Fifty-five years ago, I recollect that ballroom dancing was a mandatory subject at my prep school. Clutched beneath the ample bosom of the formidable Miss Chater, I would steer her erratically around the gymnasium floor to the accompaniment of Billy Cotton and his Band

on a rather tired and scratched ‘78’ gramophone record.  The gramophone, still being of the clockwork type and not a far more modern electrically operated record player, required very frequent winding which meant that my progress tended to be a little jerky.

Knowing little or nothing about the opposite sex, and even less about the social graces of the age, my 8-year-old’s brain could never fathom the benefits of this weekly purgatory. On one occasion, however, I did have the temerity to enquire of Miss Chater what it was all about. It’s exercise boy, she boomed above my head, flexes every muscle in the body. Exercise?! It couldn’t be that, because I was already almost run off my feet playing football and cricket.

A couple of years later, during the school holidays, I was minded to discuss this piece of dubious information with my father, as he toiled slavishly cleaning the wire wheels of his newly acquired Jaguar XK120, because I knew now that he was acquainted with the famous bandleader Billy Cotton, having introduced me to him at a recent motor race meeting. Surely, Mr. Cotton must know what this cavorting is about. Is it simply exercise, or something else?   I don’t know about that.....car washing works for me.....get me another bucket of hot water as quickly as you can. That was it, and an end to the matter! Nevertheless, during my teens and twenties, I was to be eternally grateful to Miss Chater, because I could waltz, tango, and quickstep with the best of them.

However, today, my patent leather dancing shoes have lain discarded in my cupboard for many years: there seems no room to dance properly these days, and I am certainly not going to make a comeback on television!  Instead, I have heeded my father’s advice and reach for a bucket of hot water and a chamois leather when in need of a little exercise.

Banished from the office for a couple of weeks, whilst Justin and Jan redecorate my “space”, I have had ample chance to flex every muscle in my body with endless car washing: it really is surprisingly good exercise, particularly if you have a behemoth like my old Mercedes 6.9.  Usually I chug around in an equally aged Peugeot 205 but, being on furlough, I thought that I would enjoy myself a little.

Having weeded diligently the paths around the garden, which left me feeling as though I had just undergone a thorough medical health check, I jumped aboard the German barge and set track for the Land of my Fathers.  Although not Welsh by birth, I did spend much of my youth in the Principality and my parents are buried there. Although poignant, I try to visit their graves as regularly as I can. Too often, I suspect, people move away from home and neglect the resting places of their forebears.

Cresting the rise in Bwlch, the Brecon Beacons lay before me bathed in autumnal sunshine: it must be one of the finest views in this sceptred isle.  My respects paid, I motored reflectively down to Brecon. Gosh, how these places change. I parked in the old cattle market, now a modern supermarket lot, where I spent so many happy hours, perched on the rails of pens, watching auctioneers ply their trade.  Before nostalgia completely overcame me, I ducked into one of a myriad of secondhand bookshops. Is Brecon trying, perhaps, to become another Hay-on-Wye?  How well I remember Richard Booth - the self-styled King of Hay - setting up, and all of us thinking him barking mad: who wanted old books?

Having purchased, for a mere pittance, a couple of choice volumes about vintage motors, I wandered down the street to visit, for the first time in more than 40 years, the premises where I began my working life. I could not believe it: nothing had changed. The Spy cartoons of legal greats were still upon the wall, and I doubt very much if a paintbrush has visited the place since my own original handiwork. It was really quite refreshing!

With a couple of hours to kill, I thought that I would sample a little “fusion” cooking: every pub in Wales which I had passed was advertising this culinary treat. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but sewin (in Wales, a so-called salmon trout) done Spanish style was perhaps in mind. Justin has run the concept past me several times and I have much enjoyed the results. 

I chose for my Welsh “fusion” experience a hostelry which had been run formerly by a well known rally navigator who, I recollect, knew exactly how much Colman’s mustard to put in a rare beef sandwich - that’s about as much “fusion” as you got in a pub 40 years ago!

