradition is fast dying in India, like so many other useful and sensible things. The urge to be modern is so strong that one by one that country is shedding all its traditional values and practices.*92\30\8*

By now I hope you will have found that you can use at least some of the tricks and techniques I have been describing to make your periods easier. With luck and persistence you may have found exactly the right blend and won’t be suffering every month. Good! Or if, in your particular case, this hasn’t been your experience, at least you should be feeling that you are on your way to an improvement, watching your periods get easier and easier month by month. The likelihood is that you will have learnt how to cope with your particular stresses and although you’ll probably have recognized that your periods are rarely going to be entirely painfree, at least by now they’ll be relatively easy to manage.

But sadly. I know that there is bound to be a minority who will go on suffering from far too much pain from the cramps, or far too much discomfort from the aching miseries. It’s also for anyone who’s recognized that an attack of epilepsy, asthma, cystitis, migraine or hay fever may be linked to an approaching period. And for any woman who is afraid that a violent mood swing could be the final straw that could lead her to batter her child.

*74\177\2*

There are two ways of dealing with too much fluid in your body. One is to get rid of it once it’s there, and the other is to take less in in the first place. By taking a drug called a diuretic, you produce more urine than you normally would. Many doctors used to prescribe diuretics, and there’s one on the market now that you can buy without a prescription. But there are snags to this first method. It only seems to work for a few women. Others find that although they are rushing to the loo every five minutes, they also develop a raging thirst, so that water is going in one end as fast as it’s coming out the other. This defeats the object of the exercise. The other difficulty is that if you excrete too much fluid artificially you can also lose potassium from your body. This, in its turn, will upset the amount of potassium circulating in your blood. And if the level of potassium in your blood gets too low, you’ll certainly notice it, because it will make you feel very tired indeed. So this is a treatment which requires medical supervision.

The second method is simpler and has no side-effects. It just takes a lot more self-control. It is simply to cut down on the amount of fluid you take in. Most of us drink to be sociable — cups of tea we don’t really want, pints of beer we don’t really need —so it will be a bit difficult at first to refuse all those friendly offers. But it might help if you can explain that there are good medical reasons why you have to restrict yourself to four cups or glasses a day, and four only. Most of us drink a great deal more than that and if you’re used to drinking a lot, four cups may seem very little to start with. But it really is all most of us need, except in very hot weather when we sweat a lot. Eventually you’ll find you needn’t be too severe about it. The secret is to drink only when you’re thirsty and then only enough to quench your thirst. But like all the treatments for the aching miseries, this one works really well only if you start it in good time —which means before your symptoms appear —and if you keep it up until your period has begun. With the bloat, prevention is usually better than cure.

There is, believe it or not, one symptom of the bloat which can be quite helpful and that’s those horrible black circles under your eyes. If you are looking at them in the mirror you probably can’t see anything good about them. But they are often the very first sign that the miseries are under way. So if you rarely look in the mirror and if you have an exceedingly busy life, you may not notice them until you are taking off your make-up at the end of the day or cleaning your teeth. But they’re the first signs other people see and if you have a loving husband, an attentive boyfriend or an observant mother, they will see them and can gently remind you to start your particular treatment. Partners often get a raw deal from wives and girlfriends who are suffering from the miseries. We hear a great deal these days about all the difficulties that couples face because of pmt. But there’s a reverse side to this coin, although you wouldn’t think it from the newspaper articles. Period time can certainly be painful and difficult, but it needn’t be negative and destructive. There’s a positive side too. Many women are more sensitive at period time, more vulnerable certainly, but also more aware of their feelings. Tackled with intelligence and affection, it can be a time when couples are drawn more closely together; when her terrifying honesty can actually be useful; and when his tenderness and concern and care can be seen and accepted as the strongest kind of love.

*35\177\2*