chatwithketch

Q: Good evening Dr. Please I have been having constant boil in my armpit. Please can I know the reasons? A: Hi dear, thanks for writing in. Sorry to hear about your challenge.

Pain and swelling in the underarm (which is how a boil would appear) can be very uncomfortable.

There are a couple of things that can trigger these:

• Deodorants: These can cause skin irritation which can lead to boils. The delicate and sensitive skin of the underarms and the sweat that can accumulate there making it a rich culture medium for germs are factors that have been implicated. Solution: You may have to try another one…find one without fragrance or perhaps, formulated for sensitive skin. Reading the labels will provide this information

• Shaving: A lot of people can identify with this…bumps in the underarm after shaving. This can happen if you do not shave properly. Try shaving after taking a bath when the hair is moist and the skin hydrated. If this does not suffice, you may have to find alternative means of removing underarm hair eg depilatory cream.

• Infection of the hair follicles from cuts or injuries to the underarm, or from friction caused by wearing tight clothing. So, be careful while shaving and try to wear clothes that are more loose fitting (especially under the arms) and/or focus on fabrics that can ‘breathe’ like cotton

• Dirt or debris from excessive sweating can clog up hair follicles leading to painful lumps. Personal hygiene is key. Don’t be miserly with bathing and be sure to ‘take care’ of the underarms and other areas like the groin that tend to accumulate sweat and raise a stink • Infections due to viruses or bacteria.

• Cancer of the breast may also present like this. I hope this helps. If none of these solutions help, please see your doctor.

Fingers crossed, it’s nothing more serious 😀

For related posts, please click on https://chatwithdrketch.com/2015/02/06/daily-health-tips-how-can-i-prevent-rashes-after-a-shave/ https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/07/14/daily-health-tips-how-do-i-get-rid-of-excessive-facial-hair/

Daily Health Tip: Dark under arms

Have a great night, y’all 😀

Q: Good day Dr, please this my room mate is having stomach problem and we went for a test and they said he’s having hernia and we are still in school now without any cash. Please, madam is there any tablet or injections for him before we will be travelling home?

A: Hernia is the protrusion of an organ through a defect (like a hole or opening) in the wall of the muscle or cavity which usually holds it in place. There are different types hernias (or herniae) and they include:

Inguinal hernia: The most common type of hernia. It usually happens in situations where the pressure inside the abdomen is increased.

Other hernias include incisional hernia (where a protrusion develops from the site of a previous surgery, especially abdominal surgery), femoral hernia (which has the same risk factors as inguinal), umbilical hernia (common in black children where the umbilicus, aka navel does not form a small ‘button’ on the abdominal wall but protrudes) and hiatal hernia (where the stomach squeezes through a hole meant for the oesophagus (the pipe through which food gets to the stomach).

Typically, all hernias are caused by a weakness in the wall of muscles or containing cavities and an increase in pressure. Examples of activities that increase pressure in the abdomen are long-standing cough or frequent sneezing, carrying heavy loads regularly, straining at stool whether due to constipation or diarrhea etc. The walls of muscles are usually weakened in people who are obese, pregnant women, smokers and malnourished people. It is also more common in men and as people grow older.

What are the symptoms? People with hernia would usually notice a protrusion after a strain eg lifting something heavy or coughing. Sometimes, they are able to push it back. Other times they are not. The worry about hernia and the reason why they have to be treated quickly is that they may strangulate. Yes, just think about the word strangle and you understand what strangulate means J The protrusion may become squeezed by the opening through which it passes blocking off blood supply to the area protruding. Once a part of the body is deprived of blood, it dies. We don’t want that to happen!

The decision as to whether to go for surgery or not depends on where the hernia is located (inguinal and femoral hernias usually need surgery), the contents of the hernia sac and the symptoms. A truss (a supportive device that prevents enlargement of a hernia) may be prescribed by your doctor to help for a short period of time. Typically a doctor will schedule a surgery to repair a hernia. Complaints of pain in a hernia patient may mean strangulation, which need to be dealt with immediately. Umbilical hernia does not usually require surgery as the protrusions usually ‘return’ on their own. If this persists beyond 5 years, then surgery may be needed.

