Daily Health Tips:How stretching keeps your joints moving – Harvard Health

Posted on April 20, 2016 by chatwithdrketch

http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/how-stretching-keeps-your-joints-moving

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Daily Health Tips: How Do I Build Up My Blood Level After Malaria In Pregnancy?

Posted on April 19, 2016 by chatwithdrketch
Q: Dr I am 7.6 months pregnant but at 6 months I had malaria. After getting treatment just last week they found, I have little blood in my body and lost weight from 72kg to 64kg. But I had been given ‘blood building’ syrup which I am currently taking. Now Doc I want your advice…what can I do to gain weight and gain blood as you know I am approaching my last month.
 
A: Hello dear. Sorry to hear about your bouts of malaria. Did you receive any malaria preventive drug since your pregnancy? Usually, Fansidar is used. Fansidar is a specific brand of the drug Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP). It is used for the prevention of malaria in pregnancy. Its use for this is referred to as Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria in pregnancy (IPTp-SP).
In the first trimester, it is not recommended for use but from the second trimester, it is considered the appropriate and indeed is recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) for administration to pregnant women. The assumed rule before was for pregnant women to receive 2 doses of this drug (full dose of 3 tablets) but WHO has since clarified that the appropriate regimen is for women to receive the full dose of Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine from week 13 of pregnancy. She should get a full dose at every antenatal visit provided the last dose was taken at least one month before. There is evidence that women who received 3 or more doses of IPTp had children with higher average birth weights than those who got 2 doses.
 
I’m glad you are okay now. As regards, building up your blood, your doctor will ensure that the Folic Acid dose you’re getting in your prenatal drugs is not more than 0.4mg. Doses of Folic Acid higher than or equal to 5mg affects the efficacy of the anti-malarial, SP. So, be sure to check with your doctor before you start buying other non-prescribed prenatal vitamins.
 
Other nutrition tips that will be useful for you include:
• Eat a balanced diet with a variety of foods from different food groups.
• Be sure to include a lot of high fibre foods like vegetables, whole grain cereals etc to deal with the constipation associated with pregnancy.
• Ensure you take your antenatal medications (prenatal vitamins) in addition to eating well.
• Be sure to also take foods rich in iron eg and foods rich in folic acid eg green leafy veggies and beans. Folate prevents deformities of the spine.
• Drink at least 4 servings of milk, other dairy products or calcium rich foods. If you don’t eat enough, your baby will start drawing on your own stock from your bones. So, drink up your milk!
 
I’m sure you know about insecticide –treated nets…and probably still don’t use them because of the heat😀 Well, if you have nets on your windows too and have a good fan (praying that you’ve got electricity to power it), it is not really so bad. Some people react to the chemicals in the insecticide and so for these ones you may want to air the net outside for a couple of days before you start use. To encourage your children to use them, you could work it into the décor of the room and make them look like nice, funky four poster beds!
 
Be sure to fumigate your house to rid them of mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies. Ensure the vendor tells you what chemicals will be used, how long you need to be away and whether it’s compatible with artwork etc. Cover up foodstuff and take off beddings etc. and then do a major clean up afterwards.
Did you know that the buckets of water used to store water in areas where pipe-borne water is not constant, can be a huge source of mosquitoes? Have you observed them rising from these buckets of water when you approach in the evening? If you have to store water, get covers for them and ensure they are closed all the time.
 
Did you know that if your bathroom drain is blocked, apart from the fact that it’s unhygienic, the water there also acts as a comfortable home for mosquitoes? So, ensure that your drains are free-flowing with no stagnant water. Keeping it smelling nice and fresh is also a good touch ;D
 
Did you know that your flower pots with lots of water also serve as a breeding place for mosquitoes? The water used on the flowers should be completely absorbed by the soil with none left on top. Watch out for lazy helps who want to do a month’s watering in a day😀
 
Did you know that the unwashed drains and gutters outside, bushy lawns, potholes and broken concrete slabs serve as lovely homes for mosquitoes? Be sure to clean up your environment often.
 
Have a good night, y’all 😀
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Daily Health Tips: Breastfeeding Challenges

Posted on April 18, 2016 by chatwithdrketch

Q: Good day Dr. Please, advise me on this: my sister of 22 yrs has a very black armpit, darker than her colour. Please, what caused it and its remedy?

chatwithdrketch's avatarchatwithketch

Q: Hi ma’am. Please, kindly advice. I had a baby in June this year and have not been able to breastfeed. Firstly, it was because my nipples are too flat which makes it difficult for my baby to suck. Secondly, at the moment there is no breast milk at all in my breast. I am really disturbed and not happy because I want my baby to breastfeed even if it’s for 3 months.

A: Hello dear. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy. He/she will be a blessing to his/her generation!

Now, the reason why it seems that your breast is ‘empty’ is because your baby is not sucking. If your baby sucks, the let-down reflex ensures that your breast fills up with breast milk. Flat nipples can appear to be a challenge for breast feeding, especially for first time mothers but remember that babies are supposed to latch on…

View original post 179 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Daily Health Tips:My Baby Has Lost Weight!

Posted on April 16, 2016 by chatwithdrketch
Q: Good day Doc. Please I have a 5months and 3 weeks old baby. I went to the hospital and checked her weight and she weighs 6.8 kg. The doc said dat she is not gaining enough weight because as at 4 months, she weighs 6kg. I am confused on what to do because she weighed 3.6kg at birth. I expected her to be big by now but she is not. What should I do? Thank you
 
A: Thanks for writing in.
 
