MACROPHAGE - This is a mature form of what is released from the marrow as a monocyte. A macrophage lives long, can digest much detritus, and is able to wear particles of odd food on its outer membrane. This allows T-cell and B-cell lymphocytes to taste the particle (an epitope) and form an antibody response. Further, these macrophages, traveling as monocytes, will take up permanent residence in many tissues, providing them with immunity. They line the spleen, form the cleansing Kupffer cells in the liver, make up the "dust cells" that protect the lungs, protect the synovial fluids of the joints, and form the microglial cells that provide protection to the brain and nerve tissues. On and on, the macrophages clean up messes and acting as the intermediates between innate and acquired immunity.

MALABSORPTION - Improper utilization of needed and available nutrients, either from impaired digestive function (such as B12 being unabsorbed because of gastritis), impaired absorption (poor Vitamin E absorption because of an inflamed ileum) or impaired transport (the diminished blood proteins of the advanced alcoholic). There are other causes as well, but you get the idea.

MALAISE - A fretful and low energy state, often considered an early sign of infection or low fever. Ask someone with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Multiple Chemical Sensitivities...they'll tell you how it feels.

MAO INHIBITION - The suppression of monoamine oxydase (flavin-containing amine oxydase). MAO is critical in modifying nerve-ending storage of certain mono-amines (in this case, epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine...another type of MAO works on histamines), and MAO inhibitor drugs were, along with tricyclics, the first wave of anti-depressants. The problem was that if you ate brie cheese or chopped chicken livers while taking the drugs you could get a nosebleed or cerebral aneurysm...a double adrenergic whammy, since some foods are also strongly MAO-inhibiting. Although most current manuals (Merck's and Harrison's among others) consider these first generation drugs as safer and preferable to the recent Prozac and such, fashion am fashion, with docs as much as patients. Most of the patients a doctor sees are People That See Doctors (most Americans have infrequent medical contact). Some come with clippings in hand, a few find out about new stuff before their doctor does (they only have ONE patient..themselves) and the pressure for gilt-edged newness is hard to resist all around. The only herb I know of with any consequential MAO inhibition is Hypericum, and its effect, although not to be ignored, is less than French semi-soft cheeses.

MAST CELLS - These are a group of cells that line the capillaries of tissues that come in contact with the outside, like skin, sinuses, and lung mucosa. They, like their first cousin basophils, are produced in the red bone marrow and migrate to the appropriate tissues, where they stay. They bind IgE, supply the histamine and heparin response that gives you a healing inflammation, and cause allergies.

MATRIX - The intercellular substance of a tissue. It forms the primary mass in some cartilage, bones, and the lens of the eye...where living cells are so separated they communicate with e-mail.

MENARCHE - The beginning of the reproductive phase of a woman's life. It usually begins with night sweats, continues a few months later with estrogen, followed by ovulation, then the full cycle and the growth of secondary sexual characteristics...in various order. Also called adolescence or puberty, it is mirrored in reverse at the end of the reproductive years as menopause.

MENOPAUSE - The several years, in the late forties or early fifties, when the great birth reservoir of potential ovarian follicles has been reduced to only a few, many with innately poor hormone-sensitivities (which is perhaps why they are still remaining...they never heard the clarion call of FSH). As fewer follicles are capable of fully-programmed function, corpus luteal fragilities start to show as diminished progesterone levels...later, even the pre-ovulatory estrogens start to diminish. The pituitary, sensing first the progesterone wobbles, then, maybe a year later, the erratic estrogens, tries to jump start the ovaries, sending increasing levels of Luteinizing Hormone (LH)...with diminishing results. Since the brain (hypothalamus) is actually controlling things, it is sending out higher levels of pituitary stimulating hormones, which the pituitary matches with its blood-carried trophic or gonadotropic hormones...in this case, LH. What the pituitary hears from the hypothalamus is TYPE of brain chemical, MAGNITUDE of chemical, and, as much of this is being pulsed, FREQUENCY of the chemical. At a certain point, the gonadotropic-releasing-hormone sent out by the hypothalamus is so loud and frequent that the pituitary starts sending out things like TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) and somatotropins (growth hormone) as well as LH...hot flashes, changes in food cravings, sleep cycles, skin texture...whatever. Like old partners in an ancient dance whose music is ending, the hormonal imbalances are the reverse of those experienced by the woman years ago in menarche. As above, so below. When the dust settles, the metabolic hormones have found a new interaction, anabolic functions have been transferred from the ovaries to the adrenal cortex, and that reservoir of stored estradiol still present in the "Womanly Flesh" of the breasts, thighs, hips and buttocks, started many years ago, maintains a low blood level, diminishing over the following years, easing some of the estrogen-binding tissue into the change.

