chatwithketch

Q: Dear DR Ketch please I need you counseling, when other people donated blood to someone they used to take some bottle of stout beer to gain back the blood, but we do advice to stay away from alcohol because it has negative effect in the body system, is stout not alcohol?

A:  😀

I just love your question! Yes, stout is alcohol and I am not quite sure who came up with the idea of drinking it to gain back blood! Absolutely not!!! Indeed, you are to avoid alcohol for at least 8 hours after!

Here are some tips to guide you, before, during and after the blood donation.

To donate blood, you have to be at least 17 years or over, in good health with a healthy blood count and weigh more than 50kg, you can donate whole blood every 56 days and your blood will be screened for viruses and bacteria.

Now to specifics….

Before the blood donation, be sure to do the following:

• Ensure that you are eating an iron-rich diet like green, leafy veggies, red meat, cereals fortified with iron etc.
• Avoid fatty foods
• Be sure to avoid alcohol and take in lots of fluids (water and other juices)
• Bring along your donor card and form of ID
• Avoid vigorous exercise

During the blood donation, be sure to

• Wear loose and comfortable clothing which can be folded above the elbow.
• Relax and let the bleeding proceed J

You shouldn’t feel any pain after the initial prick. If you do, please call the attention of the medic close by.

After the blood donation,

• Don’t be in a hurry 😀 Relax and have a snack and a few drinks (non-alcoholic, please)
• Avoid smoking in the first 2 hours
• Avoid alcohol in the first 8 hours
• Avoid strenuous exercise and do not carry heavy stuff with that arm for the rest of the day
• Keep the pressure bandage on for about 30 minutes afterwards
• Keep the plaster on though for about 6 hours after.
• If you feel lightheaded, please lie down, drink a lot of fluid and rest until you feel better
• If the donation site starts to bleed, please apply pressure and elevate arm. If this continues, please see your doctor.

I hope this helps.

Have a great night, everyone 😀

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What do I do with my baby’s cord? Clean with spirit? Clean with water? Just leave it alone? What about me? I can barely sit down after having my baby. My episiotomy site hurts so badly! What do I use to reduce the pain? Does a Sitz bath really work? Should I add anything to the water to Sitz bath? Just For The Health Of It With Dr Ketch explores this and so much more.

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Q: Dear Dr ketch, please can I use Horlicks for my 6months old baby. Thanks in anticipation

A: Hi dear, thanks for writing in.

The simple answer to your question is no. You should only introduce this after one year of age. To further help you out with weaning, which is a popular question, especially from First Time Mothers (FTM), I reproduce a post I had made on this before.

Weaning can be a trying period for a mum…when should I start? What should I give? For how long? What if he doesn’t like it? Just like adults, a good number of babies are resistant to change. They are comfortable eating what they had been eating? Life was good…why do you want to change it????  😀 Okay, that’s some babies. Others are more than happy to move on to the next stage!

When to start? At 6 months. From birth to 6 months, please focus on exclusive breastfeeding with not even a drop of water. From six months, baby is ready to be introduced to some other food.
For a long time, the standard teaching had been to go for rice cereal as the first add-on meal because it is bland and babies tolerate this well. Other studies question this wisdom now and suggest that foods like meats with lots of essential nutrients like iron may be a good place to start. What should you do? You can boil beef/chicken very soft and blend it up for baby. If baby tolerates this, then by the next week, you could try adding some rice cereal. Try not to introduce more than one food per week so that you have time to study how your baby adapts to it and of course, look out for/isolate food allergy. And, to start off, only one meal of the complementary feed should be given daily. The rest should be the usual…breast milk. This will change, of course, as baby tolerates.

Generally, foods to start off weaning should be just slightly thicker than milk and so, if it retains its shape on a spoon, it may be too thick.

From 9 months, baby can be allowed to start experimenting with regular family meals…minus the spices, of course.

From one year of age, you can add the cereals mentioned in the question and it’s also okay to introduce cow milk at this time. Full cream cow milk is advocated at this time for proper brain development. Thereafter, please switch to skimmed/1%/2% milk as full cream milk has a lot of saturated fat which may contribute to poor heart health. Grains, green leafy vegetables, cow milk, honey, whole eggs can generally be introduced after the baby turns 1 year old.

