He carried it up to the mine for four mornings straight. By the fifth morning that dog was trotting around like a pup. One ancient poodle that took the cure here supposedly began frolicking so much it died of a heart attack. Stress affects the severity of the disease, says Bill Jarvis, a professor of public health and preventive medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and anything that lessens stress can make people feel better. It's the act of traveling to special places.
More pain causes more stress, which causes more depression and so on.
If you break the cycle by reducing stress, the depression and the pain can lift. They believe radon stimulates the pituitary gland, a small, cherry-sized gland attached to the base of the brain which emits chemicals that control metabolism. Radon gas, they hold, causes the pituitary gland to boost its production of natural ACTH and cortisone, two steroids that are used to treat arthritis, but which, in their synthetic form, can have serious side effects. Radon only becomes a serious health problem, experts say, when it seeps into a home and people are exposed to it round the clock for long periods of time. Jim Robbins writes in Helena, Montana.