MENOPAUSE, SURGICAL - A term rather callously used to describe the cessation of ovarian hormones as a result of a radical hysterectomy...or what the British more honestly refer to as castration.

MENORRHAGIA - Excess bleeding at menses, in duration or amount. Causes are many, although chronic menorrhagia and PMS is usually the result of deficient progesterone secretions (days-per-month) or constant adipose-released estradiol from obesity or recent substantial weight loss. Uterine fibroids can contribute, as can menopausal breakthrough bleeding or flooding, coagulation disorders, and most serious metabolic disease can produce menorrhagia as one of many symptoms. My rule of thumb as an herbalist is, if botanicals fail to control the bleeding directly (hemostatics) or attempting to reestablish a good folliculization for the next month's corpus luteum does not help, there may be a metabolic problem or an overt reproductive pathology. In menopausal menorrhagia, however, the conditions are transitional and in flux...it is hard to use such absolute statements.

MENSTRUUM - The solvent used in extraction. For a dry tincture, the menstruum might be 50% alcohol and 50% water. The menstruum for mint tea is hot water.

MESENCHYMAL CELLS - Literally, those derived from embryonic mesoderm; practically, those in a tissue that give it structure and form. The opposite of parenchymal.

MESENTERIC - Pertaining to the great fold that holds the small intestines, blood vessels and lymph in a great curtain, connected with the back of the abdominal wall.

MESOMORPH - In somatotyping, a mesoderm-muscle-structural dominant person. The Incredible Hulk syndrome.

METABOLISM - The sum total of changes in an organism in order to achieve a balance (homeostasis). Catabolic burns up, anabolic stores and builds up; the sum of their work is metabolism.

METABOLITES - A by-product, waste product, or endotoxin produced as the result of metabolism, both normal and defensive.

METRORRHAGIA - Uterine bleeding at times other than menstrual

MITOSIS - The classic four-phased cellular division of somatic cells, wherein (when the dust settles) two new daughter cells contain full chromosomal information of the parent, complete nuclei, and half the cytoplasm. This is distinct from cloning (as in the bone morrow) and the chromosome splitting of miosis (ovum and sperm).

MITTELSCHMERZ - Abdominal pains that occur midway between menstrual periods and which are caused either by ovulation or the normal short pre-ovulatory surge of estrogen.

MONONUCLEOSIS - Properly, infectious mononucleosis, a viral infection of the lymph pulp most frequently caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. The spleen, lymph nodes, and (sometimes) the liver are involved. The general symptoms are fever, sore throat, exhaustion, and abnormal white blood cells.

MS - Multiple Sclerosis

MUCOEPITHELIAL - Tissues with mixed characteristics of both mucous membranes and epidermis, found around the entrances into the body.

MUCOPURULENT - A discharge of mixed mucus and pus, usually from congested and moderately infected membranes.

MUCOUS MEMBRANES (MUCOSA): - The mucus-secreting skin that lines (and protects against the environment) all openings, cavities or entrances into the body, such as the intestinal tract, lungs, urinary tract, sinuses, vagina, etc.

MUCOUS COLITIS - A form of colitis that is less inflammatory and closer in nature, if not identical with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, with cramps, intestinal guarding followed by soft or hard stools and various amounts of mucus. There are usually periods of constipation

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS - A chronic, usually progressive disease of the central nervous system, with the gradual patchy disorganization of the protective myelin cells. It is almost certainly an auto-immune disorder, although viral infections sometimes seem to initiate the condition, and physical trauma is often seen to anomalously precede the first symptoms.

MUMPS - An acute infectious disease, caused by a paramyxovirus, and most common in children. Although it usually infects the parotid glands, and is often only a mild condition, it CAN spread to the testes or ovaries, particularly when contracted by unresistant adults, and a mild child's infection that is not properly honored by R&R always holds the potential for pancreatic or meningeal complications.

