Newsletter v3n23

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"Don't feel you owe me any respect; you can listen or not, as you please." (The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin)

The DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWSLETTER (Vol. 3, No 23) October 20, 2003 "Free of charge, free of advertising, and free of the A.M.A."

Written and copyright 2003 by Andrew Saul, PhD, of http://www.doctoryourself.com , a free online library of over 350 natural healing articles with nearly 4,000 scientific references.

DOUG WORE NO SHIRT even during Vermont autumns. From my two years living up there, I can tell you that Vermont autumns are powerfully cold. I wore two shirts, a sweater and a coat when Doug was serenely walking around the village half naked. No, he was not an exhibitionist, just a hippie. He really looked the part, man. Long, long reddish- blond hair; a beard (which he actually kept well trimmed), and of course, sandals (when he wasn't barefoot, which was usually). Pretty much all he wore were cut-off jeans and, when the snow got too deep, boots and a perhaps light jacket.

That's it.

In a close-knit mountain village, where we spent half our time near a woodstove and the other half bringing wood in to it, this guy stood out just a tad. As for clothes, well, he must have saved a pile at Sears.

Finally, I had to ask him why he dressed so lightly all the time.

"I'm just doing as the Indians did. I've found that I get acclimated to cold if I don't worry about it so much." While I suspect that native Americans probably like warmth as much as the next person, the real message was that what Doug did seemed to work for him. He was one of the healthiest looking people I've ever met, and while not a muscular guy by any means, he had dawn to dusk endurance. It wasn't long before I became good friends with Doug and his wife and little boy. I closely observed this beautifully healthy, mellow yet active vegetarian toddler on many occasions. Like father, like son: he did not wear a shirt, either.

I have, over time, tried dressing more simply and dressing light, a la Doug. It works. I was once introduced at a health food store as the "famous Dr. Saul." The person replied, "He doesn't look famous to me." If you dress Doug-style, you will probably get this a lot.

But doing so may have a weight loss benefit. Burning calories is not just done by exercising. Your body temperature is close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That means even on a warm, nearly-80-degree (F) day, the atmosphere is cooler than you are by twenty degrees. Hmm. On a 40- degree day, the outdoor temperature is nearly 60 degrees colder than you are. You are burning food-fuel calories just to keep warm. There has to be a weight-loss program in here somewhere. (http://www.doctoryourself.com/dieting.html)

Being outside is probably associated with more activity. I submit that it can also help you keep trim just by getting used to, and even enjoying, being in the cold. Cold also drives you into activity. When I walk or work in the garden, the chill of the underdressed is indeed tangible stimulation to keep moving.

Popular fears of "catching a chill" are based more on myth than medicine. Polar Bear Club members should, by rights, be more scarce than honest politicians if it were otherwise. As kids, we went off to camp in upstate New York for several weeks each summer. We swam in cow ponds (http://www.doctoryourself.com/feet.html), wallowed in puddles, and fell into creeks. We were always getting soaked. Dry sneakers were the sign of a wimp. We played kickball in the rain and had swimming lessons, outdoors, in the rain, no matter what the temperature. On overnights, we slept in leaky canvas tents and froze by morning. No, the Rochester YMCA was not trying to kill us; this was just "roughing it" and it did us nothing but good. And our parents, who willingly paid for us to have the experience, were not conspiring to do us any harm, either. Probably. It all built character.

People strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Nature is not your foe. Get off your gluteus maximus and go outdoors. Shake that body! Move it! Make your own heat, and watch your mood soar and your doctor bills dive.

Exercise ideas, with a few odd remarks on nudity: http://www.doctoryourself.com/exercise_avoid.html

THINK ABOUT IT When I registered my unvaccinated children for public school, the school nurse confirmed that my religious exemption was acceptable. I was further informed that, should there be an epidemic at the school, my children would have to stay home.

Wait a minute: if the other kids are vaccinated, what do they have to worry about? And if there IS a worry, maybe those vaccinations aren't all they are cracked up to be. If their shots are so great, then why send my kids home? I would like to think that the school medical staff was actually saying that to protect my children from any outbreak. But that doesn't fit either, as contagious diseases are generally contagious before symptoms erupt.

