Feel good again in your own body

Acupuncture for headache? Does this pay the cashier?

The evaluation of the data of 6700 affected persons shows: Acupuncture helps with tension headache and migraine at least as well as the conventional medical standard therapy? and with fewer side effects. This assessment is based on two studies by the international Cochrane Collaboration (www.cochrane.de). These investigations are highly regarded in the professional world and basis for the development of medical guidelines. The alternative headache treatment with needles could thus become a health insurance fund, as the research group acupuncture (www.akupunktur.info) already demands.

But can affected people now receive a reimbursement? "Ask your health insurance company," advises Christoph Kranich, head of the health and patient protection department at the Hamburg Consumer Center. "It's worth a try, even if the odds are not very high, because as long as acupuncture to treat headaches and migraines is not officially included in the cash register, they may not reimburse the costs by law, but some may do anyway, if they can rely on the current studies. "



Varicose veins: shrink instead of stripping

So far, large leg veins, which snaked visibly under the skin, were surgically threaded onto a wire and pulled out. Today, instead of this vein stripping, new, gentler methods are preferred. Sick vein sections are no longer removed, but shrunk and welded. For this, the vascular surgeon inserts a thin tube (catheter) into the vein and pulls it slowly? under the emission of laser light or radio waves? out again. The heat shrinks the connective tissue fibers, the vein closes.

The big advantage over stripping: "It hurts a lot less, and you can go back to work afterwards," explains Dr. med. Mete Camci, Phlebologist at the Center for Vascular Medicine of the Media Park Clinic in Cologne. Particularly safe is the "Radio Frequency Induced Bipolar Thermotherapy". The temperatures do not climb above 80 degrees Celsius. Thus, the veins can be correctly closed in 97 percent of the cases, without damaging surrounding tissue due to excessive temperatures at the catheter tip. "Stripping, so pulling out, you have a vein today only if it is extremely windy, has formed secondary branches or pre-operated," says vein specialist Camci. He recommends that patients with venous veins should be treated in vascular medicine centers (addresses at www.phlebology.de). There, if required, modern catheter procedures are combined with classical therapy methods.



Homeopathy as a cash benefit

So far, patients usually had to pay for a treatment with "beads" themselves. Now many benefit from the "Integrated Homeopathic Care (IV)". This reimbursement agreement has been reached by the German Central Association of Homeopathic Physicians (DZVhÄ) with currently 120 statutory health insurances. Christoph Trapp, press spokesman for the association, is confident that more will follow: "More and more patients appreciate the holistic and thorough case recording that precedes any homeopathic therapy, and even change their cash register to avoid having to pay for it."

More and more patients appreciate the holistic and thorough case recording.

Of the 5,500 orthodox medical specialists with the additional title of homeopathy or a master's degree in homeopathy, 1,300 first and subsequent medical histories can currently be accounted for. For prescribed globules or drops, patients must continue to pay for themselves. Addresses of homeopathic contract doctors at www.welt-der-homoeopathie.de.



Gentle surgery of the gallbladder

In the future, surgery on the gallbladder and cecum could be performed more often in women without stressful abdominal incision, thanks to NOTES (Natural Orifices Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery). This is the name of a novel procedure in which the surgeon uses natural body openings, such as the mouth or vagina, as access to the abdomen for the operation. "NOTES allows us to perform operations without external injury," says Dr. Carsten Zornig, chief physician at the Israelitic Hospital in Hamburg. He is considered one of the pioneers of the NOTES movement in Germany: 46 patients, he has already successfully removed the gallbladder without externally visible cuts? about the vagina.

"We are getting closer and closer to the optimal operation, which works without pain and scarring," says the surgeon, who developed the new surgical technique together with a friendly gynecologist. He combines two everyday methods: abdominal laparoscopy over the navel and the vagina. "We introduce the necessary instruments via the navel and the vagina," explains Zornig."Then we remove the inflamed gallbladder or larger gallstones via the vagina, which is extremely flexible, and we've already successfully operated on the cecum in this way." Still, this OP method has rarity value: "But at surgeon conventions there is a huge interest in NOTES techniques."

The benefits are at first glance cosmetic. "We also hope," says Carsten Zornig, "that this technique accelerates wound healing, is less stressful for patients and helps prevent scarring, as comparative studies show." The risks are not higher than with removal of the gallbladder by laparoscopy. And gynecologists have had good experiences with vaginal interventions for years. What is different in attempts to remove the cecum or gallbladder via the mouth? as already happened in India and the US. Experts fear that there is an increased risk of infection because the gastric wall has to be opened when accessing via the mouth. Then bacteria could get into the abdomen and cause a dangerous peritonitis.

In case of heartburn, get the stomach going

Heartburn is often associated with other ailments. As a recent Emnid survey has shown, 64 percent of sufferers at the same time suffer from bloating, stomach cramps, nausea or flatulence. This is often due to a disturbed gastrointestinal movement. Inhibition of gastric acid production often can not relieve the symptoms alone.

Experts therefore recommend normalizing the involuntary movements of the gastrointestinal tract as part of the therapy. This allows the stomach to empty faster, reducing pressure and ascending acid. As pharmacological studies have shown, it can be helpful to extract the bitter-flowered flower (Iberis amara).

Gentle method against bleeding

Bleeding disorders? Every seventh woman knows this problem. Sometimes polyps or fibroids, benign tumors in the uterus, are responsible. But heavy bleeding can also have other causes. "If they occur just before the menopause, they are often the result of a defective hormone level," says dr. Thoralf Schollmeyer, Senior Physician at the Kiel University Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics. Physicians then speak of "dysfunctional bleeding". Every year, about 60,000 women are still removed from the uterus because of this diagnosis. No easy intervention!

Alternatively, sufferers can leave the mucous membrane of the uterus slouched by laser or electric current. The disadvantage: The mucosa must first be shrunk by a four-week hormone therapy, so that even deep tissue layers are detected.

Without hormones now comes a new method. The doctor introduces a gilded metal mesh into the uterus via the vagina and unfolds it. With the aid of a vacuum, the mucous membrane is then completely drawn to the mesh and vaporized by an electrical impulse. The procedure lasts only ten minutes and the patient can leave the clinic on the same day. "In 98 percent of cases, the mucous membrane does not rebuild, the menstrual period is either absent or significantly reduced," explains Dr. Schollmeyer, who, as head of the Kiel School of Gynecological Endoscopy, also teaches the procedure to colleagues.

By contrast, doctors use the laser to operate for up to 60 minutes, yet often fail to reach the hard-to-reach exits of the fallopian tubes. However, so far only private health insurance companies reimburse the costs of the gold net procedure. Cash patients must count on up to 1000 euros. Information at www.endo-kiel.de. Specially trained doctors at www.goldnetz.com.

2 Ways To Instantly Feel More Confident In Your Body - Matthew Hussey, Get The Guy (March 2024).



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