chatwithketch

Q: Hello, kindly do not reveal my ID. I had a miscarriage last month. I was about 10 weeks ,but was told it stopped at 6 weeks. I went through D and C and bleeding. After seven days and there on I had unprotected sex with hubby. I was feeling strange so I decided to do a pregnancy test. It came out positive, could I be pregnant or not? Could my hCG be still high? If am pregnant what should I do? If possible answer through inbox or you can post.

A: Thanks for writing in.

Condolences on the loss of your baby. May God console you.

It would usually take about four to six weeks after miscarriage for the hCG levels to return to normal. The Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG) is a hormone produced by the body when pregnancy occurs and this is sought for when pregnancy tests are conducted. So, this could be responsible for the positive pregnancy test you had.

Could it be pregnancy? It’s not farfetched. Ovulation could occur as early as 2 weeks after miscarriage and that means pregnancy becomes highly possible.

Other causes of rising hCG could be an ectopic pregnancy that co-existed with the miscarried pregnancy. A patient with ectopic pregnancy would usually come into hospital with complaints of light abdominal bleeding, abdominal pain or cramps, extreme dizziness from the bleeding. If the tube ruptures (bursts), patient could faint from profuse bleeding into the abdomen. This condition needs to be taken care of immediately. For details of ectopic pregnancy, treatment etc, please click on https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/08/07/daily-health-tips-what-are-my-options-after-ectopic-pregnancy-and-failed-ivf/

Rising hCG levels could also be due to two conditions known as choriocarcinoma (in which a cancer forms in the ‘placenta’ tissues) or a molar pregnancy (in which a fertilized egg turns into a mass of cysts instead of a normal pregnancy).

So, please see your doctor and have a long chat. He will advise on next steps.

I hope this helps.

Have a good night everyone 😀

Working at a standing desk may offer health benefits, however, studies suggest that doing so probably won’t help you burn a lot of extra calories.

Source: The truth behind standing desks

Moderate exercising like walking the dog or riding a bike for just an hour a day could alleviate or even eliminate the dangers caused by sitting all day.

Source: Get up, stand up, for your health: A little exercise offsets a lot of sitting

Q: When you eat only eba, beans, rice and bread is it dangerous?

A: Hello healthy people, I came across a report from a Harvard review and it gives 8 principles to low glycemic eating…a principle that will help answer the question asked. Glycemic index, by the way, is a measure that ranks foods that contain carbohydrates on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the number, the faster the food is digested, causing fluctuations in the blood sugar level and the lower the number, the slower the food is digested causing less fluctuations in the blood sugar level. So the focus should be on foods with low glycemic index. If you reduce your portion sizes and are exercising and generally doing the right things, you may sill be adding weight or not losing weight if you’re eating a lot of food with high glycemic index.

So here goes: principles of low glycemic eating:

Eat a lot of beans (any and every type), non starchy veggies (garlic, onions, leeks, chives, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers etc) and fruits like apples, berries, peaches and pears.

Eat a lot of grains in their natural state like natural granola, brown or local rice and muesli cereal

Reduce your intake of concentrated sweets like fruit juices (no more than half a cup daily…if you must) and other sugar loaded or sweetened drinks.

For more of these principles, get details from the book, Just For The Health Of It. You can get a copy via the shop now link on our facebook page. Or you can get it through:

1) Laterna Books online shop with nationwide delivery. Just click on this link:https://www.laternabooks.com/laterna_product_details.php…

2) Another option for those in Lagos is Laterna Bookshop on 13, Oko-Awo Close, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Street,. Victoria Island.

3) If you’re outside the country, please visit Amazon through this linkhttp://www.amazon.com/Just-Health-Ketch-Pregnancy-Parenting/dp/9789398026/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426246647&sr=1-1&keywords=just+for+the+health+of+it+with+dr+ketch+olalere+nkechi

For those in Abuja and environs, please call 07030739403 or pick it up at No 5 Bricks Market, Dawaki 11 Market, Dawaki extension.

For those in Awka, please call 08189944090.

Remember that this book is a great gift for anyone who wishes to live and eat healthy, lose weight, get ready for pregnancy and parenting. Buy copies for bridal showers, baby showers, Christmas gifts etc. It’s a gift that keeps on giving 😀

For week 1 (11th of September, 2016) of our Complan Saturday Challenge, winners are:

Nguveren Unde (from http://www.facebook.com/healthylivingwithdrketch)

Joy Obiesie (from facebook)

Temitope Ogundare Babatunde (from facebook)

For week 2 (17th of September, 2016) of our Complan Saturday Challenge, winners are:

Loveday Olisa (from http://www.chatwithdrketch.com)

Joy Obiesie (from http://www.facebook.com/healthylivingwithdrketch)

Congratulations to you all! Y’all have won:
A pack of Complan, a beautiful Complan water bottle, A Complan jotter and an information leaflet on Complan. Aren’t y’all lucky?! 😀

Please send in emails to healthylivingwithdrketch@gmail.com confirming your identity. You will get the details on pick-up of prizes.