If you do require surgery, you don’t need to fret about it…really. This is not major surgery…it’s intermediate (sort of like half way between minor and major :D). Your doctor will provide answers to all the questions you have and of course, counseling. There are options for laparoscopic surgery which is surgery done through small incisions guided by a camera.

Preventive measures include having a healthy weight, giving up smoking, treating conditions that may lead to long standing coughs, eating healthy to prevent straining at stool etc. These are the self-help options available to you now. I am worried though, about the possibility of strangulation. I suggest that you go to a Government hospital. Consultation fee will be moderate and a doctor will give you a proper diagnosis after examining you.

All the best!

Have a good evening, everyone 😀

Do you know that healthy living starts in your kitchen with the little things…washing your hands, how you treat the food you eat etc

Here are some tips to set you on the right road to hygiene and health.

Wash your hands before and after handling food

Use separate chopping boards. 1 for Fruits and fresh vegetable for salads, 1 for poultry, seafood and meats and another for all other produce. This prevents cross-contamination of foods.

Wash your knives, boards and other utensils before using on a different set of produce. Again, this prevents cross-contamination of foods.

Freeze/refrigerate meats you are not going to use immediately.Constantly bringing out your meats, thawing them and then freezing them back again, provides an opportunity for bacteria to thrive. So, if you buy a lot of meat, put them in small packs according to how much you use every time. This way, you ensure that you’re going to use everything in a pack you bring out.

Thoroughly wash fruits and vegetable before cutting and serving. You can use salt and/or vinegar water to wash vegetables

Be sure to wash your kitchen napkins and dish towels in hot water often. I wash mine at the end of the day and next morning they are nice and fresh!

Remember that hygiene is two-thirds of health! So, don’t be caught napping 😀

As promised, I shall be writing on scabies today.

Most people believe that people with scabies are very dirty or have poor personal hygiene. This is not necessarily so as there is no evidence to support this.

So, what is scabies? It is a skin condition caused by tiny mites, which burrow under the skin as they feed. They lay eggs under the skin which later hatch and move to the skin surface where they grow into adults. There is a period of about 8 weeks between infection and manifestation of symptoms. Preferred areas of the skin scabies include warm areas like between fingers, under the breasts, around the buttocks, around the waist, inner elbow, knees, other skin folds and between skin and wrist watch straps, bracelets etc

Scabies is contagious and thus spread through personal skin to skin contact with infected persons, sexual contact and rarely through shared clothing and beddings. It is very common in child care groups, school classes and readily spreads in families.

People with scabies experience intense itching which is worse at night with rashes developing in the areas where the mites have burrowed.

Scabies are usually treated using creams and lotions that contain insecticides that kill the mites and their eggs…but you may still experience itching for a couple of weeks.. Your doctor will prescribe these. During treatment, please avoid sexual intercourse, if you have been diagnosed with genital scabies and it is usually recommended that treatment be carried out for entire contact groups and/or families. The ever-trusted calamine lotion can help relieve itching and you could also apply a cool, wet washcloth to affected areas to get some relief. Over the counter anti-histamines will help with the itching too and your doctor will likely prescribe this.

To prevent re-infection, wash all clothes, beddings etc used up to 3 days before treatment was commenced, bedding in hot soapy water and dry with high heat. You can use a clothes dryer or outside when it’s very hot. You can improvise using a hair dryer.

I hope this helps someone!

Have a fab weekend, y’all 😀

Representative of our winner, Opeyemi Morakinyo, picking up her prize from the Samsung office.

