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Herbal-Medical
Glossary
The herb and medical terms are listed alphabetically.
Use the links below to navigate.
GARBLE - Rummaging through and cleaning out herbs; sorting.
GARDNERELLA - Formerly Haemophilus, this is an anaerobic bacteria that is a main contributor to bacterial vaginosis. It is sometimes sexually transmitted, but can stick around for years as a passive part of the vaginal flora, only to flare up. It seems to occur in up to a quarter of relatively monogamous women and in half of women with multiple male partners. As bacterial vaginosis, Gardnerella is one of the three main causes of vaginal discharges, along with Trichomonas and Candida albicans. Antibiotic therapy for male partners seems of only marginal value, and the distinguishing characteristic of the infection is nearly no Lactobacillus vaginal presence, the main part of the flora that retains the lactic acid and peroxide balance so important in a healthy vagina. Live culture yogurt, as both food and douches help the problem.
GASTRALGIA - A stomach ache.
GASTRIC - Pertaining to the stomach.
GASTRIC ULCER - A usually chronic condition, started by irritation, with congestion in time, leading to edema, blistering, and the formation of an ulcer. Hylobacter infections seem to prolong and aggravate the condition, but the presence alone of the bacteria, without functional impairment, will not begin the disease. Possessing a certain "workaholic" panache...even boasted of in some business circles as if to validate one's work ethic, it nonetheless is fatal if untreated.
GASTRITIS - Inflammation of the stomach lining, with either congested and boggy or inflamed membranes. It may be caused by bacteria and yeast or chemical irritation like alcohol, but most frequently it is the result of emotional stress and inappropriate patterns of eating.
GASTROENTERITIS - Inflammation of the stomach and small intestines. It is more likely to be infectious than simple gastritis and is often accompanied by fever and general malaise.
GASTROESOPHAGEAL REFLUX - The involuntary regurgitation of stomach contents or surface acids into the throat, with heartburn; it can be simple or serious.
GI - Gastrointestinal
GIARDIASIS - An intestinal tract infection caused by Giardia lamblia, a flagellate protozoa now common to much of the world. Brought in by hikers and the hoards of grazing cattle, wintering over in beavers, elk and moose, it is one of the few parasites to be encountered in the mountains and north country. It is not normally a very serious infection, but for some reason certain people experience great debility.
GLAUCOMA - An eye disease, usually chronic and slow, with increased pressure of fluid within the eye causing degrees of impairment to the optic nerve, and slowing circulation between the eye chambers sufficient to also contribute to lens deposits and corneal opacities. When under adrenalin stress or under the effect of most stimulants, pupils dilate, the eyeball changes shape, and pressure within the eye increases. This may not itself start glaucoma, but adrenergic stress will surely make it worse.
GLOSSITIS - Inflammation of the tongue.
GLUCAGON - A hormone produced by the alpha cells of the pancreas that increases the release of sugar by the liver: it is hyperglycemic. The substance produced by the beta cells, insulin, induces many tissues (muscles particularly) to absorb glucose through their membranes and out of the blood; it is hypoglycemic.
GLUCOSIDE - A plant compound containing a glucose and another substance (the bioactive part). A special-case glycoside.
GLYCOSIDE - A plant compound containing one or more alcohols or sugars and a biologically active compound. The sugar part is called a glycone, the other stuff is called an aglycone. The important things to remember about some glycosides is that they may pass through much of the intestinal tract, with the hydrolysis of the molecule only occurring in the brush borders of the small intestine. The result is that the bioactive part, the aglycone, is absorbed directly into the bloodstream, and is often not floating around the intestinal tract contents at all. Quinones are irritating and even toxic when ingested, but when taken as glycosides, they are absorbed directly into the bloodstream, where they are not dangerous (in moderation), and get excreted in the urine, where they inhibit infections. Plants like Madrone, Uva Ursi, and Manzanita work in this fashion. Some plant-derived heart medicines are only safe in proper doses because they, too, are glycosides, and they can be carried safely bound to proteins in the bloodstream, whereas if the aglycone were in the free form in the gut, it might be either toxic or be digested directly into an inactive form.
GLYCOSURIA - Sugar in the urine, from hyperglycemia, diabetes, or most simply, sugar binges.