How come the non-vaccinated are not all sick all the time? Consider the Amish. They should, by the standards of school-district doctoring, all be dead, or paralyzed with polio, or crippled with lockjaw (tetanus), or at least plagued by a never-ending bevy of rampant life-threatening epidemics. Well, they aren't. If they were, you can be sure that our pharmophilic (drug-lovin') news media would be quick to report that entire populations of "religious extremists" have been wiped out by their rejection of modern medicine.

That has not happened. And it's not because the Amish are isolated from the "germs" of others, either. The Amish maintain frequent contact with the rest of society. My parents lived right in the Amish epicenter: Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Everywhere they went, unvaccinated Amish people were there, too: horses, black buggies and all. The Amish are not an isolated community and they are not a vaccinated community, yet they generally are a healthy community. Ever see a bunch of sickly farmers work horses in the field or raise a barn? No way. And they'd be an even healthier lifestyle model if they'd stop raising tobacco.

The practical answer for society in general? Natural immunity through optimum diet, and stand-by heavy-hitter therapy with huge doses of vitamin C. To think the needle is going to protect you is a silly as thinking that drugs will make you healthy.

For legitimate exemptions and alternatives to having your kids vaccinated: http://www.doctoryourself.com/vaccination.html http://www.doctoryourself.com/vaccin_2.html

A site search from the http://www.doctoryourself.com main page "Search" box for "vitamin C" will provide you with many medical articles on megadose vitamin C therapy against viral and bacterial illnesses.

JUICING HINT: Add some vitamin C powder, or cabbage or broccoli leaves, to your carrot juice and it will keep longer than it will otherwise. Vitamin C is a powerful and practical antioxidant. Prove it at home: Cut an apple in two and rub some vitamin C powder on only one of the exposed halves. Wait an hour and compare the halves.

VITAMIN SAFETY Readers report that they continue to hear all kinds of "vitamin scare stories" from their doctor, family or the media. Well, it is time to put these recurrent but groundless warnings to rest. Here is a special, brand new, one-stop summary page I have posted to help do so: http://www.doctoryourself.com/safety.html .

WRITE TO OPPOSE S. 722 (AND SUPPORT S. 1538 INSTEAD!) Senators Tom Harkin and Orrin Hatch have introduced an excellent alternative to the draconian S. 722, a bill that would give the Secretary of the FDA absolute power to personally decide which supplements will or will not be available to you. (More on this at http://www.doctoryourself.com/news/Extra%20092603.txt)

The alternative, far better bill is the "DSHEA Full Implementation and Enforcement Act of 2003 (S. 1538)." This bill will help the Food and Drug Administration enforce the current and fully adequate safety law, the "Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994" (DSHEA).

From the letters page at http://www.congress.org:

"Even though the two most recent FDA commissioners have said that they (already) have the power to ensure dietary supplements are safe for American consumers, the agency has also expressed concern that it doesn't have enough funding to enforce the current law. S. 1538 will provide funding that is consistent with FDA's needs and will also require the agency to file annual reports to Congress about how DSHEA is being implemented and enforced."

We should support Senators Harkin and Hatch in their efforts to pass this bill. Please write to both your U.S. Senators and ask them to oppose S. 722, and instead co-sponsor S. 1538.

This is serious. If we do not act now, we can expect to lose our access to nutrition supplements just as has already happened in Europe. (http://www.doctoryourself.com/news/v3n21.txt)

It can happen here. Don't let it! Get your Senators' addresses, and write to them both today. Their addresses are easy to find at http://www.congress.org (or http://congress.org/congressorg/home). You can send an email letter to them directly from that website, but remember this: A HANDWRITTEN, PLAIN-OLD U.S. POSTAL SERVICE 37-CENT LETTER **ALWAYS** HAS MORE IMPACT. When you write, be sure to ask for a response from your senators. . . and please share those responses with me, would you?

BOOK REVIEW Detox Your World, by Sharon "Shazzie" Holdstock. (http://www.shazzie.com) Cottenham, Cambrige, England: Rawcreation, Ltd. (http://www.rawcreation.com) 2003. ISBN: 0-9543977-0-3. Paperback, 352 pages plus index.

Our bodies need a good detoxification. We've eaten junk for much of our lives, and if you change your ways, you'll love the results. But real-world eating is not about don'ts; it's about do's. Shazzie's book is so positive, so effervescent and yet down to earth, that I think you will be quite cheerfully drawn into doing right by your body.

What is that, exactly? Eating raw foods and juicing, of course! Detox Your World is about the many, many benefits of the raw food lifestyle. Drs. Herbert Shelton, Norman W. Walker and Ann Wigmore would approve of every word.