Be sure to participate in our quizzes and challenges 

Q: Good evening Doctor. Please, I have been having a stomach problem for 4 weeks now. Running stomach, heartburn and discomfort. Please, what might be the problem. I am planning to go and do test but I don’t know if I should go I see doctor first. Please, help me

A: Running stomach, the runs or diarrhea can be due to several causes which include infections (viruses, bacteria etc), lactose intolerance, some medications, fructose (the sugar found in fruits) in people who cannot digest this, surgery, artificial sweeteners etc. In excessive amounts, coffee (which is implicated in heart burn) can cause diarrhea. The symptoms are loose watery stools which are accompanied by abdominal cramps/pain, urgent need to defecate etc.

The major issue with diarrhea is dehydration. This condition is evidenced by dry mouth/skin, excessive thirst, tiredness/fatigue, reduced urination etc. So, be sure to see your doctor immediately if you observe any of the symptoms of dehydration, loose stools continue for more than 2 days, if you have severe abdominal pain, high fever and/or bloody stools. For dehydration, you can mix up a batch of oral rehydration salts and start on this before going to the hospital.

To prevent diarrhea, be sure to wash your hands often, especially before you eat.

Heart burn really has nothing to do with the heart…I bet all of you knew that, aye? It is usually felt as a burning sensation in the chest which feels worse on bending down or lying down. Okay, why and how does this happen? You know that the stomach produces acid to help with food digestion, right? Have you ever wondered, how come this acid isn’t all up in your mouth all the time? Well, that’s because there’s a ‘lock’ or control at the junction of the esophagus and the stomach, which prevents the acid in the stomach from coming back up into the esophagus. This ‘lock’ is called the Lower Esophageal Sphincter. This lock can get strained if the esophagus opens too often or if there is too much food in the stomach…so, if you regularly over-eat, you might want to re-think that 😀 A major no-no is a very heavy meal just before you lie down. It’s almost certain you may have a heart burn 😀

There are also conditions like pregnancy and obesity that make this sphincter stay open for prolonged periods as a result of pressure on the abdomen and there are also foods that encourage this. Examples of these ‘foods’ are fatty foods, alcohol, orange juice, chocolate and coffee, onions, tomatoes, peppermint and spicy foods.

So for the person in the question, I suggest you keep a food diary over a period of time and try to figure out the trigger foods. If this is not the issue, perhaps it’s a weight issue or even over-eating.

Treatment is targeted at the acid and healing the esophagus. Remember that occasional heart burn is not regarded a problem but if it happens frequently, like two or more times every week, then it becomes a problem and is now referred to as Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). So, drugs used can stop acid production, reduce acid production and cause healing of the esophagus or neutralize the effect of the acid.

Prevention involves trying to avoid your trigger foods (quite a number are actually healthy 😀 maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding heavy meals just before bedtime, try eating smaller meals and avoid tight clothes that may also put pressure on your abdomen.

So, the first and best thing to do now is to go see your doctor to get a diagnosis made. If you drink a lot of coffee, you may have to reduce or stop as this can actually be responsible for both diarrhea and heart burn.

Have a fabulous evening and remember…no heavy meals before bedtime 😀

We typically advise people to measure their blood pressures at home but sometimes, this makes people to report some false high blood pressure readings! Do you know what could be responsible? Make you just took a cup of coffee before taking the reading. Or perhaps, you were talking and/or gisting with a friend before taking the measurement? Well, read the post below to find out what you could be doing wrong when measuring your BP and get it right! 😀

http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/tips-to-measure-your-blood-pressure-correctly

Q: Please Ma’am what are the remedy for low & Immotile sperm?

A: Several factors could affect the results of a semen analysis.  The results also vary from man to man such that results outside of the ‘normal’ do not necessarily mean fertility or having a baby is out of the question. Your doctor will work with you according to your specific context.

You have to be sure to follow all instructions given before the test. This includes abstaining from sexual intercourse for at least 3-5 days before sexual intercourse.