GOITER, EXOPHTHALMIC - The physical symptoms often associated with Grave's disease or thyrotoxicosis, with an inflamed, sometimes enlarged thyroid gland and, most noticeably, protruding eyes.
GOUT - A disease that causes episodes of acute arthritis and inflammatory swelling in one or more joints. Gout usually starts in a well-used, oft traumatized joint like the right big toe or knee, and usually starts in the night, during the time that Traditional Chinese Medicine calls "liver hour," 2:00 to 4:00 A.M. (allowing for daylight saving time). The inflammation is caused by uric acid crystals that have lodged in the joint's white blood cells and results from the condition called hyperuricemia. Most folks with gout have a hereditary tendency to poorly excrete uric acid in urine as they get older, and it stays in the blood until. . . gout.
GRAM-POSITIVE/NEGATIVE - Gram's Method is a staining procedure that separates bacteria into those that stain (positive) and those that don't (negative). Gram-positive bugs cause such lovely things as scarlet fever, tetanus, and anthrax, while some of the gram negs can give you cholera, plague, and the clap. This is significant to the microbiologist and the pathologist; otherwise I wouldn't worry. Still, knowing the specifics (toss in anaerobes and aerobes as well), you can impress real medical professionals with your knowledge of the secret, arcane language of medicine.
GRANULOCYTES - These are a group of white blood cells that have many and well-pigmented granules, and derive from the bone marrow myeloblasts. The granules are sources of digestive, immunologic, and inflammatory proteins. The classic granulocytes are neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils, but one should also include mast cells. Also, macrophages, which start out as agranulocytic monocytes but get lots of granules when they grow up.
GU Genital-urinary tract...of particular application to males.
HEMORRHAGE - Bleeding, pure and simply. Menses is not blood but the carefully orchestrated excretion of excess endometrium. If the membranes fail to vasoconstrict and bleed further, THAT is hemorrhage.
HEMATURIA - The presence of blood in the urine.
HEMOLYSIS - The breakdown of senescent red blood cells into recyclable constituents, with particular importance given to the reuse of the heme part of hemoglobin.
HEMOLYTIC - Promoting the breakdown of red blood cells; a normal process, hectic and skillfully balanced, the term is usually applied to excess conditions or toxic substances that degrade the bonds between healthy red blood cells and their hemoglobin coat or cause the liver and spleen to hypercatabolize otherwise healthy erythrocytes.
HEMOPATHY - A disease of the blood.
HEMOPTYSIS - Coughing up blood or pulmonary bleeding. If simply resulting from excessive coughing, where bleeding is from prolonged tracheal or pharynx irritation and minute mucosal hemorrhage, it can be self-treatable ...anything else and start worrying.
HEMORRHOIDS - Enlarged veins protruding into the anorectal area, either internal or externally visible. They are either the result of poor sphincter tone and portal congestion, or sphincter hypertonicity, skeletal muscle and adrenergic excess..."Jock Hemmies".
HEMOSTATIC - A substance that stops or slows bleeding, used either internally or externally.
HEPATIC - Pertaining to the liver.
HEPATITIS - An inflammation of the liver. It can be caused by an infection or by a simple liver toxicity, such as a three-day binge with ouzo, metaxa, and Ripple chasers.
HEPATOCYTES - A functional or parenchymal liver cell, specializing in enzyme synthesis.
HEPATOMEGALY - An enlarged liver. Hepatosplenomegaly is both an enlarged liver and spleen. Hepatosplenopalestrinamegaly is an enlarged liver, spleen and 17th century Italian composer.
HERPES - A small group of capsid-forming DNA viruses, sometimes divided into Type I (forming vesicles and blisters on the mouth, lips-generally above the waist) and Type II (usually sexually transmitted, with symptoms mostly below the waist). Both types form acute initial outbreaks, go dormant, reactivate, and so forth. For most folks, frequent outbreaks are clear signs of stress or immunosuppression. Both types are EQUALLY dangerous for infants.
HERPES ZOSTER - See SHINGLES
HIATUS HERNIA - An upwards protrusion of the stomach through the diaphragm wall. It is particularly common in women in their fourth and fifth decades.