Detox Your World is an especially apt title because our skin is only a rather arbitrary boundary between our inside and outside worlds. Internal and external ecology, our internal body and our external environment, are really one in the same. Shazzie's comments on colon health and skin care serve to highlight this point.

If there is a heart to any how-to health book, it is the "here's what you do each day" section. In Shazzie's book, this probably would mean pages 166-176 and 190-199. There you will find a goodly list of good foods that you really need to (and will actually want to) eat. I'm glad to see peanuts conspicuously recommended, and cows the world over will be dancing in their stalls when they see the no-dairy recommendation. Personally, I think cooked lentils and beans should be included as highly desirable foods, especially for the majority of people that will not be going 100% raw. And for those that do, my experience is that freshly-sprouted lentils are an excellent food. Shazzie addresses, if briefly, our misconceptions and worries about not getting enough protein from raw foods (p. 145) and provides fasting how-to's that I can confirm are highly effective (p. 224-226). I also liked the way she properly debunks our obsession with breakfast (p. 183). Excellent and concise juicing hints are provided on pages 140-141. Additional recommendations include getting into massage, exercise, meditation, and (my personal favorite) turning off the television (p. 75).

Detox Your World suggests keeping a health journal "because you will change so much that you soon won't remember how you used to look, act and feel." (p. 36) But can you do it? Does it require nerves of steel? Not at all. "Willpower does not come into it," Shazzie writes. "This isn't about trying to convince yourself of anything; it's about changing yourself so you don't see that cream cake as food anymore." (p. 24) Closet cream-cake junkies and most other readers in transition will benefit from the success stories (p. 238-270) and welcome the many really appetizing recipes (p. 271-344) that fill out the balance of the book.

Academics and other skeptics might appreciate it if Detox Your World included references to supporting scientific studies. A book that is this attractive and well put together deserves frequent and proper citations to the medical literature to back up its assertions. But on the other end of the reader spectrum, I think a cartoon illustrated version of this book for kids would be a big hit, kind of a "Cat in the Hat Detox" or "The Berenstain Bears Go Juicing" sort of thing. I loved the book's "before" and "after" pictures and would like to see dozens of them in the next edition. I also recommend an expansion of the book's bibliography, with complete publishing information for readers that really want to track down, borrow or buy recommended books. Title and ISBN are a good start, but are really not adequate to present to a busy librarian or the average bookstore clerk.

I support the book's criticisms of vaccination, fluoride, amalgam (mercury) dental fillings, alcohol, coffee and smoking. And while I disagree with Shazzie's negative view of megavitamin therapy (p. 30), I heartily agree with her fundamental and absolutely correct emphasis on achieving health by eating a tasty, varied diet that is 75% (or more) fresh and raw, munched with joy. To me, megavitamins and the detox diet are a marriage made in heaven. I shamelessly recommend both.

I very much like Detox Your World: it is practical, detailed, warm, enthusiastic, and just plain true. Some books brighten your day; here's one that will brighten your whole life.

(Shazzie's raw food recipes and her previous (and much smaller) book are also mentioned at http://www.doctoryourself.com/news/v2n3.txt . For more raw food information and a whole lot of links to raw food websites: http://www.doctoryourself.com/natural_hygiene.html)

TERMINAL CANCER: A CONTINUUM OF HEALING With very sick cancer patients, what we really want is total cure. Increased length of life and improved quality of life are more probable. Those are the very realistic, and very attainable, benefits to every cancer patient I have worked with for over 25 years. If I, or anyone else, had the sure cure for cancer, they'd had have my photo on the cover of Time magazine and I'd be Surgeon General of the Galaxy. What we are doing when we fight cancer nutritionally is primarily to boost the patient's immune system and try to get the body to heal itself. Sometimes vitamins and even foods can selectively kill cancer cells. Laetrile, broccoli, and huge intravenous does of vitamin C have been known to do this. (http://www.doctoryourself.com/riordan1.html and http://www.doctoryourself.com/cancer.html)

OVARIAN CANCER: VITAMINS AS PARTNERS WITH CHEMOTHERAPY by Abram Hoffer, M.D.