MYALGIA - Tenderness or pain of the muscles themselves; muscular rheumatism.

MYENTERIC PLEXUS - Broadly, the several neuron masses, ganglia, and nerve fiber plexus that lie in the walls of the intestinal tract, particularly the small intestine. They monitor and stimulate local muscle and glandular functions as well as blood supply, with little interface or control by the central nervous system or the autonomics. Each synapse away from the CNS gives greater autonomy, and these nerves only listen to God ... and food. This means the small intestine is relatively free of stress syndromes.

MYOCARDIUM - The middle, muscular layer of the heart.

MYXEDEMA - Puffiness and fluid retention resulting from thyroid hypofunction, either organic (serious, and often complicated by pituitary or adrenalcortical deficiencies) or functional (often a bipolar depressive thyroid phase).

NARCOLEPSY - A chronic neurologic condition characterized by reoccurring and inexplicable drowsiness and sleep. There is no organic cause and no seeming changes in EEG readings.

NARCOTIC - A substance that depresses central nervous system function, bringing sleep and lessening pain. By definition, narcotics can be toxic in excess.

NDGA - Nordihydroguaiaretic acid, a substance found in abundance in the oleoresins of Larrea (Chaparral) and the Guaiacum genus (Lignum Vitae). It is strongly antioxidant to lipids and is antifungal, antimicrobial and antibacterial. Both plants contain a constellation of related compounds and do not have the potential kidney toxicity found in pure NDGA...and the reason it is no longer used as an EDTA-type edible oil stabilizer in food manufacturing.

NECROSIS - Death of tissue or cells, either from infection or the loss of normal circulation and autotoxicity.

NEOPLASIA - The presence of abnormal cells forming a growth or tumor, unable to perform their normal functions, and replacing healthy cells.

NEPHRITIS - Inflammation or infection of the kidneys, as opposed to lower urinary tract inflammations such as cystitis or urethritis, which are usually comparatively mild. Nephritis can be a far more serious condition, and usually requires medical care.

NEURALGIA - Pain, sometimes severe, that manifests along the length of a nerve and arises within the nerve itself, not in the tissue from which the sensation seems to arise.

NEURASTHENIA - Tiredness or exhaustion, often in excess of what would seem appropriate from purely physical causes.

NEURITIS - Nerve inflammation, usually with an abnormal amount of pain, and often part of a degenerative process.

NEUROGENIC - Sensations or conditions derived solely from the nervous system

NEUROPATHIES - A disease of the central or peripheral nervous systems. In more common reference, a neuropathy is primarily a disorder of peripheral nerves. CNS diseases are often life threatening; neuropathies are generally disorders of the control and sensory nerves out in the body.

NEUTROPHILS - Another name for polymorphonuclear leukocytes, the most common type of blood-carried white blood cell, and the first mobile resistance cell to come to the rescue in injury.

NITROGENOUS - A compound or molecule that contains nitrogen; in my context, a substance that is or was a part of protein metabolism.

NUCLEOPROTEIN - A molecule that is formed from a structural protein that is combined with nucleic acid, and generally found in cell nuclei and other proliferative points in cells. Upon cell death, nucleoproteins, unlike others, cannot be catabolized and recycled efficiently; instead, part of the protein is degraded to purines, and thence to uric acid. Uric acid, unlike recycleable urea, is an excretory dead end.

NURSE LOGS - In old-growth forests, these are ancient downed trees that rot so slowly that they themselves become the fundus and growth media for new and growing trees and other life-forms.

OIL, FIXED - These are lipids, esters of long-chain fatty acids and alcohols, or generally related oily stuff. If you drop some fixed oil on a blotter, it just stays there-forever. (Example: olive oil.)

OIL, VOLATILE - The aromatic, oxygenated derivatives of terpenes that can be obtained from plants (in our case), usually by distillation. Unlike a fixed oil that has no scent (unless rancid), volatile oils are all scent. (Example: oil of Peppermint.)

OPHTHALMIA - Severe eye inflammation, including conjunctivitis, iritis, severe hay fever, etc.

OPTHALMALGIA - Very simply, eye pain.

