chatwithketch

Q: Good day Doctor, please which is the best way to brush teeth, is it up and down or side ways? Please, let me know. Thanks and God bless
A: Good question and one that we all take for granted…how to brush the teeth right?
A good method is a circular motion with your tooth brush slightly tilted at a 45 degrees angle. I can just hear you asking how to measure the 45 degrees angle 😀 If you can’t figure that out, just focus on the circular motions and be sure to brush the outer surface of your teeth, the inner surface, the chewing surface of the teeth and of course the tongue…a major reservoir of bad smells. Try to catch the space between the teeth too as best you can with your brush and a floss later.
Be sure to use a tooth brush that has a small head for easy access to all corners of your mouth. And remember the rule of twos: Brush for at least 2 minutes, brush at least twice a day and visit your dentist at least twice a year.
For more information on taking care of your teeth, please click on the link below

Daily Health Tips: Bleeding, Swollen Gums

Have a good night, y’all 😀

Q: Thanks ma’am for always being there. Please, my 9 months doesn’t like to take breast milk again, though she takes solid very well. But I’m not too comfortable with that. Any side effects? Secondly, I discovered that I do have headache all through my monthly period since my monthly flow started after 5 month of my delivery. My concern is that it has not been like that before even after I had my 1st baby. Please I’ll await your prompt response.
A: Breast milk is the best milk and food for baby from birth till 6 months. From 6 months, breast feeding is meant to be continued but other complementary foods should be added as breast milk is no longer sufficient to take care of baby’s nutritional needs. So, it’s a good thing that your baby is taking solids, however, the fact that she appears to have stopped breast feeding doesn’t mean is weaning herself. This situation may be due to a breast feeding strike 😀 Can you beat that? A strike…from your loving baby who you’ve given up so much for? 😀 Don’t worry…it’s nothing personal 😉
Breastfeeding strikes usually happen in children between 6 and 9 months and can be due to the fact that at this stage they have discovered the world and so cannot seem to give their full attention to breast feeding any more 😀 The ills of 24 hour TV et al….sigh! Other causes of this strike may be:
• A cold which stops baby from breathing well while feeding or an ear infection which hurts when she sucks
• A change in your perfume to a scent your baby doe not like
• A decrease in the volume of your breast milk due to the introduction of complementary feeds
• A change in the taste of your breast milk…may be due to the return of periods
• Infection of your breast duct (mastitis) causing the breast milk from that breast to be kinda salty (who wants salty breast milk? Eeew!)
• Teething
• Long separation from mother
In the meantime, express the breast milk to prevent having a blocked duct. Then try feeding your baby when he’s sleepy…he may be less willing to fight then 😀 Breast feeding in a dark, quiet room may also be helpful in limiting the distractions that your baby may have. Try different nursing positions and try to pay more attention to baby…keep her especially close. Remember that the solids he’s taking are great but he also needs the breast milk.
A paediatrician will help confirm if there’s an ear infection. If you’ve just changed your cream or perfume, you may want to switch back to what you were using earlier to see if it helps.
Headaches during menstrual periods are referred to as menstrual or hormonal migraines and are due to a drop in the level of estrogen, a hormone. For a headache to be classified as this, it would happen anytime between about 2 days before a menstrual period to about 3 days after the first day of menstrual period. Some of these women find relief during pregnancy as the level of estrogen rises.
To pre-empt this, you can take pain relievers that are also anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen at the start of the period or even about a few days before the start of an expected period until the bleeding stops. If you’re asthmatic or have peptic ulcer disease, this drug is not a safe choice for you.
Have a good night sleep, y’all 😀

Good day doc, please kindly respond to my question this time. What does it mean when one’s temperature is below 37C? What is the normal human body temperature? For up to a month now, my temperature has been 34C or less and it’s beginning to get me really worried. Please I eagerly await your response and God bless you as you do so.

A: Amen and apologies if it took a while to get to you 😀

Good question! Ever since Ebola hit these shores, body temperature has been on the front burner. Vendors of infra-red thermometers have done brisk business; business premises are manned by security personnel wielding the temperature guns, as I like to call them. I have engaged some of them in Q and A sessions 😀 asking them what temperatures they were looking out for. One told me that a temperature of 40 degrees Centigrade was a red flag and the others generally agreed that above 37 degrees was the red flag. Now the first guy is not wrong…only that by the time the temperature is that high, the situation is indeed critical and a very serious cause for concern! At this time, we are talking heat stroke (hyperthermia)! So, looking out for temperatures of 3rd and above is a good reference point.