Patients suffering from ovarian cancer have a dismal survival record. The authors of a recent study (1) point out that a majority of patients with cancer also seek complementary and alternative therapy with megavitamins and herbs for a variety of reasons, most often without telling their oncologists. The authors write: "In this study, two patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer were studied. One patient had Stage IIIC papillary serous adenocarcinoma, and the other had Stage IIIC mixed papillary serous and sero mucinous adenocarcinoma. . . Patient 1 began oral high- dose antioxidant therapy during her first month of therapy. This consisted of oral vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and coenzyme Q10 and a multivitamin/mineral complex. In addition to the oral antioxidant therapy, patient 1 added parenteral (intravenous) ascorbic acid as a total dose of 60 grams given twice weekly at the end of her chemotherapy, and prior to consolidation paclitaxel/carboplatinum chemotherapy. Patient 2 added oral antioxidants just prior to beginning chemotherapy, including vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin E, coenzyme Q-10 and a multivitamin/mineral complex. Patient 2 received six cycles of paclitaxel/carboplatinum chemotherapy and refused consolidation chemotherapy despite radiographic evidence of persistent disease. Instead she elected to add intravenous ascorbic acid at 60 grams twice weekly. Both patients gave written consent for the use of their records in this report."

Patient 1's CA-125 was normal after her first cycle of chemotherapy and is still normal 3.5 years later. There is no evidence for recurrence. Patient 2's CA-125 was normal after her first round of chemotherapy but still had residual disease in the pelvis. She refused further chemotherapy and added intravenous ascorbic acid. She is well three years later. Neither patient suffered grade three or four toxicity and were able to complete the six cycles. Both had mild short- lived nausea. Patient 1 had numbness and tingling hands and feet as well as fatigue, shortness of breath and peripheral edema during the first course of chemotherapy but before starting intravenous vitamin C. She was found to have tricuspid and aortic valve regurgitation well controlled on medication. Neither patient had any hematologic toxicity, required colony-stimulating factors, suffered elevated renal or liver enzymes nor febrile neutropenia or infection.

In their discussion they referred to clinical studies which showed high dose ascorbic acid is a potent immunodulator, cytotoxic to cancer cells, and activates natural killer cells in vivo and both B and T cell activity. But there was little toxicity to normal cells. They pointed out that most clinical studies used multiple antioxidants referring to vitamin E, beta- carotene and vitamin A. Their conclusion was that with these two cases the antioxidants improved the efficacy of chemotherapy safely. They questioned the concept that antioxidants are contraindicated during most chemotherapy regimens, stating that such a statement is not valid. The University of Kansas Medical Center is now conducting a more extensive, controlled trial.

(1) Drisko JA, Chapman J and Hunter VJ. The use of antioxidants with first-line chemotherapy in two cases of ovarian cancer. J American College of Nutrition 222,119- 123, 2002.

This Month's FORGOTTEN RESEARCH IN MEDICINE: DIABETES is nearly twice as likely to develop in men an women who smoke.

(Rimm EB, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Rosner B, Hennekens CH, Speizer FE. Cigarette smoking and the risk of diabetes in women. Am J Public Health. 1993 Feb;83(2):211-4.

(Rimm EB, Chan J, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Prospective study of cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and the risk of diabetes in men. BMJ. 1995 Mar 4;310(6979):555-9.)

Twenty ways you can fight diabetes nutritionally will be found at http://www.doctoryourself.com/diabetes.html

PREGNANT women taking antidepressants such as Prozac (fluoxetine) are nearly five times more likely to have premature babies. (Chambers CD, Johnson KA, Dick LM, Felix RJ, Jones KL. Birth outcomes in pregnant women taking fluoxetine. N Engl J Med. 1996 Oct 3;335(14):1010-5.)

"The 73 infants exposed (to Prozac) during the third trimester had higher rates of premature delivery (relative risk, 4.8), admission to special-care nurseries (relative risk, 2.6), and poor neonatal adaptation, including respiratory difficulty, cyanosis on feeding, and jitteriness (relative risk, 8.7). Birth weight was also lower and birth length shorter in infants exposed fluoxetine late in gestation."

Natural alternatives to antidepressant drugs will be found at http://www.doctoryourself.com/depression.html http://www.doctoryourself.com/prozac.html and http://www.doctoryourself.com/nerves.html

Hints for a healthy pregnancy: http://www.doctoryourself.com/pregnancy_lactation.html

READERS SAY: Jim Laughead writes: "I have used nasal B-12 ever since the FDA take it off the market to make a prescription drug. I now make my own, taking about six 2500 mcg oral supplement tablets, putting them into about a 1oz nose dropper bottle, filling it 3/4 full with water, shaking it up, and storing it in the refrigerator. I find it is good for any respiratory disease. I put a half dropper full in each nostril, and between 4 to 24 hours it works. It has never failed me or my friends."

