chatwithketch

‘Learn the most common sources of sodium in your diet and some easy substitutions you can make.’

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/simple-swaps-to-eat-less-salt

Q: Hi doctor! Please I need your help. My friend has this problem for a long time, all her body is itching her and when she scratches any part of her body, it gets swollen. She has used everything they asked her to use but it’s not working. Please help her, because she said that if it starts, it’s like she’s going crazy when she’s scratching her body. I will be glad if you can help us. God bless you

A: Body itching can be caused by different conditions including:

• Skin reactions to heat or allergies
• Skin conditions like eczema, dandruff or psoriasis. For more on eczema and dandruff, please click on these links https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/03/01/daily-health-tips-what-can-i-do-about-the-eczema-on-my-skin/; https://chatwithdrketch.com/2017/05/18/hlwdk-daily-health-tips-help-with-dandruff/
• Parasitic infestations like scabies. For more on scabies, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2017/07/22/hlwdk-daily-health-tips-scabies/
• Fungal infections like jock itch or athlete’s foot. For more on scabies, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2018/03/31/hlwdk-daily-health-tips-athletes-foot/
• Hormonal changes during pregnancy or menopause
• Other medical conditions like thyroid, liver or kidney problems
• Dry, cracked or irritated skin. For more on eczema and dandruff, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2017/12/29/hlwdk-daily-health-tips-i-itch-after-every-bath/
• Nerve dysfunction
• Medications

Treatment of skin rashes is, of course dependent on the cause. It may include any or a combination of medications (anti-histamines), wet dressings on affected areas and phototherapy. If the itch is severe enough to affect your daily life, lasts more than 2 weeks, keeps coming back, is all over your body, is associated with other symptoms like yellowness of the eyes, please see your doctor immediately.

What can you do at home to provide relief and minimize harm to yourself? I’ll split them into dos and don’ts

Dos

• Keep your nails short so that you don’t do mortal damage if you do scratch J
• Or if you don’t want to do that, you could wear gloves to sleep at night – that way, even when you scratch unconsciously, no harm done
• Try patting the itchy part instead of scratching
• A cold compress held against the itchy part can also help reduce itching
• Wear more cotton fabrics to allow your skin breathe and not chaff your skin
• Use cotton beddings for the same reason

Don’ts

• Avoid hot baths. Keep bath water cool or lukewarm. Want to know why? Read this!
• Avoid vigorous drying off after a bath. Dab your skin dry
• Avoid perfumed products – soap, deodorants, shower gels, lotions etc
• Avoid tight-fitting clothes. They make a bad matter (itch) worse
• Avoid harsh detergents for laundry
• Avoid spicy foods – they increase blood flow to the skin and make itching worse

Have a good evening 😀

Q: Hi Dr. I’m 5months pregnant but my baby is not kicking yet – only moves. Any idea?

A: The first time you feel your baby’s movement is known as quickening and the time women feel it varies person to person. It ranges from 16 to 25 weeks but women who have had babies before may feel this much earlier. Women describe it as different things: a bubbly feeling, butterflies in their tummy, gas etc.

You would have observed that your doctor or midwife has asked you to be aware of your baby’s movement and specifically, make a note to let them know if the movements reduce. This is because reduced baby’s movements may signify baby is in distress or other problems.

It is possible your baby has kicked but perhaps, you are expecting some other kind of sensation, you have not taken note. There are a couple of things you could do to feel your baby’s kick, though J

You may notice that when you drink cold water, that baby moves around. This is, theoretically because the uterus/womb is close to the digestive tract such that the cold water in the digestive tract stimulates the baby to move. Women who feel concerned about their baby’s movements are sometimes asked to do this and check for baby’s movement. Babies also tend to move around a lot after a meal. If you’re struggling to sleep and baby is intent on finding a comfortable position, his/her movements can also get exaggerated 😀

Having said all of these, if you do believe baby’s movements are less frequent or vigorous than they should be, please see your doctor about this. Better safe than sorry.

Have a great weekend! 😀

‘A gracefully aging face is a beautiful thing, but there are changes that occur with age that we would like to slow down.’ For tips on how to do this, read!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/why-your-face-ages-and-what-you-can-do

Q: What is the cause of enlargement of prostate?

A: The prostate gland is a small organ located just below the bladder. It produces semen and the urethra which transports urine from the bladder and semen from the prostate, passes through the prostate. This organ grows throughout a male’s life and sometimes grows so big that it blocks the flow of urine from the bladder. This condition is known as Benign Prostatic Enlargement or Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy or Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. This is more likely to happen as people age and when there is a family history.

The symptoms of this include
•    Feeling like urinating very frequently
•    Feeling the need to urgently urinate
•    Not being able to start urinating immediately despite the urgency
•    Straining at urine
•    When the person does start urinating, the flow trickles
•    Feeling that the bladder was not completely emptied
•    Urinary tract infections due to the fact that there is always urine in the bladder encouraging the growth of micro-organisms
•    Bladder stones
•    With time, kidney function becomes reduced

These are some of the symptoms that may bring the person to the hospital. The doctor will perform a detailed examination which include a rectal examination. Tests like Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) assay, prostate biopsy (taking a piece of the prostate and examining it) etc will form part of the array of tests to be done.

Treatment modalities include medications and surgery. The doctor will determine which works best for you.

Prostate-friendly diets include loads of fruits and veggies and less fat in the diet. Exercising daily and limiting alcohol intake are also thought to be helpful.

Have you got pets? A cat or a dog or perhaps any of those very esoteric pets that children love to keep these days? Well, they are very obviously a means of teaching our children responsibility as they learn to love and look after someone else apart from themselves. Of course, man’s best friend is also good at enhancing security at home!

However, there are some inherent risks in having these pets at home as infections can readily be transferred from them to us. The commonest means of getting these infections is by getting bitten, getting in contact with the faeces or sometimes through contamination of food.

To prevent these, here are our top five tips:

• Please wash your hands whenever you have handled or played with the pets especially if you are to prepare, handle or eat food soon after. A good anti-bacterial soap suffices for this purpose.
• Also wash your hands whenever you come in contact with the pets’ poo. Ensure that children do not play close to these areas.
• Your pets’ immunizations should be up to date. You don’t want to be known as ‘the owner of that rabid down the street’.
• Your pets’ fur should be kept clean with regular shampooing.
• If you are a fan of reptile pets, please consider delaying on getting one if you have children under the age of 5 years old.

Let’s keep ourselves and our pets safe, clean and healthy. We want our pets spreading love….not germs.