OPPOSITE - Plant parts, usually leaves, that form pairs at nodes.

ORBITAL HEADACHE - A headache around the eyes. There are supra-orbital headaches and suborbital headaches as well...the difference escapes me.

ORCHITIS - Inflammation of the testes, manifested by swelling and tenderness, usually infectious, sometimes the result of trauma.

ORGANIC DISEASE - A disease that started as, or became, impairment of structure or tissue. The smoker may have coughing and shortness of breath for years, and suffer from functional disorders; when the smoker gets emphysema, it is an organic disease.

OSTEOPOROSIS - The softening of bone mass and the widening of the bone canals. This occurs with both age and diminished physical activity. Since women live longer, they are more likely to show such signs. (WARNING! Tirade Ahead!) There is little doubt that the condition is increasing among American women, and is starting to show itself at an earlier age. This is called "improved diagnostic methods" (harumph). The statistics that show the rise to be strongest in women that have used steroid hormone therapies in their earlier years seems to have escaped the notice of current Medical Conventional Wisdom. This states that ALL women need medical care against osteoporosis going into menopause, and the primary treatment is...steroid hormones (this year, at least). I know this may sound smarmy, coming from some long-in-the-tooth hippy male, but I would be far more impressed if SERIOUS attention was given to carefully defining the parameters of a woman's risks. The road of medicine is strewn with four decades of well-intended universal hormone approaches to women's health...embarrassedly forgotten. The idea of universal HRT for a whole generation of menopausal women seems like a frightening experiment in medical fascism and band-wagon hubris. There is no attention given as to WHY our future elders are suddenly stricken with a medical problem. Were birth-control pills, made up of synthetic digestion-proof steroid analogues, a major cause? Has our food become simply inadequate and over-processed? Have the decades of exposure by women to xeno-estrogens that are derived from degraded insecticides had more effect than even those claimed by environmental watch-dog groups, i.e. the rise in breast and prostate cancer, the halving of the sperm count in Caucasian males and the little-dicked alligators reported from Florida? Is the synthetic flavor in that pink bubble gum to blame? Perhaps its the fumes released from the early Barbies? FDS? There must be some reason, but the present medical answer is only HRT and (if politics allow) Jane Fonda tapes.

OTITIS MEDIA - Inflammation, infectious or sterile, of the middle ear. In children this is often complicated by fluid buildup behind the eardrum. This raises the anxiety levels of conscious parents, debating the three-decade-old question, "Antibiotics?". They may fear the realistic (and unrealistic) effects of the drug, weighed against the anguish of a center-of-attention complaining child and the knee-jerk agitation they feel (particularly the mother...see OXYTOCIN). Then, when three months of antibiotic therapy doesn't work for some children (and they now show the brand-new signs of having become allergic..."No connection with the antibiotics at all" sez the pediatrician), the parents have descended to another level of Parent Bardo..."Tubes in his ears?!" You can guess my feelings. I am not, however, suggesting ignoring your pediatrician. There is, at the present, many strong, if minority, medical currents against these approaches...you may have a Ped. that starts with antibiotics the first day and practically pre-schedules a three-month-away intubation visit...Let Your Fingers Do The Walking (see YELLOW PAGES). Another BabyDoc may not want to use antibiotics UNLESS other measures have failed and there is the extended presence of pus behind the eardrum. Turning away from such conservative an approach can hurt the kid...and is giving the careful physician a session in Negative Reinforcement Therapy. "Antibiotics ber alles!" proclaims a banner in the waiting room next visit, and there may be a case displaying the newest line of Swatch Eartubes.

OXYTOCIN - A short-lived, fast acting hormone, made by the hypothalamus of the brain, along with its close relative vasopressin (anti-diuretic hormone), stored in the posterior pituitary, and released into the blood as needed. It stimulates certain smooth muscle coats, constricts certain blood vessels and facilitates the sensitivity of some tissues to other hormones and nerves. The main tissues affected are the uterus, including endo- and myometriums, vagina, breasts (both sexes), erectile tissue (both sexes), seminal vesicles, and with special-case effects on uterine muscle contractions in both birth and orgasm, the vascular constriction that lessens placental separation bleeding, and the let-down reflex that nursing mothers have when babies cry (or kittens mew...or husbands whine)

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