Generally, other weaning foods that can be introduced include:
Boiled egg yolk (egg whites contain substances that baby may react to), sweet potatoes, fish, chicken, beef, fruits like banana, avocados, boiled beans (with skin removed if possible etc
Simple recipes include, blend some chicken or beef with the stock or mash a banana and add to baby’s cereal.

Our local cereals can also be used and fortified with some breast milk or formula.

As baby tolerates these meals, you can get a little more adventurous.

Boiled carrots mashed with some coconut oil or a little yoghurt with mashed banana may not go amiss too.

An example of a recipe I make for my children is boil potatoes in a pot and place a stainless plate on top of the pot. Add your egg yolk and a drop Olive oil and when the yolk is cooked and potatoes soft, mash all together and feed baby.

Now I know we are all very busy, but weaning is no easy task and so we must commit to trying as much as to prepare these meals ourselves. Packaged meals usually contain additives that may trigger problems/allergies etc in the baby. Hygiene is also critical!

Have a fabulous weekend.

Cheers 😀

Q: I am a nursing mother of a 3months baby She sometimes brings green poop what could be the cause because it goes back and comes back 2. What are the signs and symptoms of a bacterial infection in babies? 3. How many times should a 3months baby poop a day? Thank you

A: Thanks for writing in.

In babies, green poo can be due to:

• Baby not nursing sufficiently from one breast before being moved to the other breast. This means that the baby gets more (watery) fore milk than the fattier, nutrient-dense hind milk.
• If baby is bottle-fed, it could be due to the particular formula being used. Try switching to another formula and see if it helps
• Diarrhea
• Inadequate intestinal flora in breastfed babies

Though this question is about babies, I’ll mention some cause of green poo in children and adults:

• Eating a lot of veggies
• Diet rich in iron
• Diarrhea
• Presence of green food dyes etc

Back to the question, how many times should a 3-month baby poop? Exclusively breast fed babies may pass stool a couple of times during the day to lots of time (it might even be after every meal :D).  You’re still getting to know your baby and so you should look out for the normal consistency of his stools and the frequency. Diarrhea is usually rare in exclusively breast fed children because you’ve cut off all the middle men like bottles and teats etc that could have been reservoirs of infection. Having said that, watch out for signs like blood or mucous in stool, explosive green stools and foul smelling stools. How can this occur in exclusively breast fed babies? It may be due to an infection (viral and bacterial), food allergy to something the mother ate, it may be due to food poisoning in the mum or perhaps the mother had taken antibiotics. If in doubt as to whether the stools appear normal or as they have been since birth, please see your baby’s doctor. If your baby has diarrhea, he/she should be rehydrated as quickly as possible. The first way is to continue breastfeeding even before going to the hospital. This also provides valuable antibodies that help the baby fight diseases.

Exclusively breast fed babies can sometimes go days without defecation and this 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 because it is more difficult for a baby to digest formula than breast milk.

If your baby is dehydrated, perhaps from not taking enough fluids as may occur if she has a cold and is refusing feeds due to difficulty with breathing when feeding, ‘constipation’ may also occur. Other causes include food allergies and/or introduction of complementary fees as the body learns to handle these foods.

What part of baby’s body do you suspect has a bacterial infection? You may have to see your baby’s doctor to discuss your worries J

All the best!

Have a great weekend everyone 😀

Q: Good day ma’am. Please ma’am, sorry for bothering you. Please ma’am, my 3 year old son is always having dry cough every night. He doesn’t really cough in the morning but in d night he is really coughing. I have used a lot of cough syrups & antibiotics but still no change. Please ma’am, what are the causes & what can I do because I am not happy with coughing ma’am. I will be so grateful if you reply ma’am. Thanks

A: As a parent, it’s very normal for you to feel worried when your baby is ill especially when it appears you’re helpless and really can’t do anything to help him/her. However, when your baby has a cough, giving cough syrups may not be the way to go…and I’ll tell you why.