You’ll be having the ‘fusion’ then, the lilting Welsh voice intoned. Well, yes, the sardines and the salmon perhaps, I whispered. Vin Sullivan, in nearby Abergavenny, used to supply some fine fish and I was hoping that this would be the case today, but I had just passed a Brake Brothers (purveyors of pre-prepared meals) van on my way to the venue and so could not bet on it.  Meanwhile, on a nearby table, there was suddenly much chat about wine and courgette flowers lightly done in batter.....Would you be interested in food then? The penny dropped. There was little doubt that many in the pub thought that I was a representative of Egon Ronay or the like: single man, dressed like A.A. Gill when he is not posing nude for the Sunday Comics, mid-week, Mercedes-Benz, and going for the ‘untouchables’ on the menu.  Strewth! (or whatever that is in Welsh, but I can’t remember).

The service was outstanding, and the home-baked bread was some of the best that I have tasted, but the ‘fusion’ food was absolutely ghastly. The sardines, plump, finely grilled and probably very tasty, were smothered in an oily sauce of dubious origin: the menu mentioned a country of which I have never heard, and I am quite widely travelled. The salmon, a more than generous portion but definitely not sewin, was similarly abused. Fusion?  Is it the art of ruining perfectly good food without really trying?!

With indigestion imminent, and far worse to come later in the day, I headed up the M50 for an unannounced meeting with my nonagenarian aunt.  She was delighted to see me, and requested that I take her around the grounds of the residential home in her wheelchair.  Phew! Unmown grass and unmarked dips made for harder steering than Miss Chater!

Yesterday I rushed over to Belgium, because the weather was clement and I fancied a bit of longer distance driving. No, I didn’t go just for the French fries and mayonnaise!  I left here at a little after 0800 and was back by 1830, with almost 500 miles completed and several rolls of film in the can.  The Channel Tunnel, although I thought it not a good idea at the time, has certainly made European travel easy.

Needless to say, I am enjoying thoroughly my break and am taking every opportunity to file as many motoring adventures as I can: I feel that you must have an interest outside of work.

It has given me considerable pleasure also to spend more time with my pets: Mungu’s 8th birthday, Birdie’s frolicking in his bath and, after more than twenty years, the terrapins ever increasing humanism.  I do love animals.  Still, I remain conscious of the fact that I am being a little selfish: they are MY pets. Since the death of Beaky a couple of years ago, Jan has been bereft of a canine companion.  I would do something about it, but what?  She has always liked miniature long-haired dachshunds but, try as I might, I cannot find the ‘blond’ for which she yearns.

Then, by sheer chance, we bumped recently into one of my oldest school friends, with whom I had spent several idyllic summer holidays working on his father’s farm in southern Ireland. Out of the back of  his car jumped a very chunky chap, the like of which I had not seen since those balmy days in County Wicklow almost 50 years ago: a Glen of Imaal Terrier. Jan was hooked.  With the time available, I was able to research a little more.   

No wonder that I had not seen one for years, there were only 26 born in Britain last year. My hopes began to fade, but a most helpful lady at the Kennel Club suggested that I might like to try the Secretary of the Breed Association.  Companion or Show? I’ve just had an ‘apricot’, but he’s got a brown nose. What?  I thanked the Secretary kindly, and promised to call back the following evening. That’ll be fine, he’ll still be here.  It all sounded a little ominous for such a rare breed.

Meanwhile I dusted off my copy of The Kennel Club’s Breed Standards. Colour?  Blue, brindle and wheaten (all shades).  This threw me into an immediate state of quandary: is ‘apricot’ a shade of wheaten?  Mungu is officially red wheaten, but he looks ginger to me. Nose?  Black, and no equivocation: any departure from the foregoing point should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree. Oh Lord, no amount of black boot polish was going to put that right.  Anything else I should know? With his high prey drive, the Glen of Imaal Terrier must be carefully introduced to cats.  Aha!  Excellent!  Apropos my piece last month about foiling felines, no introduction will be necessary.  I phoned immediately the breeder: Jan would have him. After all, what difference does a nose make amongst family!

Although it is now two weeks or more, I am still unable to return to my office because the refurbishment is not yet finished. I haven’t a clue what they are up to but, amongst other things, it seems to involve the disassemblage of my library. Therefore bereft of any reference material, I am having to hack it on the basis of a few notes stashed in my briefcase.

Vestigating vertigo.
I have been diagnosed as having Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo.  Certain exercises have been recommended, which clear debris in the inner ear which causes the vertigo. 

I am interested to know if anyone has any info re. using oils to alleviate the symptoms and/or help prevent another attack.