HISTAMINE - The defense substance responsible for most inflammation. It is synthesized from the amino acid histidine and is secreted by mast cells, basophils, and blood platelets. It stimulates vasodilation, capillary permeability, muscle contraction of the bronchioles, secretions of a number of glands, and attracts eosinophils, the white blood cells that are capable of moderating the inflammation. Mast cell histamine release is what usually causes allergies.
HIV - Human immunodeficiency virus, the retrovirus that is at least partially responsible for AIDS. At this time it is not clear what other disorders besides AIDS may come from HIV infections. AIDS is a syndrome, partially (perhaps totally) produced by HIV. As with EBV, it is quite possible that the virus may cause only moderate immunosuppression in some people, while in others it will progress further to AIDS. The jury (all of them/us) is still out.
HOMEOPATHY - Almost two centuries old, it is a system of medicine in which the treatment of disease (symptom pictures) depends on the administration of minute doses (attenuations) of substances that would, in larger doses, produce the same symptoms as the disease being treated. Homeopaths don't like that "disease" word, preferring to match symptoms, not diagnostic labels. Although by no means harmless, homeopathic doses are devoid of drug toxicity. Many practitioners these days prefer high, almost mythic potencies, sometimes resorting to a virtual "laying on of hands" to attain the alleged remedy. When M.D.s used homeopathy frequently (turn of the century), there were violent battles between low potency advocates and the high potency charismatics. Some preferred low potencies or even mother tinctures (herbs!), which I find quite reasonable (naturally), such as Boericke. Others sought ever higher and higher potencies, tantamount to dropping an Arnica petal in Lake Superior in September and extracting a drop of water at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River the following April. Kent and Clarke were such homeopaths. Philosophically, to me, we are all surrounded in a subtle tide of unimaginably complex pollutants and organochemical recombinants...all low and middle potency homeopathic attenuations...our milieu itself is Mother Nosode...how can we be expected to respond to elegant but unimaginably subtle influences when our very bones radiate a low-potency gray noise. If you have no idea what I am talking about, just consider it a family argument.
HONEYMOON CYSTITIS - Urethral irritation from excess sexual activity...or as a famous French writer described it, "the plentiful rubbing together of bacons."
HYALURONIDASE - An enzyme made by traumatized cartilage (to soften and regenerate itself when injured), sperm cells (to dissolve the protective layer around an ovum), the spleen (to speed up hemolysis), added to an IM injection (so it doesn't get surrounded by connective tissue and never disperse) and produced by some really nasty bacteria so they can dissolve connective tissue and get deep into the body. Hyaluronic acid is the target, and it is a basic mucopolysacharide rivet, keeping large masses of polymerized compounds in the state of constant colloid jello (or more technically, a hydrogel facilitant).
HYBRID - This is produced by a cross-fertilization between two species. This happens a lot more often than botanists would like, since a species is presumed to have distinct genetic characteristics and shouldn't do this hybridizing thing as often as it does. Most of the dozen or so species of Silk Tassel are really genetically the same, and the three hundred species of Aconite worldwide are all capable of hybridizing as well.
HYDROCELE - An organized mass of serous or lymphatic fluid, usually encapsulated by connective tissue. An internal blister. The term is usually applied to a hydrocele of the testes, but a breast cyst is also a hydrocele.
HYPERCORTICAL - Overly anabolic; used here to describe the constitutional, not pathologic state.
HYPEREMIA - Excessive presence of blood, usually arterial; and the resultant increase in heat and metabolic rate. Hyperemia can be a pathology, blowing out blood vessels and the like; used here to describe the chronic or subclinical condition of functional vascular excess and excitation.
HYPEREXTENSIONS - The excessive extension of a limb or joint, usually followed by pain and some inflammation.
HYPERGLUCONEOGENESIS - Also hyperglyconeogenesis. The state of excessive synthesis of glycogen (storage starch) or glucose by the liver, derived from non-sugar sources, such as amino acids, lactate and the glycerol remnants from triglyceride breakdown. In strictly subclinical terms it signifies a yinny, catabolic excess, wherein building materials are less desirable than FUEL, and it is singularly difficult to buff up in any way. There are disease states where this can occur...starvation would induce it as well, but I am not addressing this aspect, since I don't consider this to be the realm of alternative approaches.
HYPERGLYCEMIA - Elevations of blood glucose, either from the various types of diabetes, excessive sugar intake (short term) or from adrenalin or stimulant causes.
