Archive for the 'General health' Category
SELF-HELP PREVENTION: COLIC
Author: admin
What is it?
Pain in the abdomen caused by the spasm of a hollow abdominal organ.
Colic can thus occur in the urinary passages, the uterus or the intestine, for example. The term is not often used of adult pains by lay people but is usually confined to the irritable crying of babies and young children thought to be caused by such muscle spasm.
Three-month colic is a condition so called because it consists of colicky pains (in babies) that disappear by 3 months of age. It is usually worst in the evening. Many babies with so-called colic do not have abdominal organ spasm at all-they are crying for another reason.
What causes it?
Given that the very word ‘colic’ is used so widely and indiscriminately of crying children it is essential to look at what the causes really are if one is to try to prevent any of them.
• Bottle-fed babies who are fed with a teat that has too large a hole in it can gulp down air and so get abdominal pains as the intestine passes this gas along.
• In breastfeeding mothers with a very large and fast flow of milk much the same can happen.
• Often it appears that so-called colic is not colic as such but is a response to the mother’s busyness and preoccupation with other things, rather than the baby, at the time of the day typical for ‘colic’ (6 o’clock in the evening). Some of these irritable babies may simply want attention.
• A considerable number of so-called ‘colicky’ babies are mislabeled-they are really bored, lonely or hungry.
• Recent research has found that traces of undigested foods and drinks get through into the mother’s bloodstream and thus in her milk. These proteins (mainly from cows’ milk) then upset certain susceptible babies and produce colic.
• Other foods a mother eats to which neither she nor her baby are actually ‘allergic’ can also produce colic. Onions, garlic, Chinese food, cabbage, beans, green leafy vegetables and alcohol can all be culprits. Green leafy vegetables and pulses can make a breast-fed baby very windy.
• A poor breast milk supply, for whatever reason, can produce a baby who is always hungry and cries. He is labeled colicky.
• Cows’ milk causes colic in some allergic, bottle-fed babies.
• Some teething babies suffer from ‘colic’ too.
Prevention
• Change the teat on the bottle to one with a smaller hole. Feed more slowly and ‘wind’ the baby before lying him or her down.
• If a breastfeeding mother has too much milk she can express the first milk by hand and either keep it to give to a breast-milk bank at her local hospital or discard it. The other way of overcoming the problem of too much milk is to feed from one breast only at a feed. Alternate the one you use. Allow the baby to suck at the empty breast for comfort. In this way he or she gets milk and comfort sucking and yet not too much milk. Express the unused breast if it becomes uncomfortable.
• Relax at the end of the day as much as possible. Spread out household chores through the day and pre-prepare the evening meal, for example. Try to sit down and perhaps have a small drink of alcohol to relax yourself.
• Ensure that your baby is not bored, is played with and gets plenty of stimulation and stays with you wherever you are, whether he or she is awake or asleep.
• If you are breastfeeding try cutting out cows’ milk and milk products entirely from your diet for two weeks and see if this does anything to your baby’s colic. If things improve, stay off dairy products until you wean and then don’t give them to your baby.
• If you are breastfeeding, keep off foods you find from experience give your child colic.
• If you have a poor milk supply, feed more frequently day and night and never let your baby go more than three hours without a feed-if necessary wake him or her up and feed.
• If cows’ milk is the culprit in your baby’s bottle use goats’ milk or soya milk instead.
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read comments (0)TOES, RED, ITCHY, WITH PAIN BETWEEN
Author: admin
Description and Possible Medical Problems
Athlete’s foot is such a common condition that the moment your feet start to itch and become red and the skin between your toes cracks, you probably already know what the problem is.
In fact, athlete’s foot is such a common condition that an entire industry of powders and lotions seems to have been built around it. Some other products also use the issue of athlete’s foot prevention— “Use our special sandals in the shower at the gym and avoid athlete’s foot forever!”—to sell their own products.
When it comes right down to it, athlete’s foot is a fungal infection that is easy to catch but also easy to treat. The best growing conditions for athlete’s foot include a moist environment such as a shower that other people use, like in a locker room, and shoes and socks that don’t allow your feet to breathe. In addition to redness, itching, and cracks between the toes, the skin may be flaky and will smell foul.
Treatment
To treat athlete’s foot, the best thing you can do is to keep your feet as dry as possible with talcum powder or an antifungal powder for athlete’s foot such as Tinactin. It’s also a good idea to wear shoes and socks that breathe—such as cotton socks and leather shoes—and sandals or other open-toed shoes as often as possible.
Usually these techniques will clear up athlete’s foot within a few days. If they don’t work or your athlete’s foot gets worse, see your doctor. You may need a prescription antifungal powder or cream or an antifungal medication.