Although I am not a medical person I do have some doubts as to the diagnosis, as everything I read about BPPV says the attacks of actual vertigo last only a few minutes whereas mine lasted for almost 12 hours and the symptoms I have seem more akin to labyrinthitis or even Meniere’s, although I have no deafness, but who am I to say?! e-mailed Judith Woollin.

Vertigo is a symptom of vestibular disorders. A variety of disorders may affect the vestibular system and produce vertigo, including cerebrovascular disorders, epilepsy, head injury, malignant neoploasms, Meniere’s disease, migraine, MS, and infections.

The vestibulocochlear nerve, cranial nerve VIII, was formerly known as the acoustic or auditory nerve.  It is a mixed but mainly sensory cranial nerve and has two branches, the vestibular nerve and the cochlear nerve. The vestibular nerve carries impulses for equilibrium whereas the cochlear nerve carries impulses for hearing.

Vestibular neuronitis is a disorder of the vestibular nerve that causes extreme vertigo but the hearing is not affected.

Meniere’s disease is a disorder of the labyrinth characterised by recurrent attacks of vertigo, hearing loss, and tinnitus. It usually presents in middle age. The predominant pathological feature is an excess of endolymph fluid producing an increase in pressure in the membranous labyrinth.  It is progressive and attacks occur in clusters over a few weeks with periods of remission lasting weeks or months. Episodic vertigo is the most disabling symptom initially and is associated with nausea and vomiting, which improves as the disease progresses and hearing loss becomes more apparent. As the disease progresses the hearing loss becomes irreversible.  Tinnitus worsens with each attack and becomes persistent and distressing.

The aims of treatment of Meniere’s disease are to alleviate symptoms and preserve hearing if possible. It is therefore important to assess how far the disease has progressed, particularly in terms of hearing loss. In addition to traditional hearing tests, cochlear dysfunction may be assessed pharmacologically.  Hypertonic glycerol has been administered orally to reduce the endolymphatic fluid volume by osmotic diuresis, any temporary improvement in hearing indicating reversible impairment. However, the test is associated with side-effects that some consider unacceptable.  Urea has been used as an alternative to glycerol.  [Saeed, S.R. et al. Meniere’s disease. Br. J. Hosp. Med. 1994; 51: 603-12]

Rarely, vertigo and deafness result from a benign growth on the vestibulocochlear nerve, or - if it develops suddenly in an elderly person - from a stroke. High blood pressure, hardening of the arteries and ear disorders can also cause vertigo.  Therefore, if you develop persistent vertigo, your doctor will measure your blood pressure, examine your ears and look for signs of an underlying cause.  If your hearing is deteriorating the cause may be a growth on the nerve, and your doctor may arrange a CAT scan.

The management of vertigo has been reviewed [Baloh, R.W. Vertigo. Lancet 1998; 352: 1841-6]. Patients should undergo thorough investigations to identify any underlying cause. Simple measures to improve the integration of sensory input from visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular receptors may prove effective.  Such measures include improving visual acuity, balance exercises, and the use of walking aids.

Would the Alexander Technique - a process of psychophysical re-education to improve postural balance and coordination in order to move with minimal strain and maximum ease - assist, I wonder?

The mainstay of the pharmacological treatment of acute vertigo remains antihistamines, although their mechanism of action is unclear. They may have a direct action on the inner ear besides acting centrally.

Therefore, it might be worth looking at those essential oils which are considered to be possibly antihistaminic: Chamomile, Melissa, Lavender, etc.  These oils have a calming and soothing effect on the mind and emotions, and in many cases will help the sufferer to reach a state of balance where the external irritant no longer provokes an abnormal flood of histamine into the body.           

Personally, not being a therapist, I doubt that essential oils can provide an answer, but I could be so very wrong!  I much look forward to your comments.

A pain in the proverbial!
Hello, I was wondering if you or any of your readers would be able to suggest anything for my rather irritating problem.  I suffer from severe itching of my bottom.  I have suffered with this for years.  Countless trips to the doctors have ruled out all the obvious causes.  I have cupboards full of various steroid creams, but I am slightly reluctant to use them.

Itching is something of a mystery. There are no nerve-endings which can be identified as “itch” receptors, though it seems likely that very mild stimulus of the nerves which are pain receptors gives rise to the sensation of itching. It may simply be an allergy to something.