Well, this will be a cause for concern for any mother. However, it all depends on what the doctor found on examination. Healthy babies may go through periods when they are not adding weight or doing so minimally. The doctor will be more worried about the trend, for instance what is happening to the baby’s growth from one clinic attendance to the next.
 
The issues could be feeding issues. The doctor would want to know how many wet diapers your baby makes per day to determine if she’s getting enough. Is your baby ill? When babies are ill, they lose weight or may stop adding any. Other causes of weight loss or not gaining weight could be infections (ear, urinary tract etc), tongue tie, anaemia etc. Your doctor will examine your baby to make a proper diagnosis.
 
To help out with the feeding, here are some tips:
From birth to 6 months, please focus on exclusive breastfeeding with not even a drop of water. Try feeding your baby more often, ensuring that you feed from both breasts for each meal or even using both breasts several times during the same feed.
Your baby is almost at the point of weaning and so, the following is also useful.
 
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, 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!
I hope y’all had a great day?
 
Good night 😀
 
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Daily Health Tips: 5 ways to keep your memory sharp (Harvard Health)

Posted on April 15, 2016 by chatwithdrketch

Worried about those senior moments you seem to be having more and more of? Well, this is for you!

http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/tips-to-get-the-most-from-your-memory

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Daily Health Tips: How Do I Get Rid Of Acne?

Posted on April 14, 2016 by chatwithdrketch

Q: Hi Dr Ketch, I have a 15 year old boy who has a lot pimples on the face. So I’d like to know how to help him.

A: Thanks for writing in. The post below should help. Cheers

chatwithdrketch's avatarchatwithketch

Q: Hi Dr I have acne/pimples. What can I use to get rid of them?

A: Questions on pimples are very frequent as people wonder how to stop getting them or what to do to get rid of them. So here goes:

Pimples or acne are always a serious concern for males and females of all ages. When you’re a teenager, it appears life is generally miserable when you have a lot of these and when you’re older, it’s embarrassing and almost as if, you didn’t pass through rites of the teenage years and now have to deal with it at this age 😀 Either way, it can be a source of emotional upset. Stressing out about it, now makes it even worse as stress can make acne worse even if it doesn’t directly cause it.

Acne happens when hair follicles get blocked by dead skin cells and oil. They…

View original post 473 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Daily Health Tips: Microwaving Food In Plastic: Dangerous Or Not – Harvard Health

Posted on April 13, 2016 by chatwithdrketch

Everyone has heard one story or the other about how to cook with the microwave oven or indeed why you should not use it.

In this article, Harvard Health addresses.this issue:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=952569274864710&id=376440139144296

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Daily Health Tips:Male Circumcision

Posted on April 12, 2016 by chatwithdrketch
Q: Good day to you, Doctor. Thank you so much for all the useful health tips and advice! Please doctor, my sister just had her baby boy circumcised in five days. The plastic ring has dropped by itself. The tip of the penis now looks very fragile. We’re thinking of applying a little bit of petroleum. Although we’ve called the pediatrician and he advised that we leave it like that. In what other ways can we keep caring for the baby to make him comfortable and aid quick healing of the penis? Thanks!
 
A: Thank you for writing in and for taking your job as aunty very seriously! 😀 By the way, congratulations!
 
Male circumcision is the removal of the fore-skin of the penis. This practice is usually tied to religious beliefs, traditions and sometimes, just personal preference. More recently, it has been suggested that circumcision may also have some medical benefits like decreased risk of sexually transmitted infections, decreased risk of urinary tract infections, decreased risk of cancer of the penis/foreskin and also better hygiene…it is that much easier to wash a circumcised penis than an uncircumcised one.
In Nigeria, this is usually done on the 8th day of life. Adult circumcisions can also happen.
 
Circumcision, methinks, is usually more painful for the mother than the child. I remember weeping (yes, weeping and not crying :D) shamelessly as my son was circumcised. I was too pained to even feel embarrassed at the fact that I should be not be doing that as a doctor 😀 Who cares?! 😀
 
Back to our gist…
 
Usually the penis is cleaned and an anaesthetic injection or cream applied to the penis so that baby feels no pain. A special plastic ring or clamp is then applied to the penis before the foreskin is removed. Afterwards, an ointment eg petroleum jelly is applied to the skin and it’s loosely covered with gauze.
 
Healing happens within 10 days and the plastic ring would fall off within this time. In the meantime, ensure baby is kept comfortable by changing the diaper often, applying a dab of ointment to the tip of the penis when changing baby’s diaper (to ensure that it is not sticking to the diaper) and fastening baby’s diaper loosely.

If the ring does not fall off after 2 weeks or you find that there is a foul smelly discharge from the penis or baby cannot urinate 12 hours after the procedure or indeed, there is persistent bleeding, please see your baby’s doctor immediately.

 

It does appear your nephew is healing well. I would like to assume that you meant to ask whether you should use petroleum jelly and not petroleum! What?! Please don’t get any petrol close to the baby…if you find some, please use that in your car! 😀
 
Where in doubt, please visit your baby’s paediatrician.
 
I hope this helps
 
Have a good night, y’all 😀
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Running injury? Maybe you’re doing it all wrong

Posted on April 11, 2016 by chatwithdrketch

 A new study of female runners suggests that an individual’s running style may play a role in susceptibility to injury.

Source: Running injury? Maybe you’re doing it all wrong

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Could lack of sleep trigger a food “addiction”?

Posted on April 11, 2016 by chatwithdrketch

An experimental study has found that lack of sleep can increase the levels of brain chemicals that make eating pleasurable. 

Source: Could lack of sleep trigger a food “addiction”?

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment