chatwithketch

Q: Good day Dr. Ketch, I am in my early month of pregnancy and is finding it difficult to pass stool. Please help.

A: Welcome to the land of pregnancy and raging hormones!!! This is going to be an interesting period in your life and your hormones are going to act up in different ways.

Constipation is common in pregnancy and is due to the hormones of pregnancy, which make the muscles of your digestive tract work in a more leisurely manner. This ensures that food stays longer in the tract, more nutrients are absorbed from it (so that more nutrients can go to baby) but also more water is absorbed from it, leaving the poop hard and constipated. The iron-containing pre-natal drugs may also contribute to this but you do have to take them ;D

Tips to help you deal with the constipation include:

• Adding more fruits and…

Q: My baby is 3 weeks old and she has a problem with her stomach. She didn’t go at toilet the whole day and she wants to. Please help

A: You didn’t note whether your baby is being exclusively breastfed or not. If your baby is exclusively breast fed (as he should be from birth to 6 months of age), the baby can sometimes go days without defaecation and is due to the fact that practically all the nutrients in breast milk are completely absorbed during each feed, such that there is little or nothing to excrete. However, it is expected that when baby does poop, the faeces should still be soft in consistency as opposed to hard, dry, pellet-like stool as occurs in constipation. If the stool is hard with exclusive breast feeding (?), please visit your baby’s paediatrician.

Formula fed babies, on the other hand, suffer from constipation…

Q: After eating and I sleep, especially siesta, I become more hungry than I was before eating. I don’t know if it’s normal?

A: Interesting question! Well, it depends on what you ate and how long you slept too.
Generally, foods with a lot of fibre when eaten, absorb water and give the feeling of satiety (feeling full) for a lot longer. These foods cause less fluctuations in blood sugar when compared with processed foods. So, if you ate fibre-rich foods, you would not be feeling hunger pangs too soon afterwards.

If however, you feed on processed foods like pies, cakes or even starchy foods like polished rice etc, the release of glucose from these foods into the blood prompts the release of insulin which efficiently moves the glucose into the cells. This prompts the release of counter hormones which cause hunger pangs soon after one had felt very full.

Q: Good morning chief. Please can fondling and sucking of breast lead to pre-term labour especially in third trimester.

A: Chief????Hmmm! 😀

Great question! The answer is not straight forward though…it’s a yes and no! Theoretically, sucking on the breast can cause the release of the hormone, oxytocin, which can cause uterine (womb) contractions. Towards the end of pregnancy too, a woman becomes more sensitive to the effects of this hormone and would observe a good number of Braxton-Hicks contractions (these are ‘fake’ contractions preparing the womb for the main even :D)

However, in practice the amount of oxytocin released is really not enough to induce labour. If, you have had issues with pre-term pregnancy in the past, you may want to have a chat with your doctor about this.

For related posts, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2015/02/16/daily-health-tips-can-i-breastfeed-while-pregnant/

Have a great night y’all 😀

This week (18 – 24 November) is World Antimicrobial Awareness Week. As resistance continues to grow to a wider range of medicines, the focus of this campaign has broadened from just antibiotics to include all antimicrobials, including antiviral, antifungal and antiprotozoal medicines. The theme for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2020 for the human health sector is “United to preserve antimicrobials.”

In honor of this week, I repeat a post I had made on this issue a while back, in response to a question.

Q: Good evening doctor. I am highly impressed with your assistance. Please doc, can one use double antibiotic at the same time?

A: The way you asked this question makes me suspect already that perhaps you are making this prescription by yourself or perhaps you approached ‘Dr Lagbaja’ who owns the chemist shop at the corner to mix some drugs for you. Both practices are dangerous. You should…

Q: Hello Dr, my friend said her breast discharges. What could be the cause because I know she has no baby in her hand right away?

Q: That reminds me too Dr. Please reply to this one. Breast discharge without being pregnant…is this normal for a young lady?

A: I’ve received a couple of questions on this issue…many which I cannot reproduce to conserve space 😀 These two will serve as the template for all related questions.

There are different issues that can cause nipple discharge. The discharge can be bloody, milky, clear etc. The colour may not tell us much as to whether the discharge is normal or abnormal.

Milky discharge from the breast is called galactorrhea and is usually the symptom of a problem. For more on this please click on the link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/04/18/daily-health-tips-why-do-i-have-nipple-discharge-when-im-not-pregnant/

Causes of breast discharge include:
• Pregnancy
• Breastfeeding: The release of milk may…

Q: Hi Doc, please will like to know what take care of tongue thrush with blisters that is caused by antibiotics….thanks your good works

A: Believe it or not, our bodies are filled with different micro-organisms, all of which are searching for relevance and dominance 😀 These good and bad micro-organisms usually maintain a delicate balance until something happens (like when one takes some medications like steroids, uses antibiotics, has a depressed immune system as occurs in extremes of age: very young and very old and also if one is infected with HIV, has cancer or Diabetes Mellitus) to disturb this delicate balance. When this happens, fungal organisms which were minding their own business before, have an opportunity to overgrow in the mouth and cause problems.  This condition can also happen in the vagina causing vaginal thrush or even in infants causing diaper rash.

What does this look like?…

Q: Hello ma! please I discover a tough black stains on my teeth but don’t know what to used to wash it. What can I used to wash it?

A: Thanks for writing in. Brown teeth can be embarrassing. Smoking, drinking coffee, wine, tea etc can cause this. Generally brightly coloured foods like some candies, berries and sauces also have the potential to stain teeth if they are left on the surface long enough.

To prevent these stains, try the following tips:
Avoid or significantly reduce the amount of these fluids or foods in your typical diet.

If you can’t avoid them, then reduce the amount of time the foods or fluids have contact with your teeth by chewing and swallowing promptly. Yes, I know I’ve said you should chew intentionally so that your tummy has the chance to receive signals from the brain which tell it that it’s full…

Q: Good evening, Doctor. Please I want to ask a question. Each time I take ferrous, I usually have scratches on my leg. Am I allergic to it or am I taking the fake one. Thanks. Will be waiting for reply

A: Iron supplements are used to prevent anaemia (blood shortage) but just like any drug, people could experience adverse drug reactions. These supplements can cause the colour of stool to become black. Other side effects include heartburn, constipation or diarrhea, abdominal pain and nausea/vomiting.

Allergy to this drug could show up as rashes, hives (sudden outbreak of swollen, red bumps on the skin), itching, tightness in the chest, trouble with breathing, swelling of the face, mouth, throat, tongue etc

So, you could very well be allergic to the supplement. Please see your doctor and let him know this. He will confirm what exactly the problem is and where necessary…

Thursday 29th October was World Stroke Day. In honor of that day, I repeat the post below:

Q: Good morning, Dr. Ketch. Thank you for helping us out health-wise. I’ll like to ask…as a Nigerian, do you know of any food that is healthy for a recovering stroke and hypertensive patient apart from Semovita and wheat? Thank you, ma’am

A: Stroke as the name implies refers to an incident that happens suddenly…without warning. It usually occurs when the brain is deprived of some of its blood supply and consequently oxygen supply. This can happen when there is a blood clot in a vessel in the brain or due to a burst blood vessel leaking blood onto the substance of the brain or around the brain. This blood leakage can lead to undesired pressure on the brain.

There is really no such thing as a partial stroke. Oftentimes, people refer to…