Using WHO reference values, a normal semen sample should fulfill the following:

• Volume amount of sperm produced in one ejaculation): Greater than or equal to 1.5 ml
• pH (whether acidic or alkaline. If less than 7, it’s acidic and greater than 7 is alkaline): Greater than equal to 7.2
• Viscosity (being semi-fluid):  viscous
• Transparency: opaque
• Motility (percentage of sperm that move forward normally):  This should be more than 40%
• Morphology (percentage of sperm that have normal shape): This should be greater than or equal to 15% normal, oval sperm heads
• Liquefaction (time taken for the semen to become ‘liquid’): This should be complete within one hour
• Total sperm count: This should be greater than or equal to 15 million.
• Pus cells should be less than 1 million/ml or less than 5/hpf

The causes of low sperm count could be medical, environmental or due to lifestyle issues. Sometimes, the cause(s) can, also not be identified.

Medical causes include infections like gonorrhea and chlamydia, certain drugs used for cancer and fungal infections, hormone imbalance, undescended testes, varicocele (swelling of veins that drain the testicle) and cancer.

Environmental causes include over-exposure to industrial chemicals, heavy metals and X-rays; over-heating the testicles by frequently using the sauna and hot tubs; prolonged bicycling

Lifestyle causes include alcohol use, tobacco smoking, illegal drug use, obesity and emotional stress.

To get a woman pregnant, a man has to have at least 40 million sperm per ejaculate. People with low sperm count usually have less than this.
If you have been diagnosed with low sperm count, then do something about it. Here are some tips that could help to improve your sperm count. Treatment is generally based on the cause:
Stress has been found to contribute to infertility problems such as hormonal issues. So, prevent excessive stress and perform relaxation exercises. Remember that infertility and life in general can be stressful, learn to relax.

Stop smoking because smoking significantly reduces both sperm count and the movement of sperm-cells.

Prevent overheating of the scrotum: When scrotal temperature rises (caused by tight underwear, long stays in a sauna or Jacuzzi, for example) sperm production can be impaired.

Maintain a healthy weight: Not too under or overweight since weight influences estrogen and testosterone levels.

Stop using drugs: Prolonged use of recreational drugs (for example, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine)

If you have infections like gonorrhea and chlamydia, these need to be treated.

Surgeries can be done for varicocele and cancers. Radio and chemotherapy are also treatment options for cancer.

Medications or hormone replacements can be used for hormonal problems.

The major challenge with low sperm count is infertility. Sometimes, the treatments listed above do not work, especially when the cause is not known. But IVF is an option that exists for this group of people.

So, first thing is to confirm from the doctor what exactly the cause of the low sperm count is (if known) and then review your options from there.

All the best.

Have a good night, everyone 😀

Q: Good morning…… I weaned my son when he was 1yr and 2 months and I did not feel any pain or engorgement on my breast….is it normal?

A: Hi! Thanks for writing in and congratulations on your new baby.

I would have thought you’d be excited by the lack of pain you felt…rather than wondering if it is normal 😀

People usually stop breastfeeding in one of two ways:

You can stop gradually over a period of time. Replace some feeds during the day with other foods or even milk (just not from you). Usually the first and last feeds of the day are the most difficult to replace or give up as they are your baby’s sorta emotional anchors 😀 But keep at it over a period of weeks and the breast milk production will gradually ‘dry up’. This method is more likely to produce the result you had…pain-free and no engorgement. So, this is normal. Enjoy!

The other option is to just stop putting baby to the breast. If your baby feels it’s also a good idea to stop, then you’re good. If not, you may have to be very creative with means and ways of distracting him/her. In this second situation, you are more likely to find your breasts engorged. Please ensure that you get the right support for your breasts. In the good old days, mothers would tell their daughters to tie a wrapper tightly across their breasts. A lot of people swear by it…I don’t 😀 If you’re more jet age, though wear a tight supportive bra. For the pain, take analgesics and also apply cold packs to your breasts.
Try not to stimulate the nipples during this period. This encourages milk production. Hubby should kindly take note too J

All the best as you move to a new phase of parenting!

Have a good night y’all 😀