Thank you for the tip. More on intranasal administration of B- 12 will be found at http://www.doctoryourself.com/nasal.html and also at http://www.doctoryourself.com/alzheimer.html and http://www.doctoryourself.com/ears.html

DID YOU KNOW: That "advertising spending for all prescription drugs soared from $55 million in 1991 to $595 million" in 1996? (Shane S. Depression patients face a blitz of drug advertising. (The Baltimore Sun, July 21, 1997)

DOCTOR YOURSELF WEBSITE NEWS http://www.doctoryourself.com 's "reach" (overall Internet readership) has more than doubled just in the last three months, according to http://info.alexa.com/data/details?url=www.doctoryourself.co m . We also appreciate the very kind, five-star reviews that readers have posted at Alexa.

There are now 1,267,868 words at the http://www.doctoryourself.com website. To quote Gomer Pyle: Gol-ly! Still, the "Search" box at the top of the main page will find any topic that interests you in literally one second. No advertisements; no sponsors; no pop-ups, and no charge for access. We welcome nearly half a million visitors a year, worldwide, 24 hours a day.

DEPRESSION remains the Number One search at http://www.doctoryourself.com . To cheer everyone, I have acceded to your requests and have posted a convenient, one-stop "depression help page" summarizing safe and drugless treatments that can really brighten your day. Now relief is only a click away at http://www.doctoryourself.com/depression.html

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Liquids make mucus liquid. They change it from a troublesome solid that makes breathing difficult to an easy- to-cough-up liquid. I demand that my patients drink 10 full glasses of liquid every day. Water is best, of course, but I tell them to drink what they like. Lack of fluids will lead to chronic fatigue, irritation, even family problems."

(Ralph Bookman, M.D., as interviewed in Rodale's Allergy Relief newsletter, Vol 3 No 7, July 1988, p 6. Dr. Bookman was the allergist for the President of the United States.)

Lotsa water is good advice. Vegetable juice is even better. You can also get an appreciable amount of water from eating quantities of fresh fruit, which is what many a reptile does. Short answer? Do them all, you water-based life form, you.

My viewpoint on allergies is posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/allergies_2.html and http://www.doctoryourself.com/allergies.html.

PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME AND CAFFEINE Copyright © 2003 by Ruth Whalen, MLT (ASCP) Email: Tenpaisleypark@hotmail.com

Premenstrual symptoms affect up to 90% of women of reproductive age,1 often escalating to premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), categorized by the American Psychiatric Association as a psychological disorder. Occurring the week before the menstrual cycle, PMDD affects up to 5% of fertile American women.2 It is suggested that women read the symptoms of PMDD described in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fourth Edition. The symptoms are associated with caffeine use, caffeine allergy, and caffeine withdrawal.

Doctors consider severe mood swings and physical symptoms interfering with everyday life, including trouble with personal relationships, to be PMDD-related. Similarly, a criterion for a person to decide whether she is suffering caffeine-related consequences is assessment of the stability of relationships.3, 4 Caffeine is associated with the symptoms and severity of PMS,5-9 and is dose related; 6 the higher the caffeine intake, the greater the PMS symptoms.6 Chronic caffeine users who are caffeine sensitive may experience exacerbating symptoms of PMS.8

For many women, symptoms of cyclic psychosis occur premenstrually and disappear after menstrual onset.1, 10, 11 When psychosis is cyclic, it indicates that something is disturbing homeostasis. Allergic psychosis generates PMS and PMDD. Mood swings are indistinguishable from mania and depression.

Estrogen fluctuates with the menstrual cycle, rising with ovulation and thereafter declining. Estrogen decreases MAO activity, 12-14 heightening caffeine's MAOI effects by increasing the catecholamine and serotonin levels, and disabling catecholamine and serotonin reuptake. Monoamine oxidase inhibition can generate an abrupt swing from depression to mania.