Body temperature is usually a range from 36.1 to 37.2C and the read temperature depends on the area of the body where the temperature was checked (underarm temperature is about 0.5C less than the core temperature eg one taken under the tongue), the time of the day (usually lower in the mornings as your day starts), age (older people have lower temperatures) and the activities they’ve been involved in prior to checking the temperature.

Temperatures lower than 35C are usually seen as low (hypothermia). Exposure to cold temperatures can trigger this. Extremes of age (the very young and the very old), homeless people, people who abuse alcohol and people who spend a long period of time in cold weather are prone to this condition. So have you recently travelled to a cold region? Have you changed offices and moved to an office where the Air Conditioner temperature is very low? Are you dressing warmly enough for your environment? Are you getting soaked with water (rain, perhaps) often and not drying off properly?

If none of the above applies to you, then you may need to see your doctor to explore other possibilities like Diabetes, Hypothyroidism or even your use of some medications.

Prevention depends on which of the causes above applies to you. If you’re constantly exposed to cold air, dress in layers, eg wear a camisole, then a tank top, then a top, then a sweat shirt etc That way, you can take off the outer layers if you feel the weather getting warmer. If you get drenched in water, dry off as soon as possible, increase the temperature of the Air Conditioner so that it’s not too cold or use a heater in winter etc.

Have a good night, y’all 😀

Q: Good afternoon Ma’am. My fiancee is fat and I’m not comfortable with it. Also, our traditional marriage is due this December. Can you prescribe a diet or drug for him to slim down? I will surely appreciate it if you respond to my message. And also I watched your programme on Silverbird yesterday about proteins. Ma’am instead of wheat and egusi soup can one eat ground oats and egusi…which one is better?

A: Now, this certainly sounds like a woman who knows what she wants and is not afraid to say so 😀 So, fiancee dear, you’d better watch out and do something about that weight fast! 😀

Okay, more seriously…have you shared your concerns with him? Did he recently start adding weight or has he been like that al along? I’m not asking to pass judgement really….because there’s no law against changing your mind about what you like or don’t like 🙂 But perhaps, if you shared your concern with him, he would want to do something about this. He needs to understand that this is something very important to you and your future life together

To practical solutions, there’s no magic wand tablet that makes it all go away. Hmmm, that’s not really true, so I’ll re – phrase. There are a number of take-a-tablet-daily-for-10-days-and-you’ll-lose-all-that-weight-in-the-same-period tablets and fad diets, but what these tablets and diets do is that they make you lose a lot a lot of water weight, which makes you feel like you’re losing weight and then once you go off the tabs or fad diet, you pile it all on again. So, the only solution I proffer is plain hard work.

Now, this is where you come in. You can get your fiancee to live healthier in a fun way. You can register both of you for a dance class. It’s a fun way of bonding with him while losing oodles of calories. You can also take evening walks daily when he comes visiting and when you’re not together, encourage him to do same. Visit his house and make things a bit more inaccessible to encourage him to move eg maybe move the water dispenser to a farther point (so he has to walk further to get water) etc. Make him understand the importance of activity, at least, 30 minutes everyday.

For food, remember the architecture of a healthy plate? Half of It should be filled with fruits and veggies, a quarter with complex carbs like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, local rice etc and the last quarter filled with protein (preferably white protein like chicken and fish). Get him to buy healthier snacks to keep around the house for when he wants to snack, work with him on trying out healthier methods of cooking etc

More importantly, reassure him of your love and the fact that you want to grow old with him. You want him to live long enough to see your children (teach them to play soccer, walk them down the aisle when they are getting married etc), your grandchildren and indeed, great grandchildren:D

For more on weight loss, please click on the links below:

Daily Health Tips: What Drugs Can Help Me Burn Fat?

Daily Health Tip: Weight loss (facts and fiction)

Daily Health Tips: Can I Lose Weight By Taking Hot Drink And Lemon?

I’m sure it will all work out. Congratulations in advance 😀

And yes, you can have oatmeal and Egusi…awesome combination 🙂

Good night, y’all 😀