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If you think you have a fungal infection of a nail, you need to see your doctor. Although there are many over-the-counter topical preparations available, they are not usually very effective because they don’t penetrate the nail. Instead, they contain the infection in the nail and prevent it from spreading to the skin around the nail. Fungal infections are extremely difficult to treat.
Your doctor can prescribe a treatment called Spornox, an oral medication taken once a day that will destroy the fungus. Treatment may last for at least three months. In the meantime, while the infection cleats up—which may take as long as nine months, or the amount of time it takes your nail to grow out—don’t wear nail polish, and wear gloves whenever you immerse your hands in water, since water may cause the fungus to spread, as it thrives in a warm, moist environment.
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Description and Possible Medical Problems
Remember Madge, the manicurist in the TV ad who recommended that her clients soak their hands in dishwashing liquid to soften them? After they reacted with shock, Madge reassured them, and they gamely put their hands back into the solution.
Most of us know better and would prefer real moisturizer, just to make sure. After all, washing dishes—a common activity even in these days of automatic dishwashers—still tends to leave your hands red and swollen for about 30 minutes after you finish no matter what you do.
If, however, you have red, swollen hands that don’t clear up and if you’ve recently injured your hand in some way, you may have a condition called cellulitis, which is a skin infection. Cellulitis occurs when streptococcus bacteria enter the body, usually through broken skin. Besides red, swollen hands, you may notice that small red lines appear on your skin in a weblike design and your skin feels hot to the touch. You may also have a fever.
Treatment
If you think you have cellulitis, you should see your doctor. You’ll need to soak your hands in warm water for 10 minutes three or four times daily. The best course of treatment is Tylenol, though in severe cases I’ll also prescribe a course of an antibiotic such as penicillin or erythromycin, taken four times a day for at least two weeks. When the cellulitis is severe, hospitalization is necessary for intravenous antibiotic therapy.
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Here ate some more definitions. HDL stands for high-density lipoprotein, LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein. A lipoprotein is a molecule that catties cholesterol in the blood. High-density lipoproteins carry cholesterol in a fashion the body can utilize; they allow the cholesterol to break off when it is needed. Low-density lipoproteins carry cholesterol into the bloodstream but do not allow the body to use it. Therefore, much of the low-density lipoproteins end up as cholesterol plaque deposits on the walls of arteries. The good news is that HDLs are stimulated into action by regular exercise.
And then there are triglycerides. When the body digests either saturated and unsaturated fat, it breaks it down into molecular chains. These chains then bind together in a triplet form called triglycerides. Triglycerides flow from the intestines through the lymphatic system and then into the bloodstream. The greater the amount of triglycerides in the bloodstream, the thicker the blood. This causes a strain on the heart, since it has to pump a thicker liquid through the blood vessels. If this condition is compounded by a narrowing blood vessel system due to arteriosclerosis, the thickened blood may have a difficult time getting through the smaller vessels and some of the body may be deprived of oxygen and nutrients. This is not a healthy scenario for the heart or any other body part. High triglycerides in the blood can usually be brought down by cutting concentrated sweets from the diet.
Then there’s the genetic factor. Maybe we can control outside factors to improve our health, but some of us are simply genetically predisposed to heart disease. Surprisingly, some people who have low blood cholesterol levels still have heart attacks. No one knows why. Researchers are attempting to determine which genes are responsible for preventing or delaying heart disease, either on their own or in combination with diet and/or drugs.
Until they know the answers, however, my best advice is to follow the advice of the American Heart Association, which says the best thing to do is to control your blood cholesterol levels through diet, exercise, and weight control.
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As for exercise, I feel that walking briskly for twenty minutes a day is the best activity for anybody, regardless of the state of one’s health, since it lowers one’s stress level and increases physical conditioning. For some people, a low-salt, low-fat diet with a daily brisk walk is all they need to control their blood pressure. However, if you wish to pursue more strenuous activities, it’s important that you get a go-ahead from your physician first. If you haven’t been active for a long time, he may ask you to take a stress test so he’s sure your heart can withstand the additional effort. Relaxation techniques and exercises such as biofeedback and yoga are also helpful in reducing your blood pressure, so ask your doctor for advice on how to use these methods as well.
If changing your diet and exercise routine and learning to relax fail to lower your blood pressure, only then do I recommend that you take medication. Once you start on medication, however, it’s important that you continue with your diet and exercise program so that you can keep your medication to a minimum.
The good news is that there are a wide variety of medications available to help lower blood pressure. My goal as a physician is to find the perfect medication for each person. Sometimes this is an easy process, but often it is a frustrating challenge.