Generally, cough could be due to common cold, allergies or other irritants in the environment, croup, whooping cough etc.
First, if your baby’s cough is due to a cold, you really don’t need to give your baby any drug. A cold is a viral infection and once it causes an infection, it will run its course before it stops. And so, with or without drugs, a cold will go. It would usually last for about a week to 10 days and then disappear. There’s no need for antibiotics for a viral infection. Indeed, taking antibiotics when they are not needed leads to antibiotic resistance where the antibiotics can no longer properly do their jobs when they are really needed to fight infections.
Then some of the ingredients in the cough syrups can also cause a baby’s heart to beat faster, may cause convulsions and basically do not treat the cause of the cough. They are actually not supposed to be used for children younger than 2 to 3 years of age.

Now, what can you do in the meantime:

Let your baby sleep in your arms or in a semi-upright position. You can prop him up with lots of pillows at night.

Offer your baby fluids and if there is congestion in the nose, use a saline spray. You can ask your doctor or pharmacist for this.
An air humidifier also moistens the air and makes it easier for your baby to breath. If you don’t have this, you can let your baby breath in steam from a hot shower.

A suction bulb can also help remove mucous from your baby’s nose.  You can ask for one in the hospital or a pharmacy.

Please see your baby’s doctor if this cough continues and/or your baby develops a fever and this cough lasts more than 2 weeks.  If your baby also has difficulty breathing, cannot breathe or feed, you should also see his/her doctor.

Have a great night, y’all 😀

Q: Hello doctor I have a burning sensation when I pee and after wiping there’s blood on the toilet paper what could be wrong?

A: A common cause of both symptoms is Urinary Tract Infection. This is an infection that occurs anywhere in the urinary tract (Genius me, right :D) and includes infections of the kidneys, the ureters (the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder),  the bladder (the reservoir or store house for the urine) and the urethra (the tube that transports the urine from the bladder to the outside).

So, who is more likely to have an infection and why? Women are more likely to have infections and this is because they have short urethrae (those tubes that transport the urine outside) and because the opening of this tube is very close to the opening of the anus. And so, if a woman urinates and has not quite mastered the art of cleaning from the front to the back, she could transfer bacteria from her anus to her urethra and this in turn travels up and infects the bladder.

Women who also use the birth control method, diaphragm are also at risk as it may cause the bladder not to empty completely when they urinate. Indeed, not urinating immediately after sexual intercourse in women may also predispose to this as the urethra may have may have become irritated, making it easier for germs to move in. People with depressed immune systems, frequent constipation and some people born with some disorders of their uro-genital system are also prone to UTIs. In men, narrowing of the urethra which may happen in men who have had straddle injuries (eg falling astride {with legs apart} on a pole…ouch!), history of STIs or prostrate problems may make a man open to UTIs.

What symptoms does a person with UTI have? They would complain of feeling they have to urgently urinate often and then when they do get to the toilet, they can only pass out very little urine, pain or burning sensation during urination, pain in the flank (just under the ribs at the back), the urine may be cloudy or reddish or coke coloured, fever with chills and rigours etc.

UTIs have to be treated because these infections could keep back tracking from the urethra to the bladder to the ureters and then to the kidneys…we don’t want that do we?! 😀

Treatment is focused on eradicating the infection…of course 😀 Usually a urine sample is taken to the lab. Part of the lab work is a culture and sensitivity test to find out the organisms causing the infection and the specific antibiotic that is active against it. Please take your prescription for the right period of time even if your symptoms disappear before you finish. Your doctor may also order other tests as he sees fit eg checking out for congenital defects etc.