However, chamomile, more than any other oil, has the reputation of relieving itching, though lavender and very dilute melissa are good alternatives. Some find that chamomile and lavender combined are more effective than either of them alone, and that Blue chamomile is the best of the various chamomiles. You can use these in the bath, in a cream or lotion, or even, for a very small itchy area, one or two drops of the neat oil rubbed directly onto the skin.

Any other suggestions?

Canine Care.
It genuinely surprises me how many enquiries I receive each month about the care of pets, because there are many first-class homoeopathic and naturopathic vets around the country: also there is an increasing number of aromatherapists who, under veterinary supervision, tend to the needs of animals. Nevertheless, despite my best efforts to direct my enquirers down this road, they still request a few ideas. 

Unfortunately animals cannot communicate and, therefore, by the time the enquiry reaches me it is based invariably upon the vet’s diagnosis.  Who am I to argue?

Do you have any books on Aromatherapy for Dogs? I was asked the other day. At the moment my 9-year-old labrador is suffering from what we, and the vet, think is a stomach ulcer. The antibiotics she has been prescribed have had some effect, but we feel she has some way to go before she is fully well again.  I think it’s time I looked for a different solution to her problem. Can you help?

Of course I can’t, but I can suggest a few ideas which can be run past the vet or therapist. By the way, such books as there are on Canine Aromatherapy seem to contain nothing about the treatment of stomach ulcers.  

Stomach ulcers are breaks in the stomach lining which can be caused by conventional painkilling medicines or by corticosteroids. Nevertheless, in dogs, gastritis produces signs similar to ulcers - loss of appetite, weight loss, subdued behaviour, occasional vomiting, and, if bleeding occurs, dark, tarry stools.

Complementary treatments emphasize the importance of a healthy gastrointestinal system.  Interfering with vomiting can prevent the dog’s body from ridding itself of toxins. Therapies try, instead, to restore natural levels of acid and bicarbonate in the stomach.  Relaxation therapies attempt to control the production of natural chemicals that in excess cause stomach inflammation.

Check with your vet but, I should be tempted to follow the same advice as for humans: avoid foods that irritate the lining of the stomach. Clinically, an elimination diet has been used with great success in treating and preventing recurrent ulcers. Food allergy is also consistent with the high recurrent rate of peptic ulcers.

For example, it is ironic that many people with peptic ulcers soothe themselves by consuming milk, a highly allergic food.  Milk should be avoided on this basis alone. However, there is additional evidence suggesting that milk should be avoided in patients with peptic ulcers: population studies show that the higher the milk consumption, the greater the likelihood of ulcer, and milk significantly increases stomach acid production [Kumar, N. et al. Effect of milk on patients with duodenal ulcers. B.M.J. 1986; 293: 666].

Vitamin A may help prevent or treat gastritis, and Vitamin E may be protective and zinc may inhibit chemicals that weaken the stomach lining.  Vitamins A and E have been shown to inhibit the development of stress ulcers in rats and are important factors in maintaining the integrity of the mucosal barrier.  Zinc increases mucin production in vitro, and has been shown to have a protective effect on peptic ulcers in animals, and a curative effect in humans.

Teaching dogs to relax in order to increase their alertness and enhance training makes great sense. Because it is a comparatively new idea, many vets are unaware of its methods or value.  However, there appears to be potential to incorporate this form of natural conditioning into conventional therapeutic regimes for a wide variety of medical problems.  For example, allow your dog to sleep without interrupting its dreams, and modify your dog’s exercise according to its age and abilities. Too often, I see aged dogs being dragged for walks which are probably doing them more harm than good but, I suspect, it has become a daily regime for their owners!  Physiological responses to relaxation are quite substantial.  Circulating levels of adrenalin drop, as does blood pressure and blood-sugar levels. As the dog’s muscles relax, the lactic acid in them will diminish.  Digestion improves, the immune system becomes more active, and alertness increases.

Whether the following natural remedies would work for our canine chums I don’t know, but they have been successful in the treatment of humans.