Researchers indicates that during the premenstrual state, it takes longer for a woman to eliminate caffeine.15 Along with excess estrogen, the lingering of caffeine in the body causes and increases abnormal physical symptoms, including allergic-generated fluid retention, intracranial pressure, and symptoms of toxic dementia. Because she does not feel well, to alleviate abnormal physical symptoms, a caffeine allergic woman reaches for a caffeinated product. Self- medicating with caffeine increases the severity of PMS symptoms.5, 8 Presently, when estrogen decreases, MAO activity increases, 14 and caffeine breakdown increases, helping the organs clear toxins. Abnormal physical and psychological symptoms abate.

Some researchers believe PMS a sign of a developing bipolar disorder, and chronic mood shifts of PMDD may be misdiagnosed as schizophrenia, 14 or rapid cycling bipolar II disorder.10, 14 Perhaps after women diagnosed with a mental disorder remove caffeine from their diets, the women will experience PMS and PMDD relief, including the alleviation or elimination of abnormal psychological symptoms. Premenstrual syndrome and PMDD affect patients diagnosed with OCD, anxiety, panic, bipolar disorder, depression, and schizophrenia. Symptoms induce a tendency towards suicidal thoughts and behavior.16-18

For a caffeine allergic woman, the elimination of caffeine alleviates, and can eliminate, PMS and PMDD symptoms. The cycle of needing an elevated amount of adrenaline and serotonin to feel normal and get through the day eventually disappears, eliminating the need for a drug to alleviate PMS and PMDD symptoms.

References: 1. Downs LL. PMS, psychosis and culpability: sound or misguided defense? J Forensic Sci 2002; 47: 1083-9. 2. Eriksson E. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors for the treatment of premenstrual dysphoria. Int Clin Psychopharmacol 1999; 14:S2: 27-33. 3. Allen, Thomas E, Park, Lee Crandall, Liebman, Mayer C, and William C. Wimmer. A Primer on Mental Disorders: A Guide for Educators, Families, and Students. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2001. 4. Brantley Baptist Center. Facts about drugs. Caffeine. URL: http://www.brantleycenter.com/fad/caffeine.html. [Cited March 2003]. 5. Rossignol AM, Bonnlander H, Song L, Phillis JW. Do women with premenstrual symptoms self-medicate with caffeine? Epidemiology 1991; 2: 403-8. 6. Rossignol AM, Bonnlander H. Caffeine-containing beverages, total fluid consumption, and premenstrual syndrome. Am J Public Health 1990; 80: 1106-10. 7. Rossignol AM, Zhang JY, Chen YZ, Xiang Z. Tea and premenstrual syndrome in the People's Republic of China. Am J Public Health 1989; 79: 67-9. 8. Clementz GL, Dailey JW. Psychotropic effects of caffeine. Am Fam Physician 1988; 37: 167-72. 9. Rossignol AM. Caffeine-containing beverages and premenstrual syndrome in young women. Am J Public Health 1985; 75: 1335-7. 10. Hendrick V, Altshuler LL.Recurrent mood shifts of premenstrual dysphoric disorder can be mistaken for rapid-cycling bipolar II disorder. J Clin Psychiatry 1998; 59: 479-80. 11. Stein D, Hanukoglu A, Blank S, Elizur A. Cyclic psychosis associated with the menstrual cycle. Br J Psychiatry 1993; 163: 824-8. 12. Sherwin BB. Progestogens used in menopause. Side effects, mood and quality of life. J Reprod Med 1999; 44(S2): 227-32. 13. Payawal E. Emory University. Monoamine oxidase and its affects on the Brain. URL: http://www.ecit.emory.edu/ECIT/chem_ram/MAO/MAO%20 WEB.htm . [Cited September 2003]. 14. Felthous AR, Robinson DB. Oral contraceptive medication in prevention of psychotic exacerbations associated with phases of the menstrual cycle. J Prev Psychiatry, 1981; 1: 5-14. 15. Lane JD, Steege JF, Menstrual cycle effects on caffeine elimination in the human female. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 1992; 43:543-6. 16. Baca-Garcia E, Sanchez-Gonzalez A, Gonzalez Diaz- Corralero P, Gonzalez Garcia I, de Leon J. Menstrual cycle and profiles of suicidal behaviour. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1998; 97: 32-5. 17. Chaturvedi SK, Chandra PS, Gururaj G, Pandian RD, Beena MB. Suicidal ideas during premenstrual phase. J Affect Disord 1995; 34: 193-9. 18. Tonks CM, Rack PH, Rose MJ. Attempted suicide and the menstrual cycle. J Psychosom Res 1968; 11: 319-23.

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