Apart from the preventive tips above, be sure to drink lots of water which help dilute your urine and help flush out the bacteria. As I have written several times before, leave douches well alone, ladies! This habit may lead to irritation of the urethra and we don’t want that 😀

Other causes of blood in urine include:

• Kidney stones
• Bladder stones
• Kidney infection
• Kidney disease
• Cancer
• Medications

Q: Good evening Doctor. Am writing from Lusaka Zambia. Doc, my husband has been experiencing persistent headaches for two years now. He’s gone to different hospitals and just for different tests and all they tell us is that the tests are okay. He’s done brain scan, eye tests, fungal tests and in the end the doctors decided to do a lumbar puncture but still the results came out okay. We are very confused and disturbed because we don’t know what to do anymore and it hasn’t been easy for us. He doesn’t sleep in the night and now finding it difficult to even go for work. PLEASE, PLEASE Doctor we really need your help and advice. Thank you so much and be blessed.

A: Headaches refer to pain or ache anywhere on the head. They may be primary, in which case they are due to problems with the structures sensitive to pain in the head. Or they may be secondary in which case the pain is due to an underlying disease that causes the pain-sensitive structures in the head to be activated.

Common causes of primary headaches include:

Tension headaches: This is the more common type of headache seen as the everyday sort of headache. It affects both sides of the head as a constant ache. Its causes are not very clear but they can be triggered by stress, hunger, dehydration, etc they can last a couple of minutes to several hours but are not severe enough to stop regular activities. Resting and sleeping well, eating properly and staying hydrated can help prevent this.

Migraines: These are felt as severe throbbing pain at the front or side of the head. Some people may experience other symptoms like nausea, vomiting and being sensitive to light. The pain lasts from a couple of hours or can stretch on for days. Thus, it is more severe than the tension headaches and can stop an individual from carrying out their daily tasks. Some find that they need strong medication prescribed by doctors to get relief but others are relieved by using over the counter medications.

Cluster headaches: These cause severe pain around one eye and are associated with red or watery eyes and a blocked nose or runny one. They tend to occur for one or two months at a time at about the same time of the year. Most times medications do not work for these headaches. Your doctor will prescribe specific treatment courses.

Chronic daily headaches may be due to medication overuse. This would occur in people who use pain medications too often and then end up with rebound headaches…the exact condition they were trying to avoid. Moral of the story: Never abuse your medications J Use only as directed by your doctor.

Sex headaches: Yes, this can occur. It’s also known as post-coital headache, orgasmic headache etc. It could occur during sexual intercourse, during orgasm or after sexual intercourse. And it can also occur at any time of the day and during any type of sexual activity. It is felt at the back of the skull just above the neck and is usually described as throbbing. Or it could build up gradually during sexual intercourse and intensifies as the sexual excitement before an orgasm increases. They can last anything from a few minutes to a few hours; may never recur or may happen a couple more times before gradually fading away.

It is thought to be due to the release of adrenaline and rapid rise in blood pressure which occurs as one approaches orgasm. And so in these cases, the headaches may not be a cause for concern. However, it is also a possibility that these headaches are a sign of a more serious condition like bleeding onto the surface of the brain.
People who usually have migraines, who use recreational drugs like marijuana, use birth control pills etc are more likely to have sex headaches.

Should you swear off sex? Yes, if you’re unmarried 😀 And no, if you’re married;) If you have just experienced this, try lying quietly for about an hour or two after taking an analgesic (like paracetamol) to handle the pain. However, it is very important to see your doctor as soon as possible to let him/her know what happened. This is important because, while there may very well not be any underlying issue, you want to be sure to rule out any serious medical condition causing these headaches. Your doctor will also prescribe some drugs on a regular or intermittent basis to deal with your symptoms.

Primary headaches may be triggered by stress, skipped meals and dehydration as noted above. However, they may also be associated with alcohol, foods that contain nitrates like spinach and bad posture.

Secondary headaches may be due to dental problems, hangovers 😀 ear infections, blood clot in the brain, wearing tight gear on the head like hats or even wigs (yes, I see you ladies :D) or even eating cold stuff like ice creams etc.

So, what should you do? If you find that tight head gear or eating ice cream is the problem, see if stopping helps.

If you find that these headaches are now more frequent than usual, more severe than usual, stops you from going about your daily activities, is no longer responding to the over the counter medications you used to take etc, please see your doctor. If you have been seeing the same doctor, as it appears to be in this case, with no relief, please seek another opinion or request a review by a neurologist.

All the best.

Have a good night, y’all 😀