Raw cabbage juice has been well documented as having remarkable success in treating peptic ulcers. Research has shown that the high glutamine content of the cabbage juice is probably responsible for the efficacy in treating ulcers. Although the mechanism is not known, it is postulated to be due to the role of glutamine in the biosynthesis of the hexosamine moiety in certain mucoproteins. This could stimulate mucin synthesis which would benefit peptic ulcer patients.

In cases of active intestinal bleeding, rhubarb preparations can be extremely effective. The beneficial actions are due to the presence of astringent anthraquinones and flavonoids.

Sussing sassafras and its safety.
I am currently undertaking a research project as part of my HND in health and holistic therapies. I am trying to find information on the traditional uses of Mustard, Sassafras and Wormseed.  I need the information to be accurate so that I can compare it with what is available on the Internet. Do you have any quotes and references on any of the oils?

A rather strange question, I thought, for an HND in Health and Holistic Therapies, but I am probably quite out of touch.  However, as I consult it rarely, I don’t know whether I am any more accurate than the Internet!  Still, here’s what little I know about Sassafras: Mustard and Wormseed will have to wait until I am back in the office.

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees) is a plant whose virtues are almost uniformly praised by modern herbalists, I once read. A tea prepared from the root bark is widely recommended as a spring tonic and “blood thinner”. The root bark was being used to treat fevers by the natives of Florida prior to 1512 and formed one of the earliest exports of the New World.  It still enjoys a considerable reputation as a stimulant, antispasmodic, sudorific, depurative and as a treatment for rheumatisn, skin diseases, syphilis, typhus, dropsy, and so on.

Much of the persistent reputation of sassafras may no doubt be attributed to its pleasant taste and aroma. It contains up to 9% of a volatile oil, which, in turn, consists of about 80% safrole. For years it was a valued flavouring agent in root beer and similar beverages. But as a result of research conducted in the early 1960s, safrole was recognized as a carcinogenic agent in rats and mice. Sassafras bark, sassafras oil, and safrole are now prohibited from use as flavours or food additives.

Unfortunately, sassafras continues to be collected, used, sold, and written about as a herbal remedy. No one really knows just how harmful it is to human beings, but it has been estimated that one cup of strong sassafras tea could contain as much as 200mg safrole. To put this into perspective, the following estimation has been made.  Extrapolation of results from animal toxicity studies indicate that 0.66mg/kg may prove hazardous in man.  By comparison, a cup of sassafras tea represents approximately 3mg/kg! [Segelman, A.B. et al. Sassafras and herb tea. Potential health hazards.  JAMA 1976; 238: 477].

As a matter of fact, a question was raised about the carcinogenicity of safrole in humans by a 1977 study carried out by toxicologists in Switzerland [Benedetti, M.S., Malnoe, A. and Broillet, L. Toxicology 1977; 7: 69-83].  They were unable to demonstrate the formation of 1’-hydroxysafrole, the metabolite actually responsible for safrole’s cancer-producing effect, when small amounts of safrole were given by mouth to human volunteers.  However, the doses of safrole given to the human subjects were extremely small (maximum 1.655mg), and this may account for the failure of the human subjects to metabolize it to 1’-hydroxysafrole.

On the other hand, this so-called proximate carcinogen was detected in the urine of rats when safrole was fed to those animals.  The finding suggests that the toxicity of safrole in man and in small animals may differ.

Safrole has a number of industrial applications, including use as a fragrance in soaps and commercial cleansers. Some perfume components are also synthesized from safrole. A new use, however, has emerged in the past decade, which has attracted the attention of the law enforcement agencies.  Clandestine producers of “designer drugs” have used safrole and isosafrole, derived from the oil of sassafras root bark, as a precursor in the manufacture of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (known as MDMA, Ecstasy, XTC, Adam, etc.). This drug gained notoriety in the early 1990s, but it is not a new compound. The synthesis of MDMA from safrole was first described in a German patent published in 1912.

Nevertheless, an overriding consideration in this whole matter of the safety and efficacy of sassafras is that the plant material has no really significant medical or therapeutic utility. Sassafras oil, in common with many essential oils, does possess some mild counterirritant properties on external application, but beyond these, none of the claims of its supporters has been documented in the modern medical literature. Despite its pleasant flavour and its folkloric reputation as a useful tonic, prudent people will avoid it because of its potentially harmful qualities.

Sassafras oil should not be used either internally or externally.

Finally.......
I am amazed how much I had stuffed in my briefcase!

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