HYPERGLYCOGENOLYSIS - The tendency, usually by the liver, to convert glycogen into glucose at too rapid a rate for metabolic needs.
HYPERKINETIC - Too physically active, jittery, peripatetic.
HYPERLIPIDEMIA - Elevated blood fats, either from heredity, from having so many calories in the diet that they are ending up as liver-synthesized storage fats, from an excessively anabolic metabolism...and from a constellation of less common disease causes.
HYPERNATREMIA - An excess of sodium in the blood...a short-lived condition since the body retains water until the concentration is back to normal...and the blood volume (as well as blood pressure) has increased.
HYPERSECRETION - Oversecretion of fluids by a gland. It may occur from irritation, infection, or allergy, as in the nasal drooling in a head cold or hay fever, or, as in gastric hypersecretion, from a functional imbalance in the chemical and neurologic stimulus of the stomach lining.
HYPERTHYROID - Elevated thyroid levels, either functional and constitutional in nature or the more profound state of thyrotoxicosis and overt disease.
HYPERURICEMIA - Having elevated blood uric acid, either from a rapid rate of cell breakdown and synthesis (such as might occur from fasting, heavy training, trauma or any number of major diseases), a high consumption of organ meats, glandular supplements or spirulina, or the inability (usually hereditary) to excrete uric acid in the urine as fast as it is produced, even though production itself is not elevated. See URIC ACID.
HYPOCHONDRIUM - The regions of the belly below the ribcage and to the sides, as in left or right hypochondrium.
HYPOCORTICAL - Having low adrenocortical function.
HYPOGLYCEMIA - Low blood sugar. It can be an actual clinical condition (rather rare), but the term is usually applied to LABILE blood sugar, where the highs are socially acceptable, if zappy, but the lows cause headaches, depression...and sugar cravings...which only kick the sugars UP (adrenalin stimulates a quick emergency release of sugar from the liver, and soon THAT is overlapped by the first wave of dietary sugar from whatever you ended up actually eating)...which forces the sugars DOWN (from the insulin secreted because of a sudden rise in blood sugar)...etc. This is a subclinical condition that usually goes nowhere, at least clinically, but can drive you (or your companion) crazy. Some normal and healthy foods produce a VERY quick and VERY short elevation of blood sugar, and can leave you hanging if you have this type of metabolism; fruits, potatoes and carrot juice are LOUSY. On the other hand, legumes, particularly beans, supply slow and extended release of calories over many hours ...partially because of high levels of soluble fiber, partially because of slow, even laborious digestion. If you can't handle legumes too well, or you have a daily "bean threshold" and any beans or peanuts or soya past that amount causes lots of gas or semi-allergic reactions, simply adding such nutritionally useless non-legumes as Psyllium Seed and Chia Seed to some of your common foods will add enough soluble fiber to REALLY slow down sugar spiking.
HYPOTENSION - Low blood pressure. Not always a bad thing unless you need 11 hours of sleep or faint if you stand too quickly.
HYPOTESTOSTERONISM - Having either low secretion levels of testosterone by the testes, having low functional effects because of poor circulation, having competition by less active testosterone metabolites, or having high levels of adipose-released estradiol (former testosterone) in obesity that ends up suppressing testosterone. There are, of course, organic diseases that can cause the condition.
HYPOTHALAMUS - A part of the diencephalon of the brain, it is a major actor in the limbic system. This is a functional, not anatomic, system in the brain that influences and is influenced by emotions. Call the limbic system an ad hoc committee that decides how things are going today, based on the past, the present, the potential, and the myriad informational inputs from the somatic body. The hypothalamus gathers the data and sets the levels of the pituitary thermostat. The pituitary does what the hypothalamus tells it to do, and our whole chemical nervous system responds to the pituitary, which responds to the hypothalamus, which, along with the rest of the limbic system, decides the kind of day we need to get ready for. And to think that some doctors used to (and still) scoff at a "psychosomatic disorder."
HYPOTHYROID - Having deficient thyroid levels, either from overt thyroid disease like myxedema, a generally low metabolism from functional causes, or subsequent to emotional depression or the use of depressant drugs.
HYPOXIA - Lack of sufficient oxygen, such as occurs at high altitudes.
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