Complan ‘Did you know?’ series
Did you know that you could add Complan to your favorite beverage, cereal or just mix in a glass of water for instant nourishment?

Now you know 😀

Want to join the winning team? Stay tuned. This week’s nutrition challenge will soon be posted! Get ready to win with Complan.

Q: Hello Doc, good afternoon. Please, I want to know if I can start giving my 10 weeks old baby, SMA when she is 3 months old. Now I am giving her breast milk and water but I think she is no longer satisfied.

A: Breastfeeding contains a significant amount of water and so if you breastfeed your baby adequately, he will get both ‘water’ and nutrients from your breast milk. For more on this, I reproduce a post I had made on this subject a while back…..

Over and over again, I have had breast feeding mothers tell me that they don’t make enough breast milk to feed their babies. Or they would say, their babies get hungry too often and so it is difficult to keep up with the crazy schedule of ‘feeding on demand’ that breast feeding requires of you.

Breast milk is very important to new born babies and really no child should be deprived on the many benefits of breast feeding exclusively. There are some mothers who, by reason of specific health conditions, cannot breast feed their babies. However, the greater majority of mothers are able to make enough breast milk to keep their babies satisfied.

Here are our top five tips for breast feeding properly:

o Patience: You’ve got to have loads of it. Sometimes, your baby feeds and then stops a bit just to gaze into your eyes. Give him/her the time needed to bond with you.

o There are two types of milk in the breast milk: the fore and the hind milk. You have to be sure that your baby gets both during each feeding session.

o Give the fore milk to quench thirst. The fore milk is mainly water and low in fats. If you observe, it’s bluish in colour. Its high water content is the reason why you don’t need to give your baby extra water. It’s also rich in protein, carbohydrates and vitamins.

o Be sure to give the hind milk. Now, if you finish giving just the fore milk and stop, the baby will be hungry thereafter as she has essentially only taken water. The milk that comes after the fore milk is thicker containing fats and has a whole lot of calories. The baby needs this to be very well nourished and to satisfy the hunger pangs. The longer a mother waits between meals, the more foremilk is produced and it takes your baby that much longer to get to the more filling hind milk.

o Let your baby feed on demand and each session should last until the breast ‘feels’ empty. I say ‘feel’ because the breast never really empties out After this, change to the other breast.

Remember that breast milk is the best and cheapest food for your baby. However, breast milk is deficient in iron. In the first few months of life, this is not an issue because the iron stores the baby is born with, are able to supply the baby its iron needs and so baby does not need any additional iron…until around 6 months of age! So, at this time, be sure to add other meals to your baby’s menu.

For more tips on weaning, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2015/11/26/daily-health-tips-my-10-month-old-baby-wants-to-be-fed-only-breast-milk/

I hope this helps 😀

It’s hard to think about the causes of headaches when you’re struggling with pain. Once you’re feeling better, figuring out what leads to the agony can help you dodge it in the future.

Want practical tips on causes of headaches and prevention? Please click on this link: http://www.health.harvard.edu/headache/causes-of-headaches?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GB20160921-Memory&utm_id=257346&dlv-ga-memberid=11052531&mid=11052531&ml=257346

Q: Good evening doctor. Please, what could be the cause of this? My 10-week old baby has been stooling for almost a week now. Thanks

Top of Form

A: Congratulations on your new baby! May she be a blessing to her generation!

Okay to your question, 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. If you do practice bottle feeding, you have to be committed to be hygienic because you don’t want to introduce germs into your baby, do you? Always scrub your hands with soap and water before making your baby’s food. Make sure that the bottle is sterilized to prevent any potential introduction of germs into the milk. Use small bottles that hold just about the amount that your baby finishes per feed.

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.

So, it is clear now that diet affects our breast milk and by extension, baby. These are foods to avoid or limit their consumption while breast feeding:

Caffeine in coffee (try decaffeinated and stick with 2 small tea cups), energy drinks, some soft drinks etc This makes the baby irritable and by extension, makes sleep difficult for the baby. Now, you don’t want that, do you?

Alcohol: This should be avoided at all costs.

Cigarette (yeah, yeah, I know it’s not food) should also be avoided as it reduces the production of breast milk.

If baby reacts to what the mother ate, efforts should be made to pinpoint what the mother ate before the incident started and then eliminating that from the diet to see if the diarrhea or allergy stops.

Make sure that you eat well: lots of fruits and vegetables and complex carbohydrates. Cut out the junk which will not help you achieve your weight loss goals and in addition have empty calories. And drink sufficient fluids daily.

Be careful before taking any drug as most find their way into your baby.

Hope this helps.

Goodnight y’all 😀