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FAMILY MEDICAL CARE: SMOKING IN PREGNANCY
Author: admin
Here we come to a very important topic. Over the past few years, the facts relating to deleterious effects of smoking on both the mother and the unborn baby have gradually accumulated. Now it is very well documented that smoking is considerably harmful. This affects the mother. But the adverse effect is even greater on the baby.
Cigarette smoke contains three essential ingredients.
(1) Carbon Monoxide. When this unites with the blood, it forms a potent chemical called carboxyhaemoglobin. It links with the haemoglobin, the red material of the blood that normally transports oxygen to all parts of the system. In this way, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood is drastically reduced. This is one potent way in which cigarette smoke damages the body in general.
But when this oxygen-reduced blood reaches the placenta, and the blood circulation of the growing infant, reduced amounts of oxygen are available for use at the vital centers. Extremely damaging effects can occur, and the results are serious to the infant. Many detailed studies have now been carried out in major maternity hospitals in all parts of the world which testify to the same net effect.
(2) Nicotine. This is a powerful nerve stimulant. But while it is stimulating the nerves, consider what it is doing to the blood vessels. It can act directly on the blood-vessel walls, causing them to contract, and this may initiate a rise in blood pressure. Such a situation in the pregnant state is definitely undesirable. Besides, a net detrimental effect on the heart and blood-vessel system can accrue from a continual supply of nicotine being pumped into the system. It is adverse for the baby to receive this drug also, and this is inevitable with continual maternal smoking. Smoking is never a virtue; during pregnancy it is doubly harmful. No expectant mother who has any consideration for her unborn child will indulge in the habit.
(3) Carcinogenic Agents. These are a complex number of powerful chemicals which are known causes of cancer. During the baby’s nine-month stay inside the maternal womb, the chances of cancer formation are not high. But the continual irritation of the mother’s bronchial system with these irritants does little to maintain the general high level of health which is essential during pregnancy.
So the evidence is definitely very positive, very real. It is no longer a fanciful whim of doctors. Indeed, about 75 per cent of doctors who once smoked have given up the habit. This is due to general consideration of their own better health. Even more important is it that mothers carrying a developing foetus desist from the habit. Please don’t say, “I can’t give it up.” If you care about your baby, you must give it up. Please don’t be controlled by a weed wrapped in paper!
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PREGNANCY: ADVICE AND “ADVICE”
Author: admin
Even in these enlightened days, there is advice and there is “advice.” Good advice can often provide a sound, helpful backdrop for future events, but there is a surprising number of people who seem to recall only the negative side of parenthood. Maybe it is a reflection of their own personalities or of their own personality defects, inner inhibitions and anxieties. But some older women seem to delight in offering “advice” that is not worth having.
They seem to delight in going over the unhappy incidents of their own past adversities in minutest detail. They will describe with intimate detail the pain, the suffering and the agony of their own confinements. They will take great delight in downgrading the doctor, the hospital, the nursing staff, the food, the circumstances. Nothing, it seems, went right. So they will tell and retell to any available ear, of the unhappy event that constituted their obstetric past.
Turn a deaf ear to these Job’s comforters. A closer check will often pinpoint the true source of the problem. It was not the medical attendants, or the unsatisfactory hospital conditions, or the lack of attention in many cases, but their own strange approach to life. Many expected trouble from the start. Maybe they had been adversely programmed by some foolish woman early in their pregnancy, and looked for things to go wrong. In this world, “Seek and you shall find.” This often means bad things as well as good things! Never forget it.
So, try to avoid the troublemakers, and those who seem to find a fiendish glee in unnerving you and throwing unhappiness your way in the guise of offering “sound advice.” Turn away, and steer clear of these Jeremiahs (male and female) from that point forward.
If you have questions, the best idea is to make a note of these day by day. Then, when you attend your doctor for your regular prenatal checks, take the list along with you. Check them off with him one by one. He will give you an honest, experienced, straightforward answer. This is by far the best way of gaining accurate answers to any question you may have in your mind. This applies to any part of your forthcoming confinement or the events occurring during your pregnancy.
So, summing up. Share your happiness with your close friends and those you feel you can trust. Enjoy their encouragement and approval. But go easy on the potential troublemakers. Lastly, stick with the doctor and his advice in most matters.
There are lots of factors that you will need to know. There are certain matters on which you must make a decision. Many of these must be done in consultation with somebody else. But here are some of the chief features that will exercise your mind from an early start.
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FAMILY PLANNING: OTHER METHODS OF CONTRACEPTION
Author: admin
Quite apart from the Pill, several other methods of contraception are also available, and some of these are relatively popular.
Some women do not like the concept of the Pill, believing it has not been around for a sufficient number of years for its true probable long-term effects to be really established. They have horrible forebodings that it may cause cancer later in life, or probably in their next generation. Although there is no basis for this on today’s knowledge, their views are nevertheless appreciated. But the big problem comes when they ask about alternative forms of contraception.
The next most widely practiced method in the Western world is at present the intra-uterine contraceptive device, commonly referred to as the I.U.C.D. or simply I.U.D.
The concept has been around for fifty years or more, and past models, formed mainly of metals, were in use about fifty years ago. The most widely used was the Graafenberg ring, but this fell into disfavour because haemorrhages occurred as well as infections.
But with the advent of the plastics era in the late 1960s, a new form of the I.U.D. suddenly caught on. Plastic is very well tolerated by the body, which tends to shed it far less readily than other substances. Thus the current models were hatched. Some of the early devices were not very satisfactory but many modifications have since taken place. Now, smaller devices, frequently with a fine filament of copper wire wrapped around them, are used with considerable success.
In fact, they have been given the official recommendation in Australia, and most Western countries use them widely. The presence of the device, often shaped like a figure “7,” has several effects. These are enhanced by the copper which gradually is shed into the uterine cavity. Not only does this kill male reproductive cells, but the device itself helps check products of conception from being embedded in the endometrium, the lining of the uterus, which happens in normal pregnancy. In short, pregnancy is prevented in many cases. If it occurs, what many claim is a miscarriage, takes place. Whatever the mechanical reason, the pregnancy rate is reduced, and protection for the woman is greatly augmented.
Some women find it a good idea to use a spermicidal cream or jelly for additional protection at the time when ovulation is due. This is when pregnancy risks are at their peak. It could give the method additional efficacy, and may be worth while in those choosing this form of protection.
It is essential that the device be very accurately and carefully fitted, preferably by a competent gynaecologist. It seems that if not placed in the exact place where it should be, its efficacy wanes considerably.
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MARRIAGE: WHAT ABOUT RELIGION?
Author: admin
Most people have fairly definite ideas about religion. Many find that it fills a positive need in their life. In Western lands, it is customary to follow the Christian faith, although in other countries many other religious sects exist, and the adherents can often teach modern society something about faith and adhering to the principles one claims to believe.
The concept of religion is an ideal one, and modern society has based many of its laws on what are basically Christian principles.
If you are a regular church-attender, it is quite probable that your partner of the future attends the same church group. It is very common for couples to meet initially at church socials, or at church-type schools or colleges. I believe this is a good thing, for at least the two will have a concept of living, ideals and morals approximately the same. This may be vital, and I feel it gives the marriage a firm foundation. The risk of the marriage falling apart is generally far less.
Ideally, church-going couples should belong to the same denomination. It always fills me with some trepidation seeing two from widely differing church beliefs marrying. Trouble lies ahead. In some cases, it can bring families close to dissolution. It may not be for some years, but when the children come along, certain religious groups are adamant that the child be baptized and educated according to their beliefs. This may breed arguments, and rifts are possible.
It is wise to have a firm decision made well before children arrive. Ideally this attitude should be discussed and a decision made even before marriage. It is unwise to wait until trouble could flare up.
Is your partner a committed Christian or merely an “also-ran”? Does he subscribe to church beliefs merely to make you happy (if you are a keen church person yourself)? Or is it really because he too is sincere in his religious beliefs?
Going to church a few times merely to please a future partner will not last. There must be an inherent desire to be involved, to become part of the church scene. Unless this enthusiasm is present, there is not a great chance of changing your partner after marriage. As with most other things, his interest will tend to wane. Other things will take over, and you will find yourself attending church alone.
It is well to remember also that, with the passage of time, people who are interested in religion tend to become more religious. Conversely, those who are not interested in their younger days, tend to grow further away from a religious faith. However, this is not always so. The opposite can occur. Sometimes with advancing years, people tend to reassess themselves. ”What is life all about?” they might ask themselves as they look in the mirror one day while shaving. ”Where am I headed? What is the use? What am I working for? Is there something better to look forward to than just old age and a six by two foot wooden box at the far end? Is there a heaven? Is there a God? Is there something to hope for after I’m dead and buried?”
They might become interested in religion, and find that it has real appeal. There is little doubt that it gives a person something more than physical attributes to live for. I personally believe that religion and the Christian way of life have a lot to offer.
Many thinking, intelligent people accept the Christian philosophy and gain a great deal of spiritual help and guidance from it. After all, Christianity is based on the Biblical concept, and if you want some sensible, clear-cut thinking, simply read the Bible.
The language of the old King James Version may be out of date for many people. However, many modern versions abound, and some of the more recent translations are a delight to read.
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